Kate Spade

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Michael Bourdain - who was born on June 25th, 1956, in Manhatten, New York City, U.S.A. - was an American celebrity chef, author, and documentarian.  The older of two boys born to Gladys and Pierre Bourdain, he described his childhood as being happy and loving.  Whilst on a family holiday in France in his youth, Bourdain tasted his first oyster on a fisherman's boat, which he credits as stimulating his love of food.  After graduating from high school in 1973, Bourdain enrolled at Vassar College in New York, but dropped out after two years.  His interest in cooking was kindled whilst he worked at several seafood restaurants in Massachusetts during his college years, and he subsequently trained at The Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1978.  From there, he went on to run several restaurant kitchens in New York City.  Whilst at high school, Bourdain began dating an older girl, Nancy Putkoski, whom he described as "a bad girl" and "part of a druggy crowd"; the pair married in 1985.  Bourdain himself became a regular user of many recreational drugs, from cannabis to heroin.  His first book, a culinary mystery called Bone in the Throat, was published in 1995, but sold poorly, as did the follow-up, Gone Bamboo.  However, subsequent books, all about food as well as his travels around the world, were much more successful.  His 2001 book, A Cook's Tour - written to tie-in with his first television series of the same name - became a bestseller.  Bourdain thereafter hosted many food-themed television programmes, working for the Travel Channel from 2005 to 2013, and for CNN from 2013 to 2018.  He was known for his put-downs of other celebrity chefs, but was quick to praise those he admired.  Smithsonian Magazine described Bourdain as "the original rock star" of the culinary world, and he became known as a "bad boy" of cooking for his frequent use of expletives and sexual references on his No Reservations television show.  After twenty years of marriage, Bourdain divorced from his first wife in 2005, marrying Ottavia Busia in 2007.  Busia bore Bourdain his only child - a daughter named Ariane - that same year.  Previously a heavy smoker, Bourdain gave up cigarettes in 2007 for the benefit of his daughter's health, but started smoking again towards the end of his life.  Although Busia sometimes travelled with Bourdain, and even appeared in a few of his T.V. shows, the strain of Bourdain being away filming 250 days a year put a strain on the relationship, resulting in the couple separating in 2016, after which Bourdain entered into a relationship with Italian actress, Asia Argento.  In 1998, Bourdain became executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles restaurant in Manhatten, but the business went bankrupt in 2017.  In early June of 2018, Bourdain was in Strasbourg, France, filming an episode of his Parts Unknown programme.  On June 8th, his friend Eric Ripert became concerned that Bourdain had missed breakfast and dinner.  Ripert subsequently found Bourdain hanging in his room at the Le Chambard hotel in Kayersberg, near the city of Colmar, from an apparent suicide.  An inquest heard that Bourdain's body contained no traces of narcotics, and his suicide appeared to be an impulsive act.  Anthony Bourdain was 61 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.

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.

Dale Roberts

Dale Roberts - who was born on October 22nd, 1986, in Horden, County Durham, England - was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper for several teams between 2005 and 2010.  The son of George and Isabelle, he attended Easington Comprehensive School, and played for Cleveland Juniors F.C., later joining both Sunderland and Middlesbrough football academies.  As a scholar at Middlesbrough, he was part of their F.A. Youth Cup-winning squad in 2004 as a backup to David Knight.  In 2005, Roberts signed as a professional for Nottingham Forest, but failed to make any first-team appearances for Forest in his four years at the club, although he played many times whilst on loan to Eastwood Town, Alfreton Town, and Rushden and Diamonds, winning Rushden's player of the season award in 2008-'09.  He signed permanently for Rushden on January 2nd, 2009, and played 61 times for the club over the next season and a half.  Roberts's good form won him six caps for the England C team in 2009 and '10.  He was voted C team player of the season in 2009-'10.  His final game for the C team, and last in all senior football, was against Wales on September 14th, 2010.  In 2004, Roberts began a relationship with Lindsey Cowan, who had been at school with him.  However, they briefly split up in May of 2010 when Cowan had an affair with Paul Terry, the older brother of former England captain John Terry.  The press got hold of this story, causing Roberts considerable distress.  In September of 2010, Roberts injured his leg whilst playing for England C.  These incidents led to Roberts becoming depressed, and he began to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, becoming reluctant to go out in case he was recognised after his appearances in the press.  He lost motivation, and started missing training sessions, causing consternation to his manager and agent, Justin Edinburgh and Cyrille Regis, respectively.  On November 19th, 2010, Roberts visited Rushden's club doctor, who prescribed him anti-depressants, which only enhanced his lethargy.  Apparently, he also asked for counselling, but received none.  Roberts was told by his manager that he would be starting his first game for Rushden and Diamonds for some time against his former club Eastwood Town in an F.A. Trophy match on December 14th, 2010.  The previous evening, his girlfriend returned home to find a note scribbled on the whiteboard in their kitchen: "I love Lindsey Elizabeth Cowan very very much. She is the love of my life."  The next morning, he sent Cowan a text message, saying he was scared about the upcoming game.  After Roberts failed to turn up for the match that day, police went round to his house in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, where they discovered his lifeless body.  He had committed suicide by hanging.  Dale Roberts was just 24 years old.

