Liam Payne, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Maggie Smith among those mourned in 2024
Here are some of the well-known people who died in 2024.
Some of the world’s favourite stars have died this year.
Fans were left heartbroken after the shock death of One Direction’s Liam Payne in October while Dame Maggie Smith was mourned in September after entertaining audiences of all ages during her decades-long career.
Here are some of the well-known people who died in 2024.
January:
– Glynis Johns, best known as the suffragette mother Mrs Banks in the 1964 film Mary Poppins, died at the age of 100.
Johns won a Tony Award in 1973 for playing Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music on Broadway and was the first to sing composer Stephen Sondheim’s most famous ballad, Send In The Clowns, but lost the part to Elizabeth Taylor in the 1977 film version.
The actress was nominated for an Oscar for best actress in a supporting role for 1960 film The Sundowners.
A prominent figure in New Labour in the 1990s, Mr Draper worked for Blairite Peter Mandelson and set up the Progress organisation with Liam Byrne, who went on to become an MP.
After he was embroiled in the so-called “cash-for-access” scandal, dubbed “lobbygate”, he travelled to the United States, where he retrained as a psychotherapist.
– David Soul, the US-born actor, best known for his role as Detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson in the classic crime-solving series Starsky & Hutch, died aged 80.
Soul, who starred opposite Paul Michael Glaser as Detective Dave Starsky in the 1970s US TV series, was also known for his roles in Here Come The Brides, Magnum Force and The Yellow Rose.
Starting out as a musician, he sang on The Merv Griffin Show and at the height of his fame released the UK chart-toppers Don’t Give Up On Us and Silver Lady.
– Professor Sir Roy Calne, the pioneering surgeon who led the first liver transplant operation in Europe in 1968, died aged 93.
He led the operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge on May 2 1968 and went on to be the first doctor to use an immunosuppressant in 1978, which was found to be effective in reducing organ rejection.
Sir Roy performed a series of surgical “world firsts” and his work on liver transplants offered thousands of people with end-stage liver disease a normal life, The Royal Society said.
Nightingale, who first broadcast on the BBC in 1963 as a panellist on Juke Box Jury, remained Radio 1’s only female DJ until 1982, when Janice Long joined, and was credited with helping to pave the way for the likes of Sara Cox, Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball.
During her trailblazing career, she was the first woman to present the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test music show, which aired on BBC Two.
– Mary Weiss, the lead singer of 1960s pop group the Shangri-Las, died at the age of 75.
The US girl group rose to stardom with a run of hit songs about teenage love and tragedy, including Remember (Walking In The Sand) and Leader Of The Pack – a song that was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Weiss took centre stage in the sound and look of the Shangri-Las, helping to pioneer the girl group era alongside the Ronettes.
February:
– Jonnie Irwin, who presented Channel 4’s A Place In The Sun and BBC’s Escape To The Country, died aged 50.
Irwin said in November 2022 that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020 and that it had spread to his brain.
The TV presenter said the first warning sign was while he was filming A Place In The Sun in Italy in August 2020, when his vision became blurry while driving, and within a week of flying home, he was given six months to live.
– Carl Weathers, a former American footballer who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, died aged 76.
Sylvester Stallone described Weathers as “an integral part” of his life after the death of his Rocky co-star, who played nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky movies.
Weathers also starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987’s Predator, in the 1996 comedy Happy Gilmore as one-handed golf pro Chubbs Peterson opposite Adam Sandler and earned an Emmy Award nomination in 2021 for his role in Disney’s The Mandalorian.
He also voiced Combat Carl in the Toy Story franchise.
He is best known for playing the hapless Pike, who frequently had run-ins with Captain George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe), calling him “Stupid Boy”.
Lavender also played Derek Harkinson, a friend of Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) in BBC One soap EastEnders from 2001 to 2005 and returned to Walford in 2016 but left in 2017 after he became ill with sepsis, having previously battled cancer and a heart attack.
