Last Word

Matthew Bannister onThe actor Tony Booth, best known for playing Alf Garnett's left wing son-in-law in the TV comedy Till Death Us Do Part - and notorious for his womanising and heavy drinking. His daughter Cherie Blair shares her memories. Lillian Bettencourt who was the richest woman in the world - as heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics group. She was also embroiled in a bitter court battle over how her fortune should be divided.William G. Stewart, best known as the host of the long running TV quiz "Fifteen to One", He was also a respected producer and director.And the rock star Tom Petty - best known for hits like "Free Fallin'" and "I Won't Back Down".

Matthew Bannister on Hugh Hefner who built the Playboy empire on a best selling magazine. Was he a libertarian who changed attitudes to sex or a sleazy pornographer?Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov who is credited with averting a nuclear disaster during the Cold War.The right wing Conservative M.P. Teddy Taylor best known for his outspoken opposition to the European Union.And actress Liz Dawn who played Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street for nearly thirty years.

Matthew Bannister onDavid Shepherd, the artist who painted trains, aeroplanes and elephants and worked tirelessly to conserve wild animals. Nancy Hatch Dupree, the American born adventurer and writer who devoted her life to creating an archive of Afghan culture and history.Gordon Williams, the Booker prize shortlisted author whose novel The Siege of Trencher's farm became the controversial film Straw Dogs.Pat Albeck the designer known as "the queen of the tea towel" who produced popular fabric designs for John Lewis and the National Trust.Harry Dean Stanton, the gaunt, hollow-eyed actor best known for films like "Paris, Texas" and "Repo Man". Image of David Shepherd courtesy of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.

Matthew Bannister onSir Peter Hall, the director who founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, ran the National Theatre and created many acclaimed theatrical and operatic productions.Kate Millett, the radical feminist whose 1970 book Sexual Politics suggested that men's institutionalised power over women is a social construct, rather than innate or biological. Sir Edward Du Cann, the Tory MP and businessman who chaired the 1922 backbench committee, fell out with Edward Heath, and went bankrupt in the 1990s.J.P. Donleavy, the US-born Irish writer whose bawdy tale of Dublin Life - The Ginger Man - sold fifty million copies.

Matthew Bannister on:The flamboyant businessman Sir David Tang who founded the fashion label Shanghai Tang and collected celebrity friends. Tracey Emin pays tribute. Professor Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick who became one of the world's leading authorities on thoracic medicine after suffering from tuberculosis as a child.Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the genial head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.And Walter Becker - who teamed up with Donald Fagen to create the sophisticated music and lyrics of Steely Dan.

Matthew Bannister onDick Gregory, the African American comedian and civil rights activist who was also a dietician to stars like John Lennon and Mohammed Ali.Jeannie Rousseau who spied on the Nazis' secret weapons programme.Wayne Lotter, the South African elephant conservationist who has been shot dead in Tanzania.Sean O'Callaghan, the leading IRA member who turned informer. He helped to stop a bomb attack which would have killed the Prince and Princess of Wales.And the jazz guitarist John Abercrombie.

Brian Aldiss - the gifted science fiction author who inspired the Hollywood movie AI artificial intelligence. Jerry Lewis the American comic who - with Dean Martin found fame as one of the most successful double acts of all time. Blanche Blackwell - the Jamaican society hostess who became Ian Fleming's lover and some believe - the inspiration for the Bond movie character Pussy Galore. Abu Kifah, the Syrian rescue worker who made headlines around the world after pulling a baby alive from the wreckage of a bombed out building - and Sir Bruce Forsyth whose death a week ago today has seen him fondly remembered for his contribution to British entertainment in a career spanning more than seven decades.

Kate Silverton on the "Broadway Diva" Barbara Cook, the American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s as the lead in the original Broadway musicals Plain and Fancy and Candide; Sister Ruth Pfau 'Mother Teresa' of Pakistan for her work in combating the spread of leprosy; Richard Gordon the anesthetist,whose medical work inspired him to write Dr in The House novels which were made into films and a TV series; Prof. U.R. Rao, Pioneer of India's Space Programme, who brought knowledge to millions of people through digital communications via the many satellites he launched into space.

Matthew Bannister onGlen Campbell - the singer and guitarist best known for hits like Galveston and Witchita Lineman. We talk to the man who wrote them - Jimmy Webb.Dame Helen Alexander, former Chief Executive of the Economist Group and the first woman to head the C.B.I. Clancy Sigal the American writer and activist who was blacklisted during the Communist witch hunts of the 1950s. Prunella Briance who founded the National Childbirth Trust after two traumatic experiences of giving birth.

Matthew Bannister on The actor Robert Hardy, best known for his roles in All Creatures Great and Small and the Harry Potter films and for playing Winston Churchill.David Jones who wrote the Daedalus column in New Scientist magazine and came up with an endless stream of inventive and challenging experiments.Jeanne Moreau the iconic French actress who was actually half English.Mark Wilkinson - the furniture designer once described as 'the Mozart of the kitchen cabinet'And Sam Shepard, the actor and playwright whose work redefined the landscape of the American West.

