Obituaries
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Sir Edward Downes: Conductor celebrated as one of the finest Verdi interpreters of his generation
Edward Downes spent more than 50 years of his life at Covent Garden Opera House, as prompter, r�p�titeur, translater and, of course, conductor.
Inside Obituaries
Donald MacCormick: BBC presenter whose civil yet insistent style set the template for 'Newsnight'
Thursday, 16 July 2009
The broadcaster Donald MacCormick was a highly regarded interviewer and commentator, whose Scottish accent became familiar on national political television at a time when regional accents were still rarely heard. During the 1980s, on BBC's Newsnight programme, alongside John Tusa and Peter Snow, his civil yet insistent style set an authoritative template for the show that continues to this day. MacCormick also presented Question Time, Newsweek and The Money Programme, and was a stalwart of the BBC's live coverage of the party conferences.
Obits in Brief: Amin al-Hafez
Thursday, 16 July 2009
The former Lebanese Prime Minister Amin al-Hafez, who served a turbulent two-month term in 1973 before he was forced to resign, died in Beirut on 13 June at the age of 83.
Tom Wilkes: Graphic designer responsible for many celebrated album covers
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Anyone owning a copy of such epochal albums as Eric Clapton's eponymous debut, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen, The Gilded Palace Of Sin by The Flying Burrito Brothers, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, The Concert For Bangla Desh, Pearl by Janis Joplin, Neil Young's Harvest, the Rolling Stones' collection Flowers, and The Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations is familiar with the distinctive, eye-catching work of the graphic designer, illustrator and photographer Tom Wilkes.
Jerri Nielsen Fitzgerald: Doctor who treated herself for cancer while at the South Pole
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
It was 10 years ago that American doctor Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald discovered at the South Pole, one of the most unforgiving and inhospitable environments on earth, that she had breast cancer.
Keith Wymer: Educationalist whose influence was felt in Russia, Africa, the Caribbean and the United States
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Keith Wymer was Principal of a Further Education College for almost 30 years. Born in Norfolk, he gained his degree in English from Leeds University. A brief episode of school teaching was followed by 39 years in post-16 education in Bilston, Wolverhampton. He became the first Head of Department of Liberal Studies in the small vocational Bilston College of FE. He built up the department into a large one which encouraged working class students and adults to realise their further and higher education potential. He then became the first Principal of Bilston Sixth Form College and subsequently was appointed Principal of the merged FE and Sixth Form colleges which became Bilston Community College in 1984. From an enrolment base of 5,000, by the time he retired this had grown to 50,000 students – probably the largest FE college in the country.
Earl Haig: Son of Field-Marshal Haig who became a soldier and painter and was a prisoner of war in Colditz
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Surely no child can ever have inherited a more difficult silver spoon. George (after his godfather King George V) Alexander (in deference to one godmother, Queen Alexandra) Eugene Douglas Haig was born in a mock Tudor house called Eastcott on the night of 15 March 1918.
John Bachar: Rock climber celebrated for his solo ascents without ropes or equipment
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
In 1981 a note appeared on the notice board in the climbers' campground in Yosemite Valley, California, offering: "$10,000 for anyone who can follow me for one full day." At that time Yosemite was the world's rock climbing Mecca, with no shortage of young guns looking for adventure. Yet none of them took the $10,000 challenge because the poster was John Bachar – perhaps the greatest solo climber the world has ever seen.
Trude Mally: Singer who championed Vienna's working-class music
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Viennese culture isn't all high-class konditorei (patisserie or cake shops) and Klimt, Mozart and waltzes round the Prater. The singer Trude Mally brought that home with her mastery of two of the city's working-class folk-music traditions. Without Schrammelmusik (the waltz's working-class counterpart), Weanalieder (songs sung in the Viennese dialect) and dudler (the Viennese variant of yodel), there could be no Vienna as non-tourists know it. Trude Mally was renowned for her Weanalieder - and most especially for her dudler.
Sky Saxon: Singer and bassist with seminal Sixties garage band the Seeds
Monday, 13 July 2009
When the music journalist and future Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye compiled and annotated the double album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 for Jac Holzman’s Elektra Records in the early 1970s, he introduced a new generation of fans around the world to US garage bands like the Electric Prunes, the Standells, the Shadows Of Knight, the 13th Floor Elevators, Count Five, the Chocolate Watch Band and the Seeds.
Karel Van Miert: Eurocrat who took on big business as Competition Commissioner
Monday, 13 July 2009
Karel Van Miert was best known for his work as European competition commissioner from 1993 to 1999, a role in which he took on some of the biggest names in business.
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