[Dizzy]

=[ Thats so sad... I used to love watching him on Smart, he was so talented.
RIP to Mark & his girlfriend
My heart goes out to their families =[

[Shaun]

Source: BBC News Article, click here

The body of a man, believed to be missing TV presenter Mark Speight, has been found in a remote area of London's Paddington station, police have said.

Officers are treating the death as "unexplained" but have confirmed that the man had not been hit by a train.

Mr Speight, 42, disappeared last Monday, three months after the death of his fiancee, Natasha Collins, in the bath of the flat they shared in London.

Miss Collins' mother was devastated at the latest news, her spokeswoman said.

She asked for Carmen Collins to be given time to grieve in peace.

The BBC released a statement saying: "This is very sad news and our thoughts and sympathies are with Mark's family and friends.

"Mark was a hugely talented and very popular presenter for many years."

The body of the man was found at about 1000 BST at the station.

Mr Speight's relatives have been informed of the discovery, police said, but a formal identification has yet to take place.

Video footage from CCTV cameras at the station is to be studied by officers as part of their investigation.

The presenter, who was the host of BBC children's show SMart until February, was reported missing last Monday when he failed to meet Miss Collins' mother as arranged.

He was recorded on a security camera entering Queen's Park underground station in north-west London.

Then, 22 minutes later, he boarded a train on the Bakerloo Line, which serves Paddington.

Relatives had made a number of appeals over the past few days, with his father, Oliver, urging him to get in touch and not to "give up" during his time of grief.

The families of both Mr Speight and Miss Collins had issued a joint statement, expressing their "deep concern" and saying he had been in "a fragile state of mind" when he vanished.

A friend had also described how Mr Speight, originally from Wolverhampton, had been planning a concert as a tribute to his late fiancee, which would have raised money for one of her chosen charities.

Mr Speight, originally from Wolverhampton, had been arrested on suspicion of murder and supplying Class A drugs following the discovery of Miss Collins' body at their St John's Wood flat on 3 January.

No charges were brought, however.

She suffered burns on 60% of her body from boiling water and had suffered a drugs overdose after taking cocaine, sleeping pills and alcohol.

A coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure at an inquest earlier this month.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Speight's agent, Billy Marsh Associates, Jan Kennedy said the discovery of the body at Paddington had left the company "absolutely devastated".

"Caring and compassionate in everything he did, Mark was truly gifted in life and we are proud to have represented him as a friend and client for almost 20 years," she added.

"He was blessed with a remarkable personality, great artistic talents and the wonderful warm ability to communicate those skills with people, especially children of all ages.

"With his sensitivity of spirit, coupled with his dynamic presence and natural enthusiasm, he was loved and respected by his adoring family, friends and colleagues everywhere in the media," Ms Kennedy said.

[Shaun]

This is so sad

He was brilliant at presenting Smart. R.I.P.

[~Kizwiz~]

He did a similar thing on cbeebies too which was great

[Red Moon]

He did an interview with the Daily Mail before he disappeared. It was published yesterday on their website. It quite sad to read in places now we know what has happened to him.

'I loved her. Will I ever get through this?'...my last troubling talk with Mark Speight – just before he vanished

I was just leaving the hotel in Blackfriars when I heard someone calling my name.

I turned round and spotted Mark Speight, standing in the shadows and smoking a cigarette. As I walked back to meet him, he said: "Sorry, can I ask you something?"

"Yes anything", I replied.

"Will I ever get through this?" he asked, his bright-blue eyes dull and full of despair.

It was an unusual question to ask a journalist he barely knew but then for Mark nothing is 'normal' any more.

Ever since he found his fiancee Natasha Collins dead in the bath of their London penthouse after she'd taken "significant" amounts of cocaine, the world had become a confusing, essentially meaningless, place.

Which is why his disappearance last week is of such concern to his family and friends.

Four days after our conversation, Mark failed to arrive for a planned meeting with Natasha's mother Carmen in a Covent Garden coffee shop.

CCTV footage shows him boarding a Bakerloo line underground train at Queen's Park station, North-West London. He hasn't been seen since.

