
Last Word
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently
Latest episodes

Jun 27, 2025 • 28min
Michael Lachmann, Pik-sen Lim, Leon Krier, David 'Syd' Lawrence
Matthew Bannister on
The TV director Michael Lachmann who made some of the most acclaimed documentaries about science. Professor Brian Cox and Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock pays tribute.
Pik-sen Lim who became one of the most recognisable East Asian actors on British TV.
Leon Krier, the master planner behind King Charles’s controversial Poundbury development.
David “Syd” Lawrence, the fast bowler who was the first British-born black cricketer to play for England.Interviewee:
Professor Brian Cox
Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Sara Houghton
Ben Pentreath
Dean WilsonProducer: Ribika MoktanArchive used:Wonders of the Solar System: Order out of Chaos, BBC 2, BBC Production, written & directed by Michael Lachmann, series producer Danielle Peck, A BBC/ Science Channel Co-Production, BBC MMXVI, 14/03/2010; Wonders of the Universe: Stardust, produced and dir by Michael Lachmann, Series Producer James Van Der Pool, BBC Production, A BBC/ Discover/ Science Channel Co-Production BBC MMXVI, BBC Two, 04/07/2011; The Sky at Night: Planet 9 from Outer Space, Series Producer Michael Lachmann, BBC Science Production London, BBC MMXVI, BBC 4, 14/02/2016, bbc.co.uk/skyatnight; Human Universe: A Place in Space Time, produced & directed by: Stephen Cooter & Michael Lachmann, BBC Production, A BBC/ Science Channel Co-Production, BBC 2, 02/11/2014; Emergency Ward 10, script by Tessa Diamond, Directed by Peter Sasdy, An ATV Production, ITV, 1957-1967; Mind Your Language, creator Vince Powell, directed by Stuart Allen, London Weekend Television, ITV, 1977-1986; Celebrating & Connecting BESEA Women in Film, TV & Theatre, YouTube Upload KakiLang, 27/04/2021; Doctor Who, Season 8; The Mind of Evil, Episode 1, Producer Barry Letts, directed by Timothy Combe, BBC TV, 1971; Jenny: The Doctor's Daughter - Volume 1, Neon Reign, June 2018, written by Christian Brassington, directed by director Barnaby Edwards, Big Finish Productions; Newsnight, BBC Two, 26/07/1985; BBC News, 10/02/1992; BBC Points West 19/11/2014; BBC News, 15/10/1991; Third Ear: Leon Krier, BBC Radio 3, 21/02/1992; What Revival?, BBC Radio 3, 03/06/1983

Jun 20, 2025 • 28min
Sir Geoff Palmer, Barbara Holdridge, Kim Woodburn, Sly Stone
John Wilson onSir Godfrey “Geoff” Palmer, the scientist whose discovery of a new brewing method revolutionized the industry and saved them millions of poundsBarbara Holdridge, the entrepreneur who co-founded a new record label that paved the way for the audiobook industry Kim Woodburn, the reality TV Star who made gained popular recognition through the TV show How Clean Is Your House?Sly Stone the American genre-bending musician who fronted the band Sly and the Family Stone. Interviewee:
Catherine Bisset
Catrina Rose
Matthew Rubery
Arlene HirschkowitzProducer: Ribika MoktanDetails of help and support with pregnancy related issues are available at BBC
Action Line. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1KhLYgXHRxyw67mkGRRXQ3R/information-and-support-pregnancy-related-issuesArchive used:
Scientific, BBC Radio 4, 04/08/2015; Sunday Morning with Cathy Macdonald; Writers and Company, CBC, 24/11/2002; Child's Christmas in Wales, read by Dylan Thomas, Caedmon Audio, 02/1952 https://soundcloud.com/harperaudiopresents/childschristmasinwales ; The Connor Phillips Show, BBC Radio Ulster, 26/04/2024; How Clean is Your House?, S1 E1, Channel Four Television Corporation, dir Simon Bisset, series producer Steph Harris, A Talkbalk production, 2003; I’m a Celebrity Get me out of here 2009, YouTube Upload, 12/02/2015; An excerpt from Sly on the air at KSOL, courtesy of Arlene Hirschkowitz

