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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20th July 2007
(Rpt) Sunday听22nd July |
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Ed Mirvish
Retailer听& theatre producer who has died aged 92.
How about this for an advertising pitch: 鈥淥ur building is a dump! Our service is rotten! Our fixtures are orange crates! But 鈥 Our prices are the lowest in town!鈥. That was how Honest Ed Mirvish described the no frills store he set up in Toronto in 1948. There was no customer service, no credit, no delivery, no refunds or exchanges 鈥 just low prices and mad publicity stunts. Dance marathons, zoo animals 鈥 and on Ed鈥檚 birthday 鈥 fairground rides and free cake were all used to draw attention to his shop. It was such a hit that by the late 1980s sales hit seventy million dollars. Ed Mirvish bought the rest of the block, the rest of the street and eventually the area 鈥 which is now named after him.
Ed Mirvish was born in Virgina, the son of Jewish immigrants. Young Ed learned his trade working in his father鈥檚 store. He invested some of his substantial profits in theatre 鈥 first in his home town and then in London where he beat off competition from Andrew Lloyd Webber to take over the Old Vic.
Matthew Bannister talks to Ed Mirvish鈥檚 son David and to director Jonathan Miller.
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Ed Mirvish听 was born July 24th 1914.听 He died July 11th 2007. |
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Natalia Karp
Pianist who has died aged 96.
Natalia Karp鈥檚 musical talent saved her life. The pianist was born in Krakow, studied in Berlin with Artur Schnabel and made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1929. After the war she moved to London and gave many performances and broadcasts, both in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. But it was when her Polish home land was occupied by the Nazis that she 鈥 like thousands of other Jews 鈥 faced her most horrific experiences. Natalia helped other Jews to escape before being taken prisoner by the Gestapo herself. She was sent to the Plaszow concentration camp which was run by the sadistic Amon Goeth. The camp was reconstructed in Steven Spielberg鈥檚 film Schindler鈥檚 List 鈥 with Ralph Fiennes playing Goeth.
Natalia Karp recalled the terror of being a camp inmate
Natalia Karp was born on February 27th 1911. She died on July 9th 2007.
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George Comstock
Epidemiologist who has died aged 92.
Dr George Comstock carried out influential studies which improved the prevention and treatment of the lung disease tuberculosis. The epidemiologist was born in Niagara Falls, the son of a metallurgist. When he wasn鈥檛 pioneering new ways of studying the impact of TB on humans, he was a keen woodwind player.
George Comstock founded the Johns Hopkins University Training Centre for Public Health Research and Prevention in 1962 and ran it for many years. In 2004 it was named after him.
Matthew Bannister talks to two of his colleagues 鈥 Dr Jonathan Gollub and Dr Jonathan Samet.
George Comstock was born January 7th 1915. He died July 15th 2007.
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David Smart
Part owner of Billy Smart's Circus who has died aged 77.
David Smart was born into a circus dynasty. His father Billy Smart had established his spectacular circus just after the war and built it up to become Europe鈥檚 most successful travelling show. Joining the business with his brothers 鈥 Billy Junior and Ronnie - David took charge of the complex logistics of moving the show from town to town. When the public enthusiasm for circuses waned in the 1970s, David went on to establish the Windsor safari park as a home for many of the animals.
Matthew Bannister talks to David鈥檚 son 鈥 David Junior who was a ringmaster from the age of four.
David Smart was born on August 21st 1929. He died on July 9th 2007.
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