The Necroblog 2006
15 December 2006 tbs.pm/1164
Broadcasting figures who have left us this year – with a link to obituaries or information where available.
Commentary: A terrible year
January
John Woodnutt
Died 2 January
Television actor, The Avengers and Dr Who
Raul Davila
Died 2 January
Puerto Rican actor and producer
John Bierman
Died 4 January
BBC reporter
John Webster
Died 6 January
For mash get Smash
Brendan Cauldwell
Died 12 January
RTE Repertory Company actor
Moira Shearer
Died 31 January
Ballerina and actress
February
Reuven Frank
Died 5 February
NBC News president
Alan Shalleck
Murdered 7 February
Writer and director
Geordie Hormel
Died 12 February
Composer
Andreas Katsulas
Died 13 February
Star Trek baddie and Babylon 5 goodie
Lou Gish
Died 20 February
Actress
Bruce Hart
Died 21 February
Lyricist, Sesame Street
Dennis Weaver
Died 24 February
Actor
Ilia Zimine (Russia)
Murdered 26 February
NTV
March
Annette von Aretin
Died 1 March
Announcer, Bayern Rundfunk
Bill Hays
Died 2 March
BBC and Thames TV director
Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo (Mexico)
Murdered 9 March
La Voz de Michoacán
Ramiro Téllez Contreras (Mexico)
Murdered 10 March
Radio Exa 95.7
Muhsin Khudhairr (Iraq)
Murdered 13 March
Alef Ba
Bill Beutel
Died 18 March
WABC-TV anchorman
Gustavo Rojas Gabalo (Colombia)
Murdered 20 March
Radio Panzemu
Lynne Perrie
Died 24 March
Controversial Corrie actress
Kamal Manahi Anbar (Iraq)
Murdered 26 March
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
April
Jorge Aguirre (Venezuela)
Murdered 5 April
El Mundo
Qussay Kahdba (Iraq)
Murdered 22 April
Radio Al Bilad
Jennifer Jayne
Died 23 April
ITC stalwart
Harvey Bullock
Died 23 April
Producer, The Andy Griffith Show
Elma "Pem" Gardner Farnsworth
Died 27 April
Widow of Philo T
May
Saoud Mazahem Al-Hadithi (Iraq)
Murdered 5 May
Al-Baghdadia TV
Lorne Saxberg
Died 6 May
CBC Newsworld presenter
Mouazaz Baroud (Iraq)
Murdered 7 May
Al-Nahrain TV
Richard Carleton
Died 7 May
Channel Nine journalist
Val Guest
Died 10 May
Veteran ITC director
Munir Sangi (Pakistan)
Died 29 May
KTN
Paul Douglas (USA)
Murdered 29 May
CBS
RSF Robert Sterling
Died 30 May
Topper
Ali Jaafar (Iraq)
Murdered 31 May
Al-Iraqiya TV
June
Allan Prior
Died 1 June
Z Cars writer
Robert Donner
Died 8 June
Mork and Mindy actor
Jabu Sithole
Died 15 June
SABC weatherman
Aaron Spelling
Died 23 June
Producer
Ossama Qadeer (Iraq)
Murdered 29 June
Fox News
July
Jack Smith
Died 3 July
Presenter of You Asked for It on the DuMont Network
Amzie Strickland
Died 5 July
American actor; you may remember her from… everything
Kasey Rogers
Died 6 July
Peyton Place and complete body transplant in Bewitched.
Rudi Carrell
Died 7 July
Dutch-born German TV personality
Peter Hawkins
Died 8 July
Actor who created Dalek voice, plus originally Zippy
Aaron Chwatt aka Red Buttons
Died 13 July
Oscar-winning movie actor who specialised in TV walk-ons
Senne Rouffaer
Died 14 July
Flemish actor famous for Kapitein Zeppos
Benicio Wedeinge (Angola)
Murdered 16 July
Televisao Publica de Angola
David Maloney
Died 18 July
Doctor Who director and Blake’s 7 producer
Armando Pace (Philippines)
Murdered 18 July
DXDS Radio
Bob Simpson
Died 25 July
BBC war correspondent
Hani Mohsin
Died 25 July
Malaysian Wheel of Fortune host
Malaysian National News Agency
Patrick Allen
Died 28 July
Protect and Survive
August
Adel Naji Al Mansouri (Iraq)
Murdered 1 August
Al Alam TV
Kenneth Richmond
Died 3 August
Bang a gong
Belfast Telegraph [overpriced subscription required]
Mílton Fábian Sánchez
Murdered 9 August
Radio Yumbo Estéreo
Irving São Paulo
Died 10 August
Brazilian TV actor; probably died from complications resulting from AIDS but local media rarely reports this
Tony Jay
Died 13 August
Bit-part TV bad-guy
Doug White
Died 15 August
WJAR Rhode Island’s news anchor
Atilano Segundo Pérez (Colombia)
Murdered 22 August
Radio Todelar
Lauren Crowner
Died 23 August
Up-coming reporter and anchor for WCMH in Ohio
David Plowright
Died 24 August
One of the reasons we’re here
Joseph Stefano
Died 25 August
Co-creator of The Outer Limits
Michael Vestey
Died 26 August
BBC reporter who became a critic
September
Charlie Williams
Died 2 September
A golden shot
Steve Irwin
Died 4 September
Television personality and zoo owner
Oddly non-updated official website for the zoo
John Conte
Died 4 September
Burns and Allen actor who founded KMIR-Palm Springs
Hilary Mason
Died 5 September
Gladys in BBCtv’s Maid Marian and her Merry Men but more terrifying elsewhere
Anne Gregg
Died 5 September
Ulster Television announcer etc
