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Last Rites

by Georgia Heneage and Sam C. Wells

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Latest episodes

The Pie-Throwing Anarchist

October 9, 2026 · 31 min

This week we cover our first Belgian — and our first pie-thrower. Noël Godin made a career out of throwing cream pies at celebrities, including Jean Luc-Godard, Nicolas Sarkozy and Bill Gates. His mission was to puncture the humourless…
Dolly Parton

September 23, 2026 · 38 min

Before she was an internationally famous star, Dolly Parton was a child of the Smoky Mountains, making up songs on a porch with a tin-can microphone. In this episode, we trace her remarkable journey from dirt-poor Appalachia into one of…
The Interview: New York Times obituarist Sam Roberts

September 11, 2026 · 31 min

This week, we interviewed the New York Times obituarist Sam Roberts, who has just published a book about the art of the obit: Are They Dead Yet? We spoke about his path into writing about the dead, how to do justice to a life in a thousand…
Dr Death: The Man Who Displayed the Dead

August 27, 2026 · 28 min

This week on Last Rites, we explore the life of Gunther von Hagens: anatomist, inventor of plastination and creator of the hugely successful BODY WORLDS exhibitions. We trace his unusual journey from East Germany to international fame and…
The Afghan Cosmonaut

August 12, 2026 · 36 min

In August 1988, as Soviet troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan after nearly a decade of war, Abdul Ahad Momand became the first Afghan to travel into space. An air-force pilot chosen for the Soviet Union’s Interkosmos programme, Momand…

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Britain's Rudest Pub Landlord

July 29, 2026 · 31 min

This week, we explore the life of Norman Balon, the self-proclaimed “rudest landlord in Britain”, who presided over the Coach and Horses in Soho for more than fifty years. Balon turned insults, arguments and the occasional eviction into an…
The Day the Queen Died

July 8, 2026 · 36 min

What was it like to be in the newsroom on the day the Queen died? This week we explore the life of Elizabeth II. Georgia interviews The Times Obituaries Editor Nigel Farndale, who takes us behind the scenes as news of the Queen’s death…
The Man Who Revolutionised Jazz

June 17, 2026 · 51 min

Where does creative genius come from? And what are the costs? This episode of Last Rites digs into one of the most culturally explosive moments of the 20th century - the jazz renaissance of the 1950s - through Sonny Rollins, the maestro…
The Woman Who Lived Among the Orangutans

May 28, 2026 · 43 min

This week we look at Birutė Galdikas, a primatologist who went into the rainforests of Borneo in 1971 to study one of the world’s least understood great apes: the orangutan. One of Louis Leakey’s famed “Trimates,” alongside Jane Goodall…
Bonus Episode: How I Wrote Matthew Perry's Obituary

May 14, 2026 · 33 min

This week we discuss how Georgia wrote Matthew Perry's obituary before he died, and what this can tell us about the craft of obituary writing more generally.
The Man Who Invented the News

May 12, 2026 · 31 min

Ted Turner turned a small Atlanta television station into a media empire, then changed the rhythm of the world by launching CNN in 1980: the first 24-hour cable news network. Brash, restless, and often outrageous, Turner helped invent the…
Britain's Most Prolific Art Forger

May 1, 2026 · 32 min

This week we take a look at Billy "the Brush" Mumford, an affable East Ender who fooled the art world to become one of Britain's most prolific art forgers.