– Kelvin Kiptum, the marathon world record holder and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a road accident in Kenya.
Kiptum, who was 24, set a world record of two hours and 35 seconds at the Chicago Marathon in October 2023.
He also won the 2023 London Marathon with a record time of two hours, one minute and 25 seconds.
Wright joined the BBC in the 1970s, going on to host shows on BBC Radio 1 and 2 for more than four decades, which attracted millions of listeners.
He had also been a long-standing presenter of Top Of The Pops on BBC One.
– Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, died in an Arctic penal colony aged 47.
Downing Street said his death of Alexei Navalny must be “investigated fully” and those responsible “held to account”.
Many Western leaders said they held Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for his death.
– Robin Windsor, the professional dancer who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing between 2010 and 2015, died at the age of 44.
Windsor had been paired with celebrities including Patsy Kensit, Anita Dobson, Lisa Riley and Deborah Meaden and also danced with Alison Hammond in the 2015 Christmas special and with Susanna Reid in 2011’s Children In Need special.
He had most recently appeared in stage show Come What May, a tribute to Moulin Rouge.
– Ewen MacIntosh, best known for playing Wernham Hogg accountant Keith Bishop in The Office, died at the age of 50.
Co-star Ricky Gervais paid tribute to the actor, saying he was “very funny and very lovely”.
Macintosh also appeared in shows such as Miranda and Little Britain.
– Pamela Salem, known for her role as James Bond’s secretary Miss Moneypenny in Sean Connery’s Never Say Never Again, died at the age of 80.
The British star, who had a role in 1978 crime film The First Great Train Robbery opposite Connery, also appeared in US drama series The West Wing, where she played the UK prime minister and medical serial ER.
Salem was also known for her science fiction roles in Blake’s 7, The Tripods and Into The Labyrinth.
Savident arrived on the cobbles in 1994 and storylines involved his disastrous love life, including three marriages and several failed proposals.
Outside Coronation Street, Savident was in political comedy Yes, Minister, Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian thriller A Clockwork Orange, biopic Gandhi, war film Battle Of Britain, science fiction series Doctor Who and period dramas The Remains Of The Day and Middlemarch.
– Lord Jacob Rothschild, financier and member of the Rothschild banking family, died at the age of 87.
The British peer started his career in the family bank, NM Rothschild & Sons, in 1963, before going on to co-found the then J Rothschild Assurance Group, now St James’s Place, with Sir Mark Weinberg in 1980.
He also founded Windmill Hill Asset Management and, during his career, held roles such as deputy chairman at the then BSkyB Television and chairman of trustees at The National Gallery.
– Thomas Kingston, the husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter Lady Gabriella Kingston, died aged 45.
Lady Gabriella Kingston warned about the effects of drugs used to treat mental health problems, as a coroner concluded that her husband took his own life.
The financier married Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019, with Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh among the guests.
He found fame alongside Si King, his friend of 30 years, as part of the motorcycle-riding cooking duo.
Myers, who first announced he was receiving treatment for cancer in May 2022, reached new fans in 2013 when he took part in Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Karen Hauer.
March:
– Eric Carmen, known for hits Hungry Eyes and All By Myself, died aged 74.
The US star rose to fame with the pop band the Raspberries before establishing himself as a solo artist with hit tracks including song Hungry Eyes, which featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze.
Other huge solo hits include 1975’s All By Myself, which features in the Bridget Jones film franchise, Never Gonna Fall In Love Again a year later and Make Me Lose Control in 1988.
– Karl Wallinger, the World Party frontman who was also a member of The Waterboys, died aged 66.
The Welsh-born frontman formed World Party in 1986, shortly after his departure from The Waterboys, and the group’s debut album Private Revolution spawned popular songs, including Ship Of Fools.
The band released several more albums, with their fourth, Egyptology, including the track She’s The One, which was later covered by British singer Robbie Williams and peaked at number one on the official UK charts in 1999.
