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

BBC Radio 4 FM

Last Word: Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall

Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall

Matthew Bannister on a lyricist, an adventurer, a publisher, a nun.

Matthew Bannister on lyricist Herbert Kretzmer, adventurer James Nash, publisher Tom Maschler, nun Sister Chiara Hatton Hall.

Pictured: Herbert Kretzmer

Matthew Bannister on

Herbert Kretzmer, the journalist turned lyricist, best known for writing the lyrics for the musical Les Misérables.

James Nash, the flamboyant adventurer who came under fire as a Colonial Officer in the Middle East during the last days of the British Empire.

Tom Maschler, the influential publisher who promoted the careers of many leading novelists and founded the Booker Prize.

Sister Chiara Hatton Hall, known as 'The Galloping Nun'. She taught Princess Anne and many other students to ride before taking holy orders as a forty-two year old widow. 

Interviewed guest: Don Black
Interviewed guest: Russell Davies
Interviewed guest: John Harding
Interviewed guest: Peter Straus
Interviewed guest: Sister Jane Bertelsen
Interviewed guest: Ginny Elliott MBE
Interviewed guest: Steve Axon

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: The Reunion, Radio 4 17/10/2003; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4  17/10/2003; Gamal Abdel Nasser’s speech on Yemen 1962, IEPlus 27/03/2015; Everything You Need To Know About The Permissive Society, Radio 4 22/07/1971;  Kaleidoscope: First Among Equals, Radio 4 22/10/1986; Burghley Horse Trials, AP / British Movietone  21/07/2015; Nuns’ Vows at Ladywell Convent 1962, British Pathe 13/04/2014.

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Last Word

Herbert Kretzmer, James Nash, Tom Maschler, Sister Chiara Hatton Hall

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