A week ago last Thursday was the first time I had met Mark Speight. I had seen him on television presenting the BBC children's show SMart and, like everyone else, I was impressed.

He seemed much younger than his 42 years with a natural, bouncy enthusiasm for life.

And when we spoke, there were still traces of that person he had once been. He was friendly and polite and would occasionally light up at some memory of Natasha – yet each smile was tinged with an unbearable sadness.

There was no question that Mark had been utterly devastated by Natasha's death back in January.

He had the dishevelled demeanour of an old man but the helplessness of a little boy who didn't know where to turn next.

We met because I was doing an interview for The Mail on Sunday with Carmen. Mark accompanied her to the hotel because, as we revealed last week, he had barely left her side since his fiancee's death.

His agents had advised him not to speak to the Press, yet there was obviously much he wanted to say. Before Carmen and I went to speak in private, the three us had coffee.

It was the day after the inquest at Westminster where a coroner had ruled that Natasha, a 31-year-old actress, had died from cocaine toxicity and immersion in hot water.

Which is why his disappearance last week is of such concern to his family and friends.

Four days after our conversation, Mark failed to arrive for a planned meeting with Natasha's mother Carmen in a Covent Garden coffee shop.

CCTV footage shows him boarding a Bakerloo line underground train at Queen's Park station, North-West London. He hasn't been seen since.

A week ago last Thursday was the first time I had met Mark Speight. I had seen him on television presenting the BBC children's show SMart and, like everyone else, I was impressed.

He seemed much younger than his 42 years with a natural, bouncy enthusiasm for life.

And when we spoke, there were still traces of that person he had once been. He was friendly and polite and would occasionally light up at some memory of Natasha – yet each smile was tinged with an unbearable sadness.

There was no question that Mark had been utterly devastated by Natasha's death back in January.

He had the dishevelled demeanour of an old man but the helplessness of a little boy who didn't know where to turn next.

We met because I was doing an interview for The Mail on Sunday with Carmen. Mark accompanied her to the hotel because, as we revealed last week, he had barely left her side since his fiancee's death.

His agents had advised him not to speak to the Press, yet there was obviously much he wanted to say. Before Carmen and I went to speak in private, the three us had coffee.

It was the day after the inquest at Westminster where a coroner had ruled that Natasha, a 31-year-old actress, had died from cocaine toxicity and immersion in hot water.

As one of only a few journalists to speak to Mark about Natasha's death, I know that there were a number of points he wanted to get across.

On a scrunched-up piece of paper, he had written down some notes for Carmen's interview that he hoped she might say on his behalf.

He wrote that Natasha was his "cheeky monkey – his soulmate and best friend rolled into one".

He said their "motto for life was that you can't argue with a smile" and that "she loved people and loved life".

"I loved her for those reasons," he wrote. "We were happy and very much in love."

Most poignantly of all he said: "My life without Tash will never be the same. A part of me has died with her and her loss will be with me for life."

Mark and Natasha met in 1999 when they both appeared in the BBC children's programme, See It, Saw It.

While it was Natasha's first acting job, Mark was already established on the circuit.

The son of art teacher Jacqueline and property developer Oliver Speight, Mark grew up in the well-to-do suburb of Tettenhall near Wolverhampton.

He had his first break when he appeared as a contestant on ITV's Blind Date, hosted by Cilla Black.

By 1992, his talent for comic expressions landed him a role in an advert for crisps. That year he also made his West End debut in the musical Moby Dick and appeared in a video with Kylie Minogue.

He has since starred in programmes for the BBC, CITV and the Discovery Channel.

Source: Daily Mail

[Tom]

It probably is him, but you need to remember it hasn't been formally identified so there is still a slim possibility he is OK.

It will be interesting to see how CBBC deal with it. Will they bring SMart back? Will they ever show repeats again?

But the thing is even after this week its still come as a shock.

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Tom_
It will be interesting to see how CBBC deal with it. Will they bring SMart back? Will they ever show repeats again?

I can't see them making any more SMart but I would expect in a year or two when the relatives and friends have had time to mark his passing that might repeat the show.

[Tom]

Apparently he had quit SMart just after she died but it will still be interesting to see if it ever returns now.

