Last Word BBC Radio 4

Matthew Bannister on
The American journalist Terry Anderson who was held captive in Lebanon for almost seven years. In an emotional interview, his daughter Sulome tells us how she followed in his footsteps as she tried to connect with a father she met for the first time when she was seven years old.
Lord Field who, the Labour MP Frank Field who campaigned tirelessly for welfare reform.
Trina Robbins the feminist cartoonist and writer who was the first woman to illustrate the Wonder Woman comics.
Ann Trevenen Jenkin the first woman Grand Bard of Cornwall and a founding member of the Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow.
Interviewee: Sulome Anderson
Interviewee: Ellin Stein
Interviewee: Liam Halligan
Interviewee: Loveday Jenkin
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive Used:
Sulome Anderson writes a letter to her father on his birthday, BBC News, 07/10/1991; Terry Anderson release, Live press conference, BBC News, 04/12/1991; Terry Anderson interview, BBC Radio 1, 01/01/2000; Terry Anderson on What It’s Like to Live as a Hezbollah Hostage, Slate. YouTube Channel uploaded, 17/11/2014; Trina Robbins, Meet Trina Robbins, the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for D.C. Comics, KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco, YouTube uploaded 30/03/2023; Frank Field MP interview, Straight Talk, BBC News, 19/06/2010; Frank Field, Profile, BBC Radio 4, 13/12/2014; Frank Field, Lent Talks, BBC Radio 4, 01/04/2009; Ann Trevenen Jenkin interviewed by Carmen Talbot for Dreadnought South West’s Rebellious Sounds Archive, 2019; Ann Trevenen Jenkin interview, Cornish March, BBC News, 21/06/1997;

Sulome Anderson first met her father – journalist Terry Anderson – at the American Embassy in Damascus. She was seven years old and he had just been released from nearly seven years as a hostage in Lebanon. She desperately wanted to build a relationship with him, even going so far as to become a war correspondent herself and tracking down and meeting one of his captors. But Terry’s traumatic experiences made the task very challenging. When she was nearly kidnapped in the Middle East herself, she became determined to break out of the “cycle of fascination with war” that had bedevilled the family. In this moving interview recorded shortly after Terry’s death she speaks candidly about the pressures they faced.

Presented by Matthew Banister
Produced by Gareth Nelson-Davies and Eirian Jones

Matthew Bannister on:
Sir Paul Fox, the respected TV executive who commissioned some of the best loved programmes of the 1960s and 70s. We have a tribute from his former colleague Sir David Attenborough.
Lynne Reid Banks, the author best known for her novel “The L Shaped Room.”
Joan Hills, the artist who played a key role in the art world of the 1960s and, with her husband and two children, was part of the Boyle Family quartet.
Amnon Weinstein, the luthier who collected and restored violins which had been played in concentration camps during the Second World War.
Interviewee: Sir David Attenborough
Interviewee: Gillon Stephenson
Interviewee: Georgia Boyle
Interviewee: Avshalom Weinstein
Interviewee: Jaap Hamburger
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive Used:
Sportsview, BBC Television, 27/01/1955; Roger Bannister 4 minute mile news report, BBC Archive Newsreel, 07/05/1954; Interview with Paul Fox, The Oral History of the BBC, connectedhistoriesofthebbc.org, 30/11/1984; Lynne Reid Banks interview with Rita Hayworth1956, On This Day, ITN Archive Facebook channel, uploaded 13/07/2022; L-Shaped Room, Official Trailer, 20th Century Fox, 1962, Dir: Bryan Forbes; Lynne Reid Banks interview, With Great Pleasure, BBC Radio 4, 24/09/1999; Reading extract, The Indian in the Cupboard, Episode 1, BBC Radio 4, 02/10/1986; Official Film Promo, Paramount Pictures, Dir: Frank Oz, 1995; Lynne Reid Banks talks about how her life would be different if she couldn't write, gconversations YouTube Channel, uploaded 25/10/2012; Joan Hills interview, The Boyle Family, BBC Four, 27/08/2003; Amnon Weinstein 2018, Alabama Holocaust Education Center, YouTube uploaded 02/06/2022; Violins of Hope, CBS Sunday Morning, YouTube uploaded 22/03/2024;

Matthew Bannister on

Professor Peter Higgs, the physicist who won the Nobel prize for explaining why the building blocks of the universe have mass.