Lil' Chris

Christopher James Hardman - who was born on August 26th, 1990, in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England - was a British singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality.  One of three children born to slaughterman Ian Hardman and his wife Karen, he was the shortest boy in his year at Kirkley High School in Lowestoft at the age of fifteen, and thereby gained the nickname "Lil' Chris".  Hardman came to prominence in 2006, when he appeared in Channel 4's series Rock School, where musician Gene Simmons of the group Kiss attempted to form a rock band from the pupils at Chris's school.  Chris - who could sing, play drums and guitar, and write songs - was eventually chosen as lead singer.  In the final episode of the show, the band - named Hoax UK - opened for Judas Priest at a concert in California.  Chris subsequently signed a contract with RCA Records, with his debut single Checkin' It Out reaching number three in the U.K. charts in September, 2006.  During the next two years, he released two albums, and appeared frequently on T.V. , hosting his own show, Everybody Loves Lil' Chris, on Channel 4 in 2008.  He also performed as a D.J. in various clubs around the U.K., before landing a leading role in Loserville: The Musical at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, with the show transferring to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End in 2012 and early 2013.  After Loserville closed, Hardman briefly worked as a door-to-door salesman for Anglia Home Improvements in Lowestoft.  He released a Christmas single, Christmas Number One (#FeedEmYellowSnow), in 2013, but the song failed to chart.  Chris released his own clothing line, MAML, in 2014, featuring clothes of his own design, but they were only on sale for a few months: online, and in one shop in Lowestoft.  He continued to write new material with music producer Guy Barnes, which he hoped would be released in the Summer of 2014, but by this time he had no management or record deal or distribution in place.  Hardman, by this time, was regularly posting on his Twitter account about his struggles with depression.  On March 23rd, 2015, Chris's flatmate, A. J. Sutton, returned home to their flat in Union Road, Lowestoft, at 11.48 a.m. to find that Chris had hanged himself.  Paramedics were called, but were unable to revive him.  Chris Hardman - "Lil' Chris" - was just 24 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.

Kelly Jean Van Dyke

Kelly Jean Van Dyke - who was born on June 5th, 1958, in Danville, Illinois, U.S.A. - was an American actress and adult film performer.  From an acting family, she was the daughter of Jerry Van Dyke and his first wife, Carol Johnson; the niece of Dick Van Dyke; and the first cousin once removed of Shane Van Dyke.  As a child actress in the 1960s, Van Dyke appeared in the television series My Mother The Car and Accidental Family.  Under the stage name Nancee Kelly, she later emerged as a star of various pornographic movies.  She married Jeffrey Archer in 1981, before divorcing, and then wedded the actor Jack Nance in May of 1991.  In an unpublished magazine interview from 1990, Van Dyke claimed she was raped by her father Jerry Van Dyke from the age of 12, and that he would bring over his actor friends, Robert Mitchum and Martin Landau, to join in the fun.  She claimed that she began taking sleeping pills at that time to numb the pain, and that she had been addicted to some kind of drug ever since.  It was reported that - on November 17th, 1991 - Van Dyke was expressing suicidal thoughts whilst talking on the phone to her husband.  Unfortunately, a lightning storm knocked out the telephone lines in Bass Lake.  Her husband called the police, who broke into her Los Angeles apartment forty-five minutes later, only to find that Kelly Van Dyke had hanged herself.  She was just 33 years old.

