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.

Sheree Winton

Shirley June Winton - who was born on November 4th, 1935, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England - was an English actress, and the mother of television presenter, Dale Winton.  Born into a poor family, Shirley Patrick (as she was then known) met Jewish furniture salesman Gary Winton at the age of seventeen.  She married Winton (who was then in his forties) in 1954, taking on both his surname and his Jewish religion.  On May 22nd, 1955, at the age of nineteen, she gave birth to her only child: a son, Dale, who was named after the actor Dale Robertson who starred in the television cowboy series Tales of Wells Fargo of which she was a fan.  In 1957, the now-glamorous Sheree was chosen as Queen for a Day at the Oldham Charity Carnival, and the following year was named the Mediterranean Orange Queen of Covent Garden.  Winton won her first film role with a small part in the 1959 British-American horror movie, First Man into Space, followed in that same year by two more uncredited roles in The Devil's Disciple and Follow a Star.  During the next few years, she played a number of minor parts in a variety of British films and television series, appearing alongside the likes of Spike Milligan and Terry-Thomas.  With her blonde hair and good looks, Winton was dubbed the "English Jayne Mansfield".  She had an uncredited part in the 1965 film Thunderball, which starred Sean Connery as James Bond.  Winton and her husband were divorced in 1965, with Gary Winton dying three years later in 1968 on the very day of her son Dale's bar mitzvah ceremony.  Juggling raising her son alone with struggling to find work to make ends meet, Winton began to suffer from depression.  Her last T.V. appearances were on two episodes of Frankie Howerd in 1966.  After an absence of four years from the 'silver screen', Winton appeared in two more movies in 1969: an uncredited part in the Basil Dearden black comedy, The Assassination Bureau; and as 'Lady Pupil Rhubarb' in the Eric Sykes short film, Rhubarb.  These were to be her final film roles.  Over the years, Winton's depression worsened, and she was rushed to hospital on several occasions to have her stomach pumped after overdoses.  In 1972, her son Dale began working as a disc jockey at clubs in Richmond, London.  On May 29th, 1976, Winton shut herself into her bedroom at her home in Hatch End, London, England, and hung a "do not disturb" notice on her door.  Later that day, her son, Dale, entered the room to find his mother's lifeless body lying there.  She had committed suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates.  Sheree Winton was 40 years old.

Isabella Blow

Isabella Blow - who was born on November 19th, 1958, in Marylebone, London, England - was an English magazine editor.  Born as Isabella Delves Broughton, she was the eldest child of Major Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton, a military officer, and his second wife, Helen Mary Shore, a barrister.  Blow had two sisters, Julia and Lavinia; her brother, John, drowned in the family's swimming pool at the age of two, which had a profound effect on her.  In 1972, when she was fourteen, Blow's parents separated, with her mother departing the family home and leaving her with her father with whom she didn't get on.  After doing 'A'-levels, Blow enrolled at secretarial college and took various odd jobs.  In 1979, she moved to New York City, studying Ancient Chinese Art at Columbia University for a year, before moving to Texas, where she worked for the fashion designer, Guy Laroche.  In 1981, Blow married her first husband, Nicholas Taylor (whom she divorced in 1983), and was introduced to the editor of U.S. Vogue, Anna Wintour, soon becoming her assistant at the magazine.  Returning to London in 1986, she began working for Michael Roberts, the fashion director of Tatler and The Sunday Times 'Style' magazines.  In 1989, Blow married her second husband, the barrister and art dealer, Detmar Hamilton Blow.  Her wedding headdress was designed by milliner Philip Treacy, whose talent she recognised, and she set him up in business at her London flat.  Wearing Treacy's hats became a part of her flamboyant style.  In 1993, Blow worked with photographer Steven Meisel on his Babes in London shoot.  Blow discovered the fashion designer Alexander McQueen (who committed suicide in 2010), and launched the career of the model Sophie Dahl.  She supported both the fashion- and art-worlds, with the artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster creating a shadow portrait of her which was displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.  In 2002, she was the subject of an exhibition entitled When Philip met Isabella, which featured drawings and photographs of her wearing Treacy's hats.  Blow was also by now the fashion editor of Tatler, and consulted for DuPont Lycra, Lacoste, and Swarovski.  In 2004, she had an acting cameo in the film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.  She and her second husband separated that year, with both partners going on to have affairs, although they reconciled eighteen months later.  During this time, Blow was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, undergoing electroconvulsive therapy for the condition.  She continued to work on projects, but was soon afterwards diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  She was upset that Alexander McQueen didn't take her along when he sold his brand to Gucci.  Blow's increasing depression was exacerbated by financial troubles and finding out she was infertile.  In 2006, she made two suicide attempts, the second of which led to her breaking both ankles, and several more in 2007.  On May 5th, 2007 - at a party at her home in Hilles House, Stroud, Gloucestershire - Blow announced that she was going shopping.  Instead, her sister found her collapsed on the bathroom floor.  She was rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where she died the next day.  Initially reported to be from ovarian cancer, Blow's death was ruled to be a suicide after ingesting the weedkiller, paraquat.  Isabella Blow was 48 years old.

