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Bela Kiraly: Soldier who led Hungarian resistance against the Soviet Union during the 1956 uprising

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Major-General Bela Kiraly was 39 years old when he was sentenced to death by Hungary's Communist authorities at the beginning of 1952.

Bernard Ganley: Record-breaking rugby league player for Oldham and Great Britain

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Bernard Ganley was one of the most prolific goal-kicking full-backs the game of rugby league has seen. Known as The Maestro because of his nerveless expertise and astonishing accuracy, Ganley set a series of records in the great Oldham team of the 1950s. The most memorable of them came in 1957-58, when his 219 goals made him the first player to kick a double century in a season and earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. Little wonder that many of his contemporaries described him as the best goal-kicker they ever saw.

Steven Wells: Journalist celebrated for his 'ranting poetry' and iconoclastic pop writing

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Few cancer memoirs have happy endings. Nine days before his death from enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma, the British journalist and pop, sport and political polemicist Steven Wells – "Swells" to all who knew him personally – wrote his last column for the Philadelphia Weekly. In it, he struggled to sum up his life's work as a socialist and moralist of unbending principle, tempered, but never contradicted, by an outrageous gift for tragicomic fantasy and verbal fireworks.

Philip Jones: Television executive who sold 'Inspector Morse' to the world

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Over a period of four decades that mirrored the growth of television, Philip Jones was one of the industry's master salesmen, taking British programmes to worldwide audiences. He sold Inspector Morse (1987-2000), starring John Thaw as the Oxford detective, to more than 200 countries.

Obits in Brief: Mathieu Montcourt

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Mathieu Montcourt, who died of a heart attack on 6 July at the age of 24, was a French tennis player who was serving a five-week ban for betting on the internet on other players' matches.

David Pears: Philosopher renowned for his work on Wittgenstein

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

For those who knew and loved him, the philosopher David Pears seemed touched by greatness, not only in his work, but in the rich and accomplished breadth of his interests. These ranged from his self-acquired mastery of butterflies and botany (begun in his bucolic Devon holidays and continued on family walks with his children), to his passion for the visual arts (he was the first curator of the Christ Church Picture Gallery, instrumental in its being built, and a very hands-on chairman of the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford at the time when its directors included Nicholas Serota), to his soigné cooking (almost always fish served with a distinguished white wine) for his and his wife Anne's Oxford dinner parties.

Fleur Cowles: Writer and well-connected socialite who edited 'Flair' magazine

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Fleur Cowles spectacularly achieved her early goal of reaching the social stratosphere, spending much of her life amid the uppermost reaches of A-list celebrity, meeting practically everyone who was worth meeting. The glittering circle of friends and acquaintances of this supreme socialite included US presidents, Salvador Dali, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr and, one of her proudest conquests, the Queen Mother.

Obits in Brief: John A. Keel

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

John A. Keel, who died on 3 June aged 79, was the author of The Mothman Prophecies, an account of his investigation in the 1960s into sightings in West Virginia of a strange winged creature, which was made into a 2002 film starring Richard Gere and Alan Bates.

Bleddyn Williams: 'The Prince of Centres' who remains the last captain to lead Wales to victory over the All Blacks

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Bleddyn Williams, the Welsh rugby player known and respected worldwide as the "Prince of Centres" and the last Welshman to captain his country to victory over New Zealand, died in Cardiff on Monday at the age of 86. Williams, a magnificent passer of the ball and blessed with the definitive Welsh sidestep, led Wales to a 13-8 win over Bob Stuart's 1953 touring All Blacks three weeks after captaining his club, Cardiff, to an 8-3 victory over the New Zealanders.

Fayette Pinkney: Singer with the Three Degrees

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In the 1970s, the Three Degrees embodied a certain style of classy, sophisticated, orchestrated soul, and were equally at home on Top Of The Pops, TV variety shows, in cabaret or in the presence of royalty. Indeed, the easy-on-the-ear, easy-on-the-eye girl trio from Philadelphia who topped the UK charts in 1974 with the soft, smooth, seductive "When Will I See You Again", became favourites of Prince Charles and were even tagged "Charlie's Angels" by the British tabloids.

Cyril Alliston: Missionary in South Africa and Borneo

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Cyril John Alliston, a missionary of the Anglican church, a servant of the late British Empire and benevolent pastor to people of many of its races, died in Cape Town three weeks short of his 98th birthday. The life of this modest and saintly man, who was more committed to Christianity than to mere religion and who abhorred the word "denomination", illustrates the changes that came over his country and its ways of worship in the course of the 20th century.

Peter Wheeler: Maverick car manufacturer who led TVR for a quarter of a century

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Peter Wheeler, who steered the fortunes of the British sports car mainstay TVR for a quarter of a century, was one of the last great characters of the British car industry.

Robert McNamara: Secretary of Defense excoriated for his part in leading America into the Vietnam War

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In another age and circumstance, Robert McNamara might have been a classic American success story. He was a brilliant student, a formidable administrator who impressed everyone who met him. Destiny, however, propelled him to a job which made him a prime architect of arguably America's greatest foreign policy disaster. The young Robert McNamara had a dazzling career in Detroit; an older and saddened McNamara was President of the World Bank for 13 years. But he will forever be remembered for "McNamara's War," the tragedy of his middle years which was the calamitous US adventure in Vietnam.

