Famous LGBTQ+ People from The United Kingdom
Famous homosexuals from the United Kingdom are listed here for your informational use. The members of the LGBT community of Britain include the British homosexuals listed here. Famous British gay people include author and comedian Stephen Fry and lesbian actress Saffron Burrows. You can sort this list by column, including name, birth year, and birthplace. You can also use this list of notable gay Brits to start your own people list.
- Dec. at 45 (1946-1991)Born as Farrokh Bulsara in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, Freddie Mercury is globally celebrated for his exceptional talent and charisma. He moved to England at a young age where he studied art and design at Ealing Art College, London. This education would later influence many of Queen's album covers that he designed himself. In 1970, Mercury teamed up with Brian May and Roger Taylor to form the rock band Queen, which soon became an international sensation. Mercury's distinctive voice had a remarkable range that spanned over four octaves. His flamboyant stage presence and powerful vocals made him one of the most beloved entertainers in rock music history. As the primary lyricist for Queen, Mercury penned numerous hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", and "We Are The Champions". These songs not only topped charts during their time but continue to be classics even today. Despite his early demise due to complications from AIDS at the age of 45 in 1991, Mercury remains an iconic figure in popular culture. His life was immortalized on screen through the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody which won multiple awards worldwide. Today Freddie Mercury continues to inspire millions with his music legacy - a testament to his unparalleled contribution as a musician, performer and cultural icon.
- Age: 86Sir Ian McKellen, a shining beacon in the world of theater and film, hails from Burnley, England. Born on May 25, 1939, his passion for acting was ignited at an early age when he attended his first theatre performance with his family. McKellen's talent and dedication led him to study drama at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he became a member of the prestigious Marlowe Society. His exceptional performances during this time garnered attention and marked the beginning of his illustrious career. McKellen's array of work is vast and varied, spanning across stage, television, and cinema. He gained prominence in the theatre scene with his performances in Shakespearean plays such as Macbeth, King Lear, and Richard III. His mastery over the craft earned him several accolades, including multiple Laurence Olivier Awards. The transition to screen was equally successful for McKellen. He demonstrated his versatility by portraying diverse characters, ranging from historical figures to fantasy icons. No character is perhaps more iconic than Gandalf in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series, a role that etched McKellen's name in the annals of cinematic history. Off-screen, McKellen is a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. He publicly announced his homosexuality in 1988 and has since been a prominent figure in the fight for equality. He co-founded Stonewall, a UK-based LGBTQ+ rights charity, and has used his platform to raise awareness and promote acceptance worldwide. Knighted in 1991 for his services to the performing arts, Sir Ian McKellen's impact goes beyond his remarkable acting prowess. His tireless activism and ground-breaking roles have made him an enduring symbol of resilience and creativity in the face of adversity.
- Age: 62George Michael, born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London on June 25, 1963, was a British singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! His distinctively soulful voice and flair for pop melody made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. Michael's musical journey began in the early 1980s with Wham!, alongside his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. Their breakthrough came with their debut album Fantastic, which topped the UK charts. The duo's pop-dance sound became a defining emblem of the 80s, with hits like "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Last Christmas". Michael's solo career took flight in 1987 with his debut album Faith. The album, which blended elements of pop, soul, and rock, sold over 25 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy for Album of the Year. It produced several hit singles, including I Want Your Sex, Father Figure, and the title track Faith. Throughout his career, Michael was known for his versatility, seamlessly transitioning from teen pop to mature soul and tackling social issues in his lyrics. His honesty about his personal life made him a prominent voice in the LGBTQ+ community. George Michael passed away on December 25, 2016, but his legacy continues to live on through his music. His contribution to pop music and his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights have cemented his place in the annals of music history.
- Age: 59Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at age 16, she began appearing as a topless model on Page 3 of British tabloid newspaper The Sun, and continued as a Page 3 girl until 1986. During this time, she became the most popular pin-up girl of her era, as well as one of the most photographed British women of the 1980s. In 1986, she launched a pop music career with her debut single "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", which peaked at number-one in 17 countries. In 1988, Fox received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Artist. She has also appeared in a number of films and reality television shows, and has occasionally worked as a television presenter.
- Age: 67Stephen Fry, a multifaceted British talent, has made immense contributions to the world of arts and literature. Born on August 24, 1957, in London, England, he spent his early years navigating through a challenging educational journey due to his struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Despite these trials, he found solace in the realms of drama and comedy, ultimately securing a place at Queens' College, Cambridge. Here, he became an integral part of the Cambridge Footlights, a student comedy troupe that has been a springboard for many successful British comedians. Fry's career took off in the 1980s when he teamed up with fellow Cambridge alumnus Hugh Laurie to create the sketch comedy show A Bit of Fry & Laurie. The show was a massive hit, catapulting both performers into the spotlight. This was just the beginning for Fry, who would go on to star in a multitude of films and television series, including the globally acclaimed Jeeves and Wooster and Blackadder. His versatility is evident in his ability to effortlessly transition between dramatic roles and comedic performances. Apart from acting, Fry is an accomplished writer and presenter. His extensive bibliography spans across genres, from novels like The Liar and Making History, to non-fiction works such as Moab Is My Washpot, a candid account of his early life. Moreover, his distinct narrative style and rich voice have made him a sought-after choice for audiobook narration, most notably for the Harry Potter series. In addition, Fry has presented several critically acclaimed documentaries on a diverse range of topics, further cementing his status as a versatile artist. Throughout his career, Stephen Fry has consistently demonstrated an uncanny ability to captivate audiences, making him a cherished figure in the entertainment industry.
- Age: 64Boy George, born as George Alan O'Dowd on June 14, 1961, in Eltham, London, is a renowned British singer-songwriter, fashion designer, DJ, and photographer. He gained international fame during the 1980s as the lead vocalist of the pop band Culture Club, known for their blend of soul, reggae, and new wave music. The band's hits such as "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "Karma Chameleon" catapulted them to stardom, making Boy George a household name. George's distinct androgynous style played a significant role in his public persona, making him a style icon of the 1980s. His unique image, characterized by his flamboyant outfits and heavy make-up, challenged the conventional norms of pop music, adding vibrancy to the era's music scene. Beyond his musical career, George also made waves in the fashion world. He launched his own fashion line, B-Rude, showcasing his avant-garde design sensibility. Over the years, George also explored other creative avenues beyond music and fashion. He delved into photography, exhibiting his work in various galleries around the world. He also authored two autobiographies, providing fans with a glimpse into his personal life and professional journey. Boy George remains a resilient figure in the entertainment industry, demonstrating his versatility and creativity across multiple platforms. His influence continues to be felt in music, fashion, and popular culture.
- Dec. at 41 (1912-1954)Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. Despite these accomplishments, he was not fully recognised in his home country during his lifetime, due to his homosexuality, and because much of his work was covered by the Official Secrets Act. During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre that produced Ultra intelligence. For a time he led Hut 8, the section that was responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. Here, he devised a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. Turing played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic, and in so doing helped win the war. Due to the problems of counterfactual history, it's hard to estimate what effect Ultra intelligence had on the war, but at the upper end it has been estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by more than two years and saved over 14 million lives.After the war, Turing worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he designed the Automatic Computing Engine, which was one of the first designs for a stored-program computer. In 1948, Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Machine Laboratory at the Victoria University of Manchester, where he helped develop the Manchester computers and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis and predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, first observed in the 1960s. Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts; the Labouchere Amendment of 1885 had mandated that "gross indecency" was a criminal offence in the UK. He accepted chemical castration treatment, with DES, as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning. In 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a posthumous pardon in 2013. The Alan Turing law is now an informal term for a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.On 15 July 2019 the Bank of England announced that Turing would be depicted on the United Kingdom's new £50 note.
- Age: 49Flamboyant British comedian Alan Carr was born in Weymouth, Dorset and later lived in Northampton, where he worked a variety of uninspiring jobs and dreamed of pursuing a life as an entertainer. He studied drama and theatre at Middlesex University, but his true passion lived on the stand-up stage, where he spent his formative comedic years. In 2001, the BBC honored Carr with the "Best New Stand-Up" Award, and that exposure led to a variety of successful television appearances--including a 2004 spot on chat show "Today with Des and Mel" and a 2006 fling on the anagram-driven game show "Countdown." In 2008, riding high on his newfound celebrity, Carr developed his own show: "Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong," an extremely quirky blend of game show, celebrity gossip and all-around wackiness that served as a perfect summation of his low-brow style. Although the program lasted only two short seasons (at a whopping total of 12 episodes), it led to plenty of other work, including a stand-up gig that same year on the BBC program "Live at the Apollo." With the Channel 4 talk show "Alan Carr: Chatty Man," which premiered in 2009, Carr found a longer-lasting host position, earning critical acclaim and huge ratings while chatting with some of the world's biggest celebrities.
- Age: 66Known for his exaggerated glam appearance wearing heavy makeup and his love of risqué innuendo, Julian Clary is a leading star of British alternative comedy and a popular celebrity guest on various talk and panel shows. He first came to prominence working the alternative comedy circuit under various aliases, including Gillian Pieface and The Joan Collins Fanclub. His frequent appearances on the late-night sketch comedy program "Friday Night Live" and his hosting duties on the game show "Sticky Moments with Julian Clary," which ran for two seasons, brought his unique brand of comedy to a whole new audience. His expertise at improvisation served him well on other shows involving a live audience, including "Whose Line is it Anyway?," "Room 101," and "It's Only TV... But I Like It," the latter program a game show hosted by Jonathan Ross. The comedian also played a judge who presided over disputes, much like the U.S. courtroom show "Judge Judy," in "All Rise for Julian Clary," and he was a regular performer on "ITV Panto," a series of musical-comedy skits filmed before a live audience. Although most of his work has been for the small screen or for the stage, Clary has appeared in the occasional feature film, such as the 1992 revamp of the "Carry On" series entitled, "Carry On Columbus," a parody of historical epics and explorer Christopher Columbus. He also guest starred in the mystery series "Virtual Murder," playing an undertaker.
