The RIP Famous Person Thread

[Mr Lick]

Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek dies at 74 in Germany


Manzarek's keyboard skills helped The Doors sell 100m albums


Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founder member of the 1960s rock band The Doors, has died aged 74.

He formed the band with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1965 after a chance meeting in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

Manzarek, who had suffered from bile duct cancer for many years, died in a clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, with his wife and brothers at his bedside.

The Doors found fame in the 1960s with hits such as The End, Break on Through to the Other Side and Hello I Love You.

They sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and Manzarek became one of the best-known keyboardists of his era, his artistry colouring tracks like Riders on the Storm and Light my Fire.

The death of Morrison of heart failure in a bath in Paris on 3 July 1971 effectively spelled the end for the band, although Chicago-born Manzarek took on singing duty.

The front man had moved to the city to write. A doctor's report stated the cause of his death was heart failure aggravated by heavy drinking.

In his latter years, Manzarek played in other bands and, in 1998, wrote a best-selling memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors.

[natalie8]

^Very sad. A true genius. This is the end.........

[Mr Lick]

David Bowie bassist Trevor Bolder dies





Ziggy and the Spiders perform Starman on Top of the Pops in 1973


Trevor Bolder, bassist in David Bowie's 1970s backing band Spiders From Mars, has died from cancer at the age of 62.

In a statement, Bowie remembered him as "a wonderful musician" who had been "a major inspiration for whichever band he was working with".

His death was announced by rock band Uriah Heep, who called him "a world-class bass player".

Bolder, who joined the band in 1976, stopped playing with them a few months ago due to poor health.

"Trevor was an all-time great, one of the outstanding musicians of his generation and one of the finest and most influential bass players that Britain ever produced," Uriah Heep said in a statement.

Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp also paid tribute on Twitter, writing: "RIP another Spider from Mars, a kind and decent man, Trevor Bolder. Love and peace to his family."


Bolder also appeared on Bowie's live album Santa Monica '72, released in the UK in 1994


Bolder, who was born in Hull, East Yorkshire on 9 June 1950, joined his first band, Ronno, with guitarist Mick Ronson in 1970 after meeting on the local music scene.

He joined Bowie in 1971 to play on his fourth album, Hunky Dory, along with Ronson and drummer Woody Woodmansey.

This paved the way for 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which launched Bowie and his bandmates into international stardom.

They played together on the albums Aladdin Sane and Pin-Ups before Bowie separated from the Spiders From Mars and moved to the US.

Bolder went on to join Uriah Heep, making his first appearance on their 1977 album Firefly.

Ronson died in April 1993, also of cancer, at the age of 46.

[Mr Lick]

Richard Thorp, Emmerdale's longest-serving cast member, dies




Emmerdale producer Kate Oates said Thorp had a "brilliant sense of humour"


Actor Richard Thorp, Alan Turner on Emmerdale for more than 30 years, has died at the age of 81.

He had been the longest-serving cast member on the ITV soap, having made his first appearance on 23 March 1982.

Thorp also starred as squadron leader Henry Maudslay in iconic 1955 film The Dam Busters.

In a statement, the show remembered him as a "true professional and a complete gentleman" who would be "greatly missed".

"Richard's death is a sad loss to Emmerdale, of which he was at the heart for so many wonderful years," said Kate Oates, Emmerdale's series producer.

"He will be missed by every single member of our production whose lives he touched."

Thorp's character started out in the show as the hard-drinking, womanising and bullying manager of Home Farm.

But he mellowed over the years, going on to be landlord of the Woolpack pub and open a B&B.

Thorp's breakthrough role in The Dam Busters came at the age of 23. The actor had auditioned for a smaller role but was given the part of Maudslay because he looked like him.

He went on to appear in The Barretts of Wimpole Street and There's Always a Thursday before joining hit TV series Emergency Ward 10.

Before joining Emmerdale, Thorp appeared in a number of TV shows including Crossroads and To the Manor Born.




Thorp (second from left) is here seen in a 1963 BBC recording of Noel Coward's Fallen Angels

The actor told the Daily Mail in 2010 he was "too lazy" to pursue a career in Hollywood and admitted he liked the security of regular soap income.