[Callum]

I heard about Mark Speight dying earlier. I was in utter shock. I always remember him from Smart, him and Kirstin were great on it. Such sad news, R.I.P Mark.

[Conor]

Hopefully, he may still be alive. The only way we will be sure is after it is officially released. I was shcoked to hear he had dissappeared earlier this week

[Loukas]

TV presenter Mark Speight has been found dead at Paddington station, six days after he was reported missing. The 42 year old's body was found in a remote area of the London station this morning. "At 10am we were advised that the body of a male person was discovered at Paddington rail station," says a British Transport Police spokesman. "Officers are investigating the identity and circumstances surrounding the death which is being treated as unexplained." Mark was last seen catching a tube train from Queen's Park station in north west London on Monday afternoon. Later that day, he was supposed to be meeting up with the mother of his late fiancee Natasha Collins, but never arrived. Natasha died in January at the couple's flat after taking cocaine and sleeping pills. Mark was cleared of all involvement in Natasha's death but friends of the Smart presenter say he still blamed himself.

Source

[Bigbrotherin]

Mark Speight's body is yet to be indenitified so technically, he's still legally considered alive. The media are just assuming that the belief of the officers which is based on grainy CCTV footage, is correct.

According to The Sun website, he was found hanging from the roof and had been there for 6 days, but was too high up for anyone to notice.

[Harry!]

Originally posted by Tom_
Apparently he had quit SMart just after she died but it will still be interesting to see if it ever returns now.

Still got Kirsten.

[xDramatick]

Originally posted by Bigbrotherin
According to The Sun website, he was found hanging from the roof and had been there for 6 days, but was too high up for anyone to notice.

Woah.
that's really creepy.
SIX DAYS?
Without anyone seeing a body hanging from a roof.
..How did he get up there?

R.I.P Mark.
I<3'dyou =[

[Loukas]

Originally posted by Bigbrotherin
Mark Speight's body is yet to be indenitified so technically, he's still legally considered alive. The media are just assuming that the belief of the officers which is based on grainy CCTV footage, is correct.

According to The Sun website, he was found hanging from the roof and had been there for 6 days, but was too high up for anyone to notice.

OMFG! Thats so scary! Nobody noticed for 6 days!

Thoughts are with his family and friends!

R.I.P Mark x..x

[Dan_]

RIP Mark.It's all such a tragic story.

[Harry!]

http://www.heatworld.com/default.aspx

A post mortem examination is due to take place later today, after Mark Speight’s parents have formally identified his body. The tragic kids TV presenter was found hanged within the roof of London’s Paddington Station yesterday, but police are currently treating his death as “unexplained” and subject to an ongoing investigation. The post mortem should confirm how he died before an inquest opens. Mark was missing for six days before his body was found by a rail maintenance man, but police believe he died on Monday, as his mobile phone and Oyster travelcard had not been used since then.

[Sticks]

For a full tribute on Cosmic Variance

This was John Archibald Wheeler, one of the legends of modern physics. He did foundational work on quantum mechanics, collaborating with Niels Bohr on some of the earliest work in nuclear fission. He invented the S-matrix. He played important roles in both the Manhattan project (atomic bomb) and the Matterhorn project (Hydrogen bomb). He made major contributions to general relativity, co-authoring with Charlie Misner and Kip Thorne the bible of the field. He was legendary for his way with words, coining such terms as wormholes, quantum foam, black holes, and the wave function of the Universe (the Wheeler-DeWitt equation). He trained generations of students; one of his first was Richard Feynman.

[Sticks]

The BBC has finally picked this up

John Wheeler, the US physicist who coined the term "black hole", has died at the age of 96.

He died at his New Jersey home on 13 April of pneumonia, his daughter said.

Involved in the Manhattan project that developed the world's first atomic bomb, Wheeler was one of Albert Einstein's last collaborators.

Wheeler, who was for many years a professor at Princeton University, also worked with Niels Bohr, the Nobel Prize-winning Danish scientist.

President George W Bush said he was saddened by the death of "one of America's greatest physicists" who had "worked on projects that changed the course of history".

