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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

BBC Radio 4

Last Word

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 and To The Manor Born. We share her story through her own words, with interviews from the BBC Archives.

David Hencke was an award-winning investigative journalist who worked for the Guardian newspaper for over thirty years. His scoops brought to light wrongdoing in many spheres of public life. His friend and colleague Francis Beckett reveals where his drive to uncover the truth came from.

The solitary nun, Sister Maggie Ross, born Martha Reeves, extolled the virtues of silence. A renowned theologian, she spent part of her time in the wilderness of Alaska with a tamed raven. Her bishop protector, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, pays tribute.

Marion Fossett was an Irish contortionist, and Eurovision hopeful, who became a fourth generation circus performer by joining the family business. She started young, brought in to the circus ring as an 18 month old baby, by an elephant. Marion became one of the industry’s few ringmistresses. Her niece, Sonya Fossett, takes us inside the world of Fossett's Circus.

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
BBC One, Wogan, 13.09.1985; BBC Radio 4, In Conversation… with Penelope Keith, 28.10.1999; BBC One, The Heaven and Earth Show, 24.08.2003; BBC One, The Good Life: "Silly, but it's fun”, 26.12.1977; BBC One, The Good Life: “A Tug of the Forelock”, 24.09.1976; BBC Four, Penelope Keith Remembers To The Manor Born, 02.01.2024; BBC One, To The Manor Born: “Grantleigh”, 30.09.1979; BBC News, 20.10.1994; BBC Two, Westminster Daily, 26.10.1994; BBC News, 23.12.1998; BBC Two, Limits of Freedom: “Who Is Big Brother?”, 10.10.1983; BBC Radio 4, Museum of Curiosity, 26.03.2008; The Gilded Thread with Irene O’Brien, 23.05.2023

The Good Life of Dame Penelope Keith

A giant of American economics, former US Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, was an economic pioneer who shaped the modern American economy and believed in free markets and light touch regulation. A world financial crisis after he left the job, however, forced him to question some of his economic assumptions. We hear from Bloomberg's Stephanie Flanders.

Tulsi Vagjiani survived the plane crash which killed her family, but it left her with burns over much of her body. She went on to be a legendary camapigner for better treatment for people who have visible differences. Phil Gorf from Changing Faces and broadcaster model and fellow campaigner Katie Piper pay tribute to her work.

French sailor Charlie Dalin, smashed the record in the non-stop round-the-world Vendée Globe race. It was only afterwards that he revealed that he had taken part in the gruelling competition with a rare cancer. We hear from friend and Vendée Globe competitor Pip Hare.

Teddie Beverley was the last surviving member of the original girl group, The Beverley Sisters. The trio found huge fame in the 1950s, with hits such as I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Teddie's daughter Sasha Felix tells us how they became the highest-paid female entertainers in the UK, and why some of their tracks were banned from the airwaves. 

Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards

Archive:
Beverley Sisters: London Plus, BBC, 04/02/1985; Legends: The Beverley Sisters – Tickled Pink, BBC Two, 31/12/2010; Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4, 05/03/2022; Changing Faces: Visible Hate campaign, YouTube, 23/01/2020; Changing Faces: Our ambassador Tulsi on our #IAmNotYourVillain campaign, YouTube, 14/10/2021; Charlie Dalin: Vendée Globe, 14/01/2025; Alan Greenspan, Capitalism, Newsnight, BBC One, 01/10/2007; Alan Greenspan, Newsnight, BBC One, 01/10/2007; Evan meets Alan, BBC Radio 4, 23/10/2013

"He became one of the most powerful men in the world” - the story of the man who shaped modern economics

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, he confessed to being passionate about three things: Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, Yorkshire County Cricket and socialist politics. His friend and colleague, Lord Kinnock, pays tribute.

Daphne Hamilton-Fairley, spoke out for tolerance after her husband was killed by an IRA bomb. He had inspired her to become a speech therapist and after his death she set up one of the first specialist schools for dyslexia and other special educational needs. She named it Fairley House, after her husband. Her daughter Diana Hamilton-Fairley shares her memories.

Roger Cook was the intrepid investigative journalist who pioneered the technique known as “doorstepping” - challenging those he suspected of wrongdoing face to face with the camera or tape recorder running. First on Radio 4’s consumer affairs programme Checkpoint and then on ITV’s The Cook Report he took on criminals and fraudsters on behalf of listeners and viewers. Matthew talks to his colleague Tim Tate.

Sterling Betancourt was a pioneer of steel pan music from Trinidad and Tobago. He was one of the first to bring the instrument to Britain in the 1950s and went on to play a big role in the early days of the Notting Hill Carnival. Sterling’s wife Beatrice Elokbi tells his story.

