David Nobbs, Frances Kelsey, Kyril Zinovieff, Elio Fiorucci, Harry Pitch

Last Word is presented by Reeta Chakrabarti this week. She will be remembering:

The comic writer and novelist David Nobbs - we speak to his friend and fellow writer Jonathan Coe about the man who invented the 1970s anti-hero Reginald Perrin;

Frances Kelsey, the scientist whose concerns about the drug Thalidomide prevented it from being approved in the US;

Kyril Zinovieff, who as a child in Russia saw Rasputin, and as a spy for Britain encountered Hitler;

The Italian fashion designer Elio Fiorucci, who introduced the world to skintight vinyl jeans;

And the musician Harry Pitch, the harmonica player who performed everywhere from jazz clubs to opera houses.

Producer: Neil George.