The expression "black hole" became a household term after he used it to describe the phenomenon of a star collapsing into such a dense core that light cannot escape from it.

[Loukas]

More On Mark Speight

The inquest into the death of tragic Mark Speight has confirmed that the TV presenter did hang himself – and it’s also emerged that he left two suicide notes. One of the notes was found with the 42-year-old’s body, while the other was left at a residential address. The inquest will be reopened on 20 May as the investigation into his death continues. Police are currently still trying to establish how and why he chose to commit suicide at an office block adjoining Paddington Station.


Heatworld

[MrGaryy]

Prominent Disney animator Ollie Johnston has passed away, aged 95.

Johnston, who was the last of Disney's "nine old men" animation group, died in Sequim, Wash earlier this week. His death was from natural causes.

His film credits included work on Snow White, Fantasia, Alice In Wonderland and Pinocchio.

The Californian's proudest work came on the production of Bambi. Speaking about the film in 1999, he said: "The mother’s death showed how convincing we could be at presenting really strong emotion."

After he retired from animation, Johnston lectured at schools and film festivals around the world. He is survived by his two sons, Ken and Rick.

Roy E. Disney, director emeritus for The Walt Disney Company, paid tribute to Johnston, describing him as a "pioneer".

Disney commented: "Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today."

Source, Digital Spy

[Sticks]

From BBC News Online

Veteran Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, the longest-serving female MP in Parliament, has died at the age of 77.

Mrs Dunwoody, MP for Crewe and Nantwich since 1974, had been ill for the past week, her son said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown described her as "politics at its best" and said she would be sadly missed.

As well as chairing the transport select committee, Ms Dunwoody was known as a prominent and much-admired fighter for backbenchers' rights.

Leading the tributes, the prime minister said: "So many people will be so sad to hear of the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody.

"She was always her own person. She was fiercely independent."

[Sticks]

From the Los Angeles Times

Edward N. Lorenz, the MIT meteorologist whose efforts to use computers to increase the precision of weather forecasts inadvertently led to the discovery of chaos theory and demonstrated that precise long-range forecasts are impossible, died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 90.

Lorenz was perhaps best known for the title of a 1972 paper, "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?" The memorable title pithily summarized the essence of chaos theory -- that very small changes in a system can have very large and unexpected consequences.

Although the chaos theory was initially applied to weather forecasting, it subsequently found its way into a wide variety of scientific and nonscientific applications, including the geometry of snowflakes and the predictability of which movies will become blockbusters.

His work "profoundly influenced a wide range of basic sciences and brought about one of the most dramatic changes in mankind's view of nature since Sir Isaac Newton," wrote the committee that awarded him the 1991 Kyoto Prize for basic sciences in the field of earth and planetary sciences.

[Sticks]

From the BBC website

The woman who inspired one of Sir John Betjeman's most famous poems has died at the age of 92.

Joan Jackson was immortalised in print as Miss J Hunter Dunn in Sir John's 1941 poem, A Subaltern's Love Song.

Mrs Jackson, who first met Sir John while working at the Ministry of Information in the 1930s, died at a London nursing home last week.

Her son, Edward, told The Times: "She never said she was proud to be his muse but she did not consider it a joke."

He added: "She just said that John was a nice man."

[Sticks]

Emilio Diaz

From BBC News Online

Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz has thanked fans for support after her father's death was announced.

Emilio Diaz, 58, passed away on Tuesday from complications due to pneumonia.

In a statement Diaz said her family were "deeply appreciative of the overwhelming outpouring of love and support during this difficult time".

A spokeswoman for the 35-year-old said it was unclear whether she would go ahead with a UK trip next week to promote film What Happens in Las Vegas.

The British premiere of the movie will take place in London's Leicester Square on Tuesday.

"My dad was loved by so many people and his humour and spirit will always live on in our hearts," the actress said.

In What Happens in Las Vegas, Diaz and Ashton Kutcher play a couple who marry following a night of debauchery.

They also discover one of them has won a huge jackpot having used the other's money.

The movie is to be released in the UK on 9 May.

Diaz is best known for her comic role in There's Something About Mary. She also voiced the character of Princess Fiona in the Shrek films.