The RIP Famous Person Thread

[Mr Lick]

Tom Connors, Canadian country-folk legend, dies at 77




Connors wrote many songs about his experience as a wandering teenager



Canadian country-folk singer Tom Connors has died of natural causes age 77, his promoter has said.

Known as Stompin' Tom and one of Canada's biggest cultural figures, he embraced vibrant patriotic themes.

Connors would often lament that other Canadian songwriters never seemed to sing about their country.

Three of his best-known songs - Sudbury Saturday Night, Bud the Spud and The Hockey Song - play at every home game of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team.
'Starving for songs'

Connors had been in declining health and in recent days he wrote on his website that Canada made him feel "inspired with its beauty, character and spirit"
.
The singer earned the nickname Stompin' Tom by his habit of thumping the stage with his left foot during performances.

In 2008, Connors said: "I don't know why I seem to be the only one, or almost the only one, writing about this country.

"This country is the most underwritten country in the world as far as songs are concerned. We starve. The people in this country are starving for songs about their homeland."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Twitter: "We have lost a true Canadian original. RIP Stompin' Tom Connors. You played the best game that could be played."

And the National Hockey League tweeted: "Sad to hear that legendary Canadian Stompin' Tom Connors has passed. His legacy lives on in arenas every time The Hockey Song is played."

Beer for a song

Connors was born on 9 February 1936 in St John, New Brunswick. His mother was an unmarried teenager and in an autobiography he describes hitch-hiking with her as a three-year-old and having to beg at age four.

Eventually he was placed in the care of a charity and was adopted by a family on Prince Edward Island, but he ran away four years later and criss-crossed the country, hitch-hiking.

At age 14, Connors is said to have bought his first guitar. Later he did odd jobs in the towns he passed through - working as a grave digger, tobacco picker, fry cook, and on fishing boats.

His first job as a singer came at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ontario, when the barman agreed to give him a beer if he would play a few songs. Connors quickly earned a 14-month contract to play regularly there.

Connors's first album followed three years later, featuring one of his hit songs, Bud the Spud. Many of his hundreds of subsequent songs were based on his experiences on the road as a teenager.

He was honoured with the Order of Canada in 1996 and was featured on a postage stamp.

Connors is survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons, and several grandchildren.

[Tom Sawyer]

^
Quite a life! There are so few people like that in the world really. Obviously a self made man.

[Mr Lick]

Tony Gubba dies at the age of 69 following a short illness


Sports presenter Tony Gubba, who spent much of his career with the BBC, has died following a short illness.

Gubba, who was 69, joined BBC Sport in 1972 but most recently worked as a commentator on ITV series Dancing On Ice following its launch in 2006.

He worked on Sportsnight, Match of the Day and Grandstand.

Gubba leaves his partner of 15 years, Jenny, his two daughters, Claire, 40, and Libby, 38, and three granddaughters.

He was a sports all-rounder who commentated on hockey, table-tennis, golf, tennis, bobsleigh, ski-jumping, darts and ice-skating for the BBC.

Gubba also covered every Olympic Games, both summer and winter, from 1972 to 2012, as well as every World Cup from 1974 to 2006.

Fellow commentator John Motson led the tributes to Gubba.

"Tony was a great friend and colleague for over 40 years and I shall miss him greatly," he said. "He was one of the original probing reporters - never afraid to ask a difficult question."

The BBC's head of TV sport Philip Bernie said. "Tony was an outstanding sports journalist and a formidable broadcaster, whose death will sadden everyone at BBC Sport.

"He worked on a huge range of sports during his time at the BBC, always displaying his trademark tenacious, single minded approach.

"For a generation he was one of the most familiar and respected names in sports broadcasting. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and closest friends."

[Mr Lick]

Peter Banks: Original Yes guitarist dies aged 65



Banks has been described as one of "architects of progressive music"

Peter Banks, the original guitarist of British progressive rock band Yes, has died aged 65.

He played on two albums with the group before pursuing his own band Flash, and a solo career which included a guest spot on Lionel Richie's hit Hello.

Prog magazine editor Jerry Ewing said: "He's very much part of the history and the legacy of progressive rock."

Banks died on 8 March from heart failure. He was found at his home after not turning up to a recording studio.

He was working on a live Flash album called Flash - In Public.

