[Harry!]

http://www.channel4.com/news/



Former ITN newsreader Carol Barnes has died in Brighton hospital after being admitted last weekend.

Carol Barnes - one of the most prominent presenters in television news over two decades, has died after a suspected stroke.

The former television presenter Carol Barnes has died at the age of 63. Ms Barnes worked for ITN, the makers of this programme, on ITV bulletins, the News Channel and Channel 4 Daily.

She was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton last weekend after suffering a suspected stroke.

Her 24-year-old daughter was killed in a skydiving accident in Australia in 2004 - and today her son James paid tribute to a woman he described as "beautiful, kind and delicate".

[Sticks]

From BBC News Online

Veteran jazz musician and radio host Humphrey Lyttelton has died aged 86.

The chairman of BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue recently had surgery in an attempt to repair an aortic aneurysm.

The latest series of the quiz programme was cancelled after Lyttelton was admitted to Barnet Hospital in north London on 16 April.

BBC Director General Mark Thompson described "Humph" as "a unique, irreplaceable talent".

[Lauren]

Celtic-Legend Tommy Burns (51) Dies After Fight With Cancer
http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=696900

Former Scotland and Celtic midfielder Tommy Burns was treated for skin cancer in 2006, but the illness returned earlier this year.

He had been undergoing treatment in both Glasgow and France in recent weeks after having been diagnosed in March.

Tommy Burns played for Celtic from 1974 until 1989, and also had a spell as the Hoops' manager in the mid-1990s. He was working as the club's first-team coach before being granted leave.

A statement from Celtic said: "Tommy, a true Celtic legend and wonderful man will be sadly missed by us all. Clearly, our thoughts are very much with Tommy's wife Rosemary and his family at this extremely difficult time."

Burns was a key member of the Celtic side that won the Scottish Premier Division championship and Scottish Cup in the club's centenary year under the management of Billy McNeill. He earned eight caps for Scotland.

As a player, Burns bade an emotional farewell to Celtic Park on agreeing a £50,000 move to Kilmarnock, becoming manager at Rugby Park four years later.

Having guided Kilmarnock back into the Scottish top flight, he was appointed as manager of Celtic in July 1994, and eventually helped the Bhoys end a six-year trophy drought when they won the Scottish Cup final against Airdrie at Hampden Park.

He left Celtic in 1997 and worked as manager of Reading and assistant manager of Newcastle United before eventually returning to Glasgow with Celtic, where he worked in a variety of roles.

These included youth development as well as first team coaching. Burns also served as a member of the Scotland coaching staff, before his death.

Celtic chairman, John Reid said: "Tommy is someone who was loved by so many of us. He was a man of true integrity and dignity. As a Celtic player, manager and coach, Tommy served Celtic with distinction and true professionalism.

"He was a true gentleman and someone who had the ability to connect and engage with anyone he met.

"As Celtic supporters, we recognised Tommy as one of our own and Tommy in turn was always delighted to spend time in the company of fellow fans.

"It was a privilege to know Tommy Burns. He was a man who gave so much to the club he loved over so many years.

"Tommy's passing will be mourned by the entire Celtic family. He will be hugely missed by us all, but he is someone we will never, ever forget."

Peter Rafferty, Secretary of the Association of Celtic Supporters' Clubs, commented: "Celtic was a big part of his life but the biggest part of his life was his family. He became a grandfather a few weeks ago and that is the biggest tragedy," Rafferty said.

"Legend is a word that is used quite a lot these days but he was. He was a great player with Celtic first and foremost.

"He was a manager who played football the way Celtic supporters like to see it."

Alan McInally, who played alongside Burns as a striker at Celtic, and under him at Kilmarnock, added: ""I have memories of Tommy Burns being just the most happy, family-loving individual I think I've ever met in my life.

"He was always good to me and certainly a character in the dressing room. It would be difficult for any Rangers fan, never mind a Celtic fan, to have anything wrong to say about Tommy Burns."

McInally also hailed the talent Burns displayed as a player, saying: "He was a fantastic football player. He was effective, so effective. I think that's why as a coach and a manager he did so well."





... RIP Tommy.

[MrGaryy]

Harry Potter Actor Killed in London Stabbing

Youtube video

[Sticks]

From BBC News Online

US film director and producer Sydney Pollack has died of cancer, aged 73.

