Last Word

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BBC Radio 4 LW

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: Toni Morrison, Hal Prince, Dr Elizabeth Killick, Li Peng, Barrington Pheloung

Toni Morrison, Hal Prince, Dr Elizabeth Killick, Li Peng, Barrington Pheloung

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Toni Morrison, Hal Prince, Dr Elizabeth Killick, Li Peng, Barrington Pheloung

Matthew Bannister on an author, a director, an engineer, a premier and a composer.

Matthew Bannister on author Toni Morrison, director Hal Prince, engineer Elizabeth Killick, Chinese Premier Li Peng, composer Barrington Pheloung

Pictured: Toni Morrison

Matthew Bannister on

The Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, acclaimed for her novels which put the experience of black women centre stage. 

Hal Prince, the successful theatre producer and director behind West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera and Evita.

The pioneering radar and sonar engineer, Dr Elizabeth Killick.

Li Peng, the Chinese Premier who ordered troops to fire on unarmed students in Tiananmen Square. 

Barrington Pheloung, the TV and film composer who wrote the theme music for Inspector Morse.

Interviewed guest: Dr Tessa Roynon
Interviewed guest: Margaret Busby OBE, FRSL
Interviewed guest: David Benedict
Interviewed guest: Ed Gorman
Interviewed guest: Isabel Hilton OBE
Producer: Neil George 

Archive clips from: Start The Week, Radio 4 08/12/2003; Toni Morrison reads Song of Solomon, Penguin / PRH Audio; World Book Club, Radio 4 Extra 12/06/2016; Toni Morrison’s Nobel Prize Lecture, 07/12/1993; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 16/11/1986; Broadcasting House, Radio 4 04/08/2019; Elaine Paige on Sunday, Radio 2 04/08/2019; Workers Join Pro-Democracy Protests, BBC Sound Archive 23/05/1989; Tiananmen Square protesters battle Chinese troops, BBC News 04/06/1989; Today, Radio 4 08/11/1997; The Radio 2 Arts Show, 30/03/2016.

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Toni Morrison, Hal Prince, Dr Elizabeth Killick, Li Peng, Barrington Pheloung

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