Last Word

Kirsty Lang on

Colin Powell, who rose from an impoverished childhood in Harlem to become US Secretary of State

A much loved Irish poet: Brendan Kennelly who learnt his storytelling skills growing up in his father’s pub in County Kerry

A ground-breaking female scientist Myriam Sarachik who had to contend with the deeply entrenched sexism

And the extraordinary story of John Clunies-Ross - former ruler of the Cocos Islands which he ran for many years as a private fiefdom

Produced by Neil George

Interviewed guest: Karen de Young

Archive clips used: AP, US President Biden on Colin Powell 18/10/2021; NBC, Colin Powell addresses UN Sec Council 2003; Aspen Ideas Festival, Colin Powell 26/09/2007; Bloodaxe Books, Driving to Work With Brendan Kennelly 19/09/2011; CUNY TV, Women to Women - Dr Myriam P. Sarachik 28/04/2005; David R.M. Irving - YouTube, The World of Cocos Malay Music and Dance 30/12/2020; ABC (Australian TV), Dynasties - The Clunies-Ross Family 2004; Movietone, Queen at Cocos Islands and Ceylon 22/04/1954.

Matthew Bannister on

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, once described as the world’s most dangerous man - but hailed as a hero in his native Pakistan for leading the country’s development of nuclear weapons.

Dr. R. Allen Gardner, the American ethologist who trained a chimpanzee to use sign language.

Beresford King-Smith, who played a key backstage role in the success of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

And memories of the long life of Joyce Jackson who has died aged 107.

Interviewed guest: Stephen Maddock OBE

Archive clips used: DocsOnline, Nuclear Tango 26/05/2009; AP, Clinton condemns Pakistans Nuclear Tests 28/05/1998; Al Jazeera English, Abdul Qadeer Khan 10/10/2021; Geo News, Funeral prayers for Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan 10/10/2021; WGBH, BBC Horizon - Washoe the Chimp 04/11/1974; YouTube, Unidentified clip of Beatrix and Allen Gardner with Washoe the Chimp 13/02/2009; Sarah Allatt, Private interviews of Joyce Jackson 2021; BBC, Scrapbook for 1924 23/02/1955; British Pathé, Sir Alan Cobham shows how he will refuel in the air 1934; Inter-Pathé History, British Declaration of War 03/09/1939; BBC Radio 4, On The Town - Birmingham 02/01/1980; Central Television, Simon Rattle on the Record 1988.

Matthew Bannister on

Antony Hewish, the radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for his work on discovering pulsars.

Roger Michell, the film, theatre and TV director who brought us Notting Hill, The Buddha of Suburbia and Persuasion.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the President of Algeria for more than twenty years, who was ousted from power after trying to secure a fifth term in office.

And Jane Powell, the American actor, singer and dancer who starred in many classic film musicals in the 1940s and 50s.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Astronomer Royal Lord Rees

Archive clips used: Web of Stories, Antony Hewish interview 01/08/2017; New York Times, Almost Famous - The Silent Pulse of the Universe 27/07/2021; Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Notting Hill (film) 1999; BBC Radio 3, The Essay – Roger Michell 06/05/2016; BBC 2, Downtown Lagos 07/10/1992; Paramount/Scott Rudin, Changing Lanes (film) 2002; BBC/Millésime Productions/WGBH, Jane Austen’s Persuasion (tv series) 1995; YouTube, From Our Mountains – revolution song; BBC Newsnight, Algerian Elections 15/04/1999; BBC World Service, This Week and Africa – Algeria Referendum 18/09/1999; BBC Radio 4, Today – Algerian Elections 09/04/2009; HBO/VICE News, The Youth-Led Protests That Forced Algeria's President To Not Run Again 13/03/2019; SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Conversation with Jane Powell 02/12/1997; Charles R. Rogers Productions, Song of the Open Road (trailer) 1944; NBC RADIO, The Big Show 12/11/1950.

