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LAST WORD
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Last Word
Listen to the latest editionFriday   16:00-16:30
Sunday 20:30-21:00 (rpt)

Radio 4's weekly obituaries programme
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We welcome your comments and suggestions contact us
This week
Friday 19th January 2007
(Rpt) Sunday 21st January
Matthew Bannister
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have died recently. This week: Rev. Bruce Kenrick, Vincent Sardi Jnr, Antonella Marchioness of Lothian, Alice Coltrane and Chalkie.
Rev. Bruce Kenrick
Founded Housing Charity Shelter who has died aged 86.

When the Reverend Bruce Kenrick arrived in the Notting Hill as part of a group ministry he was outraged by the housing situation and resolved to take action. As a result he started the Notting Hill Housing Trust and went on to found the housing charity Shelter.

Bruce Kenrick was born in Liverpool, the son of an accountant. Following military service during the second world war, he went to Edinburgh University to train as a doctor. Whilst there, he felt called by God to join the ministry and switched his studies to theology. After ordination as a Presbyterian minister Bruce spent time in the States working with the East Harlem Protestant Parish – a project which became a flagship for Christian ministry in urban areas.

Matthew Bannister talks to Adam Sampson, the current director of Shelter and John Coward, who was the first salaried member of the Notting Hill Housing Trust.

Rev. Bruce Henderson Kenrick was born January 18th 1920. He died January 15th 2007.
Vincent Sardi Jnr
Owner of Sardi’s restaurant on Broadway who has died aged 91

Sardi’s restaurant is a Broadway legend. The house canteen of the New York theatre crowd was the traditional place for cast and crew to wait nervously for the arrival of the all important first night reviews. The owner Vincent Sardi Junior was unofficially known as the Mayor of Broadway and worked tirelessly to arrange the tables to make sure actors looking for work would end up near a producer, director or agent who might be able to help.

Last Word’s reporter Andrew Purcell has been to the restaurant on West 44th Street and Matthew Bannister talks to playwright David Hare on the mixed experiences of dining at Sardi’s.
Antonella Marchioness of Lothian
Founder of the Women of the Year Lunch who has died aged 84.

Antonella Marchioness of Lothian was an unmistakeable figure. After losing an eye to cancer in 1970 she wore a piratical black patch. She also had black hair and dressed most often in black and red. The daughter of a Major General and his much younger Italian wife, she married the 12th Marquess of Lothian at the Brompton Oratory in London in 1943. For most of their married life the Lothians lived at Monteviot an 18,000 acre estate near Jedburgh. They also owned Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire. But Tony Lothian – as she was always known – didn’t live the life of a pampered aristocrat. She was a working journalist and broadcaster as well as a tireless campaigner who founded the Women of the Year lunch, held annually at London’s Savoy Hotel.

Matthew Bannister talks to broadcaster Sue MacGregor who covered the lunch every year for Woman’s Hour and Ross Preston who worked with Lady Lothian when she was President of the National Council of Women:

Antonella Marchioness of Lothian OBE was born on September 8th 1922. She died on January 6th 2007.
Alice Coltrane
Pianist, organist and harpist who has died aged 69.

Alice McLeod was born into a musical family in Detroit. She took piano lessons as a child and started to play with professional jazz groups when she reached her teens. After studying in Paris with the bebop pianist Bud Powell, Alice returned to America in the early 1960s to join the quartet led by vibraphone player Terry Gibbs. Whilst touring with the band she met the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane and soon married him. In 1966 Alice Coltrane replaced the respected pianist McCoy Tyner in her husband’s quartet, leading some fans to draw parallels with Yoko Ono’s influence on the Beatles. But the split with Tyner was amicable and Alice was more in tune with John’s new musical direction.

Matthew Bannister talks to Ashley Kahn, author of two books on the Coltranes.

Alice Coltrane was born on August 27th 1937. She died January 12th 2007.


Chalkie
Rick Stein’s dog who has died, aged 17 – or in equivalent human years 109.
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