Thomas Hamilton

Thomas Watt Hamilton - who was born on May 10th, 1952, in Glasgow, Scotland - was a Scottish youth-club leader, shopkeeper, and mass-murderer, who shot dead seventeen people in the small town of Dunblane in 1996.  Hamilton's mother, Agnes Graham Hamilton, a chambermaid, was divorced from her husband, Thomas Watt, by the time Hamilton was born.  He never knew his father, and grew up with his mother's adoptive parents, believing they were his biological parents; they legally adopted him at the age of two.  He also thought that his mother was his biological sister, until he was told the truth when he was twenty-two.  At the age of eleven, Hamilton moved with his adoptive parents from Glasgow to Stirling.  As a teenager, he joined a rifle club and the Boys' Brigade.  He obtained a number of 'O'-Levels, and then attended college, becoming an apprentice draughtsman in 1968.  In 1972, Hamilton opened a D.I.Y. shop in Stirling, which he ran for thirteen years.  By then a Venture Scout himself, in July of 1973, Hamilton was appointed as Assistant Scout Leader of the 4th / 6th Stirling Troop.  Later that year, he was seconded to be leader of the revived 24th Stirlingshire Scout Troop.  However, concerns soon emerged regarding Hamilton's behaviour, including complaints of Scouts being forced to sleep in close proximity to Hamilton in his van during hill-walking expeditions.  In May of 1974, Hamilton's Scout Warrant was withdrawn, and he was blacklisted by the Association, with the County Commissioner saying that he was "suspicious of his moral intentions towards boys".  In February, 1977, he requested that the Scout Association hold a Committee of Inquiry into his complaint that he had been victimised, but the request was denied.  Hamilton persistently maintained that the Scouts had ruined his reputation by dismissing him, and that their actions were linked with those of other organisations such as the police.  From the late 1970s, Hamilton became increasingly involved in running boys' clubs, and he set up and organised fifteen of these from February, 1981, until his death.  Once again, there were many complaints about Hamilton's behaviour towards the boys, including that he was photographing and videoing them without their parents' permission.  In 1993, his shop business failed, which he blamed on the rumours circulating about his behaviour.  By 1995, Hamilton's boys' clubs were also in decline, partially due to dwindling attendance, as parents were reluctant to put their boys in his charge.  At this time, however, his interest in firearms was rekindled, and he purchased 1,700 rounds of 9mm and 500 rounds of .357 ammunition between September, 1995, and January, 1996.  He also bought a 9mm Browning pistol, and a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver, and began practicing regularly at the Stirling Rifle and Pistol Club.  In early 1996, several acquaintances described Hamilton as appearing depressed.  At around 9.30 a.m. on March 13th, 1996, Hamilton arrived in his van at Dunblane Primary School, immediately severing the cables on a telegraph pole which served local houses.  He then entered the school carrying four legally-held handguns.  During the next three to four minutes, Hamilton shot dead sixteen pupils and one teacher, injuring fifteen others.  He then committed suicide by shooting himself in the roof of the mouth.  The event, which became known as the Dunblane Massacre, was the deadliest mass-shooting in British criminal history, and led to the banning in Great Britain of all privately-owned handguns.  Thomas Hamilton, who was never married and had no children, was 43 years old.