A post on his official website read: "It's with great sadness to have to report the death of Peter Banks. He died in his London home on March 8, 2013. Thanks for all the music Peter!"

The band, Yes, are a passion of radio broadcaster and former NME journalist Danny Baker.

Mr Ewing told the BBC: "It's very, very sad. When someone like Danny Baker calls you 'the architect of progressive music', it means something. Something like that rams home quite how important Peter Banks was to progressive music."

Although Banks was in Yes for just a couple of years, Mr Ewing said he was very much part of a wider movement.

"Peter was in Yes when they were formulating what would become their classic sound and they were as much a figurehead of progressive rock in its classic era as the likes of Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Jethro Tull," he said.

"He was part of a group of musicians who didn't break rules but they acted like there weren't any rules for themselves, so it was a fascinating time for these guys to be making music."

In 1969, Yes recorded their eponymous debut album, to be followed by Time And A Word, on which his band mates Jon Anderson and Chris Squire wanted the backing of an orchestra.

It caused some eruptions within the group and after the record came out, he was asked to leave, along with keyboardist Tony Kaye, while there was less for them to do.

Mr Ewing had met him during his working life and said: "He was very quiet. I'm not certain that mega rock stardom was really for him. He was very interested in the music.

"After Yes he made some amazing music with Flash and then his solo work as well has always stood up very well, but I don't think the spotlight of fame would have rested particularly comfortably with him."

During his career, Banks released three albums with Flash between 1972-73, recorded with Empire, contributed to all star tributes to Supertramp and The Who and worked with later Yes member Rick Wakeman's son Oliver.

Former Yes member Billy Sherwood has paid tribute.

"I loved working with Peter on the many records I have produced over the years," he said. "He always delivered amazing stuff, creative, inspired and always with that classic original Yes flavour that came with his playing. He will be missed by me and many, many other fans of his music and playing."

As for his legacy, Mr Ewing concluded: "He's always going to be remembered for Yes and being the original guitar player as they found their feet and they developed that progressive rock sound."

[Mr Lick]

Clive Burr, former Iron Maiden drummer, dies at 56



Clive Burr (far left) with Iron Maiden mascot Eddie and bandmates (l to r) Steve Harris, Paul Di'Anno, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith

Former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr has died at the age of 56 after suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Steve Harris, the heavy metal band's founder and bass player, said it was "terribly sad news" in an announcement on the group's website.

"He was a wonderful person and an amazing drummer who made a valuable contribution to Maiden in the early days when we were starting out."

Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979 and played on their first three albums.

Lead singer Bruce Dickinson also paid tribute, saying: "Even during the darkest days of his MS, Clive never lost his sense of humour or irreverence."

Burr played on the band's debut album Iron Maiden (1980), Killers (1981) and their number one 1982 album The Number of the Beast.

Megadeath bassist David Ellefson, who left his tribute on Facebook, said: "He was one of my all time favourite Metal drummers."

"So sad," said Brian Slagal, CEO of Metal Blade Records, on Twitter. "Clive was a great guy."

"Always remember CLIVE for eternity," said Iron Maiden tribute band Coverslave in their own Twitter tribute.

Born in 1957 in east London, Burr was a member of British metal band Samson before joining Iron Maiden.

"I first met Clive when he was leaving Samson and joining Iron Maiden," said Dickinson. "He was a great guy and a man who really lived his life to the full."

Burr left the band in December 1982, just as they were about to become a global stadium headliner.

When he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, his former Maiden bandmates formed the Clive Burr MS Trust Fund to help raise money for his living costs.

They performed a number of concerts in his honour when he struggled to keep up payments on his house.

[Mr Lick]

Comedian Norman Collier dies aged 87




Speaking to the BBC in January 2009, Norman Collier said he had "no regrets"


Comedian Norman Collier, best known for his faulty microphone act, has died at the age of 87, his daughter confirmed.

Collier, who had Parkinson's disease and was living in a nursing home near his hometown of Hull, died on Thursday.

A contemporary of Little and Large, with whom he often worked, he rose to fame on the club circuit, getting his big break on the Royal Variety Show.

"It's kept me in good health, making people laugh. And it's kept them in good health too," he said in 2009.

