Pope Francis (1936 – 2025) “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.” ~ Pope Francis Pope Francis died last Monday at 7.35 a.m., Rome, aged 88, from double pneumonia and a stroke.  He had been […]

Categories: News · Obituary · Peacemakers · Spirituality

Jean Marsh (1934 – 2025) Actress and writer Jean Marsh passed away last Sunday at the age of 90.  She was in a way a pioneer of the dramatic genre concerning those upstairs and those downstairs, the haves and the have nots.  And the works she created with her co-writer Eileen Atkins had mileage, they […]

Categories: Celebrities · Film · Obituary

Richard Chamberlain (1934 – 2025) “His mini-series were luxury liners and time machines, whisking audiences to other lands and ages in a way that workaday series couldn’t.” ~ James Poniewozik, The New York Times It was announced last week that actor Richard Chamberlain, romantic lead par excellence, who embodied that role in a bygone age, […]

Categories: Celebrities · Film · Obituary

Jack Vettriano (1951 – 2025) “I have what I want and that is the support of the public and that means far more to me than the approval of a bunch of well-educated art buffs” ~ Jack Vettriano It was reported this week that the controversial and self-taught artist Jack Vettriano died at his home […]

Categories: Art · Obituary

Roberta Flack (1937 – 2025) “What I consider myself is a soulful singer, in that I try to sing with all the feeling that I have in my body and my mind.” ~ Roberta Flack The soul singer Roberta Flack died this week, at the age of 88.  There was something about her voice I […]

Categories: Celebrities · Obituary

Marianne Faithfull (1946 – 2025) “When I was at school at Leighton Park…She was the most beautiful girl any of us had met and had the charisma of a superstar.” ~ Robin Denselow Staying with the 1960s, after last week’s Dylan blog, I am writing about Marianne Faithfull who passed away aged 80 peacefully this […]

Categories: Celebrities · Obituary

Tony Slattery (1959 – 2025) “I was struck by his stage presence, his comic energy, his fierce intelligence, and his devastatingly good looks” ~ Paul Merton Brilliant comedian Tony Slattery died last Tuesday, at the age of 65, having suffered a heart attack last Sunday.  He was the archetypal comedian hiding an unfathomable sadness, who […]

Categories: Celebrities · News · Obituary

Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928 – 2025) “We knew, by fighting him, what a fighter he was” ~ Francois Bayrou  Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the “Front National” in France, died this week at the age of 96.  He founded the movement in 1972, long before Nigel Farage took us into Brexit and Europe was hit […]

Categories: News · Obituary

Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933 – 2024) “I understood what writing fiction was: it’s who you are, what your protagonist is. If it’s a wimpy sort of person they’re not going to get anywhere. But if it’s a driven, ambitious, go-ahead woman who’s not going to be deterred by anybody then, obviously, she’s going to be […]

Categories: Obituary

John Prescott (1938 – 2024) “I relied on him many times: when in difficulty, under attack; and less well known when I needed someone whose gut instinct I trusted better than my own.” ~ Tony Blair Deputy Prime Minister of the Blair years, John Prescott, died aged 86 this week, a year after being diagnosed […]

Categories: News · Obituary