In his years as a radio producer with the BBC World Service, my friend and colleague, Dan Zerdin, who has died aged 98, interviewed musicians such as Daniel Barenboim and his wife, the cellist Jacqueline du Pré. However, his talk with the conductor Leopold Stokowski, a childhood idol, ended abruptly when Stokowski stormed out after a being asked a personal question.
As an accomplished studio producer, Dan worked across the board, for example on the innovative 1980s World Phone-In when leaders such as Lee Kuan Yew and Margaret Thatcher took live telephone questions from listeners from around the world.