The same year, he told the Radio Times that he "ought to have regrets about staying" at Emmerdale for so long but did not.

"There was no point in me moving on because I wasn't good enough," he said.
Past and present cast members have been paying tribute.

Chris Bisson, who plays Jai Sharma on the soap, said he was sorry to hear the news and that Thorp "was always a gentleman".

Adele Silva, who played Kelly Windsor on the soap, said he was a "lovely man and [the] coolest guy I've seen with a Harley!"

Danny Miller, who played Aaron Livesy, said it was "devastating news". "A legend and a true gentlemen, he will be missed dearly!" he wrote.

[waradmiral]

Joe the plumber also died but no one cared

[billy the kid]

^ Was he famous ?

[Mr Lick]

Brian Greenhoff: Ex-Man Utd and England player dies aged 60


Former Manchester United and England defender Brian Greenhoff has died suddenly at the age of 60.

Greenhoff was a member of the United team which beat Liverpool 2-1 in the 1977 FA Cup final, before moving to Leeds United for £350,000 in 1979.

In total, he made 271 appearances for the Old Trafford club, scoring 17 goals, and won 18 caps for England.

“He went to Leeds for £350,000, which was a lot of money back then” - Lou Macari Former Greenhoff team-mate

Born in Barnsley, Greenhoff, who served the Reds for six years from 1973, also played and coached at Rochdale.

Greenhoff won a second division winners' medal with United in 1975 and played in the same team as his brother, Jimmy, who joined the Reds in 1976.

The grandfather of three died at his home in Norden, near Rochdale, on Wednesday.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances and the matter has been passed to the local coroner.

His former Manchester United team-mate Lou Macari told BBC Radio Manchester he was shocked by the news.

"We had no news that Brian had been ill," said Macari.

"Brian loved playing for United, it was a dream come true for him.

"His only aim was to keep playing for United as long as he could and he was a true servant.


Brian Greenhoff and England

Caps: 18
Starts: 15
Debut: v Wales 8 May, 1976
Last cap: v Australia 31 May, 1980



"I was only looking at pictures of us winning the FA Cup final the other day. He was jumping around all over the place and was as happy as Larry.

"He went to Leeds for £350,000 which was a lot of money back then. That shows you what a good player he was."

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: "Shortly after 9.30am today, police were called to an address in Norden following a report of a sudden death.

"Officers attended and found that a man, believed to be 60, died suddenly.

"There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances and the matter has been referred to the coroner."

[Mr Lick]

Wrestling great Mick McManus dies at the age of 93


Former British wrestler Mick McManus has died at the age of 93.

McManus - who was known as 'the man you love to hate' during his career - was one of the biggest names of wrestling during the 1960s and 70s.

McManus claimed to have made more British TV appearances than any other wrestler in a career which spanned more than 20 years.

His death was confirmed by Frank Rimer, the organiser of the annual British Wrestlers' Reunion.

Rimer told BBC Sport: "Mick died at 01:00 BST on Wednesday after being in a coma for several days.

"He was the greatest name in British wrestling history and his 1962 fight with Jackie Pallo was watched by over 20 million viewers."

At the height of his fame McManus had a weekly column in the Sun newspaper and wrestled on the Generation Game.

[Rupert Wanger]

Brian Greenoff......senn him play many times for Utd at OT in the 70's

[Troy]

Mick McManus

Wow! That's a real blast from the past! Bloody good innings on his part. We weren't allowed to watch wrestling in our home...except for this guy....and he was the first TV sportsman I saw live. Mum went bonkers when she found out where I'd been....

[Hareeba]

Fake wrestler who cares

[Mr Lick]

Dad's Army star Bill Pertwee dies aged 86



Bill Pertwee, who played Warden Hodges in Dad's Army, has died, his agent has confirmed.

The 86-year-old also starred as PC Wilson in You Rang M'Lord? He also appeared in three Carry On films.

Agent Meg Poole said he died peacefully on Monday with his family around him. He is survived by his son Jonathan.

