Last Word

Matthew Bannister onFrank Duckworth, the statistician whose name will forever be associated with the Duckworth-Lewis method of calculating scores for rain affected cricket matches. Leah Levin, who campaigned to overturn miscarriages of justice and gain reparations for victims of torture. Professor Mary-Lou Pardue, the eminent biologist who fought against sexism at the American University, M.I.T.Joss Naylor, the fell runner who broke the Lake District 24-hour record three times and ran the fastest known times on the Three Peaks and the Pennine Way.Interviewee: Rob Eastaway Interviewee: Hans Thoolen Interviewee: Professor Susan Gerbi Interviewee: Professor Nancy Hopkins Interviewee: David Powell-ThompsonProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used:Frank Duckworth interview, Broadcasting House, BBC Radio 4, 21/06/2021; England Test Match Special, West Indies v England, BBC ONE, 16/03/1968; England Cricket Sport Report, BBC Sport, 30/01/2005; Leah Levin keynote speech, Kingston University graduation ceremony, 2019; Leah Levin interview, London Plus News, BBC ONE South East, 11/10/1984; Leah Levin , BBC Breakfast Time, BBC ONE, 04/10/1985; A Conversation with Mary Lou Pardue, MIT Department of Biology, YouTube Upload, 24/08/2020; Joss Naylor profile, Countryfile, BBC ONE 30/07/2018; Joss Naylor interview, Farming Today, BBC Radio 4, 19/06/2021; Joss Naylor interview, Nationwide, BBC ONE, 1973; Joss Naylor interview Cherry Pit Spitting , BBC News, 02/07/1981;

Kirsty Lang on the Judge and cricketer Sir Oliver Popplewell. His godson Stephen Fry pays tribute.The computer pioneer and transgender advocate Lynn Conway.The music mogul and friend to the Fab Four Tony Bramwell. One of France’s best loved singer song-writers Francoise Hardy.Interviewee: Stephen Fry Interviewee: Charles Rogers Interviewee: Roag Best Interviewee: Laura BartonProducer: Catherine PowellArchive used: Get Carman: The Trials of George Carman QC BBC 2 5th April 2002; The Today Programme BBC 15th May 1985; Michigan Engineering, University of Michigan 8 Oct 2014 uploaded from Youtube; Trans Activism Oral History Project, Chair in Transgender Studies, University of Victoria, Canada Feb 4th 2020; Radio Newsreel BBC World Service 31st October 1963; Dermot O’Leary show BBC Radio 2 17th August 2013; Sunny South Kensington – Donovan Epic 22nd October 1966; Songbird – Eva Cassidy Didgeridoo Records/ Hot Record 1998; My Generation – The Who Bruinswick Records/ Decca (US) 1965/6; Falling for Francoise, Producer: Alan Hall A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 2011.

Matthew Bannister on Nora Cortiñas, a founding member of Argentina’s “Mothers of the Disappeared” campaign group. Her son Gustavo was 24 when he was arrested by the country’s right-wing dictatorship. He was never seen again. Belinda Bellville, the fashion designer who dressed every female member of the royal family apart from Queen Elizabeth. Her business partner David Sassoon shares his memories.The poet John Burnside whose acclaimed work reflected his troubled childhood in Cowdenbeath and Corby.Roger Corman, the American film director and producer known for his prolific output of low budget pictures.Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used: Exhibition of Belinda Bellville dresses at Holkham Hall, BBC Norfolk, 17/04/2013; Princess Goes To Washington (1965). Pathe News, 21/11/1965; Wild Music, Radio 4, 29/12/2019; Belief: John Burnside, BBC Radio 3; 04/04/2012; The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960) Official Trailer; Masque Of The Red Death (1964) Trailer; Attack of the Crab Monsters Official Trailer; Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (1957) Trailer; It Conquered the World (1956) Theatrical Trailer; Horror Café, BBC 2, 15/09/1990; The Film Programme, BBC Radio 4, 30/05/2008;