- Age: 46William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor from Wokingham, England, who came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the worldwide Idol franchise. His double A-sided debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" was released two weeks after the show's finale and became the fastest-selling debut single in the UK. Young also came in fifth place in World Idol performing the single "Light My Fire" written by the band the Doors. As a teenager, Young studied politics at the University of Exeter before moving to London, where he studied musical theatre at Arts Educational School. Young put his studies on hold in late 2001 to become a contestant on Pop Idol. After winning the competition the following year, he released his debut album From Now On (2002) which went straight to number one. Friday's Child (2003) followed and enjoyed greater success, eventually going platinum five times in the UK and spawning three top five singles. His following albums Keep On (2005), Let It Go (2008) and Echoes (2011) also went multi-platinum and his most recent release 85% Proof (2015) became his fourth UK number-one album. His albums have spawned many songs that have achieved top ten positions in the UK, four of which went to the number one spot. Young has also undertaken numerous concert tours, and has accumulated multiple honours, including two Brit Awards from 12 nominations, and the estimated worldwide sale of over eight million albums. Young's net worth was estimated at £13.5 million in April 2012.Alongside his music career, Young has acted in film, on stage and in television. For his performance in the 2013 London revival of the musical Cabaret, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He has also participated in philanthropy and released books Anything is Possible (2002), On Camera, Off Duty (2004) and his autobiography Funny Peculiar (2012).
- Dec. at 62 (1955-2018)Dale Winton was an English actor who appeared in "Trainspotting."
- Age: 79Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 – 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men between 1978 and 1983 in London, England. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder, Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 November 1983, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years. In his later years, he was incarcerated at Full Sutton maximum security prison. All of Nilsen's murders were committed in the two North London addresses in which he resided between 1978 and 1983. His victims would be lured to these addresses through guile and killed by strangulation, sometimes accompanied by drowning. Following each murder, Nilsen would observe a ritual in which he bathed and dressed the victim's body, which he retained for extended periods of time, before dissecting and disposing of the remains by burning on a bonfire or flushing down a lavatory. Nilsen became known as the Muswell Hill Murderer, as he committed his later murders in the Muswell Hill district of North London. He died in prison on 12 May 2018.
- Age: 67Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell. He has also had a diverse career as a solo artist. His collaborations include a duet with Gene Pitney on the 1989 UK number one single "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart". Almond's career spanning over four decades has enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim, and he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. He spent a month in a coma after a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2004 and later became a patron of the brain trauma charity Headway.He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to arts and culture.
- Dec. at 48 (1941-1989)On the surface, Graham Chapman seemed the sanest of Britain's Monty Python troupe - he was tall, well-spoken and apparently possessed of refined manners. That veneer soon fell away within minutes of the launch of a sketch, whereupon Chapman would erupt into arias of mad behavior that skewered not only his own appearance, but the staid gentility of England's upper class. He found that streak of inspired insanity while a student at Cambridge, and with fellow alum John Cleese, began contributing to UK television and radio comedies. In 1969, he and Cleese teamed with Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones to form Monty Python, an unbridled comedy troupe whose stream of consciousness approach would have a lasting impact on world humor for decades to come. Chapman remained with Python until his untimely death in 1989, which robbed audiences of one of the most irreverent minds in entertainment.
- Dec. at 67 (1955-2023)Paul James O'Grady MBE DL (June 14, 1955 – March 28, 2023) was an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer, and drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag queen persona Lily Savage, through which he gained broader popularity in the 1990s. O'Grady subsequently dropped the character and in the 2000s became the presenter of various television and radio shows, including The Paul O'Grady Show. After being nominated for a 1992 Perrier Award, O'Grady attracted mainstream attention and made various television, radio, and theatrical appearances. Wishing to diversify from Savage, O'Grady starred in the BBC One sitcom Eyes Down (2003–2004) and presented two travel documentaries for ITV. Later, O'Grady presented the late night ITV show Paul O'Grady Live (2010–2011) and BBC Radio 2's Paul O'Grady on the Wireless (2009–2022). Additional television shows included Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs (2012–2022).
- Dec. at 62 (1926-1988)Kenneth Williams was an actor who appeared in "Carry on Behind," "Carry on Camping," and "Carry on Cleo."
- Age: 66Rupert Everett is a prominent figure in the entertainment industry, known for his charisma and refined acting skills. Born in Norfolk, England, on 29th May 1959, he embarked on his acting journey at a young age, leaving school at 16 to study drama in London. His superior command of the stage combined with his innate talent for captivating an audience soon landed him roles in prestigious theater productions. The ascent of Everett's career can be mapped through his performances, beginning from his debut role in the West End production of Another Country to his celebrated performances in plays such as The Vortex. Everett's transition from stage to screen was marked by the same intensity and gravitas that defined his theatre career. His breakthrough role came in 1984 when he starred in the film adaptation of Another Country, earning acclaim for his portrayal of an openly gay student in an English public school. This launched him into the international spotlight, leading to roles in films like The Comfort of Strangers, Cemetery man, and My Best Friend's Wedding. His performance in the latter earned him a Golden Globe nomination, solidifying his place in Hollywood. Beyond his acting career, Everett has also made strides as a writer. His memoirs, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins and Vanished Years, provide insightful glimpses into his life and experiences in the entertainment industry. He keenly documents his encounters with various personalities, his struggles within the industry, and his life beyond the glitz and glamour. His writing is noted for its wit, candor, and intimate portrayal of a life lived in the spotlight.
- Age: 55A regular face on British television since the mid-90s, Sue Perkins was usually seen with her comedic partner Mel Giedroyc, whom she performed with under the name Mel and Sue. Born in London in 1969, Perkins studied English at Cambridge, where she became a member of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club. It was there that she met Giedroyc, whom she would collaborate with on their first television gig in 1996 writing for the sketch comedy series "French and Saunders" (BBC, 1987-). The two even appeared in a number of episodes, setting the stage for their next big break the following year, when they began hosting the morning chat show "Light Lunch" (Channel 4, 1997-98), which was later given a primetime slot and renamed "Late Lunch" (Channel 4, 1998-99). Over the coming years, Perkins would appear on countless shows, acting as team captain on "Win, Lose or Draw Late" (ITV, 2004-05), participating in "The Supersizers Eat" (BBC, 2007-08), and appearing as a panelist on everything from "The Graham Norton Show" (BBC, 2007-) to "Celebrity Squares" (ITV, 2014-). Perkins' profile would raise even higher when she and Giedroyc began hosting "The Great British Bake Off" (BBC, 2010-) in 2010, a competitive reality series that would become one of the most popular shows in Britain. The two would stay with the series until its move to Channel 4 in 2016.
- Age: 43Russell Tovey was an English actor who in the States was best known for playing the role of Harry Doyle on the thriller series "Quantico" (ABC, 2015- ). Born and raised in Essex, Tovey was inspired to become an actor at a very young age after watching the American films "The Goonies" (1985) and "Stand by Me" (1986). He eventually convinced his parents to start taking him on auditions, and at the age of 11 had nabbed his very first role on the children's show "Mud" (BBC One, 1994-95). Although the show was cancelled after a single season, Tovey remained undeterred. Instead of returning to screen-acting, however, he focused his attention on stage acting. Within a few years Tovey was appearing on stages all across London in high-profile productions of such popular plays as "His Girl Friday" and "The History Boys." While making a name for himself as a stage actor, Tovey gradually made his return to screen acting. In the 2000s he landed parts on TV shows like "The Bill" (ITV, 1984-2010) and "Messiah IV: The Harrowing" (BBC One, 2001-08), and even reprised his stage role in the film adaptation of "The History Boys" (2006). In 2008 Tovey nabbed his breakout role across the pond when he began appearing as the werewolf George Sands on the supernatural series "Being Human" (BBC Three, 2008-2013). Then in 2014 Tovey became a familiar face in the U.S. when he joined the cast of the HBO series "Looking" (HBO, 2014-15). That series lasted for two seasons on the premium cable network. With his acting career gaining steam in America Tovey nabbed his biggest role to date when in 2016 he was cast on the ABC thriller series "Quantico." Tovey played the CIA recruit Harry Doyle on the series, which premiered on ABC in September of 2015.
- Age: 73Michael Ciaran Parker (born 4 May 1952), better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English comedian and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music and Kids Say the Funniest Things. In 1993 he headlined the Royal Variety Performance. At his peak Barrymore was voted the UK's favourite television star several times, and became one of the highest-paid stars on television. He presented the popular game-show Strike It Lucky as well as his own variety show Barrymore. He starred in Bob Martin from 2000 to 2001, a comedy drama in which he played the title role of a failing television game-show host. Since his peak of popularity in the mid-1990s, Barrymore has appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and other shows including The Friday Night Project, Graham Norton's Bigger Picture, This Morning, The Sharon Osbourne Show and The Saturday Night Show. His television career effectively ended after the death of Stuart Lubbock in 2001 following a party at Barrymore's house. Barrymore was the subject of police investigations and legal action around the case over several years.
- Age: 51First gaining mainstream exposure on the quiz show "Shooting Stars" (BBC, 1993-2002), British comic Matt Lucas endeared millions of viewers as a giant baby who delivered gags behind a drum set before giving out the scores. Alongside his longtime onscreen partner, David Walliams, Lucas hosted "Rock Profile" (BBC, 1999-2000), an MTV-like spoof talk show where he impersonated some of music's biggest acts. But it was the duo's comedy sketch series "Little Britain" (BBC, 2003-06) that thrust his career to meteoric heights. On the hit series, Lucas transformed into some of the most outrageous and memorable fictional characters ever seen on British television. His uncanny ability to alter his appearance propelled him to feature films like "Shaun of the Dead" (2003), which granted him entrée to Hollywood. Eventually, he landed the plum role of the egg-shaped twin brothers Tweedledee and Tweedledum in "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), opposite Johnny Depp, which introduced Lucas to a worldwide audience and cemented his reputation as a consummate comedian who did whatever was necessary to get a laugh.
- Dec. at 75 (1917-1992)Francis Alick Howard, (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.