His Dad's Army character was a greengrocer who became chief air raid warden when World War II broke out. His catchphrase was: "Put that light out!"

He was a thorn in the side of Captain Mainwaring and Sgt Wilson (played by Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier respectively), who called him "a common little man".

Pertwee, who was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, lived in a residential home in Wadebridge, Cornwall.

He was airlifted to The Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro on Sunday where he died at 3.30am on Monday surrounded by family.

The actor first played the grumpy Dad's Army warden in 1968.

The show went on to earn a Bafta for best comedy in 1971 and inspired a film - also starring Pertwee - in the same year.

Pertwee was a founder member and the president of the Dad's Army Appreciation Society.

His son Jonathan said: "He would give everything a go. He was very dedicated to the people around him and he was very dedicated to his charity work.




Frank Williams: "Bill was really a very, very nice man - and not at all nasty as Hodges was"


"But also he was very humble about the whole thing, he was the subject of This is Your Life in 1999, and he'd always think how lucky he was," he added.

"He'd say 'marvellous, isn't it, to be in this business', because he said ' I'm not really a proper actor', but he was extraordinarily versatile."

Mr Pertwee said his father had a continued affection for Dad's Army.

"He loved it. He loved the people in it, it was a big part of his life and he used to have a lot of fun with Clive (Dunn) and John Le Mesurier and Frank Williams and all of them. They just had a a great bond."

His agent Ms Poole also paid tribute: "He was a really, really nice man. Very bright, very intelligent.

"He came from a big theatrical family, a big showbusiness family, and like all of them it was his life and it was very important to him and he was a hugely professional, very clever man."

His wife, actress Marion McLeod, died in 2005. They were married for 45 years.

Frank Williams, who played the vicar in Dad's Army, told the BBC: "He always used to play himself down as an actor... I think he was a very good actor... Bill was a lovely man.

"He was the life and soul of the party, great fun."

Pertwee was made an MBE in 2006 for his services to charity - he supported children's hospices.






You Rang M'Lord? was a sitcom set in 1927 about life above and below the stairs. It ran from 1988 to 1993.



In 1957, Pertwee wrote to BBC director and producer Richard Afton in search of his big TV break. In the letter, he mentions his cousin, the actor Jon Pertwee, who became one of the stars of the hit radio comedy The Navy Lark before taking on the title role in Doctor Who in 1970.

Bill Pertwee had only been an entertainer for a couple of years when he wrote the letter, having served his apprenticeship in variety halls across the country.

His break eventually came with the offer to join the hugely popular radio show Beyond Our Ken with Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams.

This lead to appearing in the radio series Round The Horne, again starring Williams and created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman.

He also appeared opposite Morecambe and Wise writer Eddie Braben - who died last week - in The Show with Ten Legs.

Pertwee's other credits included Carry on Loving, Carry on Girls and Carry On at Your Convenience.

[Looper]

One of Australia's leading indigenous figures, singer Yunupingu, has died at the age of 56.

The lead singer of Yothu Yindi died at his home in the Northern Territory after suffering from kidney disease.

Yunupingu was a significant cultural figure whose music helped bridge the divide between white and black Australians.

He is also widely credited with introducing indigenous music to the world with the 1990s hit Treaty.

The song, which blends indigenous music and rock, made him a household name.

It also helped win him the Australian of the Year award in 1992, for "building bridges of understanding between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people".

"We have lost a uniquely talented musician, a passionate advocate for Aboriginal people and a truly great friend," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.
Before entering the music industry, Yunupingu was a teacher.

He was the first Aboriginal person from Arnhem Land to gain a university degree and also Australia's first indigenous school principal, taking over as head of the Yirrkala Community School in 1990.

Yothu Yindi toured internationally and released a successful album in 1992, Tribal Voice.

Former Midnight Oil singer Peter Garret, who is now an Australian government minister, described him as a "path breaker and leader. A shining light for his people."

Yunupingu's family asked media outlets not to use pictures of him after his death in accordance with indigenous traditions.

BBC News - Australian indigenous singer Yunupingu dies

[Mid]

He is also widely credited with introducing indigenous music to the world with the 1990s hit Treaty.

youtube.com

[bobo746]

Just posted that vid on another thread good band.

