http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/obits/ en-us Sun, 13 May 2007 15:17:58 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1832850/posts Lesley Blanch, who died on Monday aged 102, was the author of The Wilder Shores of Love, an enduringly popular account of the romantic fulfilment that four 19th-century European women found in Arabia; but her most romanticised creation was Lesley Blanch herself.Like the writer Pierre Loti, another of her subjects with whom she identified, Lesley Blanch preferred fantasy to truth and rarely distinguished between the two. She was an escapist; life was simply more entertaining as a product of the imagination. She revelled in the air of deliberate mystery around her, which was thickened by her remarkable account of her... The Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1832850/posts#comment Sun, 13 May 2007 15:17:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1773336/posts PLACENTIA, California (AP)-Brent Liles, a former bassist for the 1980s punk rock group Social Distortion, was struck and killed by a truck while riding a bicycle, authorities said Wednesday. He was 43. CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1773336/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jan 2007 07:14:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1742161/posts G. Roger Crowningshield, a gemologist who helped revolutionize methods for judging the quality of precious stones and for spotting fakes, died on Nov. 8 in Hightstown, N.J. He was 87. He lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His death was confirmed by a spokesman from the Gemological Institute of America; Mr. Crowningshield had been a fixture in the institute’s Manhattan laboratory since 1949, introducing ever more exacting methods for defining the color, cut and clarity of gems. The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1742161/posts#comment Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:04:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541942/posts Ian Brunskill, editor GREAT LIVES A century in obituaries 684pp. Times Books. £20. 0 00 720168 0 Neither a memorial address nor a full-scale biography, the obituary notice is an underrated literary genre. To narrate the life, evoke the personality and assess the historical significance of someone who died only a day or so previously is no trivial task. Obituarists have to work quickly. They should avoid causing unnecessary pain to the living, but they must also be candid. They have to hazard an instant judgement, while recognizing that it may be overturned by later revelations. If they make mistakes,... Times Literary Supplement http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541942/posts#comment Fri, 16 Dec 2005 20:57:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1535967/posts Lady Mills, the actress, playwright and novelist Mary Hayley Bell, who died on Thursday aged 94, wrote one of the West End’s most successful post-war plays, Duet for Two Hands, and a novel, Whistle Down the Wind, which was turned into a memorable film.Often drawn in her fiction to medical or psychological case histories, Mary Hayley Bell gave up a promising career as an actress in the early 1940s when she married John Mills. She became a dramatist on the ground that she could write where and when she chose to suit her family, whereas acting was bound to keep... The Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1535967/posts#comment Wed, 7 Dec 2005 22:33:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1491579/posts Don Adams, who gained worldwide fame and three Emmy Awards starring as Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, in the classic television comedy GET SMART, died at 8:02 p.m PDT, Sunday, September 25, 2005, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills. He was 82. Although he had been in failing health for more than two years due to bone lymphoma, his death resulted from a sudden lung infection for which he was hospitalized the previous day. Born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923 [correct, despite frequently reported erroneous dates] in New York City to Irish-Hungarian parents, Adams hoped for an engineering career.... Alt Obits http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1491579/posts#comment Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:12:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1402513/posts I do while perusing the morning Internet is read the military obituaries in the British press, mainly The Daily Telegraph. Invariably, these write-ups mark the passing of a veteran of World War II in the kind of scope and detail, as critic James Bowman has noted, rarely found in an American paper. Sometimes, I feel compelled to save them in a file. Last summer, there was Wing Commander David Penman, 85, one of five Lancaster bombers pilots (out of 12 who started on the mission) to return in 1942 from a daring, low-flying, daylight raid on a German engine plant;... http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1402513/posts#comment Fri, 13 May 2005 15:03:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/528783/posts WING COMMANDER GERRY McMAHON, who has died aged 81, was serving as a flying officer rear-gunner when his four-engine Short Stirling bomber was shot down inland from the Normandy beaches on D-Day; after being taken prisoner McMahon reversed the situation, capturing 62 German soldiers and marching them to the Allied lines. On the night of June 5 1944, McMahon's Canadian skipper, Flt Lt Gordon Thring, was briefed to drop paratroopers near a canal crossing, later famous as Pegasus bridge. He was then to return to RAF Fairford, take a troop-carrying glider in tow and release it in the invasion zone.Encountering ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/528783/posts#comment Fri, 21 Sep 2001 03:27:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/530379/posts Bach, Concerto Number One, in A, for Violin, BWV 1041 First Movement, Allegro Second Movement, Andante Third Movement, Allegro Assai     Bach, Concerto Number Two, in E, for Violin, BWV 1042 First Movement, Allegro Second Movement, Andante Third Movement, Allegro Assai Bach, Concerto in D for Two Violins, BWV 1043 (with Itzhak Perlman) First Movement, Vivace Second Movement, Largo Ma Non Tanto Third Movement, Allegro Beethoven, Concerto