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Henry Allingham



BRITAIN'S oldest surviving serviceman from the First World War has died today, aged 113.

Henry Allingham served with the Royal Naval Air Service during the Great War, later transferring to the Royal Air Force and serving at Ypres.

He had five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild.

Mr Allingham, who was the world's oldest man, joined the Royal Naval Air Service in September 1915 before transferring to the RAF in April 1918 and was the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland.

Our respects and condolances go to his family.

Football legend Robson dies at 76



Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson has died at the age of 76, following a long battle with cancer.

Robson will be best remembered on the international stage for leading England to the 1990 World Cup semi-final.

At club level, he cut his managerial teeth at Fulham before establishing his credentials at Ipswich where he won the FA Cup and Uefa Cup in a 13-year stay.

Spells at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona followed before he managed at Newcastle.

Robson was at St James' Park for a charity match earlier this week.

An England side, featuring Alan Shearer and several members of the 1990 World Cup squad including Paul Gascoigne and Peter Shilton, beat a Germany team 3-2. Shearer scored the winner from the penalty spot.

The game was a repeat of the 1990 World Cup semi-final when England, managed by Sir Bobby, lost on penalties.

A statement issued on behalf of his family said: "It is with great sadness that it has been announced today that Sir Bobby Robson has lost his long and courageous battle with cancer.

"He died very peacefully this morning (Friday) at his home in County Durham with his wife and family beside him.

"Sir Bobby's funeral will be private and for family members only.

"A thanksgiving service in celebration of Sir Bobby's life will be held at a later date for his many friends and colleagues.

"Lady Robson and the family would very much appreciate it if their privacy could be respected at this difficult time."

As a player, Robson was a key member of the Fulham and West Brom team during the 1950s and 1960s and also won 20 caps for England.

I had the honour of meeting Sir Bobby Robson on several occasions when he was manager at Ipswich Town football club (Sir Bobby, who was honorary president at Ipswich, led the Blues to glory at home and abroad after taking over at Portman Road in 1969. The highlights of his wonderful rein as boss came in 1978 and 1981, as unfashionable Town won the FA Cup and UEFA Cup respectively. He left Ipswich in 1982 to manage England.)

He was an amazingly great personality and a wonderful entertainer and will be greatly missed by all ITFC supporters, who still to this day claim him as their own legend after he led his team through Ipswich the day after they won the FA Cup.

5 minutes of highlights from the game: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7367344.stm

RIP - A legend and a gentleman.

Legendary guitarist Les Paul



Legendary guitarist Les Paul, who pioneered designs of electric guitars and helped usher in the birth of rock and roll, has died aged 94. He died of complications from pneumonia at a New York hospital, his lawyer Michael Braunstein said.

Paul had been a dominant force in the music business since the Second World War.

He and wife Mary Ford enjoyed a string of hits in the 1940s and 1950s that included Mockin' Bird Hill and How High the Moon.

A passionate tinkerer, he created one of the first solid-body electric guitars in 1941, and went on to pioneer multi-track recording.

Paul played a key role in the birth of rock and roll in the early 1950s when he teamed up with Gibson.

The groundbreaking design became the template for the manufacturer's best-selling electric - the Les Paul model.

Introduced in 1952, the instrument continues to be held in the highest esteem.

Fans include the likes of Slash, Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page.

Paying tribute, Stoke-on-Trent-born Slash said: "Les Paul was a shining example of how full one's life can be.

"He was so vibrant and full of positive energy. I'm honoured and humbled to have known and played with him over the years, he was an exceptionally brilliant man."

Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny added: "It is hard to over-estimate the impact that Les Paul has had on our culture."

Although he started out as a jazz guitarist, Paul's experiments with multi-track recording revolutionised music.

After leaving school at 17, he found work in radio bands under the stage name of Rhubarb Red and by 1934 he was in Chicago doing both jazz and hillbilly acts.

His achievements came in spite of injuries sustained in a car accident in Oklahoma in 1948.