Mohammed Taha
Murdered 6 September
Journalist in Sudan
Disturbing article from the Sudan Tribune
John Drummond
Died 6 September
Former controller, BBC Radio 3
Surprisingly limited BBC News report
Don Lunn
Died 6 September
Breakfast DJ thought revolutionary by Australians
Joan Donaldson
Died 7 September
Founded CBC Newsworld channel
Eduardo Maas Bol
Murdered 9 September
Radio Punto
Peter Ling
Died 14 September
Co-created Compact and, less forgivably, Crossroads
The Noele Gordon/Crossroads Appreciation Society (no, really)
Ogulsapar Muradova (Turkmenistan)
Beaten to death 14 September
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty
Raymond Baxter
Died 15 September
Science voice
Ahmed Riyad Al-Karbouli (Iraq)
Murdered 18 September
Baghdad TV
Ralph Story
Died 26 September
Presenter of the much-imitated The $64,000 Question for CBS
October
Tom Bell
Died 4 October
Actor, No Trams to Lime Street
Jenny Moss
Died 5 October
Actor, Coronation Street
Azad Mohammed Hassan (Iraq)
Murdered 10 October
Dar Al Salam TV
Jerry Belson
Died 10 October
Writer, The Dick van Dyke Show
Abderrahim Nasrallah Al Shumari (Iraq)
Murdered 12 October
Al Shaabiya TV
Nawfal Al Shumari (Iraq)
Murdered 12 October
Al Shaabiya TV
Raid Qais Al Shammari (Iraq)
Murdered 13 October
Radio Sawt Al Irak
Herbert Leonard
Died 14 October
Creator, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin and Naked City
Derek Bond
Died 15 October
Presenter, Picture Parade
Ross Davidson
Died 16 October
Actor, EastEnders
Ali Halil (Iraq)
Murdered 16 October
Al Iraqiya TV
Christopher Glenn
Died 17 October
Journalist, CBS Radio
Jane Wyatt
Died 20 October
Mother of Mr Spock
Paul Walters
Died 21 October
BBC Radio producer
Peter Barkworth
Died 21 October
Actor, The Avengers, Doctor Who et al
Brian Brolly
Died 28 October
Co-founder, Classic FM and Jazz FM
Nigel Kneale
Died 29 October
Sci-fi genius
William Franklyn
Died 31 October
Schhh… You Know Who
November
Wally Foreman
Died 2 November
Presenter, Grandstand on ABC Radio
Ahmed Al Rachid (Iraq)
Murdered 3 November
Al-Sharkiya TV
Ed Bradley
Died 9 November
Journalist, 60 Minutes on CBS
Diana Coupland
Died 10 November
Actor,Bless This House
Belinda Emmett
Died 11 November
Actor, Home and Away
Mohammed Al Ban (Iraq)
Murdered 13 November
Al Sharkiya TV
John Hallam
Died 13 or 14 November
Actor, Doctor Who, the BBC’s Chronicles of Narnia et al
Roger Bolton
Died 18 November
General Secretary of BECTU
Walid Hassan (Iraq)
Murdered 20 November
Comedian and satirist
Nick Clarke
Died 23 November
BBC Radio 4 journalist
‘Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman
Died 27 November
Radio presenter (nay legend)
Larry Henderson
Died 27 November
Journalist, CBC’s The National
Adolfo Sánchez Guzmán (Mexico)
Murdered 30 November
Televisa Veracruz Xhora Ori Stereo
A Terrible Year
Here in Europe we are, by and large, lucky. If you choose to put pen to paper, face to lens or voice to air and expose your government for lying or corruption, the worst that will happen is poor attempts at intimidation. Few journalists – and these days even bloggers – have escaped without sinister phone calls and threatening emails from over-excited forgotten party hacks with strange axes to grind.
But criticism of ruling parties elsewhere can land you in prison – as 137 journalists, 3 assistants and 59 bloggers found last year.
For 77 other journalist and 32 other assistants, the consequences of criticism – or even of just being thought to not be on the right side – were more serious.
For those men and women, the result of speaking up on TV, online or in print was for their partners, parents or children to be called to identify their remains at the morgue.
In some places, disagreeing (or not agreeing loudly enough) with big business can land you on a slab. In the UK, a Transdiffusion editor can attest, disagreeing with a major privatised railway infrastructure company can get your windscreen put in. Elsewhere, disagreeing with corporations – household names, you added to their profits in the last 24 hours even unwittingly – puts an end to your life.
Freedom of speech is a right, not a privilege. And daily we rely on others to exercise that right on our behalf. Armed with only a pen, a microphone or a camera, journalists the world over ensure that all our voices remain heard.
Reporters sans Frontieres is an organisation that seeks to remind the world that the pen isn’t always mightier than the sword – but we must never stop trying to make it so.
Become a supporter ofRSF today and make sure your voice is always heard. Thank you.