- Dec. at 50 (1944-1995)Kenny Everett (25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was a British comedian and radio disc jockey known for his irreverent, offbeat comedic style and easy-going personality. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid 1960s, he was one of the first DJs to join BBC radio's newly-created Radio 1 in 1967. It was here he developed his trademark voices and surreal characters which he later adapted for TV. Everett was dismissed from the BBC in 1970 after making remarks about a government minister’s wife. He returned to commercial radio when it became licensed in the UK and joined Capital Radio. Starting in the late 1970s, he transitioned to television where he made numerous comedy series on ITV and BBC often appearing with Cleo Rocos, whose glamorous and curvaceous figure was often used to comic effect. Everett was a politically right-of-centre media star who openly supported the British Conservative Party and made publicity appearances at conferences and rallies. However, as a gay man, he faced criticism for supporting the UK Conservative government after it had enacted Section 28, a clause of the Local Government Act which allowed councils to opt-out of 'promoting' homosexual issues. Everett was a highly versatile performer, able to write his own scripts, compose jingles and operate advanced recording and mixing equipment. His personality also made him a regular guest on chat shows and panel programmes like Blankety Blank. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1989 and died in 1995.
- Dec. at 63 (1899-1962)Charles Laughton, born in Scarborough, England in 1899, was a renowned actor and director who made a significant impact on the world of dramatic arts throughout the mid-20th century. He was the son of Eliza Conlon and Robert Laughton, owners of a hotel business, but his interest deviated from his family's trade to the performing arts. After serving in World War I and graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Laughton embarked on a career that spanned nearly four decades, earning him recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. Laughton's diverse acting portfolio ranged from stage performances in his native England to Hollywood blockbusters. His breakthrough role came in the form of Henry VIII in the film The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), which showcased his exceptional skill for character interpretation and won him an Academy Award for Best Actor. Laughton's incredible talent allowed him to seamlessly transition between genres, from historical dramas like Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) to suspenseful thrillers such as The Night of the Hunter (1955), in which he also took on the role of director. Despite his remarkable success in film, Laughton never abandoned his love for the theater. He co-founded a production company with his wife, Elsa Lanchester, which introduced American audiences to many classic plays. Furthermore, his one-man show, Charles Laughton Reads from Great Literature, won rave reviews and demonstrated his masterful command of language. Beyond his theatrical prowess, Laughton was also a vocal advocate for civil rights. Charles Laughton passed away in 1962, leaving behind an impressive legacy in entertainment history.
- Dec. at 62 (1883-1946)John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( KAYNZ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was a British economist, trained mathematician, whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. He built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles, and was one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. Widely considered the founder of modern macroeconomics, his ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, and its various offshoots.During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Keynes spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking, challenging the ideas of neoclassical economics that held that free markets would, in the short to medium term, automatically provide full employment, as long as workers were flexible in their wage demands. He argued that aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) determined the overall level of economic activity, and that inadequate aggregate demand could lead to prolonged periods of high unemployment. Keynes advocated the use of fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions and depressions. He detailed these ideas in his magnum opus, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936. In the mid to late-1930s, leading Western economies adopted Keynes's policy recommendations. Almost all capitalist governments had done so by the end of the two decades following Keynes's death in 1946. As a leader of the British delegation, Keynes participated in the design of the international economic institutions established after the end of World War II but was overruled by the American delegation on several aspects. Keynes's influence started to wane in the 1970s, partly as a result of the stagflation that plagued the Anglo-American economies during that decade, and partly because of criticism of Keynesian policies by Milton Friedman and other monetarists, who disputed the ability of government to favorably regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy. However, the advent of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 sparked a resurgence in Keynesian thought. Keynesian economics provided the theoretical underpinning for economic policies undertaken in response to the crisis by President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, and other heads of governments.When Time magazine included Keynes among its Most Important People of the Century in 1999, it stated that "his radical idea that governments should spend money they don't have may have saved capitalism." The Economist has described Keynes as "Britain's most famous 20th-century economist." In addition to being an economist, Keynes was also a civil servant, a director of the Bank of England, and a part of the Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals.
- Dec. at 96 (1904-2000)Born in London in 1904, Sir Arthur John Gielgud was one of the most significant figures in the British theater scene for over half a century. He belonged to the Terry-Gielgud dynasty, an eminent family steeped in theatrical tradition. Gielgud received his education at Westminster School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His early roles in plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Hamlet, both performed during the late 1920s and early 1930s, solidified his reputation as a powerful stage actor and earned him immediate recognition. Gielgud's multifaceted career extended beyond the confines of the stage. He made notable appearances in film and television, proving his versatility across different mediums. His performances in films like Julius Caesar (1953), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and Arthur (1981) exemplify his wide range. The latter role won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Despite these achievements, Gielgud never abandoned his primary passion for the theater, directing acclaimed productions of classics like The School for Scandal and King Lear. Sir John Gielgud was honored with numerous accolades throughout his illustrious career. In addition to his Academy Award, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 for his services to the performing arts, and later received a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award. His immense contributions to theater, film, and television left an indelible imprint on the world of entertainment. Gielgud passed away in 2000, but his legacy continues to influence generations of actors and theater enthusiasts worldwide.
- Age: 54Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, and author. Since his television debut with Derren Brown: Mind Control in 2000, Brown has produced several other shows for the stage and television in both series and specials. His 2006 stage show Something Wicked This Way Comes and his 2012 show Svengali won him two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment. He has also written books for magicians as well as the general public. Brown does not claim to possess any supernatural powers and his acts are often designed to expose the methods of those who do assert such claims, such as faith healers and mediums. In his performances, he often says that his effects are achieved through "magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection, and showmanship".
- Age: 74Michael Maurice Cashman, Baron Cashman, (born 17 December 1950) is a non-affiliated politician and former actor. He was a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency from 1999 until he stood down in 2014. He has since then been appointed to the House of Lords. On 23 September 2014, Cashman was appointed the Labour Party's special envoy on LGBT issues worldwide. He resigned from the Labour Party on 22 May 2019 and offered his support to the Liberal Democrats.
- Age: 59Jeremy Sheffield is an English actor who appeared in "The Children," "Last Chance Harvey," and "Dancing On Ice."
- Age: 76Christopher Kenneth Biggins (born 16 December 1948) is an English actor and television presenter. He is best known for his role as Lukewarm in the BBC sitcom Porridge.
- Dec. at 72 (1929-2001)The ultimate late-bloomer, British character player Nigel Hawthorne had nearly 45 years as an actor under his belt when he finally broke through to stardom with his compelling performance in the title role of "The Madness of King George" (1994). On stage, the role earned him an Olivier Award (among other honors), while the film version garnered both a BAFTA Award and a Best Actor Oscar nomination. But were it not for the insistence of playwright Alan Bennett and first-time feature director Nicholas Hytner (who had directed the play "The Madness of George III"), the role probably would have gone to someone with a more prominent Hollywood profile. Hawthorne's ability to be endearing in the part of a pompous, autocratic old bastard moved Bennett to write in the play's preface that "without Nigel's transcendent performance, the King could have just been a gabbling bore and his fate a matter of indifference." Hytner has said of the film: "We wouldn't have been able to do the movie in eight weeks if Nigel hadn't played it."
- Dec. at 71 (1935-2007)Frederick John Inman (28 June 1935 – 8 March 2007) known as John Inman, was an English actor and singer best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served?, a British sitcom between 1972 and 1985. He was also well known character actor in the United Kingdom as a pantomime dame.
- Age: 73Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is a British human rights campaigner, originally from Australia, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey in 1981. He was then denounced by party leader Michael Foot for allegedly supporting extra-parliamentary action against the Thatcher government. Labour subsequently allowed him to stand in the Bermondsey by-election in February 1983. In the 1990s he campaigned for LGBT rights through the direct action group OutRage!, which he co-founded. He has worked on various campaigns, such as Stop Murder Music against music lyrics allegedly inciting violence against LGBT people and writes and broadcasts on various human rights and social justice issues. He attempted a citizen's arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and again in 2001. In April 2004, he joined the Green Party of England and Wales and in 2007 was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate in the constituency of Oxford East, but in December 2009 announced he was standing down due to brain damage he says was caused by a bus accident as well as damage inflicted by Mugabe's bodyguards when Tatchell tried to arrest him in 2001, and by neo-Nazis in Moscow while campaigning for gay rights. Since 2013 he has been a full-time employee of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.
- Age: 47Samantha Judith Ronson (born 7 August 1977) is an English DJ and singer-songwriter who lives in Santa Monica, California.
- Dec. at 37 (1961-1998)Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu (; 19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out to the press later in his career, becoming the first professional footballer to be openly gay. He was also the first black footballer to command a £1million transfer fee, with his transfer from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in 1981, but had little success as a player afterwards, although he continued to play at senior level until 1994. After moving to the United States, in 1998 he was questioned by police when a seventeen-year-old boy accused him of sexual assault. He was charged, and an arrest warrant for him was issued in Howard County, Maryland on 3 April 1998, but he had already left his flat. According to his suicide note, fearing he would not get a fair trial because of his homosexuality, he fled to England where he killed himself in London in May 1998. His suicide note stated that the sex was consensual.
- Dec. at 91 (1879-1970)Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. Many of his novels examined class difference and hypocrisy, including A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). The last brought him his greatest success. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 16 different years.
- Age: 76Short, stocky triple-threat talent from the English stage. A deliciously rich character actor, Callow first won notice in 1979 when he originated the starring role of the abrasively immature Mozart in the National Theater's premiere production of Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus" and appeared as the opera impresario Emanuel Schikaneder in Milos Forman's film version (1984). He then went on to create a bevy of mostly comic supporting characters, notably in the Merchant-Ivory films based on E.M. Forster novels: "A Room With a View" (1986) as the Reverend Mr. Beebe and "Maurice" (1987) as schoolmaster Mr. Dulcie; he was also featured in their "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" (1990) and played Meryl Streep's sharp-tongued film director in Mike Nichols' "Postcards From the Edge" (1990).
- Dec. at 78 (1921-1999)With the refinement of Britain's national cinema after World War II came the rise of Dirk Bogarde as one of its shining stars. A former stage actor whom playwright Noël Coward begged not to forsake the theatre, Bogarde became a box office powerhouse with his charismatic performances as a cop killer in "The Blue Lamp" (1950) and as the medical school hero of "Doctor in the House" (1954). Equally adept at drama or comedy, Bogarde attracted the attention of Hollywood but his star turn as composer Franz Liszt in "Song Without End" (1960) came close to being a career-killer. At home, Bogarde gambled on his reputation as a romantic lead by accepting edgy roles in films that hinted at his safeguarded homosexuality, among them the fetish Western "The Singer Not the Song" (1960), the courtroom drama "Victim" (1960), and "The Servant" (1963), with Bogarde cast as a scheming valet who manipulates his naive employer. Having worked with such top-flight directors as Basil Dearden, John Schlesinger and John Frankenheimer, and enjoyed a long-running collaboration with American expatriate Joseph Losey, Bogarde capped his career on the Continent, making films in Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France for Luchino Visconti, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alain Renais, and Liliana Cavani. Felled by a stroke in 1996, Bogarde devoted his final years to finishing his memoirs, leaving behind at the time of his death in 1999 an admirable body of work and a detailed chronicle of a life lived entirely on his own terms.