in D for Violin, Opus 61 First Movement, Allegro Ma Non Troppo Second Movement, Larghetto Third Movement, Rhondo Allegro Beethoven, Triple Concerto in C, for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 56 (with ... Associated Press, via Yahoo, via Drudge http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/530379/posts#comment Sun, 23 Sep 2001 05:10:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/533421/posts BRIGADIER "GEORDIE" ANDREWS, who has died aged 91, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1944 having commanded 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, from Normandy to the Reichswald. As part of the 152nd (Seaforth and Cameron) Brigade, itself part of the 51st (Highland) Division, the 2nd Battalion had landed in Normandy on D+1 (June 7), and had immediately been thrown into the battle to break out from the bridgehead. After taking part in the unsuccessful Operation Goodwood, the battalion was ordered to capture Tilly-la-Campagne as part of Operation Totalize, which finally achieved the breakout.It was a hard-fought battle against an enemy ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/533421/posts#comment Thu, 27 Sep 2001 02:56:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/535193/posts GROUP CAPTAIN CHARLES GREEN, who has died aged 88, led a wing of rocket-firing Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers which helped to destroy vital German armour in the Falaise Pocket in August 1944.Green played an important role in overcoming the Typhoon's teething problems in 1942. He later mastered low-level flying ("hedge-hopping") and took out tanks, transport and troop concentrations that were holding up the Allied advance from the Normandy beachheads into north-west Europe.Previously, Green had questioned the proposal to fit the Hawker Hurricane fighter with rockets, and won his argument that the Typhoon not only performed better but also had a superior ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/535193/posts#comment Sat, 29 Sep 2001 01:40:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/538125/posts GANJU LAMA, who has died aged 75, was awarded a Victoria Cross in Burma for his action on June 12 1944 when B Company, 7th Gurkha Rifles, were checking a Japanese attack, supported by tanks, in the Imphal and Kohima area.Although the Japanese had failed in their attempt to break through the British lines and move on into India, they still had the resources to mount fierce attacks. On June 12 they had put down an intense artillery barrage on the Gurkha-held position north of the village of Ningthoukhong, knocking out several bunkers and causing heavy casualties.They followed this up ... Daily Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/538125/posts#comment Wed, 3 Oct 2001 02:31:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/540471/posts GREGORY HEMINGWAY, who has died aged 69, was the youngest son of the writer Ernest Hemingway; a champion game shot as a boy, he later became estranged from his father, wrestled with his sexual identity and spent his last five days in the women's section of a prison in Miami. Gregory Hancock Hemingway was born at Kansas City on November 12 1931, the son of Ernest Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. Hemingway senior recalled his new son as being built like the Battling Siki, the West African fighter - all shoulders, long arms, big feet. "Very black hair. ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/540471/posts#comment Fri, 5 Oct 2001 13:58:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/543915/posts MARIAN HOLMES, who has died aged 80, was one of the small team of secretaries working for Winston Churchill during the Second World War; she kept a remarkably pithy and revealing diary at the time, and more recently gave her reminiscences to a number of radio and television programmes, including Churchill, made by his biographer Sir Martin Gilbert.In a letter to Gilbert in 1985, Marian Holmes recalled how Churchill required the highest standards and could be impatient if anything less were forthcoming. "But in all his moods - totally absorbed in the serious matter of the moment, agonised over some ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/543915/posts#comment Wed, 10 Oct 2001 00:13:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/544882/posts LIEUTENANT COLONEL RUPERT MAYNE, who has died aged 91, enjoyed a colourful career during the Second World War with British Intelligence in India, a land which had attracted generations of his family before him.Maynes had been serving in India since the mid-18th century, and many had died there, as 16 military graves on the subcontinent bear witness. Among those to make an impression was Lt William Mayne, a 19th century cavalry officer who rode a handsome grey charger and was considered so lethal on the battlefield that he was known to the Pathans as "Death on the Pale Horse".In 1857, ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/544882/posts#comment Thu, 11 Oct 2001 00:45:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/545851/posts IRINA BROMLEY, who has died aged 85, was born in the last days of Tsarist Russia, heiress to vast estates in Estonia conferred on her forebears by Catherine the Great, and apparently destined for a life of aristocratic privilege; the turbulence of the 20th century and her own dauntless courage ensured a more interesting outcome.She was born Baroness Irene Isabella Margarete Paulina Caecilia von Meyendorff ex den hause Uxkull (she changed her first name to Irina when she later became a British citizen) on June 6 1916 at Reval (present day Talinn), the eldest child of Fyodor, her deeply conservative ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/545851/posts#comment Fri, 12 Oct 2001 03:43:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/546676/posts SIR JAMES CABLE, who has died aged 80, was both a diplomat and one of the most influential naval strategic thinkers of the last half-century.His Gunboat Diplomacy, first published in 1971, rescued that term from its pejorative Victorian overtones and brought to public attention the continuing importance of naval power in what Cable called "Violent Peace".Until the end of the 19th century there had been very little theoretical study of seapower. It was largely left to naval officers to work out, on the