Allen Klein: Notorious business manager for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The most infamous manager of the rock and pop era, Allen Klein looked after the affairs of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles in the Sixties and early seventies. A notoriously brash character and tough negotiator, Klein invented the role of business manager but his stance as the outsider siding with the artists, the enemy of the record companies, would have had a lot more credence if he hadn't succeeded in negotiating excellent, many would say extortionate, terms when he parted company with his clients.

Johnny Roadhouse: Saxophonist and central figure in Mancunian music

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Over a career spanning more than half a century, the saxophonist Johnny Roadhouse was one of the country's leading instrumentalists. And as the celebrated owner of a legendary Manchester music store, his expertise helped guide many of the city's musicians to the forefront of British musical life.

Karl Malden: Actor known for his gritty film roles who found wider fame in 'The Streets of San Francisco'

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Character actors, by definition, rarely stand out in the Hollywood crowd, unlike leading men whose chiselled features are etched in the public's consciousness. Karl Malden was the exception.

Alan Kelly: Goalkeeper and manager who served Preston North End and Ireland for three decades

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Alan Kelly was a favourite among football fans on both sides of the Irish Sea, who came to admire his stylish and dependable goalkeeping.

Mollie Sugden: Actress renowned for playing Mrs Slocombe in the 1970s sitcom 'Are You Being Served?'

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Playing mothers, mother-in-laws and battleaxes gave Mollie Sugden four decades of television stardom, but her greatest fame came as the brassy Mrs Slocombe in the department-store sitcom Are You Being Served?

Pina Bausch: Dancer and choreographer whose seminal work gave an unsettling view of the human condition

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The choreographer Pina Bausch, who died on 30 June, was unquestionably the leading exponent of dance theatre in Europe; arguably the world. The infrequent London appearances of the company she headed were invariably characterised by sold-out houses and an audience of followers and practitioners of all the arts; an indication of how her admirers and her influence extended far beyond the often hermetic world of dance.

Sir Henry Hodge

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

We are poorer by the death of Henry Hodge (obituary, 30 June), but richer by his lifelong work, writes Andy Thomas.

Professor Harold Hankins: Communications engineer who went on to lead UMIST to a position of academic eminence

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Harold Hankins had a distinguished professional career in both industry and academia. He began his working life as an engineer for the railways, giving him the later distinction of being the UK's only university boss to have completed an apprenticeship. During an industrial career at Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company, he developed the first computer visual display system. He then embarked on a long career with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), where he continued his work on visual displays. A highly effective administrator, he was eventually to become Principal and first Vice-Chancellor of UMIST, leading it to a position of international pre-eminence during a time of unprecedented cuts in university funding.

Gale Storm: Actress and singer who became the leading lady of choice for the 'Poverty Row' studio Monogram

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

One of the most prolific B-movie actresses of the 1940s, Gale Storm purveyed a fresh-faced wholesomeness that made her a reliable leading lady in musicals, westerns and thrillers, and for most of the decade she was the leading female star of the "Poverty Row" studio, Monogram, for whom she made more than 20 films. She was to become the studio's highest paid star and the only one they kept under contract. "If I had worked at a large studio like MGM," she later said, "I might have been one more little fish in a big pond. But at Monogram, I was the only fish they had." When her film career ended, she moved with great success to television – in 1953 she was second to Lucille Ball in popularity – and she also had a notable career as a recording star, with three records in the top 10.

Doctor Cecil Helman: Medical anthropologist, GP and writer who found fame with his book 'Suburban Shaman'

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In the summer of 1973, I made a pilgrimage to the Jerusalem home of the great Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai. Later that same year Cecil Helman. It is possible that Amichai liked neither of us and decided we deserved one another, though we preferred to think the opposite. Either way, he gave Cecil my telephone number, thereby creating a constant friendship that was broken only by Cecil's death at the age of 65.

Boris Pokrovsky: Opera director whose career at the Bolshoi crossed five decades

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Boris Pokrovsky dominated Soviet opera for over 50 years and his productions – lavish, traditional, even sometimes staid – defined the Bolshoi style. But his chamber opera company often moved in a very different direction.

George Clare: Memoirist who recalled life in Nazi Vienna and postwar Berlin

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It was an age of durability which was equated with stability... but nothing is so impermanent as permanence, nothing is so insecure as security." So wrote the memoirist George Clare of Franz-Josef's Austria in Last Waltz in Vienna (1980). In the book, the Jewish Klaar family's multifarious, self-made, well-fed, culturally abundant past in Vienna – reaching back in Clare's account to 1842 – tragically gives way to a city overcome by the rise of Nazism from which he escaped. If escape he did. Clare's subsequent transition from Klaar, and his transformation into a quintessential Englishman, was haunted by the discovery that his parents' French refuge had led to Auschwitz's gas showers.