- Age: 73Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is famous for his powerful wide-ranging voice and his trademark leather-and-studs image, both of which became iconic in heavy metal. In addition to his work with Judas Priest, he has been involved with several side projects, including Fight, Two, and Halford. AllMusic says of Halford: "There have been few vocalists in the history of heavy metal whose singing style has been as influential and instantly recognizable... able to effortlessly alternate between a throaty growl and an ear-splitting falsetto". Halford was voted number 33 in the greatest voices in rock by Planet Rock listeners in 2009. He was nicknamed "Metal God" by fans.
- Age: 51Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1974) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor, best known for presenting his show on BBC Radio 1. Mills has also been a UK commentator for the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Dec. at 73 (1899-1973)A prolific British playwright, songwriter and actor whose work reflected both an acidic modern cynicism and a sentimental longing for his Edwardian childhood, Noël Coward became one of the most successful and influential performing artists of the 20th century. From his time as a childhood actor on the stage, Coward achieved great critical and financial success, particularly after coming into his own as a playwright in the early 1920s with risqué hits like "The Better Half" (1922), "The Vortex" (1924) and "Easy Virtue" (1926). Thriving during the Great Depression, Coward saw many of his plays adapted into successful films like "Cavalcade" (1933) and "Design for Living" (1933), as well wrote his best known work, "Private Lives" (1931). Though his career was sidetracked by World War II, where he began a fruitful collaboration with David Lean on the wartime propaganda film "In Which We Serve" (1942). Lean successfully adapted the play "Blithe Spirit" (1945) and commissioned Coward to write an original script for "Brief Encounter" (1945). But after the war, Coward struggled to regain his prewar success with his pen, though he appeared more frequently on the big screen in films like "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956) and "Our Man in Havana" (1959). Following his last onscreen performance in "The Italian Job" (1969), Coward retired from acting and died just a few years later. With his elegant persona, Coward was a modern day Oscar Wilde whose charisma, talent and wit made him a major star both onstage and off.
- Age: 72Once hailed by Stephen King as the future of horror, author Clive Barker parlayed his success as a prose writer into a wide range of mediums, including films, visual arts and even video games. Barker was a true innovator in the horror genre, thanks in large part to his higher literary ambitions. But perhaps his greatest talent was his ability to cleverly recycle the old formulas with sexuality and over-the-top violence. By the mid-1990s, with a slew of best-selling novels, short story collections and comic book series bearing his name, the workaholic Barker was also a well-established presence in Hollywood, having written and directed the popular "Hellraiser" (1987), which spawned a long-running cult franchise that saw several theatrical and direct-to-DVD releases over the ensuing decades. Though occasionally stepping behind the camera for the likes of "Nightbreed" (1990) and "Lords of Illusion" (1995), Barker served more as an executive producer on a number of films, most of which were adapted from his novels and short stories. With his name attached to such horror fare as "Candyman" (1992) and "Hellraiser: Bloodlines" (1995), it came as a surprise to some when he executive produced the award-winning drama "Gods and Monsters" (1998), which focused on openly gay horror director James Whale. While delving into young adult novels on "The Books of Aharat" series and adult titles like "The Midnight Meat Train" (2008), Barker remained a thoughtful and articulate practitioner of the horror genre.
- Age: 70Neil Tennant brought his musical talents to a variety of films over the course of his Hollywood career. Tennant worked on a variety of projects during his early entertainment career, including "It Couldn't Happen Here" (1988) and the Mel Gibson and Danny Glover blockbuster "Lethal Weapon 2" (1989). Tennant also appeared in "Cool World" (1992) starring Gabriel Byrne, "How to Be Absolutely Fabulous" (Comedy Central, 1994-95) and "Definitely Dusty" (PBS, 2000-01). Tennant's music was most recently featured in the dramatic adaptation "White Bird in a Blizzard" (2014) with Shailene Woodley.
- Age: 45Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979) is a British comedian and television presenter. He wrote and directed the films Carnage (2017) and Benjamin (2018). His work on television has included presenting Popworld and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
- Age: 61Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British-born American author, editor, and blogger. Sullivan is a conservative political commentator, a former editor of The New Republic, and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog in 2000, and eventually moved his blog to various publishing platforms, including Time, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and finally an independent subscription-based format. He announced his retirement from blogging in 2015. Sullivan has been a writer-at-large at New York since 2016.Sullivan says his conservatism is rooted in his Roman Catholic background and in the ideas of the British political philosopher Michael Oakeshott; In 2003, he wrote he was no longer able to support the American conservative movement, as he was disaffected with the Republican Party's continued rightward drift on social issues during the George W. Bush era.Born and raised in Britain, he has lived in the United States since 1984 and currently resides in Washington, D.C. and Provincetown, Massachusetts. He is openly gay and a practising Roman Catholic.
- Age: 56James Dreyfus is a British actor who appeared in "Bette!," "Notting Hill," and "Richard III."
- Age: 65William Holly Johnson (born William Johnson, 9 February 1960), known professionally as Holly Johnson, is an English artist, musician, and writer, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan. In 1989, Johnson's debut solo album, Blast, reached number one in the UK albums chart. Two singles from the album – "Love Train" and "Americanos" – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart. In the 1990s he also embarked on writing, painting, and printmaking careers.
- Dec. at 90 (1908-1999)Actor Quentin Crisp appeared on the big screen many times over the course of his Hollywood career. Crisp started off his acting career mostly in film roles, appearing in "Hamlet" (1976), the horror feature "The Bride" (1985) with Sting and "Resident Alien" (1991). He also appeared in the TV movie "Flowers For Matty" (ABC, 1989-1990). He continued to work steadily in film throughout the nineties, appearing in "Camp Christmas" (1993), the Tilda Swinton dramatic adaptation "Orlando" (1993) and "Memoirs of a Madman" (1994) with Richard Craven. He also appeared in the Wesley Snipes comedy "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995). Nearing the end of his career, he tackled roles in the Michael Rodrick drama "Desolation Angels" (1996), the adaptation "The Celluloid Closet" (1996) with Jay Presson Allen and "Homo Heights" (1997). He also appeared in "The Electric Urn" (1997) and "Barriers" (1998). Crisp was most recently credited in "Quentin" (2000). Crisp passed away in November 1999 at the age of 91.
- Age: 76Paul Matthew Gambaccini (born April 2, 1949) is an American-British radio and television presenter and author in the United Kingdom. He has dual United States and British nationality, having become a British citizen in 2005. Known as "The Great Gambo" and "The Professor of Pop", Gambaccini was a BBC Radio 1 presenter for 16 years, including 11 years on a weekly show counting down the Billboard Top 30 songs. A regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's long-running arts programme Kaleidoscope, Gambaccini was a long-time TV morning show correspondent for British television, and makes regular appearances on other British TV magazine shows. He was the host of the 12-part Classic FM series Paul Gambaccini's Hall of Heroes, and chairs the Radio 4 music quiz Counterpoint. He is currently the presenter of “Pick of the Pops” on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday afternoons. Inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame in 2005, Gambaccini is the author of more than 15 books.
- Dec. at 85 (1626-1712)Richard Cromwell (4 October 1626 – 12 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. On his father's death Richard became Lord Protector, but he lacked authority. He attempted to mediate between the army and civil society, and allowed a Parliament to sit which contained a large number of disaffected Presbyterians and Royalists. Suspicions that civilian councillors were intent on supplanting the army were brought to a head by an attempt to prosecute a major-general for actions against a Royalist. The army made a threatening show of force against Richard, and may have had him in detention. He formally renounced power nine months after succeeding. Although a Royalist revolt was crushed by recalled civil war figure General John Lambert, who then prevented the Rump Parliament from reconvening and created a Committee of Safety, Lambert found his troops melted away in the face of General George Monck's advance from Scotland. Monck then presided over the Restoration of 1660. Richard Cromwell subsisted in straitened circumstances after his resignation. He went abroad and lived in relative obscurity for the remainder of his life. He eventually returned to his English estate, dying in his eighties. He has no living descendants.
Gorden Kaye
Age: 84Gordon Fitzgerald Kaye (7 April 1941 – 23 January 2017), known as Gorden Kaye, was an English actor and singer, best known for playing womanizing café owner René Artois in the British comedy series 'Allo 'Allo!- Dec. at 66 (1907-1973)Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was an English-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form and content. He is best known for love poems such as "Funeral Blues"; poems on political and social themes such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles"; poems on cultural and psychological themes such as The Age of Anxiety; and poems on religious themes such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae".He was born in York, grew up in and near Birmingham in a professional middle-class family. He attended English independent (or public) schools and studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. After a few months in Berlin in 1928–29, he spent five years (1930–35) teaching in British public schools, then travelled to Iceland and China in order to write books about his journeys. In 1939 he moved to the United States and became an American citizen in 1946. He taught from 1941 to 1945 in American universities, followed by occasional visiting professorships in the 1950s. From 1947 to 1957 he wintered in New York and summered in Ischia; from 1958 until the end of his life he wintered in New York (in Oxford in 1972–73) and summered in Kirchstetten, Lower Austria. He came to wide public attention with his first book Poems at the age of twenty-three in 1930; it was followed in 1932 by The Orators. Three plays written in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood between 1935 and 1938 built his reputation as a left-wing political writer. Auden moved to the United States partly to escape this reputation, and his work in the 1940s, including the long poems "For the Time Being" and "The Sea and the Mirror", focused on religious themes. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1947 long poem The Age of Anxiety, the title of which became a popular phrase describing the modern era. From 1956 to 1961 he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford; his lectures were popular with students and faculty, and served as the basis for his 1962 prose collection The Dyer's Hand. Auden and Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship from around 1927 to 1939, while both had briefer but more intense relations with other men. In 1939, Auden fell in love with Chester Kallman and regarded their relationship as a marriage, but this ended in 1941 when Kallman refused to accept the faithful relations that Auden demanded. However, the two maintained their friendship, and from 1947 until Auden's death they lived in the same house or apartment in a non-sexual relationship, often collaborating on opera libretti such as that of The Rake's Progress, to music by Igor Stravinsky. Auden was a prolific writer of prose essays and reviews on literary, political, psychological, and religious subjects, and he worked at various times on documentary films, poetic plays, and other forms of performance. Throughout his career he was both controversial and influential, and critical views on his work ranged from sharply dismissive—treating him as a lesser figure than W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot—to strongly affirmative, as in Joseph Brodsky's claim that he had "the greatest mind of the twentieth century". After his death, his poems became known to a much wider public than during his lifetime through films, broadcasts, and popular media.
