Cutting - Michael Rennie dies (1971)

11th June 1971

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Michael Rennie was an English born film actor who, after a short career in films on this side of the pond, moved to Hollywood in the early 1950’s where he appeared in about 80 roles in films and on TV. He also appeared on Broadway. His mother-in-law was found murdered in 1954. See this post.

Cutting - Jack Hylton Dies (1965)

29th January 1965

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Jack Hylton was a very popular band leader in England and on the Continent (even playing for Herman Goering in Berlin) throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. In 1936 he took America by storm and toured Canada. He also dabbled in entrepreneurship, having brought Duke Ellington over the Britain for the first time in 1933. In 1940 he stopped performing and concentrated on theatrical and TV production, having London West End hits with shows like ‘Kiss Me Kate’, ‘Kismet’ and ‘Salad Days’. At the age of 70 in 1963 he married 29 year-old Beverley Prowse and, as detailed above, died in 1965.

Cutting - Audie Murphy obituary (1971)

1st July 1971

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Audie Murphy was one of 12 children in a poor tenant farmer family in rural Texas. His father came and went from their life and finally left for good. When Murphy was 16 his mother died and at 17 soon after Pearl Harbour and America's entry into World War II, he joined the US Army by lying about his age. By the end of the War he had been awarded just about every medal for bravery in combat available including the Congressional Medal of Honour. After the War he turned to film acting and appeared in about 50 film and TV roles including playing himself in the film of his autobiography 'To Hell and Back'. 

Cutting - The Infuenza (1919)

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This was the Influenza pandemic that spread across the World between 1918 and 1920 and killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people globally. It reached Britain in May 1918 and killed 228,000 people many of whom were, unlike the usual victims of ‘flu, young fit adults.

Cutting - Embankment Motor Smash (1923)

March 1923

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Back in 1923 there were no breathalyzers or specific limits to how much alcohol would make a driver incapable, but when, as in the case above, a death occurred, then the driver would be charged with manslaughter. Annual figures for road deaths have been kept since 1926 and show that year's figure as 4,886 whereas last year (2013) it was 1,713. The peak year was 1941, possibly due to the blackout and removal of road signs during the War, when it was 9,169. The good news is that the figure has been steadily falling year on year since 1970.

Cutting - Obituary for Charles Bickford (1967)

10th November 1967

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Charles Bickford had a career that went from burlesque to Broadway theatre to films to TV over a period of 63 years. As a child he was the black sheep of his family and was even tried (but acquited) of murder at the age of 9 (that is not a misprint - nine). As well as the films mentioned in the article his CV aso included 'Duel in the Sun' with Gregory Peck, 'Of Mice and Men' with Burgess Meredith and 'The Plainsman' with Gary Cooper.He was nominated 3 times for best Supporting Actor Oscars but never won.

Cutting - Earl's Heir Killed (1926)

August 1926

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By dying in this car crash Major the Hon. Harold FitzClarence only missed being the 5th Earl by 2 years, his brother the 4th Earl died in 1928. 

Cutting - Flying Baroness Killed (1919)

July 1919

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Elise Raymonde Deroche, known as Baroness De Laroche, was a pioneering French aviatrix and the first woman in the world to receive a pilot's licence. Unable to join the air force during WWI she became an Army driver for the duration. She returned to flying in 1919 but as shown here was killed on July 18th while a passenger in an experimental plane

Cutting - Obituary for Joseph Conrad (1924)

23rd August 1924

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Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857 in the Ukraine, and was raised and educated in Poland before a sea-faring career in the French and British merchant navies. He settled in England and wrote short stories and novels like Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent, which combined his experiences all over the World with an interest in moral conflict and the dark side of human nature. In his time he was regarded as one of England great writers but is now best remembered as the author of the novella (Heart of Darkness) on which the film 'Apocalypse Now' was based. He died in Canterbury on 3rd August 1924.

