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Last Word Episodes

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    In a special edition of Last Word, Matthew Bannister talks to obituary editors from around the UK about the nature of their work

    Matthew Bannister and guests offer an insight into the world of the obituary writer.

  2. Mandy Rice-Davies, Dr Tim Black, Michel du Cille, Ian Player, Christopher Morris

    Matthew Bannister on a showgirl, a doctor, a photographer and a conservationist.

  3. Queen Fabiola, Stella Young, Bernard Stonehouse, Kent Haruf, Ralph Baer

    Matthew Bannister on a disability campaigner, a queen, a polar scientist and an author.

  4. Jeremy Thorpe, Ian McLagan, Viktor Tikhonov, Trevor Pharo and Sabah

    Matthew Bannister on a politician, a musician, an ice hockey coach, a clown, and a singer.

  5. PD James, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, Glen A Larson, Medlin Lewis-Spencer, Arthur Butterworth MBE

    Matthew Bannister on a crime writer, a criminal, a director, a mayor and a composer.

  6. Sir Thomas Macpherson, Mike Nichols, Alexander Grothendieck, Paul Vaughan, Leonore Davidoff and Jimmy Ruffin

    Matthew Bannister on a war hero, a director, a mathematician, a broadcaster, a historian.

  7. Vivienne Price; Dr Dick Laws; Warren Clarke; Geoffrey Clarke; Prince David Chavchavadze

    Matthew Bannister on an orchestra founder, a zoologist, an actor, a sculptor and a spy.

  8. Warren Anderson, Acker Bilk, Lord Barnett, Sonia Rolt

    Matthew Bannister on a company chairman, a musician, a politician and a canal campaigner.

  9. Jack Bruce, Gough Whitlam, Efua Dorkenoo, James Dunlop

    Matthew Bannister on a rock musician, a campaigner, a politician and a firefighter.

  10. Lynda Bellingham, Ben Bradlee, Geoffrey Perry, John Holt

    Andrea Catherwood remembers an actress, a war veteran, a reggae artist and newspaperman.

  11. Sir Jocelyn Stevens, Jerrie Mock, John Moat, Shirley Baker, David Rayvern Allen

    Matthew Bannister on a newspaper executive, a pilot, an author, a photographer, a producer

  12. Andrew Kerr, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Dorothy Tyler MBE, Prof Karl Miller, Cosimo Matassa

    Matthew Bannister on a festival founder, a dictator, an athlete and a literary editor.

  13. Christopher Hogwood, Major General Yitzhak Hofi, Sheila Tracy, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw, Lynsey de Paul

    Matthew Bannister on a conductor, an Israeli general, a broadcaster and a mathematician.

  14. The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, Oleg Ivanovsky, Jim Petrie, Dame Julia Polak and Bob Crewe

    Julian Worricker on two scientists, an illustrator, a songwriter and a leading aristocrat.

  15. James Nesbitt MBE, Andrew McLaglen, Emilio Botin, Simin Behbahani, Sir Philip Dowson, George Hamilton IV

    Matthew Bannister on a detective, a film director, a banker, a poet and an architect.

  16. Rev Ian Paisley, Sir Donald Sinden, Caroline Gooding, Anthony Smith, Andrew McLaglen

    Matthew Bannister on a politician, an actor, an adventurer, a disability rights campaigner

  17. Joan Rivers, Sir David Mitchell, Werner Franz, Candida Lycett Green, Sandy Wilson

    Matthew Bannister remembers a comedian, an MP, a Hindenburg survivor and a conservationist

  18. Richard Attenborough, Helen Bamber, BKS Iyengar, Sam Galbraith, Bill Kerr

    Matthew Bannister on a director, a human rights campaigner, a yoga guru and a Labour MSP.

  19. Albert Reynolds, Ronnie Stonham, Norman Cornish, Gerry Anderson, Licia Albanese

    Remembering a former Taoiseach, a 91福利社 vetter, a painter, a broadcaster and a soprano.

  20. Lauren Bacall, Prof Sir Alan Peacock, Robin Williams, Peter Sculthorpe

    Andrea Catherwood on a Hollywood legend, a comic genius, a composer and an economist.

  21. Chapman Pincher, Mike Smith, Lettice Curtis, Karl Albrecht, Kenny Ireland

    Matthew Bannister on a journalist, a businessman, a broadcaster, a pilot, an actor

  22. Sir Richard MacCormac, Eileen Ford, Nigel Ryan, Zohra Sehgal, Frank Mumford

    Matthew Bannister on an architect, a modelling agent, an editor, an actress, a puppeteer

  23. James Garner, Joep Lange, Alan Alan, Philip Wayre, Dora Bryan

    Julian Worricker on an actor, a physician, a naturalist, an actress and an escapologist

  24. Elaine Stritch, Nadine Gordimer, Michael Scudamore and Lorin Maazel

    Matthew Bannister on an actress, a writer, a jockey and a conductor.

  25. Alfredo Di Stefano, Eduard Shevardnadze, Ultra Violet, Chester Nez and Horace Silver

    Matthew Bannister on a footballer, a Georgian politician, an artist and a code talker.

  26. Bobby Womack, Stephanie Kwolek, Dermot Healy, Viktor Sukhodrev, Delia Craig

    Julian Worricker on a singer, a chemist, a writer, an interpreter and a conservationist.

  27. Felix Dennis, Norman Willis, Josephine Pullein-Thompson, Gerry Conlon, Eli Wallach

    Matthew Bannister on a publisher, a TUC leader, an author and one of the Guildford Four.

  28. Gerry Goffin, Freydis Sharland, Alexander Shulgin, Francis Matthews

    Matthew Bannister remembers a songwriter, a pilot, a chemist and an actor.

  29. Rik Mayall, Dr Lorna Wing, Eric Hill, Billie Fleming, Alan Douglas

    Matthew Bannister remembers a comedian, a psychiatrist, a children's writer and a cyclist.

  30. Lady Mary Soames, Gordon Willis, Clyde Snow, Count Suckle

    Obituaries for Churchill's daughter, a cinematographer, a forensic scientist and a DJ.

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