Albert Trott

Albert Edwin Trott - who was born on February 6th, 1873, in Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia - was an Australian cricketer, who had the unusual distinction of playing international cricket for both Australia and England.  One of eight children of Adolphus and Mary-Ann Trott, Albert's older brother, Harry, also played Test cricket for Australia.  A keen and determined cricketer from a young age, after only three first-class games for Victoria, Trott made his debut for Australia in the Third Test against England at Adelaide in 1895.  Playing with his brother Harry, and batting at number ten, Trott scored 110 runs without being dismissed in this match, whilst also taking 8 for 43 in England's second innings.  At the end of this series, which England won 3-2, Trott's Test batting average stood at 102.5, making it surprising he was not selected for the 1896 tour of England under the captainship of his brother, Harry.  Instead, Trott sailed to England independently, playing for M.C.C. from 1896, and for Middlesex from 1898.  In late 1896, he briefly returned to Australia, where he married 21-year-old Jessie Rice in 1897, before settling with her in England permanently.  In 1898, Trott became the leading wicket-taker in England, and in 1899 was one of Wisden's cricketers of the year after achieving the double of 200 wickets and 1,000 runs in the season.  Between December, 1898, and April, 1899, Trott played two matches for England against South Africa in South Africa which were retrospectively awarded Test status.  In those games, he scored 23 runs at 5.75, and took 17 wickets at 11.64.  When the Australians toured Britain in 1899, Trott, playing against them for M.C.C., achieved the feat for which he is still best-remembered: batting against Monty Noble, he hit a delivery over the Lord's pavilion and out of the ground, something not matched by any batsman since.  At this stage, Trott was considered the leading bowler in the world, and one of the top all-rounders, although he never played Test cricket again because both Australia and England both considered him, essentially, a foreigner.  He settled into a comfortable terraced house in Willesden, with his wife bearing him two daughters, Jessie and Mabel.  Trott's bowling quickly declined from its peak in 1899, when he took 239 wickets, to 1905, when he took only 62.  He drank heavily, and his weight increased rapidly, and he became known for his extramarital liaisons with women.  He had a brief renaissance in 1907, when, in his benefit match against Somerset, he took four wickets in four balls, and then took a hat-trick later in the same innings - the first time that two hat-tricks had been taken in the same first-class innings (and something that has only been achieved once since).  However, the subsequent early finish meant that the game only raised £800, leading Trott to comment that he had "bowled himself into the poorhouse".  Retiring in 2010, Trott took up umpiring, although by this time his wife had left him and returned to Australia with their children.  Trott himself left the family home, moving into lodgings.  In August of 1913, Trott received news that his father had entered an asylum, where he died that November.  His own health was also declining, as he developed dropsy, as well as a heart condition which was complicated by kidney pains.  In July of 1914, Trott's heart problems lead to him being hospitalised, but he discharged himself on July 28th.  On July 30th, he asked his landlady to bring him sleeping pills, but the chemist refused to supply them without a prescription.  Trott reportedly said, "I don't think I can get through another night", and proceeded to write his will on the back of a laundry ticket.  Following this, broke and broken, and wracked by days of pain, Albert Trott shot himself in the temple with a pistol at his lodgings in Harlesden, Middlesex, England.  He was 41 years old.       

Huw Weekes

Huw Weekes - who was born on January 22nd, 1957, in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales - was a British journalist and broadcaster.  The son of Philip Weekes, a senior National Coal Board official, Weekes was brought up in Aberdare.  He began his journalistic career at the age of eighteen as a cub reporter on the Weston Mercury weekly newspaper in Weston-Super-Mare in the south-west of England, before joining the Bristol Evening Post.  Weekes's first broadcasting job was as a reporter on BBC Radio Newcastle in 1980.  In 1982, he joined Yorkshire Television as a sub-editor, graduating to a presenter's role on YTV's nightly news magazine, Calendar.  Following another presenting role at Tyne Tees Television, Weekes returned to south Wales in 1988, joining HTV Wales in Cardiff.  He stayed with HTV for thirteen years, becoming a well-loved newsreader on the channel.  He was described by HTV Wales Controller and Programmes Director, Elis Owen, as "...a first-class journalist, an excellent broadcaster, and a good colleague.", and "...one of the cornerstones of the HTV news operation for many years, and was well-known and popular...".  Weekes settled in Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan with his wife, Sue, and his three children: Jennifer, Robert, and Alice.  In September of 2000, Weekes - who was described by a work colleague as "an up-and-down kind of person" - was diagnosed with clinical depression.  On the evening of January 17th, 2001, one of Weekes's work colleagues - fellow newsreader, Tara Eugene - received a phone call from Weekes, saying that he had driven to a remote car-park with a bottle of wine and some sleeping-pills, and was planning to ingest them and freeze to death.  Weekes also said that a car had then pulled-up nearby, which he took as a sign not to go through with his plan.  Miss Eugene later tried to contact Weekes at his flat, without success, before contacting Weekes's sister to inform her of his distress.  His sister got no answer when she called at his Cardiff flat, assuming he had gone to bed, as he had to be in the news studio early the next morning.  Weekes had been due to arrive at work in Cardiff at 5 a.m. on January 18th, as he was scheduled to read the morning news bulletins, but he failed to turn up.  Concerned colleagues called his home, but to no avail.  Later that day, Weekes's dead body was found on Boverton Beach, where he used to play with his children, just two miles from his Llantwit Major home.  An inquest revealed that he had died by drowning after taking an overdose of Temazepam sleeping pills and some alcohol.  There were also rumours that Weekes and his wife had been having marital difficulties.  Huw Weekes was just 43 years old.