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ribika Moktan
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
BBC Midlands Today, 23/02/94; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 31/01/1986; Labour Party Conference 1983 , BBC News , 2.10.1983; Newsnight, BBC Two, 19/04/1981; Tony Livesey, 5 Live, 24/01/2012; PM, BBC Radio 4, 23/10/1975; Tonight, BBC One, 17/12/1975; Forty Minutes: Women in Black, BBC 2, 21/04/1988; Nationwide, BBC One, 29/11/1982; David Hockney, Desert Island Discs, 07/02/1972; The 1951 Festival of Britain: A Brave New World, BBC Four, 24/09/2011; Steel Pan Alley, Radio 4, 6/12/2003

A “bone marrow love for the Labour party” Lord Kinnock remembers Lord Hattersley

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 ‘MOBOs’. Launched in 1996, the awards became a highly successful annual event. 

 Sir Alex Younger was one of the longest serving chiefs of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6. He held the role known as “C” from 2014 to 2020. In that time, he headed the security operation to protect the 2012 Olympics and led Britain’s response to the Salisbury Novichok poisoning.

Diane Carlson Evans served as a nurse with the US Army during the Vietnam War and led the campaign for a memorial to the women who had served alongside her. 

And Marjane Satrapi, the French-Iranian graphic novelist and film maker who created Persepolis, a story of growing up in 1980s Iran. The book, that was designed to make western readers reflect on the humanity of Iranian people, sold millions of copies around the world before being made into an Oscar nominated film in 2007.

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 26/02/2020; Trevor Nelson, Rhythm Nation, BBC Radio 1, 9/11/1997; Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4, 4/10/2014; BBC News at 10 05/03/2018; Today Programme: Theresa May Guest Editor, 31/12/2025; Newscast, 30/09/21; Start the Week, Radio 4, 09/12/2024; 
PERSEPOLIS | Official Trailer; BBC News at 10, 28/09/2022; Woman’s Hour, Radio 4, 30/12/2003; Front Row, Radio 4, 19/03/24

Founder of the ‘MOBOs’ and champion of black music – Kanya King

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 Head of Station in Helsinki during the Cold War and then became a leading figure in Labour politics.

Caroline Marland transformed the financial fortunes of The Guardian newspaper as a senior executive in the 1980s and 90s. 

Valie Export challenged centuries of misuse of the female body from male artists by exhibiting her own form for controversial performances.

Archive used: Women’s Tennis Association, 03/2024; VisNews, 01/05/1981; BBC News, 12/09/1985; Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game, BBC Two, 08/05/2024; BBC Parliament, 02/12/2015; The Money Programme, BBC Two, 14/02/1988; Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 01/06/2000

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Josie Hardy
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Larry King: The man behind Billie Jean King’s feminist tennis revolution

Matthew Bannister on

Clarence B Jones the American lawyer and civil rights campaigner who helped Martin Luther King to write his famous I Have A Dream speech.

Judith Chalmers, the TV and radio presenter best known for her globetrotting holiday series Wish You Were Here.

Dr Anna Ritchie, the archaeologist who excavated some of Orkney’s most revealing ancient sites.

And Frank Land, one of the prime movers in the development of the world’s first business computer - at the Lyons catering company.

Interviewee: Mark Durden Smith
Interviewee: Matt Ritchie
Interviewee: Georgina Ferry

Producer: Catherine Powell
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Josie Hardy
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive used:
Martin Luther King March on Washington, SOUND ARCHIVE Reference: 28322, 28/08/1963;
BBC News special, BBC News, 28/08/2020;
Wish you were Here…? Thames TV, ITV, 10/01/1978. From YouTube upload ThamesTv, 8/08/2020;
Wish you were there, BBC Archive, 28/03/1966;
Tracks of My Years, BBC Radio 2, 28/09/2017;
Smillie’s People: Judith Chalmers, BBC 1, 20/01/1997;
Pebble Mill, BBC 1, 14/05/1993;
Gardeners’ Question Time: Matt Biggs’ House, BBC Radio 4, 27/08/2023; 
The House the Picts Built, BBC, 28/08/1974;
Around Scotland: The Scots, BBC1 Scotland, 10/03/1977;
Around Scotland: Early History: The First People, 17/09/1979;
LEO celebration Part 2 - Panel Discussion with Frank Land, Georgina Ferry, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Centre for Computing History and the LEO Computers Society (partnership project), 18/05/2023;
BBC Oral History Collection - Interview with Judith Chalmers, John Escolme History of the BBC, 26/03/1982;

Clarence B Jones, Judith Chalmers, Dr Anna Ritchie, Professor Frank Land

Kirsty Lang on Michael Pennington, the Shakespearean actor who preferred a life on stage to the glamour of Hollywood. For Dame Judi Dench, he was her 'Mr Plum', she recalls his life.

