Last Word

Matthew Bannister on Nora Cortiñas, a founding member of Argentina’s “Mothers of the Disappeared” campaign group. Her son Gustavo was 24 when he was arrested by the country’s right-wing dictatorship. He was never seen again.

Belinda Bellville, the fashion designer who dressed every female member of the royal family apart from Queen Elizabeth. Her business partner David Sassoon shares his memories.

The poet John Burnside whose acclaimed work reflected his troubled childhood in Cowdenbeath and Corby.

Roger Corman, the American film director and producer known for his prolific output of low budget pictures.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

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Richard M Sherman who teamed up with his brother Robert to write some of Disney’s best loved songs.

Professor Wendy James CBE, the anthropologist who studied the Uduk tribes of Sudan.

June Mendoza OBE, the portrait painter whose subjects included members of the Royal Family, Prime Ministers and celebrities.

Morgan Spurlock, the film maker best known for his Oscar nominated documentary about the fast food industry “Supersize Me”.

Interviewee: Brian Sibley

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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The Irish rugby star and businessman Sir Tony O’Reilly. He made billions but ended up bankrupt.

The hardline President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi.

Penny Simkin, who championed the role of birth doulas to help mothers during and after labour.

Professor Alasdair Geddes, the infectious diseases expert who diagnosed the world’s last ever case of smallpox – in Birmingham.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

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Dame Shirley Conran, the journalist and author best known for her books “Superwoman” and “Lace”.

Baroness Doreen Massey, the educator and former director of the Family Planning Association

Beverly LaHaye the founder of Concerned Women of America who campaigned to stop the Equal Rights Amendment.

Steve Albini, the controversial musician who worked many influential albums including Nirvava’s “In Utero”.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

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Matthew Bannister on Anne Dagg, the Canadian biologist known as The Woman Who Loves Giraffes for her lifelong study of the animals.

Professor Ross Anderson, the computer scientist who was a leading expert on data protection and online security.

Reverend Cecil Murray, the pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles who played a pivotal role during the riots of 1992.

Kris Hellenga, who was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 23 and set up the charity Coppafeel to encourage other young women to check their breasts.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

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Matthew Bannister on an author, a campaigner, an Olympic medallist, a conductor

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The American journalist Terry Anderson who was held captive in Lebanon for almost seven years. In an emotional interview, his daughter Sulome tells us how she followed in his footsteps as she tried to connect with a father she met for the first time when she was seven years old.

Lord Field who, the Labour MP Frank Field who campaigned tirelessly for welfare reform.

Trina Robbins the feminist cartoonist and writer who was the first woman to illustrate the Wonder Woman comics.

Ann Trevenen Jenkin the first woman Grand Bard of Cornwall and a founding member of the Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow.

Interviewee: Sulome Anderson

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive Used:

Sulome Anderson writes a letter to her father on his birthday, BBC News, 07/10/1991; Terry Anderson release, Live press conference, BBC News, 04/12/1991; Terry Anderson interview, BBC Radio 1, 01/01/2000; Terry Anderson on What It’s Like to Live as a Hezbollah Hostage, Slate. YouTube Channel uploaded, 17/11/2014; Trina Robbins, Meet Trina Robbins, the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for D.C. Comics, KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco, YouTube uploaded 30/03/2023; Frank Field MP interview, Straight Talk, BBC News, 19/06/2010; Frank Field, Profile, BBC Radio 4, 13/12/2014; Frank Field, Lent Talks, BBC Radio 4, 01/04/2009; Ann Trevenen Jenkin interviewed by Carmen Talbot for Dreadnought South West’s Rebellious Sounds Archive, 2019; Ann Trevenen Jenkin interview, Cornish March, BBC News, 21/06/1997;

Sulome Anderson first met her father – journalist Terry Anderson – at the American Embassy in Damascus. She was seven years old and he had just been released from nearly seven years as a hostage in Lebanon. She desperately wanted to build a relationship with him, even going so far as to become a war correspondent herself and tracking down and meeting one of his captors. But Terry’s traumatic experiences made the task very challenging. When she was nearly kidnapped in the Middle East herself, she became determined to break out of the “cycle of fascination with war” that had bedevilled the family. In this moving interview recorded shortly after Terry’s death she speaks candidly about the pressures they faced.

Matthew Bannister on:

Sir Paul Fox, the respected TV executive who commissioned some of the best loved programmes of the 1960s and 70s. We have a tribute from his former colleague Sir David Attenborough.

Lynne Reid Banks, the author best known for her novel “The L Shaped Room.”

Joan Hills, the artist who played a key role in the art world of the 1960s and, with her husband and two children, was part of the Boyle Family quartet.

Amnon Weinstein, the luthier who collected and restored violins which had been played in concentration camps during the Second World War.

Interviewee: Sir David Attenborough

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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Interviewee: Roland Pease

Producer: Catherine Powell

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