Last Word

Matthew Bannister onSir Bobby Charlton, who is hailed as England’s greatest ever footballer.Dr. Evelyn Fox Keller, who explored the effects of gender on the study of science.Julian Bahula, the South African musician and anti- apartheid activistAnd Haydn Gwynne, the versatile actor known for her roles in Billy Elliott and The Audience on stage and The Windsors and Drop the Dead Donkey on screen. Andy Hamilton pays tribute.Producer: Ed Prendeville

Kirsty Lang onCharles ‘Chuck’ Feeney, the secret billionaire who gave most of his money away to good causes. Phyllis ‘Pippa’ Latour, the fearless secret agent who was parachuted into Nazi occupied Normandy a month before D-Day. Florence Fisher, who was adopted as a child and later led a movement to help millions of others find their birth parents. Dr Nicholas Arnold, one of the world’s leading experts on reptiles. Interviewee: Conor O'Clery Interviewee: Clare Mulley Interviewee: Lorraine Dusky Interviewee: Andie Markoe-Byrne Interviewee: Chris Arnold Interviewee: Dr Colin McCarthy Producer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Secret Billionaire: The Chuck Feeney Story, RTE Factual, YouTube, Atlantic Phil, Uploaded 05/06/2010; Chuck Feeney, Founding Chairman of The Atlantic Philanthropies, on Empathy, YouTube, Atlantic Phil, Uploaded 13/04/2011; Discovery with Jill Neville, BBC World Service, 01/06/1988; Adoption – The Right To Know, interview with Florence Fisher, Harvard University, 01/06/1990; Adoption records unsealed, News 8, News report, Wish-TV Indiana, YouTube uploaded 05/07/2018;

Kirsty Lang onThe talented young scientist Kirsty Smitten who did pioneering work developing a new generation of antibiotics. Singer Kat Anderson who made pop history with Motown’s first Number One hit: Please Mr Postman. The architect Beverly Willis who devoted much of her career to promoting her female peers. Tony Wade who helped built Britain’s first black owned multi-million-pound business selling hair and beauty products to Afro Caribbean women. Producer: Ed Prendeville

Matthew Bannister on the acclaimed actor Sir Michael Gambon. His son Fergus reveals his love of cars, antique firearms – and lying to journalists. The peace campaigner Pat Arrowsmith, who went to prison a number of times for direct action protests. Treleven Haysom, the stone mason who devoted his life to working, quarrying and telling the history of Purbeck stone.Dianne Feinstein, the US Senator who campaigned for women’s rights and gun control and revealed the CIA’s use of torture.Producer: Ed Prendeville

Matthew Bannister onGita Mehta, the author who set out to reveal the truth about India to the West. Her friend the theatre director Sir Richard Eyre pays tribute.Matteo Messina Denaro, the Italian mafia boss who boasted he could “fill a cemetery” with his murder victims.Irma Brenman Pick, the psychoanalyst who investigated the emotional reactions between patient and therapist.John Stevenson, who wrote some of the best loved episodes of Coronation Street. Sally Wainwright shares her memories of working with him.Interviewee: Sir Richard Eyre Interviewee: Barbie Latza Nadeau Interviewee: Daniel Pick Interviewee: Margaret Rustin Interviewee: Sally WainwrightProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Gita Mehta interview with Charlie Rose: The complexity and diversity of India, Charlie Rose website, 12/05/1997; Paperbacks: Gita Mehta interview about her book Karma Cola, BBC One, 29/04/1981; Gita Mehta documentary, Dateline Bangladesh, 18/12/2014; Gita Mehta interview, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 02/07/1990; News report: Falcone killed in bomb explosion, BBC News, 23/05/1992; News report: Anti-Mafia Judge murdered, BBC News, 19/07/1992; Matteo Messina Denaro arrested, The World Tonight, Radio 4, 16/01/2023; Ken Barlow Finds Out About Deidre’s Affair, Coronation Street YouTube channel, uploaded 21/01/2015; Hilda Ogden unveils her new "muriel " , Coronation Street, 1976; Rovers Return scene, Coronation Street, 11/09/1978; Reg’s Waterbed Floods His Apartment, Coronation Street YouTube Channel, uploaded 30 May 2017; Brass opening scene, ITV, 21/02/1983; Ken gives Raquel French Lessons , Coronation Street Facebook page, uploaded 19/08/2020;

Matthew Bannister onSir Horace Ové, the director whose films told stories of the experiences of black people in Britain.Su Gorman, who campaigned for justice for the victims of the contaminated blood scandal, after her own husband was infected with hepatitis C.Roger Whittaker, the singer best known for his hits Durham Town and The Last Farewell, and his skill at whistling.Jean Combes, the naturalist whose meticulous records of the moment when trees came into leaf in the spring cast light on the effects of climate change.Interviewee: Zak Ové Interviewee: Jan Smith Interviewee: Caroline Wheeler Interviewee: Siobhan Grogan Interviewee: Sue Stout Interviewee: Professor Tim SparksProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Horace Ové interview Galeforce Television, YouTube uploaded 04/10/2010; Horace Ové interview, Caribbean Links, BBC Radio 4, 03/02/1984; Reggae, Review, BBC Two, 26/03/1971; Horace Ové interview, Newsnight, BBC Two, 02/02/1982; Pressure: Discussion Panel, The Derek Jarman Lab, uploaded 21/05/2021; Play for Today: A Hole in Babylon, BBC One, 29/11/1979; Contaminated Blood Inquiry, Today, Radio 4, 24/09/2018; Contaminated Blood Scandal, BBC News, 17/08/2022; Roger Whittaker interview, BBC Radio 2, 01/01/2000.