Danny Baker and Jon Culshaw were among those paying tribute on Twitter, with Culshaw writing: "Rest in peace Norman Collier.. Funny, funny, wonderfully funny man. People would be permanently laughing whenever they were around him."



Collier was dubbed " the comedian's comedian" by Jimmy Tarbuck

The eldest of eight children, Collier was born in Hull on Christmas day in 1925, and once joked there were "five of us sleeping in one bed".

After serving as a gunner in World War II, he worked as a labourer but turned to comedy in 1950 after a one-off stint at his local Perth Street Social Club.

Variety performance

He quickly drew a popular following on the northern club circuit, but it was his debut at the 1971 Royal Variety Performance that brought him to wider attention.

"Unknown comedian Norman Collier won a standing ovation for his act in the Royal Variety Show," wrote the Daily Express, of his critically acclaimed turn.

"Norman turned out to be one of the big successes of this year's Royal Knees-up," added the Daily Mirror.

Collier went on to make regular appearances on television and at theatres across the UK in the 1970s and 80s, and is arguably best remembered for his act featuring an intermittently working microphone - and his chicken impression.

He was also a frequent pantomime performer, notably playing Widow Twanky opposite Little and Large at Hull's New Theatre in Aladdin.



Collier made an appearance on the Black and White Minstrel show

He never moved to London - despite the lure of fame - preferring to stay in the local area surrounded by his family. He told the BBC in 2009 he had "no regrets".

He leaves a wife, Lucy, to whom he was married for more than 60 years, three children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

His friend and biographer Mike Ulyatt recalled a meeting between Collier and Eric Sykes, in which Sykes commented "we are the last of the Vaudevillians in this country".

"How I wished I had recorded their conversation over lunch that day. It took me over two years to complete Norman's life story, he would go off at such tangents at our numerous meetings," added Mr Ulyatt.

"He was a local lad who never wanted to move from East Yorkshire and a real family man. He often said to me ' All I ever wanted to do was make people laugh'.

"His good friend Bernie Clifton got him a copy of the 1971 Royal Command performance and Norman could never remember what the Queen said to him afterwards but on the recording they talked like long lost friends!

"In Blackpool, he met up with Ringo Star and George Harrison just before their fame began and said to what a funny name for a group was the Beatles!"

[Mr Lick]

Are You Being Served? actor Frank Thornton dies aged 92






Frank Thornton, who played Captain Peacock in BBC comedy Are You Being Served? has died at the age of 92.

Thornton died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Barnes, London, on Saturday, his agent David Daly said.

He also played Truly in Last of the Summer Wine and starred in comedies such as Hancock's Half Hour and The Goodies.

Thornton is survived by Beryl, his wife of 67 years, their daughter Jane and three grandchildren.

Are You Being Served? co-creator Jeremy Lloyd said he was "very sad to hear this news".

"He was a great friend and consummate performer who was the glue who really held Are You Being Served? together," he said.

"He will continue to give people enjoyment," Lloyd added.

Thornton appeared in several episodes of Steptoe and Son, which made him the most recurring actor in the series other than the main stars Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett.

In later years, he had a role in ITV soap Emmerdale as Bert Dingle.

Thornton's film credits included Carry On Screaming!, Some Will, Some Won't alongside Thora Hird, Wilfrid Brambell and Ronnie Corbett, No Sex Please, We're British and Gosford Park.

But he was best known for his role as Captain Stephen Peacock in the long-running Are You Being Served?.

With its innuendo-laden comedy and slapstick humour, the sitcom was a huge hit.



Frank Thornton appeared in Last of the Summer Wine from 1997 until it ended in 2010


Ratings hit

Set in a department store, it also starred John Inman, Molly Sugden and Wendy Richard.

Thornton played the pompous store walker, who bragged about his military exploits during the war and looked down on junior staff.

Are You Being Served? ran from 1972 to 1985 and often attracted audiences of more than 20 million.

Thornton reprised the role of Captain Peacock for the spin-off show, Grace & Favour, in 1992.

His theatre credits included the West End musical Me & My Girl in 1984, for which he was nominated for an Olivier award for his role as Sir John Tremayne.

Of the original main cast of Are You Being Served?, Nicholas Smith - who played Mr Rumbold - is now the only surviving cast member.

Thornton's role in Last of the Summer Wine was another long-running character for the actor.

