Last Word

Pictured: David Toole

Matthew Bannister on

David Toole, the disabled dancer who starred in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics.

Professor Val Curtis, who was known as the Queen of Hygiene for her expertise on sanitation and research in how to communicate public health messages.

Frank Bough, the popular presenter of TV shows like 'Grandstand' and 'Nationwide' whose BBC career ended in disgrace after he was caught taking drugs with prostitutes.

Jill Paton Walsh, the award winning children’s author who also wrote the first self-published novel to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize and completed an unfinished work by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Interviewed guest: Jenny Sealey

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Midweek, Radio 4 01/03/2017; The Cost of Living, directed by Lloyd Newson, DV8 Physical Theatre 2005; In Business, Radio 4 29/07/2010; Science Stories, Radio 4 28/08/2019; Off The Page, Radio 4 Extra 13/07/2016; Grandstand, BBC One 1960; Woman’s Hour, Radio 4 09/07/1975; Nationwide, BBC One 05/08/1983; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 26/04/1987; PM, Radio 4 26/10/2020; BBC Breakfast Time, BBC One 17/01/1983; The John Dunn Show, Radio 2 17/10/1984; News 92, Radio 1 01/09/1992; Treasure Islands: Jill Paton-Walsh, Radio 4 20/11/1991; The Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh, Faber & Faber 15/11/2012, read by Emma Handy; Private Passions, Radio 3 07/12/2014; Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh, Black Swan 01/01/1995, read by Natasha Pyne, Radio 4 10/10/1994.

Pictured: Herbert Kretzmer

Matthew Bannister on

Herbert Kretzmer, the journalist turned lyricist, best known for writing the lyrics for the musical Les Misérables.

James Nash, the flamboyant adventurer who came under fire as a Colonial Officer in the Middle East during the last days of the British Empire.

Tom Maschler, the influential publisher who promoted the careers of many leading novelists and founded the Booker Prize.

Sister Chiara Hatton Hall, known as 'The Galloping Nun'. She taught Princess Anne and many other students to ride before taking holy orders as a forty-two year old widow.

Interviewed guest: Don Black

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: The Reunion, Radio 4 17/10/2003; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 17/10/2003; Gamal Abdel Nasser’s speech on Yemen 1962, IEPlus 27/03/2015; Everything You Need To Know About The Permissive Society, Radio 4 22/07/1971; Kaleidoscope: First Among Equals, Radio 4 22/10/1986; Burghley Horse Trials, AP / British Movietone 21/07/2015; Nuns’ Vows at Ladywell Convent 1962, British Pathe 13/04/2014.

Pictured: Derek Mahon

Matthew Bannister on

Derek Mahon, one of Ireland’s greatest poets of recent times, whose work 'Everything’s Going To Be Alright' was read on Irish TV and radio at the start of the Covid lockdown.

Professor Gerta Vrbová, who spent her youth fleeing Nazi persecution, then carried out pioneering work on the interaction between muscles and nerves.

Ang Rita Sherpa, the only person to have climbed Mount Everest ten times without using supplemental oxygen.

Helena Shenel, the voice coach who helped many celebrated performers – including Shirley Bassey, Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel – to overcome problems with their singing.

Interviewed guest: Sean O’Brien

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Derek Mahon, Radio Ulster 15/01/1984; Arts Extra Special - Derek Mahon: A Celebration, Radio Ulster 16/12/2008; Poetry Please, Radio 4 28/01/2007; New Poems, Radio 3 19/08/1974; Gerta Vrbová: Oral History, Imperial War Museum 15/04/2003; 60 Minutes Australia, Nine Network 05/10/2018; Last Rites of Ang Rita Sherpa, Nepal Tourism TV 23/09/2020; Slate: Shirley Bassey, BBC One Wales 16/09/1993; Saturday Live, Radio 1 06/04/1985.

Pictured: Kenzo Takada

Matthew Bannister on:

Kenzo Takada, the Japanese-born fashion designer who made Paris his home and was known for his bold use of colour.

Colonel John Waddy, the former head of the SAS who was wounded at the Battle of Arnhem.

Frank Windsor, the actor best known for playing Detective Sergeant Watt in Z Cars and Softly Softly.

Ann Getty, who married into the Getty family and used her fortune to rescue a publishing house, support the arts and start an interior design company.

Interviewed guest: Dana Thomas

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Flower by Kenzo, directed by Patrick Guedj 2018; The Clothes Show: Catwalk Special, BBC One 23/10/1994; Kenzo Takada – Renegades of Fashion, Fashion Industry Broadcast 01/03/2020; Red Devils of Arnhem (1944), British Pathe 13/04/2014; Today, Radio 4 08/05/2020; A Bridge Too Far, directed by Richard Attenborough, Joseph E Levine Productions 1977; Oosterbeek Battlefield Tour 2011, Bart H 18/03/2016; Woman’s Hour, Radio 2 24/03/1971.

Julian Worricker on:

The campaigning journalist and editor, Sir Harold Evans, voted the greatest of all time by his peers....

Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice, who served in that role for 27 years and became something of a judicial celebrity....