Matthew Bannister on

Lord Gowrie, the Tory peer who served as Northern Ireland minister and Arts minister under Margaret Thatcher. He was also a poet and went on to chair Sotheby’s and the Arts Council.

Kamla Bhasin, the Indian feminist writer who inspired millions of women in her campaigns against patriarchy.

Shirley Metherell MBE who founded a centre for the treatment of babies with hearing loss after her own daughter was diagnosed.

Roger Hunt MBE, the Liverpool FC striker who played a key role in England’s 1966 World Cup winning team.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Julia Langdon

Archive clips used: BBC Radio 3, Private Passions - Lord Gowrie 01/08/1998; BBC Radio 4, The Ones That Got Away 01/08/2001; YouTube, Kamla Basin Official - Because I am a Girl 27/03/2020; YouTube, Kamla Bhasin - Slogans for One Billion Rising, 31/10/2013; TEDxDurbarMarg, Kamla Bhasin - In Women We Believe 08/06/2021; The Elizabeth Foundation Charity, Interview with Shirley Metherell MBE; BBC Radio 5Live, Football Daily 29/09/2021; British Pathe, Liverpool vs Leeds 1965 cup final; BBC1 Summer of 66 - Magyr Misery 26/05/1986; YouTube, England vs Scotland April 1966.

Julian Worricker on:

One of the greatest attacking footballers of all time, Jimmy Greaves, who later became a successful and often very funny TV presenter...

The inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, who made home computers and calculators portable and affordable.

Olivia Jordan whose heroism during World War 2 saw her driving ambulances through France before she became Charles De Gaulle's translator.

And the astrophysicist, Carolyn Shoemaker, one of the world's foremost detectors of comets and asteroids.

Interviewed guest: Jim Rosenthal

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: The Levin Interview: Radio 4 24.06.1984; Today, Radio 4 20.09.2021; Profile, Radio 4 22.03.1979; Newsreel: German Invasion of France 1940, Pathe News; To All Free Frenchmen: Charles de Gaulle on the French Defeat 1940, Pathe News 13.04.2014; The Jupiter Collision - Watch this space, BBC Two 16.07.1994; BBC News: BBC One 22.07.1994.

Datshiane Navanayagam on Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, the army officer who led the Carnation Revolution in Portugal.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the unconventional film star who made his name in the film Breathless.

Angela Milner the palaeontologist who identified the previously unknown fish-eating theropod, the Baryonyx Walkeri.

Inge Ginsberg - the holocaust survivor who became a heavy metal singer in her nineties.

Produced by Neil George

Interviewed guest: Kenneth Maxwell

Archive clips used: Thames TV, Portugal The Carnation Revolution 02/05/1974; Les Productions Georges de Beauregard/Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC)/Les Films Imperia, A Bout de Souffle 1960; YouTube, Tetes d'affiche Jean-Paul Belmondo interview 1961; Films Georges de Beauregard/Rome Paris Films/Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), Pierrot Le Fou (trailer) 1965; Cerito Films/Les Films/ArianeSimar Films, Stavisky (trailer) 1974; Dinosaurs Dinosaurs Dinosaurs, Interview with Angela Milner 1985; Natural History Museum, Baryonyx - the discovery of an amazing fish-eating dinosaur 2011; The New York Times YouTube Channel, How a Holocaust Survivor Became Death Metal Grandma 2018.

Matthew Bannister on

Sergei Kovalev, the scientist and leading dissident, who spoke out against human rights abuses under the Soviet Union and the Yeltsin and Putin regimes. He was sent to a labour camp and suffered internal exile.

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, the reggae pioneer who helped Bob Marley to develop his sound.

Abebech Gobena, the Ethiopian humanitarian who devoted her life to helping thousands of disadvantaged children, with some calling her ‘Africa’s Mother Theresa’.

Ed Asner, the American actor best known for playing the irascible but principled news editor in the TV series Lou Grant.

