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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26th January 2007
(Rpt) Sunday听28th January |
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Abbe Pierre
Priest and politician who听has died听aged 94.
For more than a decade the man voted the most popular person in France wasn鈥檛 a film star, a musician or a politician. He was the Abbe Pierre - a priest who devoted his life to helping the homeless. He started the Emmaus foundation which provides decent accommodation and employment in self financing communities for homeless people. There are now over four hundred Emmaus communities worldwide.
The Abbe Pierre came from a wealthy background but lived for most of his life in a single room at one of the Emmaus homes. He was born Henri Groues in Lyon. During a visit to Assissi in Italy as a young man he realised he wanted to be ordained. He spent the second world war fighting with the resistance and helping Jewish families to escape from the Nazis, using the name Pierre to hide his identity. After the liberation of France, the Abbe Pierre kept his pseudonym and was elected to the French parliament, a period he described as the least important of his life.
Matthew Bannister talks to Selwyn Image who worked with the Abbe Pierre in Paris and brought Emmaus to the UK and to Terry Waite who is the President of Emmaus UK.
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Abbe Pierre听 was born听August听 5th 1912. He died January 22nd 2007. |
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Gracie Cole
Trumpeter who has died aged 82.
Gracie Cole was a child star in the male dominated world of 1930s brass band music. The cornettist and trumpeter went on to be a musical pioneer in Big Bands. Gracie was two when her flugel horn playing father moved from County Durham to Yorkshire in search of a job as a miner. Traditionally musical contracts in brass bands were handed down from father to son, but Gracie broke through by winning contests as a solo player. She became one of the UK鈥檚 most respected big band trumpeters working with some of the top names in jazz.
Matthew Bannister talks to broadcaster and trombonist Sheila Tracey who played with Gracie Cole in the Ivy Benson Big Band.
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Gracie Cole听 was born September听8th 1924. She听died December 28听2006. |
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Sybil Elgar
Autism teacher who has died aged 92.
In 1958 whilst training as a Montessori teacher, Sybil Elgar visited a hospital in London for 鈥渟everely emotionally disturbed children鈥. She was shocked to find it a soul destroying place full of miserable children who had been 鈥減ut away鈥 there. The condition of autism was little understood and methods of teaching such children unknown. Sybil was determined to change all that. She established a school for autistic children in the basement of her London home and, with patience and experimentation, developed a structured approach to teaching. Sybil鈥檚 pupils began to make substantial progress. She worked with parents to found the National Autistic Society and set up the first residential school for autistic children in Ealing West London.
Sybil Elgar went on to set up the first residential home for autistic adults at Brent Knoll in Somerset and Matthew Bannister talks to one of the parents Gerald De Groot.
Sybil Lillian Elgar was born June 10th 1914. She died January 8th 2007.
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Larry Stewart
Philanthropist 鈥渟ecret Santa鈥 who has died aged 58
Every December for the last 25 years or more a man in a red flannel shirt wandered the streets of American cities handing out cash to people who seemed down on their luck. The anonymous benefactor was a multi millionaire who became known as the secret Santa for his habit of thrusting hundred dollar bills into the hands of poor passers by. When his identity was finally revealed last year Larry Stewart said he estimated he鈥檇 given away more than $1.3 million. Larry made his fortune in cable and telephone services, but he started with nothing. His random acts of giving were inspired by the help offered to him in a small town diner in 1971.
Matthew Bannister talks to the diner owner, Ted Horn, who inspired Larry Stewart to become 鈥渟ecret Santa鈥 when he gave him $20 all those years ago.
Larry Stewart, philanthropist, was born on April 1st 1948. He died January 12th 2007.
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Robert Phoenix
Corn thresher who has died aged 83.
Threshing is literally the process of sorting the wheat from the chaff 鈥 separating the stems and husks from the straw. Nowadays it鈥檚 part of the combined harvesting process, but for much of the last century the threshers with their steam driven machinery were an important part of the farming industry. Robert Phoenix joined the family firm of threshing contractors after returning from service in the RAF during the second world war. He carried on giving threshing demonstrations at fairs and steam engine rallies well into the 1980s. And it was only last September that he finally agreed to auction off his steam driven threshing machinery.
Matthew Bannister talks to Robert鈥檚 eldest son Steve and his brother Brian Phoenix.
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