Arriving in the 1997 Christmas special, Thornton was brought in to play Truly of The Yard, a retired Metropolitan Police Officer, replacing original actor Brian Wilde when was struck down by shingles.

He became part of the established line-up with Bill Owen and Peter Sallis - Compo and Clegg - until 2000, when Compo died in the series following the real-life death of Owen.

Thornton remained on the show until it ended in 2010, working alongside new characters played by Owen's son Tom, Keith Clifford and Brian Murphy.

Thornton's agent David Daly said: "I have been Frank's agent since 1986 and he has been the most wonderful client as well as being a great friend. He will be sorely missed."

[Boon Mee]

DEEP THROAT STAR HARRY REEMS has died.

[Eliminator]

It's true, DEEP THROAT WILL NEVER DIE.

[Mr Lick]

Cuban jazz musician Bebo Valdes dies aged 94




Bebo Valdes (right) performs with his son Chucho at a 2008 concert in Madrid, Spain


Cuban jazz musician Bebo Valdes has died at the age of 94.


Bebo Valdes, who started his career in the nightclubs of the Cuban capital, Havana, in the 1940s, was a central figure in the golden era of Cuban big band music.


A pianist, he also composed and arranged songs, and led two big bands, as well as creating his own rhythm, the batanga.


He died in Sweden, where he had lived since the 1960s.


Valdes came to fame as the musical director of the Tropicana club in Havana. From 1948 to 1957, he worked as singer Rita Montaner's pianist, also arranging many of her songs.


During his time at the Tropicana, he also performed with US artists Nat "King" Cole and Sarah Vaughan.


Late revival


Following the 1959 Cuban revolution, Valdes left Cuba for Mexico.


In 1963, he toured Europe with the Lecuano Cuban Boys orchestra and, while playing in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, fell in love with a woman in the audience.


He stayed in Stockholm and got married six months later.


Shortly after the wedding, he stopped touring, choosing to settle down with his wife instead.


While he continued to play in hotel piano bars and restaurants, it was not until 1994 that he would record another album, Bebo Rides Again.


The collaboration with Cuban saxophonist and clarinettist Paquito D'Rivera revived his musical fortune.


Calle 54, a 2000 documentary about Latin jazz by Spanish director Fernando Trueba, further helped to bring Valdes's music to a wider audience.


The film featured Bebo performing together with his son from his first marriage, Chucho Valdes, who is also a pianist and band leader.


The cause of Bebo Valdes's death has not yet been made public

[Mr Lick]

Soprano Rise Stevens dies aged 99



Lloyds of London insured Stevens' voice for $1m (£660,000) in 1945

US mezzo-soprano Rise Stevens, who sang with the Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 years, has died in New York three months shy of her 100th birthday.

Among her greatest roles was the title character in Carmen in the 1950s, which she sang for 124 performances.

She also had a brief Hollywood film career in the 1940s, starring in Oscar-winning Bing Crosby film Going My Way.

The Met called her "a consummate artist, treasured colleague, and devoted supporter of the company".

Born Rise Steenberg on 11 June 1913, she first began singing at the age of 10 on a radio children's hour in New York.

She received a scholarship to study at the renowned Julliard School and turned down an invitation to audition for the Met in 1935 - instead choosing to continue her training in Europe instead.

The singer made her professional opera debut in Prague, where she first showed her mastery in the role of Carmen, before joining the Met in 1938 on tour in Mignon.

Stevens' first film role was in the Oscar-nominated 1941 film The Chocolate Soldier opposite Nelson Eddy, leading to her role in Crosby's Going My Way which won seven Oscars including best picture.

But she turned her back on Hollywood shortly after because of her love for opera.



Stevens was best known for her role in Carmen

"I probably would never have reached that vast public had I not done films," she had once said. "At least, I won a lot of people over to opera."

Among her other celebrated roles were Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Dalila in Samson et Dalila.

Such was her skill, Lloyds of London insured her voice for $1m (£660,000) in 1945.
She retired from performing opera in 1961, saying she wanted to bow out while she still had a great voice.

"It always bothered me, these great singers when I heard them again and again, remembering how magnificent they sounded once and no more,'' she said.

Stevens spent three years as director of the Met's touring company. She was also a managing director of the Met, board member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild and president of the Mannes College of Music from 1975 to 1978.