The rock band were best known for their hit Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me), which went to number one in the UK charts in 1975 and was later covered by Duran Duran.
Harley helped to write a number of songs for Sir Rod Stewart and the former Faces frontman covered Harley’s song, A Friend For Life, which featured on his 2015 studio album Another Country.
– David Seidler, best known for his Oscar-winning writing on The King’s Speech, died aged 86.
The screenwriter, who had a stammer growing up, was inspired to write about the true story of how King George VI overcame his speech impediment with a speech and language therapist.
Seidler won the Oscar and Bafta award for best original screenplay for the 2010 historical drama, which starred Colin Firth, who won the best actor Bafta and Oscar for his depiction of the king.
– Gogglebox’s George Gilbey died aged 40 following an accident at work.
The reality star, who was best known for appearing on the Channel 4 series alongside his mother Linda McGarry and late stepfather Pete McGarry, also appeared on the 14th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2014, reaching the final.
Gilbey, of Clacton-on-Sea, had been working on a roof in Shoeburyness, Essex, “when he fell through a plastic skylight, landing on the ground below”, an inquest heard.
He won the supporting actor Oscar for An Officer And A Gentleman, the first black man to take home the gong, when he starred opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger in the 1982 romance drama.
Gossett Jr also won an Emmy for his role in the 1977 US series Roots, which depicted the horrors of slavery, as the musician Fiddler.
– Chance Perdomo, who starred in TV series Gen V, died aged 27 as a result of a motorcycle accident.
The American-born TV star, who was raised in the UK, was known for playing Andre Anderson in the superhero show, a spin-off of the satirical TV series The Boys.
He was also known for playing a pansexual warlord in supernatural series Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina.
April:
– Lynne Reid Banks, known for writing books including children’s story The Indian In The Cupboard, died of cancer at the age of 94.
Reid Banks attended Rada drama school before becoming a secretary and a freelance journalist and, in 1955, became one of the first two female news reporters on British TV, appearing on ITN for six years.
She said during her down-time from journalism she wrote the novel The L-Shaped Room, which was an unexpected hit and was later turned into a film, landing star Leslie Caron an Oscar nomination for best actress, as well as a Bafta and Golden Globe award.
– Professor Peter Higgs, the scientist behind the concept of the subatomic particle the Higgs boson, died aged 94.
Professor Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle – the so-called Higgs boson – in 1964 but it would not be confirmed for almost half a century, with experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern finally confirming his theory in 2012.
Prof Higgs, emeritus professor at Edinburgh University, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work in 2013, along with Francois Englert.
Simpson was a running back for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, before being acquitted of the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995.
He was later jailed following an armed robbery in Las Vegas in 2007 and served a lengthy sentence before being released in 2017. He was discharged from parole in December 2021.
– Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer who became renowned in the early 1970s for his animal prints and sexy style, died aged 83.
His designs were favourites among celebrities including Beyonce who wore a yellow dress by Cavalli in a video from her 2016 visual album Lemonade, while Kim Kardashian sported a khaki “naked” dress by Cavalli at a Vogue Gala Dinner event the same year.
Dune actress Zendaya wore Cavalli at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in 2024 while Taylor Swift wore a pair of beaded two-piece sets by Cavalli in magenta and green during her Eras tour section dedicated to hit album 1989.
– Sir Andrew Davis, who was one of the longest-serving chief conductors of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, died at the age of 80.
Sir Andrew was principal conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1975-88; chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1989-2000; Glyndebourne Festival Opera music director from 1988 to 2000 and held the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sir Andrew, who was knighted in the 1999 New Year Honours List, had been suffering from leukaemia.
– Christopher John Sansom, the historical novelist known as CJ Sansom, died at the age of 71.
He was best known for creating the character of Matthew Shardlake, a Tudor lawyer, who was introduced in his first novel Dissolution, which was published 21 years ago.