Elias Owen

Elias Owen - who was born in the first quarter of 1863, in Llanllechid near Bangor in north-west Wales - was a Welsh amateur footballer, who made three appearances for the Wales national team in 1884.  Ellis was one of thirteen children, and his elder brother, William Pierce Owen, and his cousins, Morgan Owen and Hugh Morgan-Owen, also played for Wales.  After grammar school, Owen studied theology at Lampeter College.  At Ruthin Grammar School, Owen was initially a half-back, before becoming a goalkeeper in 1882 when the regular 'keeper was unavailable for a match between Denbighshire and Liverpool F.A.  Impressing in this game, Owen was selected to play as a goalkeeper for Wales in the inaugural Home Championship match against Ireland on February 9th, 1884; Wales won this game 6-0, with Owen's brother William scoring two goals.  Owen played in Wales's following two games - a 0-4 loss to England, and a 1-4 defeat to Scotland - before being dropped from the team.  On September 19th, 1888, Owen returned to the family home at Efenechtyd.  The next morning, September 20th, he was discovered by his two sisters, Mary and Maggie, hanging from a tree in the churchyard.  Although he was still alive on being found, he died shortly after being cut down. Official reports say he was depressed over the results of his final examinations, although family sources claim he was depressed because his wife was having an affair.  Elias Owen was just 25 years old.

Sophie Gradon

Sophie Hannah Gradon - who was born on October 25th, 1985, in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, north-west England - was an English model and marketing manager.  After graduating with a degree in Media, Culture, and Society from Northumbria University, Gradon won the Miss Newcastle title in 2008, and became Miss Great Britain in 2009.  Working as a marketing manager, she was a promoter of the NE1 campaign in Newcastle city centre, raising money for charities and soliciting financial support for the Great North Run.  In 2012, Gradon appeared on Sky Sports in support of "The Great North Fitness Revolution" campaign.  She was a contestant on Love Island in 2016, developing relationships with both a male and a female, and subsequently being referred to as "openly bisexual".  In 2008, she had dated Wayne Lineker (the brother of former footballer, Gary), and in 2013 had had a relationship with England rugby player, Danny Cipriani.  In an interview with Radio Aire in March, 2018, Gradon claimed she had been the victim of cyberbullying and internet trolls.  On June 20th, 2018, Gradon was found hanged at her home in Ponteland, Northumberland, England, by her boyfriend and his brother.  An inquest concluded she had taken her own life by hanging, after ingesting alcohol and cocaine; toxicology tests showed she had a blood alcohol level of 201mg per 100ml - about three times the legal driving limit.  Police said she had previously experienced mental-health issues - such as low self-esteem and anxiety (for which she was taking medication at the time of her death) - and had recently expressed suicidal thoughts.  About twenty days after Gradon's death, her boyfriend -  25-year-old Aaron Armstrong - also killed himself after ingesting cocaine and alcohol.  Sophie Gradon was 32 years old.

Terence Donovan

Terence Daniel Donovan was an English fashion photographer and film director.  Born on September 14th, 1936, in Stepney, East London, England, he was famous, along with fellow photographers David Bailey and Brian Duffy, for capturing the mood of the 'swinging '60s'. Between the ages of eleven and fifteen, Donovan studied at the London County Council School of Photoengraving and Lithography, joining the Royal Photographic Society in 1963. He socialised with many celebrities of the time, often photographing his models against the gritty urban surroundings of his home town.  He shot for many top fashion magazines, branching out into film production in the 1970s, eventually directing over 3,000 commercials, as well as the rarely-seen 1973 cop film, Yellow Dog. Donovan also made documentaries, as well as music videos - the most famous of which was probably for Robert Palmer's song "Addicted To Love".  He was a black belt in judo, co-authoring a popular book on the subject, and also enjoyed painting.  Donovan was married twice: the first marriage, to Janet Cohen, was short-lived, and produced a son, Daniel Donovan - a keyboardist; the second, to Diana Dare, produced a daughter - the actress Daisy Donovan, and a son - the co-founder of Rockstar Games, Terry Donovan.  On November 22nd, 1996, Terence Donovan hanged himself in Ealing, London, England.  An inquest concluded that steroid drugs he had been taking for a skin condition had caused him to develop depression.  He was 60 years old.

Stephanie Parker

Stephanie Parker - who was born on March 29th, 1987, in Brighton, East Sussex, England  - was an English-born Welsh actress.  She was best-known for playing the part of Stacey Weaver in the long-running BBC Wales television series, Belonging - a programme which revolved around the trials and tribulations of the Lewis family and the changing environment of modern Wales in their town of Bryncoed.  Parker also starred as Zoe in Doc Martin, Phoebe Mitchell in Casualty, and Debbie Hargrove in Doctors, as well as appearing in dramas on BBC Radio 4. The final episode of Belonging - in which Parker had played a central part since the age of 15 - was broadcast on Thursday, April 16th, 2009.  The following Saturday, April 18th, at 6 a.m., a passer-by  found Parker's dead body on open ground near Pontypridd, south Wales.  The death was ruled a suicide by hanging.  She was described by her agent, Mark Jermin, as, "...a great talent..."; and by Clare Hudson, BBC Wales's head of English-language programmes, as, "...an immensely-talented actor...".  Stephanie Parker was just 22 years old.

