Alan Lake

Alan Lake - who was born on November 24th, 1940, in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England - was a British actor and occasional singer.  Studying acting at RADA, Lake began performing in television roles in 1964, and landed his first film role the following year.  In 1967, the casting director Pamela Brown gave birth to Lake's first child - a daughter, Catherine Emma - following a brief affair.  After numerous credits in various popular British T.V. programmes of the 1960s, and a handful of film roles, Lake met the actress Diana Dors on the set of the 1968 T.V. series The Inquisitors.  Initially disliking Dors, the two quickly fell in love, marrying on November 23rd, 1968.  In 1969, Dors gave birth to the couple's only child - a son, Jason David - and Lake even released a single that year, although the song failed to chart.  The couple appeared together in well-received stage plays in the early 1970s.  However, things began to go wrong in July, 1970, when Lake served one year of an 18-month for his involvement in a pub brawl.  On his release from prison, Dors presented Lake - a keen horseman - with a mare; however, Lake was soon left seriously injured when the horse ran into a tree, leaving him with a broken back, and unable to walk for several weeks.  Now in severe pain, and unable to work, Lake began drinking heavily, with Dors saying, "alcohol had unleashed a monster, uncontrollable and frightening."  He began having psychotic episodes, but was temporarily diverted from drinking by converting to Roman Catholicism, convincing his wife to join him in the faith.  In 1974, Dors was rushed to hospital with meningitis; she recovered, and months later became pregnant.  Advised by doctors to have an abortion, she went ahead with the pregnancy, motivated by her regret at two previous abortions.  Sadly, Dors miscarried, which led Lake to return to drinking.  For the rest of the 1970s, Lake's once-promising acting career was reduced to small parts in T.V. dramas and low-budget comedy films, although he did have a major role in a 1974 film promoting the band Slade, as well as a part in episode 1 of The Sweeney.  Lake and Dors separated for a time in 1980, reuniting after Lake agreed to receive treatment for his alcoholism.  From here on, Lake's work began to dry up, and Dors's health declined: she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1982, and died in May of 1984.  Devestated, Lake burnt all his wife's clothes, and fell into a deep depression.  On October 10th, 1984, Lake took their teenage son Jason to the railway station, before returning to the family home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, and took his own life by shooting himself in the mouth in his son's bedroom.  Alan Lake was 43 years old.

Vincent Crane

Vincent Rodney Cheesman - who was born on May 21st, 1943, in Reading, Berkshire, England - was a British songwriter and keyboardist, best-known as the organist in the bands The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster.  As a teenager, he taught himself boogie-woogie piano, before attending Trinity College of Music in London between 1961 and 1964.  Influenced by Graham Bond, he took up playing the Hammond Organ.  In late 1966, Crane founded the Vincent Crane Combo, in which he teamed-up with bass player Binky McKenzie, saxophone player John Claydon, and drummer Gordon Hadler.  In 1967, he joined forces with Arthur Brown in his own band, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.  Their debut album in 1968, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, contained the song Fire, which was co-written by Crane, and reached no. 1 in the U.K. singles chart, as well as topping the charts in the U.S.A.and Canada.  During the band's first tour of the United States in 1968, Crane suffered a mental breakdown, returning to England for treatment, where he spent three or four months at the mental hospital in Banstead, Surrey.  Crane rejoined the band, but they effectively disintegrated on another tour of the U.S.A. in June of 1969 when leader Arthur Brown temporarily disappeared to a commune, leaving drummer Carl Palmer and Crane to leave and form Atomic Rooster.  Playing their first concert at the Lyceum in London on August 29th, 1969, headlining above Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster released their first eponymous album in 1970, before Carl Palmer left to join Emerson, Lake, andPalmer, that same year.  Atomic Rooster enjoyed success with two hit singles in 1971: Tomorrow Night (written by Crane), and Devil's Answer.  From at least 1968, Crane had been suffering from manic depression (now known as bipolar disorder), necessitating several periods of treatment at both in- and outpatient mental-health facilities.  As well as continuing work with his own band, Crane collaborated with other musicians on a number of albums, including Rory Gallagher, Arthur Brown, and Peter Green.  Atomic Rooster's final album was the relatively-unsuccessful Headline News in 1983, after which Crane disbanded Atomic Rooster.  In 1984, he joined Ray Dorset, Peter Green, and Jeff Whittaker, under the name Katmandu, releasing the one-off album, A Case for the Blues.  Crane joined Dexy's Midnight Runners in 1985, playing piano on their album, Don't Stand Me Down, and two singles, one becoming the theme for the BBC television series, Brush Strokes.  Dexy's disbanded in 1987.  Crane intended to form Atomic Rooster again, planning a German tour for 1989, but - on February 14th,1989 - he was found dead from a deliberate overdose of Anadin tablets, leaving behind his wife, Jean.  Vincent Crane was 45 years old.