[misskit]

Jean Stapleton, the stage-trained character actress who played Archie Bunker's far better half, the sweetly naive Edith, in TV's groundbreaking 1970s comedy "All in the Family," has died. She was 90.

[Mr Lick]

Tom Sharpe, Porterhouse Blue novelist, dies aged 85




A look back at the life of Tom Sharpe, the author of the novel Porterhouse Blue, who has died at the age of 85


The British author Tom Sharpe, who wrote the 1974 novel Porterhouse Blue, has died aged 85.

Sharpe, who was born in London in 1928, died in the coastal town of Llafranc in north-eastern Spain on Thursday.

He wrote 16 novels, including Blott on the Landscape in 1975, which was adapted into a six-part BBC television series, starring David Suchet.

He also wrote the Wilt series of comedy books, the last of which - The Wilt Inheritance - he penned in 2010.

"Tom Sharpe was one of our greatest satirists and a brilliant writer: witty, often outrageous, always acutely funny about the absurdities of life," said Susan Sandon, Sharpe's editor at Random House.

"The private Tom was warm, supportive and wholly engaging."

Porterhouse Blue, published in 1974 told the story of Skullion, the head porter of a fictional Cambridge college Porterhouse.

The story, a satirical look at Cambridge life, was later made into a television series on Channel 4 in 1987.





David Suchet played Blott in the 1985 TV adaptation of Blott on the Landscape



The four-part TV series starred Sir David Jason in the lead role of the head porter, Skullion, alongside Ian Richardson as Sir Godber Evans and Barbara Jefford as his wife Lady Mary.

The son of a Unitarian minister who was a Nazi supporter in the 1930s, Sharpe was educated at Lancing and Cambridge.

He spent time in the Royal Marines, serving overseas on ships during the 1940s.

In an interview on Desert Island Discs in 1984, Sharpe told Roy Plomley he was initially influenced by his father's ideas.

His National Service experience and the death of his father in 1944 brought the discovery "that Hitler was not the man I was led to believe he was".

"My mind was blown by the horror of what had been happening."

Sharpe moved to South Africa in 1951, working as a social worker, teacher and photographer, and writing anti-apartheid plays during the 1950s. However, he was deported to Britain in 1961.

His experiences in South Africa inspired him to write his debut novel, Riotous Assembly, in three weeks in 1971, and his second novel, Indecent Exposure, in which he mocks the apartheid regime.

In 1975, he wrote Blott on the Landscape, centred on the proposed construction of a motorway in a fictional rural county in England.

The book was adapted into a six-part series by Malcolm Bradbury for the BBC in 1985.


Sharpe wrote five books in the Wilt series


"Books and films are totally different things," Sharpe said during his interview on Desert Island Discs.

"I say throw the book out the window and use the characters."

His next book, Wilt, published in 1976, was inspired by his experiences working a lecturer in History at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.

The first in a series of five comedic novels, Wilt was based around the lead character, Henry Wilt, a demoralised assistant lecturer who teaches literature to uninterested construction apprentices at a community college in the south of England.

"He has the same uncertainties about the world that I have, but he carries them on into the enactment of fantasy and he tends to run into trouble," Sharpe said.

The novel was adapted into the film Wilt in 1989, with Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith in the lead roles.

Sharpe, who had been living in northern Spain for two decades, was married with three children.

[Mr Lick]

Esther Williams, actress and swimming star, dies at 91




Archive footage shows Williams starring in Bathing Beauty and Jupiter's Darling, as well as being interviewed about her home life


US swimming champion-turned-movie star Esther Williams has died in Los Angeles aged 91.

Her spokesman said she died peacefully in her sleep. She had been in declining health due to old age.

A national swimming champion by the time she was 16, her success led to a career in Hollywood "aqua-musicals" designed just for her, in the 1940s.

She became known as Hollywood's Mermaid, starring in films including Dangerous When Wet and Easy to Wed.

Williams became one of cinema's biggest box-office stars in the 1940s and 1950s, famously appearing in spectacular swimsuits that capitalised on her physical beauty.