Stuart Adamson

William Stuart Adamson - who was born on April 11th, 1958 - was an English-born Scottish rock guitarist and singer, most-famous as the the frontman of the pop-rock band, Big Country.  Born in Manchester, England, to Scottish parents William and Anne (nee Muir), at the age of four Adamson's family relocated to the small mining town of Crossgates (about a mile east of Dunfermline) in Fife, Scotland.  Educated at Beath High School in Cowdenbeath, Adamson formed the Dunfermline band Tattoo in 1976, before creating Skids, who performed in the Edinburgh area, in 1977.  Skids' biggest success was the song Into The Valley which reached number 10 in the U.K. singles chart in March of 1979.  After four charting singles that year, Adamson quit the band in 1980, forming Big Country the following year.  The band's first hit, Fields of Fire, reached number 10 on the U.K. singles chart in 1983, and was also a success in New Zealand and the U.S.  The subsequent album, The Crossing, powered by the single In a Big Country, reached at least the top-20 in North America as well as New Zealand and the U.K.  Big Country's following three albums all reached the top ten in the U.K., although were less-successful abroad.  The band continued recording studio albums and touring until 1999, although with gradually-decreasing record sales.  In November of 1999, Adamson went missing for a time, causing Big Country to have to cancel stadium gigs supporting Bryan Adams on a tour of Scotland.  With his first wife Sandra, Adamson had two children - Callum (born: 1982) and Kirsten (born: 1985) - who both became musicians.  Adamson had struggled with alcoholism in his earlier years, but became sober around 1990.  In 1996, he split with his first wife and moved to Nashville, U.S.A., where, in 1999, he married Melanie Shelley, a hairdresser.  Whilst in the U.S., Adamson founded his final band: an alternative-country duo called The Raphaels with Nashville songwriter Marcus Hummon.  Adamson's alcoholism began returning in the early 2000s, and he had been due to face drink-driving charges in March of 2002, and had been ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous.  On November 26th, 2001, Adamson's second wife reported him missing; the pair had been estranged for six weeks at the time, and his wife had filed for divorce on the day he disappeared.  Adamson disappeared after leaving a note for his son Callum on Wednesday, November 7th, saying, "Back by noon, Sunday."  Appeals were put out for his whereabouts, including by his former Big Country bandmate, Bruce Watson.  The last clue to his location was a credit card transaction record, showing that he had checked out of the Best Western Hotel on Music Row, Nashville, on December 3rd.  On December 16th, 2001, Adamson's dead body was found in a room he had booked into in the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii.  According to a local police report, he had committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical cord from a pole in a wardrobe.  A subsequent Coroner's Office report found that he had consumed a "very strong" amount of alcohol around the time of his death.  Stuart Adamson was 43 years old.

Larry Walters

Lawrence Richard Walters - who later became publicly-known by the nickname "Lawnchair Larry" - was an American truck driver who was born on April 19th, 1949, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.  After failing to become a pilot in the U.S. Air Force due to poor eyesight, Walters took employment as a driver for a television commercial production company.  He had dreamed of flying in an air balloon since the age of thirteen, and, on July 2nd, 1982, attempted to make his dream reality.  Walters strapped 43 helium-filled weather balloons to his garden chair in the backyard of his home in San Pedro, Los Angeles, before settling himself in, carrying only sandwiches, drink, a camera, a C.B. radio, a parachute, and a pellet gun which he intended to use to shoot out some of the balloons so he could descend gently to the ground after floating for a while over his property.  Unfortunately, the wire holding the chair to the ground broke prematurely, sending Walters shooting upwards, eventually reaching a height of about 16,000 feet (over three miles).  He had planned to fly 300 miles into the Mojave Desert, but instead found himself drifting into the approach path to Long Beach Municipal Airport, where he was spotted and reported by two passing aircraft.  Feeling cold and dizzy at such an altitude, Walters shot some of the balloons, and began descending, eventually becoming entangled in power lines in Long Beach, about ten miles from where he took off, and having been airborne for around an hour.  He was cut free by rescuers, the broken power line blacking out parts of Long Beach for twenty minutes.  Walters received a $4,000 fine for his troubles, which was reduced on appeal to $1,500.  He subsequently became a minor celebrity for a while, quitting his job as a driver, and guesting on mainstream American talkshows, and was briefly in demand as a motivational speaker.  Timex watches paid him $1,000 in 1992 to appear in print advertisements.  However, his girlfriend of fifteen years left him, and Walters could only find sporadic employment as a security guard, as well as doing volunteer work for the United States Forest Service.  He had a love of nature, and spent time hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains.  On October 6th, 1993, Larry Walters walked to one of his favourite spots in the Angeles National Forest, and took his own life by shooting himself through the heart.  He was 44 years old.