Matthew Bannister onMary Turner the President of the GMB Union who started her campaigning life by organising her fellow dinner ladies at a North London school.Chester Bennington, lead singer of the band Linkin Park who sold more than seventy million copies of their nu-metal albums.Scharlette Holdman who cajoled lawyers into representing people on death row in American prisons and developed techniques for persuading the courts to mitigate their sentences. Orri Vigfusson the businessman and angler who saved North Atlantic salmon stocks by paying commercial fishermen to stop taking them from the sea.And the film director George A Romero who pioneered the zombie horror movie genre with Night of the Living Dead. Presenter: Matthew Bannister Producer: Paul Waters.

Matthew Bannister on Chuck Blazer who embezzled millions of dollars from the international football organisation FIFA, then turned whistle blower to incriminate his former colleagues. Maryam Mirzakhani, the Iranian mathematician who became the first woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal. The architect Bryan Avery who designed the drama school RADA and the London Imax cinema.Peter McHugh, the former Fleet Street journalist who helped to turn round the fortunes of TV-am and then became director of programmes at GMTV. And Martin Landau the versatile Hollywood actor who won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's film Ed Wood. Producer: Neil George.

Matthew Bannister onSimone Veil, the Holocaust survivor who became a leading French politician and President of the European Parliament.Graham Rose who directed some of the best loved TV commercials, including the award winning Photo Booth for Hamlet Cigars. Tom Isaacs who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease at the age of 27 and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for research by walking right round the coastline of Britain. The Chinese literary critic and dissident Liu Xiaobo who was one of the "four gentlemen" of the Tiananmen Square protests. He died while serving an eleven year sentence for advocating democracy. Ken Hirst, secretary of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band for 42 years. Producer: Neil George.

Matthew Bannister onBarry Norman - best known for presenting the BBC television's Film programme,on radio he also fronted the Today Programme and the News Quiz.Gordon Wilson, the leader who re-built the Scottish National Party after electoral defeat and internal division.Jazz pianist and composer Geri Allen who played in a wide range of styles and was committed to the advancement of women in jazz. John Thompson, the regulator who presided over the introduction of independent local radio in the UK.And Jack O'Neill who made a successful business out of his obsession with surfing. Producer: Neil George.

Matthew Bannister onLord Joffe, the lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela at the infamous Rivonia trial. He went on to co-found the Allied Dunbar insurance company and sat as a Labour peer in the House of Lords. Michael Bond who created Paddington Bear, the Herbs and the guinea pig Olga Da Polga.Ann Louise Gilligan the former nun who campaigned for her same sex marriage to be recognised in Irish law.Carla Fendi, one of five sisters who turned their family business in Rome into a global fashion brand.And John Avildsen who directed two Rocky films and the Karate Kid.Producer: Neil George.

Julian Worricker on:Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany at the time of the country's re-unification.Anita Pallenberg, artiste and muse to three of the Rolling Stones.Scientist, Brian Bellhouse, who invented the needle-free injection.Naseem Khan, a pioneering figure within the minority ethnic arts scene in Britain.Brian Cant, children's TV presenter, most famous for his twenty years on Play School.

Matthew Bannister onArms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, known for his lavish life style, he acted as a middle man between governments and arms suppliers.Countess Mountbatten, godmother to Prince Charles, she was badly wounded in the IRA bomb attack which killed her father, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and her son Nicholas. Adam West, the actor best known for playing Batman on TV.Kailash Puri, the Indian born writer who became an agony aunt to thousands of Punjabi readers.And Vin Garbutt, the folk singer known as "The Teesside Troubadour."Producer: Neil George.

Matthew Bannister onMiriam Rodríguez Martínez- the Mexican woman whose daughter was killed by drug cartels - and who led a campaign for justice for thousands of missing people.Lord Soulsby - the first vet to be made a peer. He was an expert on parasites nicknamed "Lord of the Worms."Peter Sallis the actor best known for his role as Norman Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine - and for being the voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit. Lady Anne Piper, the novelist who campaigned for nuclear disarmament.Jiří Bělohlávek, the Czech-born chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the first non-native English speaker to preside at the Last Night of the Proms.

Julian Worricker on:The broadcaster, John Noakes, who was famous for his daredevil exploits on Blue Peter for thirteen years....Manuel Noriega, who flirted with the Americans as leader of Panama, and ended up being jailed by them....The dancer for whom one photograph of her on railings on Blackpool promenade shot her to fame, Pat Stewart....Wing Commander Rex Sanders, lead navigator on a series of top secret missions over the Soviet Union...And the American rock musician, Gregg Allman, whose band created the sound known as Southern Rock.Producer: Neil George.

Andrea Catherwood onBrendan Duddy, the businessman from Derry who played a key but unsung role in the Northern Ireland peace process hosting secret talks between MI6 and the IRA.Nina Lowry, the first woman to become an Old Bailey judge, who helped toughen up sentencing on sex crimes.Roger Ailes, the controversial figure who conceived and ran Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Network for two decades before being ousted over sexual harassment claims.Osmund Reynolds, a founder of neo-natal medicine who's pioneering work changed the outcome for a generation of premature babies.And Sir Roger Moore, the actor and film star best know for his portrayal of British secret agent 007, James BondProduced by Neil George.