Michael Ryan

Michael Robert Ryan - who was born on May 18th, 1960, at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England - was a British man who killed sixteen people and injured fifteen more during a shooting rampage in the town of Hungerford, Berkshire, in 1987.  At the time of his birth, his mother, Dorothy, was 34, and his father, Alfred, was 55.  An only child, he apparently had a distant relationship with his father, a building inspector, although he was very close to, and doted on by, his mother, who worked as a dinner-lady and a waitress.  As a child, Ryan was a loner with few friends, who developed an interest in toy soldiers and the military, which later spiralled into an obsession with guns.  He was bullied at school, singled-out for being different.  Ryan enrolled at college, but the bullying of him continued, and he dropped-out without gaining any qualifications, making it difficult for him to get a job and participate in society.  In 1978, he was granted a shotgun certificate, and subsequently began practicing shooting at local gun clubs.  In April of 1987, Ryan began employment as a labourer, working on footpaths and fences near the River Thames; he left the job that July, returning to claiming unemployment benefits.  By August, 1987, Ryan was the owner of eight legally-held firearms.  On the sunny afternoon of August 19th, 1987, Michael Ryan drove out to Savernake Forest, seven miles west of Hungerford, where he spotted Susan Godfrey picnicking with her two young children.  He locked the children into their mother's car, before shooting Godfrey dead with an AK-47 rifle.  Ryan then drove back to Hungerford, stopping off at a garage to fill his car with petrol, and shooting at the cashier, although he at first missed and then his gun jammed.  Back in his home town, he set his own home on fire, and attempted to flee in his car, but it wouldn't start.  Ryan then began walking around the neighbourhood, shooting apparently randomly at passers-by.  By the time he stopped shooting at 1.47 p.m., Ryan had killed sixteen people, including his own mother after she had told him to stop what he was doing.  He then ensconced himself inside John O'Gaunt Secondary School, where he had once been a pupil.  Ryan later became engaged in conversation with one of the police officers who had surrounded the building.  At one stage, he was heard to call out, "It's funny.  I killed all those people, but I haven't the guts to blow my own brains out."  At 6.52 p.m., a muffled gunshot was heard from within the school buildings, and Ryan became silent.  Around 8 p.m., armed police broke into a barricaded room, where they found Ryan lying dead from a gunshot to his right temple.  In the wake of the massacre, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was passed, banning the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles, and restricting the use of shotguns with a capacity of more than three cartridges.  Michael Ryan was 27 years old.