- Age: 54Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is a broadcaster, journalist and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport and formerly presented the religious programme Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2.
- Age: 67Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick (born 24 April 1958) is a British politician and retired police officer, currently sitting in the House of Lords as a life peer. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of 2008 and 2012. He was, until his retirement in May 2007, Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London's Metropolitan Police Service and the United Kingdom's most senior openly gay police officer.Paddick joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1976. Rising through the ranks, he was appointed the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Notting Hill in 1995, then returned to New Scotland Yard, first as Superintendent of the Personnel Department in 1996 and then as Chief Superintendent in 1997. In December 2000 he was appointed Police Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth where he worked until 2002. In the latter capacity, Paddick attracted controversy by instructing his police officers not to arrest or charge people found with cannabis so that they could focus on crimes that were affecting the quality of life in the borough to a greater extent. In late 2002 the Crown Prosecution Service decided that no charges would be brought against him in relation to alleged cannabis possession; in December 2003 Paddick and the Mail on Sunday settled legal proceedings brought by him, with the newspaper accepting that a story it had published was false (which had alleged he had used cannabis), apologising, and paying damages.In April 2005 Paddick took over management of Territorial Policing across all 32 London boroughs. During the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the wrongful shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005, Paddick stated that a member of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair's private office team had believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after the shooting. This allegation was contradicted by New Scotland Yard. On 28 March 2006, Paddick accepted a statement from the Metropolitan Police that it "did not intend to imply" a senior officer had misled the probe into the shooting and that "any misunderstanding is regretted".However, following the disagreement, Paddick was assigned the position of group director of information management at New Scotland Yard, which he considered a "non-job". He came to accept that his police career was over, and retired from the police force on 31 May 2007. On 13 November 2007 it was announced that Paddick had been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London in the mayoral elections to be held on 1 May 2008. He came third behind Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, with 9.8% of first preference votes. It was announced that he would be elevated to the House of Lords in August 2013. He was created a life peer on 12 September 2013 taking the title Baron Paddick, of Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth.
- Dec. at 63 (1913-1976)Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945). Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy was Born in 1934. With the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden, he wrote "chamber operas" for small forces, suitable for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is The Turn of the Screw (1954). Recurring themes in his operas include the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society and the corruption of innocence. Britten's other works range from orchestral to choral, solo vocal, chamber and instrumental as well as film music. He took a great interest in writing music for children and amateur performers, including the opera Noye's Fludde, a Missa Brevis, and the song collection Friday Afternoons. He often composed with particular performers in mind. His most frequent and important muse was his personal and professional partner, the tenor Peter Pears; others included Kathleen Ferrier, Jennifer Vyvyan, Janet Baker, Dennis Brain, Julian Bream, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Mstislav Rostropovich. Britten was a celebrated pianist and conductor, performing many of his own works in concert and on record. He also performed and recorded works by others, such as Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, Mozart symphonies, and song cycles by Schubert and Schumann. Together with Pears and the librettist and producer Eric Crozier, Britten founded the annual Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and he was responsible for the creation of Snape Maltings concert hall in 1967. In his last year, he was the first composer to be given a life peerage.
- Age: 50Gok Wan (born Kowkhyn Wan; Chinese: 溫國興; Cantonese Jyutping: Wan1 gwok3 hing3; 9 September 1974) is a British fashion consultant, author and television presenter. Initially training in the performing arts at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he then entered the fashion business, writing for popular fashion magazines and appearing on various television shows. In 2006, Channel 4 employed him to present his own television show, How to Look Good Naked, which lasted for three series. Moving into other genres, he presented a series of documentaries on social problems among young people, drawing on his personal battles with obesity and homophobia, and presented a Chinese cooking show entitled Gok Cooks Chinese.
- Age: 58Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton (born 24 August 1966) is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist and blogger, the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and was the managing editor of the New York-based Gawker.com, until a lawsuit by Terry Bollea bankrupted the company. For years after starting Gawker Media in 2002, Denton ran the company out of his apartment in SoHo.
- Age: 84Born in Oxford, England, on May 18, 1941, Miriam Margolyes demonstrated an innate talent for performing arts from a young age. She attended Newnham College at Cambridge University, where she honed her acting skills and graduated with a degree in English Literature. Despite the odds stacked against her as a woman in a male-dominated industry, Margolyes managed to carve a niche for herself by breaking traditional barriers and stereotypes. Throughout her illustrious career, Margolyes has proved her versatility across various mediums. She is acclaimed for her performances on both stage and screen, demonstrating a range that spans from comedic roles to dramatic performances. Margolyes's filmography is an extensive collection of classic films and TV series, including the renowned Harry Potter series, where she played the beloved character Professor Sprout. In addition to her film and television work, Margolyes also lent her voice to numerous animated features, most notably Babe, the hit family film about a talking pig. Margolyes's contribution to the entertainment industry was recognized when she was awarded the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in The Age of Innocence. Moreover, in 2002, her immense work was further acknowledged when she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to drama. In her personal life, Margolyes is known for her outspoken views and advocacy for LGBT rights, using her platform to drive positive change. Her career and personal endeavors highlight Margolyes as a multi-talented performer and dedicated activist.
- Age: 55Alistair Appleton (born 12 February 1970) is a British television presenter and writer.
- Age: 49Antony Cotton (born Antony Dunn; 5 August 1975) is an English actor, best known as Sean Tully in Coronation Street and as Alexander Perry in the original UK version of Queer as Folk. In March 2013, he won Let's Dance for Comic Relief, defeating fellow finalist Jodie Prenger.
- Dec. at 32 (1934-1967)Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who discovered and managed the Beatles. He was often referred to as a "fifth" member of the group. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him in charge of their music shop. Here he displayed a remarkable gift for talent-spotting, and got a strong intuition about the potential of an unknown four-man group, The Beatles, at a lunchtime concert at Liverpool's Cavern Club in 1961. Although he had no experience of artist management, Epstein put them under contract and insisted that they abandon their scruff-image in favour of a new clean-cut style, with identical suits and haircuts. He then persuaded George Martin of the prestigious EMI group to produce their records. In August 1962, drummer Pete Best was replaced with Ringo Starr, and the group's familiar line-up was established. Within months, the Beatles' fame had swept the world, and Epstein accompanied them to America, where he was besieged by merchandising offers, but had signed away 90 per cent of the rights in advance. This is viewed as his one miscalculation. Some of Epstein's other young discoveries had also prospered at this time under his management. They included Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Tommy Quickly, and Cilla Black, his only female client. As a gay man, Epstein had to observe great discretion in public, since homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, although he tolerated a certain amount of banter about it in private. (John Lennon quipped that his memoirs A Cellarful of Noise should have been titled A Cellarful of Boys.) On the day of his death, a group of rent boys had failed to arrive by appointment at his country house, and he returned to London, where he died of a drug overdose, ruled as accidental.
- Dec. at 76 (1931-2007)Edward George Sherrin (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of radio and television satirical shows and theatre shows, some of which he also directed.
- Age: 54John Uzoma Ekwugha Amaechi, OBE (; born 26 November 1970) is an English psychologist, consultant and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Vanderbilt and Penn State, and professional basketball in the National Basketball Association. Amaechi also played in France, Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom. Since retiring from basketball, Amaechi has worked as a psychologist and consultant, establishing his company Amaechi Performance Systems. In February 2007, he became the first former NBA player to come out publicly after doing so in his memoir Man in the Middle. Since then, he has been regarded as "one of the world's most high-profile gay athletes".
- Age: 69His passion, unbridled energy, and inimitable dancing skills made Bruno Tonioli one of the most sought-after dancers and choreographers in the United Kingdom, and propelled him to international stardom as one of the judges on the popular reality dancing competition, "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ), where he dished some of the most outrageous and memorable critiques to the show's celebrity contestants. He was born on Nov. 25, 1955 in the small northern town of Ferrara, Italy. An only child of working-class parents, Tonioli began to dance before he could talk. His family did not own a television until he was 7 years of age, so he often went to the movies to watch Hollywood musicals with his father, who admired American dance icons Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. At 18, Tonioli joined a dance troupe and moved to Paris, where he became a successful choreographer. Pop bands sought out his services, and he worked on numerous commercials and in films. While his dancing career flourished, the grief he experienced after the death of his mother in 1994 and then his father in 2001 nearly ended it. He worked through his pain with the help of his chosen art form, choreographing films like the dramas "Little Voice" (1998) and "Me Without You" (2001), and an episode of the hit comedy skit "French and Saunders" (BBC, 1987-2004) starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Tonioli also worked with A-list music stars such as Elton John, Tina Turner and Freddie Mercury on their music videos and concert tours.