She received the Kennedy Center Honour in 1990, where she was hailed as a singer "who raised the art of opera [in the US] to its highest level".

She is survived by her son, the actor Nicholas Surovy, and a granddaughter.

Surovy said a private memorial had been planned.

[Cujo]

That sounds wierd.

She retired from performing opera in 1961, saying she wanted to bow out while she still had a great voice.

retired 52 years ago. At age 47.

[Mr Lick]

Schwarzenegger mentor Weider dies



Arnold Schwarzenegger said Joe Weider had encouraged him throughout his career

Bodybuilding guru Joe Weider, the man who launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's Hollywood career, has died aged 93.

Known for creating the Mr Olympia bodybuilding contest, Weider built a magazine empire that included publications like Muscle and Fitness, Shape and Men's Fitness.

He died in Los Angeles of heart failure, his publicist said.

The Conan the Barbarian Star paid tribute to the man he called "the godfather of fitness."

"He taught us that through hard work and training we could all be champions," said the former California governor in a statement on his website.

"When I was a young boy in Austria, his muscle magazines provided me with the inspiration and the blueprint to push myself beyond my limits and imagine a much bigger future."

The former Mr Universe and Mr Olympia said Weider had encouraged him to come to the US and helped launch his acting career, securing his first role in a television film called Hercules Goes Bananas.

Producers had asked Weider if he knew of "a muscleman who could act a little", said Mr Schwarzenegger, adding that Weider had told them: "I got the perfect guy, he's done Shakespearean plays in Germany, he's a great actor, but his English isn't too good."

In his statement, Mr Schwarzenegger said Weider had supported him throughout his career, which has included films like The Terminator, Total Recall and True Lies, and even when he made the move into politics.

"He was there for me constantly throughout my life... and I will miss him dearly."
Weider is survived by his wife, Betty.

[Mr Lick]

Last 1953 Everest team member George Lowe dies, aged 89




Everest climb team member George Lowe dies, aged 89


The last surviving member of the team which first conquered Everest in 1953 has died in a Derbyshire nursing home.

George Lowe, 89, died in Ripley on Wednesday after a long-term illness, with his wife Mary by his side.

New Zealand-born Mr Lowe was part of the team that helped Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the summit in 1953.

Family friend and historian Dr Huw Lewis-Jones paid tribute to a "gentle soul and fine climber" who shunned the limelight.

George Lowe

• Born in Hastings, New Zealand, Mr Lowe became a school teacher and spent his holidays climbing
• In 1951 he and Sir Edmund Hillary were members of the first New Zealand expedition to the Himalayas
• In 1953 they conquered the 29,028 feet mountain , just days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
• A keen photographer, Mr Lowe made a documentary about the climb, which was nominated for an Academy Award
• He later made a film called Antarctic Crossing after the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1957-58

Mr Lowe also took part in the trans-Antarctic expedition of 1957-58, which made the first successful overland crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole.

He later made expeditions to Greenland, Greece and Ethiopia.

Speaking to the BBC in 1995, Mr Lowe said of his Antarctic adventure: "We estimated we could do it in 100 days, and we got across on the 99th day.

"There was a great feeling of euphoria from everyone. It had a multiplying effect.

"We were pleased that England and New Zealand knew about it, and we thought that's where it would stop."



In 1995, George Lowe spoke about his 'second job' as the group's cameraman in a BBC interview

He also talked about his "second job" as the group's cameraman, and having to wear four pairs of gloves to work the clockwork camera.

"When there were dramas, there was a split problem. Do you take part in the urgency - or do you record it?" he said.

Dr Lewis-Jones, the former curator at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, who first met Mr Lowe in 2005, called him a "hero".

"I don't often use that word but then it is not very often that you get to meet one," he said.

'Humble, happy man'

A book of memoirs and photographs from the climb by Mr Lowe, which he worked on with Dr Lewis-Jones, is due to be published in May.

He said: "Lowe was a brilliant, kind fellow who never sought the limelight... and 60 years on from Everest his achievements deserve wider recognition.

"He was involved in two of the most important explorations of the 20th Century... yet remained a humble, happy man right to the end... an inspirational lesson to us all."

Before retiring in 1984, Mr Lowe worked as an Inspector of Schools with the Department of Education and Sciences, and he leaves three sons from a previous marriage.