Carl Sargeant

Carl Sargeant - who was born in 1968 in St. Asaph, Flintshire, North Wales - was a Welsh politician, who was the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children in the Welsh Government.  Before becoming an Assembly Member, Sargeant worked as a process operator at a chemical manufacturing plant, as well as being a quality and environmental auditor, and training as an industrial firefighter.  He was married, to Bernie, had a son and a daughter, and was school governor.  Beginning his political career as a member of Connah's Quay Town Council, he was elected A.M. for Alyn and Deeside in 2003.  In 2007, he was appointed Chief Whip of the Labour Group and a Deputy Welsh Minister for Assembly Business, and in 2009 was made Minister for Social Justice and Local Government in the Welsh cabinet.  In 2014, the then-First Minister, Carwyn Jones, received an anonymous letter from someone, alleging that Sargeant was "not fit to be around women"; Joned warned Sargeant about his conduct, and told him to moderate his drinking.  In May of 2016, Jones was told by a party colleague that a woman had made complaints about Sargeant, although she did not want to pursue the matter.  Following the 2016 National Assembly election, Sargeant was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children.  In October, 2017, Carwyn Jones was told of rumours of inappropriate behaviour by Sargeant towards two women, involving "unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping".  Jones neglected to ask Sargeant for his side of the story, and sacked him from his position on November 3rd.  Devastated by the turn of events, Carl Sargeant was found dead, hanged, at his family home in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, on November 7th, 2017.  An inquest revealed the existence of text messages between two Labour councillors suggesting that Sargeant had done something that could have resulted in a prison sentence.  It was also revealed that another anonymous letter had been written after Sargeant was supposedly seen with a woman in a pub garden, and there was also talk of an incident at a wedding reception, although the coroner described these claims as "rumour, multiple hearsay, and speculation".  In 2019, Carwyn Jones told The Guardian that a total of nine women had made allegations of misconduct against them by Sargeant, although Sargeant's wife and family believe him to be innocent of all allegations, and suggested that there have been attempts to slur him after his death.  Carl Sargeant was 49 years old.

Dickon Young

Dickon Young - who was born in January of 1963 - was an English stage manager, rigger, and carpenter, who worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company.  He was the first of two sons born to the actress Kate O'Mara, and was raised for a time by her first husband, the actor Jeremy Young, and took on Young's surname.  It only emerged after Dickon's death that his biological father was another actor, Ian Cullen, who had nothing to do with either Dickon or his mother after his birth.  As a child, Young was frequently taken around the country by his actress mother, and he was reported as resenting the more stable family life which seemed to be being lived by his biological father with his wife and three children.  Dickon had a brother, Patrick, who was born two years after he was, but at this time his mother was struggling to make ends meet, and so gave the boy up for adoption.  At the age of 21, Young met the actress Jenny Agutter - then ten years his senior - whilst working as a stage manager at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and they moved into her flat together in Pimlico, London.  He also worked as a rigger and carpenter at the R.S.C., before he moved to Los Angeles in the U.S. with Agutter, where he started a set-building company; he and Agutter separated in 1986.  Returning to England, he moved in with a girlfriend in Somerset and formed a company that built treehouses.  There were increasing signs that he was unwell, as he became a heavy drinker and cannabis user, at first becoming depressed and withdrawn, and then showing signs of manic depression; he was medicated for mental-health problems in the early 2000s.  His violent behaviour led to him splitting from his girlfriend, and he frequently thereafter returned to his mother's home, eventually moving in with her.  In 2010, Young was hit by a car whilst walking his dog (the dog died), resulting in multiple fractures, the subsequent brain damage he suffered affecting his balance and leaving him unable to work, and he began to drink more heavily.  In September of 2012, Young's mother was diagnosed with pneumonia, with which he struggled to cope.  That October, police were called to his mother's house after heated arguments between the pair, and he was also arrested for causing a breach of the peace whilst drunk at his flat in Stratford in November.  On December 31st, 2012, a neighbour smelt an "unpleasant odour" coming from Kate O'Mara's garage in Long Marston, Warwickshire, and opened the door to find Dickon Young's body hanging from the roof.  It is thought he may have been dead for nearly three weeks, as he had not contacted his mother since December 8th.  At the inquest into his death, his aunt Belinda Cochrane, also an actress, said: "He was a very troubled soul for a very long time.  He had a lot of talent that was wasted.  He was a lovely person."  Dickon Young was 49 years old.

Pete Shaughnessy

Peter Anthony Shaughnessy - who was born on September 14th, 1962, in South London, England - was a British mental-health activist and the founder of the Reclaim Bedlam and Mad Pride organisations.  After studying drama at college, he worked in a children's home and as a carer for the disabled, before becoming a bus driver in London.  In April, 1992, Shaughnessy was struck on the head with an iron bar after coming to the aid of a bus conductor who was being assaulted.  Shortly thereafter, he went on a hunger strike outside his bus garage in protest at privatisation of the service.  By the end of the year, he was hospitalised, after being diagnosed with manic depression.  Shaughnessy's depressive tendencies were further exacerbated when his sister was murdered by her boyfriend in Brixton, and he was then sectioned after hitting a policeman.  In 1997, Shaughnessy organised a Reclaim Bedlam campaign, initially to protest against anniversary celebrations of the Bethlem Hospital, thinking that the many unhappy experiences of 'Bedlam' patients warranted commemoration rather than celebration.  In 1999, he founded Mad Pride, campaigning for greater understanding of the 'mentally ill'.  During 2000, they helped, with punk-style campaigns and humour, to prevent several unpleasant changes to the Mental Health Act.  On December 15th, 2002, Shaughnessy committed suicide by stepping in front of a train at Battersea Park Railway Station in London.  On Christmas Eve that year, more than three-hundred people packed into St. Thomas More Church in East Dulwich for his funeral service.  Pete Shaughnessy was just 40 years old.

