Last Word

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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.

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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: Sidney Poitier (pictured), EO Wilson, Sarah Weddington, Assunta 'Pupetta' Maresca

Sidney Poitier (pictured), EO Wilson, Sarah Weddington, Assunta 'Pupetta' Maresca

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Sidney Poitier (pictured), EO Wilson, Sarah Weddington, Assunta 'Pupetta' Maresca

Matthew Bannister on an actor, a biologist, a lawyer and a mafia boss.

Matthew Bannister on actor Sidney Poitier, biologist EO Wilson, lawyer Sarah Weddington and mafia boss Assunta 'Pupetta' Maresca.

Matthew Bannister on

Sidney Poitier, the first black man to win a 'Best Actor' Oscar, known for his powerful performances in ‘In The Heat of The Night’, ‘Lilies of the Field’ and ‘To Sir, With Love’. His co-star in that film - Lulu - pays tribute.

E.O.Wilson, the American biologist and champion of biodiversity who some have compared to Charles Darwin.

Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who argued the landmark case of Roe v Wade before the US Supreme Court. The case, which is being challenged now, established the constitutional right for women to have abortions. 

Assunta ‘Pupetta’ Maresca, the Italian mafia boss who served a prison sentence for shooting dead the man who killed her husband.


Producer: Neil George 

Interviewed guest: Lulu
Interviewed guest: Barbie Latza Nadeau 
Interviewed guest: Dr George McGavin
Interviewed guest: Paula Ehrlich
Interviewed guest: Joshua Prager
Interviewed guest: Mary Ziegler
Interviewed guest: Stephen Bourne

Archive clips used: The Mirisch Corporation, In The Heat Of The Night (1967); BBC News, Bonnie Greer tribute to Sidney Poitier 07/01/2022; Entertainment Tonight Canada, Philip Davis tribute to Sidney Poitier 07/01/2022; YouTube, Poitier 80; Twentieth Century Fox, No Way Out (1950); Oscars / YouTube channel, Sidney Poitier wins best Actor 36th Oscars (1964); Columbia British Productions, To Sir, With Love (1967); BBC Radio 4, The Life Scientific - E.O. Wilson 28/07/2015; Texas Tribune / YouTube channel, Sarah Weddington interview 22/01/2013; ITV News / YouTube channel, Protest of anti-abortion laws in America 21/05/2019; BBC TV, Everyman - The Politics Of Life 03/12/1989.

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Last Word

Sidney Poitier (pictured), EO Wilson, Sarah Weddington, Assunta 'Pupetta' Maresca

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