basis of practical experience, how to apply force at sea in the pursuit of wider strategic goals.When ... Daily Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/546676/posts#comment Sat, 13 Oct 2001 00:39:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/552295/posts LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ROLAND "RONNIE" DEGG, who has died aged 92, was one of the outstanding battalion commanders of the Second World War; in 1944 he won a DSO while commanding the 1st Battalion, the South Staffordshire Regiment, on Chindit operations in Burma.Degg, who after school worked in the coal mines, had enlisted in the ranks during the General Strike. He went on to be commissioned in the field and to be appointed second-in-command of his battalion when it formed part of Brigadier Mike Calvert's 77th Brigade - one of five brigades in Special Force, which was committed to action behind Japanese ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/552295/posts#comment Sat, 20 Oct 2001 00:51:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/555024/posts HOWARD FINSTER, who has died aged 84, was a Baptist minister and folk artist who used images from popular culture to spread his religious message.Finster created more than 46,000 "sermons in paint" which featured representations ranging from Elvis Presley, George Washington and Coca-Cola bottles to divine themes and visions of Hell which warned: "HELL IS A HELL OF A PLACE" with "NO COLD COKES". His work also appeared on the covers of rock albums by bands such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads.Finster took up painting in his forties when a spot of paint on his finger turned into a face ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/555024/posts#comment Wed, 24 Oct 2001 00:40:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/562695/posts BEVERLEY ("BEV") SNOOK, who has died aged 72, was a former chairman of the Royal Aero Club and an air racing competitor so exuberant that he might have been described as accident-prone.In 1961 Snook was piloting one of his two Mark IX Spitfires in the London to Cardiff air race when the fighter caught fire after landing at Exeter airport. He explained afterwards: "I had taxied for nearly a mile when the plane suddenly exploded and burst into flames. Fortunately, I was able to jump out." He escaped with only cuts and bruises.Tales of Snook's misadventures were legion. On one ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/562695/posts#comment Sat, 3 Nov 2001 01:19:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/566051/posts ROY BOULTING, who has died aged 87, formed with his twin brother John one of the most successful partnerships in the history of British film-making; taking turns with each other as producer and director, their joint work included such films as Brighton Rock (1947), Lucky Jim (1957) and I'm All Right Jack (1959).Their films both caught and shaped the mood of the times, graduating from wartime propaganda to the satirical examination of institutions, among them the Army and the Church. But although they gained the reputation of angry young men, in truth their work was mildly radical rather than revolutionary. ... Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/566051/posts#comment Thu, 8 Nov 2001 00:36:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/567667/posts MICHAEL TORRENS-SPENCE, who has died aged 87, won the DSO, DFC, AFC and Greek DFC during wartime service in the Mediterranean as a pilot with the Fleet Air Arm; in the course of his career he achieved the possibly unique distinction of having held commissions in the Royal Navy, the RAF, the Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On the night of November 11 1940, 21 Swordfish "Stringbag" aircraft from the carrier Illustrious flew off in two waves to mount one of the most daring naval air raids ever attempted - on the Italian main battle fleet at anchor in ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/567667/posts#comment Sat, 10 Nov 2001 00:09:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/576327/posts WING COMMANDER ROLAND "BEE" BEAMONT, who has died aged 81, followed dazzling wartime service as a fighter pilot and wing leader with a long and sustained peacetime career as a test pilot.Awarded a DSO and Bar and DFC and Bar, mentioned in dispatches and leading a fighter wing before he was 24, Beamont went on to lead the English Electric Canberra - the first RAF jet bomber - and English Electric Lightning flight test programmes.Subsequently he was chief test pilot of the ill-fated British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) TSR2 supersonic bomber-reconnaissance programme until the aircraft's abrupt and brutal cancellation by the ... Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/576327/posts#comment Thu, 22 Nov 2001 18:38:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/579194/posts A LINE has been drawn under a famous episode in American presidential folklore with the death of a mild-mannered music reviewer once threatened with serious physical injury by President Harry Truman.Paul Hume, The Washington Post's music critic, wrote a gently damning review of the singing of Margaret Truman, the president's daughter, at a 1950 Washington recital."Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality," Hume wrote of the performance."She is extremely attractive on stage, yet Miss Truman cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time. . ."Truman ... Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/579194/posts#comment Wed, 28 Nov 2001 00:54:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/579211/posts Bo Belinsky, whose pitching prowess as a rookie with the Los Angeles Angels catapulted him to the life of a Hollywood playboy and the fleeting glitter of a 1960's celebrity, died Friday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 64.The cause was apparently a heart attack, The Associated Press reported. Belinsky had been treated for bladder cancer and vascular problems and had undergone hip-replacement surgery. He had been dependent on alcohol and drugs, but said last year that he had been sober since 1976.A one-time teenage pool hustler, Belinsky experienced a tumultuous ride; he was lionized by Walter Winchell, ... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/579211/posts#comment Wed, 28 Nov 2001 01:17:15 GMT