The RIP Famous Person Thread

[Bogon]

^ Bye bye Terry.

If you think he is not famous enough, then you have to get through me!
The bloke is a f@%king legend.
Check his fingers out. He had about 3 or so bitten off by otters or some other stupid animal.

[Latindancer]

South Africal/Australian author ( The Power Of One) Bryce Courtenay has had 7/8 of his stomach removed due to cancer and only has a short time to live

[TizMe]

Shark expert Ron Taylor dies in Sydney aged 78


RON Taylor, the Australian marine conservation pioneer who helped film some of the heart-stopping, iconic underwater footage in the movie Jaws, has died. He was 78.
Wildlife conservationists led the tributes for Taylor, who died at a private hospital in Sydney today.

He had battled myeloid leukaemia for two years, the ABC reported.

''Today is a very sad day, Ron Taylor, long-time Australian shark conservationist has passed away,'' the Australian Anti Shark Finning Alliance wrote on Twitter.

Broadcaster Derryn Hinch described Taylor as the ''Oz Jacques Cousteau'', adding: ''He hunted the great white - with a camera''.


Ron and Valerie Taylor at The Underwater Gallery in Edgecliff, Sydney, in June 2005. Picture: Harrisone
Taylor is survived by his wife Valerie, with whom he worked for more than 40 years conserving and filming sharks around the world.

Ron Taylor was a former champion spearfisherman and avid diver, who turned to conserving and filming marine life after an underwater epiphany.


An image of a shark as seen through the eyes of Ron Taylor.
''I just thought, 'What am I doing down here killing these poor, defenceless marine creatures?' he told the ABC in 2005.

''So I just packed up, went home - didn't even weigh my fish in - and never went back to another spearfishing competition.


Valerie and Ron Taylor preparing to dive during filming of their film 'Blue Water White Death' near the coast of Durban, South Africa, in 1969. Picture: Films Cinema Centre
''At the same time I was doing my photography. I was trying to get close to the fish to capture beautiful images with a still camera and a movie camera.''

It was his passion for and proficiency with underwater photography that led the director Steven Spielberg to call upon Ron and Valerie Taylor to film some of the underwater sequences for Jaws.


Ron films while Valerie crouches in a cage with her camera ready as a Great White goes by near Port Lincoln, South Australia, in 1969. Picture: Films Cinema Centre
Although they received some criticism for helping demonise sharks through the terrifying video footage, the scenes in Jaws shot by Taylor became iconic.

He also shot numerous marine documentaries and in 2003 was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for services to conservation.

Through his work, Taylor became well known around the world, particularly among those with a passion for the environment.

To some he was simply known as ''the shark man''.


An image captured by Ron and Valerie Taylor for the Discovery Channel.


Read more: Shark expert Ron Taylor dies in Sydney aged 78 | News.com.au

[TizMe]

PORT Adelaide midfielder John McCarthy has died while holidaying with teammates in Las Vegas.

On Friday night he attended the Power's 2012 best and fairest evening at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and polled seven votes to finish equal eighth behind winner Kane Cornes.



John McCarthy, pictured in action for Port Adelaide Power, has been found dead on an end of season trip to Las Vegas.

On Saturday morning he flew out of Adelaide on an end-of-season trip with a group of 10 teammates.
Mr Thomas said it is believed McCarthy fell from a building, but not at the hotel in which McCarthy was staying, and he was not with any of his teammates at the time.

"It's a very sad day," Mr Thomas said.

"It's devastating news ... we've endured a tough year on the field, we were in the process of looking forward to next year and this is a major, major setback emotionally.

[Mr Lick]

Derek Jameson, broadcaster and editor, dies aged 82



Veteran broadcaster Derek Jameson has died, it has been announced.

The 82-year-old, who edited three national newspapers, had a heart attack at his home, his wife Ellen said.

Jameson edited the Daily Express, the Daily Star and the News of the World and was also managing editor of the Daily Mirror and a popular presenter on BBC Radio 2.

He was born in poverty in London's East End where, without parents, he grew up in care

Jameson began work in Fleet Street as a messenger boy at the age of 14 and rose through the ranks to edit some of Britain's biggest newspapers.

Derek was not only a unique broadcaster and Fleet Street legend but also a really nice, kind and generous man” - Gary Bones Producer, BBC Radio 2

He developed a reputation as a man who could build circulation. When asked to launch the Daily Star - the first new national tabloid for 75 years - he took it to more than a million copies within a year.

He also added half a million readers at the Daily Express, which languished at less than two million when he joined it.

In 1984, he lost libel action against the BBC after Radio 4 called him "an East End boy made bad".

However, it was the BBC, recognising his gifts as a communicator, which turned him into a celebrity with television series such as Do They Mean Us? and his popular breakfast show on Radio 2.

He went on to present a chat show for six years with his wife, establishing Europe's largest late night radio audience.

