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 Friday16:00-16:30
Sunday20:30-21:00(rpt)
Radio 4's weekly obituaries programme |
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This week |
Friday1st June2007
(Rpt) Sunday3rd June |
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Aubrey Singer
Producer & television executive who has died aged 80.
ѿý executive Aubrey Singer pioneered Tomorrow’s World and Horizonand commissioned I ClaudiusAlastair Cooke’s America and Jacob Bronowski’s Ascent of Man. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School, leaving at 17 to become a trainee film editor at British Gaumont Studios. He spent much of his ѿý career in television, building up the Corporation’s Features Department and becoming Controller of ѿý 2. So it was something of a surprise when he was appointed Managing Director of Radio in 1978. He became an enthusiastic champion of the medium – but his four years in that post were controversial, involving frequency changes to the ѿý’s national networks and a high profile strike by orchestral musicians. In the early 1980s, Singer was made Managing Director of ѿý Television and deputy to the Director General.
Matthew Bannister talks to the Director General at that time, Alasdair Milne.
Aubrey Singer was born January 21st 1927. He died May 2nd 2007. |
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Phyllis Sellick
Concert Pianistwho has diedaged 95.
The pianist Phyllis Sellick had a highly successful concert career of her own – but it is for her partnership with her husband Cyril Smith that she is best known. The two gifted young pianists came together by chance at a ѿý audition here at Broadcasting House and married in 1937. At first they refused all invitations to play duets together – but then the founder of the Proms, Sir Henry Wood made them the irresistible offer of performing Saint Saens’ Carnival of the Animals on the season’s first night in residence at the Albert Hall.
Their musical partnership was acclaimed and they successfully toured the world’s great concert halls until 1956 when Cyril suffered a thrombosis during a visit to Russia which left him without the use of his left hand. Undaunted by this tragic setback Phyllis encouraged Cyril to start performing again – receiving new works from sympathetic composers and re-arranging much of their repertoire for three hands. Once again, their performances became celebrated in concerts, recordings and broadcasts. Cyril died in 1974 and Phyllis continued to play and teach at the Royal College of Music.
Matthew Bannister talks to two of her pupils the duo pianists and identical twins Claire and Antoinette Cann.
Phyllis Sellick was born June 16th 1911. She died May 26th 2007. |
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Percy Sonn
Lawyer and cricket administrator who has died aged 57.
Percy Sonn was the first African to become president of the International Cricket Council. The controversial and outspoken figure was a lawyer by profession, having been a senior counsel, deputy director of public prosecutions and an acting judge. His career in cricket administration began at his local club, Belville in Cape Town, where he was virtually the only person who could read or write. Sonn played a crucial role when South Africa returned to world cricket after the fall of apartheid. He was appointed President of the ICC last year and held the post until his death.
South African cricket writer and commentator Neil Manthorp reflects on Percy Sonn’s life and career.
Percy Sonn was born September 25th 1949. He died May 27th 2007.
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Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
Physicist and Nobel laureate who has died aged 74.
In 1991 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes won the Nobel prize for physics in recognition of his pioneering work on liquid crystals and polymers. The distinguished scientist took this as a cue to travel to more than one hundred and fifty secondary schools throughout his native France, to enthuse young people about a practical approach to science. The understanding that Professor de Gennes brought to the properties of what he christened “soft matter” paved the way for widespread use of liquid crystals in televisions, computers and digital watches. In the 1970s his research into polymers produced descriptions of how they move and evolve. And in the 80s he turned his attention to the physical and chemical dynamics involved in the wetting of surfaces by liquids. This research enabled the development of a fungicide for wine producers which covered the whole of a grape instead of slipping off to form a droplet at the base of the fruit.
When the Nobel Prize jury described him as “the Isaac newton of our time” Pierre-Gilles de Gennes modestly dismissed the description as “Nordic lyricism”.
Matthew Bannister talks to Dr Jacques Prost who is Professor de Gennes’s successor as General Director of the Ecole Superior de Physics et de Chemie in Paris.
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was born on October 24th 1932. He died on May 18th 2007.
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Peerie Willie Johnson
Folk guitarist who has died aged 86.
In Shetland dialect the word “Peerie” means small – so it’s no surprise to learn that the master guitarist from Shetland Peerie Willie Johnson was a short man. He was born on Yell – one of the most northerly of the Shetland Isles – and took up music during a childhood illness which kept him housebound for months. First he started to figure out chords on a ukelele and then he progressed to a guitar developing a distinctive rhythm known for obvious reasons as dum chuck. Peerie Willie Johnson went on to perform with some of the great names of traditional music, including his long time fiddle playing partner Tom Anderson and the band the Boys of the Lough.
Matthew Bannister talks to Band member Dave Richardson.
Peerie Willie Johnson was born 10 December 1920. He died May22nd 2007. |
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