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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: Harry Leslie Smith, Pete Shelley, Monica Sims, Professor Wendy Atkin OBE, Ivan March

Harry Leslie Smith, Pete Shelley, Monica Sims, Professor Wendy Atkin OBE, Ivan March

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Harry Leslie Smith, Pete Shelley, Monica Sims, Professor Wendy Atkin OBE, Ivan March

Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a singer, a BBC manager, an epidemiologist, a critic

Matthew Bannister on campaigner Harry Leslie Smith, singer Pete Shelley, Radio 4 Controller Monica Sims, epidemiologist Wendy Atkin, music critic Ivan March

Pictured: Pete Shelley

Matthew Bannister on

Harry Leslie Smith who grew up in poverty in Yorkshire. He became an outspoken campaigner for the welfare state and a social media star in his nineties.

Pete Shelley, lead singer and songwriter of Buzzcocks.

Monica Sims, the BBC executive who ran children's TV, then became Controller of Radio 4.

Wendy Atkin, the epidemiologist who devised a breakthrough screening test for bowel cancer.

Ivan March, the music critic who set up a record lending library and co-wrote the Penguin Stereo Record Guide.

Interviewed guest: John Smith
Interviewed guest: Owen Jones
Interviewed guest: Gillian Reynolds
Interviewed guest: Edward Barnes
Interviewed guest: Dr Amanda Cross
Interviewed guest: Martin Cullingford
Reader: Tony Turner
Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Labour Party Conference, BBC Parliament 24/09/14; Harry Leslie Smith: Comment is Free, The Guardian 23/03/16; Afternoon Edition, 5 Live 07/10/14; 5 Live Breakfast, 07/12/18; The Seven Ages of Rock, 6 Music 05/04/18; The Buzzcocks Story, 6 Music 31/07/14; Interviews with Monica Sims from the BBC Oral History Collection; BBC News, 12/04/02; Today, Radio 4 28/04/10.

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

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Last Word

Harry Leslie Smith, Pete Shelley, Monica Sims, Professor Wendy Atkin OBE, Ivan March

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