[Tom Sawyer]

Harry Harrison obituary

by The Guardian [15 Aug, 2012]



Harry Harrison, who has died aged 87, was a writer from the world of American comics and science-fiction magazines of the 1950s. An amazingly prolific author, who gradually took on more serious themes as he matured, Harrison is probably best known for the book that inspired the Hollywood film Soylent Green (1973). Directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Charlton Heston and Edward G Robinson, Soylent Green was an uncompromising view of a world a quarter of a century into the future, in which massive overpopulation has created a critical food shortage. The solution is an alleged soya/lentil substitute – the plot concerns the discovery of the true nature of the stuff. MORE>

Also on CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/15/sh...bit/index.html

[Tom Sawyer]

^ I recall reading the Deathworld trilogy and of course saw the movie mentioned..

[Mr Lick]

US poet Louis Simpson dies at 89

Simpson published his first collection The Arrivistes in 1949

Louis Simpson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose work often explored the darker side of life in the US suburbs, has died at his New York home aged 89.

Born in Jamaica in March 1923, Simpson - the son of a Russian mother and a lawyer of Scottish descent - moved to the US at the age of 17.

The Columbia University graduate published more than 18 books of poetry.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1964 for his fourth collection At the End of the Open Road.

Its title was inspired by Walt Whitman's poem Song of the Open Road, which presented a vision of America replete with optimism and potential.

The collection contained the short poem In the Suburbs, in which he offered the bleaker suggestion that there was "no way out" for those "born to this middleclass life".

His admirers included such writers as Seamus Heaney and William Matthews. In an interview with the BBC News website in 2007, poet Sean O'Brien described Simpson's work To The Western World as "a wonderful, elegiac political poem about possibility".

Simpson, who served in World War II with the 101st Airborne Division, lived for many years in Setauket, New York on the north shore of Long Island.

His final collection Struggling Times was published in 2009 by BOA Editions and dealt directly with his old age and declining health.

Speaking on Tuesday, BOA Editions publisher Peter Conners remembered Simpson as a man who "chronicled his life through his literature".

"He lived through poetry and he did so right up to his death," he told the BBC News website.

[Mr Lick]

Rival of The Krays gangster Charlie Richardson dies aged 78



Former London gangster Charlie Richardson has died at the age of 78.

With his brother Eddie, Richardson led a criminal gang to rival the Kray twins and during the mid 1960s there were violent clashes between them.

In 1967, he was jailed for 25 years for fraud, extortion and assault, after a case known as the "Torture Trial".

Jurors heard how the gang would nail their opponents to floors, pull out their teeth with pliers, or cut off their fingers and toes.

Richardson's death was confirmed by friend Bobby Cummings.

In a statement, Mr Cummings said: "It is a great sadness to inform you, as many of you may have already heard, that my dearest friend Charlie Richardson passed away this morning."

Richardson always claimed the torture stories heard at his trial were untrue.

After he was released from prison, he campaigned on behalf of young offenders.

[ChrisM]

Rival of The Krays gangster Charlie Richardson dies aged 78



Former London gangster Charlie Richardson has died at the age of 78.

With his brother Eddie, Richardson led a criminal gang to rival the Kray twins and during the mid 1960s there were violent clashes between them.

In 1967, he was jailed for 25 years for fraud, extortion and assault, after a case known as the "Torture Trial".

Jurors heard how the gang would nail their opponents to floors, pull out their teeth with pliers, or cut off their fingers and toes.

Richardson's death was confirmed by friend Bobby Cummings.

In a statement, Mr Cummings said: "It is a great sadness to inform you, as many of you may have already heard, that my dearest friend Charlie Richardson passed away this morning."

Richardson always claimed the torture stories heard at his trial were untrue.

After he was released from prison, he campaigned on behalf of young offenders.

[Gerbil]

Harry Harrison, who has died aged 87

Damn. I enjoyed his books when I was young. Especially the Stainless Steel Rat series.

Harrison is probably best known for the book that inspired the Hollywood film Soylent Green (1973). Directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Charlton Heston and Edward G Robinson, Soylent Green was an uncompromising view of a world a quarter of a century into the future, in which massive overpopulation has created a critical food shortage. The solution is an alleged soya/lentil substitute – the plot concerns the discovery of the true nature of the stuff.

Great movie. I never actually read the book. Must get round to doing that some time.

[Thetyim]

^
Have you got the right film there
"Charlie" was the one about The Richardsons

[Gerbil]

Jurors heard how the gang would nail their opponents to floors, pull out their teeth with pliers, or cut off their fingers and toes.

To expand on that:

Victims were tortured at Charlie and brother Eddie’s scrap metal yard in Camberwell, South London. They were made to clean up their own blood.

Bizarrely victims were also handed a clean shirt afterwards — which led to the torture sessions becoming known as “taking a shirt from Charlie”.