Trevor Griffiths, the playwright whose stage and TV dramas focused on left wing politics and social issues. We have a tribute from the actor Jack Shepherd.

Hella Pick, the long serving Guardian foreign correspondent who enjoyed the company of many world leaders.

Margaret Tynes, the African-American soprano who sang leading operatic roles and worked with Duke Ellington.
Interviewee: Roland Pease
Interviewee: Dr Alan Walker
Interviewee: Jack Shepherd
Interviewee: Paul Allen
Interviewee: Linda Christmas
Interviewee: Michael Harper
Producer: Catherine Powell
Archive used:
BBC News at Six : 04/07/2012; BBC The Life Scientific 18/02/2014; Nobel Prize Announcement in Physics 2013, Youtube, 08/10/2013; All Good Men, Play for Today, BBC 1, 31/01/1974; Trevor Griffiths, BFI, YouTube Upload, 02/06/2017; Through the Night, Play for Today, BBC 1, 04/08/1977; Trevor Griffiths interviewed by Sir Tony Robinson, Showreel 88, BBC2, 26/12/1988; Hardtalk, BBC, 1997; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 16/11/2018; Aida - 'Ritorna vincitor' az I. felvonásból, 08/09/1962; Macbeth - 'Una macchia e qui tuttora' a IV. felvonásból (Gran Scena del Sonnambulismo / Alvajáró jelenet) 08/09/1962; A Drum Is a Woman, Pt. 1 by Duke Ellington, Margaret Tynes, Duke Ellington & His Orchestra; "Salome" excerpt, Spoleto, 1961

Matthew Bannister on

Joe Lieberman, the US Democrat politician who fell out with his party over the Iraq War.

Diana Baring, the respected literary agent. We have a tribute from her client Frederick Forsyth.

Lynn Kinnear, who was one of the most influential landscape architects of her generation.

Kay Benbow, who commissioned and made many acclaimed TV shows for children.

Interviewee: Matt Lieberman
Interviewee: Frederick Forsyth
Interviewee: Caroline Dawnay
Interviewee: Sean Griffiths
Interviewee: Kim Tserkezie
Producer: Catherine Powell

Archive used:
Joe Lieberman addresses the Senate floor, 04/09/1998, AP Archive, YouTube upload, 21/07/2015; Joe Lieberman interview, The Mehdi Hasan Show, MSNBC, YouTube Upload, 27/10/2021; Joe Lieberman interview, HardTalk, BBC News, 29/06/2017; Joe Lieberman interview, All things considered, NPR, 12/10/2015; Late Night with Conan O'Brien 15/01/2003 Show Executive Producers Lorne Michaels Jeff Ross; The Day of the Jackal trailer, Universal City Studios LLC, IMDb, 1973; Walthamstow Wetlands, London Wildlife Trust, YouTube upload 04/2021; Lynn Kinnear interviewed by Hattie Hartman, 01/07/2022; Balamory Theme Song – BBC Foster Paterson; Woman's Hour : Children's Television; 12/09/2014; Nina and the Neurons BBC Series 2 “Nina’s Cake Bakes” 02/04/2008; The Clangers, Smallfilms for the BBC, 31/10/08

John Wilson on
Richard Taylor, who became a tireless campaigner against knife crime and supported disadvantaged young people.
Lisa Lane, the chess champion who was the first player to feature on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Rose Dugdale, the English heiress and debutante who went onto join the IRA.
Ian Green, the Scottish folk music champion who started the record label Greentrax.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
Rose Dugdale – Mná an IRA, Sé Merry Doyle Loopline Film, 2012; Rose Dugdale charges, BBC News, 06/05/1974; Anti-war march 1967,BBC,26/03/1967; Alfred Beit – Russborough House interview, Midweek, BBC, 03/07/1974; What’s my Line, Freemantle – May 1961, YouTube upload 26/04/2014; BBC Archive – News report Rose sentencing, BBC, 27/11/1974; BBC News – report on murder of Damilola; BBC News – Hardtalk; BBC News interview with Richard Taylor; Ian McCalman – Farewell to the haven; Shian Road sung by Isla St Clair. Written by Ian McCalman; The Pearl Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham and Violet Tulloch; Take the Floor – 19/02/11 Programme number: 10L33047/01; Dateline East Asia Presented By Kathryn Davies;