BB FANS

Sir Chris Chataway: GB Athlete Dies Aged 82

Sir Chris Chataway, the pacemaker who helped Sir Roger Bannister break the four-minute mile barrier, has died aged 82.

The former 5,000-metres world record-holder died on Sunday at St John's Hospice in northwest London after a two and a half year battle with cancer, his son Mark Chataway said.

His passion for keeping fit stayed with him into old age, and up until a couple of weeks ago he was on his exercise bike every morning, he added.

The 53-year-old described his father as a "very compassionate and wise man" who had the "ability to put other people's needs first".

"We were, especially in these last few years, struck by his amazing qualities of humility and strength," he said.

"He kept running almost until the end of his life. He ran with a couple of my brothers in the Great North Run about three years ago now ... doing it in a very respectable time."

Sir Chris - who was also a Tory politician and broadcaster - would like to be remembered as "a wonderful father, a husband, a grandfather," he said.

"Those probably mattered more than any of the sporting or political things," he said.

He is survived by his sons Mark, Matthew, Adam, Charles, Ben, his daughter Joanna, his wife Carola and his former wife Anna.

Speaking about taking part in the Great North Run at almost 80-years-old, Sir Chris said at the time: "I sometimes think that running, which was a sort of tormentor in my youth, has returned to be a friendly codger in my old age - that what was Joe Stalin has turned into Dixon of Dock Green."

LBC

Stuart Hall obituary
Influential cultural theorist, campaigner and founding editor of the New Left Review
David Morley and Bill Schwarz www.theguardian.com

Hollywood star Shirley Temple dies

Former Hollywood child star Shirley Temple has died at the age of 85.

With her adorable charm and blonde curls, she was one of the most popular stars of the 1930s, in hit movies like Bright Eyes and Stand Up and Cheer.

After retiring from films in 1950 at the age of 21, Temple returned to the spotlight as a politician and diplomat.

She died on Monday at home in Woodside, California, from natural causes. "She was surrounded by her family and caregivers," a statement said.

BBC

Ralph Waite obituary
Actor best known for playing John Walton Sr in the US television family drama The Waltons

Anthony Hayward www.theguardian.com

Malcolm Tierney obituary
Stage and screen actor who excelled in playing authority figures and appeared in TV shows such as Brookside and Lovejoy

Michael Coveney and Vanessa Redgrave www.theguardian.com

Maria Agatha Franziska Gobertina von Trapp aged 99

Singer and missionary who was immortalised as Louisa in the stage show and film ‘The Sound of Music’

Independent

Actor and director Harold Ramis, best known for the films Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, has died aged 69. BBC

World-renowned Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia dies 'after heart attack' in Mexico

The musician became famous around the world following a series of flamenco albums in the 1970s.

He also worked on films and worked on classical and jazz music.

De Lucia was born in Algeciras in Spain and its mayor today said the city would hold two days of official mourning.

As reported by the BBC, Jose Ignacio Landaluce, the city's mayor, called his death an "irreparable loss for the world of culture and for Andalusia".


Mirror

RMT union general secretary Bob Crow dies

General secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union Bob Crow has died aged 52

In a statement on its website, the union said he died in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"The union's offices will be closed for the rest of the day and the union will make further announcements in due course," it added.

Mr Crow was elected general secretary of the RMT in 2002 following the death of former leader Jimmy Knapp.

BBC

Delighted Bob and his wife had that lovely last holiday in Rio de Janeiro together.

Obituary of Tony Benn BBC

Television chef Clarissa Dickson Wright has died at the age of 66



From the DailyMail

Clarissa Dickson Wright: five things you didn't know about her extraordinary life

OUTSPOKEN chef Clarissa Dickson Wright died in Edinburgh this weekend at the age of 66. She was best known for starring with Jennifer Paterson in BBC Two's Two Fat Ladies, during which they were seen travelling the UK by motorbike and sidecar. The show came to an end in 1999 following Paterson's death, but Dickson Wright led a colourful life both before and after the series. Here are five things you might not know about her:

She had ten middle names

As well as two surnames, Dickson Wright was christened with 11 middle names: Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright. Her parents apparently had great trouble deciding on a first name, eventually blindfolding her mother, Molly, and "turning her loose in the library". She pulled out Clarissa, the 1748 novel by Samuel Richardson. Dickson Wright said she believed her parents were then "so delighted that they'd finally found a name, they got pissed on the way to the church".

She was the youngest woman to be called to the Bar

At 21, Dickson Wright became the youngest woman ever to be called to the Bar. Her father, an eminent surgeon to the royal family, but also violent and abusive at home, wanted her to pursue medicine, but she instead trained as a barrister at Gray's Inn. With an IQ of 196, Dickson Wright was described as "exceptionally intelligent". Her career in law ended, however, with her well-documented descent into alcoholism following the death of her mother.

Her weight was caused by tonic

Dickson Wright was an alcoholic for 12 years, eventually drinking away her inheritance and becoming homeless in her mid-30s, sleeping rough at Victoria Coach Station after being fired from her job as a housekeeper in Sussex after twice flipping the family’s car into a ditch while drunk. The chef said she piled on weight in her later years, not due to food, but because she damaged her adrenal gland. It was when doctors asked if she could have suffered quinine poisoning from malaria tablets that she realised she had poisoned herself with the pints of tonic accompanying her two-bottles-a-day gin habit.

She had sex in the House of Commons

Dickson Wright claimed she once had sex with an MP behind the Speaker's Chair in the House of Commons. She refused to name her mystery partner but said he had suggested during the summer vacation that she might like to "see the floor of the House". She wrote in her 2007 autobiography Spilling The Beans. "It was all rather hurried and breathless, and was more about being daring than the joy of sex, but the memory still makes me laugh when I watch all those politicians pontificating."

She regularly received death threats

Dickson Wright was a vocal supporter of hunting and in 2007 was privately prosecuted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare for attending two illegal hare-coursing events. She told The Guardian she regularly received death threats from the anti-hunt lobby, including parcels of needles which were said to be infected with Aids. The angry letters apparently diminished after she threatened to hold an exhibition of her death-threats to raise money for hunting. The threats did not stop her from later suggesting – at the height of the badger cull controversy in 2012 – that badgers should be basted, marinaded and turned into casserole. ·

TheWeek

'Homeland' Actor James Rebhorn Wrote His Own Obituary www.hollywoodreporter.com