Her films were typically lavish song-and-dance affairs, following the same formula of romance, music and comedy - held together by a lightweight plot that provided infinite excuses for the actress to get into the water.

Finales usually featured Williams diving into a pool or lagoon and surfacing to a crescendo of music, with water glistening on her beaming face.

Her string of successful films included Thrill of a Romance, Fiesta, On an Island With You and Duchess of Idaho.

Co-stars included Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalban and Howard Keel.

"I look at that girl and I like her," she said on watching her films decades later, Reuters reports.

"I can see why she became popular with audiences. There was an unassuming quality about her. She was certainly wholesome," she said.


Esther Williams appeared on the BBC's Parkinson show in 2000.


In the 1950s she attempted to branch out into non-swimming roles, but met with little success.

"I guess what MGM found was that my audience wanted that bathing suit," she said, when her autobiography was released in 1999.

"And you know, when Cinemascope came in and you've got that water all wrapped around you and they'd do big close-ups of me... I think it had too much pleasure connected with it for them to change it."

She retired from the movies in 1962, following her marriage to her third husband, Hollywood playboy Fernando Lamas.

In her later years she hosted swimming events for ABC-TV's coverage of the 1984 Olympic Games and turned her attention to business, launching her own line of swimwear.

Williams was married to Mr Lamas for 20 years until his death in 1982. She and her last husband Edward Bell lived in Los Angeles' Beverly Hills.

Her autobiography also told of many romances, including one with actor Jeff Chandler.

According to Williams, she discovered he was a cross-dresser and walked out, explaining: "Jeff, you're too big for polka dots." Several of Mr Chandler's colleagues denied Williams' claims when the book was published.

[harrybarracuda]

Calif. serial killer 'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez dies
Ramirez was convicted of 13 murders that terrorized Southern California in 1984 and 1985
The Associated Press Posted: Jun 7, 2013 6:57 PM ET Last Updated: Jun 7, 2013 6:46 PM ET



Convicted killer Richard Ramirez, shown in this June 15, 2007 photo in San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, Calif., has died, a prison spokesman said Friday. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/Associated Press)


Richard Ramirez, the demonic serial killer known as the Night Stalker who left satanic signs at murder scenes and mutilated victims' bodies during a reign of terror in the 1980s, died early Friday in a hospital, a prison official said.

Ramirez, 53, had been taken from San Quentin's death row to a hospital where authorities said he died of liver failure. Prison officials said they could not release further details on the cause of death, citing federal patient privacy laws.

Ramirez had been housed on death row for decades and was awaiting execution, even though it has been years since anyone has been put to death in California.

At his first court appearance, Ramirez raised a hand with a pentagram drawn on it and yelled, "Hail, Satan."

His marathon trial, which ended in 1989, was a horror show in which jurors heard about one dead victim's eyes being gouged out and another's head being nearly severed. Courtroom observers wept when survivors of some of the attacks testified.

Ramirez was convicted of 13 murders that terrorized Southern California in 1984 and 1985 as well as charges of rape, sodomy, oral copulation, burglary and attempted murder.

The killing spree reached its peak in the hot summer of 1985, as the nocturnal killer entered homes through unlocked windows and doors and killed men and women with gunshot blasts to the head or knives to the throat, sexually assaulted female victims, and burglarized the residences.

He was dubbed the "Night Stalker" by the press while residents were warned to lock their doors and windows at night.

Some of the crimes were grisly beyond imagining: A man was murdered in his bed and his wife was raped beside the dead body. The killer beat a small child and attempted to sodomize him.

There were also signs of devil worship — a pentagram drawn on the wall at one murder scene and survivors' accounts of being ordered to "swear to Satan " by the killer.

Caught, beaten by residents
Ramirez was finally chased down and beaten in 1985 by residents of a blue-collar East Los Angeles neighborhood as he attempted a carjacking. They recognized him after his picture appeared that day in the news media.

The trial of Ramirez took a year, but the entire case — bogged down in pretrial motions and appeals — lasted four years, making it one of the longest criminal cases in U.S. history.

