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Obituaries

Sir Alan Walters: the Times obituary

Sir Alan Walters

Personal economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher, he clashed dramatically with Nigel Lawson

Obituaries of 2008 Edited highlights from the lives of leading figures published in the past year
Bright was admired by high-ranking war leaders for her efficiency and dependability as one who would not gossip

Joan Bright Astley

Behind-the-scenes 'house-keeper' of Churchill’s War Cabinet who guarded secrets and briefed great men

Brothers, right, as a 25-year-old squadron leader in 1942, already a celebrated veteran of the war in the air

Air Commodore Peter Brothers

Wartime fighter pilot who distinguished himself in the Battle of Britain and shot down at least 16 enemy aircraft by the war’s end

Sir Edwin Bolland

Miner’s son who rose to become a diplomat in several Eastern European capitals where he witnessed communism’s fatal decline

Pat Hingle

Versatile character actor who played Commissioner Gordon in four of the Batman films

Belinda Norman-Butler

Belinda Norman-Butler

Great-granddaughter of Thackeray who devoted her formidable energy to a host of causes, notably the English Speaking Union

Maitland: one of eight 'Suez rebels' who resigned the Tory whip in 1957

The Earl of Lauderdale

War correspondent and Tory MP who championed Britain’s imperial role

Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu

Romanian politician who campaigned tirelessly for justice and the release of personal files held by the feared Ceausescu secret police

Martin Russell

Opponent of apartheid who joined the African Resistance Movement and later tutored Mswati III, then the teenage king of Swaziland

Lives remembered. Add your personal recollections to recently published Times obituaries
A doughty debater, famed for her irrepressible wit and pungent rejoinders, Helen Suzman frequently faced verbal abuse from parliamentary colleagues

Helen Suzman

Anti-apartheid campaigner and politician who was for decades the sole parliamentary voice to dissent from South Africa’s racial laws

Westlake: wrote under 11 pseudonyms, most famously as Richard Stark

Donald Westlake

Prolific writer of crime and science fiction and whose prodigious narrative talents were transferred successfully to the silver screen

Bernie Hamilton

Actor who played the stern but accommodating Captain Dobey in Starsky and Hutch, an unusually positive black character portrayal

Hutchinson: she played a crucial role in fostering good relations in Uruguay

Patricia Hutchinson

Diplomat who served with unflappable distinction as Ambassador to Uruguay during the Falklands war

White traced 1,400 unpublished Nelson letters from around the world

Colin White

Naval historian who drew on previously ignored letters and journals written by and about Horatio Nelson

Vincent Ford

The Jamaican believed by some to have written Bob Marley’s reggae anthem No Woman, No Cry

Lives in brief. Other recent obituaries which have been published in The Times
Loucas Haji-Ioannou and his son Stelios, founder of the easyJet travel firm

Loucas Haji-Ioannou

Greek shipping magnate who earned his family enormous wealth operating oil tankers in and out of the war-torn Arabian Gulf

Stones's arrival at China Light coincided with a frenetic period of growth

Sir William Stones

Managing director of China Light and Power, Hong Kong’s electricity supplier, hailed as one of its most important engineers

Lawrence Darton

Book historian who painstakingly chronicled the children’s titles published by forebears

Levey with Still Life with Oranges and Walnuts by Luis Meléndez, which he acquired for the National Gallery

Sir Michael Levey

National Gallery director and gifted interpreter of works of art who wrote elegantly about pictures, music and literature

Hubbard: his work for the Blue Note label helped to define the distinctive tone of its innovative recordings of the 1960s

Freddie Hubbard

Jazz trumpeter who combined blistering speed, sensitivity and a lyrical imagination

Delaney Bramlett

Singer and guitarist whose earthy, Southern blues style influenced such rock luminaries as Eric Clapton and George Harrison

Tommy Gosling

Leading figure in postwar horseracing who started out as a successful jockey before enjoying two prosperous decades as a trainer