Cynthia Shange defied apartheid to become the first Black woman to represent South Africa at Miss World.

 Scott Hastings the rugby legend, who was once Scotland’s most capped player. He went on to become a well-known commentator and campaigner for mental health charities, following the death of his wife after her long battle with depression.

 And Beverley Martyn, the singer songwriter, a star of the British folk scene, who was signed by Beatles producer George Martin aged 16, but her career was not a smooth ride.

 Please note this programme references suicide. Support and information is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Interviewee: Dame Judi Dench
Interviewee: Nonhle Thema
Interviewee: John Beattie
Interviewee: Joe Boyd

Producer: Catherine Powell
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
Miss World 1972. BBC TV, 01 Dec 1972; Bob Harris Sunday : Beverley Martyn plays live, BBC Radio 2, 27th April 2014; Five Nations, Rugby Union, Scotland v England, 17th March 1990; Scrum V, Live Pro12: 2016/2017, Edinburgh v Blues, 24th Feb 2017; BBC News Breakfast, 21st Dec 2020; Richard II, writer William Shakespeare, dir Gregory Doran, Royal Shakespeare Company, 2013; Gift of Gorgon, writer Peter Shaffer, dir Peter Hall, RSC, 1993; Henry V, dir Michael Bogdanov, The English Shakespeare Company in The War of the Roses, Produced by John Paul Chapple and Andy Ward, A Portman Classics production in association with Contracts International and Windmill Lane Productions, 1990

Michael Pennington, Cynthia Shange, Scott Hastings, Beverley Martyn

The virtuoso pianist, Ruth Slenczynska was the last living student of Sergei Rachmaninoff. She began performing at the age of four, and was once reputed to be the greatest child prodigy since Mozart.

From the Australian outback to the forefront of British science, Dame Bridget Ogilvie was the daughter of sheep farmers who went on to help make the UK a leader in biomedical research.

Labour MP, Tony Worthington, survived a violent ambush in Somaliland and played a role in the Northern Ireland peace talks.

Crown prosecutor, Russel Tyner KC, was a pioneer in the prosecution of cyber-crime.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Lowri Morgan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
BBC News, 12/01/2019; BBC, Hunting the Lorry Killers, 03/11/202; BBC, Eureka, 08/01/1997; BBC, Newsnight, 25/10/1999; BBC, Current Account, 16/10/1979; BBC, Reporting Scotland, 11/02/1994; BBC, Newsline, 06/05/1997; BBC, Panorama, 18/03/2003

Ruth Slenczynska, Dame Bridget Ogilvie, Tony Worthington, Russell Tyner KC

Dr Ittai Gradel, the Danish antiquities dealer who uncovered the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum. Katie Razzall recalls how he helped her report the story.

Dame Shirley Porter, the Conservative leader of Westminster Council who had a spectacular fall from grace over the 'homes for votes' scandal.

Professor Nigel Dunnett, the horticulturalist and garden designer, known for his ambitious public planting displays at the Olympic Park in East London and the moat of the Tower of London. His friend and fellow gardener Arit Anderson pays tribute.

Maria Nieves Rego, the dancer who took the tango from Argentina to the rest of the world. 

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
BBC One, News at Ten, 16/08/2023; BBC Radio 4, Front Row, 11/09/2023; BBC Parliament, House of Commons Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, 23/10/2023; BBC Radio 4, Shadow World: Thief at the British Museum 31/05/2024; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs, 28/04/1991; BBC, Radio 4, The Report, 10/05/1996; BBC One, News at Six, 05/07/2004; BBC Radio 4, Costing the Earth: Where Have all our Gardens Gone?, 29/09/2015; The Man from Atlanta, 23/08/1982; Our Last Tango: Official Trailer, Uploaded to YouTube, 31/05/2016

Dr Ittai Gradel, Dame Shirley Porter, Professor Nigel Dunnett, María Nieves Rego

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 the Chinese government.

Lord Hunt, the meteorologist and former Director General and Chief Executive of the Met Office, who was an expert in turbulence.

Joan Burstein, ran the influential Browns boutique in London’s South Molton Street, backing the careers of many leading designers.

Bill Leader, the recording engineer who captured all the leading performers of the folk revival of the 1960s and 70s.

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Archive:
Tomorrow's World, BBC One,18/11/1965; You and Yours, BBC Radio 4, 27/06/2005; My Life in Seven Charms, with Annoushka Ducas MBE, 27/05/2021; Joan Burstein Browns 50 Testimonial, Browns Fashion (Uploaded to Youtube - 22 Oct 2020); Best of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, BBC Two, Uploaded to Youtube

Founder of the ‘MOBOs’ and champion of black music – Kanya King

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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