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LAST WORD
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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 |
FridayÌý27th June 2008
(Rpt) SundayÌý29th June |
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Tony Schwartz
Ad man and sound wizard who has died aged 85
In 1964, American television broadcast a terrifying advertisement which helped win a Presidential election and rewrote the rules of political campaigning. The so-called Daisy ad – in which a small girl is seen picking petals from a flower in the seconds before nuclear annihilation – was the work of ad-man and sound artist Tony Schwartz. The ad was commissioned by Lyndon Johnson in the run-up to his crushing defeat of Republican rival Barry Goldwater.
Although that short film linked Schwartz to the most powerful man in America, his great passion was the voice of the ordinary man in the street. Tony Schwartz has been described as a Wizard of Sound. He began collecting noises and voices when he bought his first tape recorder in 1945.
John Wilson talks toÌýhis colleague, ad man David Hoffman.
Tony Schwartz was born August 19th 1923. He died June 15th 2008.
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Frank Blackmore
The man who invented the mini roundabout who has died aged 92.Ìý
Road humps and speed cameras have been credited with reducing the death rate. One feature of road travel that we now take for granted was seen as a controversial innovation forty years ago – the mini-roundabout.
Regarded by traffic experts as the most cost-effective and efficient road junction design, the mini-roundabout was invented by Frank Blackmore, an engineer at the Transport Research Laboratory. He also pioneered the so-called offside priority rule in which motorists approaching a roundabout give priority to cars passing from the right. Previously, roundabouts were a virtually free for all!
Frank Blackmore began his work with roads after a wartime spent in the air – as an RAF pilot he was decorated for bravery.
John Wilson talks toÌýFrank Blackmore’s daughter Anna and Professor Rod Kimber who is now a directorÌýat the Transport Research Laboratory.
Frank Blackmore was bornÌýFebruary 16th 1916. He died June 5th 2008.
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Harvey Karman
Pioneer of a new abortion technique who has died 84.
One man who played a key role in the medical and moral battles waged between pro and anti abortion campaigners is Harvey Karman. He was the inventor of the so-called Karman cannula, a flexible suction tube used in the process of early termination. Harvey Karman was not a doctor and he worked outside the law. But he’s hailed as a medical pioneer for developing safer abortion techniques.
John Wilson taks toÌý Dr MalcolmPotts, Professor of Population and Family Planning at Berkeley college, and a friend and colleague of Harvey Karman’s along with Professor James Drife, member of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Harvey KarmanÌýwas born April 26th 1924. He diedÌýMay 6th 2008.ÌýÌý
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Red Harrison
Former ´óÏó´«Ã½ correspondent
For many radio listeners, Red Harrison was the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s man down under. Red was the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s Australia correspondent for many years, following a distinguished career as a newspaper editor. Although known to friends and listeners alike by his nickname, he was born Arthur Harrison in South Shields in the north-east of England. Red emigrated to Australia as a teenager and initially worked as a jackaroo on a cattle ranch, tough work that suited a physically strong man.
John Wilson talks to the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s current Australia correspondent Phil Mercer.
Red Harrison was born in 1933. He died 20th June 2008
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Margaret Kitchin
Pianist who has died agedÌý94
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Margaret Kitchin was a concert pianist who became a champion of the work of Britain’s foremost contemporary composers. She was renowned for rising to the challenge presented to her by the likes of Thea Musgrave and Sir Michael Tippett, whose famous Second Piano Sonata she premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1962.
Born in Switzerland, she married impresario Howard Hartog in 1951 and, together, they became the leading exponents of new music. One of the composers who wrote for Margaret Kitchin was Professor AlexanderÌý Goehr– for Last Word, he remembers his friend.
Margaret Kitchin was born March 23rd 1914. She died June 16th 2008.
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