Last Word Podcast
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently
Episodes to download
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Edward de Bono, Paul Van Doren, Alastair Hanton OBE, Violetta Elvin
Fri 18 Jun 2021
Matthew Bannister on a thinker, a businessman, banker, a ballerina.
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Lee Evans (pictured), Yuan Longping, Bill McCall, Alix Dobkin
Fri 11 Jun 2021
Matthew Bannister on a sprinter, a plant scientist, a union leader, a singer.
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Eric Carle (pictured), Helen Murray Free, Michael Parsons, Evelyn McNicol
Fri 4 Jun 2021
Matthew Bannister on an author, a chemist, an engineer, a mountaineer.
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Sir Paul Cosford, Max Mosley (pictured), Dr Frances Rotblat, Norman Lloyd
Fri 28 May 2021
Julian Worricker on a medical director, a motorsport boss, a scientist, an actor.
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Spencer Silver, Kevin Jackson, Patricia Brown, Asfaw Yemiru
Fri 21 May 2021
Matthew Bannister on a chemist, a writer, a codebreaker, a teacher.
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Olympia Dukakis (pictured), Eric McGraw MBE, Anthony Thwaite
Fri 14 May 2021
Matthew Bannister on an actor, an editor and a poet.
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Baroness O'Cathain, Michael Collins, Sharon Matola, Jim Steinman (pictured, with Meat Loaf)
Fri 7 May 2021
Matthew Bannister on a businesswoman, an astronaut, a zoo director, a songwriter.
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Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown (pictured)
Fri 30 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a guide book writer, a physicist, a photographer, a pop star.
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Helen McCrory (pictured), Hans K眉ng, Eric Gordon, George Reynolds
Fri 23 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a theologian, an editor, a businessman.
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Baroness Shirley Williams (pictured), Glynn Lunney, Lyn Macdonald
Fri 16 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a Nasa flight director and a historian.
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Doreen Lofthouse OBE, Dr Chris Doake, Barbara Hosking CBE, Bernice Cohen
Fri 9 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a businesswoman, a glaciologist, a civil servant, an investor.
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Bob Davey MBE; George Segal (pictured); Lady Violet Aitken; Tony Hendra
Fri 2 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a church restorer, an actor, a power boat racer, a comedian.
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Nawal El Saadawi (pictured), Brigadier Jack Thomas, President John Magufuli, Ion Mihai Pacepa
Fri 26 Mar 2021
Matthew Bannister on a feminist writer, a soldier, a president and a spy.
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Murray Walker (pictured), King Goodwill Zwelithini, Mary Asprey, Bunny Wailer
Fri 19 Mar 2021
Julian Worricker on a king, a commentator, a charity founder, a musician.
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Nicola Pagett (pictured), Stan Shaw, Prof John Mallard, Rupert Neve
Fri 12 Mar 2021
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a 鈥渓ittle mester鈥�, a physicist, a recording engineer.
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Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani (pictured), Sidney Alford, Alison Lurie, Chris Barber
Fri 5 Mar 2021
Matthew Bannister on an oil minister, an explosives expert, an author and a jazz musician.
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Sir William Macpherson (pictured), Margaret Snyder, Eleanor Wadsworth, Iain Pattinson
Fri 26 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on: a judge, a UN civil servant, a pilot, a comedy writer.
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Carlos Menem (pictured), Mary Wilson, Robin Pooley, Larry Flynt
Fri 19 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on a president, a singer, a businessman and a pornographer.
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George Shultz, Yvonne Conolly, Maureen Colquhoun, Christopher Plummer (pictured)
Fri 12 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a headteacher, an MP and an actor.
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Lewis Wolpert, Cicely Tyson, Prince Khalid Abdullah and Captain Sir Tom Moore (pictured)
Fri 5 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on a biologist, an actor, a Saudi Prince and a national hero.
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Larry King (pictured), Catherine Ennis, Margaret Weston, Gerry Cottle
Fri 29 Jan 2021
Matthew Bannister on a broadcaster, an organist, a curator, a circus owner
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Phil Spector (pictured), Grace Robertson, Paul Nihill
Fri 22 Jan 2021
Matthew Bannister on a record producer, a photographer, a race walker.
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Michael Apted (pictured), Kay Ullrich, Katharine Whitehorn, Reginald Foster
Fri 15 Jan 2021
Julian Worricker on a film-maker, a politician, a journalist, a translator.
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Sir Brian Urquhart (pictured), Albert Roux, Dame Rachel Waterhouse, Gerry Marsden
Fri 8 Jan 2021
Matthew Bannister on a civil servant, a chef, a consumer champion, a singer.
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Stella Tennant, George Bizos, Joan Feynman, Rishi Kapoor
New Year's Day 2021
Matthew Bannister on a model, a lawyer, an astrophysicist and an actor.
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Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy, Dame Fanny Waterman
Sun 27 Dec 2020
Julian Worricker on Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy and Dame Fanny Waterman
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John le Carr茅 (pictured), Patience Thomson, Doug Scott, Dame Barbara Windsor
Fri 18 Dec 2020
Matthew Bannister on an author, an educator, a mountaineer, an actor
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Mario Molina, Irina Antonova, Val茅ry Giscard d鈥橢staing, Peter Alliss (pictured)
Fri 11 Dec 2020
Matthew Bannister on a chemist, a curator, a President, a golf commentator.
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Hamish MacInnes OBE, Jos茅 Padilla, Anne Rasa
Fri 4 Dec 2020
Matthew Bannister on a mountaineer, an ethologist, a DJ.
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Diego Maradona, Rosalind Grimshaw, Jan Morris CBE
Fri 27 Nov 2020
Matthew Bannister on a footballer, a glass artist, an author