He released six further novels featuring Shardlake, as well as two standalone historical novels, Winter In Madrid and Dominion.
Lord Field of Birkenhead revealed he was terminally ill in October 2021 and had spent time in a hospice when a statement from him was read out in the House of Lords calling for laws on assisted dying to be relaxed.
The politician was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 2022 New Year Honours, following a career in which he showed support for causes including pensions reform, ending child poverty and stamping out modern slavery.
May:
-Bernard Hill, known for roles in Boys From The Blackstuff, Titanic and Lord Of The Rings, died aged 79.
Hill first made a name for himself as Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale’s acclaimed BBC drama series Boys From The Blackstuff, about five unemployed men, which aired in 1982.
He went on to play Captain Smith in the Oscar-winning 1997 epic romance Titanic and Theoden, King of Rohan, in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
In 2009 she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at the age of 23, after being turned away from her GP for more than a year. By the time she was diagnosed, it was terminal.
The charity said she had “approached life in a wildly creative, fun and fearless way, and showed us that it is possible to live life to the full with cancer”.
– Dame Shirley Conran, the author and journalist known for her best-selling books including feminist practical guidebook Superwoman and the novel Lace, died aged 91.
Dame Shirley began writing books after she was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) in her late 30s and could no longer work full-time.
She received a damehood for her services to mathematics education, having founded the Maths Anxiety Trust.
– Tony O’Reilly, one of Ireland’s leading business figures, died at the age of 88.
Mr O’Reilly was also known as a media magnate and international rugby player for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
In his business career, he pioneered the dairy brand Kerrygold, turning it into one of Ireland’s best-known global consumer brands.
– Morgan Spurlock, whose 2004 documentary Super Size Me was nominated for an Oscar, died at the age of 53.
The documentary, which saw the US filmmaker eat McDonald’s for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast food diet, made Spurlock globally famous.
Spurlock, whose family said he died from complications of cancer, also addressed controversial subject matters including the US war in Afghanistan – titled Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden – which saw him search for the Al-Qaeda leader who was killed in 2011.
June:
– Sir Jack Petchey, a philanthropist whose charitable foundation helps thousands of young people achieve their dreams each year, died aged 98.
The businessman set up the Jack Petchey Foundation in 1999 to provide opportunities for young people aged between 11 and 25 across London and Essex, through programmes offering volunteering and internships and the promotion of sport, science and art.
The charity has invested more than £170 million since then and runs the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme, which provides grants to youngsters at youth organisations and secondary schools.
Since announcing his diagnosis, the Leeds Rhino player campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the disease and to raise funds to improve care including spearheading a £6.8 million appeal for Leeds Hospitals Charity.
The Government agreed to make £50 million available for research following pressure from Burrow and others and he was made an MBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours.
– Black Lace singer Colin Gibb, best known for novelty hit Agadoo, died at the age of 70.
The group first found fame in 1979 when they competed in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song Mary Ann.
They also enjoyed a novelty hit with Do The Conga in 1989 but 1984’s Agadoo was their biggest hit and a staple of weddings, parties and discos for many years.
– Michael Mosley, the TV doctor and columnist, died aged 67 after going missing on the Greek island of Symi.
Mosley appeared as a guest on BBC’s The One Show and ITV’s This Morning many times, hosted programmes including Trust Me, I’m a Doctor and was credited with popularising a form of intermittent fasting called the 5:2 diet through an episode of the BBC documentary series Horizon called Eat, Fast and Live Longer.
In 2002, Mosley was nominated for an Emmy for his executive producer role on BBC science documentary The Human Face, presented by John Cleese and featuring celebrities including Elizabeth Hurley, Pierce Brosnan and Sir David Attenborough.
– Donald Sutherland, star of Ordinary People, M*A*S*H, The Hunger Games series and Six Degrees Of Separation, died aged 88.
