Last Word

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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: Paul O'Grady, Gordon Moore, Vera Selby, Simon Emmerson

Paul O'Grady, Gordon Moore, Vera Selby, Simon Emmerson

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Paul O'Grady, Gordon Moore, Vera Selby, Simon Emmerson

Matthew Bannister on an entertainer, a tech entrepreneur, a snooker player, a musician.

Matthew Bannister on entertainer Paul O’Grady, tech entrepreneur Gordon Moore, snooker player Vera Selby, musician Simon Emmerson.

Matthew Bannister on 

Paul O’Grady, who made his name as the drag queen Lily Savage, and went on to become a much-loved TV and radio star.

Gordon Moore, the tech entrepreneur who founded the chip maker Intel  and came up with Moore’s law which says that computer processing power doubles every two years. 

Vera Selby who challenged sexist prejudice to become the women’s world snooker champion – twice.

And Simon Emmerson who put together two hugely influential bands – the Afro Celt Sound System and the Imagined Village. Eliza Carthy pays tribute.


Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Interviewee: Zoe Kleinman
Interviewee: Harvey Fineberg
Interviewee: Eliza Carthy
Interviewee: Johnny Kalsi
Interviewee: Hector Nunns
Interviewee: Keith Green


Archive clips used:
Paul O’Grady show, BBC Radio 2 03/06/2018; YouTube, uploaded;  Lily Savage at the Filth concert in aid of the Terence Higgins Trust, Youtube uploaded 23/09/2014 ; Parkinson, BBC ONE, 28/02/2004; Paul O’Grady on Royal Vauxhall Tavern Raid, Peter Tatchell Foundation, YouTube, uploaded 29/03/2023;  Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 28/12/2003; Inheritance Tracks, BBC Radio 4, 04/01/2020;  Vera Selby on Ladies Day, World Snooker Tour, Youtube uploaded 26/04/2016; Vera Selby: How to play snooker, Youtube uploaded 26/03/2009; Gordon Moore, Frontiers, BBC Radio 4, 01/10/2010;  Oral History of Gordon Moore, Computer History magazine, Youtube, uploaded 24/03/2008;  A Discussion with Gordon Moore and Harvey Fineberg, Moore Foundation, Youtube uploaded 24/08/2016

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