The last British climbing member of the 1953 team, Mike Westmacott, died last June.

[Mr Lick]

Pietro Mennea

Italian sprinter, Olympic gold medallist and holder of the 200m world record for nearly 17 years



Pietro Mennea, who has died aged 60 after a long illness, was one of only two Italians to win an Olympic sprint title, his at Moscow in 1980 depriving Britain's Allan Wells of a sprint double. Mennea's victory matched that of Livio Berruti 20 years earlier in Rome, though Mennea went without the dark glasses that his compatriot always wore.

Mennea had made a quite sensational impact in the year before the Moscow Games. The World Student Games, now known as the Universiade, and held in the odd-numbered years, is pretty much a second-class citizen among championships, but Mennea enjoyed it. He won the 200m in 1973 and the 100m and 200m in 1975, and returned once more, in 1979, to attempt to win the 200m in Mexico City.

"I spoke to him before the event and it was clear he was there just for the world record. He was convinced he would break it – and to be honest he was head and shoulders above the rest of us," said Britain's Ainsley Bennett, who finished third in a personal best of 20.42sec, but was a full seven metres adrift of Mennea.

The Italian , running the second 100m in just 9.38. It would stand as the world record for 16 years, nine months and 11 days, until Michael Johnson ran 19.66 at the US Olympic trials in 1996. Mennea's time remains the European 200m record.

After retiring from sprinting, Mennea practised as a lawyer and also worked for his local football team, Salernitana. From 1999 to 2004, he was a member of the European parliament, where he lobbied for independent dope-testing authorities in sport, which have progressively been introduced. In an interview with the newspaper Corriere della Serra last year, he vehemently argued against Rome bidding for the 2020 Games. "The real priorities of the country lie elsewhere," he said.

Mennea is survived by his wife, Manuela.

• Pietro Mennea, athlete, born 28 June 1952; died 21 March 2013

[Mr Lick]

Two-time Pulitzer winner Anthony Lewis, whose New York Times column championed liberal causes for three decades, died Monday. He was 85.

Lewis was married to Margaret Marshall, former chief justice of the Massachusetts supreme judicial court. She retired in 2010 to spend more time with her husband after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. A court spokeswoman confirmed his death.

Lewis worked for 32 years as a columnist for the New York Times, taking up causes such as free speech, human rights and constitutional law.

His Pulitzers came during his years as a reporter. He won his first in 1955 for defending a navy civilian falsely accused of being a communist sympathizer, and he won again in 1963 for reporting on the supreme court.

His acclaimed 1964 book, Gideon's Trumpet, told the story of a petty thief whose fight for legal representation led to a landmark supreme court decision.

Lewis saw himself as a defender of decency, respect for law and reason against a tide of religious fundamentalism and extreme nationalism. His columns railed against the Vietnam War, Watergate, apartheid in South Africa and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

He wrote his final Abroad at Home column for the Times on December 15, 2001, warning against the US fearfully surrendering its civil liberties in the wake of the terrorist attacks three months earlier.

"The hard question is whether our commitment to law will survive the new sense of vulnerability that is with us all after September 11," he wrote. "It is easy to tolerate dissent when we feel safe."

Gail Collins, then the editorial page editor of the Times, said when Lewis resigned that he had been an inspiration.

"His fearlessness, the clarity of his writing and his commitment to human rights and civil liberties are legendary," Collins said. "And he's also one of the kindest people I have ever known."

Gideon's Trumpet became a legal classic, telling the story of Clarence Earl Gideon, whose case resulted in the creation of the public defender systems across the nation. In Gideon v Wainwright, the high court ruled that criminal defendants are entitled to a lawyer even if they cannot afford one.

The bestselling book was later made into a television movie starring Henry Fonda.
Fighting for the underdog was a theme for Lewis. He won his first Pulitzer Prize at the age of 28 for a series of articles in the Washington Daily News that were judged responsible for clearing a civilian employee of the US navy from McCarthy-era allegations that he was a security risk.

Lewis said Abraham Chasanow was a middle-class man, uninterested in politics, who was terrorized by the federal loyalty-security program of the 1950s when unnamed informants alleged Chasanow was a radical communist sympathizer. The navy ultimately apologized to Chasanow.

