Reinventing Madonna: the pioneering DJ and producer William Orbit
William Orbit, the pioneering DJ and music producer, through his work with synthesizers and new studio technology he combined electronic dan...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & PodcastsSociety & Culture
Last Word
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently
Episodes
20 of 581 episodesPart-time punk turned professional provocateur - columnist Rod Liddle
Rod Liddle was a columnist and broadcaster who strongly divided opinion. Some saw him as an entertaining satirist, others, a bigot. As a tee...
The life of "Dr Death" - Body Worlds founder Gunther von Hagens
Gunther von Hagens, often known as Dr Death, was a German anatomist who developed a system of plastination to preserve human bodies permanen...
Brenda Fricker: The first Irish woman to win an Oscar
Brenda Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award for her performance in the film “My Left Foot”. She began her career wit...
Sam Neill: the silent child with a stutter who became a movie star
Sam Neill starred in over fifty films and numerous television series, playing often wildly different roles, from a palaeontologist in Jurass...
Bonnie Tyler: How the "sweet soul singer" found her growl
Bonnie Tyler, went from a Welsh council house to topping the international charts with songs like: ”Lost In France”, “Holding out for a Hero...
The Good Life of Dame Penelope Keith
Dame Penelope Keith became a household name for her performances in two classic TV comedy shows of the 1970s and early 80s: The Good Life an...
"He became one of the most powerful men in the world” - the story of the man who shaped modern economics
A giant of American economics, former US Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, was an economic pioneer who shaped the modern American econom...
A “bone marrow love for the Labour party” Lord Kinnock remembers Lord Hattersley
Lord Roy Hattersley, the former Deputy Leader of the Labour party. He was born and brought up in Sheffield. In his book A Yorkshire Boyhood,...
Founder of the ‘MOBOs’ and champion of black music – Kanya King
For thirty years, Kanya King was a champion of Black music. She was the founder and guiding light of the Music of Black Origin Awards, the ‘...
Larry King: The man behind Billie Jean King’s feminist tennis revolution
Larry King teamed up with his wife Billie Jean King to start the women’s professional tennis circuit in the USA. Baroness Ramsay was MI6 Hea...
Clarence B Jones, Judith Chalmers, Dr Anna Ritchie, Professor Frank Land
Matthew Bannister on Clarence B Jones the American lawyer and civil rights campaigner who helped Martin Luther King to write his famous I Ha...
Michael Pennington, Cynthia Shange, Scott Hastings, Beverley Martyn
Kirsty Lang on Michael Pennington, the Shakespearean actor who preferred a life on stage to the glamour of Hollywood. For Dame Judi Dench, h...
Ruth Slenczynska, Dame Bridget Ogilvie, Tony Worthington, Russell Tyner KC
The virtuoso pianist, Ruth Slenczynska was the last living student of Sergei Rachmaninoff. She began performing at the age of four, and was...
Dr Ittai Gradel, Dame Shirley Porter, Professor Nigel Dunnett, María Nieves Rego
Dr Ittai Gradel, the Danish antiquities dealer who uncovered the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum. Katie Razzall recal...
Xia De-hong, Lord Hunt of Chesterton, Joan Burstein, Bill Leader
Xia De-hong, inspired her daughter Jung Chang to write the best selling book Wild Swans about her trials and tribulations at the hands of th...
Andy Kershaw, Dame Averil Cameron, Dr Judith Rapoport, Desmond Morris
Matthew Bannister on Andy Kershaw, the radio DJ who championed world music, traversing the globe to bring new and eclectic sounds to a mains...
Asha Bhosle, Sir Neil Cossons, Professor Harold Ellis, Daphne Selfe
Matthew Bannister on The Indian singer Asha Bhosle who soundtracked countless Bollywood films and collaborated with Boy George, Michael Stip...
Sir Craig Reedie, Bronwen Naish, Geoff Yeadon, Margareta Magnusson
Matthew Bannister on Sir Craig Reedie, the sports administrator who led London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympics and went on to become...
Robert Fox, Mary Rand MBE, Sir Tony Hoare, Biruté Galdikas
John Wilson on Robert Fox the producer who had a career that spanned theatre, film and television. We have tributes from Colin Firth, Rupert...