2018 deaths of noteables

Blackleaf

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Chuckle Brothers star Barry dies at 73

BBC News
5 August 2018



Barry Chuckle, one half of the comedy duo the Chuckle Brothers, has died aged 73 after a short period of ill health.

The entertainer, whose real name was Barry Elliott, starred in ChuckleVision with his brother Paul on the BBC between 1987 and 2009.

Paul said: "I've not just lost my brother, I've lost my theatrical partner of many, many years and my very best friend."

Fans have paid tribute on Twitter, with many thanking him "for the laughs".

Earlier this year, the brothers returned to the small screen with a new show, Chuckle Time, on Channel 5.

The star had been unwell towards the end of the new show's filming.

Summer work was cancelled while Barry rested at his doctor's request, but not long after his health deteriorated.

Manager Phil Dale said that the filming of their latest show had recalled the "wonderful days" of ChuckleVision.

He said: "It is with great sadness that the family announce that Barry passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his wife Ann and all his family.

"The family would like to express their thanks to the many people who have been fans of the Chuckle Brothers and they know that they will share in part the great, great loss they feel."


The brothers' children's show ChuckleVision ran for 22 years between 1987 and 2009

Mr Dale said Barry "leaves 50 years of laughter as his legacy, which is something very special".

Paul's wife Sue thanked fans for the outpouring of supportive messages.

She said: "Barry would be so happy to know how much he was loved."

The duo - who performed for friends and family in their backyard before becoming famous - started their careers as The Chuckles on ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967.

Emma Bullimore from the TV Times said the Chuckle Brothers were "pure silliness and joy" and a "staple part of so many childhoods".

"They had such a twinkle in their eye," she said. "They seemed to really enjoy what they were doing and that came to the screen. Everyone felt really happy watching them."

The Chuckle Brothers


The brothers on ITV talent show New Faces in the 1970s

From Rotherham and honorary presidents of Rotherham FC
Two older brothers, Jimmy and Brian, also formed a double-act, the Patton Brothers, and have appeared on ChuckleVision
The Chuckles won ITV talent shows Opportunity Knocks in 1967 and New Faces in 1974
ChuckleVision ran for 292 episodes between 1987 and 2009
They received a special award at the Children's Baftas in 2008.
They recorded a charity single titled To Me, To You (Bruv) with Tinchy Stryder in aid of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust in 2014
They gave evidence at Dave Lee Travis's 2014 indecent assault trial - they were performing in panto with him in 1990 when the alleged assault took place. Travis was later cleared
They were seen playing a magician (Paul) and his assistant (Barry in drag) on TV comedy Benidorm in March
They starred in a new short film about Joseph Grimaldi, the 19th Century "king of clowns", titled The Funniest Man In The World, with Barry playing Grimaldi


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45074955
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Canadian actress Margot Kidder committed suicide: Coroner
Associated Press
Published:
August 8, 2018
Updated:
August 8, 2018 7:50 PM EDT
Margot Kidder.Handout file photo
HELENA, Mont. — Superman actress Margot Kidder’s death has been ruled a suicide, and her daughter said Wednesday it’s a relief to finally have the truth out.
Kidder, who played Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve’s Superman in her most famous role, was found by a friend in her Montana home on May 13.
At the time, Kidder’s manager, Camilla Fluxman Pines, said Kidder died peacefully in her sleep.
A statement released Wednesday by Park County coroner Richard Wood said she “died as a result of a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose” and that no further details would be released.
BRAUN: Margot Kidder was a super woman
Lois Lane actress Margot Kidder dead at 69
Maggie McGuane, Kidder’s daughter by her ex-husband Thomas McGuane, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she knew her mother died by suicide the moment authorities took her to Kidder’s home in Livingston, a small town near Yellowstone National Park.
“It’s a big relief that the truth is out there,” she said. “It’s important to be open and honest so there’s not a cloud of shame in dealing with this.”
Kidder’s death is one of several high-profile suicides this year that include celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade.
McGuane noted that Montana has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation and she urged people with mental illness to seek help.
“It’s a very unique sort of grief and pain,” McGuane said. “Knowing how many families in this state go through this, I wish that I could reach out to each one of them.”
Kidder struggled with mental illness much of her life, and it was made worse by a 1990 car accident that left her in debt and led to her using a wheelchair for almost two years.
Kidder and Reeve starred in four Superman movies between 1978 and 1987. She also appeared in The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford in 1975, Brian De Palma’s Sisters in 1973 and The Amityville Horror in 1979.
Margot Kidder with Christopher Reeve in Superman in 1978. Toronto Sun Files
She later appeared in small films and television shows until 2017, including R.L. Stine’s the Haunting Hour. She received a Daytime Emmy Award as outstanding performer in a kids’ series in 2015 for that role.
Kidder, a native of Yellowknife, was a political activist who was arrested in 2011 in a Washington, D.C., protest over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s oilsands.
Her final years were troubled by conflicts with people who were down on their luck that she took into her home. Between August 2016 and her death in May, authorities were called to her house 40 times on reports of people trespassing, theft and other disturbances, according to police logs released to the AP under a public-records request.
The calls include responses by ambulances five times in seven months, including at the time of her death.
Joan Kesich, a longtime friend who found Kidder’s body, said Kidder was fearless and always spoke the truth, regardless of the consequences.
“In her last months, she was herself — same kind of love, same kind of energy,” Kesich said. “The challenges that she had were very public. I want what I know about her to be out there because it was glorious. She was really a blazing energy.”
http://torontosun.com/entertainment...tress-margot-kidder-committed-suicide-coroner
 

Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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Nobel Prize-winning author VS Naipaul dies aged 85

11 August 2018
BBC News



British novelist Sir VS Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, has died aged 85, his family have said.

Sir Vidia, who was born in rural Trinidad in 1932, wrote more than 30 books including A Bend in the River and his masterpiece, A House for Mr Biswas.

His wife, Lady Naipaul, called him a "giant in all that he achieved".

She said he died at his home in London "surrounded by those he loved, having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour".

Geordie Greig, editor of The Mail on Sunday and a close friend, said his death leaves a "gaping hole in Britain's literary heritage", but there is "no doubt" that his "books live on".

American travel writer Paul Theroux, who had a bitter 15-year feud with Sir Vidia before reconciling, said: "He will go down as one of the greatest writers of our time."

Paying tribute to his friend, who he said had been in poor health, Theroux added: "He also never wrote falsely.

"He was a scourge of anyone who used a cliché or an un-thought out sentence. He was very scrupulous about his writing, very severe, too."

Salman Rushdie, who also disagreed repeatedly with Sir Vidia, said he was "as sad as if I just lost a beloved older brother".

Farrukh Dhondy, a writer and long-time friend of Sir Vidia, told BBC News that his writing was distinguished by its clarity, lack of self-indulgence and for his unique perspective on the post-colonial world.

"It's window pane prose. You're looking through a very clean, polished glass window at the object beyond," he said.

"He was one of the greatest literary talents of the last century, and he was quite a remarkable personality, with insights which I don't think anybody else had - on a personal level, on a broader civilisational level."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45159149
 

Curious Cdn

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Blackleaf

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Teacher who led Aberfan pupils to safety dies, aged 75

17 August 2018
BBC News



The schoolteacher who led her young pupils to safety after the 1966 Aberfan disaster has died, aged 75.

Hettie Williams was teaching at Pantglas Junior School when a coal tip slid down the mountainside, engulfing the village.

The disaster killed 144 people, including 116 children.

Hundreds came to pay their respects to the teacher at her funeral on Thursday - including some of the pupils whose lives she saved that day.

On the morning of 21 October 1966, Hettie Williams - then known as Miss Taylor - was teaching her first-year class when the colliery waste began to slide down the hillside above the village.

The avalanche killed 109 children at the school, along with five teachers.


The landslide engulfed Pantglas Junior School, where Hettie Williams was teaching a class of first year pupils

The 23-year-old schoolteacher led her pupils to safety as the school was engulfed.

Hettie Williams died in early August and her funeral was held at St David's Church in Rhymney on Thursday.

Speaking to BBC Wales on the 50th anniversary of the disaster in 2016, she described how she could "still see the children in the classroom" at the spot where the junior school once stood.

"They were such a happy group of children: they were just adorable," she said.

"You can think back to when it was a lovely place."

After the disaster she helped set up a school, along with the three other surviving teachers, at the local community centre for the children who had survived the tragedy.


In the Aberfan memorial garden and cemetery, graves remember the 144 people who died in the disaster

A long teaching career continued at schools including Phillipstown, Abertysswg and Bargoed, in Caerphilly county.

During the service, her husband Ralph conducted the Rhymney Silurian Male Choir.


Hettie Williams was a teacher at Pantglas Junior School in Aberfan

There were also representatives of the cancer charity Helping Hands, which she had supported for many years.

The Merthyr and Rhymney MP Gerald Jones, who attended the funeral, was taught by Hettie Williams at Phillipstown Primary School in New Tredegar.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45227441

Kofi Annan, former UN chief, dies at 80

BBC News
18th August 2018



Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general who won the Nobel Peace Prize for humanitarian work, has died aged 80, his aides say.

He "passed away peacefully on Saturday after a short illness", the foundation named after him said on Saturday.

Annan was the first black African to take up the role of the world's top diplomat, serving from 1997 to 2006.

He later served as the UN special envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

In a statement announcing his death, the Kofi Annan Foundation described him as a "global statesman and deeply committed internationalist who fought throughout his life for a fairer and more peaceful world".

