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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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Last Word: Paul Allen, Dr Mary Midgley, Leon Lederman, Roger Mainwood

19/10/2018

Paul Allen, Dr Mary Midgley, Leon Lederman, Roger Mainwood

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Paul Allen, Dr Mary Midgley, Leon Lederman, Roger Mainwood

Matthew Bannister on an entrepreneur, a philosopher, a particle physicist and an animator.

Matthew Bannister on Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, philosopher Mary Midgley, particle physicist Leon Lederman and animator Roger Mainwood.

Pictured: Paul Allen

Matthew Bannister on

Paul Allen who teamed up with his school friend Bill Gates to found the computer software company Microsoft. After he left, he used his billions to support medical research, education and an American football team.

Mary Midgley, the philosopher who wrote about the relationship between humans and animals and enjoyed lively debates with her colleagues.

Leon Lederman, the physicist who won the Nobel prize for his work on the neutrino and described the Higgs boson as "the God particle".

Roger Mainwood, the animator who helped to bring Raymond Briggs' The Snowman to the screen, then directed the critically acclaimed animated film about Briggs' parents, "Ethel and Ernest".

Interviewed guest: Glenn Fleishman
Interviewed guest: David Midgley
Interviewed guest: Professor Malcolm Fairbairn
Interviewed guest: Nigel Lockyer 
Interviewed guest: Jez Stewart

Archive clips from: Horizon: The Six Billion Dollar Experiment, BBC TV 01/05/07; Origins: Where We and Our World Came From, BBC TV 18/03/86; Woman’s Hour, Radio 4 30/07/03; Woman's Hour, Radio 4 17/03/97; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 20/11/05; When the Wind Blows film trailer, Meltdown Productions/British Screen Productions/Film Four International/TVC London/Penguin Books, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami 1986; Ethel & Ernest film trailer, BBC/BFI/Ffilm Cymru Wales/Film Fund Luxembourg/Cloth Cat Animation/Ethel&Ernest Productions/Lupus Films/Melusine Productions, directed by Roger Mainwood 2016; Meg and Mog, ITV, directed by Roger Mainwood 2003; CBS News, 17/04/11; Today, Radio 4 25/04/11.

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Paul Allen, Dr Mary Midgley, Leon Lederman, Roger Mainwood

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