Mike Thalassitis

Michael Thalassitis - who was born on January 19th, 1993, in Edmonton, London, England - was an English footballer and television personality.  Starting his career with Stevenage in Division Two of the Football League, Thalassitis, a striker, subsequently played for several non-league teams. In all, between 2011 and 2017, he played 151 games, scoring 36 goals, for various teams.  Of Greek-Cypriot descent, Thalassitis also played  three games for the Cypress under-19 side, and four for their under-21s. He was called up for Cyprus's senior team in May, 2014, but was unable to travel to the game against Japan, as he had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the final game of the league season whilst on loan from Stevenage at Ebbsfleet United.  On May 29th, 2017, Thalassitis was announced as part of the cast for the third series of the reality television show, Love Island.  He and fellow contestant Jessica Shears, along with their respective partners Olivia Attwood and Dom Lever, emerged among the three couples with the fewest public votes for Favourite Couple.  In 2018, he joined the fourth series of Celebs Go Dating.  On March 15th, 2019, Mike Thalassitis hanged himself in a park in Edmonton, north London, England.  He was 26 years old.

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.

Boon Gould

Rowland Charles Gould - usually known as Boon Gould - was an English musician and songwriter.  Born on March 4th, 1955, in Shanklin, Isle of Wight, England, he was a guitarist and occasional saxophone player with the pop band, Level 42; his brother, Phil Gould, was the drummer in the band.  Boon Gould played on Level 42's first seven studio albums, before leaving the band, along with his brother, in 1987.  Gould had had a period of sustained illness, resulting in nervous exhaustion and suffering from panic attacks whilst on stage.  After leaving Level 42, Gould recorded two solo albums under the name Zen Gangsters.  In October, 2012, he performed in public with Level 42 for the first time in 25 years, at a one-off show in Bristol, U.K.  In 2018, Gould was asked to perform jury service, which caused him to become very agitated and damage the family home, before disappearing, sparking a police search.  On April 30th, 2019, Boon Gould's body was found hanged at a friend's house in Uffculme, Devon, England.  An inquest found a small amount of alcohol was in his body at death, although he had been drinking quite heavily for many years.  He had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and had suffered from depression for much of his life.  Boon Gould was 64 years old, and left behind a wife, Moira.

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.

Sarah Kane

Sarah Marie Kane was an English playwright, whose plays deal with the themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture, and death.  Born on February 3rd, 1971, in Brentwood, Essex, England, she produced five plays, one short film (Skin), and two articles for The Guardian newspaper.  A committed Christian in her teenage years, Kane later rejected those beliefs.  She worked briefly as literary associate for the Bush Theatre, London, and for a year was writer-in-residence for Paines Plough, a theatre company promoting new writing.  A lesbian, Kane suffered from severe depression for many years, and was twice voluntarily admitted to the Maudsley Hospital in London.  Two days after taking an overdose of prescription drugs, Kane hanged herself by her shoelaces - on February 20th, 1999 - in a bathroom at King's College Hospital in Camberwell, London, England. She was 28 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.  

Screaming Lord Sutch

David Edward Such, who was born on November 10th, 1940, in Hampstead, London, England, was an English musician and serial parliamentary candidate.  In the 1960s, inspired by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, he changed his stage name to "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", despite having no connections to the peerage.  Such released a series of records throughout his life, with little commercial success, and despite a self-professed lack of vocal talent; he and his band The Savages had a horror-themed stage show in which Sutch would dress up as Jack the Ripper or appear out of a coffin. Sutch's 1970 album, Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends, was voted in a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time.
Sutch appeared as an election candidate for various political parties in the 1960s and '70s, before forming the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983, and declaring himself leader.  In all, he appeared in 40 elections between 1963 and 1997, winning none, with his highest vote share being in the Rotherham by-election of 1994, when his party received 1,114 votes, for a 4.2% votes share.
Such had a history of depression, and committed suicide by hanging on June 16th, 1999, at his mother's home in Harrow, Greater London, England.  He was 58 years old.  At the inquest, his fiancee Yvonne Elwood said he had, "manic depression".  Such was survived by a son, Tristan Lord Gwynne Sutch, who was born in 1975 to American model, Than Rendessy.

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.