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Jonathan Dimbleby

Archive clips used: BBC, Russia: A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby 25/05/2008; ITN, Chechnya war report 1995; YouTube - Human Rights Watch, Sergei Kovalev interview 28/12/2011; BBC, Lee 'Scratch' Perry in His Own Words 13/06/2011; YouTube - Choir at Emmanuel Orphanage in Woliso 2010; BBC, News Report 1Ethiopia Famine 7/07/1984; BBC, Everywoman 27/02/2004; Addis Post, Abebech Gobena funeral 06/07/2021; My Generation, Bill Newcott interview with Ed Asner 2021; Pixar/Disney, Up movie 2009; MTM Productions, Lou Grant S01 E01 1977; EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG, Ed Asner interview 2011; New Line Cinema/Guy Walks into a Bar Productions/Gold/Miller Productions, Elf movie 2003.

Matthew Bannister on:

The children’s author Jill Murphy who based her best-selling stories of the Worst Witch on her own schooldays.

Len Gibson, the former prisoner of war from Sunderland who worked on the notorious Burma railway and later taught Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics to play guitar.

Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, the acclaimed artist noted for her exquisite Japanese-influenced paintings of flowers and cats.

Nanci Griffith, the singer and songwriter from Texas who was known as the 'queen of folkabilly'.

Producer: Lucy Wai

Interviewed guest: Bob Harris

Archive clips used: BBC, Jackanory Words or Pictures 1995; CBBC/ZDF, The Worst Witch 2017; BBC, Woman's Hour 2016; Pathe News, Japanese planes 1943; WarGen, The War Memories of Len Gibson 2019; Daft as a Brush charity, Dave Stewart tribute to Len Gibson 2021; BBC, Conversation with Artists 1982; BBC, Words and Music 1994; BBC, Bob Harris' Country 2012.

Matthew Bannister on

The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. We have a tribute from the boogie woogie pianist who played with Charlie in his other band.

The maverick Labour MP and TV presenter Austin Mitchell who fought for the fishing industry in his constituency of Great Grimsby, once changing his surname to 'Haddock' as a publicity stunt.

The composer Hugh Wood, remembered by his former student the pianist Joanna MacGregor.

And the comedian Sean Lock, a regular on Channel Four’s panel show '8 Out of 10 Cats'. His friend and fellow comic Lee Mack pays tribute.

Producer: Lucy Wai

Archive clips used: Daily Politics: BBC Two, TX 13.11.12; BBC NEWS: BBC One, TX 1.2.1989; Woman's Hour: Radio 4, TX 23.8.2014; YORKSHIRE TV - September 1974; BBC Proms 2019: Radio 3, TX 29.8.2019; Cheltenham Festival 1999: London Mozart Players & Chilingirian Quartet; 15 Storeys High: Radio 4, TX 24.11.1999; Channel 4, You Tube page.

Matthew Bannister on

Una Stubbs, the actor who first came to fame in the 1960s TV sitcom 'Till Death Us Do Part', then attracted a new generation of fans as Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge. She was also an acclaimed stage performer and ended her career as Mrs Hudson in the Sherlock TV series.

Gino Strada, the Italian surgeon who set up the charity Emergency to provide state of the art hospital facilities in some of the world’s poorest countries, including Afghanistan. The photographer Giles Duley pays tribute.

Mo Hayder, the best-selling crime writer known for describing the grisly details of violence, who in a previous life was a glamour model and TV actor.

Producer: Laura Northedge

Interviewed guest: Christian Henson

Archive clips used: Yorkshire Films Archive, Dairy Box advert 1958; Ivy Films, Summer Holiday 1963; Southern Television, Worzel Gummidge 1979; Freemantle/Thames TV, 5's Company 1997; Hartswood Films, Sherlock 2014; The Graduate Institute Geneva, Gino Strada wins Right Livelihood Award 09/12/2015; Right Livelihood Awards, Gino Strada acceptance speech 04/12/2015; Dreamscape Media/ISIS Productions, Birdman audiobook.