Last Word

Matthew Bannister on

Kathy Boudin, the American radical activist who was sent to prison for her part in the killing of a security guard and two police officers during a robbery. While serving her sentence she became a campaigner for penal reform.

Dennis Waterman, the actor best known for his roles in TV series 'The Sweeney', 'Minder' and 'New Tricks'.

Sidney Altman, the American biologist who won the Nobel prize for his work on the function of RNA...

And Régine Zylberberg, the French nightclub owner who claimed to have invented the discotheque.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.

Archive clips used: CBS Sunday Morning, Weather Underground's accidental bombing 06/03/1970; Center for Justice at Columbia University, Interview with Kathy Boudin 09/05/2022; BBC One, Life and Times of Dennis Waterman 06/12/2000; Danziger Productions Ltd, Night Train To Inverness (1960); Cy Howard Productions / Desilu Productions, Fair Exchange (1962); Minder.org / YouTube clip, Dennis Waterman - Very Early Clip 07/10/2016; BHE Films / Crasto, Up The Junction (1968); Euston Films / Thames TV, The Sweeney (TV series) 1974; Euston Films / Thames TV, Minder 1979; BBC / Wall To Wall, New Tricks 01/04/2004; UC Berkeley Events, Unravelling the Mystery of Ribonucleic Acid 2010; i24NEWS Francais, Histoires Et Decouvertes Régine se raconte 4/04/2021.

Matthew Bannister on

Colonel Alan Jenkins, the Gurhka officer who was the last living Westerner to have travelled to independent Tibet.

Mary Monson, the solicitor who devoted her career to helping the poor and disadvantaged.

Elspeth Barker, the novelist and critic who lived a colourful life surrounded by animals in a Norfolk farmhouse.

Art Rupe, the American record producer who helped to launch the careers of Little Richard and Sam Cooke.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Nigel Warren

Archive clips used: BBC TV Archive, Jungle Green - Borneo 24/12/1964; BBC Radio Manchester, Trump's tour bus 13/07/2018; Mary Monson Solicitors - YouTube channel, client care philosophy 18/02/2014; BBC Radio 4, O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker 14/10/1992; BBC Radio 3, The Verb - Life, Nature & Literature 10/04/2004; CBS, Alan Freed Rock & Roll Dance Party 1957.

Matthew Bannister on

Yvonne Blenkinsop, one of the four so-called 'Headscarf Revolutionaries' from Hull who campaigned for better safety regulations on fishing trawlers after three were lost at sea in 1968.

Margaret Carswell, the doctor and ornithologist who treated survivors of the Ugandan civil war and in her spare time compiled the definitive guide to the country’s bird population.

Mikhail Vasenkov, the Russian spy who assumed a South American identity and lived undercover in the United States for decades.

Denise Coffey, the talented comic actor who made her name in the TV show 'Do Not Adjust Your Set'.

Producer: Emily Finch

Interviewed guest: Nell Carswell

Archive clips used: British Pathé, Hull - Trawlers Lost At Sea - Wives Demand Stricter Safety Measures 1968; BBC World Service, Witness - Hull's Headscarf Revolutionaries 12/02/2018; BBC TV, Look North - Yvonne Blenkinsop gets freedom of the city of Hull 20/12/2018; YouTube, Triple Trawler Disaster - Hull 1968; xeno-canto, XC292779 Speckled Tinkerbird / XC291649 Woodland Warbler; BBC World Service, Witness - The Fall of Idi Amin 29/04/2014; BBC News 24, Russia/US Spy Swap 09/07/2010; Rediffusion, Do Not Adjust Your Set Ep 05 25/01/1968; BBC Radio 4 Extra, Alison and Maud 20/05/2009.

John Wilson on

Mimi Reinhard, the Holocaust survivor who typed Oskar Schindler’s famous list and later turned down an offer from Steven Spielberg.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle, the uncompromising British composer of contemporary classical music who once caused panic at the Proms.

Sylvia Lancaster, the mother of Sophie Lancaster who was brutally murdered in 2007. Sylvia set up a foundation with the aim of promoting tolerance and inclusivity among young people...