Jun 13, 2025 • 28min
Brian Wilson, Frederick Forsyth, Uriah Rennie, Edmund White
Kirsty Lang onBrian Wilson, the driving force behind The Beach Boys who were one of the most successful bands of the 1960s. Fredrick Forsyth, the writer and former Mi6 agent who books included The Day of the Jackal and The Fourth Protocol.Uriah Rennie who made history as the Premier League’s first black referee.And the author Edmund White whose semi-autobiographical books A Boys Own Life and The Beautiful Room is Empty chronicled his experiences as a young gay man in America.Interviewee: Charles Cumming
Interviewee: Ashley Hickson-Lovence
Interviewee: Colm ToibinProducer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used:Brian Wilson interview, Today, BBC Radio 4, 2016; John Wilson interviews Brian Wilson , Front Row, BBC Radio 4, 21 Oct 2011; The Day of the Jackal, Film Promo, 1973; Freddie Forsyth interview, BBC Radio 4, Uriah Rennie interview, courtesy of Ashley Hickson-Lovence, recording date January 2019; Opening of Pride Park, Midland Today, BBC News, 13 August 1997; Sports report: Alan Shearer sent off, BBC News, 07/08/1999;

Jun 6, 2025 • 28min
Valmik Thapar, Nancy Blaik, Norma Meras Swenson, Dr Stuart Farrimond
Kirsty Lang on Wildlife conservationist Valmik Thapar who spent five decades trying to protect India’s tigersNancy Blaik, the driving force behind the creation of Scotland’s first children’s hospiceNorma Meras Swenson, the co-author of the influential book ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ Doctor Stuart Farrimond who became a popular science writer after being diagnosed with a brain tumourProducer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used:
Tony Livesey – Steffan Powell sitting in, BBC Radio 5 Live, 28/04/2025; Tiger Crisis: Update, BBC Two, 08/01/1997; Wild: The Natural World – The Tigers' Fortress, BBC Two, 29/10/2000; Wild: Search for Tigers, BBC Two, 19/10/2003; My Tiger Family, BBC Two, 12/08/2024; Life in a Children's Hospice, BBC Radio Scotland, 20/02/2006; Reporting Scotland, BBC One Scotland, 05/12/1994; Reporting Scotland, BBC One Scotland, 11/03/1996

May 30, 2025 • 28min
Alan Yentob, Richard Garwin, Dr Joy Schaverien, Anne Merriman
Matthew Bannister on Alan Yentob, the BBC’s only Creative Director, who commissioned many successful TV programmes, was known as an impresario of talent and also presented Imagine. Richard Garwin, the American physicist who developed the Hydrogen bomb, but then devoted his life to nuclear disarmament.Dr. Joy Shaverien, the psychoanalyst who identified “boarding school syndrome” suffered by some who were sent away to school at an early age. Dr Anne Merriman, the former nun who made it her life’s work to bring effective palliative care to Africa.Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used
ichard Garwin Interview, Voices of the Manhattan Project – Atomic Heritage Foundation, Los Alamos Historical Society, The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, 22/09/2018; Pride and Prejudice, Episode 2, BBC Four, Drama, Classic & Period; imagine...: Winter 2004 – Arthur Miller: Finishing the Picture, BBC; Desert Island Discs: Alan Yentob, BBC Radio 4, 08/10/1995; Cracked Actor: David Bowie, BBC, 04/04/2013; Boarding School Syndrome: In Conversation with Joy Schaverien, Interviewed by Joana de Waal, British Psychotherapy Foundation (bpf), YouTube Upload, 23/09/2019; Dr Anne Merriman Interviewed by Scott Murray, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 2023; orth West Tonight, BBC, 21/07/2009; Anne Merriman – Harvard University Talk; Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 13/05/2011