Rachel Roberts

Rachel Roberts - who was born on September 20th, 1927, in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales - was an award-winning Welsh actress.  The youngest of two daughters born to Richard (a church minister) and Rachel Ann Roberts, she studied at the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, before beginning work with a repertory company in Swansea in 1950.  She made her film debut in the 1953 Welsh-set comedy, Valley of Song.  In 1955, Roberts married the actor Alan Dobie, but they divorced in 1960.  That same year (1960), she won a British Academy Film Award for her performance in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and in 1963 won a further BAFTA and an Oscar nomination for her role in This Sporting Life.  In 1961, Roberts married the English actor Rex Harrison in Genoa, Italy.  The marriage was tumultuous, with both partners engaging in excessive drinking, as well as engaging in public fights.  Harrison later left Roberts, and they divorced in 1971, with Harrison going on to marry Roberts's former best friend, the British socialite, Elizabeth Rees-Williams.  Devastated by her divorce from Harrison, Roberts moved to Hollywood in 1975 in an attempt to put the failed marriage behind her, subsequently appearing in supporting roles in several American films, such as Foul Play in 1978.  In 1976, she won a Drama Desk award for her performance in the Alan Bennett play, Habeas Corpus, and in 1979 she co-starred in the LWT production of Bennett's The Old Crowd.  Roberts's final British film was Yanks, directed by John Schlesinger, in 1979, for which she received a Supporting Actress BAFTA.  Roberts had become known within the entertainment industry for her eccentric behaviour, that seemed to stem from her alcoholism.  She had a habit of imitating a Welsh Corgi when intoxicated; and once, at a party thrown by the actor Richard Harris, she attacked the actor Robert Mitchum on all fours, chewing his trousers and champing on his bare skin, saying, "There, there".  In 1980, Roberts tried desperately to win back Harrison, but it was a hopeless case, as by this time he was married to his sixth and final wife, Mercia Tinker.  By 1980, Roberts was living on-and-off with a Mexican man twenty years her junior, Darren Ramirez, although the relationship was largely platonic as Roberts had become obsessed with winning back Harrison.  On November 26th, 1980, Roberts's body was found by her gardener - lying amongst shards of broken glass on her kitchen floor - at her home in Los Angeles.  Initially attributed to a heart attack, Roberts had in fact fallen through a decorative glass divide between two rooms, after swallowing a strong alkali, as well as barbiturates and alcohol, as detailed in her posthumously-published journals.  Roberts was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory, with her journals becoming the basis for No Bells on Sunday: The Memoirs of Rachel Roberts.  In 1992, Roberts's ashes - along with her friend, the actress Jill Bennett (who took her own life in 1990) - were scattered on the River Thames by director Lindsay Anderson during a boat trip.  The event was included in Anderson's BBC documentary film, Is That All There Is?  Rachel Roberts was 53 years old.

Ted Moult

Edward Walker Moult - who was born on February 11th, 1926, in Derby, England - was a British farmer, who later became a well-known television- and radio-personality in the United Kingdom.  The eldest of the six children of William Moult, Ted grew up on the family's farm in Derbyshire.  He left Derby School in 1944 at the age of 17, and by the age of 22 had his own dairy farm at Sinfin on the outskirts of Derby.  Moult first came to public attention in the 1950s, when he appeared on BBC Radio's general knowledge quiz, Brain of Britain.  Despite being knocked out in the first round, his quick wit and "gift of the gab" was noticed by BBC producers.  This quirky mixture of eccentric farmer, sharp intelligence, and comedic timing, proved a hit with audiences, and he was invited onto discussion programmes such as Any Questions?, and panel games such as Ask Me Another and What's My Line?  By the mid-1960s, Moult had become a household name.  He was credited with introducing the concept of "pick-your-own"  strawberries at his farm in 1961, and was the subject of This is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews in February of 1964.  Moult's media appearances continued throughout the 1960s and '70s, being a regular guest on Call My Bluff and Celebrity Squares.  He was the presenter of the Farming documentary programme from 1959-'69, as well as playing the Story Teller in the children's show Play School from 1964-'71.  Moult also took small parts as an actor, appearing in a 1980 episode of the television series All Creatures Great and Small, and playing the part of Bill Insley in the BBC Radio 4 farming-themed soap opera, The Archers, from 1983-'86.  In 1976, he starred in a popular television commercial for Jacob's Cream Crackers, and in the 1980s fronted a series of adverts for Everest double-glazing.  Moult's autobiography, Down To Earth: The Life and Views of Ted Moult, was published in 1973, and in 1983 he appeared as a celebrity guest on darts-themed gameshow, Bullseye, winning £180 for charity.  In 1986, several weeks of wet weather lead to worry for arable farmers like Ted trying to gather their harvests.  His wife said that the normally cheerful Ted had become withdrawn, and that, "he suddenly became massively depressed, and his judgement seemed to fail.  All his optimism seemed to evaporate.  It was almost as though a curtain fell over his life."  Moult had persuaded himself that he was never going to get his grain into the barn.  On the morning of September 3rd, 1986, he locked himself into his office and shot himself dead.  He was survived by his wife, Marie Rose - known as Maria - (1932-2014), and several (at least four!) children.  After a private funeral, his life was celebrated at a public ceremony in Derby Cathedral.  He was buried in the parish churchyard in Ticknall, the small village where he farmed.  Ted Moult was 60 years old.

