Month:

JOHN TOOLS OVER Sir John Tooley, who has died aged 95, was the general director of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden from the 1960s to 1988. He was regarded as having revatilisied British opera in the 1970s, and held a large number of directorships into his old age. He also married three times.

HAMLINED Catherine Hamlin has died aged 96. She was a doctor who, after reading an SOS for expert knowledge from the Ethiopian government in 1958, went there and later founded a women’s hospital in Addis Ababa in 1974 designed to help women suffering from childbirth injuries. For this, she won a number of humanitarian awards, […]

FALCON SINKS Alfred Worden, who has died aged 88, was the pilot of the Apollo 15 lunar mission, and one of only twenty-four men in history to have flown to the moon. Despite it being the habit of Apollo 15 crews to take things to the moon to increase their value, Worden was rewarded for […]

FALLEN OFF THE WAGGON Lyle Waggoner has died aged 84. A familiar face on US TV in the 1960s and 70s, he was seen in Wonder Woman, and The Love Boat (isn’t that a team?). He also played several characters over seven years and 182 episodes of The Carol Burnett Show. By 1979, he had […]

PEACE OUT Betty Williams has died aged 76 after a short illness. So short in fact, that she was seen in February paying tribute to fellow Northern Irish peace activist Seamus Mallon. Co-founder of The Community of Peace People with Mairead Corrigan in the 1970s, Williams was an outspoken peace activist during The Troubles, and […]

THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FUNERAL MACHINES Actor Stuart Whitman has died aged 92. Between early roles in The Day The Earth Stood Still and When Worlds Collide, and Night of the Lepus, he had a variety of cult films on his CV. He was the lead role and male love interest in the love […]

DEAD OLD DAYS All round entertainer from yesteryear, Roy Hudd has died aged 83. A comic from the school that burned down before they built the old school, Hudd was a regular on stage, and in comic and serious roles on TV. Born in the music hall tradition, he toured the circuits in the 1960s, […]

BARNEY RUMBLED   Barney Eastwood, who has died aged 87, was a boxing promotor who was best known for his work with Barry McGuigan. He also ran several bookies shops which he sold to Ladbrokes on retirement. He was a unique hit for Sick-bed of Cuchulainn. Barney Eastwooddied 9 March 2020 aged 87Unique hit

REAPER KEEPS HIS MANNERS John Manners was a first class cricketer in the 1930s. He then became an officer in the Royal Navy, and served during World War Two. At time of death, he was the world’s oldest and longest lived cricketer who played first class cricket. He was 105 at the time of his […]

GWENT DRAGON EXTINGUISHED Matthew J Watkins, a Welsh rugby international, has died at the age of only 41, after a seven year battle with cancer. He played 124 games for Lanelli Scarlets and later moved to the Gloucester and Newport Gwent Dragons teams. He was a unique hit for Neither There Nor Thereabouts as a […]