May 23, 2025 • 28min
Hannah Deacon, Andrew Norfolk, Dame June Clark, Martin Graham
Matthew Bannister onHannah Deacon who ran a successful campaign to allow her son – and many others – to be treated with cannabis after he was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy. Andrew Norfolk, the journalist who exposed the Rotherham grooming gang scandal.Dame June Clark, the President of the Royal College of Nursing who argued for more education to increase the skills of the nursing profession.Martin Graham the businessman who built his own opera house in the Cotswolds so he could stage Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used:
No More Nightingale, BBC, 1991; One O’Clock News, BBC, 03/04/1989; Open Country, BBC Radio 4, 27/06/2019; The Longborough Ring 2024: Wagner – Der Ring des Nibelungen, Longborough Festival Opera, Music Director Anthony Negus, Director Amy Lane; Today, BBC Radio 4, 2013; Utopia: In Search of the Dream, BBC Four, 05/05/2020; Sportsday, BBC News 24, 15/09/2016; BBC Breakfast, BBC, 19/02/2018; This Morning: Should Medical Cannabis Be More Accessible, ITV, Uploaded to YouTube, 29/10/2018; Morning Live, BBC, 07/11/2022; The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, 19/06/2018; ITV News, ITV, 19/06/2018; Wogan, BBC, 19/01/1990; Raising a Glass to Cheers, BBC Radio 4, 26/07/2012; Cheers, TV Programme, Produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions; Groomed for Sex, BBC Three, 06/12/2011; The Media Show, BBC Radio 4, 27/08/2014; Frontlines of Journalism, BBC Radio 4, 04/07/2023; Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, KV 543: Adagio. Allegro, Performed by Bruno Walter, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Siegfried, Act II Scene 3: Willkommen, Siegfried, Performed by Manfred Jung, Heinz Zednik, Bayreuther Festspielorchester, Conductor Pierre Boulez, Composed by Richard Wagner; Le nozze di Figaro, K.492, Act 3: Ricevete, o padroncina, Performed by Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, Conductor Ferenc Fricsay, Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Das Rheingold, Scene 1: Lugt, Schwestern! Die Weckerin lacht in den Grund, Performed by Norma Sharp, Ilse Gramatzki, Marga Schiml, Hermann Becht, Bayreuther Festspielorchester, Conductor Pierre Boulez, Composed by Richard Wagner

May 16, 2025 • 28min
Sir Tom Farmer, Elaine Wynn, Sue Stapely, Joseph Nye
Matthew Bannister on: Sir Tom Farmer, the Edinburgh born businessman who built up the tyre and exhaust company Kwik Fit.Elaine Wynn, who worked with her husband Steve to create a casino empire in Las Vegas.Sue Stapely, who transformed the way the legal profession communicates with the public and the media.Joseph Nye, the American political analyst who came up with the concept of “soft power” in international relationsInterviewee: Michael Welch
Interviewee: Douglas Fraser
Interviewee: David Sanger
Interviewee: David McNeill
Interviewee: Christina BinkleyProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Tom Farmer interview, Workwise Scotland, BBC Scotland, 03/02/1989; Tom Farmer, The House I Grew Up In, BBC Radio 4, 06/08/2008; Tom Farmer, First Light, BBC One, 22/11/2016; Joseph Nye On Soft Power, Foreign Policy Association, YouTube 22.02.2016; "Soft power" explained by the man who coined it, Council on Foreign Relations, uploaded to YouTube 09/05/2025; Joseph Nye on "The Future of Power", Harvard University, Centre for Public Leadership, uploaded to YouTube 04/02/2011; Doctor Who, Season 6, Episode 6, The Invasion, by Derrick Sherwin, Director: Douglas Camfied, BBC Television, 07/12/1968; An Interview with Sue Stapely, Fantom Films and Alex Moore, YouTube, uploaded 22/09/2021; PM, BBC, Radio 4, 31/03/1998; Coronation Street, Director: Michael Kerrigan, written by Tony Warren, Granada Television, ITV, 1998; The Archers, Omnibus Edition, BBC Radio 4, 21/07/1985; Mirage Resort Opens, 8 News Now, KLAS-TV, YouTube 13/07/2013; Elaine Wynn interview, KTVN Channel 13, YouTube, 03/11/2015; The Mirage Volcano erupts, 8 News Now - Las Vegas, YouTube 17/07/2024; Musings with Elaine Wynn, TheLifeYouCanSave.org, YouTube uploaded 27/09/2023;

