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: Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown (pictured)

Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown

Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown (pictured)

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown (pictured)

Matthew Bannister on a guide book writer, a physicist, a photographer, a pop star.

Matthew Bannister on travel book writer Geoff Crowther, physicist Isamu Akasaki, photographer June Newton, pop star Les McKeown.

Matthew Bannister on:

Geoff Crowther, the global traveller, writer and map maker whose work helped to build the success of the Lonely Planet guide books.

Isamu Akasaki, the Nobel prize winning physicist whose discoveries paved the way for LED lighting.

June Newton, who was a successful portrait photographer using the name Alice Springs to avoid comparisons with her husband and fellow photographer Helmut Newton.

Les McKeown, the front man of the Scottish boy band The Bay City Rollers. At their height the band provoked the same hysteria from fans as the Beatles had done a decade earlier. 

Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Ashley Crowther 
Interviewed guest: Tony Wheeler
Interviewed guest: Hiroshi Amano 
Interviewed guest: Professor Russell Dupuis
Interviewed guest: Dana Thomas
Interviewed guest: Billy Sloan 
Interviewed guest: Nina Myskow

Archive clips used: Newsnight: BBC One, TX 5.8.1999

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Geoff Crowther, Isamu Akasaki, June Newton, Les McKeown (pictured)

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