time

Joseph Delaney. fantasy author has died aged 77. His most notable work is the Spook's series, the first of which was made into a film, The Seventh Son, with Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges & Julianne Moore.

Was this the case for the 1966 Le Mans? You may have to make that argument with Ford, who are also of the opinion that McLaren won by virtue of his starting position on the grid. The following from Ford's website explains the photograph.

No, the winner in a 24 hour race is the car that drives the furthest in 24 hours, is it not?

Jazz pianist & Clarinettist Butch Thompson dead aged 78. Also notable for being the 'house pianist' on A Prairie Home Companion, from its 2nd episode, and for the next 12 years.

Margaret Hamilton is 86 today. Hamilton was director of MIT's Instrumentation Lab's Software Engineering Division, responsible for the development of flight software for NASA's Apollo missions.

Fifty-six years since the death of British racing driver & engineer Ken Miles. He's particularly remembered for his working relationship with Carroll Shelby, which produced the Ford GT Mk II and resulted in victory over Ferrari in the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour, though he was denied victory himself because of Ford's desire to see their three cars cross the line together; thus, as Bruce McLaren's car started further back, he was deemed the winner by virtue of the fact that he'd covered more distance. Victory would have given Miles the unique distinction of having won the Daytona 24-hour, the Sebring 12-hour and the Le Mans 24-hour in the same season. Following the success of the MkII, he was testing its planned successor, the J-Car, at Riverside International Raceway, California, when at the end of a 200mph downhill section the car suddenly lifted, overturned and ejected Miles, killing him instantly. He was 47. This was the second fatality (Walt Hansgen beaming the first) caused by the J-Car, and it was much modified, becoming eventually the Mk IV, which won the only two races in which it was entered., the 1967 Sebring & Le Mans.

It's 25 years since the death of Canada's King of the Yodellers, Donn Reynolds, aged 76 from complications of Alzheimer's. He recorded 8 albums and 38 singles in a 40 year career which took him all over the world, recording in London under Joe Meek's engineering. He held 2 Guinness World records, one for continuous yodelling for 7 hours, 29 minutes, and one for 'fastest yodeller' in 1984, achieving 5 tones in 1.9 seconds, a record he broke on BBCs Record Breakers in 1990, achieving the same feat in 0.93 seconds.

Singer & actor Ketty Lester is 88 today. Her biggest hit, Love Letters (1961), reached number 5 in the US and number 4 in the UK (Incidentally, the same position Alison Moyet would reach over 25 years later, and higher than the Elvis version). Her version also features in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. In the 1970s she retired from commercial singing (though she released a Christian album in 1984) and turned to acting, appearing in a number of films, but more often in TV roles, including regular appearances in Little House on the Prairie and Days of our Lives.

Marshall Napier, New Zealand born actor with a list of credits as long as your arm encompassing theatre, TV and cinema, has died aged 70, from brain cancer. Appeared in many NZ/Aus TV programmes.

Sir Oliver Popplewell is 95 today. A retired judge, he chaired the Bradford City Valley Parade fire enquiry, presided over the Aitken versus The Guardian libel case and is reported to have asked "What is Linford's lunchbox?". He incurred the wrath of Liverpool, by stating that the families of the Hillsbrough victims should behave more like those of the Bradford victims (i.e. quiet and dignified). An amateur cricketer - wicketkeeper/batter, he played for Cambridge University and Free Foresters, and was President of the MCC from 1994 to 1996. One of his sons is Nigel Popplewell, who played for Somerset from 1979 to 1985 before retiring to resume his legal studies. After his retirement, he returned to education taking a PPE degree at Hams Manchester College, Oxford University, graduating aged 79. He's also Stephen Fry's godfather (and defended him when Fry was tried for credit card fraud in 1975).

The Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans dead at 72.

Yes, by someone who didn't include the name in his post, so it didn't show up in a search. I make no apologies.

Twenty-four years since the death of Rosemary Martin, aged 61. One of those faces that was more or less a permanent fixture on British TV, she appeared such diverse shows as EastEnders, Tenko, Outside Edge & Pennies From Heaven. IMDb lists 100 acting credits.