Lynette Davies

Lynette Vaynor Davies - who was born on October 18th, 1948, in Tonypandy, Glamorgan, Wales - was a Welsh actress of stage, television, and film.  The daughter of a Customs and Excise officer, she was educated at Our Lady's School, Cardiff, before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and then going into repertory at the Bristol Old Vic.  In 1974, she appeared as Regan in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear, as well as playing Yulia in the R.S.C.'s first British production of Maxim Gorky's Summerfolk at the Aldwych Theatre.  Her highest-profile role was as Davinia Prince, the central character in The Foundation, a British television series produced by ATV from 1977 to '78, about the widow of a business tycoon, although she had previously appeared on television in The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Clayhanger, and Will Shakespeare, and subsequently acted in Tales of the Unexpected and Inside Story.  Throughout the 1980s, Davies continued to appear in British T.V. roles, including starring as Jenny Swanne in 32 episodes of Miracles Take Longer, in The District Nurse with fellow actress Nerys Hughes, and in episodes of Tales of the Unexpected, No Place Like Home, Inside Story, Bergerac, and The Watch House. Her final two television appearances were both in 1992: as Dr. Renata Berger in Street Legal; and her last-ever role, as Nerys Jones, in the Welsh production, The Christmas Stallion.  In 1986, Davies joined the English Shakespeare Company.  From then until 1988, she toured first the U.K. and then around the world with the company, at first performing The Henrys, and then The Wars of  the Roses.  However, whilst on this gruelling touring schedule in the U.S.A., Davies displayed signs that she was increasingly "out of kilter", and she eventually returned to Britain, where she was hospitalised, presumably with a stress-related illness.  In 1989, Davies played Doll Tearsheet in an English Shakespeare Company production of Henry IV, Part 2.  Most of her later years were spent on stage: in the West End, and in New Zealand, Canada, and America.  Davies was married twice, the second time to set designer Jose Furtado, with whom she lived in Toronto, while working in theatre and on radio there.  In 1992, Davies was cast in a starring in The Lifeboat, a new BBC series by Lynda la Plante, which was to be filmed in Pembrokeshire in Davies's native Wales.  Unfortunately, soon after shooting started in 1993, Davies's psychiatric illness returned, and the programme had to be recast and some scenes reshot.  Davies herself returned to Cardiff in a state of despondency.  On December 1st, 1993, a bag containing Davies's shopping was found on the beach at Lavernock Point, near Penarth, Wales.  Her fur-coat was found a little further away.  Later that day, Lynette Davies's body was found, drowned, also at Lavernock Point, on the coast of the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.  Upon her death, which was ruled a suicide, Davies left an estate valued at £251,073.  She was 45 years old.

Mark Speight

Mark Warwick Fordham Speight - who was born on August 6th, 1965 - was an English artist and children's television presenter.  Born in Seisdon, Staffordshire, England, he was raised in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Speight's father was a property developer, and his mother an art teacher.  Speight stated that he was a slow learner at school, and was bullied, which led to him becoming the class joker.  With ambitions to become a cartoonist, he left school at age 16 to take a degree in commercial and graphic art.  In 1994, Speight became a presenter on the children's art show, SMart, a role in which he continued until 2008.  He also presented the children's game show, See It Saw It, on the set of the which he met his future fiancée, the actress and model, Natasha Collins.  Collins was hit by a car in 2001, causing her to leave See It Saw It, but began dating Speight in 2003, and they got engaged in 2005.  On January 3rd, 2008, Speight awoke, after a night of partying, to find his fiancée's deceased body in the bath of their shared flat in St. John's Wood, north-west London.  Initially a suspect in Collins's murder, Speight was later found to have nothing to do with her demise.  She was ruled to have died from cocaine toxicity and immersion in hot water.  After failing to turn up to a meeting with Collins's mother on April 7th, 2008, Speight's body was found hanging from the roof of MacMillan House, adjacent to London's Paddington Station, on April 13th, apparently six days after he had died.  He was 42 years old.

Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen, C.B.E., was a British fashion designer and couturier.  Born in Lewisham, London, England, on March 17th, 1969, McQueen was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001, and founded his own fashion label in 1992.  He was four-times British Designer of the Year, and the CFDA's International Designer of the Year in 2003. McQueen's early collections earned him a reputation as the "enfant terrible" and "hooligan" of English fashion.  He became notorious for creating the "bumster" low-rise jeans. A homosexual, McQueen had an unofficial marriage ceremony with his partner George Forsyth on a yacht in Ibiza in 2000, although the pair split up a year later; he also discovered he was HIV positive.
On the afternoon of February 11th, 2010, McQueen's housekeeper found his body at his home in Green Street, Mayfair, London.  At the age of 40, he had hanged himself. A friend claimed McQueen was doing a lot of drugs and was very unhappy at the time of his death, and his psychiatrist said he had suffered from anxiety and depression for at least three years prior to his death, and had twice taken drug overdoses, as well as missing several psychiatrist's appointments.  Blood samples taken after his death showed significant levels of cocaine, sleeping pills, and tranquillizers.  

Wendy O. Williams

Wendy Orlean Williams was an American singer, songwriter, and actress, who was born on May 28th, 1949, in Webster, New York, U.S.A.  At school, where she played the clarinet, Williams was recalled as a "shy and pretty girl" and "an average student".  She had the first of many run-ins with the law for sunbathing topless at the age of fifteen, and left R. L. Thomas High School in Webster before graduating.  Apparently feeling like an outcast, and misunderstood by her strict parents, Williams left home at age sixteen, hitchhiking to Colorado, and then onto Florida and Europe, taking several jobs on her travels, and also being arrested many times for shoplifting and possessing counterfeit money.  Arriving back in New York City in 1976, she met radical artist Rod Swenson, who became her manager, and she began performing in his live sex shows, and later in adult films.  Swenson and Williams became romantic partners for the rest of her life, with Swenson recruiting her to front his punk-rock band, The Plasmatics, in 1977.  Williams became known for her theatrical and sexually-provocative on-stage antics, resulting in several arrests and obscenity charges.  Although she drank and experimented with mind-altering drugs in her early-adult years, Williams later became more "straight-edge", giving up drug use and smoking, as well as being teetotal.  She had been a vegetarian since 1966.  Between 1984 and '86, Williams released two solo albums.  In 1985, during the height of her popularity, Williams was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.  In 1986, she starred in the indie-film, Reform School Girls, and in 1987 in the television show, The New Adventures of Beans Baxter.  Williams toured for the last time with The Plasmatics in 1988, and put out another solo album that same year.  She retired from the music business in 1990, and moved to Storrs, Connecticut, with Rod Swenson the following year, working as an animal rehabilitator and in a food co-op.  Williams attempted suicide in 1993 by hammering a knife into her chest, which lodged in her sternum; changing her mind, she asked her partner to take her to hospital for treatment.  In 1997, she tried again, this time by taking an overdose of ephedrine.  On April 6th, 1998, Swenson returned home to find Williams missing, having left a package for him containing some of his favourite things and sealed letters from her, including suicide notes.  Swenson began searching nearby woods for her, eventually finding Williams's dead body after about an hour as darkness fell.  She had shot herself in the head with a pistol, and had apparently been feeding wild squirrels moments before she died, as well as putting a bag over her head to spare her partner the horrible sight.  Wendy Williams was 48 years old. 

Tony Hancock

Anthony John Hancock - who was born on May 12th, 1924 - was an English comedian and actor. Born in Hall Green, Birmingham, England, Hancock was the son of John Hancock, who was also a comedian and entertainer. Hancock had a high profile in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s, with his show, Hancock's Half Hour, being popular on radio and later television.  After parting with his scriptwriters, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Hancock's career went into gradual decline, and he began to turn to drink in an attempt to cope.  His alcoholism started to affect his performance, and he collapsed after suffering a liver attack on January 1st, 1967; and, in December of the same year, while recovering from a broken rib after a drunken fall, he became ill with pneumonia.
Hancock arrived in Austalia in March, 1968, under contract to make a 13-part series for the Seven Network.  However, only three episodes were completed, and these remained unaired for nearly four years.  On June 25th, 1968, Hancock committed suicide by overdose at his flat in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, Australia.  An empty vodka bottle and a scattering of amylo-barbitone tablets were found by his side. He was 44 years old. 