Because of the notoriety, more than 1600 prospective jurors were called.

The trial was almost aborted in its final stages when a woman juror was murdered during deliberations. Jurors were 13 days into talks when the juror failed to appear one morning. She was found beaten and shot to death at the home she shared with her boyfriend. The next day, the man committed suicide and left a note saying he killed her in an argument.

Jurors wept when they learned of the tragedy, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan was faced with one of his most trying legal challenges. Lawyers said there were no legal precedents for the situation.

Defense attorneys argued the jurors were too distraught to resume their talks and noted the murder was similar to the gruesome attacks attributed to the "Night Stalker."

Tynan decided to move forward. "We must get on with the task life has given us," he told jurors, ordering them to begin deliberations with an alternate juror.

Jurors later said the death of the juror did not influence their decision.

After his conviction, Ramirez flashed a two-fingered "devil sign" to photographers and muttered a single word: "Evil."

On his way to a jail bus, he sneered in reaction to the verdict, muttering: "Big deal. Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland."

The black-clad killer, unrepentant to the end, made his comment in an underground garage after the jury recommended the death penalty for his gruesome crimes.

Inexplicably, Ramirez, a native of El Paso, Texas, had a following of young women admirers who came to the courtroom regularly and sent him love notes.

Married in prison
Some visited him in prison, and in 1996 Ramirez was married to 41-year-old freelance magazine editor Doreen Lioy in a visiting room at San Quentin prison.

Relatives called Lioy a recluse who lived in a fantasy world.

In 2006, the California Supreme Court upheld Ramirez's convictions and death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court refused in 2007 to review the convictions and sentence. Ramirez still had appeals pending when he died.

His lawyers claimed the case should have been moved out of Los Angeles and said Ramirez was incompetent to stand trial.

Two years after his arrest, San Francisco police said DNA linked Ramirez to the April 10, 1984, killing of 9-year-old Mei Leung. She was killed in the basement of a residential hotel in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood where she lived with her family.

Ramirez had been staying at nearby hotels.

Ramirez previously was tied to killings in Northern California. He was charged in the shooting deaths of Peter Pan, 66, and his wife, Barbara, in 1985 just before his arrest in Los Angeles, but he was never tried in that case.

[Smug Farang Bore]

Ian Banks the writer has died of cancer.

[DrAndy]

beat me to it, but it was Iain Banks

one of my favourite authors; his SF was OK as well as Iain M. Banks

BBC News - Iain Banks dies of cancer aged 59






thanks Iain for hours of enjoyment

[Smug Farang Bore]

Yes Iain Banks sorry for that.

Just heard it on news so posted it knowing someone would post a proper link later.

Cheers.

[benbaaa]

Iain (M) Banks was two of my favourite authors.

[Mr Lick]

Sir Henry Cecil, 10-time champion Flat trainer, has died at the age of 70.

Responsible for 25 British Classic winners, Scottish-born Cecil was also the leading handler at Royal Ascot with a record 75 successes.

Cecil, who was knighted in 2011, battled cancer in his later years.
Sir Henry Cecil factfile

• Born 11 Jan 1943, Aberdeen
• First trainer's licence 1969
• Champion trainer 1976, 1978-9, 1982, 1984-5, 1987-8, 1990, 1993
• Derby winners: Slip Anchor 1985, Reference Point 1987, Commander In Chief 1993, Oath 1999
• 21 other British Classic winners, including Frankel in 2000 Guineas in 2011
• Trained more Royal Ascot winners than anyone else with 75
• Awarded Knighthood for services to racing in 2011
• Trained Frankel to 14 straight wins from 2010-2012

Towards the end of his career, the Newmarket-based Cecil trained Frankel, officially the highest-ever rated racehorse after finishing his career unbeaten in 14 starts.

Cecil was described as "the greatest trainer of all time" by racing broadcaster Derek Thompson, champion National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls called him "a true legend", while Newmarket racecourse said his contribution to racing would never be forgotten.

American rider Steve Cauthen, who enjoyed six highly successful years as a stable jockey at Warren Place, labelled Cecil "a genius".