Sutherland won a Golden Globe for the TV movie Path To War for playing presidential adviser Clark Clifford and another gong along with an Emmy Award for the the mini-series Citizen X.
In 2017, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his acting but failed to get an Oscar nod during his lengthy career.
July:
The actress shot to fame in the hit 1990s teenage drama alongside co-star Jason Priestley when they played twins Brenda and Brandon Walsh who move to Beverly Hills from middle America.
Doherty went on to feature in a host of other projects, including playing Prue Halliwell in US TV series Charmed.
– Bob Newhart, accountant-turned-comedian and actor, died at the age of 94.
He was known for The Bob Newhart Show and had a recurring guest role on sitcom The Big Bang Theory for which he won an Emmy in 2013.
His other awards included three Grammys, which he won in 1961 for comedy album The Button-Down Mind Of Bob Newhart, taking the award for best comedy performance — spoken word and also becoming the only comedian to have won best new artist and album of the year.
– John Mayall, whose influential band the Bluesbreakers was a launching pad for stars including Eric Clapton and Mick Fleetwood, died at the age of 90.
Among other recruits to the Bluesbreakers were guitarists Peter Green and Mick Taylor, bassists Jack Bruce and John McVie, and drummer Aynsley Dunbar.
Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger said Mayall “was a great pioneer of British blues” and had recommended Mick Taylor after Brian Jones died, “ushering in a new era for the Stones”.
– Edna O’Brien, the Irish author best known for her portrayal of women’s lives against repressive expectations in Irish society, died at the age of 93.
Her first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960 and became part of a trilogy that was banned in Ireland for its references to sex and social issues.
O’Brien, a novelist, short story writer, memoirist, poet and playwright who had lived in London since 1958, said an outraged response from people in Ireland contrasted with the book’s international success.
– Francine Pascal, known for writing the Sweet Valley High books, died at the age of 92.
Pascal found global success with the hit book series about identical twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, which was formative reading for generations of young girls.
The series, set in the fictional Los Angeles suburb of Sweet Valley, debuted in 1983 and consisted of 181 books, also spawning multiple spin-offs, including Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley University.
August:
– Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England football manager, died aged 76 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
He led England to the quarter-finals of three major tournaments in succession, including the World Cups of 2002 and 2006.
– Nell McCafferty, a renowned author, journalist and feminist activist, died at the age of 80.
The former Irish Times journalist, originally from Londonderry, was a prominent voice on women’s rights issues across the island of Ireland and in 1970 co-founded the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement (IWLM).
Campaigning for the legalisation of contraceptives in Ireland in the 1970s, she famously took part in an event known as the Contraceptive Train in 1971 when members of the IWLM travelled across the border to Belfast, bought a range of contraceptive products and took them to Dublin, where they staged a protest at the city’s Connolly station.
– Fatman Scoop, the US hip-hop artist whose real name was Isaac Freeman III, died at the age of 56.
The rapper died after collapsing on stage during a performance in Connecticut in the US.
Scoop had a number-one hit with Be Faithful back in 2003 and appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2015.
– Mike Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, drowned when a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily.
The 59-year-old British billionaire entrepreneur, his daughter Hannah Lynch, 18, Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his 71-year-old wife Judy Bloomer were among seven people who also died on the stricken vessel.
US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef, also died during the boat trip which was a celebration of Dr Lynch’s acquittal in the US after he was accused of carrying out a massive fraud over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
September:
Starting in the late 1960s, Kristofferson wrote a number of classic songs including Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down, Help Me Make it Through the Night, For The Good Times and Me And Bobby McGee.
He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for 1976 romantic drama A Star Is Born.
– Brian Trueman, best known as the writer of Danger Mouse, died aged 92.
Trueman spent 20 years at Granada TV and whilst there, he wrote and presented TV series Cinema and conceived, produced, wrote and presented House For The Future.