Ian Curtis

Ian Kevin Curtis - who was born on July 15th, 1956, in Stretford, Lancashire, England - was an English singer-songwriter and musician, best-known as the lead-singer and lyricist of the post-punk band, Joy Division.  He was the second of two children born to Kevin and Doreen Curtis, and grew up in Macclesfield, Cheshire.  An intelligent child, Curtis was awarded a scholarship to the independent King's School at the age of eleven.  Winning several scholastic awards whilst there, he eventually left with nine 'O'-Levels.  As part of a school project, Curtis chose to visit elderly people in their homes; he and his friends would pilfer prescription drugs from them, on one occasion Curtis being found unconscious after a Largactil overdose.  With little money, but an increasing love for music, he would also steal records from local shops.  After dropping out of 'A'-Level studies, he got a job in a record store, before becoming employed in the civil service.  Curtis met Deborah Woodruff in 1972, and they married in August of 1975; they had one child, Natalie, born in 1979.  In 1976, he met three musicians - Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Terry Mason - at a Sex Pistols concert in Manchester.  The four, along with drummer Stephen Morris, eventually named themselves Joy Division, with Curtis becoming their lead-singer, lyricist, and sometime guitarist.  They only released one album, 1979's Unknown Pleasures, which did not chart, during Curtis's lifetime.  Curtis became renowned for his awkward stage persona, and his peculiar dancing, which seemed to mimic the epileptic fits which he began experiencing from 1978.  The epilepsy was severe, but Curtis continued drinking and smoking and sleeping irregularly, contrary to medical advice.  Medication he began taking for the condition caused him to become irritable and depressed.  In 1979, he began an affair with music journalist and promoter, Annik Honore.  In April of 1980, Curtis suffered two epileptic seizures in one day, both onstage and at different concerts.  On April 6th that year, he made his first definite suicide attempt.  By this time, his marriage was floundering, and his wife began divorce proceedings against him.  Curtis's final live performance with Joy Division was at Birmingham University on May 2nd, 1980.  On the evening of May 17th, 1980, Curtis asked his wife to drop divorce proceedings; mindful of his fragile mental state, she agreed to spend the night with him, subsequently driving to her parents' home to inform them of her intentions.  However, on returning to Curtis's place, he told her of his intention to spend the night alone, and so she left again.  It seems that Curtis spent much of that night listening to music and watching films.  When Deborah Curtis returned to her husband's house the next morning, May 18th, she found that he had hanged himself from a washing-line in the kitchen.  He had left a suicide note in which he proclaimed his love for his wife.  At the time of his suicide, Joy Division were on the eve of their first North American tour, and it was speculated that Curtis's intense fear of flying, along with his concerns as to how American audiences would react to his epilepsy, may have further enhanced his depressed state.  Two months after Curtis died, Joy Division released one more album - Closer, which reached no. 6 in the U.K. charts - before disbanding.  Ian Curtis was just 23 years old.