Denise Dowse Dead

I suggest you read the first post of this thread. The first person mentioned is "The peoples Princess", who, if I'm not mistaken, was a PASSENGER. The second person mentioned is Jayne Mansfield, who, if I'm not mistaken, was a PASSENGER. The third person mentioned is Eddie Cochrane, who, if I'm not mistaken, was a PASSENGER.

Jaak Daemen, last veteran of the Belgian SAS has died aged 97. The Belgian SAS Squadron, more correctly the 5th SAS Squadron was formed in 1944, comprising entirely Belgian volunteers, to perform acts of sabotage and gather intelligence behind enemy lines. They were transferred from the British Army to The Belgian Army at the conclusion of the war, becoming the 1st Regiment of Parachutists.

British writer Terence Feely died 22 years ago today, aged 72. Born & brought up in Liverpool, he found a job on a Middlesbrough provincial newspaper on graduation. He soon tired of this and moved to London, working on Fleet Street. He began writing film scripts, one of which was purchased by Alfred Hitchcock (though no film seems to have been produced). Venturing into television he wrote scripts for the popular programmes of the day, No Hiding Place, The Avengers, The Saint, Thunderbirds, before bringing Callan to the screen. Moving to the British subsidiary of Paramount, he was partly responsible for the production of Lindsay Anderson's If... He joined Patrick McGoohan and David Tomblin in setting up Everyman films, producers of The Prisoner, for which he also wrote episodes. The 70s & 80s saw more of his scrips, for programmes such as U.F.O., Space: 1999, The Persuaders & The Protectors As well as writing for TV, he also created the ITV Series The Gentle Touch, and its spin-off C.A.T.S. Eyes.

Roger E Mosley, Rudi Koertzen & Anne Heche. I expect there's been a few more in the 11 years the thread's been dormant (that mathematician feller & his missus, for example)..

Its ten years since we were here How the fuck is it 10 years already?

Its 34 years since the death of Jean-Michel Basquiat, New York artist. he was the first black artist to achieve international acclaim. Part of the "Neo-expressionism" movement, his art focused on social injustice and black culture and identity. (picture by Warhol) He began smoking pot in his teens, and ran away from home aged 15 after his father caught him. He progressed to cocaine and then heroin - "The more money Basquiat made, the more paranoid and deeply involved with drugs he became," wrote journalist Michael Shnayerson. Its suggested that his drug use was a way of coping with being a black man in a predominantly white environment (i.e. the art world). A contemporary & friend of Andy Warhol, it's said his heroin addiction exacerbated by Warhol's death. Basquiat was discovered unresponsive by his girlfriend in his Manhattan apartment and was pronounced DOA from a heroin overdose on arrival at hospital. He was 27.

Mrs. Wolowitz, Edinburgh zoo's oldest penguin, a 35 yo Rockhopper, dead following a fox attack. (Maybe this solves the mystery of what happened to @rockhopper penguin)

Aaron Latham, who co-wrote Urban Cowboy & Perfect, both inspired by his own magazine articles, died July 23, aged 78, complications of Parkinson's disease. He was also husband of 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl.

American actress Anne Ramsey* died 34 years ago today. She became interested in theatre at college, and subsequently appeared in several Broadway productions during the 50s, during which time she met and married fellow thespian Logan Ramsey. Together they started the Theatre of The LIving Arts in a declining theatre operation in Philadelphia. She began a successful Hollywood career in the 70s, appearing alongside her husband in 7 productions, but is probably mostly remembered for her roles as Mama Fratelli in The Goonies and as the eponymous Momma in Throw Momma from The Train (for which she earned Academy Award & Golden Globe nominations). She had a distinctive 'slurred speech', caused by removal of part of her tongue and jaw to combat oesophageal cancer. The cancer later returned and claimed her life aged 59. *Not to be confused with Aaron Ramsey.

FB post from Ray's son says they "passed on within days of each other"; lots of others also posting messages. Seems they last performed together only a couple of weeks ago.

Pat Liney, Scottish League Championship winning goalkeeper with Dundee (1961-62) and a long career with Bradford, has died aged 86.