Matthew Bannister on Mike Yarwood, whose impressions of famous people made him one of TV’s biggest stars in the 1970s and 80s.Ada Deer, the Native American campaigner who became head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under President Clinton.Professor Sir Ian Wilmut, the embryologist who led the team that created Dolly the Sheep – the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. Dorothy Purdew, who left school at fourteen but went on to build up the Champneys chain of health farms and spa resorts.Interviewee: Emma Freud Interviewee: Gyles Brandreth Interviewee: Ben Wikler Interviewee: Dr Bill Ritchie Interviewee: Stephen PurdewProducer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Archive used: Mike Yarwood sketch as Prime Minister Ted Heath, Christmas with the Stars, BBC One, 25/12/1972; Denis Healy sketch, Look – Mike Yarwood, BBC one, 07/02/1976; Harold Wilson sketch, The Best of Mike Yarwood, BBC One, 23/04/1976; Mike Yarwood interview, On the Ropes, BBC Radio 4, 01/12/1995; Mike Yarwood impressions Nixon/Cooper/Moore, Listen – Mike Yarwood, BBC Radio 2, 08/12/1973; Emma Freud as Princess Diana, Mike Yarwood’s Royal Variety Show, Thames Production, 30/09/1986; Ada Deer interview, NPR Radio, uploaded 17/08/2023; Ada Deer interview, YouTube, uploaded 04/01/2013; Native American Experience, Ada Deer, Communications for Change, 01/01/1976; Professor Sir Ian Wilmut interview, Life Scientific, BBC Radio 4, 11/10/2016; Dolly The Sheep – BBC News, BBC Archive; Dorothy Perdue , Champneys, ITV, YouTube uploaded 04/07/2014;

Matthew Bannister onMohamed Al-Fayed, the controversial businessman who owned Harrods department store and Fulham Football Club. His son Dodi died in the car crash that killed Princess Diana.Dorothy Goodman, the educationalist who helped to found the consumer affairs magazine that became known as “Which?”.Professor Anthony Bryceson, the tropical medicine expert who was kidnapped by guerrilla forces in Laos.Denyse Plummer, the singer who overcame prejudice to be crowned Calypso Monarch in her home islands of Trinidad and TobagoInterviewee: Tom Bower Interviewee: Harriet Goodman Interviewee: Professor Sir David Warrell Interviewee: Carl 'Beaver' HendersonProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive Used: Mohamed AL Fayed, Press Interview, BBC News, 01/03/1990; Mohamed Al Fayed refused British Passport, BBC News, 06/05/1999; The death of Princess Dianna and Dodi Al Fayed, BBC Radio, 31/08/1997; Mohamed Al Fayed interview, Tabloid Tales: Mohamed Al Fayed, BBC ONE, 31/03/2004; Inquest into the death of Princess Diana, BBC News, 04/2008; Dorothy Goodman interview, Which? 60 Years of Which, Source: which.co.uk, 08/07/2022; Kitchen Gadget (1950), Pathe News, 16/10/1950 ; Denyse Plummer interview, Woman Making A Difference, TT Online, YouTube uploaded 17 /05/2020

Matthew Bannister on:Julian Haviland who was political editor at ITN and then the Times, covering key events at Westminster in the 1970s and 80s.Johaar Mosaval, the South African dancer who overcame racial prejudice to fulfil his dream of becoming a ballet star. Tricia Tyler, who edited the Nursing Times.Matyelok Gibbs, the actor and director who secured the future of London’s famous Unicorn Children’s Theatre.Interviewee: Philip Webster Interviewee: Sharon Paulson Interviewee: Janet Snell Interviewee: Ursula JonesProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used: Julian Haviland interview with Prime Minister Ted Heath, Associated Press, 22/01/1974; Julian Haviland interview with Margaret Thatcher, ITN Archive YouTube Channel, 04/10/1976, uploaded to YouTube 17/08/2023; Julian Haviland interview with Matt Chorley, Red Box podcast, The Political Editors: Julian Haviland, The Times, 23/08/2023; Julian Haviland Interview with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, ITN archive, 23/07/1980; Johaar Mosaval interview, University of Cape Town South Africa, Uploaded on YouTube 17/04/2020; Johaar Mosaval interview, Al Jazeera English, Uploaded on YouTube 12/03/2023; Jewel in The Crown, promo, Granada TV, 1984; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Promo, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2010;

John Wilson on:The journalist and broadcaster who became synonymous with the British chat show, Sir Michael Parkinson.Italian soprano Renata Scotto, one of the biggest stars of opera in the 1960s and 70sJohn Brierly, the author of bestselling guidebooks to the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routeThe teacher, anthropologist and communist Isobel Crook who lived and worked in China for most of her life.Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used Isabel Crook: We belonged and this is why we stayed, Youtube uploaded 18 Jul 2021; Isabel Crook My Hundred Years CCTV NEWS, Youtube uploaded 26 Jul 2016; Kate Adie – Tiananmen Square 1989, BBC News Archive; Parkinson Theme tune, BBC 1 19 June 1971 to 10 April 1982.