His right arm and elbow were shattered but he convinced doctors to set his broken arm in the guitar-strumming and cradling position.

Paul had also survived an earlier near-death experience when he almost electrocuted himself during an experimental session in the cellar of his Queens apartment in 1940.

He is survived by his three sons Lester, Gene and Robert, his daughter Colleen Wess, son-in-law Gary Wess, long time friend Arlene Palmer, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Simon Dee



Chat show host Simon Dee, one of the biggest stars on British TV in the 1960s, has died at the age of 74.

Dee presented the Dee Time programme on BBC TV in the late 1960s.

He was synonymous with the spirit of the Swinging Sixties and rubbed shoulders with many of the biggest stars of the day.

But he fell from grace at the end of the decade and disappeared from the airwaves. He died from bone cancer, his daughter Domino Henty-Dodd said.

Mrs Henty-Dodd said her father was diagnosed a matter of weeks ago and could not be treated.

"It happened very, very quickly," she told BBC News. "He was dearly loved by his family."

Dee, real name Nicholas Henty-Dodd, started his career on pirate radio, and was the first voice to be heard on Radio Caroline in 1964.

He then moved to the BBC, where he was among the launch line-up for Radio 1.

Dee Time, his pop music TV show, attracted a peak audience of 15 million people from 1967-69.

It captured the era, with closing credits famously featuring Dee driving away in an E type Jaguar next to a blonde woman.

He show's catchphrase, in a nod to The Johnny Carson Show in the US, was the introduction: "It's Siiiimon Dee!"

Dee was also seen on early episodes of Top of the Pops and had cameo roles in the films The Italian Job and Doctor In Trouble.

Liz Hurley has said the Austin Powers movie character was based on Dee.

"The 60s were a time when everything was growing," Dee told Joan Bakewell in an interview in 1987.

"There was a tremendous explosion of art and creativity and I had the good fortune to have them with me, people that were doing it.

"So one was very much in touch with this flow, which ended when the 60s ended. As I did."

The tale of Dee's rise to stardom and subsequent swift demise passed into TV legend as an early example of the fickle nature of celebrity.

"He was huge in his day," his daughter said. "Before celebrity became such an everyday thing, he was a celebrity in the real sense.

"He was one of the first to become famous so quickly." She added that he loved the music acts he worked with in the 60s.

After becoming increasingly difficult to work with, Dee left the BBC after wrangling with TV executive Bill Cotton over a new contract.

Instead, he went to London Weekend Television, but was sacked and his comeback attempts were short-lived.

He ended up on the dole and served time in prison for not paying his rates, and spent his final years in Winchester, Hampshire, in virtual obscurity.

Dee was married three times and is survived by four children and four grandchildren.

Patrick Swayze



Hollywood heart-throb Patrick Swayze, best known for his roles in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, has died at the age of 57.

The American actor and dancer had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago.

Swayze died at home with wife Lisa and family at his side, his spokeswoman Annett Wolf told ABC News.

Film star Rob Lowe - who appeared in a brace of movies with the actor - led tributes to the Texan.

"Patrick lived a thousand lifetimes in one lifetime," he said.

Swayze will be remembered by a generation for his role as dance instructor Johnny Castle in the 1987 smash hit Dirty Dancing.

The celebrated performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Stephen Gately



The Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, 33, has been found dead while on holiday in Majorca after a night out.

The group's tour website said that he had "tragically died" and that the rest of the band would be flying out to Majorca on Sunday.

The website also said Gately had been on holiday with his long-term partner Andy Cowles when he died on Saturday.


The News of the World's showbusiness editor Dan Wootton told Sky News Gately had gone out for drinks, returned to his accommodation and gone to sleep, but never woke up.

Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, who was due to appear as a judge on the X Factor results show on Sunday, told the newspaper: "We're all absolutely devastated."

Please leave your messages here for Stephen Gately.

Former BBC Radio 2 presenter Malcolm Laycock died on Sunday, his agent says.