A consistent advocate of free speech, Lewis titled his 2008 book Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment. It detailed how laws beginning with the 1798 Sedition Act, which made it a crime to criticize government officials, have abridged freedom of expression.

"We need to celebrate and understand our unique freedom, and it is unique in this country this freedom of speech and press," Lewis told the Times in 2007. "And I don't actually think we understand it well."

Freedom of expression was also a topic for Lewis in his 1991 book, Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment, about a 1964 US supreme court decision that protected news organizations from some libel suits.

Joseph Anthony Lewis was born in New York City on March 27, 1927, the son of a nursery school director and a textile company director. He attended the elite Horace Mann School in the Bronx and graduated from Harvard College in 1948.

He joined the Times in 1948 and spent most of his career there, except a stint at the now-defunct Washington Daily News, where he worked from 1952 to 1955.

He studied law for a year at Harvard in the 1950s so he could go on to cover the supreme court for the Times, and served as chief of the newspaper's London bureau from 1965 to 1972. He began his twice-weekly Abroad at Home column from London in 1969 and moved to Boston in 1972.

In 1984, he married Marshall, who in 1996 was appointed to the Massachusetts supreme court. She was made chief justice in 1999 and wrote the court's 2003 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. When she announced her retirement in 2010, Marshall said she was leaving "so that Tony and I may enjoy our final seasons together."

[Looper]

British actor Richard Griffiths, best known for his roles in Harry Potter and the cult film Withnail & I, has died aged 65.

The portly star of stage and screen, one of Britain's best loved character actors, died on Thursday from complications following heart surgery, his agent Simon Beresford said.

Griffiths will be forever remembered by fans of cult classic Withnail & I as the amorous Uncle Monty, although he reached his biggest audience as Uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films.




Didn't know he was only 65. He looked like an old geezer in Withnail and that was made in 1986 I think which would make him only 38.

[Mr Lick]

US music producer and CD pioneer Phil Ramone dies



A native of South Africa, Ramone learnt the violin at the age of three



The US music producer and pioneer of digital recording, Phil Ramone, has died aged 72, his son has said.

Ramone is regarded as one of the most successful producers in history, winning 14 Grammy awards and working with stars such as Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Elton John and Paul McCartney.

He produced the first major commercial release on CD, Billy Joel's 1982 album 52nd Street.

Some of his awards were for soundtracks to TV shows, films and stage plays.

A native of South Africa, Ramone learnt the violin at the age of three and became a US citizen at the age of 12.

He had opened his own recording studio before he reached 20.

He produced three records that won Grammys for album of the year - Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years in 1976, 52nd Street and Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company in 2005.

Ramone also won Grammys for soundtracks to Flashdance, the Broadway musical Promises, Promises, and an Emmy for a TV special about jazz great Duke Ellington.

He was known for bringing artists together for duets, producing efforts by Frank Sinatra and Bono, and Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney among others.

Confirming his death, his son Matt Ramone said he was "very loving and will be missed".

[Humbert]

Roger Ebert 1942-2013

Noted film critic of the Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert, dies after losing a long, devastating struggle with cancer. RIP.

rogerebert.com :: Movie reviews, essays and the Movie Answer Man from film critic Roger Ebert

[Bogon]

^ Did he die last year and nobody told him?

1942-2012

[JimmyBoy]

Baroness Thatcher dies

8 April 2013



Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died "peacefully" at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family has announced.

Successor David Cameron called her a "great Briton" and the Queen spoke of her sadness at the death.

Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the first woman to hold the role.

She will not be accorded a state funeral, in accordance with her own wishes, Downing Street said.

Mr Cameron, who is in Madrid for meetings, has cancelled planned talks in Paris with French President Francois Hollande and will return to the UK later on Monday.

'Great leader'
Lady Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts, served as MP for Finchley, north London, from 1959 to 1992.

Having been education secretary, she successfully challenged former prime minister Edward Heath for her party's leadership in 1975 and won general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.

Lady Thatcher's government privatised several state-owned industries. She was also in power when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982.

In a statement on the Downing Street Twitter feed, Mr Cameron said: "It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher's death. We've lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton."

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Queen was sad to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher. Her Majesty will be sending a private message of sympathy to the family."

London Mayor Boris Johnson tweeted: "Very sad to hear of death of Baroness Thatcher. Her memory will live long after the world has forgotten the grey suits of today's politics."