Imogen Hassall

Imogen Hassall - who was born on August 25th, 1942, in Woking, Surrey, England - was a British actress and model who appeared in thirty-three films in the 1960s and '70s.  Born into an affluent family of artists and businessmen, her godfather is said to have been the composer Ivor Novello.  After attending Elmhurst Ballet School and the Royal Ballet School, at the age of sixteen Hassall moved to New York City to study, before returning to England to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art between 1960 and 1962, following which she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company for one season.  Hassall appeared in the comedy The Reluctant Peer at the Duchess Theatre in 1964, before gaining parts in British action T.V. series of the 1960s, including The Saint, The Avengers, and The Persuaders!.  In her first significant film role, in 1967, she played Tara in The Long Duel, and received further public attention when playing a dominant cave-girl in When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth in 1970.  Also in 1970, Hassall played major roles in Carry On Loving and the horror film Incense for the Damned, and in 1973 starred alongside David Jason in the comedy film, White Cargo.  In 1972, she gave birth to a baby girl, Melanie, but the child died after only four days; Hassall married the baby's father, the actor Kenneth Ives, in 1974, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1978.  In 1979, she married another actor, Andrew Knox, but the marriage lasted less than a year, and she lost the baby she was expecting; Knox himself committed suicide in 1987.  Hassall's private life was a regular subject of interest in tabloid newspapers.  She was known for playing sexy, scantily-clad characters on film and T.V., and this, along with the skimpy outfits she wore to film premieres, led to Hassall being dubbed "The Countess of Cleavage".  After her failed relationships, the death of her child, her miscarriage, and with her career in decline, Hassall became depressed.  Following previous suicide attempts, Hassall was found dead at her home in Wimbledon, London, England, on the morning of November 16th, 1980.  She had been due to meet her friend - the actress, Suzanna Leigh - that day for a holiday trip to Mombasa, but failed to turn up.  She had apparently taken an overdose of Tuinal sleeping tablets.  Imogen Hassall was just 38 years old.

Stuart Leary

Stuart Edward Leary - who was born on April 30th, 1933, in Green Point, Cape Town, South Africa - was a dual-code professional sportsman, who played soccer as a centre-forward, and cricket as an all-rounder.  Leary started his football career with Cape Town side, Clyde, before moving to English club, Charlton Athletic, in 1950, along with team-mate Eddie Firmani.  Making his debut in 1951, he became a prolific goalscorer, netting a record number of goals for the club: in total, Leary made 376 league appearances for Charlton, scoring 153 goals, until his departure for Queens Park Rangers in 1962.  At Q.P.R., he appeared in a further 94 league games, scoring 29 goals.  Leary played once for the England under-23 team in 1954, but was banned from playing for the full national team due to his foreign birthplace.  Leary had a parallel career as a county cricketer for Kent between 1951 and 1971.  A right-handed batsman, in first-class matches, he scored 16,517 runs at an average of 31.10, and took 146 wickets at an average of 33.80 with his leg-break bowling. Leary returned to South Africa after his sporting career ended.  Rumours circulated that he may have been homosexual, at a time when this was not widely accepted, particularly in sporting circles, although he had married, and then divorced, an older woman.  Fellow South African cricketer, Eddie Barlow, said that, at the time of Leary's death, he had, "...about five girlfriends on the go..."  In By His Own Hand, writer David Frith states that Leary had a fondness for resting his hand on a colleague's knee during team photographs; also, at the time of his death, three people who knew Leary apparently stated that he was concerned at the nationwide crackdown on juvenile vice, and that he was also worried he may have contracted the AIDS virus.  In 1985, Leary was replaced as coach of Western Province cricket team, and sometime thereafter began taking anti-depressant drugs.  Leary's body was found on Table Mountain near Cape Town on August 23rd, 1988. It was believed he committed suicide two days earlier, on August 21st, by throwing himself off a precipice.  He was 55 years old.