However, he was best known for his work writing for animation company Cosgrove Hall Films, particularly Chorlton And The Wheelies, some of the scripts for Count Duckula, and the original Danger Mouse episodes, which were voiced by Sir David Jason.
– Herbie Flowers, the bassist who gave Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side its recognisable twinned bassline, died aged 86.
Another of Flowers’ most recognisable basslines featured on David Essex’s 1973 glam single Rock On, which was double-tracked and used a slapback effect to give the song its polyrhythmic backbeat.
Flowers began his career in the 1960s as a session musician, before becoming a founding member of Blue Mink in 1969 and by the 1970s, he was playing with some of the biggest and most influential artists of the decade such as Reed, David Bowie and Sir Elton John.
Jones’s famous voice was also lent to the likes of Mufasa in Disney’s 1994 film The Lion King, various audiobooks and to CNN for its “This is CNN” tagline.
During Jones’s career, he won a host of awards including Emmys, Tony Awards, a Grammy and was given an honorary Oscar.
– Kenneth Cope, known as a star of Carry On films and Coronation Street, died at the age of 93.
Born in Liverpool in 1931, he appeared in the soap as Jed Stone in more than 100 episodes from 1961 to 1963, before briefly returning in 2008 and 2009.
Cope went on to star in two Carry On films, Carry On At Your Convenience (1971) and Carry On Matron (1972), and he also appeared in 1963’s Carry On Jack in an uncredited role.
– Geoffrey Hinsliff, who played Coronation Street’s Donald “Don” Brennan died aged 86.
The taxi driver was a leading character in the ITV soap in the 1980s and 1990s, and was known for his romantic relationship with Ivy Tilsley (Lynne Perrie).
Hinsliff, who graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) in 1960, also had parts in Doctor Who, Brass, A Bridge Too Far, The Professionals and Z-Cars.
– Tito Jackson, star of the Jackson 5, died at the age of 70.
The musician, who was the older brother of late popstar Michael Jackson, was the least-heard member of the group as a background singer who played guitar.
Tito was the last of the Jackson siblings to release a solo project with his 2016 debut, Tito Time, appearing when he was 62.
– David Graham, the voice actor known for his work on Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig, died aged 99.
The London-born star, who also voiced the evil Daleks in Doctor Who, brought to life the Thunderbirds puppet characters aquanaut Gordon Tracy, scientist Brains, and Lady Penelope’s driver, Aloysius “Nosey” Parker, in the series that saw a secret organisation trying to save the world.
Graham played Grandpa Pig in the children’s show Peppa Pig and also provided the voice for characters in Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom while in-person acting roles included Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Casualty.
– Peter Jay, the former economic journalist and diplomat, died at the age of 87.
Jay had been one of the country’s foremost economics commentators, with time spent as the economics editor for both the BBC and The Times.
He was controversially appointed as the UK’s ambassador to Washington in 1977 by his then father-in-law James Callaghan, who was prime minister, amid Tory protests of “nepotism”.
She was an internationally recognised actress for much of her life after playing the fanatical teacher Jean Brodie in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, for which she won an Academy Award.
She also won over Harry Potter fans later in life, when she appeared as the quick-witted, kind and formidable Professor McGonagall, and was central to the success of the ITV series Downton Abbey, in her Emmy-award winning role as the acerbic Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham.
– Martin Lee, of Brotherhood Of Man, died at the age of 77.
The pop group’s Save Your Kisses For Me won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK in 1976, topping the table with 164 points, more than 70 points ahead of second-placed Switzerland.
Save Your Kisses For Me topped the UK singles chart in the same year, and was also number one in more than 30 different countries.
October:
– Michael Ancram, the former deputy leader of the Conservative Party, died aged 79.
Ancram, known formally as the 13th Marquess of Lothian, held the role under Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard for five years in the early 2000s.
He also served as shadow foreign secretary and had been a member of the House of Lords since 2010, in a political career spanning five decades.
