Last Word

Reeta Chakrabarti on Sir George Martin, the legendary music producer who oversaw the Beatles' phenomenal success. Nancy Reagan, the US First Lady, who went from actor to political wife, to campaigner against drug abuse. Ray Tomlinson, one of the pioneers of the internet, and a founder of the email system. And Gillian Avery, historian and award-winning author of children's literature.

Reeta Chakrabarti on Tony Warren, who created the long-running TV soap Coronation Street, embedding a working-class north of England cast of characters in the national consciousness. Louise Rennison, comedian and author of young adult fiction, whose frank and funny books won her a loyal following amongst teenage girls. Lord Chorley, a parliamentarian and conservationist, whose many public roles in...

Matthew Bannister on Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the United Nations Secretary General who had to deal with genocide in Rwanda and the war in the Balkans. Edmonde Charles-Roux, the former resistance fighter who became editor of French Vogue magazine. Norman Hudis, the screenwriter of many of the Carry On comedy films. And Antonin Scalia, the conservative US Supreme Court Justice.

Matthew Bannister on Professor Marvin Minsky - the computer scientist who carried out pioneering work on artificial intelligence. Margaret Forster who wrote novels like Georgy Girl and acclaimed biographies including a life of Daphne Du Maurier. Peter Powell who invented the stunt kite and turned it into a global business, before it all came crashing down. Sir Brian Tovey who was director of the G...

Matthew Bannister on Sir Terry Wogan - we have a tale of two cities: memories from his home town of Limerick and accolades from his fantasy town of Leicester. Lord Lucan, finally declared dead this week after disappearing in the 1970s. Mystery still surrounds his involvement in the murder of his children's nanny. The actor Frank Finlay, who often played darker characters. His Bouquet of Barbed Wir...

Matthew Bannister on The Conservative politician Lord Parkinson. He masterminded the 1983 election victory but was forced to resign when his affair with his secretary was revealed. Bill Mitchell, who lived and breathed the Yorkshire Dales, editing the Dalesman magazine and writing hundreds of books. Paddy Doherty, the Irish Republican activist who played a leading role in Derry's 1969 Battle of th...

Matthew Bannister on Glenn Frey - singer, guitarist and songwriter with The Eagles - who sold millions of albums in the 1970s. Lord Weidenfeld, the influential publisher, party giver and networker - and, in later life, rescuer of Christians from Syria and Iraq. The writer and activist Jeanne Cordova - a former nun who campaigned for lesbian rights. Haskell Wexler, the cinematographer who won an Os...

Matthew Bannister on David Bowie, art expert, fashion icon and media manipulator. Alan Rickman, the actor most famous for playing villains from the Sheriff of Nottingham to Professor Snape. Olwyn Hughes, the sister of the poet Ted Hughes who fiercely guarded his literary legacy and that of his late wife Sylvia Plath. And Ed "Stewpot" Stewart, the Radio 1 and 2 DJ who presented Junior Choice.

Matthew Bannister on Robert Stigwood, the impresario who managed Eric Clapton and The Bee Gees, produced Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita and the movies Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Patricia Torrens the first adviser on diet to the Department of Health. Pierre Boulez, the avant garde French composer and conductor who pioneered serialism and the use of electronics. Lord Ezra who was chairman of...

Recording engineer, Eric Tomlinson, who worked on the score for Star Wars and added music to Charlie Chaplin's silent films. Elsie Tu, social campaigner, legislator and educationalist in Hong Kong. Author, Peter Dickinson, who twice received the prestigious Carnegie medal for his work. Entrepreneur, Lillian Vernon, whose catalogue business was the first company owned by a woman to be listed on the...

Matthew Bannister and Economist Obituary Editor Ann Wroe recall some of the most memorable lives of 2015, including a diver, a scientist and a singer. Producer: Edwina Pitman.

Matthew Bannister on The Irish cyclist, strong man and farm labourer Mick Murphy who won a famous victory in the 1958 round Ireland race. The Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi who boasted that he tricked the Americans into invading his country. The American soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs, who was the first black singer to appear at La Scala in Milan. Ther last surviving Indian king from the days of the Bri...

Matthew Bannister on The Israeli chemical weapons expert Marcus Klingberg, who was revealed to have been spying for the Soviet Union. The Scottish writer William McIlvanney, best known for his Jack Laidlaw crime novels. Val McDermid pays tribute. Setsuko Hara, one of Japan's most popular film actresses. Joel Elkes, the pharmacologist who pioneered the use of drugs to treat schizophrenia. And John...