Dave Clement

David Thomas Clement - who was born on February 2nd, 1948, in Battersea, south-west London, England - was an English footballer.  Clement signed as a professional with Queens Park Rangers in 1965, making his debut in the 1966-67 season - a memorable one for Q.P.R., as they won the Third Division Championship by a twelve-point margin, and became the first Third-Division side to win a major trophy - the League Cup - by defeating West Bromwich Albion 3-2 at Wembley.  A right-sided full-back, Clement played a total of 472 games for Q.P.R. between 1965 and 1979, scoring 28 goals.  During this time, he also won five full international caps for England.  He was sold to Bolton Wanderers in 1979, before moving on to Fulham in 1980.  He played a further nine games, scoring two goals, for Wimbledon during the 1981-82 season, leaving him with a career total of 532 league games and 30 goals.  As his football career wound down, Clement began to become depressed; and, on March 31st, 1982, he committed suicide by ingesting weedkiller.  He was 34 years old.  Dave Clement's son, Neil Clement, who was only three years old at the time of his father's death, also became a professional footballer, spending the majority of his career at West Bromwich Albion.  His eldest son, Paul, became a non-league footballer, and later a professional coach and manager, becoming head coach at Swansea City in Wales.

John Lyons

John Patrick Lyons - who was born on November 8th, 1956, in Buckley, Flintshire, north-east Wales - was a Welsh footballer, who played for several teams in the Football League between 1974 and 1982.  As a youngster at Elfed High School, Lyons excelled at basketball, playing for the Wales under-15 team at that sport, before signing as a professional footballer with Wrexham in September of 1975. Playing as a striker, he scored 23 goals in 86 games for Wrexham, helping them to the Third Division title in the 1977-78 season.  He subsequently played for Millwall, Cambridge United, and Colchester United; in total, playing 195 league games, and scoring 58 goals.  Whilst at his last club, Colchester, Lyons befriended his fellow striker and notorious hardman, Roy McDonough.  Lyons had replaced fan-favourite, Kevin Bremner, in the side, and thus became unpopular with his own side's supporters, and began to suffer from depression. Lyons had apparently said several times to McDonough that, if the crowd abuse didn't stop, he would hang himself.  On November 9th, 1982, Lyons played in a home game for Colchester United against Chester City at Layer Road, which his team won 1-0.  Two days later, on November 11th, 1982, Lyons went out for a drinking spree with McDonough.  He thereafter returned to his home in the village of Layer de la Haye, Essex, England, and hanged himself.  John Lyons was just 26 years old.

Tom Evans

Thomas Evans, Jr., was an English musician and songwriter.  Born on June 5th, 1947, in Liverpool, England, Evans was a guitarist and vocalist for the British band, Badfinger, and co-wrote the classic song, Without You, with Pete Ham.  After great success with Badfinger in the 1970s, financial problems led to lead singer Ham committing suicide in 1975.  Evans later joined other reincarnations of Badfinger, but without much commercial success.  After a disastrous U.S. tour in 1982, Evans returrned to Britain, where he was sued for $5 million in damages for abandoning his touring contract. On November 19th, 1983, following a dispute with former bandmate Joey Molland over royalties to the song Without You, Evans hanged himself in his garden in London, England.  He was 36 years old.

Leicester Hemingway

Leicester Clarence Hemingway was an American writer.  Born on April 1st, 1915, in Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.A., he was the youngest of six siblings, his older brother being the writer, Ernest Hemingway.  Leicester Hemingway wrote six books, including his first novel, The Sound of the Trumper, in 1953, based on his experiences in France and Germany during World War II.  In 1961, he published a well-received biography of his brother - My Brother, Ernest Hemingway.  This book brought Leicester recognition in his own right as a writer, as well as significant financial rewards.  In July, 1964, with the money earned from his work, Hemingway created the micronation of New Atlantis on a barge 12 miles off the coast of Jamaica.  He utilised the 1856 Guano Islands Act to claim half of the barge as a new nation, and half for the United States.  Hemingway also "wrote" a constitution, which was a copy of the U.S. Constitution with the words "New Atlantis" substituted for "United States".  New Atlantis's purpose was to generate money for oceanographic research by selling coins and stamps.  In 1966, the micronation was ravaged by a storm and then ransacked by fishermen.  After suffering for some years from Type II diabetes, which necessitated several amputations, Leicester Hemingway committed suicide by shooting himself in the head on September 13th, 1982.  His sister, Ursula, his brother, Ernest, as well as Ernest's grand-daughter, Margaux Hemingway, also committed suicide.  He was 67 years old.