– Cissy Houston, the Grammy award-winning gospel singer and mother of the late Whitney Houston, died aged 91.
During her seven-decade career, Cissy starred in the group The Sweet Inspirations who sang backing vocals for soul stars including Otis Redding and Dionne Warwick.
The group appeared on stage with Elvis Presley in a Las Vegas show in 1969 and performed a handful of live concert dates with Aretha Franklin before Cissy left to pursue a successful solo career.
– Lily Ebert, a Holocaust survivor who lost several family members, died aged 100.
Ebert survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp but lost her mother, younger sister and brother who were murdered in the gas chambers.
She vowed to tell her story in the years that followed and, in January 2023, was recognised with an MBE for her services to Holocaust education.
– Liam Payne, the former One Direction star, died at the age of 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Payne first auditioned for The X Factor in 2008 at the age of 14 and returned two years later when he was put into a group with Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles.
After becoming one of the biggest pop groups in the world with five albums and four world tours, One Direction went on indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne released his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019, which included the singles Polaroid and Familiar.
– Alford Gardner, Windrush pioneer and cricket trailblazer, died at the age of 98.
Mr Gardner was one of the last surviving passengers of the Empire Windrush and worked to break down racial barriers by setting up Britain’s first Caribbean cricket club, which he set up in Leeds in 1948.
Mr Gardner had also served in the RAF as an engineer and motor mechanic during the Second World War.
– Alex Salmond, former first minister of Scotland, died suddenly at the age of 69.
Mr Salmond served as first minister from 2007 to 2014, Scotland’s first SNP politician to hold the role, and was leader of the SNP on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014.
He resigned as First Minister after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum resulted in a 55% to 45% vote to stay in the UK and launched his rival Scottish independence party, Alba, in 2021 after his relationship with his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, fractured.
– Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of rock band the Grateful Dead, died at the age of 84.
He was best known for the song Unbroken Chain, about the counterculture band’s connection with its audience.
Lesh also sang the wistful Box Of Rain, which he wrote while his father was dying.
November:
The comedian ended most of her Sturgeon parodies with the catchphrase “Frank, get the door”, which was also the title of her 2020 book.
Godley said Frank was based on a man who read “cowboy books” in the pub she used to work in.
– Paul Stephenson, the civil rights campaigner known for his prominent role in the Bristol Bus Boycott, died aged 87.
Mr Stephenson helped to rally thousands of people for a 60-day boycott in Bristol in 1963 against the Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to hire black or Asian drivers.
This contributed significantly to the creation of the first Race Relations Act in Parliament two years later and he was made an OBE for his services to equal opportunities in 2009.
– Quincy Jones, jazz musician and record producer, died aged 91.
Jones, who began studying trumpet while in junior high school and sang in a gospel quartet at the age of 12, later made waves with his 1989 album, Back On The Block, which was named album of the year at the 1990 Grammy Awards.
The jazz musician won an Emmy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a Tony and 28 Grammys, and received seven Oscar nominations for his work on movies that included In Cold Blood (1967) and The Color Purple (1985).
– Sir John Nott, the defence secretary during the Falklands War, died aged 92.
The senior Conservative twice offered his resignation to Margaret Thatcher after the Argentinian invasion of the South Atlantic islands in 1982 but she refused to accept it, instead keeping him in place for the bloody but successful liberation operation.
Apart from the war, the most memorable moment of his political career was storming out of a TV interview with broadcaster Sir Robin Day later in 1982.
– June Spencer, who played matriarch Peggy Woolley in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, died at the age of 105.
Spencer had played the character since the show’s first episode in 1951, and when she announced her retirement in 2022, aged 103, was credited as being the longest-serving character in the programme.
She first joined The Archers for a pilot episode in 1950 and on-air her storylines saw her character deal with alcoholism, gambling and bereavement.
– Trevor Sorbie, the celebrity hairdresser who gained fame with the creation of the wedge cut, died aged 75.
