Listen:
Availability:
Available to listen.
Last broadcast on Sun, 11 Oct 2009, 20:30 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Matthew Bannister presents the obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died. The programme reflects on people of distinction and interest from many walks of life, some famous and some less well known.
Marking the lives of Jewish resistance fighter Marek Edelman, film and TV producer Robert S Baker, child psychiatrist Dr Sula Wolff, and Argentinian folk singer and activist Mercedes Sosa.
Marek Edelman
Jewish resistance fighter who has died aged 90
Marek Edelman was the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis in 1943. His courage in fighting back against overwhelming odds made him a national hero in Poland and for Jews around the world. In later life he combined political activism with a career as a successful cardiologist.
Matthew Bannister talks to Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, historian Dr David Cesserani, and former Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens.
Marek Edelman was born 19 September 1919 and died 2 October 2009
Robert S. Baker
Film and TV producer who has died aged 92
Robert Baker was the producer of the hit sixties TV series The Saint and the Persuaders in which he cast Roger Moore. During the second world war, he joined the army where he met his future business partner Monty Berman. At the end of the war, Robert was one of the first British soldiers to enter the ruined Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
Matthew hears from life long friend Sir Roger Moore and critic and broadcaster Matthew Sweet.
Robert S. Baker was born 17 October 1916 and died 30 September 2009
Dr Sula Wolff
Child psychiatrist and author who has died aged 85
Dr. Sula Wolff was a pioneering child psychiatrist who deepened our understanding of autism and Asperger’s Syndrome and emphasized the importance of trying to see the world through a child’s eyes. She was born in Berlin into an affluent Jewish family which moved to make a new home in Britain in 1933. Sula trained in child psychiatry at the Maudsley hospital where she met her husband Henry Walton.
She is regarded as one of the founders of modern child psychiatry and among the first in her field to identify the characteristics of children on the autistic spectrum, and to establish their genetic component. Her works Children Under Stress and Loners have become classics of their kind.
Matthew talks to Dr Wolff’s husband, Professor Henry Walton, her friend and colleague Professor Lorraine Waterhouse, and the author of a forthcoming book on the history of autism, Adam Feinstein.
Dr Sula Wolff was born on March 1, 1924 and died September 21, 2009.
Mercedes Sosa
Argentine singer who has died aged 74
Mercedes Sosa was a folk singer and political activist celebrated throughout Latin America and with a following around the world. The power and beauty of her voice were allied to strong political convictions. She championed the rights of the poor and the struggle of the workers and in 1979 was forced into exile after being detained by the military junta in her native Argentina.
Matthew Bannister hears her story from the promoter of Mercedes’ concerts in Europe, Pablo Farba and the BBC’s former correspondent in Sao Paulo, Jan Rocha.
Mercedes Sosa was born on July 9, 1935 and died on October 4, 2009.
Broadcasts
-
Fri 9 Oct 200916:00
-
Sun 11 Oct 200920:30
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~38~RS~){kind=small}