He won producing and directing Oscars for the epic romance Out of Africa, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, in 1985.

He also directed Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, and The Way We Were, in which Redford partnered Barbra Streisand.

He died on Monday, surrounded by family members, at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles. He had been diagnosed with cancer 10 months ago.

While best remembered as a director, Sydney Pollack started out as an actor, and continued performing throughout his career, appearing in his last film, Michael Clayton, in 2007

[Sticks]

From BBC News Online

Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who exposed Stalin's prison system in his novels and spent 20 years in exile, has died near Moscow at the age of 89.

The author of The Gulag Archipelago and One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, who returned to Russia in 1994, died of either a stroke or heart failure.

The Nobel laureate had suffered from high blood pressure in recent years.

After returning to Russia, Solzhenitsyn wrote several polemics on Russian history and identity.

His son Stepan was quoted by one Russian news agency as saying his father died of heart failure, while another agency quoted literary sources as saying he had suffered a stroke.

He died in his home in the Moscow area, where he had lived with his wife Natalya, at 2345 local time (1945 GMT) on Sunday, Stepan told Itar-Tass.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent his condolences to the writer's family, a Kremlin spokesperson said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy described him as "one of the greatest consciences of 20th Century Russia".

"His intransigence, his ideals and his long, eventful life make of Solzhenitsyn a storybook figure, heir to Dostoyevsky," he said in a statement.

Prisoner, patient, writer

Solzhenitsyn served as a Soviet artillery officer in World War II and was decorated for his courage but in 1945 was denounced for criticising Stalin in a letter.

He spent the next eight years in the Soviet prison system, or Gulag, before being internally exiled to Kazakhstan, where he was successfully treated for stomach cancer.

Publication in 1962 of the novella Denisovich, an account of a day in a Gulag prisoner's life, made him a celebrity during the post-Stalin political thaw.

However, within a decade, the writer awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature was out of favour again for his work, and was being harassed by the KGB secret police.

In 1973, the first of the three volumes of Archipelago, a detailed account of the systematic Soviet abuses from 1918 to 1956 in the vast network of its prison and labour camps, was published in the West.

Its publication sparked a furious backlash in the Soviet press, which denounced him as a traitor.

Early in 1974, the Soviet authorities stripped him of his citizenship and expelled him from the country.

Moral voice

He settled in Vermont, in the US, where he completed the other two volumes of Archipelago.

While living there as a recluse, he railed against what he saw as the moral corruption of the West.

Scathing of Boris Yeltsin's brand of democracy, he did not return to Russia immediately upon the collapse of the USSR in 1992, unlike other exiles.

His homecoming in 1994 was a dramatic affair as he travelled in slowly by land from the Russian Far East.

Solzhenitsyn's latter works, which included essays on Russia's future, courted controversy.

In 2000, his last major work Two Hundred Years Together examined the position of Jews in Russian society and their role in the Revolution.

Full obituary

Another great has gone

[Sticks]

From BBC News Online

Best-selling author Michael Crichton has died in Los Angeles aged 66 after a "courageous and private battle against cancer", his family has said.

He penned Jurassic Park, as well as books like Congo and Disclosure, all of which were adapted into films.

His books have sold more than 150m copies. He also created the long-running US hospital TV drama ER.

"He will be profoundly missed by those whose lives he touched," his family said in a statement.

A private funeral service is expected.

Crichton is survived by his wife, Sherri, and daughter, Taylor.

The family's statement paid tribute to a "devoted husband, loving father and generous friend".

It added: "Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand."

'Gentle soul'

"Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of Jurassic Park," said filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who directed the blockbuster film version of that novel.

"He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth.

"Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no-one in the wings that will ever take his place," he added.

A new Crichton novel had been scheduled to come out in the US next month.

Publisher HarperCollins said the book would now be postponed indefinitely.

A Harvard Medical School graduate, Chicago-born Crichton became the toast of Hollywood when his 1971 novel The Andromeda Strain was turned into a film.

Many of his novels and screenplays were adapted for cinema.

The most successful were Jurassic Park, which burst onto the screen in 1993, and its sequel The Lost World.

ER has won a host of Emmys since it began in 1994, and helped launch the career of George Clooney.

