Last Word

Original version

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: Mikhail Gorbachev, Stella 'Jaye' Edwards, Jerry Allison

Mikhail Gorbachev: A Life

Mikhail Gorbachev, Stella 'Jaye' Edwards, Jerry Allison

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Mikhail Gorbachev, Stella 'Jaye' Edwards, Jerry Allison

Matthew Bannister on a president, a pilot and a drummer.

Matthew Bannister on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Stella 'Jaye' Edwards and drummer Jerry Allison.

Matthew Bannister on

The last President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured), who was feted in the West but often derided in his own country. We follow his journey from a collective farm in Stavropol to momentous times in the Kremlin, including the introduction of  Perestroika and Glasnost, the end of the Cold War and the coup that toppled him from power.

Stella 'Jaye' Edwards, who was the last surviving British woman pilot who delivered planes from factories to front line bases during the second world war.

Jerry Allison, the drummer and songwriter with Buddy Holly and the Crickets, whose girlfriend inspired their hit song 'Peggy Sue'.


Producer: Neil George

Interviewed guest: Bridget Kendall
Interviewed guest: John Eames Petersen
Interviewed guest: Geoff Barker

Archive clips used: BBC Radio 4, Today programme 31/08/2022; BBC Two, Newsnight 30/08/2022; CNN - Larry King, Mikhail Gorbachev interview November 1993; UVA Miller Center, President Ronald Reagan speech on the Geneva Summit 21/11/1985; Pizza Hut, Gorbachev TV spot commercial January 1998; Juno Beach Centre / YouTube Channel, Jaye Edwards interview 19/02/2019; British Pathé, Sir Stafford Cripps and the A.T.A. (1943); Geoff Barker Archives, Jerry Allison interview.

BBC Radio 4

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

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Last Word

Mikhail Gorbachev, Stella 'Jaye' Edwards, Jerry Allison

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4