Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Last Word

Factual: Life Stories

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

BBC Radio 4 LW

Last Word: Ray Galton, Professor Gerald Russell, Evelyn Anthony, Sir Roger Gibbs, Montserrat Caballé

12/10/2018

Ray Galton, Professor Gerald Russell, Evelyn Anthony, Sir Roger Gibbs, Montserrat Caballé

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Ray Galton, Professor Gerald Russell, Evelyn Anthony, Sir Roger Gibbs, Montserrat Caballé

Matthew Bannister on a comedy writer, a psychiatrist, a novelist, a financier, a singer

Matthew Bannister on comedy writer Ray Galton, psychiatrist Gerald Russell, novelist Evelyn Anthony, financier Sir Roger Gibbs and opera singer Montserrat Caballé.

Pictured: Montserrat Caballé

Matthew Bannister on 

Ray Galton, who, with his writing partner Alan Simpson, created Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son. Paul Merton pays tribute. 

Gerald Russell, the psychiatrist who was the first to describe the eating disorder bulimia nervosa.

Evelyn Anthony, the novelist whose historical romances sold millions of copies.

The financier Sir Roger Gibbs, who transformed the fortunes of the Wellcome Trust. 

And the Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé, who had a global hit with Barcelona - a duet with Freddie Mercury.

Interviewed guest: Paul Merton 
Interviewed guest: Professor Janet Treasure
Interviewed guest: Ewan Ward-Thomas 
Reader: Alexandra Constantinidi
Interviewed guest: Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller

Archive clips from: Read All About It, Radio 4 04/01/76; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 27/11/74; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 15/08/88; The Tamarind Seed, ITC/Jewel Productions/Pimlico Films/Lorimar Productions, directed by Blake Edwards 1974; The Wellcome Trust (https://wellcome.ac.uk/about-us); Aled Jones, Radio Wales 05/07/08; Laughed off the Page: Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Radio Scotland 26/01/07; Hancock: The Radio Ham, BBC TV 1961; Steptoe and Son: The Offer, BBC Light Programme 03/07/66; The Wrong Arm of the Law (film trailer), Romulus Films/Robert Velaise Productions, directed by Cliff Owen 1963; Mark Lawson Talks To: Galton and Simpson, BBC TV 19/03/08; Eyes on Wales: Homeless, Radio Wales 04/06/95; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 10/10/81.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Last Word

Ray Galton, Professor Gerald Russell, Evelyn Anthony, Sir Roger Gibbs, Montserrat Caballé

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4