Random Cutting - Death of Harold Lloyd (1971)

10th March 1971

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I think I became aware of the silent film comedian Harold Lloyd when I saw the compilation film 'Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy' in 1962. Originally a 'poor man's Charlie Chaplin', Lloyd soon found his own character, bespectacled accident-prone optimist, and made a fortune. His films often featured seemingly dangerous stunts which Lloyd participated in with the help of stuntman Harvey Parry. He died on the 8th March 1971.

Random Cutting - Richard Loeb Murdered in Prison (1936)

29th January 1936

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Back in 1924 the two rich friends Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Booby Franks, caught and put on trial. They both received life plus 99 years. It was probably the efforts of their famous defence lawyer, Clarence Darrow, that saved them from being executed. James Day was never convicted of killing Loeb and served the rest of his original sentence, being released in 1942.

Random Cutting - Slave to Drugs (1919)

12th March 1919

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Doctor prescribes heroin injections, patient gets hooked on 'repeat' heroin prescriptions, patient gets ill, patient dies. Verdict - death by natural causes. The Billie Carleton case referred to in the cutting, happened the previous November when the young actress died of a heroin overdose after a Victory party at the Royal Albert Hall.

Random Cutting - Margaret Rutherford dies (1972)

May 22nd 1972

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Margaret Rutherford had a stage acting career starting in 1925 at the Old Vic Theatre and ending in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson, and a film career spanning 1936 to 1967. She is probably best remembered on film as Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth Miss Marple. 

Random Cutting - Death of Ernie Kovaks (1962)

14th January 1962

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I'm not sure today's newspapers would print such a graphic picture of a dead celebrity. Ernie Kovaks an American radio and TV star, comic, scriptwriter, film actor, novelist and during the early 1950's the first TV innovator who, by stretching the existing video technology to its limits, won a posthumous  Emmy in 1962. As shown above he died in car accident in Los Angeles on the 13rh January 1962. 

Random Cutting - Death of Tommy Handley (1949)

10th January 1949

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January 1949

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Tommy Handley was a star of radio from a time before TV when that meant he was heard in just about every home in the land. His comedy show 'It's That Man Again' affectionately known as ITMA was so popular during World War II it spawned a film version.He died quite unexpectedly at 56 years old on the 9th January 1949.  

Murdered by Madmen (1984)

Daily Mirror dated Wednesday April 18th 1984

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25 year-old WPC Yvonne Fletcher was a British police officer fatally shot during a protest outside the Libyan Embassy in St. James's Square, London, on April 17th 1984. Her death resulted in the Metropolitan Police laying siege to the Embassy for eleven days, and the UK cutting off all diplomatic relations with Libya. No one has ever been convicted for the murder.

Random Cutting - Georgi Markov affair (1978)

30th September 1978

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Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian novelist, playright and disident who defected to the West in 1969 and subsequently worked for the BBC. He was attacked at a bus-stop near Waterloo Bridge on the 7th September 1978 and died in hospital on the 11th of ricin poisoning. The killer, believed by British Security to have been working for the Bulgarian Security Forces, has never been identified.

Random Cutting - US Plane Crash (1929)

18th March 1929

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The Colonial Western Airways plane, a Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor had just taken off from Newark on a sightseeing trip around New York with 13 passengers, a pilot and a friend of the pilot (also in the cockpit), when it failed to gain height and crashed onto railway sidings. The sightseers were all killed instantly, the friend died the next day and the pilot survived.

Random Cutting - Huw Wheldon dies (1986)

15th March 1986

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Huw Wheldon was a familiar face on TV first in Children's programming and then Arts especially 'Monitor' which started in 1958. He then switched to Management and became Head of Documentaries followed by Controller of BBC1. He returned to presenting after retiring. 

Random Cutting - Death of Stan Laurel (1965)

23rd February 1965

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Stan Laurel (Arthur Stanley Jefferson) was born in 1890 in Ulverston when it was in Lancashire, England and became the internationally recognisable thin half  of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. Stan and Oliver 'Babe' Hardy appeared in 106 films together. Stan also wrote, produced and directed.