And Letizia Battaglia, who defied the Mafia with her graphic photographs of their crimes.

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips used: BBC News 24, Mimi Reinhard 07/12/2007; Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment, Schindler's List - Trailer 1993; Oscars, Schindler's List wins Best Picture 1994; The Royal Opera - YouTube Channel, The Minotaur - Labyrinth Scene 1991; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Sir Harrison Birtwistle 16/01/1994; BBC Radio 3/English National Opera, The Mask Of Orpheus 01/04/1987; BBC News 24, Greater Manchester Police records offences against members of subcultures 04/04/2013; BBC TWO, Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster 12/03/2015; BBC Radio 4 Extra, Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster 11/10/2015; Granada TV, Coronation Street 07/05/2021.

John Wilson remembers the lives of those who have recently died including Jordan Mooney the punk icon known as ‘the original Sex Pistol’ who ended up as a veterinary nurse.

Jack Higgins, the thriller writer who hit the jackpot with The Eagle Has Landed, and sold more than 250 million books.

Robert Ashe, an aid worker who spent most of his working life supporting refugees all over the world.

And David McKee - author and illustrator who created timeless childhood favourites including Mr Benn and Elmer the multi-coloured elephant.

Producer: Neil George

Archive Clips Used: BBC 6Music, Three Minute Epiphany - The Essence of Punk and Defiance 05/06/2019; BBC TWO, The Culture Show - Jordan Mooney interview 01/07/2014; Megalovision/ Whaley-Malin Productions, Jubilee - trailer (1978); BBC Radio 2, The John Dunn Show 01/07/1992; Audible Audiobook/Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, The Savage Day by Jack Higgins 2019; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Jack Higgins 12/12/1981; Associated General Films/ ITC Entertainment, The Eagle Has Landed - trailer (1976); BBC Radio 4, Profile - Jack Higgins 27/04/1984; ThamesTV/ Freemantle, The Killing Fields - Cambodia VT50536 18/01/1990; BBC News, 29/06/1980; BBC News, 23/10/1999; BBC Breakfast News, interview with David McKee 25/05/2019; BookTrust, David McKee reads Elmer 25/05/2022; Books Alive! YouTube Channel, Not Now Bernard by David McKee 08/11/2017; BBC TWO, Mr Benn - Pirate 31/03/1972; Made in Me - YouTube Channel, Me Books - David McKee interview 10/01/2013.

Matthew Bannister on

Derek Mack, the rocket engineer who helped Britain enter the space age

June Brown, the actor best known as Dot Cotton in Eastenders

Dr Doris A. Derby, the American civil rights activist and photographer who took historic pictures of the struggle for equality

Dave Sales, the Dorset fisherman who fought a 23 year campaign to protect the sea bed in Lyme Bay.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Dion Mack

Archive clips used: British Pathé, The Black Knight Rocket 1958; BBC One, The One Show - The Rocket Men 25/01/2019; BBC TV Archive, Black Arrow Project - 24 Hours 27/10/1971; BBC One, Eastenders, 1985-2020; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - June Brown 17/02/2017; British Movietone, V E Day in London 1945; Granada TV, Coronation Street, 19/08/1970; Library of Congress, Southern Oral History Program in North Carolina - Doris Derby Interview 2011; Storylines, Guardians of the Reef Project - Interview with David Sales 27/07/2017.

Matthew Bannister on

The first female US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was a leading advocate of the NATO bombing campaign aimed at stopping ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

Peter Padfield, the naval historian who as a young man took part in the reconstruction of the voyage of the Mayflower from the UK to the USA.

Christina Smith, the colourful entrepreneur known as “the queen of Covent Garden” for her property and business development in that area of London.

Sheila Paine, who travelled to remote areas of the world to build up a renowned collection of textiles.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Jim Naughtie

Archive used: One to One: Madeleine Albright, BBC Two, TX 12.9.2005; A Woman Called Smith, BBC Two, TX 30.4.1997

Matthew Bannister on

Bruce Page, the investigative journalist best known for leading the Sunday Times Insight team’s expose of the Thalidomide scandal.