Read more: Notorious torture boss Charlie Richardson dies at 78 | The Sun |News

[Mr Lick]

BBC comedy producer Michael Hurll dies

Michael Hurll (left) on the set of The British Rock and Pop Awards, with David Jensen, in 1984

Michael Hurll, who produced The Two Ronnies and established the British Comedy Awards, has died aged 75.

The TV executive was also responsible for Top Of The Pops from 1980 to 1987, and worked on The Eurovision Song Contest and The Royal Variety Show.

He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, his son said in a statement.

TV presenter Mike Smith paid tribute to his former colleague, saying: "A mentor to me and many. He let us be us. And he led like a General."

Radio 2 presenter Janice Long called him "one of the most influential producers in television", who was "warm, lovely and immensely talented".

Jonathan Harvey, a writer on Coronation Street who penned BBC comedy Gimme Gimme Gimme, said: "RIP Legendary producer Michael Hurll. Lovely man who was always so nice to me and had me on comedy awards panel for ten years. A gent."

Born in 1936 and educated at St Paul's School in Barnes, south-west London, Hurll joined the BBC in 1956.

He had already directed fellow pupil Jonathan Miller in a school revue but started work as a lowly "call boy" (now known as a runner), alongside fellow newcomer Michael Winner, bringing on guests for the Billy Cotton Band Show.





He quickly progressed through the ranks, and ended up producing and directing a host of light entertainment shows, including Seaside Special, The Little and Large Show, It's Cliff Richard and the last Peter Cook and Dudley Moore show.

On Top Of The Pops, he was credited with introducing a "party atmosphere" to proceedings, boosting the programme's ratings during its dayglo '80s heyday.

"He was a fantastic producer, who brought excitement to Top Of The Pops," said Long, who presented the show during Hurll's tenure.

"Michael employed me as the first woman to present Top Of The Pops, and he trusted me to do the live ones, as well," she said.

[Cujo]

I thought this was the 'FAMOUS' persons thread, not the 'someone a few poms have heard of' thread.

As for this guy, good fucking riddance.
No one famous, a scumbag crim, why would you put this piece of shit here along with all the great people we are sad to see go?

Rival of The Krays gangster Charlie Richardson dies aged 78



Former London gangster Charlie Richardson has died at the age of 78.

With his brother Eddie, Richardson led a criminal gang to rival the Kray twins and during the mid 1960s there were violent clashes between them.

In 1967, he was jailed for 25 years for fraud, extortion and assault, after a case known as the "Torture Trial".

Jurors heard how the gang would nail their opponents to floors, pull out their teeth with pliers, or cut off their fingers and toes.

Richardson's death was confirmed by friend Bobby Cummings.

In a statement, Mr Cummings said: "It is a great sadness to inform you, as many of you may have already heard, that my dearest friend Charlie Richardson passed away this morning."

Richardson always claimed the torture stories heard at his trial were untrue.

After he was released from prison, he campaigned on behalf of young offenders.

[Thetyim]

No one famous, a scumbag crim, why would you put this piece of shit here along with all the great people we are sad to see go?

Would you like me to introduce you to his son so that you can pass on your condolences.
He lives in Thailand and reads TD

[Cujo]

No one famous, a scumbag crim, why would you put this piece of shit here along with all the great people we are sad to see go?

Would you like me to introduce you to his son so that you can pass on your condolences.
He lives in Thailand and reads TD

Doesn't make his father anymore famous.
Why are we lamenting the deaths of people who are 'famous' for being criminals?

[Thetyim]

Doesn't make his father anymore famous.

He has a film and a book written about him that makes him famous

[Gerbil]

^ and he only nailed other scumbags to the floor.

No gangs of hoodie thugs roaming the streets of London in those days.

[can123]

No one famous, a scumbag crim, why would you put this piece of shit here along with all the great people we are sad to see go?

Would you like me to introduce you to his son so that you can pass on your condolences.
He lives in Thailand and reads TD

I used to drink with some of his relatives in the Sun in Great Ormond Street. Long time ago, early Eighties.

[Cujo]

Doesn't make his father anymore famous.

He has a film and a book written about him that makes him famous

In the neighbourhood.

[Gerbil]

^ just about anyone in the uk have heard of the kray twins and many of them especially the older ones would be aware of their rivalry with the Richardson gang.

[Mr Lick]

Koojo, you regularly come on this thread bleating about people that have passed away who you haven't heard of. Either you need to get out more, you know, broaden your horizons or simply contribute some of your own.

The world incidentally doesn't just revolve around Rolf Harris, Barry Humphreys or Kylie Minogue

[BaitongBoy]

^He's just a husky dawg, afterall...

[Eliminator]

I agree with Koojo on the point of the guy does NOT belong with the GOOD people that did GOOD things in their lives. Maybe start a thread of murdering crims and the guy would fit right in. 555