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.

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.

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.

Imogen Hassall

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

Bob Grant

Robert St. Clair Grant - who was born on April 14th, 1932, in Hammersmith, London, England - was an English actor, comedian, and writer.  After training as an actor, and doing national service, Grant made his stage debut in 1952 at the Court Royal, Horsham.  In 1954, he married Jean Hyett, although the marriage ended in divorce.  Grant's first London appearance was at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1956, and he spent several years at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, before getting the lead role in the musical Blitz! at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End for two years.  He married for the second time, to Christine Sally Kemp, in 1962, but again the marriage ended in divorce.  In 1964, Grant appeared at the Piccadilly Theatre in Instant Marriage, a musical farce, for which he also wrote the book and lyrics.  He continued to perform in films, on radio, and on stage, before landing the role for which he was most famous: as the lecherous bus conductor Jack Harper in the T.V. sitcom, On The Buses.  The series ran for 74 episodes between 1969 and 1974, with Grant co-writing 12 of the episodes.  Hugely successful, the show spawned three feature films, all of which Grant starred in.  He was in a relationship with his On The Buses co-star, Gaye Brown, but split with her to eventually marry Kim Benwell, his third and final wife.  Such was Grant's fame at this time, that huge crowds gathered outside the registry office where they married.  After On The Buses finished, Grant found himself typecast, and struggled to get other parts.  He acted in pantomimes and musicals, but a self-penned pilot show didn't lead to a T.V. series, and Grant never acted on television again.  In 1980, he acted in several radio plays and a Shakesperian play on stage.  Lack of work and mounting bills led Grant to suffer from depression during the 1980s, and on one occasion he disappeared from his home for five days; he had caught a ferry to Ireland, intending to kill himself, but returned unharmed.  In 1990, a new version of On The Buses was planned, featuring most of the original cast, but this fell through due to lack of funds.  A further long gap in employment led to a suicide attempt in 1995, with Grant being found just in time as he lay unconscious over the steering wheel of his car, which was filled with carbon monoxide fumes.  After recovering, Grant and his wife moved to the small village of Twyning in Gloucestershire, thereafter living a reclusive life.  Grant's last acting role was in Funny Money at Devonshire Park Theatre from July 1998.  As more bills continued to arrive, and work didn't, Grant despaired.  On November 8th, 2003, he went into the garage of his home in Church End, Twyning, and attached a hose to the exhaust pipe of his car.  Shortly afterwards, Grant was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in his fume-filled car.  Bob Grant was 71 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.