Michael Tippett
Dec. at 93 (1905-1998)Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of the leading British composers of the 20th century. Among his best-known works are the oratorio A Child of Our Time, the orchestral Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, and the opera The Midsummer Marriage. Tippett's talent developed slowly. He withdrew or destroyed his earliest compositions, and was 30 before any of his works were published. Until the mid-to-late 1950s his music was broadly lyrical in character, before changing to a more astringent and experimental style. New influences, including those of jazz and blues after his first visit to America in 1965, became increasingly evident in his compositions. While Tippett's stature with the public continued to grow, not all critics approved of these changes in style, some believing that the quality of his work suffered as a consequence. From around 1976 Tippett's late works began to reflect the works of his youth through a return to lyricism. Although he was much honoured in his lifetime, critical judgement on Tippett's legacy has been uneven, the greatest praise being generally reserved for his earlier works. His centenary in 2005 was a muted affair; apart from the few best-known works, his music has been performed infrequently in the 21st century. Having briefly embraced communism in the 1930s, Tippett avoided identifying with any political party. A pacifist after 1940, he was imprisoned in 1943 for refusing to carry out war-related duties required by his military exemption. His initial difficulties in accepting his homosexuality led him in 1939 to Jungian psychoanalysis; the Jungian dichotomy of "shadow" and "light" remained a recurring factor in his music. He was a strong advocate of music education, and was active for much of his life as a radio broadcaster and writer on music.- Age: 54Anohni (styled as ANOHNI; born Antony Hegarty, October 24, 1971) is an English-born singer, composer, and visual artist. She was formerly known as Antony, the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons. Anohni was born in Chichester, England. Her family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1981. In 1990, she moved to Manhattan, New York to study at the Experimental Theater Wing at New York University, and in 1992 she founded the performance art collective Blacklips with Johanna Constantine. She started her musical career performing with an ensemble of NYC musicians as Antony and the Johnsons. Their first album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released in 2000 on David Tibet's label Durtro. Their second album, I Am a Bird Now (2005), was a commercial and critical success, earning her the Mercury Music Prize. In 2016, Anohni became the second openly transgender person nominated for an Academy Award; she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, along with J. Ralph, for the song "Manta Ray" in the film Racing Extinction. Her debut solo album, Hopelessness, was released in May 2016 to wide critical acclaim, including another nomination for the Mercury Music Prize and a Brit Award.
- Age: 55Stephen Kehinde Amos (born 3 December 1967) is a British stand-up comedian and television personality. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows. He began his career as a compere at the Big Fish comedy clubs in South London, and has been nominated for Chortle's Best Compere Award three times in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
- Age: 67A prolific presence in British television, publishing and politics, Sandra Toksvig was a wry and acerbic presence as host of such popular panel and competition series as "QI" (BBC One/Two/Four, 2003- ) and "The Great British Baking Show" (BBC One/Two/Channel 4, 2010-) while also penning numerous books for both children and adults and serving as co-founder of the Women's Equality Party in 2015. Born Sandra Birgitte Toksvig on May 3, 1958 in Copenhagen, Denmark, she was the daughter of Danish foreign correspondent Claus Toksvig and his British wife, Julie Anne Brett. Due to her father's job, Toksvig spent much of her childhood years in international locations, including the United States and Africa, before settling in London, England. There, she attended the Tormead School before studying law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge. The college also became the launching point for her career in comedy, which began with writing and performing in the first all-women show by the famed Footlights theatrical club, which counted members of Monty Python, Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie among its past members. Upon graduating with a first-class degree, Toksvig performed in various improvisational comedy groups and in 1982, made her television acting and writing debut on the popular children's series "Number 73" (ITV, 1982-1988). More work in children's television led to appearances on variety and sketch comedies series, including the long-running "Whose Line is It Anyway?" (Channel 4, 1989-1991) and "Have I Got News For You" (BBC One/Two, 1990- ), and writing for the comedy series "The Big One" (Channel 4, 1992), among other series. In 1993, Toksvig wrote her first musical, "Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace," which was followed by her first novel for children, The Norse's Mouth (1994). That same year, she came out publicly as a lesbian, a decision that was met with an angry response from some viewers, and for a brief period, Toksvig and her then-partner, Peta Stewart, were forced to go into hiding. The furor eventually died out, and Toksvig returned to her career with remarkable intensity: she penned nineteen more books for young readers between 1997 and 2009, as well as nine books for adult readers, including Island Race: an Improbable Voyage Round the Coast of Britain with journalist John McCarthy in 1995. She was also a tireless television presenter and guest performer, most notably on the panel show "Call My Bluff" (BBC One/Two, 1965-2005), and began hosting BBC Radio 4's "The News Quiz" (1977- ) in 2006. In 2010, she created "Playhouse Live" (Sky Arts, 2010-2013), which showcased live dramas for television audiences, and returned to playwriting with 2011's Bully Boy, about post-traumatic stress among the British military. A longtime advocate for liberal politics and gender equality, Toksvig began to move into roles outside of the entertainment industry in 2012, when she assumed the position of Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth; she left her hosting duties on "The News Quiz" in 2015 to form a new political party, the Women's Equality Party. However, she remained a prolific presence on television, adding hosting duties on "1001 Things You Should Know" (Channel 4, 2012-2013) in 2012 and on the notoriously difficult "QI," for which she replaced her former Cambridge classmate, Stephen Fry in 2016, pausing briefly between these assignments to be named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2014. In 2017, she earned what was possibly her largest television audience to date by joining comic Noel Fielding to join the global hit "The Great British Baking Show" in its eighth season.
- Age: 58A writer, performer, and actor, Mark Gatiss is most famous as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentleman. His first taste of popular success was winning the 1997 Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his League of Gentlemen colleagues. Up until then he had done some TV writing on science fiction projects, and made a few acting appearances. The troupe's success led to "The League of Gentlemen" TV series in 1999, which ran until 2002. Its sketch comedy format featured absurd observational humor about British life and was a huge success. Gatiss has made numerous appearances in other TV series in England, including a co-starring role in the dark comedy "Nighty Night"; the sci-fi comedy "Clone"; and the 2005 reboot of the classic sci-fi series "Doctor Who," for which the actor also contributed his writing talents. Indeed, Gatiss has written screenplays for the TV shows "Crooked House," "Agatha Christie: Poirot," and several TV movies. In 2010 the TV series "Sherlock" debuted, which he co-created. Gatiss has also written books about the film industry and "Doctor Who" novels.
- Age: 61Ben Daniels was born David Daniels on June 10, 1964, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. He studied theater throughout childhood, and went on to pursue the craft in earnest at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, enrolling therein at age 18. Shortly after graduation, Daniels began landing professional acting gigs, and in considerably quick succession. He kicked off his career with a role in a music video accompanying the Moody Blues number "Your Wildest Dreams" from the album The Other Side of Life (1986). Jobs like this led him instantly to roles on the big screen-namely, a minor part in the dramedy film "Wish You Were Here" (1987)-and small, on which he made his debut with a part on the series "One by One" (BBC 1984-87) and another in the TV movie "Freedom Fighter" (NBC 1988). The years to follow were mostly paved with similarly minor parts, though a recurring role on the comedy series "Outside Edge" (ITV 1994-96) marked a bump in his reputation. That same year, Daniels also earned the coveted part of Mercutio on a television production of "Romeo & Juliet" (ITV 1994), and he went on to star in the adventure drama movie "Passion in the Desert" (1997) not long afterward. The turn of the century saw him concentrate most of his creative energies on television projects, namely miniseries like "Aristocrats" (BBC 1999), romances like "Cutting It" (BBC 2002-05), and crime dramas like "Law & Order: UK" (ITV 2009-2014). Though Daniels did find some success on the big screen, with roles in films like "Jack the Giant Slayer" (2013) and the acclaimed drama "Locke" (2013), he maintained a primary focus on TV, then going on to find parts on American programs like the political drama "House of Cards" (Netflix 2013-) and the horror series "The Exorcist" (Fox 2016-). Still, his biggest film was yet to follow: "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016), in which he played the Rebel Alliance's General Merrick.
Hugh Paddick
Dec. at 85 (1915-2000)Hugh William Paddick (22 August 1915 – 9 November 2000) was an English actor, whose most notable role was in the 1960s BBC radio show Round the Horne, in sketches such as "Charles and Fiona" (as Charles) and "Julian and Sandy" (as Julian). Both he and Kenneth Williams are largely responsible for introducing the underground language polari to the British public.Paddick also enjoyed success as Percival Browne in the original West End production of The Boy Friend, in 1954.- Age: 60Sophie Ward's acting career took off when she was just 12 years old. Ward kickstarted her acting career in various films such as "The 'Copter Kids" (1976), "Full Circle" (1977) and the horror feature "The Hunger" (1983) with Catherine Deneuve. She also appeared in "Return to Oz" (1985) starring Nicol Williamsonthe Nicholas Rowe action film "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985) and the Laura Antonelli drama "Gli Indifferenti" (1989). She continued to act in productions like "Una Vita Scellerata" (1990), "The Monk" (1992) and the drama "A Demon in My View" (1992) with Anthony Perkins. Film continued to be her passion as she played roles in "A Village Affair" (1997), "Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights" (1997) with Juliette Binoche and "Bella Donna" (1998) with Natasha Henstridge. Additionally, she appeared on the television special "A Dark Adapted Eye" (PBS, 1994-95). Most recently, Ward acted in "Jane Eyre" (2011).
- Dec. at 58 (1915-1973)Sophisticated and suave, British actor Dennis Price brought a touch of class to every character he portrayed. Price appeared first on the British stage before landing his first role in film in "A Canterbury Tale" as the protective police officer, Sergeant Peter Gibbs. Next up was a defining role as the calm, cool, and devilish murderer Louis Mazzini in the black comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets," opposite Alec Guinness. Turning to the truly dark side, Price later took on the role of Major Charles Scott in the psychological thriller "Tunes of Glory," which revolved around dastardly post-World War II happenings in a Scottish Highland regimental barracks. Price later returned to comedy, playing a priggish wealthy American, Mr. Vernon, in "The Amorous Mr. Prawn." Price became known to television audiences playing Jeeves, the quintessential butler, opposite Ian Carmichael in the British series "The World of Wooster" which was adapted from the famous novels and short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. With a string of appearances in "B" horror movies like "Horror Hospital" and "Twins of Evil," Price became somewhat of a cult figure in later years, but he punctuated his career with a 1972 appearance in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," opposite the top British stars of the day.
- Age: 59Ian Roberts (born 31 July 1965) is an Australian actor, and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative forward, he played club football with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wigan Warriors, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and North Queensland Cowboys. In 1995 Roberts became the first high-profile Australian sports person and first rugby footballer in the world to come out to the public as gay.
- Dec. at 25 (1893-1918)Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his mentor Siegfried Sassoon, and stood in stark contrast both to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works – most of which were published posthumously – are "Dulce et Decorum est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility", "Spring Offensive" and "Strange Meeting".
- Dec. at 77 (1859-1936)Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. Their beauty, simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers both before and after the First World War. Through their song-settings, the poems became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself. Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at the University of Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are still considered authoritative.
