Last Word Podcast
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently
Episodes to download
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Raila Odinga, Bill Colley, Baroness Rosalind Howells, Sister Marion Irvine
Friday
Matthew Bannister on a Kenyan politician, a boat builder, a campaigner, a nun'
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Peter Gurney, Diane Keaton, Peter Hall, Angela Bond
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Matthew Bannister on a bomb disposal expert, an actor, a winemaker and a theatre manager.
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Patrick Bradley, Dame Jilly Cooper, Sara Jane Moore, Dame Patricia Routledge
Fri 10 Oct 2025
Matthew Bannister on an electoral officer, an author, an attempted assassin and an actor.
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Dame Jane Goodall, Tony Harrison, Lord Menzies Campbell, Danny Thompson
Fri 3 Oct 2025
Matthew Bannister on a primatologist, a poet, a politician and a bass player.
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Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, John Stapleton, Mary Elizabeth Dodd, Claudia Cardinale
Fri 26 Sep 2025
Matthew Bannister on an architect, a TV presenter, a physiotherapist and an actor.
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Robert Redford, Barbara Harvey, Rosa Roisinblit, Stuart Craig
Fri 19 Sep 2025
Matthew Bannister on a film star, a historian, a campaigner and a designer.
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The Duchess of Kent, Giorgio Armani, Valerie Pearlman, Rick Davies
Fri 12 Sep 2025
John Wilson on a duchess, fashion designer, judge and a singer.
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Joe Bugner, Ann McManus, Angela Mortimer Barrett, Frank Strang
Fri 5 Sep 2025
John Wilson on a boxer, a writer, a tennis player and an entrepreneur.
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David Richardson, Doris Lockhart Saatchi, Dame Annette Brooke, Byron Rogers
Fri 29 Aug 2025
John Wilson on a broadcaster, an art collector, a former MP and a biographer.
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Terence Stamp, Stephanie Shirley, Kay Dunbar, Eric Midwinter
Fri 22 Aug 2025
John Wilson on an actor, tech pioneer, literacy festival founder, a polymath
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Jim Lovell, Biddy Baxter, Razia Jan, Iris Williams
Fri 15 Aug 2025
Matthew Bannister on an astronaut, an editor, an educator, a singer
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Dame Stella Rimington, Sylvia Young, Sir Jamie McGrigor, Joan Anderson
Fri 8 Aug 2025
Matthew Bannister on an spy boss, a drama school founder, a politician and a craze starter
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Dame Cleo Laine, Hulk Hogan, Margaret Boden, Tom Lehrer
Fri 1 Aug 2025
Matthew Bannister on a singer, a wrestler, a cognitive scientist and a satirist.
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Ozzy Osbourne, Connie Francis, Jacqui Browne, Douglas Chamberlain
Fri 25 Jul 2025
Matthew Bannister on two singers, a campaigner and a cardiologist.
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Sir Ian Blair, Jennie Street, Dr Anna Ornstein, Muhammadu Buhari
Fri 18 Jul 2025
Matthew Bannister on a police commissioner, a farmer, a psychoanalyst and a president.
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Lord Tebbit, Daphne Boden, James Leprino, Sir Francis Graham-Smith
Fri 11 Jul 2025
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a harpist, a businessman and an astronomer.
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Courtney Griffiths KC, Sara Venn, Nina Kuscik, Mohammad Hussain
Fri 4 Jul 2025
Matthew Bannister on a barrister, a gardener, a runner and a soldier.
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Michael Lachmann, Pik-sen Lim, Leon Krier, David 'Syd' Lawrence
Fri 27 Jun 2025
Matthew Bannister on a director, an actor, an architect and a cricketer.
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Sir Geoff Palmer, Barbara Holdridge, Kim Woodburn, Sly Stone
Fri 20 Jun 2025
John Wilson on a scientist, an entrepreneur, a reality TV star and a musician.
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Brian Wilson, Frederick Forsyth, Uriah Rennie, Edmund White
Fri 13 Jun 2025
Kirsty Lang on a musician, a writer, a referee and an author.
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Valmik Thapar, Nancy Blaik, Norma Meras Swenson, Dr Stuart Farrimond
Fri 6 Jun 2025
Kirsty Lang on a conservationist, a charity fundraiser, an author, a science communicator.
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Alan Yentob, Richard Garwin, Dr Joy Schaverien, Anne Merriman
Fri 30 May 2025
Matthew Bannister on a 蜜芽传媒 executive, a physicist, a psychoanalyst and a doctor.
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Hannah Deacon, Andrew Norfolk, Dame June Clark, Martin Graham
Fri 23 May 2025
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a journalist, a nurses鈥� leader and a businessman.
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Sir Tom Farmer, Elaine Wynn, Sue Stapely, Joseph Nye
Fri 16 May 2025
Matthew Bannister on a businessman, a casino owner, a solicitor and a political analyst.
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Jane Gardam, Sir Roger Birch, Mike Peters, Francoise Hampson
Fri 9 May 2025
Kirsty Lang on an author, a chief constable, a musician and a lawyer.
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Virginia Giuffre, Rosy Bremer, LJ Smith, Wizz Jones
Fri 2 May 2025
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, an activist, an author and a musician.
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Pope Francis, Paddy Higson, David Sassoon
Fri 25 Apr 2025
Matthew Bannister on a pope, a producer and a designer.
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Anne Scargill, Ronnie Appleton, Cecil Wright, Mario Vargas Llosa
Fri 18 Apr 2025
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a lawyer, a cricketer and a writer.
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Lord Kalms, Melissa Llewallyn-Davies, Rex Cowan, Wilma Finla
Fri 11 Apr 2025
Matthew Bannister on a businessman, an anthropologist, a shipwreck hunter and a farmer.
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Val Kilmer, Jane Reed, Sir Torquil Norman, Dr Marika Sherwood
Fri 4 Apr 2025
Matthew Bannister on an actor, an editor, a businessman and a historian.
