Last Word

Pictured: Baroness Trumpington

Matthew Bannister on

Baroness Trumpington, who worked for Lloyd George and at Bletchley Park during the war then became a government minister noted for her cheerfully unstuffy attitude.

Roy Bailey the socialist folk singer who teamed up with Tony Benn in an award winning live act.

Henry Stevens, the police officer who won the George Cross for repeatedly tackling a burglar who shot him in the face.

Bernardo Bertolucci, director of the acclaimed film "The Last Emperor" and the controversial "Last Tango In Paris".

Interviewed guest: Martin Simpson

Archive clips from: Have I Got News For You, BBC One 27/05/16; Profile, Radio 4 14/10/17; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 25/11/90; 5 Live Breakfast 27/11/18; Today, Radio 4 27/11/18; Mike Harding, Radio 2 Folk Show 08/10/08; Front Row, Radio 4 29/04/13; The Last Emperor directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, RPC/Hemdale/Yanco Films/TAO Film 1987; The Conformist directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Mars Film/Marianne Productions/Maran Film 1970; Last Tango in Paris directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Les Productions Artistes Associés/Produzioni Europee Associate 1972.

Pictured: William Goldman

Matthew Bannister on

William Goldman, the Hollywood screenwriter behind a string of hits including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All The President's Men and The Princess Bride.

John Large, the respected nuclear engineer who highlighted the safety risks facing the industry.

Richard Baker, the long serving BBC television newsreader who also presented classical music programmes, including the Proms, on radio.

Dr. Sarah Ntiro, the first woman in East Africa to get a university degree.

Patsy Rodgers who was known as the King of Tory - Ireland's most remote inhabited island.

Correction: in this Last Word edition it was broadcast that Richard Baker was the first newsreader on BBC television. This is incorrect: Richard Baker in fact introduced the newsreader John Snagge, who was the first person to read a news bulletin for BBC television on 5th July 1954.

Interviewed guest: Harlan Coben

Archive clips from: Nationwide, BBC One 04/12/80; Saturday Live, Radio 4 08/01/11; The Last King of Ireland, RTE 27/07/18; Marathon Man, directed by John Schlesinger, Paramount Pictures / Robert Evans Company 1976; Night Waves, Radio 3 26/11/92; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, directed by George Roy Hill, Twentieth Century Fox 1969; The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner, Act III Communications 1987; 50th Anniversary of BBC Television News, BBC One 05/07/04; Midweek, Radio 4 15/06/83; Walton: Façade, London Sinfonietta, Radio 3 03/06/77; Up All Night, 5 Live, 12/04/11; File On Four: The Future Of Nuclear Energy, Radio 4 04/11/86.

Pictured: Stan Lee

Matthew Bannister on

The naturalist and expert on animal evolution Aubrey Manning who presented the acclaimed BBC TV series Earth Story.

The Jewish Communist campaigner Max Levitas who fought Oswald Moseley's fascist blackshirts.

The singer Babs Beverley - one third of the close harmony singing group the Beverley Sisters.

Janet Paisley the poet and novelist known for her work in the Scots language.

Stan Lee - revered creator of comic book icons like Spiderman, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

Interviewed guest: Derwent May

Archive clips from: Sunday Morning with Richard Holloway, Radio Scotland 14/02/2010; The Poetry of Life, Radio Scotland 27/01/2008; The Language of Kings, BBC Scotland/Hopscotch Films 28/02/2006; PM, Radio 4 04/10/2006; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 14/08/1985; Richard Bacon, 5 Live 20/08/2009; 5 Live interview 12/11/2018; Third Ear, Radio 4 17/12/1991; Today, Radio 4 18/11/2015; Rules of Life: Life Before Birth, Radio 4 24/01/2006; Earth Story: The Time Travellers, BBC Worldwide / Learning Channel 01/11/1998; Images by Janet Paisley. 31/12/2018; Jeremy Vine, Radio 2 09/11/2011; Max Levitas Battle of Cable Street, Fourman Films 07/09/2013.

Pictured: Lord Heywood

Matthew Bannister on

Lord Heywood, the senior civil servant who worked with four Prime Ministers: Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May.

Pamela Lonsdale, the children's TV producer who brought us Rainbow.

Sangharakshita, the British born Buddhist leader whose reputation was tarnished by allegations of sexual misconduct with his students.

Tom Jago, the drinks marketeer who developed Bailey's Irish Cream, Malibu and Le Piat D'Or.

And Francis Lai, the Love Story composer.

Interviewed guest: Ed Balls

Archive clips from: Jeremy Vine, Radio 2 05/11/2018; Radio 4 News Flash, 16/09/1992; Westminster Hour, Radio 4 04/11/2018; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Ep. 8, Part 1, ITV 1967; Rainbow, Thames TV 01/11/1972; Midweek, Radio 4 05/07/1989; Matter of Fact: Going for Refuge, BBC East 12/11/1992.

Pictured: Wanda Ferragamo

Matthew Bannister on

Wanda Ferragamo - who took over her husband's successful Italian shoe making business and turned it into a global fashion brand.

Wim Kok, the Dutch prime minister whose career was overshadowed by the Srebrenica massacre.

The writer Ntozake Shange, best known for her choreopoem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf".

The Algerian diplomat Mohamed Sahnoun who played a key role in ending several conflicts in Africa.

Keith Killby, the pacifist who served unarmed with the Special Boat Service during the war.

Interviewed guest: Luisa Zargani

Archive clips from: Radio 4 News, 28/11/2000; Radio 4 News, 10/04/2002; Ntozake Shange - The Lost Interview, Reelblack, 08/03/2016; Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC 23/09/2014; A Journey Through Imaginary Landscapes, Radio 3 16/04/1993; For Colored Girls Who've Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf, Radio 3 21/01/1996; BBC News 30/07/1992; Newsnight, BBC Two 14/06/1993; Interview with Keith Killby, courtesy of the Monte San Martino Trust, 17/06/2014.

