Capucine

Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre - who was born on January 6th, 1928, in Saint-Raphaël, Var, France - was a French fashion model and actress who appeared in 36 films and 17 television productions between 1948 and 1990.  Attending school in Saumur in western France, she gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in foreign languages.  In 1945, at the age of 17, she was spotted by a commercial photographer, and began modelling for Givenchy and Christian Dior, adopting the mononym "Capucine" - the French word for the nasturtium flower.  Capucine made her film debut with an uncredited role in Jean Cocteau's The Eagle with Two Heads in 1948.  In 1949, whilst performing in the film Rendevous in July, she met the actor Pierre Trabaud, marrying him the following year, although they divorced only eight months later; she never married again.  Film producer Charles K. Feldman brought Capucine to Hollywood in 1957 to learn acting and study English; she apparently also had an affair with Feldman.  Capucine was nominated for a Golden Globe for the film Song Without End , and was William Holden's love interest in The Lion in 1962.  On the set of The Lion, she began dating Holden, and split up with Feldman.  After moving to Switzerland in 1962, Capucine played two of her most-famous roles in the comedies The Pink Panther and What's New Pussycat.  The death of Feldman in May of 1968 led to her career losing momentum, although she continued appearing in films and on T.V. until 1990.  Capucine's two-year affair with the married Holden ended due to his increasing alcoholism, although they remained friends until his death after a fall whilst drunk in 1981, and he left her $50,000 in his will.  Director Federico Fellini said about Capucine that, "...she had a face to launch a thousand ships...but she was born too late.", whilst Luchino Visconti, rejecting her for a part in the 1971 film Death in Venice, said, "She has a horrible voice, and too many teeth.  She looks like a horse, a beautiful horse...".  Capucine spent the last 28 years of her life living in an eighth-floor apartment in Lausanne, Switzerland.  According to neighbours, she led a reclusive life with her three cats, rarely leaving home, and spending much time reading.  Apparently suffering from ill-health and depression during her last years, on March 17th, 1990, Capucine jumped to her death from her balcony.  She was 62 years old.

Nicolette Powell

Nicolette Elaine Katherine Powell (née Harrison) was an English aristocrat and debutante, the first wife of the 9th Marquess of Londonderry, and later the wife of the musician Georgie Fame.  She was born in 1941, the daughter of the stockbroker Michael Harrison and his wife, the former Maria Madeleine Benita von Koskull, a Latvian baroness.  Following in her mother's footsteps, she was presented to the Queen as a debutante in 1958, the year this practice ended.  On May 16th, 1958, Nicolette married Alexander Vane-Tempest-Stewart at her parents' home of Netherhampton, and subsequently became known as the Most Honourable Nicolette Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the Marchioness of Londonderry.  The couple made their home at Wynyard Hall, and quickly had two daughters: Lady Sophia Frances Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart, born on February 23rd, 1959; and Lady Cosima Maria Gabriella Vane-Tempest-Stewart, born on December 25th, 1961.  In 1965, Nicolette's father died, and it was around this time that she began a relationship with the singer Georgie Fame (real name: Clive Powell).  She gave birth to a son - James Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh - in 1969.  In 1971, it was discovered that the father of her son was Georgie Fame, resulting in Powell's husband divorcing her, causing significant unwanted publicity.  Powell's daughter Cosima later revealed that her own biological father may have actually been Robin Douglas-Home (nephew of the former Prime Minister, Alec), who committed suicide in 1968.  On February 25th, 1972, Nicolette married Georgie Fame at Marylebone Registry Office, and gave birth to a second son, James Michael, in 1973.  Nicolette Powell (or "Nico", as she was known) and her new husband lived quietly, out of the public eye, with Powell enjoying her role as wife and mother.  However, as her children achieved independence and left home, she became increasingly depressed, feeling, as her husband said: "...redundant because all her children had grown up and no longer needed her constant attention."  In addition, her elderly mother's mental faculties began to decline.  On Friday the 13th of August, 1993, Nicolette Powell parked her car near the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England.  After handing a note and her car keys to her two daughters, who were admiring the view, Powell plunged 250 feet to her death from the central span of the bridge.  Her suicide note said that she saw "no purpose in life" now that her children had grown up and left home.   A small group of mourners attended a brief memorial service for her in the parish church of St. Andrew in the village of Stoke Trister near Wincanton in Somerset, followed by a private cremation ceremony in Salisbury. Nicolette Powell was 52 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.

Peter Roebuck

Peter Michael Roebuck was an English cricketer, who was born in Oddington, Oxfordshire, England, on March 6th, 1956.  One of six children, his younger brother Paul played 22 first-class matches for Cambridge University, Gloucestershire, and Glamorgan.  Peter played, mostly-notably, for Somerset County Cricket Club between 1974 and 1991, a team he also captained.  Mainly used as an opening batsman, Roebuck played a total of 335 first-class matches for Somerset, scoring 17,558 runs at an average of 37.27 with 33 centuries and a highest score of 221 not out.  He also took 72 wickets at an average of 49.16 with his spin bowling.  In 298 one-day games, he scored 7,244 runs at 29.81, and took 51 wickets at 25,09.  Captaining Somerset for two seasons between 1986 and 1988, Roebuck became a controversial figure when he was instrumental in terminating the contracts of the county's two overseas stars, Joel Garner and Viv Richards.  The ensuing rumpus resulted in star all-rounder Ian Botham leaving the club for Worcestershire.  In 1988, Roebuck was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.  Whilst working as a commentator in South Africa in 1999, Roebuck met three young black cricketers, offering to coach them whilst they lived at his home in England.  He warned them beforehand that he would use corporal punishment if they broke his "house rules".  He caned all three 19-year-old men at different times on their clothed buttocks for misbehaviour, and in 2001 was given a suspended jail sentence for common assault.  After a ten-year spell playing Minor Counties cricket for Devon between 1992 and 2002, Roebuck moved to Australia, where he became a respected cricket writer and broadcaster.  He became an Australian citizen, and also owned a house in South Africa.  On November 12th, 2011, Roebuck was visiting South Africa to report on a cricket match, when police arrived at his hotel, desiring to speak to him about an alleged sexual assault on a 26-year-old Zimbabwean man.  Roebuck then returned to his hotel room, where he jumped from his sixth-floor balcony.  He subsequently died from severe head injuries.  He was 55 years old.