18 January 2012 12:00 AM
As a former member of the secretarial staff at Lambeth Palace, whose office window looked out over the back of the building,I should like to add an additional note to the obituary of Lady "Lindy" Runcie, widow of Robert, the former Archbishop (l7 January), writes Stella Taylor.
18 January 2012 12:00 AM
Keith Little, who died on 3 January at the age of 87, was thepresident of the Navajo Code Talkers Association who travelled the US seeking funding for a museum and veterans centre. He preached about the preservation of Navajo traditions, culture and the language that the federal government tried to eradicate before he and others were called on to use it during the Second World War. He envisioned a place that would house the stories of the Navajo Code Talkers and where people could learn more about the famed group who used their native language as a weapon. The centre is expected to cost around $43 million.
18 January 2012 12:00 AM
In a 1993 interview with The Independent, the best-selling crime writer Reginald Hill said: "It is easy to mystify. The good mystery writer's real skill lies in clarification." At the time he was in his 23rd year as a published author but was less generally known than he deserved to be for his series of cunningly constructed mysteries featuring Dalziel and Pascoe. That changed when, in 1996, 11 years of successful TV productions began. The 20-odd Dalziel and Pascoe novels were less than half of Hill's output but he long recognised them as his "bankers". The two characters he created – a modern pairing of Falstaff and Hal – are probably the most interesting characters in modern crime fiction.
18 January 2012 12:00 AM
Janey Buchan, who died at the weekend, was not a professional politician as we now know them but an old-fashioned political activist of the kind who always had a cause to fight and never allowed herself to be put off by the possibility of defeat or failure. Those who knew her learned not to be surprised to receive a telephone call out of the blue, which would last a good long time as she unburdened herself of whatever had excited or angered since the last call. Alternatively, it could be a hastily written letter, sometimes containing an unexpected gift such as a book that she thought deserved a bigger readership. She held strong opinions, but not easily predicted, of everyone she met. She was a Scot but had no time for the late John Smith; a left-winger who held a low opinion of Tony Benn; a lover of political folk music who thoroughly despised Bob Dylan.
17 January 2012 12:00 AM
Rauf Denktash was the first president of the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). His consistent purpose was to destroy for ever the concept of a single Cypriot nation state, common to both Greeks and Turks.
17 January 2012 12:00 AM
The son of a distinguished Austrian artist, Martin Isepp was part of that hugely vibrant émigré community who contributed immensely to the broadening and enrichment of British cultural life in the latter half of the 20th century.
17 January 2012 12:00 AM
Lady Rosalind Runcie, widow of the late Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Runcie, was a warm-hearted, irrepressible woman who was determined not to be pigeon-holed as a traditional "clergy wife".
16 January 2012 12:00 AM
Happily married to the same lady for 70 years, Lance Errington – it did not occur to us to call such an unpompous and witty man Lancelot – was a hugely effective civil servant who devoted his working life to welfare and his social life to keeping friendships in first-class repair.
16 January 2012 12:00 AM
Frederica Sagor Maas went to Hollywood in her early 20s determined to be a writer.
16 January 2012 12:00 AM
At the age of 96, Bert Reynolds, Publisher of The Industrial Pioneer, was still working on the publication's website on the morning before he collapsed and died.
14 January 2012 12:00 AM
Denise Darcel was a voluptuous actress and singer who appeared in several feature films in the early 1950s.
14 January 2012 12:00 AM
Charlie Pawsey, who has died at the age of 88, was a classic example of a familiar rugby paradox. Renowned as a thorough gentleman off the field, he was, once he stepped on to it, one of the toughest, most aggressive players ever to play the game.
14 January 2012 12:00 AM
Gevork Vartanian worked for Soviet, and briefly Russian, intelligence for the best part of half a century. But his most celebrated work as a spy came at the tender age of 19, when he helped thwart a Nazi plot to assassinate Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the occasion of the first meeting of the "Big Three" allied leaders at the Teheran conference of November 1943.
13 January 2012 12:00 AM
Blending modernism with vernacular influences, textures and vibrant colours from his native Mexico, Ricardo Legorreta helped put Mexican architecture on the world map. His works brightened up his nation's often smog-grey capital, Mexico City, as well as towns and cities in the south-western US states that were part of Mexico until the mid-19th Century – California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
13 January 2012 12:00 AM
As the eldest son of a legendary British and Commonwealth boxing champion, it was perhaps inevitable that Jack London would follow his father into the fight game. While he was undoubtedly a gifted exponent of the noble art, he is as well known for his contribution to the explosive events in Porthcawl more than 50 years ago that not only made world headlines but remain entrenched in sporting folklore.
Win a seven-night holiday for two adults to two of the Canary Islands.
Spend three weeks exploring every nook and cranny of gorgeous Atlantic Canada.
Win a 40" 3D TV with a Blu-ray home cinema system to boot!
Three glasses of free champagne and a special menu at 46 top London restaurants.
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
