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Last Word

Factual: Life Stories

Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently

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Matthew Bannister

Last Word: A novelist, a racehorse trainer, a swimmer and film star, a key figure in the Warsaw Pact and 'the fastest granny on water'

A novelist, a racehorse trainer, a swimmer and film star, a key figure in the Warsaw Pact and 'the fastest granny on water'

14/06/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, A novelist, a racehorse trainer, a swimmer and film star, a key figure in the Warsaw Pact and 'the fastest granny on water'

Matthew Bannister on Iain Banks, Sir Henry Cecil, Esther Williams, the Countess of Arran.

Matthew Bannister on novelist Iain Banks, racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil, swimmer and film star Esther Williams and the powerboat racing Countess of Arran.

Matthew Bannister on

The Scottish novelist Iain Banks - author of The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road - who also wrote science fiction

Sir Henry Cecil - one of the most successful flat racing trainers of recent times. Willie Carson pays tribute.

Hollywood's swimming superstar Esther Williams,

Marshall Viktor Kulikov - one of the last of the Soviet military commanders. He played a key role in the crisis that led to martial law being imposed in Poland.

And the Countess of Arran - a powerboat racer known as the fastest woman on water. She reached 103 miles per hour in a rocket-like boat on Lake Windermere in 1980.

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Last Word

A novelist, a racehorse trainer, a swimmer and film star, a key figure in the Warsaw Pact and 'the fastest granny on water'

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