The award-winning Scottish stylist revealed his bowel cancer had spread to his liver.
Alongside styling many famous faces over the years including The Beach Boys and Dame Helen Mirren, he set up a charity that gives advice to patients and NHS staff on wig styling, hair loss and re-growth after treatment.
Lord Prescott, who served as an MP for Kingston upon Hull East for almost four decades, was a former trade union activist and ex-merchant seaman who served under Labour prime minster Tony Blair.
He was a key figure in the New Labour Project, seen by many as custodian of the party’s traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership.
– Timothy West, known for roles in television series including comedy-drama Brass, sitcom Not Going Out and soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders, died aged 90.
He was married to fellow actor Prunella Scales for more than 60 years.
West and Scales, who played Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, appeared in the documentary series Great Canal Journeys between 2014 and 2021, which saw them travelling on narrowboats together.
– Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, died at the age of 91.
The former Yorkshire Evening Post editor wrote a total of 40 novels during her career, with her most recent, The Wonder of It All, published in 2023.
Taylor Bradford had started and ditched several novels while pursuing her journalistic career – until she hit the big time with A Woman Of Substance, published in 1979.
– Terry Griffiths, former world snooker champion, died at the age of 77 after a long battle with dementia.
Griffiths, from south Wales, came through the qualifying rounds to win the 1979 Crucible title as a qualifier, and also won the Masters and the UK Championship to complete the sport’s illustrious “triple crown”.
In later years, Griffiths became an accomplished coach, inspiring the likes of Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and Mark Allen.
– Singer Samantha Lawrence, who was part of the UK hip-hop duo Wee Papa Girl Rappers, died at the age of 55.
The British female rap duo, comprised of sisters Sandra and Samantha, had hit song Wee Rule, which reached number six in the UK singles chart in 1988.
DJ Dave Pearce, who worked with the duo, said she had been “part of a defining and ground-breaking era of trailblazing British female rappers who, against the odds, conquered the UK charts”.
– Dick Rock, a star of Ireland’s showband era, died at the age of 88.
Rock was a former singer with the Miami Showband and went on to enjoy a successful solo career.
The Dublin-born singer represented Ireland in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Come Back To Stay.
– Julie Stevens, known as a Play School presenter and Carry On actress, died aged 87.
Stevens joined the cast of spy series The Avengers in 1962 as nightclub singer Venus Smith before being picked to play Gloria in 1960s comedy film Carry On Cleo.
Stevens, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, was also known for comedy shows Girls About Town and Cabbages And Kings as well as Play Away, a series for older children, and appeared on Holby City.
– Duncan Norvelle, the comedian known for his catchphrase “Chase me”, died aged 66.
The entertainer, who rose to fame in the 1980s, hosted the pilot episode for a dating show, which later became Blind Date presented by Cilla Black.
During his career, he performed stand-up sets at prestigious venues including the London Palladium and appeared on shows such as The Bob Monkhouse Show.
– Isak Andic, the founder of high street fashion chain Mango, died in an accident in Spain.
Mango’s chief executive Tony Ruiz confirmed the 71-year-old billionaire’s death while Spanish media reported he slipped and fell from a cliff while hiking with his family in mountains near Barcelona.
Mr Andic founded Mango in 1984. The brand’s first UK store opened in 1999 and there are now more than 40 standalone branches across the country.
Mr Hayward, of Isle of Wight, received a standing ovation when he appeared at the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day on Southsea Common.
He received the Legion d’honneur for his part in the key Second World War battle.
– Jean Adamson, the children’s author known for the Topsy And Tim series of books, died aged 96.
Adamson created the series, which follows the adventures of two twins and spawned more than 150 books, alongside her husband Gareth Adamson, who died in 1982.
The series has been in print for more than 60 years and has sold more than 25 million copies around the world as well as being adapted into an animated TV show in 1984 and a live-action version in 2013.
