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 Friday听听听16:00-16:30
Sunday听20:30-21:00听(rpt)
Radio 4's weekly obituaries programme |
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This week |
Friday听1st December 2006
(rpt) Sunday听3rd December
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Betty Comden
Lyricist and actress, aged 89
Betty Comden was as much an icon of New York as the Brooklyn Bridge or the Empire State building. With her writing partner Adolph Green she was responsible for creating some of the twentieth century鈥檚 greatest musicals including 鈥淪ingin in the Rain鈥 and 鈥淥n The Town鈥. Betty Comden was born in Brooklyn and studied drama at New York University, After graduation she teamed up with Green and the actress Judy Holliday in a performing group called the Revuers. For the rest of her career, Comden continued to appear as an actress and singer, but it was with her books and lyrics for stage and screen musicals that she made her name. Despite a string of Hollywood hits like The Barkleys of Broadway with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and It鈥檚 Always Fair Weather with Gene Kelly, Comden and Green were much more at home working for the stage. Matthew Bannister talks to theatre director Jude Kelly and to theatre critic Matt Wolf.
She was born May 3rd 1917 and died November 23rd 2006. |
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Edward Ford
Courtier, aged 96
In a memorable speech in 1992, the Queen described it as her 鈥渁nnus horribilis鈥. The phrase came from a sympathetic letter sent to her by her former assistant private secretary Sir Edward Ford. Educated at Eton and Oxford Sir Edward鈥檚 first job was as tutor to the young Prince Farouk of Egypt. He went on to become a lawyer and served in the Grenadier Guards during the war. In 1946 he became assistant private secretary to the Queen鈥檚 father 鈥 George V1. In that capacity he had the unenviable duty of breaking the news of the King鈥檚 death to Winston Churchill. In retirement he was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and secretary and registrar of the Order of Merit. Matthew Bannister talks to his cousin Dame Frances Campbell-Preston and to Royal biographer Hugo Vickers.
He was born 24th July 1910 and died 19th November 2006. |
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Willie Pep
Boxer, aged 84
The world featherweight and one time bantamweight champion, Willie Pep听was nicknamed 鈥淲ill o鈥 the Wisp鈥 because he was so elusive in the ring. He claimed that he once won a round without throwing a single punch. Pep was a big star in the United States where he was one of the first boxers to be featured on television in the 1940s.听 Matthew Bannister talks to boxing trainer Brian Hughes who knew Willie Pep听and wrote his biography.
He was born 19th September 1922听and he died 23rd November 2006. |
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Alan Freeman
DJ and Broadcaster, aged 79
One of the founding DJs of Radio 1 in 1967, Alan Freeman's broadcasting career lasted more than forty years.听听听He applied his distinctive minimalist style to pop music in 鈥淧ick of the Pops鈥, to rock in his Saturday Afternoon Radio 1 Rock Show and latterly to classical music on Radio 2. Freeman also took Pick of the Pops to London鈥檚 Capital Radio in the 1980s.
Despite the punk backlash, Fluff Freeman continued to be an enthusiast for the more bombastic work of artists like Queen, Whitesnake and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Harry Enfield satirised him and Tony Blackburn as DJs 'Smashey and Nicey'. Freeman could see the joke and even appeared as himself in one episode of the comedy. Tim Blackmore,听Freeman's friend and manager, speaks to Matthew Bannister.
He was born 6th July 1927听and died 27th November 2006.
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