So, farewell then . . .

January

January

Frank Muir, comedy writer and broadcaster, 77; Sonny Bono, singer-turned-US Congressman, 62; Sir Michael Tippett, composer, 93; Mae Questel, actress (voice behind Betty Boop), 89; John Wells, satirist (famous as Denis Thatcher in Anyone for Denis?), writer and broadcaster, 61; Walter Diemer, inventor of bubble-gum, 93; Fred Francis, inventor of Scalextric, 79; Carl Perkins, rock'n'roll singer, 65; Jack Lord, actor (Hawaii Five-O, as in `Book 'em Danno!'), 77.

February

Carl Wilson, pop musician (Beach Boys), 51; Enoch Powell, British Conservative and Unionist politician, 85; Martha Gellhorn, writer and war correspondent, former wife of Ernest Hemingway, 89; Bob Merrill, songwriter (How Much is that Doggie in the Window), 76.

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March

Lloyd Bridges, actor (High Noon, Airplane), 85; Judge Dredd, reggae singer (real name Alex Hughes), 53; Dr Benjamin Spock, childcare expert, 94; Galina Ulanova, prima ballerina, 87; Daniel Massey, actor, 64; Ferdinand Porsche, car designer, 88.

April

Tammy Wynette, country music singer (Stand By Your Man), 55; Cozy Powell, rock drummer, 50; Lord (Denis) Howell, former British Labour minister (Minister for Water), 75; Wendy O'Williams, punk rock singer (The Plasmatics), 48; Sir Ian MacGregor, former coal board chairman; scourge of Arthur Scargill, 85; Linda McCartney, photographer and businesswoman, 56.

May

Justin Fashanu, British footballer, 37; Kevin Lloyd, actor in ITV's The Bill, 49; Frank Sinatra, singer and actor, 82; Lord (Hugh) Cudlipp, the man who invented British popular journalism in The Mirror, 84.

June

Edwin Astley, composer of TV themes (The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk), 76; Sir David English, chairman of Associated Newspapers, the man who re-invented British mid-market journalism in The Daily Mail, 67; Syd Lawrence, band leader, 74; Dame Catherine Cookson, author, 91; Tom Cookson, her husband, 87; Hammond Innes, author, 84; Rev Trevor Huddleston, British human rights and anti-apartheid campaigner, 84; Benny Green, jazz saxophonist, 70

July

Maureen O'Sullivan, actress who played Tarzan's Jane, 87; Johnny Speight, comedy writer, creator of Alf Garnet, 78; John Derek, film director and husband of Bo, 71; Roy Rogers, singing cowboy, 86; Alan Shepard, US astronaut and first man to hit a golf ball on the moon, 74; Tiny Rowland, businessman famous for his African links and feud with Mohammed al Fayed, 80.

August

Eve Boswell, 1950s singer, 76

September

Viscount Rothermere, Associated Newspapers' press baron, 73; Jackie Blanchflower, footballer and Busby Babe, 65; Dr Jonathan Mann, Aids epidemiologist and human rights activist, 51; Akira Kurosawa, legendary Japanese film director, 88; Lord Marks of Broughton, (the Marks who formed a duo with Spencer), 78; Florence Griffith-Joyner, 1988 Olympic 100 and 200 metre champion, 39; Susan Barantes, mother of Fergie, the Duchess of York, 61.

October

Roddy McDowall, ape-man actor, 70; Gene Autry, singing cowboy, 91; Joan Hickson, Miss Marple actress, 92; Ted Hughes, British Poet Laureate, 68.

November

Bob Kane, Batman's Dad, 83; Lord (John) Hunt, mountaineer, 88.

December

Lord (Lew) Grade, film and entertainment tycoon, 91;