- Age: 80David Robert Starkey CBE, FSA, FRHistS (born 3 January 1945) is an English constitutional historian and a radio and television presenter. Born the only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before studying at Cambridge through a scholarship. There he specialised in Tudor history, writing a thesis on King Henry VIII's household. From Cambridge, he moved to the London School of Economics where he was a lecturer in history until 1998. He has written several books on the Tudors. Starkey is a well-known radio and television personality, first appearing on television in 1977. While a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4 debate programme The Moral Maze, his acerbic tongue earned him the sobriquet of "rudest man in Britain"; his frequent appearances on Question Time have been received with criticism and applause. Starkey has presented several history documentaries. In 2002, he signed a £2 million contract with Channel 4 for 25 hours of programming, and in 2011 was a contributor on the Channel 4 series Jamie's Dream School.
- Age: 91Extremely shy and private writer-actor Alan Bennett lost his anonymity early when the success of the "Beyond the Fringe" revue (both in London and New York) thrust him into the limelight in the early 1960s. The least spectacular of the madcap ensemble, which also included fellow Oxford grads Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, this sandy-haired son of a Yorkshire butcher was a deft character player who never seemed to risk the others' flights of improvisation. Never stumbling, never soaring, the cautiously letter-perfect Bennett was, even then, more the writer than performer. Yet, of that talented quartet, Bennett has shown the most staying power, becoming arguably Britain's most endearing man of letters. In his writings for the stage, film, TV and literary weeklies, one can hear the voice of the last country parson.
- Dec. at 75 (1929-2005)Basil William Hoskins (10 June 1929 – 17 January 2005) was an English actor. Hoskins, a native of Edmonton, London, was educated at the Edmonton County School. A popular British actor who also had a distinguished career on the London stage, Hoskins studied acting at RADA and later joined the Nottingham Playhouse Company. Hoskins was the long term romantic partner of fellow English actor Harry Andrews. They are buried alongside each other at St Mary the Virgin, Salehurst.His best-known films are Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and North West Frontier (1959). On television, he played the part of Number 14 on The Prisoner television series (episode "Hammer Into Anvil").
J. R. Ackerley
Dec. at 70 (1896-1967)Joe Randolph "J. R." Ackerley (4 November 1896 – 4 June 1967) was a British writer and editor. Starting with the BBC the year after its founding in 1927, he was promoted to literary editor of The Listener, its weekly magazine, where he served for more than two decades. He published many emerging poets and writers who became influential in Great Britain. He was openly homosexual, a rarity in his time when homosexuality was forbidden by law and socially ostracized. Ackerley's extramarital half-sister was Sally Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster.- Dec. at 44 (1949-1994)John Anthony Curry, (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was noted for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.
- Dec. at 51 (1880-1932)Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of Eminent Victorians, he is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. His biography Queen Victoria (1921) was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
- Age: 41Andrew Hayden-Smith (born Andrew John Smith, 5 November 1983 in Gateshead, England) is an English actor and voiceover artist and former television presenter.
- Age: 47Brian Dowling may refer to: Brian Dowling (presenter) (born 1978), Irish television presenter Brian Dowling (American football player) (born 1947), American football player Brian Dowling (hurler) (born 1983), Irish hurler
John Bodkin Adams
Dec. at 84 (1899-1983)John Bodkin Adams (21 January 1899 – 4 July 1983) was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their wills. He was tried and acquitted for the murder of one patient in 1957. Another count of murder was withdrawn by the prosecution in what was later described as "an abuse of process" by the presiding judge Sir Patrick Devlin, causing questions to be asked in Parliament about the prosecution's handling of events. The trial was featured in headlines around the world and was described at the time as "one of the greatest murder trials of all time" and "murder trial of the century". It was also described at the time as "unique" because, in the words of the judge, "the act of murder" had "to be proved by expert evidence."The trial had several important legal ramifications. It established the doctrine of double effect, whereby a doctor giving treatment with the aim of relieving pain may, as an unintentional result, shorten life. Secondly, because of the publicity surrounding Adams' committal hearing, the law was changed to allow defendants to ask for such hearings to be held in private. Finally, although a defendant had not been required within recorded legal history to give evidence in his own defence, the judge underlined in his summing-up that no prejudice should be attached by the jury to Adams not doing so.Adams was found guilty in a subsequent trial of 13 offences of prescription fraud, lying on cremation forms, obstructing a police search and failing to keep a dangerous drugs register. He was struck off the medical register in 1957 and reinstated in 1961 after two failed applications. Scotland Yard's files on the case were initially closed to the public for 75 years, and would have remained so until 2033. Following a request by historian Pamela Cullen, special permission was granted in 2003 to reopen the files.- Dec. at 77 (1911-1989)Lean, strong-jawed and frequently beaded supporting player and distinguished Shakespearean stage actor who entered films in the early 1950s. Throughout his long, prolific career, Andrews frequently played tough military types or severe, no-nonsense characters (as in Sidney Lumet's "The Hill" 1965), but he brilliantly played against type as a flashy homosexual in Joe Orton's black comedy, "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" (1970).
- Age: 47Charles Richard "Ricky" Wilson (born 17 January 1978) is an English singer-songwriter, and the frontman of five-piece band Kaiser Chiefs. Before the formation of the band, in 2003, Wilson was a member of the band Runston Parva (later known as Parva), which consisted of members of Kaiser Chiefs. On 19 September 2013, Wilson was confirmed as a coach on The Voice UK. He was the winning coach for both the fourth and fifth series of the show, being the only coach to win two years consecutively. Wilson left the show after three series, following the show's move to ITV.
- Age: 64Cyril Ikechukwu Nri (born 25 April 1961) is a Nigerian British actor, writer and director who is best known for playing Superintendent Adam Okaro in the police TV series The Bill.
- Dec. at 65 (1902-1968)Anthony William Lars Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Browning Version (1951), among other adaptations. His other notable films include Pygmalion (1938), French Without Tears (1940), The Way to the Stars (1945) and a 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
- Dec. at 79 (1910-1990)Cuthbert Collingwood "Ted" Tinling (23 June 1910 – 23 May 1990), sometimes known as Teddy Tinling, was an English tennis player, fashion designer, spy and author. He was a firm fixture on the professional tennis tour for over sixty years and is considered the foremost designer of tennis dresses of the 20th Century.
- Dec. at 52 (1942-1994)Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener, and author.
Charlie Condou
Age: 52Charlie Condou is an actor who appeared in "Unforgotten," "Charlotte Gray," and "Fred Claus."- Age: 71Alan James Hollinghurst FRSL (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award, the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2004 Booker Prize.
- Age: 53Matthew James Rush (born 6 August 1971 in Hackney, London) is a former professional footballer. He played as a winger.
- Dec. at 75 (1910-1986)Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( PEERZ; 22 June 1910 – 3 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started slowly. He was at first unsure whether to concentrate on playing or singing, and despite the efforts of some of his friends, it was not until he met Britten in 1937 that he threw himself wholeheartedly into singing. Once he and Britten were established as a partnership, the composer wrote many concert and operatic works with Pears's voice in mind, and the singer created roles in more than ten operas by his partner. In the concert hall, Pears and Britten were celebrated recitalists, known in particular for their performances of lieder by Schubert and Schumann. Together they recorded most of the works written for Pears by Britten, as well as a wide range of music by other composers. Working with other musicians, Pears sang an extensive repertoire of music from four centuries, from the Tudor period to the most modern times. With Britten, Pears was a co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival in 1947 and the Britten-Pears School in 1972. After Britten died in 1976, Pears remained an active participant in the festival and the school, where he was director of singing. His own voice had a distinctive timbre, not to all tastes, but such was his musical skill that he could use the voice to good effect in many styles of music.
- Dec. at 67 (1889-1957)One of the most stylized and talented filmmakers of the 1930s, director James Whale was also one of the most successful; a fact that stood in direct contrast to his long-underappreciated stature in the history of cinema. Arriving in Hollywood at the dawn of the sound era, he made a name for himself around town with the war dramas "Journey's End" (1930) and "Waterloo Bridge" (1931). It was, however, the Universal horror classic "Frankenstein" (1931) that established Whale as an A-list director, influential enough to choose his own projects and cast them as he saw fit. Despite his best efforts to diversify, hugely popular films like "The Invisible Man" (1933) and "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) pigeon-holed him as a horror director, even as critics who were dismissive of the genre failed to recognize his formidable visual and aesthetic brilliance. Although the critically hailed musical drama "Show Boat" (1936) gave unassailable proof as to his versatility, a regime change at Universal and his general disillusionment with the industry eventually led to Whale's retirement from film after a decade's worth of work. Having fallen out of fashion with the French and American auteur critics of the 1960s and 1970s, more in-depth assessments by biographers and film historians in the years that followed allowed for a much deserved reappointment of Whale to the pantheon of influential 20th century filmmakers.
- Dec. at 80 (1886-1967)Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a military psychiatric hospital; this resulted in his forming a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy".
- Age: 87David Hockney was one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, a painter who was at the forefront of the country's Pop Art movement during the 1960s. He worked in many media across his lifetime, encompassing landscapes, portraits and photomontages (which he referred to as 'joiners'). The style and mood of his work often varied as well. Perhaps his most widely acknowledged period, however, came in the late 1960s, when his years spent living in California resulted in works with a brightly colored but deliberately sterile feel, including a series of swimming pool paintings of which "A Bigger Splash" (1967) was the most famous. Born the fourth of five children in Bradford in the north of England, Hockney appeared in 1960's seminal Young Contemporaries exhibition while a student at the Royal College of Art, although his style at the time had as much in common at the time with the work of Francis Bacon as it did his fellow exhibitor and early Pop Artist Peter Blake. From the late 1970s on, Hockney moved into set and costume designs for highly renowned opera producers including Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan Opera in New York; some of these projects were also televised. He participated in several documentary films over his career, including Peter Whitehead's examination of the mid-'60s Swinging London set, "Tonite Let's All Make Love In London" (1967), the biographical "A Bigger Splash" (1973), which details Hockney's life during and after his breakup with long-time partner Peter Schlesinger, and Teller's examination of the nature of genius and obsession, "Tim's Vermeer" (2014).
- Dec. at 81 (1904-1986)Christopher Isherwood was an English writer and actor who was known for writing "A Single Man," "The Sailor From Gibraltar," and "I Am a Camera."
