Last Word

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently

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578 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes578

Newest first

Mar 26, 2021 · 27 min
Nawal El Saadawi (pictured), Brigadier Jack Thomas, President John Magufuli, Ion Mihai Pacepa
Matthew Bannister on a feminist writer, a soldier, a president and a spy.
Mar 19, 2021 · 27 min
Murray Walker (pictured), King Goodwill Zwelithini, Mary Asprey, Bunny Wailer
Julian Worricker on a king, a commentator, a charity founder, a musician.
Mar 12, 2021 · 27 min
Nicola Pagett (pictured), Stan Shaw, Prof John Mallard, Rupert Neve
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a “little mester”, a physicist, a recording engineer.
Mar 5, 2021 · 27 min
Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani (pictured), Sidney Alford, Alison Lurie, Chris Barber
Matthew Bannister on an oil minister, an explosives expert, an author and a jazz musician.
Feb 26, 2021 · 26 min
Sir William Macpherson (pictured), Margaret Snyder, Eleanor Wadsworth, Iain Pattinson
Matthew Bannister on: a judge, a UN civil servant, a pilot, a comedy writer.
Feb 19, 2021 · 27 min
Carlos Menem (pictured), Mary Wilson, Robin Pooley, Larry Flynt
Matthew Bannister on a president, a singer, a businessman and a pornographer.
Feb 12, 2021 · 27 min
George Shultz, Yvonne Conolly, Maureen Colquhoun, Christopher Plummer (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a headteacher, an MP and an actor.
Feb 5, 2021 · 27 min
Lewis Wolpert, Cicely Tyson, Prince Khalid Abdullah and Captain Sir Tom Moore (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a biologist, an actor, a Saudi Prince and a national hero.
Jan 29, 2021 · 27 min
Larry King (pictured), Catherine Ennis, Margaret Weston, Gerry Cottle
Matthew Bannister on a broadcaster, an organist, a curator, a circus owner
Jan 22, 2021 · 27 min
Phil Spector (pictured), Grace Robertson, Paul Nihill
Matthew Bannister on a record producer, a photographer, a race walker.
Jan 15, 2021 · 27 min
Michael Apted (pictured), Kay Ullrich, Katharine Whitehorn, Reginald Foster
Julian Worricker on a film-maker, a politician, a journalist, a translator.
Jan 8, 2021 · 26 min
Sir Brian Urquhart (pictured), Albert Roux, Dame Rachel Waterhouse, Gerry Marsden
Matthew Bannister on a civil servant, a chef, a consumer champion, a singer.
Jan 1, 2021 · 27 min
Stella Tennant, George Bizos, Joan Feynman, Rishi Kapoor
Matthew Bannister on a model, a lawyer, an astrophysicist and an actor.
Dec 27, 2020 · 27 min
Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy, Dame Fanny Waterman
Julian Worricker on Millie Small, JJ Williams, Maurice Healy and Dame Fanny Waterman
Dec 18, 2020 · 27 min
John le Carré (pictured), Patience Thomson, Doug Scott, Dame Barbara Windsor
Matthew Bannister on an author, an educator, a mountaineer, an actor
Dec 11, 2020 · 28 min
Mario Molina, Irina Antonova, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Peter Alliss (pictured)
Matthew Bannister on a chemist, a curator, a President, a golf commentator.
Dec 4, 2020 · 28 min
Hamish MacInnes OBE, José Padilla, Anne Rasa
Matthew Bannister on a mountaineer, an ethologist, a DJ.
Nov 27, 2020 · 28 min
Diego Maradona, Rosalind Grimshaw, Jan Morris CBE
Matthew Bannister on a footballer, a glass artist, an author
Nov 20, 2020 · 28 min
Des O’Connor CBE, Richard Trim OBE, Dr Ataullah Siddiqui, Edith Raymond Locke
Matthew Bannister on a comedian, a radar engineer, a scholar, an editor.
Nov 13, 2020 · 28 min
Lord Sacks, John Sessions, Joanna Harcourt-Smith, Jim Radford
Matthew Bannister on a rabbi, an actor, a podcaster, a singer.