"Wherever there was suffering or need, he reached out and touched many people with his deep compassion and empathy. He selflessly placed others first, radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did."

The diplomat, who was originally from Ghana, died in the Swiss city of Geneva, where he had been living for several years.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 2001 for helping to revitalise the international body.

His tenure as UN secretary-general coincided with the Iraq War and the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Kofi Annan described his greatest achievement as the Millennium Development Goals which - for the first time - set global targets on issues such as poverty and child mortality.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-45232892
 

Dixie Cup

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Sep 16, 2006
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Edmonton
Aretha Franklin dies Aug 16/18 at the age of 76. Of all of the celebrities that have passed this year, she is the one person that I admired and respected for her singing ability. What a wonderous voice she had!


RIP Ms. Franklin - you're music will live on for generations!
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Former Leafs enforcer and advocate for retired NHLers, Kurt Walker, dead at 64
Lance Hornby
Published:
August 18, 2018
Updated:
August 18, 2018 12:15 PM EDT
Kurt Walker, former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer and advocate for NHL players struggling with retirement, is dead at 64. (dignityafterhockey.ca)
Kurt Walker, who transformed from hard-knuckle Maple Leaf to a compassionate advocate for NHL players struggling with retirement, has passed away.
The 64-year-old Massachusetts native died Friday night after a brief illness. Many players who benefitted from his Dignity After Hockey charity weighed in with tributes, as did those who simply admired him for taking on such a difficult task.
Walker’s efforts began nearly a decade ago with a web page and from there he was able to open doors to affordable health care and later, stem cell research.
Walker and his associates were also heavily involved in concussion research and its affects on retired players. He was often at odds with the NHL and the players alumni association to get more done for ex-players and raise money for the cause.
“When you’re young, you feel invincible,” Walker recently told journalist Josh Kloke. “You think you can do whatever you want and nothing will bother you. I sustained more injuries than most players. But at that age you never think about the ramifications of after the game.”
“I remember getting a few head shots, going to the bench, and the trainer would talk to you and you’d be in a fog,” he recalled. “You’d get a little smelling salt, take a bit of a rest but there was still so much peer pressure.”
Walker played 71 games for Toronto and was part of the rough and tumble playoff series against the Flyers and Islanders in the mid 1970s.
“Gerry McNamara saw a few of (his minor league games) where I acted up and invited me to training camp,” Walker recalled in an interview with ISN last year. “I wanted to play for them my whole life. That’s who I told people I was going to play for when I was 14.”
“My dream was to play 12 to 15 to minutes a night, but I found most of my time I was sitting on the bench getting one or two shifts, he said. “But through all of that, I never forgot what got me there.”
lhornby@postmedia.com
Dignity After Hockey | Hockey CharityDignity After Hockey
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...ate-for-retired-nhlers-kurt-walker-dead-at-64
 

Hoid

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Oct 15, 2017
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Ed King of the original Lynard Skynard band. Great guitar player and composer,age 68 of cancer.
 

Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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Lindsay Kemp, performer and Bowie mentor, dies at 80

25 August 2018
BBC News


Lindsay Kemp performing Kemp Dreams Kabuki Courtesan in Florence, Italy, in June 2017

Kate Bush has paid tribute to ground-breaking dancer, mime artist and choreographer Lindsay Kemp, who has died aged 80.

She described Kemp - who taught her to dance - as "inspirational" and "a truly original and great artist of the stage".

He collaborated with David Bowie as he invented theatrical personas such as Ziggy Stardust.

Kemp died suddenly in Italy, where he lived, on Friday evening.

In her tribute, Bush, 60, said: "To call him a mime artist is like calling Mozart a pianist. He was very brave, very funny and, above all, astonishingly inspirational.

"There was no-one quite like Lindsay. I was incredibly lucky to study with him, work with him and spend time with him.

"I loved him very much and will miss him dearly. Thank you, dear Lindsay."

'He changed people's lives'


Kemp collaborated with David Bowie as he invented theatrical personas such as Ziggy Stardust

David Haughton, his closest friend and collaborator for 45 years, said Kemp's death was like "losing a part of yourself".

He told BBC News that Kemp had been working up until his sudden death in Livorno, Italy, and had been "very busy and very positive".

"It is a huge shock," he said. "But if it had to happen, this was the best way. He was in a very good period - he had been working and dancing. He had no illness, he was with friends.

"He suddenly said he felt ill, and a minute and a half later he was gone."


Kemp appearing in the play Flowers with long-term collaborator David Haughton in 1975

Kemp's spectacular productions combined mime, dance, theatre and cabaret.

He was also known for his film cameos, appearing as a pub landlord in The Wicker Man in 1973 and as a pantomime dame in the film Velvet Goldmine in 1998.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45308468