Month:

FINAL SCOPE Former UK civil servant Andrew McDonald has died aged 59 due to complications of cancer and Parkinsons disease. McDonald was given what might be called the shortest straw in governing history, when he was made chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Committee in 2009. As the man who had to clean up the […]

COGNITIVE DEATH THERAPY Psychiatrist Aaron Beck has died aged 100. He came up with the Beck Depression Index, which is still used to determine the severity of a depressive episode. However, it was in the 1960s that Becks reputation was made. A long term sceptic of the benefits of just feeding pills to people with […]

ZENIT(H) FOR RANGERS MAN Walter Smith, the most successful football manager in post-war Scottish football, has died after a short illness aged 73. Smith played over 150 matches for Dundee United between 1965 and 1980, before he became a team coach at the club under the great Jim McLean. At United, Smith was already developing […]

STARBRIGHT EXIT Musician Pat Martino has died aged 77, after a long period of ill health. Martino was a jazz guitarist who worked with a variety of performers, before he suffered a near fatal seizure in 1980. Suffering amnesia, he had to teach himself from scratch how to play the guitar again, with no short […]

SPRINT RUN British sprinter Dorothy Manley has died aged 94. Manley won a silver medal in the 1948 London Olympic Games in the 100 metres, which was the first British female medal in the sport. She also won the gold in the European Championships in 1950 as part of the 4 x 100 relay team. […]

Bert Newton Australian TV personality Bert Newton has died aged 83. He hosted the Bert Newton Show and Good Morning Australia for many years, but also appeared on stage as The Wizard of Oz. He was picked by two teams: Dick Smith’s OzeEDEath List and Perhaps Pointless Punts. Bert Newton23 July 1938 – 30 October […]

ROH TAE TOO Former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo has died aged 88. He was President of South Korea from 1988 to 1993, during which he signed the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula joint declaration. Despite this he was later jailed for bribery, corruption, plotting a coup and orchestrating a massacre. Well, this went downhill […]

ROSES ARE BLUE Country singer Rose Lee Maphis has died aged 98. The widow of singer Joe Maphis, they performed as TV regulars in the 1950s, and released several albums together. She retired from music after her husbands death in 1986. She was a unique pick for Phantom’s Pick n Mix Rose Lee Maphis29 December […]

MORTE SAHL Canadian comedian Mort Sahl has died aged 94. Sahl’s career started in the 1950s when he toured American nightclubs focusing on political humour and satire. This is the sort of thing which gets you three Netflix specials in 2021 but was considered iconoclast and maverick in the 1950s. By 1960, he had the […]

BERNARD’S THRENODY Acclaimed conductor Bernard Haitink has died after a long illness aged 92. The Dutch born Haitink survived the Nazi occupation of his homeland, before becoming conductor with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1950s. From there he rose to the Concertgebouw and became one of the most in demand orchestra conductors in […]