Margaux Hemingway

Margot Louise Hemingway was an American fashion model and actress.  She was the daughter of Byra Louise (nee Whittlesey) and Jack Hemingway, the eldest son of the writer Ernest Hemingway, and was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway.  Born on February 16th, 1954, in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., she became a successful and popular supermodel in the mid-1970s, appearing on many magazine covers, and becoming the spokesmodel for Babe perfume. She also had a career as an actress, appearing in various films between 1976 and 1996.  After a skiing accident in 1984, Hemingway gained 75 pounds in weight, ending up at nearly 200 pounds (about 14 stone), and became increasingly depressed.  In 1987, she checked into the Betty Ford Center for persons with substance dependence.  Attempting a comeback, she appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in May, 1990, and took roles in several B-movies.  She was married twice, the first at age 21, the marriages lasting only three and six years, respectively.  Hemingway had fraught relationships with family members, and struggled with alcoholism, depression, bulimia, and epilepsy, as well as suffering from dyslexia.  It was also variously alleged that she had been molested by her Godfather and father. On July 1st, 1996, Hemingway's badly-decomposed body was found at her penthouse apartment in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A. The coroner's toxicology report ruled she had died from an overdose of phenobarbital, an epilepsy medication. Hemingway, who was the grand-daughter of Ernest Hemingway and the grand-niece of Leicester Hemingway - whose family had a history of drug abuse and suicide - was 42 years old.

Gary Speed

Gary Andrew Speed was a Welsh footballer and football manager.  Born on September 8th, 1969, in Mancot, Flintshire, Wales, Speed made 677 league appearances in a 22-year playing career, which finished in 2010.  He also played 85 times for the Welsh national soccer side (making him Wales's second-most-capped player), captaining them on 44 occasions.  His successful career encompassed spells at Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers, and Sheffield United.  After retirement as a player, Speed managed Sheffield United and then the Wales national team.  In 2010, he was awarded an M.B.E. for his services to football.  Speed's first competitive game as Wales manager was a 0-2 home defeat to local rivals, England, resulting in Wales slumping to an all-time-low F.I.F.A. world ranking of 117th.  However, several good results followed, lifting Wales's ranking to 45th, and being awarded 'Best Movers' at the end of 2011, after amassing more ranking points than any other nation in 2011.  Speed's last game as Wales manager was a 4-1 home win against Norway in a friendly on November 12th that year.  On November 26th, 2011, Speed appeared as a pundit on the BBC programme, Football Focus, before driving back to his home in Huntington, Cheshire, England. The following morning, November 27th, just before 7 a.m., his wife found his dead body hanging from the roof of the family garage.  An inquest into his death heard that the strain of football management had put strain on Speed's marriage to Louise, and they had argued on the night prior to his death.  His mother, Carol, described Gary as a "glass-half-empty person", and his wife said he was a "somewhat closed character".  Four days before dying, Speed had texted his wife suggesting the possibility of suicide, although he then rejected this out of concern for his family.  As a boy, Speed had been coached by serial sex offender Barry Bennell, although Speed had denied ever being abused; however, one of Bennell's victims claimed he had seen Speed being assaulted, but the inquest was unable to prove this.  Speed's funeral was held on December 11th, 2011, in the village of Hawarden, Flintshire, and was attended by 250 people.  He was later cremated at Pentre Bychan Crematorium, Wrexham.  A memorial match was held in his honour at the Cardiff City Stadium on February 29th, 2012, in which Costa Rica beat Wales 2-0.  Gary Speed was 42 years old. 

David Bairstow

David Leslie Bairstow was an English cricketer, and, briefly, a professional footballer.  Born in Horton, Bradford, Yorkshire, on September 1st, 1951, Bairstow was primarily a wicketkeeper and a middle-order batsman, although he occasionally bowled medium-pace.  Bairstow made his debut for Yorkshire in a County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Park Avenue on June 3rd, 1970, taking an 'A'-level at 6 a.m. that day to enable him to play in the game.  He had a long and successful cricket career, playing for Yorkshire County Cricket Club for 21 seasons until 1990, captaining the side for three of them.  He scored 13,961 first-class runs at an average of  26.44, taking 961 catches and making 138 stumpings behind the timbers, and even chipping in with 9 wickets at an average of 34.22.  Bairstow made his England debut in a One-Day International against Australia in Melbourne in January, 1979.  Later that year, he made his Test debut against India at The Oval.  Overall, he played 21 O.D.I.s and 4 Test Matches for England.  Bairstow also had a short career as a footballer for Bradford City, playing 17 games as a forward and scoring one goal between 1971 and 1973.  He was married twice, first to Gail (whom he nicknamed 'Stormy'), who bore him one son, Andrew, who briefly played first-class cricket for Derbyshire.  Divorcing Gail, he married Janet, who bore him two children: Becky, and Jonny - who went on to play cricket for Yorkshire and England.  Bairstow later had a second career as a cricket commentator, but began to become dejected after his wife developed breast cancer.  Heated confrontations with Yorkshire C.C.C. officials, financial worries, and a drink-driving charge hanging over him, all exacerbated his problems, for which he saw both his own doctor and a consultant psychiatrist. Suffering from depression, he took an overdose of tablets in late 1997.  A few weeks later - on January 5th, 1998 - David Bairstow hanged himself at his home in Marton-cum-Grafton, Yorkshire.  He was 46 years old.