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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13th July 2007
(Rpt) Sunday听15th July |
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LADY BIRD JOHNSON
US First Lady
The wife of the 36th President of the United States, Ladybird Johnson was born into a wealthy Texan family. She was christened Claudia Alta Taylor, but known to everyone as Ladybird, a moniker given to her by her childhood nurse and one with which she was not entirely happy. Shortly after she graduated in journalism and art from the University of Texas, she met her husband, Lyndon Baines Johnson who proposed to her after a brief courtship. By 1963 Lyndon Baines Johnson had risen to the position of Vice President, and the couple were riding in the motorcade when John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Overnight they found themselves the new occupants of the White House. As First Lady, she pursued her interests in the environment and the beautification of the US, campaigning to preserve America鈥檚 wildflowers.
Ritula Shah talks to her former press secretary Liz Carpenter and to political commentator Anthony Howard.
Ladybird Johnson was born December 22 1912. She died July 11 2007, aged 94.
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Dr ANNE McLAREN Geneticist. Died aged 80.
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Professor DONALD MICHIE Computer scientist. Died,aged 83.
The geneticist Dr Anne McLaren and computer scientist Professor Donald Michie, were an extraordinary couple, united in their political beliefs and passion for social progress. Anne McClaren鈥檚 work in the field of reproductive biology and genetics was to pave the way for IVF treatment. She was also an advocate of human stem cell research and contributed to the ethical debates surrounding these issues. Professor Donald Michie鈥檚 achievements spanned a number of fields. He was a cryptologist who made a highly significant contribution to the research into code breaking at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. After the war, he turned his attention to genetics. He and Anne met as researchers at Oxford and for a time they worked together. The couple, who divorced almost 50 years ago, remained good friends and regularly took holidays together with their children.
Ritula Shah talks to their son Professor Jonathan Michie.
Dr Anne McLaren was born听the 26th听April 1927, and Prof.Donald Michie was born the 11th November听1923.
They both died together in a car accident on July 7th, 2007.
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REGINE CRESPIN
French opera singer.
Regine Crespin was a glamorous French soprano. Her ability to sing in German, was much admired and her reputation as a seductress was the subject of much off-stage gossip. Aged 80 when she died, she spent much of her later life teaching. Born in Marseilles but brought up in Nimes, she began singing at the relatively late age of 16. By 1958 her career was at its height and her status as a great opera diva was assured.
Ritula Shah talks to Isabelle Masset who is the Associate Artistic Director at the Bordeaux Opera and to opera critic Patrick O Connor.
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Regine Crespin was born March 23 1927. She died July 5 2007, aged 80. |
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BRENDA RAWNSLEY
Managing Director of School Prints Ltd.
听A debutante who didn鈥檛 know anything about art, Brenda Rawnsley managed to persuade some of the greatest artist of the 20th century to create original works to be sold, as prints, to Britain鈥檚 schools. Brenda Mary Hugh Jones was born in Oxford. Her parents divorced when she was young and she grew up in both England and Cairo, where her father was working for the British Administration. Her knowledge of Arabic was to serve her well during the second world war. Her husband Derek was stationed in the Middle East and Brenda went out to join him. She spent the rest of the war working for the British Army in Alexandria, Algiers and London. In 1943 Derek was killed while travelling to see her. In his memory she took up his plan to bring contemporary art to school children. Recently, the School Prints she produced, have become highly collectible and earlier this year, the lithographs were exhibited at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.
Ritula Shah talks to Simon Martin who was the curator of the exhibition at Pallant House.
Brenda Rawnsley was born July 31 1916. She died June 25 2007, aged 90. |
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NIGEL DEMPSTER
Fleet Street and Private Eye Columnist.
For years听'Dempster鈥檚 Diary' was a Fleet Street institution. The man behind it, Nigel Dempster, has died aged 65. Nigel Dempster was born in India. His parents took Australian citizenship and Nigel was sent to school in England. He was expelled from Sherborne School in Dorset and went to work at 16. After a short spell in the city he turned to journalism, initially working for the Daily Express. In 1971 he joined the Daily Mail, where his column chronicled the indiscretions of aristocrats, celebrities and the wealthy. And despite his often unflattering and barbed comments, some of those he wrote about, including Princess Margaret, became his friends.
Achive of Nigel Dempster.
Nigel Dempster was born November 1st 1941. He died July 12 2007, aged 65. |
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