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 FridayÌýÌýÌý16:00-16:30
SundayÌý20:30-21:00Ìý(rpt)
Radio 4's weekly obituaries programme |
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This week |
FridayÌý11th May 2007
(Rpt) SundayÌý13th May |
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Lord Weatherill
Speaker of the House of Commons from 1983 to 1992
Bernard Weatherill – who has died aged 86 – became the Speaker of the House of Commons in 1983, after nearly two decades as a Conservative MP. He was born into a family of tailors and worked in Saville Row. Bernard Weatherill enjoyed a famously fractious relationship with the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the tailor’s son and the grocer’s daughter clashing on numerous occasions in the Commons, against the backdrop of the Miner’s Strike, the poll tax demonstrations and other political ructions of the day. He was the first Speaker to preside over a televised chamber, and became a well-known face. When he stepped down in 1992 he was made a life peer and continued to work as a popular and respected parliamentarian. Tributes from politicians of all parties have appeared all week, to find out more of the man in the speaker’s wig John Wilson went to meet his family at home in Surrey. John Wilson talks to Lord Weatherill’s widow, Lady Weatherill, and to two of his three children his son Bruce and daughter Virginia Lovell.
Lord Weatherill Born November 25 1920 Died May 6 2007, aged 86 |
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Walter "Wally" Schirra
Astronaut who has died aged 84.
In the late 1950s seven test pilots were handpicked to lead the American space race. The Mercury mission septet were chosen because they had, what author Tom Wolfe called, 'the Right Stuff'. Wally Schirra was among the Mercury Seven, but also went on to command Gemini and Apollo space missions - the only astronaut to have served on all three.
Wally Schirra was the son of a World War One pilot who later forged a career as a stunt flyer, a barnstormer, whose wife – Wally’s mum – worked as his daredevil wing-walker. It’s said that Wally Schirra had his first taste of mid-air adventure whilst still in the womb. With aerial spectacle in the blood, Wally Schirra joined the navy as a pilot and flew more than 90 combat mission in the Korean war. He was co-opted by NASA and the rest is history.
John Wilson talks to astronaut Scott Carpenter - a fellow member of the original Mercury Seven and to NBC Reporter Jay Barbree.
Wally Schirra was born March 12th 1923. He died May 3rd 2007.
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ISABELLA BLOW
Muse and fashion director
Even by its own standards of eccentricity, the fashion world boasts few characters as idiosyncratic as Isabella Blow. She occupied a unique position in fashion – she worked as an editor; she posed as a style icon in a succession of outrageous hats; she acted as a patron to up and coming designers. Her death at the age of just 48 is a tragic end to a colourful life. She was born into an aristocratic family - her grandfather was Sir Jock Delves Broughton, who was tried and acquitted for the murder of his love rival in the notorious White Mischief case. Isabella Delves Broughton worked as assistant to the Vogue editor Anna Wintour, before returning to Britain to help shake up the fashion pages of Fleet Street. She is credited with discovering the milliner Philip Tracey and the designer Alexander McQueen – whose entire degree show collection she bought, making his name overnight. Isabella married the art dealer Detmar Blow and was a gregarious and popular presence on the international art and fashion scenes. But in private she battled depression and is known to have attempted suicide twice previously. John Wilson talks to one of Isabella Blow’s many friends the artist Tracey Emin.
Born November 19 1958, Died May 7 2007, aged 48 |
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Lesley Blanch
Writer, traveller and journalist who has died aged 102 - just a month away from her 103rd birthday.
Lesley Blanch wrote travel guides and biographies but is best known for her first book The Wilder Shores Of Love. She worked for Vogue magazine as a features editor, reporting on life in wartime London and was partnered by the photographer Lee Miller. She travelled the world, and retained a lifelong passion for all things Russian, the influence of her first lover, a mysterious Tatar. Later she was married to the French novelist Romaine Gary for fifteen years, before he left her for the actress Jean Seberg.
Lesley Blanch settled in the south of France where she continued to write, entertain and tell stories.
John Wilson spoke to her god-daughter Georgia de Chamberet.
Lesley Blanch was born June 6th 1904. She died May 7th 2007.
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