Obituaries

Shane MacGowan, the lead singer and songwriter of trailblazing Celtic punk band the Pogues and one of the all-time great bandleaders, has died aged 65 following a long period of ill health. A family statement said he died at 3.30am on 30 November, and was described as “our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved”.

His wife Victoria Mary Clarke wrote in a statement on social media: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life … I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him.”

The former England, Barcelona and Tottenham manager Terry Venables has died at the age of 80. Venables, who had a distinguished career as a player that brought two international caps, was in charge of England when they reached the semi-finals of Euro 96.

“We are totally devastated by the loss of a wonderful husband and father who passed away peacefully yesterday after a long illness,” read a statement from Venables’ family. “We would ask that privacy be given at this incredibly sad time to allow us to mourn the loss of this lovely man who we were so lucky to have had in our lives.”

Venables, known as El Tel after a spell at Barcelona during which he won La Liga and reached the European Cup final, had a successful, colourful and sometimes controversial career. Although he played more than 500 league games for Chelsea, Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace from 1960-1974, he is best known for his exploits as a manager.

Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, who wrote under the name AS Byatt, authored complex and critically acclaimed novels, including the Booker prize-winning Possession and her examination of artistic creation, The Children’s Book. Over her career, she won a swathe of literary awards, from the Booker to a Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and Letters.

...

Born Antonia Drabble in 1936, Byatt grew up in Sheffield and York, before studying English at Cambridge, Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia and at Oxford. She began teaching at University College London in 1962, publishing her first novel, Shadows of a Sun, two years later. The complicated family relationships found in much of her fiction were already in evidence with this story of a daughter escaping a domineering father. A novel of rival sisters that followed in 1967 – appearing two years after her sister, the author Margaret Drabble, published her own novel on a similar theme – added mythological and symbolic elements, which became central to Byatt’s later work.

cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/428955

Ocean explorer Captain Don Walsh has died at the age of 92. More than 60 years ago he made the first ever descent to the deepest place in the ocean, the Mariana Trench which lies almost 11km (seven miles) down. I was lucky enough to count him as a good friend. This is the story of an extraordinary dive by a remarkable man.

Magician David Berglas, one of the most influential of the 20th century, has died aged 97.

Also known as the International Man of Mystery, he was the first magician to have his own programme on British television, Meet David Berglas, in 1954.

He appeared frequently on TV and radio over six decades and became a household name for his stunts, including driving a car around London while blindfolded.

Berglas was renowned for a trick called the Berglas Effect, in which he could find a person's chosen card at their chosen point in a deck of cards.

It is regarded as the holy grail of magic effects - and he never revealed the secret of how to do it.

...

Illusionist Derren Brown hailed Berglas as "one of our greatest living magical performers" when Berglas was awarded his MBE.

"Generations of magicians owe him a debt of gratitude," Brown said.

"Each of my shows is indebted to his artistry and astonishing body of work. I thank him for his constant inspiration."

As president of The Magic Circle from 1989 to 1998, Berger revitalised the society and was the driving force behind its decision to admit women in 1991.

Well that was unexpected. Rip Matthew

Rip Bull.

The gangster is said to have inspired Vinnie Jones's character Big Chris in the 1998 classic Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Born in Bermondsey, the London tough nut claimed to have been stabbed, shot and even had his nose bitten off before it was reattached.

Courtney was cleared in 2004 of attacking his wife, Jennifer Pinto, over an alleged lesbian affair. In 2000 he was cleared of being part of a plan to plant cocaine on innocent women.

In 2009, however, he did get an 18-month conditional discharge from Bristol Crown Court for possessing live ammunition.

The sole surviving female Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent from World War II died in West Auckland last Saturday, aged 102.

Phyllis (Pippa) Latour Doyle is being remembered as an “incredible woman” by the Royal New Zealand RSA.

“Our thoughts are with Pippa’s family, friends, and all who had the honour of knowing her.”

Doyle parachuted into occupied France in 1944, where she posed as a teenage schoolgirl to relay intelligence back to the Allied Command.

“Pippa was one of 40 women who conducted clandestine operations on behalf of the SOE in occupied France,” the RSA said.

“In May 1944, at the age of 23, Pippa parachuted into occupied Normandy to gather intelligence on Nazi positions in preparation for D-Day. Over the coming months, she would secretly relay 135 coded messages to the British military before France’s liberation in August.”

...

Doyle had been trained in radio skills, surveillance, sabotage, map-reading and self-defence before she arrived, but used her wit and fluency in Flemish to remain undetected among German soldiers.

She had three codenames (Genevieve, Plus Fours and Lampooner) and bicycled around the rural French countryside appearing friendly and talkative, selling soap to mostly German soldiers.

Doyle would hide her codes on pieces of silk, which she would wrap around a knitting needle and put inside a flat shoelace she used to tie her hair.

This method successfully kept the codes secret even after one occasion in which Doyle was taken to the police station to be questioned and searched.

...

She was appointed an additional Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1945 for her services during the German occupation of France, and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by the French government in 2014.

The maverick godfather of bungee jumping, who took the world’s first leap clutching a bottle of champagne and without testing the rope, has died peacefully in his bed.

Born in 1945 as the eldest of seven children, David Kirke birthed the worldwide phenomenon some 34 years later on April Fool’s Day, when – dressed in a top hat and fresh from all-night party – he and his friends decided to bungee jump from Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Describing Kirke as an “anarchic buccaneer” who was “Byronesque in thrall of living life to the full”, a friend of the family told The Independent that the septuagenarian “would have been shocked that he died quietly in his own bed”.

Private Eye has paid tribute to Tony Husband as a “prolific, funny and inventive” cartoonist.

The artist had a heart attack on Westminster Bridge in London while travelling to a party – held by the satirical magazine – on Wednesday, according to his family.

While sharing a drawing of dogs in heaven by Mr Husband, Private Eye wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “RIP cartoonist Tony Husband – prolific, funny and inventive contributor to Private Eye since 1985.”

Haydn Gwynne, renowned actress who appeared in The Crown and British series The Windsors, has died. She was 66.

“It is with great sadness we are sharing with you that, following her recent diagnosis with cancer, the star of stage and screen Haydn Gwynne died in hospital in the small hours of Friday 20 October, surrounded by her beloved sons, close family and friends,” said her agent in a statement. “We would like to thank the staff and teams at the Royal Marsden and Brompton Hospitals for their wonderful care over the last few weeks.”

Gwynne first appeared on the scene in the late 1980s with the drama Nice Work prior to starring in several other British series including Peak Practice, Merseybeat and BBC series Rome (as Julius Caesar’s wife Calpurnia).

Her true breakout role, however, was as cynical journalist Alex in the comedy Drop the Dead Donkey, which scored her a BAFTA nomination.

Manchester United and England legend Bobby Charlton has died at the age of 86, the club confirmed on Saturday.

"It is with great sadness that we share the news that Sir Bobby passed peacefully in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was surrounded by his family," read a statement from his family.

"His family would like to pass on their thanks to everyone who has contributed to his care and for the many people who have loved and supported him. We would request that the family’s privacy be respected at this time.”