Pictured: Baroness Hollis

Matthew Bannister on

Anthea Bell who translated the works of Freud and Kafka into English - but was even better known for making Asterix the Gaul funny in his second language.

Captain Michael Howard, the intelligence officer who was part of T-Force which was set up after the second world war to seize German assets and bring them back to the UK.

Baroness Hollis, the Labour peer who campaigned for the poor and disadvantaged.

Cicely Berry, the voice coach who trained a generation of British actors.

And Tony Hiller who wrote 1,500 songs, including the Brotherhood of Man's Eurovision hit "Save Your Kisses For Me".

Interviewed guest: Oliver Kamm

Archive clips from: The Verb, Radio 3 08/05/2004; Open Book. Radio 4 14/07/2002; Front Row, Radio 4 14/05/2004; Open Book, Radio 4 04/09/2008; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 18/07/2003; Victoria Derbyshire, BBC One 27/10/2015; Money Box, Radio 4 13/09/2015; The Week in Westminster, Radio 4 26/01/2013; Newsnight, BBC Two 26/10/2015; The Vox Project, Radio 4 04/01/2010; Night Waves, Radio 3 05/06/2006; Working Shakespeare: The Muscularity of Language, The Working Arts; Miss Moneypenny's Meter, Radio 4 07/09/2006.

Pictured: Paul Allen

Matthew Bannister on

Paul Allen who teamed up with his school friend Bill Gates to found the computer software company Microsoft. After he left, he used his billions to support medical research, education and an American football team.

Mary Midgley, the philosopher who wrote about the relationship between humans and animals and enjoyed lively debates with her colleagues.

Leon Lederman, the physicist who won the Nobel prize for his work on the neutrino and described the Higgs boson as "the God particle".

Roger Mainwood, the animator who helped to bring Raymond Briggs' The Snowman to the screen, then directed the critically acclaimed animated film about Briggs' parents, "Ethel and Ernest".

Interviewed guest: Glenn Fleishman

Archive clips from: Horizon: The Six Billion Dollar Experiment, BBC TV 01/05/07; Origins: Where We and Our World Came From, BBC TV 18/03/86; Woman’s Hour, Radio 4 30/07/03; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 17/03/97; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 20/11/05; When the Wind Blows film trailer, Meltdown Productions/British Screen Productions/Film Four International/TVC London/Penguin Books, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami 1986; Ethel & Ernest film trailer, BBC/BFI/Ffilm Cymru Wales/Film Fund Luxembourg/Cloth Cat Animation/Ethel&Ernest Productions/Lupus Films/Melusine Productions, directed by Roger Mainwood 2016; Meg and Mog, ITV, directed by Roger Mainwood 2003; CBS News, 17/04/11; Today, Radio 4 25/04/11.

Pictured: Montserrat Caballé

Matthew Bannister on

Ray Galton, who, with his writing partner Alan Simpson, created Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son. Paul Merton pays tribute.

Gerald Russell, the psychiatrist who was the first to describe the eating disorder bulimia nervosa.

Evelyn Anthony, the novelist whose historical romances sold millions of copies.

The financier Sir Roger Gibbs, who transformed the fortunes of the Wellcome Trust.

And the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé, who had a global hit with Barcelona - a duet with Freddie Mercury.

Interviewed guest: Paul Merton

Archive clips from: Read All About It, Radio 4 04/01/76; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 27/11/74; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 15/08/88; The Tamarind Seed, ITC/Jewel Productions/Pimlico Films/Lorimar Productions, directed by Blake Edwards 1974; The Wellcome Trust (https://wellcome.ac.uk/about-us); Aled Jones, Radio Wales 05/07/08; Laughed off the Page: Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Radio Scotland 26/01/07; Hancock: The Radio Ham, BBC TV 1961; Steptoe and Son: The Offer, BBC Light Programme 03/07/66; The Wrong Arm of the Law (film trailer), Romulus Films/Robert Velaise Productions, directed by Cliff Owen 1963; Mark Lawson Talks To: Galton and Simpson, BBC TV 19/03/08; Eyes on Wales: Homeless, Radio Wales 04/06/95; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 10/10/81.

Pictured: Charles Aznavour

Matthew Bannister on

Charles Aznavour, the French singer who "made despair popular". The lyricist Don Black, who worked with him, pays tribute.

Dr. Charles Kao, the Nobel prize winning physicist who developed fibre optic technology, so paving the way for the world wide web.

Elizabeth de Mauny Wainwright, the pioneering foreign correspondent who helped to smuggle an interview with Solzhenitsyn out of Soviet Russia.

John Cunliffe, the writer who delighted generations of children by creating Postman Pat and Rosie and Jim.

Interviewed guest: Don Black

Archive clips from:

Pictured: Chas Hodges

Matthew Bannister on

Chas Hodges, the session musician who became one half of the cockney duo Chas and Dave and had hits like Gertcha and Rabbit.

M.J. Long the American-born architect who co-designed the British Library, the National Maritime Museum and studios for some of the UK's best known artists.

Arthur Mitchell, the first African American principal dancer in a major ballet company and founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem.

Rick Turner, the archaeologist who recovered the 2,000-year-old Lindow Man, Britain's best preserved bog body.

And Rachid Taha, the singer who mixed Algerian music with rock, techno and punk.

Interviewed guest: Michael Hann

Archive clips from: Piano Tales - A Social History of the Piano, Radio 3 23/09/2012; Outlook, World Service 24/01/2018; QED - The Body in the Bog, BBC One 10/04/1985; The African Rock 'N' Roll Years - North Africa, BBC Four 09/08/2005.