Matthew Bannister on General Sir Robert Ford who was Commander Land Forces Northern Ireland at the time of the Bloody Sunday shootings. Hazel Adair, the TV scriptwriter behind hit series like Compact, Emergency Ward 10 and Crossroads. Professor Jane Wardle, the behavioural scientist who transformed our understanding of cancer screening and prevention. Gerry Byrne, the Liverpool left back who was p...

Matthew Bannister on TV pioneer Peter Dimmock. An accomplished presenter and also a BBC executive, he directed the coverage of the Queen's coronation in 1953. Also SOE agent Alix d'Unienville. In the days before D Day she was parachuted into occupied France with a suitcase containing forty million francs. Yolanda Sonnabend who designed some of the UK's best loved ballets Maggie Eales who rose from...

Matthew Bannister on Roy Dommett, one of the UK's leading rocket scientists who was also a well known morris dancer. Warren Mitchell, the actor best known for playing Alf Garnett in the TV sit com "Till Death Us Do Part" Allen Toussaint, the New Orleans producer and musician who worked with many of the great names in rock. Cynthia Payne, who ran a brothel at her home in Streatham where men exchang...

Matthew Bannister on Helmut Schmidt, the German Chancellor who helped to design the European Monetary System and agreed that US nuclear weapons could be sited in his country. His friend the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger pays tribute. Also the jockey Pat Eddery - Willie Carson remembers their rivalry on the course and their friendship off it. The actress and TV scriptwriter Julia Jon...

Matthew Bannister on Norman Moore, the conservationist who discovered that organochorine pesticides were decimating the UK's bird of prey population. He fought a twenty year campaign to have them banned. The singer Diane Charlemagne - known as the diva of drum and bass. We have a tribute from Moby. The academic David Cesarani - a leading authority on modern Jewish history. The actor and screenwrit...

Matthew Bannister on Professor Lisa Jardine, the historian whose intellectual curiosity stretched across the arts and sciences. She was chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and a regular broadcaster on Radio 4. Philip French, for thirty-five years the Chief Film Critic of the Observer. Ronnie Massarella who built up a successful family ice cream business and managed the Britis...

Matthew Bannister on General Jack Galvin who was NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe as the Cold War ended. Generals Colin Powell and David Petraeus pay tribute. Joan Leslie - the Hollywood star who made forty films in ten years. Michael Meacher - the former Environment minister once described by Neil Kinnock as "Tony Benn's vicar on earth." The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn joins us. Howard K...

Julian Worricker on: The former Chancellor and Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, whose resignation speech in the Commons was generally regarded as the beginning of the end for Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. The journalist, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, whose reporting frequently took her to some of the most dangerous parts of the world. The farmer and conservationist, Joe Henson, who founded the Rare B...

Lucy Ash on the former Labour politician Denis Healey who was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Winter of Discontent in 70s; Catalan literary agent Carmen Ballcells known as Big Mamma to her Nobel Prize winning authors;Captain Bob Arnott, beloved by his passengers on the QE2; Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell and radical priest Reverend Kenneth Leech, who founded the homelessness charity C...

Matthew Bannister on The award winning Irish playwright Brian Friel, best known for Dancing At Lughnasa and Translations. Argentine General Mario Menéndez who was appointed Governor of the Falkland Islands during the invasion. Tessa Ransford who founded the Scottish Poetry Library. John Guillermin who directed movie blockbusters like The Towering Inferno, Death on the Nile, and the 1976 re-make of...

Matthew Bannister on Brian Sewell, the art critic with the distinctive voice, outspoken opinions and love of dogs. Jackie Collins who sold millions of copies of her sex and showbusiness novels, Ted Smith, the conservationist who built up the UK's network of Wildlife Trusts. PJ Kavanagh, the poet who also played a Nazi loving priest in the TV comedy Father Ted. And Yogi Berra the top baseball playe...

Matthew Bannister on Sir David Willcocks - one of the most influential choir masters of his generation. Known for his descants to Christmas carols, he was director of music at King's College Cambridge for 17 years - and led the Bach choir for 38. Merv Adelson the property developer who founded the TV company Lorimar which made hits like the Waltons, Dallas and Knots Landing. Mariem Hassan, the sin...