May 9, 2025 • 28min
Jane Gardam, Sir Roger Birch, Mike Peters, Francoise Hampson
Kirsty Lang onThe author Jane Gardam, whose works included The Queen of the Tambourine and Old Filth.Sir Roger Birch, the former Chief Constable of Sussex Police who oversaw the investigation following the IRAs' Brighton bomb attack in 1984. Mike Peters, the lead singer of the band The Alarm, whose own battle with cancer saw him become a campaigner and fundraiser for cancer treatment. Professor Francoise Hampson, a lawyer who specialised in human rights in conflict zones. Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive:
Front Row, BBC Radio 4, Presenter Kirsty Lang, 16/09/2009; World Book Club, BBC World Service, 12/10/2017; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 20/10/2017; “Somebody” by Jane Gardam, Read by Gillian Bevan, BBC Radio 4, 06/03/2022; File on Four, BBC Radio 4; Witness History, BBC, 2015; Human Rights Map, BBC Two, 05/12/1998; Human Rights and Human Wrongs, John Simpson, BBC TV, 02/11/1994; BBC Breakfast News, 14/08/1990; I Write the Songs, Archive: Mike Peters, BBC Radio Wales, 31/12/2014; Value Judgements, BBC Radio Wales, 30/06/2006; Brighton Bomb Attack, BBC News, 12/10/2009; Drink Drive Crackdown, BBC News, 12/10/1984; Breakfast Time – Drink Driving at Christmas, BBC News, 14/03/2020

May 2, 2025 • 28min
Virginia Giuffre, Rosy Bremer, LJ Smith, Wizz Jones
Matthew Bannister on Virginia Giuffre, who waived her anonymity to accuse the billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell of sex abuse and trafficking. Rosy Bremer, a leading campaigner against nuclear weapons at the women’s protest at Greenham Common airbase. LJ Smith, author of the best-selling “Vampire Diaries” series of novelsAnd the influential folk and blues guitarist Wizz Jones. His friend Ralph McTell pays tribute.If you have been affected by the issues reflected in tthis programme, you can visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionlineInterviewee: Sean Coughlan
Interviewee: Fran Vigay
Interviewee: Julie Divola
Interviewee: Ralph McTellArchive used:
The Prince and the Epstein Scandal, FKBH539N/02, Sixty Minutes: Greenham Common, BBC, 14/11/1983, BBC Wales, 17/06/1982, Rosy Bremer, interviewed by Nicky Arikoglu in 2019, Greenham Women Everywhere, https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/ , Podbite 8. Singing, Greenham Women Everywhere, 17/12/2020 , LJ Smith interviewed by Matthew Peterson, The Author Hour radio show, 19/11/2009 https://theauthorhour.com/l-j-smith/ , The Vampire Diaries, Season 1; Episode 1, developed for TV by Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, Production companies: Outerbanks Entertainment, Alloy Entertainment, CBS Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television, Outlook – BBC World Service. Sept 2014 , Tonight BBC 29/08/1960

Apr 25, 2025 • 28min
Pope Francis, Paddy Higson, David Sassoon
Matthew Bannister onPope Francis, the first Latin American Pope who was noted for his humility and modest lifestyle.Paddy Higson, the TV and film producer once described as “the mother of the Scottish film industry”. Jed Mercurio and Clare Grogan pay tribute.And David Sassoon, the fashion designer who dressed royalty and film stars. Dame Zandra Rhodes tells us about his life.Interviewee: David Willey
Interviewee: Rogelio Pfirter
Interviewee: Frances Higson
Interviewee: Clare Grogan
Interviewee: Jed Mercurio
Interviewee: Dame Zandra RhodesProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Pope Francis, St Peter's Basilica, Vatican, BBC News, 25/04/2025; Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio appears on balcony of St Peter's Basilica addressing large crowd after being elected Pope Francis, BBC News, 13/03/2013; Pope Francis visits Lesbos, Greece, BBC News, 05/12/2021; Pope Francis speech, BBC Parliament, 25/09/2015; Pope Francis Speech, BBC News, 29/07/2013; Pope Francis Speech, 21/04/2025; Pope Francis speech, BBC News, 24/04/2025; Gregory's Girl, Film Promo, Director: David Forsyth;, 1981; Paddy Higson interview, Singular Scots, BBC Radio 4, 05/09/1991; That Sinking Feeling, Film Promo, Director: Bill Forsyth, 1979; Cardiac Arrest, Series 1, Promo, BBC ONE, 21/04/1994;