Crichton's 2004 bestseller State of Fear caused controversy when it cast doubt on the dangers of global warming.

Environmentalists said his novel was marring efforts to pass legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

[Sticks]

From BBC News

Magician Ali Bongo, who made numerous appearances on television, has died aged 79 after suffering a stroke.

Bongo - whose real name was William Wallace - also acted as a consultant on programmes including The Paul Daniels Magic Show and Jonathan Creek.

The BBC drama's creator David Renwick once said that Bongo's work had inspired its lead character.

He became president of The Magic Circle in September and had been giving a lecture in Paris when he fell ill.

Bongo's other screen appearances included 1970s children's shows Pauline's Quirkes and The Tomorrow People.

'Great entertainment'

He also fronted Ali Bongo's Cartoon Carnival, which ran for nine episodes on the BBC in 1971.

His ability to devise and demonstrate tricks led to to work with TV magicians including as assistant to David Nixon, and later with Paul Daniels as his chief consultant.

Bongo also worked with actors, teaching them how to replicate illusions on film, including the BBC's 1999 production of Oliver.

Bongo, who was born in India, also produced a number of books in which he illustrated how to perform magic tricks.

The magician said he was against exposing tricks on television, saying it ruined the fun for budding young illusionists.

"It's rather silly. That spoils it for a great many kids. If their tricks are exposed on TV, they can't show them to their friends.

"Magic is a great entertainment if done professionally and with style," he added.

I remember watching him

[Harry!]

Jade Goody RIP

[Sticks]

From BBC News

Comic entertainer and game show host Lennie Bennett has died at the age of 70, his agent has confirmed.

The TV personality first appeared on stand-up show The Comedians in 1971, and became the presenter of shows including Punchlines during the 1980s.

The Blackpool-based performer starred alongside Jerry Stevens on their own comedy show Lennie and Jerry in 1978.

Bennett moved out of the limelight and was last seen on a game show hosts' edition of The Weakest Link in 2003.

[Sticks]

From BBC News

Broadcaster and former Liberal MP Sir Clement Freud has died aged 84.

A statement from his family said Sir Clement had died on Wednesday evening at his London home.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, the actress Jill Freud, five children and 17 grandchildren. His funeral will be held next week.

A grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Sir Clement had a varied career as a cookery expert, press columnist and radio game show contestant.

Renowned for his lugubrious expression and mournful voice, he was a regular panellist on the BBC's Just a Minute for more than 30 years.

[Red Moon]

Thankfully the BBC have a lot of just a minutes preserved for future generations and they will be able to enjoyClement Freud's unique voice long after his passing.

[arista]

Yes he was one of kind
Funny and clever
he will be missed.

[Sticks]

Steady Eddie has died

News from the BBC

The former Governor of the Bank of England Edward George has died aged 70 after a long battle with cancer, the Bank of England said.

Lord George stood down from his post after his second five-year stint ended in the summer of 2003.

In office he acquired the nickname Steady Eddie, and gained a higher media profile than most of his predecessors.

Mervyn King, who succeeded Lord George in the post, said he was "deeply saddened" as he announced his death.

[M X]

Sad news that the British actress Lucy Gordon has commited suicide in Paris. R.I.P

[Ninastar]

Sorry if this sounds tight but i dont think i knew her?? what films was she in??

rip lucy x

[NettoSuperstar!]

Whatserface off of Eastenders?...actually think thats Lucy Benjamin Im thinking of

[M X]

She was in Spiderman 3 she played Jennifer I think.

[Loukas]

R.I.P.

[SiaSiaSia]

Oh dear

[SirTech]

Originally posted by Sam!
What a lovely thread.

haha its so sweet , death

[Iceman]

Very sad about her, she was very young too.

[Sticks]

From BBC News

Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50.

Paramedics were called to the singer's Beverly Hills home at about midday on Thursday after he stopped breathing.

He was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. Jackson's brother, Jermaine, said he was believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest.

Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to stage a series of comeback concerts in the UK on 13 July.

Speaking on behalf of the Jackson family, Jermaine said doctors had tried to resuscitate the star for more than an hour without success.

He added: "The family request that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time."

"And Allah be with you Michael always. I love you."

[Z]

I can't believe Michael Jackson's dead, that one's going to be in the news for weeks!

[Jayson]

And allah be with you? :S