The charity worker Helen Taylor-Thompson, who co-founded Europe's first AIDS hospice at a time of great hostility towards those with the disease....

And the boxer, Alan Minter, who became the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

Presenter: Julian Worricker

Interviewed guest: Jessica Levinson

Archive clips from: Archive on 4 - Harold Evans at 90, Radio 4 23/06/2018; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4, 07/04/2000; John Dunn Show, Radio 2, 04/09/1980

Pictured: Juliette Greco

Julian Worricker on the French singer and actor, Juliette Greco, who rose to fame on the famous Left Bank in Paris after the war....

Bob Gore who revolutionised outdoor clothing with his invention of the waterproof fabric, Gore-Tex....

The ecologist Dame Georgina Mace, who changed the way threatened species were classified and reshaped worldwide conservation policies....

And the Czech director, Jiri Menzel, who won an Oscar for his 1966 film 'Closely Observed Trains'.

Interviewed guest: Agnes Poirier

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: In Town Today, Radio 4 24/03/1962; ‘Vive Paris’: The Liberation of Paris in 1944, British Movietone 29/06/2015; Roots of Heaven, directed by John Huston, Darryl F Zanuck Productions / Twentieth Century Fox 1958; Moon Landing Live, BBC America 20/07/2019; Perseverance Launch to Mars, NASA 30/07/2020; The Life Scientific, Radio 4 12/07/2016; Closely Watched Trains, directed by Jiri Menzel, Filmove Studio Barrandov 1966; The Film Programme, Radio 4 09/05/2008.

Pictured: Sir Terence Conran

Matthew Bannister on:

Sir Terence Conran, the designer and businessman who transformed the UK’s approach to home décor and eating out.

Dame Diana Rigg, the actor who combined a critically acclaimed stage career with stardom on TV and film.

Shere Hite, who wrote the Hite Report which changed attitudes to female sexuality.

Toots Hibbert, the Jamaican singer often called “the man who invented reggae".

Interviewed guest: Deyan Sudjic OBE

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Profile, Radio 4 22/04/1983; The Festival of Britain, British Pathe 07/05/1951; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 01/09/1996; Game of Thrones Series 7 Episode 3, directed by Mark Mylod, HBO 30/07/2017; Front Row, Radio 4 10/09/2020; Today, Radio 4 11/09/2020; Private Passions, Radio 3 3/12/2012; The Avengers, ABC 1965; Woman’s Hour, Radio 4 02/05/2006; The First Time With Toots Hibbert, 6 Music 17/01/2019.

Pictured: Stuart King

Julian Worricker on:

Interviewed guest: Max Grove

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: 70 Years of MAF, MAF 2020; Remembering D-Day, MAF 2020; Today, Radio 4 30/03/2009; Comrade Duch Dies, Bloomberg Quick Take News 02/09/2020; Duch Statements Apology, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia 15/08/2012; Jane Austen’s iPod, Radio 4 06/06/2010; 11th Commonwealth Games 1978, BBC Sound Archive, 10/08/1978; David Bryant Interviewed by Brian Roberts, Today, Radio 4 01/11/1966; Bowling Tips From David Bryant, Bowls UK 18/09/2016.

Pictured: Chadwick Boseman

Matthew Bannister on

Chadwick Boseman, whose portrayal of the King of the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda in the movie Black Panther made him a global star.

Sir Kenneth Robinson, the charismatic education expert whose TED talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” has been viewed online more than 67 million times.

Lord Renton, the Tory politician who was Chief Whip when Margaret Thatcher was forced to step down as leader.

Doreen Davies, who presided over the music policy and daytime output of BBC Radio 1 during its heyday in the 1970s and 80s.

Interviewed guest: Amon Warmann

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Marshall, directed by Reginald Hudlin, Chestnut Ridge Productions 2017; Get On Up, directed by Tate Taylor, Imagine Entertainment 2014; Jo Whiley, Radio 2 14/10/2014; 42, directed by Brian Helgeland, Warner Bros 2013; Trevor Nelson's Rhythm Nation, Radio 2 19/11/2019; Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler, Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Pictures 2018; Front Row, Radio 4 09/02/2018; Chadwick Boseman – A Tribute from Marvel Studios, JoBlo Movie Trailers 31/08/2020; Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?, TED February 2006; Sir Ken Robinson: How To Escape Education’s Death Valley, TED Talks Education April 2013; The Radio One Story, BBC Two 09/05/2010; Jimmy Young, Radio 2 13/06/1978; John Lennon Dies, Today Archives / NBC News 09/12/1980.

Pictured: Dr James Partridge OBE (c) Paul Chambers Photography

Julian Worricker on:

Interviewed guest: Anna Furse

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Peter Brook 1970, RSC / MIT Global Shakespeare; The Reunion, Radio 4 08/05/2015; Turandot: Puccini’s Final Opera, Royal Opera House 25/09/2013; ITV News 17/08/2020; About Face, Radio 4 18/07/1993; North West Tonight, BBC One 02/07/2004; Angela Buxton on Althea Gibson, BET News 2004; Fry v Buxton, Wimbledon Ladies’ Finals, BBC Sound Archive 07/07/1956; Nationwide, BBC One 15/06/1981.