Matthew Bannister onRichard M Sherman who teamed up with his brother Robert to write some of Disney’s best loved songs.Professor Wendy James CBE, the anthropologist who studied the Uduk tribes of Sudan.June Mendoza OBE, the portrait painter whose subjects included members of the Royal Family, Prime Ministers and celebrities.Morgan Spurlock, the film maker best known for his Oscar nominated documentary about the fast food industry “Supersize Me”.Interviewee: Brian Sibley Interviewee: Dr Douglas Johnson Interviewee: Anna Smith Interviewee: Kim MackrellProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive used: Richard Sherman, Outlook, BBC Radio 4, 29 Aug 2016; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Trailer, Dir: Ken Hughes, MGM, 1968; Mary Poppins trailer, Director: Robert Stevenson, Disney, 1964; Julie Andrews, Feed The Birds, Composer Sherman; Richard Sherman, The Film Programme, BBC Radio 4, 30 May 2008; Richard Sherman, Front Row, BBC Radio 4, 26 Oct 2007; Richard Sherman, Soul Music, BBC Radio 4, 03 May 2016; It's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, Walt Disney; Richard Sherman interview, Empire Magazine, YouTube, uploaded 12 Aug 2013; Interview with Professor Wendy James, Apollo, University of Cambridge Repository, Dir: Alan Macfarlane, Edit: Sarah Harrison, dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/223956, 15 May 2009; Super Size Me, 2004, Writer/Director: Morgan Spurlock, Samuel Goldwyn Film, You Tube, uploaded 17 May 2024; Super Size Me, Official Movie Trailer, Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2004; Super Size Me 2, Official Trailer, Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2019; Morgan Spurlock interview, ABC News, YouTube uploaded, 19 Sept 2019; June Mendoza, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 08 Sept 1979; June Mendoza, Midweek, BBC Radio 4, 25 May 1988;

Matthew Bannister onThe Irish rugby star and businessman Sir Tony O’Reilly. He made billions but ended up bankrupt.The hardline President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi.Penny Simkin, who championed the role of birth doulas to help mothers during and after labour.Professor Alasdair Geddes, the infectious diseases expert who diagnosed the world’s last ever case of smallpox – in Birmingham.Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used: Penny Simkin, YouTube upload, PSfromPenny, 27/10/2009; Penny Simkin, YouTube upload, PSfromPenny, 22/03/2011; Today Programme, Radio 4, BBC, 20/05/2024; Newshour, BBC World Service, 20/05/2024; News report by Philip Hayton, Sound Archive, BBC Radio 4, 11/02/1979; Ebrahim Raisi interviewed by Lesley Stahl, CBS Interactive Inc., YouTube upload, 60 Minutes, 19/05/2024; BBC profile on Tony O’Reilly, 24/01/1975; Conversation Piece, Radio 4, 02/12/1985; People in profile, Radio Ulster, 06/09/1980; The Last Case of Smallpox in the UK, BBC News, 31/08/2016

Matthew Bannister onDame Shirley Conran, the journalist and author best known for her books “Superwoman” and “Lace”.Baroness Doreen Massey, the educator and former director of the Family Planning AssociationBeverly LaHaye the founder of Concerned Women of America who campaigned to stop the Equal Rights Amendment.Steve Albini, the controversial musician who worked many influential albums including Nirvava’s “In Utero”.Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used: National Women’s Coalition for Life, National Cable Satellite Corporation, C-Span, 03/04/1992; Former President Trump Speaks at Concerned Women for America Summit, National Cable Satellite Corporation, C-Span, 15/09/2023; Beverly LaHaye, Concernedwomen.org, 23/02/2017; President Reagan's Remarks at Convention of Concerned Women for America, Reagan Library, YouTube upload, 28/11/2017; The PTL Club, The PTL Club – Heritage USA, YouTube upload, 12/08/2022; Woman's Hour, 07/11/2014; Woman's Hour, 02/08/2012; Graham Norton, BBC Radio 2, 14/07/2012; The Stephen McCauley Show, BBC Radio Ulster, 29/08/2022; House of Lords, parliament.tv, 24/04/2019; Baroness Massey Stories of Democracy, House of Lords, YouTube upload, 22/11/2012

Matthew Bannister on Anne Dagg, the Canadian biologist known as The Woman Who Loves Giraffes for her lifelong study of the animals.Professor Ross Anderson, the computer scientist who was a leading expert on data protection and online security.Reverend Cecil Murray, the pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles who played a pivotal role during the riots of 1992.Kris Hellenga, who was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 23 and set up the charity Coppafeel to encourage other young women to check their breasts.Producer: Ed PrendevilleArchive used: Archive of Anne Dagg, The Woman who loves Giraffes, Pursuing Giraffe Adventures Inc, 2018; Newsnight, BBC Two, 01/07/1992; Newsnight, BBC Two, 11/02/2010; Ross Anderson Interviewed by Elisabetta Mori, Archives of IT, YouTube Upload, 20/03/2024; Digitalize in Stockholm ’22, DigitalFuturesHub, YouTube Upload, 28/10/22; USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, YouTube Upload 22/02/2021; BBC Radio Cornwall, 12/10/2021;

Matthew Bannister on an author, a campaigner, an Olympic medallist, a conductor

Matthew Bannister onThe 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-DaviesArchive 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