Laurence Pollock obituary
As editor of the monthly magazine Campaign, which reported on Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activities, my friend Laurence Pollock, who has died of brain cancer aged 60, was at the centre of CND...
View ArticleMike Lesser obituary
On 16 February 1963, my friend Mike Lesser, who has died aged 71, was one of the “Spies for Peace” who broke into the then secret regional seat of government (RSG-6) near Reading in Berkshire. The...
View ArticleMullah Omar obituary
Taliban leader who gave Osama bin Laden a haven from which to launch the 9/11 attacksMullah Mohammed Omar’s rise from obscurity as a minor mujahideen commander to leadership of the extremist Taliban...
View ArticleEvelyn Gillan obituary
Gifted communicator who led influential campaigns for minimum alcohol pricing and women’s rights in ScotlandEvelyn Gillan, who has died of gastric cancer aged 55, was an oustanding champion of women’s...
View ArticleBrian Groombridge obituary
Researcher, writer and broadcaster who was a champion of lifelong learningBrian Groombridge, who has died aged 89, championed the cause of lifelong learning as a researcher, writer, broadcaster,...
View ArticleLetter: John Taylor gave many musicians a helping hand
In 1983, I telephoned John Taylor to ask whether he might consider being part of my ensemble for a BBC broadcast. He didn’t know me and he’d certainly never heard my music, but he said yes. We stayed...
View ArticleCilla Black obituary
One of the leading pop singers of the 1960s who went on to have a successful television career with Blind Date and Surprise, SurpriseThe British pop revolution of the 1960s involved not only male...
View ArticleMaurice Woods obituary
My journalistic mentor and friend Maurice Woods, who has died aged 98, was the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s oldest surviving former member.Maurice was a born wordsmith – his middle name, Sewell,...
View ArticleStefanie Logie obituary
My mother Stefanie Logie, who has died aged 101, was a passionate musical educator and charity volunteer.Born into a cultured Jewish family in Berlin, Stefanie, known as Steffie, recalled a happy home...
View ArticleGael Dohany obituary
My friend Gael Dohany, who has died aged 73 of cancer, was a film-maker whose dramatised documentary Occupy! chronicled the work-in at a Merseyside factory in 1972 when Fisher-Bendix announced that it...
View ArticleSebastiano Vassalli obituary
Author who focused on his native Italy – both its beauty and its shortcomingsThe Italian writer Sebastiano Vassalli, who has died aged 73, had a conflicted relationship with the world around him,...
View ArticlePeter Jones obituary
Music journalist and author who wrote the earliest biographies of the Beatles and the Rolling StonesDuring the late 1950s and early 60s the weekly music press was the main source of news and...
View ArticleLynn Anderson obituary
Country singer best known for her massive hit I Never Promised You a Rose GardenIn early 1971, the sound of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden dominated the pop music airwaves. Its singer was the...
View ArticleHarry Pitch obituary
Musician whose harmonica-playing graced many pop songs in the 1960s and also film and TV music, notably on Last of the Summer Wine’s theme tuneThe harmonica has often been regarded as a novelty...
View ArticleGoronwy Owen obituary
My friend Goronwy Owen, who has died aged 94, was a successful and popular pharmacist who plied his trade in Liverpool for more than 30 years, running a handful of chemist shops in the city until his...
View ArticleMark Jones obituary
My husband, Mark Jones, who has died aged 67 of cancer, was for 15 years a popular head of the BBC’s Sound Archive. He spent four years on the board of the International Association of Sound and...
View ArticleAlan Cawson obituary
My friend Alan Cawson, who has died aged 68 of a heart attack, had two distinguished academic careers: the first as a political scientist, noted for his theory of corporatism, and the second as a...
View ArticleRosemary Payne obituary
My mother, Rosemary Payne, who has died aged 85, was a physiotherapist who achieved worldwide recognition for her book, Payne’s Relaxation Techniques, a bestseller that was published in five languages...
View ArticleLetter: John Jordan was charming and self-effacing
Your piece on John Jordan brought back memories of a screening of A Clockwork Orange at Stoke- on-Trent Film Theatre preceded by a talk from John, who had brought along the very primitive-looking sound...
View ArticleColeen Gray obituary
Actor who was often cast as the understanding girlfriend or steadfast wife in film noirs of the 1940s and 50s such as Kiss of Death and The KillingThe 2001 book Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of...
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