"He had a great sense of humour. He was a super intelligent guy and really knew how to place his horses," the 53-year-old said.

"He tried to have fun. The atmosphere during most of the time I was up at Warren Place was just fantastic."

Jockeys at all four meetings in the United Kingdom on Tuesday were wearing black armbands as a mark of respect following the death of Cecil.

A minute's silence was also arranged at the fixtures - at Worcester, Fontwell, Lingfield and Salisbury.

"It is with great sadness that Warren Place Stables confirms the passing of Sir Henry Cecil earlier this morning," said a statement posted on Cecil's website.

"Following communication with the British Horseracing Authority, a temporary licence will be allocated to Lady Cecil.

"No further update is anticipated this afternoon."

British Horseracing Authority chief executive Paul Bittar told the BBC Cecil's death had created a "tragic day for the sport".


Sir Henry Cecil - portrait of the trainer's trainer


"He was one of the most loved people in the sport, over a long time," he said.

"You go back nearly four decades to his first Classic winner, right through to a very fortunate ending, in a way, being able to train the greatest horse any of us will ever get to see [Frankel].

"I am genuinely very sad, it is a tragic day for the sport."

Cecil first took out a training licence in 1969.

He had his first British Classic win with Bolkonski in the 1975 renewal of the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, following up in the same race a year later with Wollow.

Both horses were ridden by Frankie Dettori's father, Gianfranco.

Cecil excelled with fillies and trained six 1,000 Guineas winners and eight Oaks victors, his last Epsom heroine being Light Shift in 2007.

He had four Derby winners - Slip Anchor, Reference Point, Commander In Chief and Oath - and four St Leger triumphs.

Among his Leger winners was Oh So Sharp, who completed the fillies' Triple Crown of 1000 Guineas, Oaks and Leger under Cauthen.

Indian Skimmer, probably the best filly Cecil ever trained, won the Prix de Diane in 1987, the English and Irish Champion Stakes the following year and was third in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
Analysis

Cornelius Lysaght BBC horse racing correspondent
Racing in particular, but sport generally, is grieving a genuinely great man.

Colourful both in terms of personality and dress, he hit the heights as a trainer, but also the depths when the number of horses under his care dwindled to the point of prompting retirement talk.

But, despite the onset of cancer, Cecil determined to return, and many of us wept unashamedly when success in the 2007 Oaks with Light Shift brought him back to the big-time. And then came Frankel.

No racing figure was better at what he did or better-loved while he did it. Next week's Royal Ascot won't feel the same.



But for all the great horses to pass through his care, the best was saved until last in Frankel, who retired to stud after crowning his unbeaten career with victory in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October 2012.

Cecil married his one-time secretary Jane McKeown in 2008.

He is survived by two children from his first marriage, Katie and Noel, and son Jake from his second marriage.

Cecil's twin brother, David, died from cancer in 2000.

Six years ago, Henry Cecil revealed he had been having treatment for the disease.

Racing presenter Clare Balding paid her respects to Cecil, tweeting: "He was one of the true greats and a gentleman. Frankel his crowning glory."

BBC horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght said that "racing and sport as a whole" would be mourning the death of the "iconic" Cecil.

"He also had a warm relationship with the racing public who backed him even when his racing fortunes crashed at the turn of the century," Lysaght added on BBC Radio 5 live.

“Every trainer aspires to be like him and everyone in racing will feel the loss. They don't make people like him any more” - Tom Queally, Cecil's stable jockey, speaking on Racing UK

Former champion jockey Willie Carson said Cecil was "loved by punters more than anyone".

"He was just a genius of a racehorse trainer. This is a very, very sad day for racing. We will always miss him - he will never be replaced," added Carson.

David Lanigan, who was Cecil's assistant for a number of years before setting up on his own, said: "Words would not describe what a great friend & boss HRAC was. Our deepest sympathies to the Cecil family. R.I.P Govnor."

Irish flat jockey Johnny Murtagh commented on Twitter that he was "privileged to have ridden" for the trainer.

[harrybarracuda]

I'm so glad he had Frankel. He's been ill for a very long time and must have gone to meet his maker with a big smile on his face.