Last Word

Matthew Bannister on

Malcolm Mowbray, the British film director best known for making “A Private Function” - the comedy about wartime rationing starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film’s writer Alan Bennett pays tribute.

Victoria Amelina, the Ukrainian novelist and war crimes researcher who was killed in a missile strike in Kramatorsk.

Roger Lovegrove, the ornithologist who played a leading role in re-introducing red kites to the UK.

Mavis Cheek, who wrote humorous novels about middle class marriage and relationships. We’re joined by her friend Helen Lederer.

Interviewee: Olha Mukha

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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Dame Ann Leslie, the journalist who reported on some of the most significant events of recent times.

Lord Kerslake, who was Head of the Civil Service under the coalition government.

Diane Rowe, the table tennis champion who won the world doubles title with her twin sister Rosalind.

Tim Blackmore, the radio executive who produced the first Radio 1 breakfast show and pioneered independent production in the industry.

Interviewee: Lindsey Hilsum

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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Matthew Bannister on

Baroness McDonagh

Margaret McDonagh was the youngest person and the first woman to become General Secretary of the Labour Party. She was a key player in the New Labour project that helped the party win a landslide in 1997 and two subsequent terms in office. Margaret McDonagh was born in Mitcham in South London where her mother worked as a psychiatric nurse and her father was a building worker.

Born: 26 June 1961. Died: 24 June 2023. Age: 61

Craig Brown

Scotland’s longest serving football manager – taking the national team to the Euro 96 finals and the World Cup in 1998. He started his career as a player for Dunkirk and Falkirk before turning to coaching in 1977.

Born: 1 July 1940. Died: 26 June 2023. Age: 82

Godfrey Merlen

Conservationist and author who devoted much of his life to studying the Galapagos Islands. He lived on the archipelago in the Eastern Pacific for fifty years. The area is noted for its large numbers of unique species which were studied by Chares Darwin and gave rise to his theory of evolution by natural selection. Godfrey Merlen was born in the Cotswolds. After leaving university he worked in the fishing industry and first became concerned about the damage humans were doing to nature.

Died: May 10th, 2022

Winnie Ewing

One of most high-profile pioneers of the Scottish Independence movement. In the 1960s, the Glasgow criminal lawyer won an unexpected by-election victory which made her the first Scottish National Party MP at Westminster.

Born: 10 July 1929 Aged: 21 June 2023. Age 93

Producer: Ed Prendeville

Interviewee: Sir Tony Blair

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Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers, revealing the US government’s secret approach to the Vietnam War.

Glenda Jackson, the Oscar winning actor and Labour MP

Melanie Phillips, who helped to change embedded racial prejudice in the social work system

Sir Ben Helfgott, who survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps and went on to become captain of Britain’s Olympic weightlifting team

Producer: Ed Prendeville

Interviewee: Robert Ellsberg

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Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's flamboyant and controversial media mogul and four-time Prime Minister.

Kathryn Harries, The soprano sang in more than 60 major operatic roles and raised millions of pounds by doing sponsored charity walks.

Francoise Gilot, A celebrated painter and printmaker whose career spanned 8 decades. She was also known for a turbulent relationship with Pablo Picasso, with whom she had two children, Claude and Paloma.

Cormac McCarthy, Author who wrote 12 novels including The Road and No Country for Old Men, both of which were adapted as successful films.

Interviewee: Alastair Campbell & Nathalie Tocci

Producer: Ed Prendeville

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Mel Parry, the SAS veteran who was part of the team that stormed the Iranian embassy in London in 1980.

Professor Alice Coleman, the geographer whose modifications to modernist high rise estates won the support of Margaret Thatcher.

Hugh Callaghan, the labourer who was one of six men arrested after the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974. He served 16 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Cynthia Weil, the American songwriter behind hits like The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”, The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” and Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again”.

Interviewee: Bob Shepherd

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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Jeremy Clarke, who chronicled his experiences of living a “low life” in the Spectator magazine for more than 20 years. We have a tribute from Eric Idle.

The women’s rights campaigner Dr. Moira Woods, who set up the Irish Republic’s first dedicated sexual assault treatment unit.

Iain Johnstone, the film critic and documentary maker who told the stories of stars like Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand and John Wayne.

Rita Lee, the singer known as Brazil’s “Queen of Rock”

Interviewee: Eric Idle

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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Interviewee: Dan Franklin

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

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Newton Minow, who was just 35 when he was appointed chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission by President John F. Kennedy. He gave a famous speech describing TV as a “vast wasteland” and helped to set up the Public Broadcasting Service.

Vicky Neale, the mathematician who responded to her diagnosis with cancer by launching a podcast discussing the role of maths in cancer research.

Lois Keith, who campaigned for equal rights for disabled people.

Gerald Rose, the children’s book illustrator who won the Kate Greenaway Medal for his work on “Old Winkle and the Seagulls”

Interviewee: Nell Minow

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive used:

Newt Minow interview, Talk of the Nation, NPR, 06/09/2006; Newton Minow's interview, PBS News Hour, YouTube, uploaded 08/05/2021; Newton Minow on his 1961 "Vast Wasteland" speech, Emmy TV Legends, 04/05/2011; President Obama Awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom 2016, The Obama White House, YouTube, uploaded 22/11/2016; Vicky Neale, Maths+Cancer podcast, University of Oxford, date unknown - source: oxford.shorthandstories.com/maths-plus-cancer/ ; Vicky Neale appearance on The Infinity Monkey Cage, BBC Radio 4, 07/07/2014; Vicky Neale, Oxford Mathematics, YouTube uploaded 27/05/2022;

Matthew Bannister on

The opera singer Grace Bumbry who broke down barriers by becoming the first black performer at the Bayreuth Festival.

Don Short, the showbusiness journalist who coined the term “Beatlemania” and became good friends with the Fab Four.

Dame Rosemary Cramp, the archaeologist who deepened our understanding of the Anglo Saxon period.

And Wee Willie Harris, the flamboyant rock’n’roller name checked in Ian Dury’s song “Reasons To Be Cheerful”

Interviewee: David Brewer

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive used:

Royal Visit to Kenya - First Stage of the Commonwealth Tour, British Pathe, 1952; A taste of Beatlemania in the 1960s, CBS News, CBS YouTube channel, uploaded 21/01/2014; Don Short interview about the writing of his memoir 'The Beatles and Beyond', The Surrey Edit, YouTube uploaded 24/03/2020; Rosemary Cramp interview, On Site, BBC Radio, 03/09/1967; Professor Rosemary Cramp interview, PM, BBC Radio 4, 29/05/1979; Rosemary Cramp, Professor of Archaeology at Durham University, talks to Sue Macgregor about her life and work, BBC Radio 4, 08/12/1988; Meet The Archaeologist: Rosemary Cramp, YouTube uploaded 04/07/2014; Wee Willie Harris – Still Rocking, Celluloid Tapestry, YouTube uploaded 29/06/2023.