Mr Laycock left Sunday Night at 10 - a programme dedicated to music of the 1930s and 40s - in the summer after spending 14 years as its presenter.

His decision - due in part to disagreements with the station - prompted outrage among his listeners.

Bob Shennan, controller of Radio 2 and 6 Music, said Mr Laycock's former colleagues were "shocked and saddened" to hear of his death.

"Malcolm was a much-loved and highly respected broadcaster, renowned for his skill as a presenter and producer, and his passion for music and radio," he said.

Mr Laycock's radio career spanned four decades, during which he worked on Radio 2, BBC London and the BBC World Service as well as helping to set up London's Jazz FM.

He was awarded a Sony Radio Award for his programme Billie Holiday In Her Own Words.

He produced many programmes for Radio 2 including Voices and Back Numbers, and documentaries on Nat King Cole, Josh White and Harlem's Savoy Ballroom.

Mr Laycock was also known internationally for his broadcasts for BBC World Service.

These included six years presenting the weekly Jazz For The Asking programme, and for his many series of Kings Of Swing and The Big Band Singers, and for the documentary Glenn Miller - The Legacy.

Maggie Jones



Coronation Street actress Maggie Jones died this morning, aged 75.

The actress, who played the much-loved soap character Blanche Hunt, passed away in hospital after losing a long battle with illness.

Jones, who studied at the RADA drama school, first appeared in Coronation Street in 1961 as a policewoman. She was granted a full time role as Blanche, the mother of Dierdre, 13 years later and remained on the show until 1976.

She made several reappearances in the shows for events such as Deirdre's marriage to Ken Barlow in 1981 and the birth of her grandchild Tracy 1977. Jones was made a full-time cast member in 1999.

In 2005 and 2008, Jones won the British Soap Award for 'Best Comedy Performance' for her role on the ITV1 soap. She appeared in more that 830 episodes of the show.

Earlier this month, Jones was said to be in a critical condition after being rushed to hospital for life-saving surgery. However, producers later said that the 75-year-old was starting to improve. An ITV representative later added that the soap star was "continuing in the same direction" as she continued to be cared for at Hope Hospital in Salford.

In a statement, an ITV spokesperson said: "It is with great sadness that ITV announces that Coronation Street actress Maggie Jones has today passed away aged 75. Maggie, who has played battle-axe pensioner Blanche Hunt since 1974, died at the Salford Royal Hospital where she has been treated since falling ill in October. Maggie had been making a slow recovery but her condition deteriorated early Wednesday morning and she passed away peacefully in her sleep."

Funeral arrangements are now being made for the actress.

Jean Simmons



British film actress Jean Simmons, who played Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet and sang with Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls, has died aged 80.

She was born in London and starred in her first film aged 14. She starred opposite Laurence Olivier as Ophelia in his 1948 production of Hamlet. After moving to Hollywood in 1950, Simmons acted in a number of successful films including Guys and Dolls, alongside Marlon Brando. She was nominated for two Oscars and won an Emmy award for television work.

She had been suffering from lung cancer for some time.

The actress, who moved to Hollywood in 1950, first made her name playing Estella in 1946's Great Expectations.

She went on to become one of Hollywood's leading ladies, starring alongside Gregory Peck, Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas.

British film actress Jean Simmons has died aged 80 and she will be missed!

Alexander McQueen



The UK fashion designed Alexander McQueen aged 40 has been found dead. His office confirmed that he was found at his London home this morning. Paramedics called to the Mayfair property pronounced him dead at the scene. Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious.

A statement said his family were "devastated" at the "tragic news", and added that they shared "a sense of shock and grief".

A former British Designer of the Year winner, London-born Mr McQueen started his career as an apprentice in Savile Row, where he learned how to make jackets at Gieves and Hawkes.

His death came days before London Fashion Week, and as final preparations were being made for a spring collection to be unveiled in Paris. Tributes from across the fashion world have been paid to Mr McQueen.

British Fashion designer Alexander McQueen has been found dead aged 40.