- Dec. at 77 (1926-2003)John Schlesinger was celebrated for his ability to elicit sensitive performances from his actors, a skill which drew on his own experience on the British stage in the 1950s. His style was also influenced by techniques he developed while directing TV documentaries--a period of his career characterized by extensive location shooting, tight production schedules and an emphasis on the role of editing in shaping narrative structure.
- Dec. at 69 (1924-1994)Colin Macmillan Turnbull (November 23, 1924 – July 28, 1994) was a British-American anthropologist who came to public attention with the popular books The Forest People (on the Mbuti Pygmies of Zaire) and The Mountain People (on the Ik people of Uganda), and one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.
- Age: 62Russell T. Davies, a native of Wales, had initially dreamt of becoming a full-time comic book artist before studying English literature at Oxford University. Upon graduating from the prestigious university, Davies began working with the BBC's children's department in the late 1980s; he wrote episodes for the family series "Dark Season," "Century Falls," and the children's variety program "On the Waterfront." He switched to more adult-themed television shows in the mid-1990s, creating the series "Revelations," and contributed to the BAFTA Award-winning "Children's Ward" before writing and producing his breakthrough work, "Queer as Folk" in 1999, based on his own experiences as a homosexual living in contemporary Manchester, England. At the time, "Queer as Folk" became his most prolific work and allowed him to pursue more challenging work in television in the 2000s. Davies continued to write and produce series like "Bob & Rose" and the TV mini-series "Casanova" before serving as both executive producer and head writer on the revival of "Doctor Who" in 2005. Davies was able to turn "Doctor Who" into one of England's most popular television programs; it also earned him a Writers Guild Award in 2007 and the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series in 2006. The show's success helped create two spin-offs: "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" in the late-2000s and early 2010s with Davies serving as writer and producer on both works.
- Dec. at 75 (1900-1975)Ian Hunter was an actor who appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Edward, My Son," and "The Long Voyage Home."
- Dec. at 50 (1905-1956)Robert Guy Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English stage and film actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for his hard living lifestyle, he was cited as a role model by the actor Oliver Reed and the Who's drummer Keith Moon.Newton is best remembered for his portrayal of the feverish-eyed Long John Silver in the 1950 film adaptation of Treasure Island, the film that became the standard for screen portrayals of historical pirates. He would continue to portray pirates in Blackbeard in 1952 and Long John Silver again in the 1954 film of the same name, which spawned a miniseries in the mid-'50s. Born in Dorset in the West Country of England and growing up in Cornwall near Lands End, his exaggeration of his West Country accent is credited with popularising the stereotypical "pirate voice". Newton has become the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
- Age: 69Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She is the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly gay poet to hold the position.Her collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture (2005), winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and violence in an accessible language that has made them popular in schools.
- Age: 63Evan Harold Davis (born 8 April 1962) is an English economist, journalist, and presenter for the BBC. Since autumn 2018, he has been the lead presenter of PM on BBC Radio 4. In October 2001, Davis took over from Peter Jay as the BBC's economics editor. He left this post in April 2008 to become a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. In September 2014, he left Today to become the main presenter of Newsnight, replacing Jeremy Paxman, a position he held for four years.
- Dec. at 71 (1923-1994)Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for his 1968 film if...., which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival and was Malcolm McDowell's cinematic debut. He is also notable, though not a professional actor, for playing a minor role in the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire. McDowell produced a 2007 documentary about his experiences with Anderson, Never Apologize.
- Dec. at 70 (1937-2007)John Normington was an English actor who appeared in "Atonement," "A Private Function," and "Inadmissible Evidence."
- Age: 63Christopher John Bryant (born 11 January 1962) is a Welsh Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rhondda since the 2001 general election and most recently the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons until resigning on 26 June 2016. He was previously the Shadow Minister for the Arts, Minister of State for Europe, Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. He was re-elected in June 2017. Bryant previously worked as a Church of England vicar, as well as having roles at the BBC and Common Purpose.
- Age: 56Adam Price (born 23 September 1968) is a Welsh politician serving as the leader of Plaid Cymru since 28 September 2018, after defeating both Leanne Wood and Rhun ap Iorwerth in the September leadership election. Since 2016 he has sat in the National Assembly for Wales for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, having previously been a Member of Parliament for the coterminous Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency.
- Age: 75Peter Ackroyd, (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charles Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003.
- Age: 74Russell John Dammerall Grant (born 5 February 1951) is a British astrologer and media personality. He has written several books on astrology, provides syndicated newspaper horoscopes and operates premium rate astrology phone lines. In March 2010, he began offering a "Pet Psychic" service. He is also the author of The Real Counties of Britain, and founded the Association of British Counties in 1989.In recent years, Grant has participated in the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2011 and Celebrity MasterChef in 2014.
- Age: 68Sir Alan James Carter Duncan (born 31 March 1957) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutland and Melton and was the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas until his resignation on 22 July 2019.He began his career in the oil industry with Royal Dutch Shell, and was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election. After gaining several minor positions in the government of John Major, he played a key role in William Hague's successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 1997. Duncan received several promotions to the Conservative front bench, and eventually joined the Shadow Cabinet after the 2005 general election. He stood for the Conservative leadership in 2005, but withdrew early on because of a lack of support. Eventual winner David Cameron appointed him Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in December 2005; the name of the department he shadowed was changed to Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in July 2007, thereafter becoming the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Following the 2010 general election, the new Conservative Prime Minister Cameron appointed Duncan as Minister of State for International Development. He left this post following the government reshuffle in July 2014, and was subsequently appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in September 2014, for services to international development and to UK–Middle East relations. While on the backbenches, Duncan served on the Intelligence and Security Committee between 2015 and 2016.After two years out of government, he returned to frontline politics when new Prime Minister Theresa May appointed him as Minister for Europe and the Americas, and effective deputy to then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in July 2016. Duncan resigned as Minister of State on 22 July 2019 citing the increasing possibility of Johnson being the UK's next Prime Minister.He became the first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament, publicly coming out in 2002.
- Age: 64British actor Simon Russell Beale showed his talent on the Hollywood big screen, appearing in a long line of successful films. In 2001, he co-starred with Diana Rigg in "Humble Boy." In 2003, he starred as a bumbling philosopher in Tom Stoppard's "Jumpers," for which he received a Tony nomination. Beale's early acting career mostly consisted of roles in various films, such as the dramatic adaptation "Orlando" (1993) with Tilda Swinton, "Persuasion" (1995) with Amanda Root and "Hamlet" (1996) with Richard Attenborough. He also appeared in the Peter Vaughan comedy adaptation "An Ideal Husband" (1999). He also was featured in the miniseries "A Dance to the Music of Time" (1997-98). He also appeared in the TV movie "Alice in Wonderland" (NBC, 1999). His passion for acting continued to his roles in projects like the Christina Ricci horror flick "The Gathering" (2003), the Michelle Williams dramatic adaptation "My Week With Marilyn" (2011) and the drama "The Deep Blue Sea" (2012) with Rachel Weisz. He also appeared in the TV special "John & Abigail Adams" (PBS, 2005-06). His work around this time also included a part on the TV movie "The Young Visiters" (BBC, 2004-05). Film continued to be his passion as he played roles in the James Corden box office smash fantastical comedy "Into the Woods" (2014), the Alexander Skarsgård hit action picture "The Legend of Tarzan" (2016) and the dramatic adaptation "My Cousin Rachel" (2017) with Rachel Weisz. He also had a part in the TV miniseries "The Hollow Crown" (2012-16). He held additional roles in television including a part on "Penny Dreadful" (Showtime, 2014-16). Most recently, Beale acted in "The Death of Stalin" (2017).
John Partridge
Dec. at 69 (1644-1714)John Partridge (1644 - c. 1714) was an English astrologer, the author and publisher of a number of astrological almanacs and books.- Dec. at 37 (1929-1967)Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverb. Meek is considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognized for his individual identity as an artist.Meek's charting singles he produced for other artists include "Johnny Remember Me" (John Leyton, 1961), "Just Like Eddie" (Heinz, 1963), "Angela Jones" (Michael Cox, 1963), "Have I the Right?" (the Honeycombs, 1964), and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" (Mike Berry, 1961). The Tornados' instrumental "Telstar" (1962), written and produced by Meek, became the first record by a British rock group to reach number one in the US Hot 100. It also spent five weeks at number one in the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962. He also produced music for films such as Live It Up! (US title Sing and Swing, 1963), a pop music film. Meek's concept album I Hear a New World (1960), which contains innovative use of electronic sounds, was not fully released in his lifetime. His reputation for experiments in recording music was acknowledged by the Music Producers Guild who in 2009 created "The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production" as a "homage to [the] remarkable producer's pioneering spirit". In 2014, Meek was ranked the greatest producer of all time by NME, elaborating: "Meek was a complete trailblazer, attempting endless new ideas in his search for the perfect sound. ... The legacy of his endless experimentation is writ large over most of your favourite music today."At the time of his death, Meek possessed thousands of unreleased recordings later dubbed "The Tea Chest Tapes". His commercial success as a producer was short-lived, and he gradually sank into debt and depression. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then shot himself.
- Dec. at 73 (1905-1978)Lilian "Lily" Parr (26 April 1905 – 24 May 1978) was an English professional women's association football player who played as a winger. She is best known for playing for the Dick, Kerr's Ladies team, which was founded in 1917 and based in Preston, Lancashire.In 2002, she was the only woman to be made an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame at the National Football Museum.
- Dec. at 61 (1914-1976)Colin MacInnes (20 August 1914 – 22 April 1976) was an English novelist and journalist.
- Age: 71Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour politician, president of international think tank Policy Network, and chairman of strategic advisory firm Global Counsel.He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004 and held a number of Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He was the European Commissioner for Trade between 2004 and 2008. Mandelson was one of several key individuals responsible for the rebranding of the Labour Party as New Labour before its subsequent victory in the 1997 election. He was twice forced to resign from the Cabinet before leaving Parliament to take up an appointment as a European Commissioner. He later rejoined the Cabinet for a third time after being created a Life Peer, sitting on the Labour benches in the House of Lords.
- Age: 41Kevin McDaid (born 7 March 1984) is a British singer. Born in Nigeria, he was brought up in England in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was best known as member of the British boy band V, which he joined in 2003 along with four other boys. The band had three fairly successful chart hits during 2004, before splitting up in February 2005, less than a year after their first single was released. He now works as a personal trainer.
