Jeremy Strong, children’s author who shunned gritty realism in favour of zany comedy – obituary
He claimed that seriousness in his books was ‘fleeting’ but in their own way they helped young people grapple with life’s problems
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He claimed that seriousness in his books was ‘fleeting’ but in their own way they helped young people grapple with life’s problems
Born in the shadow of a Bolton cotton mill to two manual labourers, he was inspired by the music of Sibelius to become a concert pianist
‘The eyes say nothing, the straight-set mouth betrays no emotion... Yet the runs have piled up in front of him like piles of chips’
She insisted that unlike the television series, she and her fellow forensic pathologists are not dispassionate ‘miserable characters’
His catchphrases ‘Contender, ready! Gladiator, ready!’ and ‘On my first whistle…’ were heard in playgrounds across Britain
From 1932 to 1972, hundreds of black men with syphilis were denied treatment to see what would happen if the disease ran rampant
During his time with the management consultants McKinsey in New York, he was described as ‘a very brilliant young Australian’
‘Shells and mortars crashed down,’ he recalled. ‘Men screamed when they were hit. The enemy could clearly observe us’
The column is covered with carvings, which he concluded were composed ‘by grunts at the stone face, not on a drawing board in the studio’
Her success was founded on her deft storytelling, a skill she refined in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp
Seen by some as comparatively moderate, in 2007 he was instrumental in the freeing of the kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston
Though wholly devoted to the Queen, he was never servile or pompous; unlike so many who acquire royal connections, it never went to his head
‘I was ordered to go in there and destroy the enemy,’ he insisted. ‘That was my job on that day. That was the mission I was given’
Michael knew the royal life was not for him and his wife Marina, an industrialist’s daughter, represented the key to his independence
A Britten specialist, he graced the world’s grandest opera houses and was also a regular on the BBC’s musical hall show The Good Old Days
His ideas were hijacked by the sensationalist bestseller The Bible Code, which claimed scripture had foretold the death of Princess Diana
Sung by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Young Girl was a UK No 1 and even outsold Hey Jude, but some US radio stations refused to play it
He and Barry Marshall won a Nobel prize for their work on the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori
Her needle-sharp evocations of Irish life and manners, her sexual candour – and her vivid eye for detail – made her a literary star
A protégé of Anthony Blunt at the Courtauld, he went on to be honoured in France for his work on the French artist and draughtsman