Dottie Frazier, the pioneering American scuba diver who kept a boa constrictor as a pet and rode a motorcycle until she was in her nineties.

Josephine Veasey, the British mezzo-soprano acclaimed for her performances in works by Wagner and Berlioz.

And Maynard Davies, who left school unable to read and write, went on to become a well-known bacon curer and chronicled his extraordinary life in a series of books.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Magnus Linklater

Archive clips used: AP Archive, How West Germany Treats Thalidomide Children 10/12/1972; BBC One, The Editors: Press and Politicians 02/07/1978; Alec Peirce Scuba Channel, Dottie Frazier - A Diving Legend 09/01/2020; BBC Radio 4, A Musical Evening - Josephine Veasey 01/08/1985; YouTube - TheScottReaProject/Channel 4, Interview with Maynard Davies 1996; BBC Radio 4, The Food Programme - Interview with Maynard Davies 23/07/2000; AmericanRhetoric.com/YouTube Channel, Madeleine Albright - International Women's Day speech 08/03/2010.

John Wilson on Mary Coombs, the world's first female computer programmer in the commercial sector; Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist who saved millions of lives in the world's poorest countries; Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper, who had a run-in with General Eisenhower and later went on to translate the comic book Tintin; and William Hurt, Oscar-winning actor.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Fred Frank Land OBE

Archive clips used: Putney High School YouTube Channel, Mary Coombs - 125th Anniversary Alumnae Portrait Exhibition 09/11/2018; LEO Computer Society / The Centre for Computing History, Sounds of the Leo Computer - LEO III in Operation 1964; Google / computingheritage YouTube Channel, Mary Coombs shares her story 25/09/2013; Partners in Health YouTube Channel, Paul Farmer - I believe in healthcare as a human right 21/05/2009; Decades TV Network, America Enters World War II 1941; British Movietone, Festival of Britain Opening 03/05/1951; BBC Cymru / Moulinsart, Tintin's Adventure with Frank Gardner 30/10/2011; Ellipse Programme/Nelvana Ltd, Tintin - The Crab With The Golden Claws (DVD) 1992; BBC Radio 4 Extra, The Adventures of Tintin By Hergé - Explorers On The Moon (Radio Drama) 06/02/1992; The Ladd Company, Body Heat (1981) film; HB Filmes / FilmDallas, Kiss of The Spiderwoman (1985) film; Marvel Studios / Vita-Ray Dutch Productions (III) / Studio Babelsberg, Captain America - Civil War (2016) film.

Matthew Bannister on

Shirley Hughes, the children’s author and illustrator whose books created a welcoming and recognisable picture of family life.

Roger Graef, the documentary filmmaker who revealed the inner workings of the criminal justice system, the planning authorities and the treatment of children in care.

Shane Warne, the Australian spin bowler hailed as one of the greatest cricketers of all time, but also known for his off the pitch party lifestyle.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Tom Vulliamy

Archive clips used: Random House Children's Publishers UK, Shirley Hughes reading 'Dogger' 18/09/2013; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Shirley Hughes 25/03/2001; BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour - Shirley Hughes on 30 Years of Alfie 06/06/2011; Amnesty International, A Pleasure at Her Majesty's - documentary 1976; BAFTA, Tribute to Roger Graef 02/05/2014; Derrick Knight and Partners/ BFI, One of Them is Brett - documentary 1965; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Robert Graef 26/10/2014; BBC One, Police - A Complaint of Rape 18/01/1982; BBC Radio 5Live, Remembering Shane Warne 04/03/2022; YouTube, 5 Magical Wickets of Shane Warne 05/08/2018; 60 Minutes Australia/ YouTube Channel, Shane Warne Interview 04/03/2022; Cricket.com.au/ YouTube Channel, From the Vault - Warne's Four Turns Adelaide on its Head 19/04/2020; BBC Radio 4, News - Shane Warne Sent Home from World Cup 11/02/2003; BBC Radio 4, Today - Tribute to Shane Warne 05/04/2022.