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage called Lady Thatcher a "great inspiration", adding: "Whether you loved her or hated her nobody could deny that she was a great patriot, who believed passionately in this country and her people. A towering figure in recent British and political history has passed from the stage. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family."

Senior Conservative MP David Davis said: "Margaret Thatcher was the greatest of modern British prime ministers, and was central to the huge transformation of the whole world that took place after the fall of the Soviet Union.

"Millions of people in Britain and around the world owe her a debt of gratitude for their freedom and their quality of life, which was made possible by her courageous commitment to the principles of individual freedom and responsibility."

Lady Thatcher had suffered poor health for several years.



BBC News - Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher dies

[reddog]

annette funicello died from multiple sclerosis at 70 years old yesterday
was annette from the disney tv show -mickey mouse club.
was the main mouseketer and seemed like a decent person,
did a lot of fund raising for the illness

[Latindancer]

That is very sad. I remember singing along to the tune when I was about 6.

Here is her Wikipedia page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Funicello

Apparently she was in real life as lovely a person inside, as she was outside.
.
.
.

[palexxxx]

Yes, very sad, she was the first love of my life when I was about six years old.

[Mr Lick]

Test-tube baby pioneer Sir Robert Edwards dies



Professor Sir Robert Edwards (left) with Louise Brown (right) and her mother Lesley Brown in 2008


The world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, has led the tributes to the man who pioneered IVF, who has died aged 87.

Prof Sir Robert Edwards was knighted in 2011, five decades after he began experimenting with IVF.

His work led to the birth of Ms Brown at Oldham General Hospital in 1978. She said he had brought "happiness and joy" to millions of people.

IVF is used worldwide and has resulted in more than five million babies.

Prof Edwards died in his sleep after a long illness.

Ms Brown said: "I have always regarded Robert Edwards as like a grandfather to me.
"His work, along with Patrick Steptoe, has brought happiness and joy to millions of people all over the world by enabling them to have children.

"I am glad that he lived long enough to be recognised with a Nobel prize for his work, and his legacy will live on with all the IVF work being carried out throughout the world."


'Immense impact'

The University of Cambridge, where Prof Edwards was a fellow, said his work "had an immense impact".



James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News
Robert Edwards is known as "the father of IVF" and he certainly has a big family.
Louise Brown, born in 1978, was the first test-tube baby.

Since then, more than five million children have been born through IVF.

In vitro fertilisation has completely changed the prospects for couples unable to have children.

Fertilising an egg with sperm outside the body and implanting the resulting embryo means infertility is no longer a certain barrier to starting a family.

The technique sparked a huge ethical debate in 1978 and attracted media attention around the world.


Born in Yorkshire in 1925 into a working-class family, Prof Edwards served in the British army during World War II before returning home to study first agricultural sciences and then animal genetics.

Building on earlier research, which showed that egg cells from rabbits could be fertilised in test tubes when sperm was added, Edwards developed the same technique for humans.

In a laboratory at Cambridge in 1968, he first saw life created outside the womb in the form of a human blastocyst, an embryo that has developed for five to six days after fertilisation.

"I'll never forget the day I looked down the microscope and saw something funny in the cultures," Edwards once recalled.


'Remarkable man'

"I looked down the microscope and what I saw was a human blastocyst gazing up at me. I thought, 'We've done it'."

"Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists," said Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall, the IVF clinic founded by Prof Edwards with his fellow IVF pioneer Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecological surgeon.

Prof Martin Johnson, one of his first students, said: "Bob Edwards was a remarkable man who changed the lives of so many people.

"He was not only a visionary in his science but also in his communication to the wider public about matters scientific, in which he was a great pioneer.

"He will be greatly missed by his colleagues, students, his family and all the many people he has helped to have children."

Prof Peter Braude, Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at King's College London, said: "Few biologists have so positively and practically impacted on humankind.

"Bob's boundless energy, his innovative ideas, and his resilience despite the relentless criticism by naysayers, changed the lives of millions of ordinary people who now rejoice in the gift of their own child."

Edwards was too frail to pick up his Nobel prize in Stockholm in 2010, leaving that job to his wife Ruth, with whom he had five daughters.

He remained a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, until his death.

His work was motivated by his belief, as he once described it, that "the most important thing in life is having a child."

"Nothing is more special than a child," he said.