Last Word Podcast
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently
Episodes to download
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Helen McCrory (pictured), Hans K眉ng, Eric Gordon, George Reynolds
Fri 23 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a theologian, an editor, a businessman.
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Baroness Shirley Williams (pictured), Glynn Lunney, Lyn Macdonald
Fri 16 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a Nasa flight director and a historian.
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Doreen Lofthouse OBE, Dr Chris Doake, Barbara Hosking CBE, Bernice Cohen
Fri 9 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a businesswoman, a glaciologist, a civil servant, an investor.
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Bob Davey MBE; George Segal (pictured); Lady Violet Aitken; Tony Hendra
Fri 2 Apr 2021
Matthew Bannister on a church restorer, an actor, a power boat racer, a comedian.
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Nawal El Saadawi (pictured), Brigadier Jack Thomas, President John Magufuli, Ion Mihai Pacepa
Fri 26 Mar 2021
Matthew Bannister on a feminist writer, a soldier, a president and a spy.
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Murray Walker (pictured), King Goodwill Zwelithini, Mary Asprey, Bunny Wailer
Fri 19 Mar 2021
Julian Worricker on a king, a commentator, a charity founder, a musician.
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Nicola Pagett (pictured), Stan Shaw, Prof John Mallard, Rupert Neve
Fri 12 Mar 2021
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a 鈥渓ittle mester鈥�, a physicist, a recording engineer.
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Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani (pictured), Sidney Alford, Alison Lurie, Chris Barber
Fri 5 Mar 2021
Matthew Bannister on an oil minister, an explosives expert, an author and a jazz musician.
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Sir William Macpherson (pictured), Margaret Snyder, Eleanor Wadsworth, Iain Pattinson
Fri 26 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on: a judge, a UN civil servant, a pilot, a comedy writer.
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Carlos Menem (pictured), Mary Wilson, Robin Pooley, Larry Flynt
Fri 19 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on a president, a singer, a businessman and a pornographer.
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George Shultz, Yvonne Conolly, Maureen Colquhoun, Christopher Plummer (pictured)
Fri 12 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a headteacher, an MP and an actor.
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Lewis Wolpert, Cicely Tyson, Prince Khalid Abdullah and Captain Sir Tom Moore (pictured)
Fri 5 Feb 2021
Matthew Bannister on a biologist, an actor, a Saudi Prince and a national hero.
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Larry King (pictured), Catherine Ennis, Margaret Weston, Gerry Cottle
Fri 29 Jan 2021
Matthew Bannister on a broadcaster, an organist, a curator, a circus owner
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Phil Spector (pictured), Grace Robertson, Paul Nihill
Fri 22 Jan 2021
Matthew Bannister on a record producer, a photographer, a race walker.
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Michael Apted (pictured), Kay Ullrich, Katharine Whitehorn, Reginald Foster
Fri 15 Jan 2021
Julian Worricker on a film-maker, a politician, a journalist, a translator.
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Sir Brian Urquhart (pictured), Albert Roux, Dame Rachel Waterhouse, Gerry Marsden
Fri 8 Jan 2021
Matthew Bannister on a civil servant, a chef, a consumer champion, a singer.
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Stella Tennant, George Bizos, Joan Feynman, Rishi Kapoor
New Year's Day 2021
Matthew Bannister on a model, a lawyer, an astrophysicist and an actor.
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Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy, Dame Fanny Waterman
Sun 27 Dec 2020
Julian Worricker on Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy and Dame Fanny Waterman
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John le Carr茅 (pictured), Patience Thomson, Doug Scott, Dame Barbara Windsor
Fri 18 Dec 2020
Matthew Bannister on an author, an educator, a mountaineer, an actor
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Mario Molina, Irina Antonova, Val茅ry Giscard d鈥橢staing, Peter Alliss (pictured)
Fri 11 Dec 2020
Matthew Bannister on a chemist, a curator, a President, a golf commentator.
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Hamish MacInnes OBE, Jos茅 Padilla, Anne Rasa
Fri 4 Dec 2020
Matthew Bannister on a mountaineer, an ethologist, a DJ.
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Diego Maradona, Rosalind Grimshaw, Jan Morris CBE
Fri 27 Nov 2020
Matthew Bannister on a footballer, a glass artist, an author
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Des O鈥機onnor CBE, Richard Trim OBE, Dr Ataullah Siddiqui, Edith Raymond Locke
Fri 20 Nov 2020
Matthew Bannister on a comedian, a radar engineer, a scholar, an editor.
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Lord Sacks, John Sessions, Joanna Harcourt-Smith, Jim Radford
Fri 13 Nov 2020
Matthew Bannister on a rabbi, an actor, a podcaster, a singer.
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Sir Sean Connery, Eavan Boland, Nobby Stiles MBE, Bobby Ball
Fri 6 Nov 2020
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a poet, a footballer, a comedian.
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David Toole OBE, Professor Valerie Curtis, Frank Bough, Jill Paton Walsh CBE
Fri 30 Oct 2020
Matthew Bannister on a dancer, a hygiene expert, a TV presenter, an author
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Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall
Fri 23 Oct 2020
Matthew Bannister on a lyricist, an adventurer, a publisher, a nun.
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Derek Mahon, Professor Gerta Vrbov谩, Ang Rita Sherpa, Helena Shenel
Fri 16 Oct 2020
Matthew Bannister on a poet, a physiologist, a mountaineer, a voice coach.
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Kenzo Takada, Colonel John Waddy, Frank Windsor, Ann Getty
Fri 9 Oct 2020
Matthew Bannister on a designer, a soldier, an actor, a socialite
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Juliette Greco, Bob Gore, Dame Georgina Mace, Jiri Menzel
Fri 2 Oct 2020
Julian Worricker on a singer, an inventor, an ecologist and a film director.
