... LYNDA JAYNE CAMPBELL One of Northern Ireland's best-loved radio personalities, Lynda Jayne Campbell, has died suddenly at the age of 45. She had been a mainline presenter with Downtown Radio, located just outside Belfast, for 22 years. For most of that time, she was concerned with a broad range of programmes, but for the past two years had presented Keep It Country on Sunday evenings. Recently ...

... DAVID MERRICK Legendary Broadway theatre producer David Merrick died recently in London, aged 88. His birthdate is believed to be November 27. 1911, but Merrick always used to say that he was born on November 4, 1954, the opening night of his first hit show, Fanny, which launched his flamboyant career. Merrick attended Washington University in his hometown of St Louis, and studied at St Louis ...

... SARA NEIGHBOUR Sara Neighbour, actress, musician, dancer, choreographer and director, was horrifically run down and killed in the Whitechapel Road on April 10. Bom on February 2, 1955 in Muswell Hill, Sara's first performance was at the age of three at the Rudolph Steiner Hall, playing a penguin who ate paper fish. Deciding that this was the career for her, she embarked on dancing lessons and ...

... Nora Swinburne Nora Swinburne, who died on May 1, aged 97, was one of Britain's most distinguished character actresses. She was equally at home in light comedy and the works of W Somerset Maugham, in which she excelled. Her career spanned more than 70 years on stage and over 50 appearances in films ranging from British comedies to interna tional epics. Among her many television roles was that ...

... HENRY BIRD One of Britain's most distin guished and versatile artists, I Henry Bird, who was particularly noted for painting women in the nude, although in the most respectful way, died at the age of 90 on April 16. He was also something of a genuine eccentric, cutting an imposing figure with his flamboyant dress sense and usually seen around art colleges and galleries sporting a large fedora ...

... STEVE EASEY i riDutes nave oeen paia to stage director of the Orchard Theatre, Dartford, Steve Easey, who died suddenly on April 19, aged 47. Known as the Gentle Giant, Steve was one of the most familiar and popular backstage faces at the venue. He started his career as a casual stagehand at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne, and after reaching the dizzy heights of head flyman, Steve moved to ...

... Sir John Gielgud John Barber, former theatre critic of The Dally Telegraph (196SS6) writes: There were giants in the earth in those days. Of the great ones lately among us. the longest lived has now departed, and surely the greatest of them all. John Gielgud dominated the British stage for 70 years, and as actor-manager, director and controller of design, contributed more to the theatre than ...