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Sunday 20:30-21:00 (rpt)
Radio 4's weekly obituaries programme | | | | Contact us | | | | | | | | | | This week | Friday 21st November 2008
(Rpt) Sunday 23rd November
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| | | |  | | |  | Douglas Keen
Editorial Director of Ladybird Books who has died aged 95
Douglas Keen played an important part in millions of childrens’ lives in the nineteen sixties and seventies. He was the editorial director of Ladybird books for over twenty years. Under his leadership the imprint went from being a small publisher of animal stories to a household name, central to the education of a generation. He took the format of text on one side of the page and beautiful illustration on the other and expanded it into a wide range of factual titles, including the key word reading scheme featuring Peter and Jane. By 1971 Ladybird books were selling twenty million copies a year.
Douglas Keen came from a working class family in Cheltenham and won a scholarship to the local grammar school. After leaving school he took evening classes in art and marketing before landing a job in advertising. In 1936 he joined Wills and Hepworth Limited, a printing firm based in Loughborough who produced a range of children’s books.
Matthew Bannister talks to his daughters Jenny Pearce and Caroline Alexander along with the Ladybird book collector Helen Day.
Douglas Keen was born October 27th 1913. He died November 6th 2008.
| | | B.R. Chopra
Writer, producer and director who has died aged 94
Baldev Raj Chopra was one of Bollywood’s most influential directors and producers. His studio made ground breaking Indian cinema for seventy years and he also made the most successful TV serial in Indian history – Mahabarat..
On news of B.R. Chopra’s death tributes were led by the Indian Prime Minister and President, who said that the nation had lost a creative personality and a legendary film maker. B.R. Chopra was born in the Punjab in 1914 and studied English Literature at Lahore University. His film career began as a producer in the 1940s with a resounding flop. But when he took up directing instead, B.R. had much greater success with a thriller called Afsana..
Matthew Bannister talks to Asjad Nazir who is show business editor of Eastern Eye magazine.
B.R. Chopra was born April 22nd 1914. He died November 5th 2008. | | | Carl D. Keith
Co-inventor of the catalytic converter who has died aged 88
Carl Keith was the principal inventor of a device which saved hundreds of thousand lives and stopped millions of people from suffering lung and throat complaints. Dr. Keith was the chemical engineer from West Virginia who came up with the three way catalytic converter. This device has now been fitted to eight hundred million cars and light vans around the world.
In the early 1970s Carl Keith was working for one of the world’s largest mineral refining companies – Engelhard. With his colleagues, he was looking for a way of tackling the smog that afflicted Californian cities, and he was aware that the government was bringing in tougher regulations for cars – in the Clean Air Act.
Matthew Bannister talks to the catalytic convertor's other co-inventor Dr John J. Mooney.
Carl Donald Keith was born May 29th 1920. He died November 9th 2008.
| | | Richard Carr-Gomm OBE
Charity worker who has died aged 86
Richard Carr-Gomm was a career soldier who gave up his military career to help the homeless and lonely. During the war he served with the Coldstream guards, taking part in the Normandy landings and the allied advance through Europe. He looked set to rise through the ranks after the war. But, seven years later, he astonished his friends and family by resigning his commission and becoming an unpaid home help to the old and disabled.
They may have thought he was joking when he asked to be a cleaner at an old people’s home - but Richard Car-Gomm was very serious. He bought a run down house in Eugenia Road in the London Borough of Bermondsey which he renovated with other volunteers. Then he invited four lonely people to share it with him. Within two years, he had opened five other similar properties. He founded the Abbeyfield Society to spread the work around the country. Today the society has seven hundred sheltered houses across the UK.
As the Abbeyfield Society expanded there was growing tension between the board and its founder and Richard Carr-Gomm was expelled. For two years Richard Carr-Gomm worked as a librarian but his commitment to helping the lonely never faded. In 1965 he founded the Carr-Gomm Society which extended help to people from all walks of life.
Matthew Bannister talks to Gary Lashco from the Carr-Gomm Society and to the Chief Executive of the Abbeyfield Society, Paul Allen.
Richard Carr-Gomm was born January 2nd 1922. He died October 27th 2008. | | | Reg Varney
Actor who has died aged 92
For a generation of TV viewers, Reg Varney will forever be Stan Butler the cheeky driver who was On The Buses. He was born in Canning Town in East London and his father worked in a rubber factory and the family struggled to make ends meet.
Reg Varney’s first break into TV came in Beggar My Neighbour and another sitcom called The Rag Trade.
The actress June Whitfield was a close friend.
Reg Varney was born July 11th 1916. He died November 16th 2008. | | | The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites |
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