Sad news and my deepest condolences. Noel and the family sat a few seats along from me in E6 and I knew them from City and of course recognised the old faces from Boothferry Park. A good innings and obviously a much loved man who saw the best and the worse times. RIP and UTT.
RIP December
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Dixie Dean's aged 79.
Sophie Kinsella, author of the bestselling Shopaholic series of novels, has been remembered as a "wonderful, warm woman" following her death at the age of 55.
The writer, whose real name is Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.
Me Before You author Jojo Moyes, who has known Kinsella for 20 years, told BBC News she had "never met anybody who carried more grace".
"She was incredibly kind, incredibly smart, and she wore her success and her brilliance so lightly," she said.
"There was not a person who met her who didn't light up in her presence, because she was just good and kind, and people felt that through her characters," Moyes told the BBC's David Sillito.
"She was one of the best people I've ever met... I feel really glad to have known her, really lucky to have had her in my life."
The writer, whose real name is Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.
Me Before You author Jojo Moyes, who has known Kinsella for 20 years, told BBC News she had "never met anybody who carried more grace".
"She was incredibly kind, incredibly smart, and she wore her success and her brilliance so lightly," she said.
"There was not a person who met her who didn't light up in her presence, because she was just good and kind, and people felt that through her characters," Moyes told the BBC's David Sillito.
"She was one of the best people I've ever met... I feel really glad to have known her, really lucky to have had her in my life."
From today's Telegraph, a thumping good read. And I got them to change FC to AFC in the title, so I edited a major national today 
Don Robinson: started out offering trampolines for hire on Scarborough beach Credit: Yorkshire Post
Don Robinson, who has died aged 91, was a larger-than-life Yorkshire-based leisure entrepreneur and sports promoter who wrestled professionally as “Dr Death”.
Among a multiplicity of bold ventures, Robinson invested in everything from North Sea pirate radio to Dungeon attractions and Bulgarian casinos. But his greatest impacts were in his home-town resort of Scarborough, where one local paper called him “the most influential and dynamic businessman of the last 60 years” – as well as in football as the saviour of Hull City AFC, and in wrestling, as both a promoter and a participant.
At Scarborough, where he was also a town councillor, Robinson started out offering trampolines for hire on the beach and went on to amass a portfolio of interests that included the Marineland (later Mr Marvel’s) amusement park, the Opera House casino and It’s a Knockout summer seasons at the Open Air Theatre.
Don Robinson toasting Hull City’s promotion to the Football League Second Division in 1985 Credit: Jim Mitchell
As president of the town’s cricket festival in 1988, he oversaw its first floodlit match, between Yorkshire’s county side and Michael Parkinson’s World XI. He was also chairman of non-league Scarborough FC, until he moved in 1982, taking the manager Colin Appleton with him, to rescue Fourth Division Hull City from receivership. The Tigers won promotion in their first season in charge and climbed to the Second Division in 1985, even if they never achieved Robinson’s stated ambition of becoming the first football team to play on the Moon.
Meanwhile, having been introduced to the wrestling ring by a fellow rugby league player during a brief 1960s career with Hull Kingston Rovers, Robinson became one of the top wrestling promoters in the north of England, offering bouts with accompanying razzmatazz at Queen’s Hall, Leeds, and other venues. His stable included the likes of the world champion Mike Marino and the bearded giant Klondyke Bill – a fellow Yorkshireman whose real name was Gordon Lythe and whom Robinson described as “the kindest man I knew”.
Robinson chaired the Wrestling Federation of Great Britain, a group of independent promoters, in opposition to the powerful Joint Promotions cartel that held sway in the south and on ITV’s Saturday-afternoon World of Sport. Though unsuccessful in a bid to launch rival BBC coverage in 1966, he raised wrestling’s international profile by taking teams to Poland, Sweden, Finland and India, grappling in his own right (having borrowed the persona with permission from another wrestler-promoter, his friend Paul Lincoln) the villainous masked “Dr Death”.
Donald Robinson was born on June 27 1934 to Joe Robinson, a storeman, and his wife May, née Wray. In his early childhood the family lived at Batley Carr, near Dewsbury; they moved first to a village near York and in 1944 to Scarborough, where by his own account Don “wasn’t too bright” at Friarage School but showed promise in sport.
Having left school at 14 to work in the town’s Marshall & Snelgrove department store, he was Yorkshire boys boxing champion in 1950 before being called for National Service in the RAF on his 18th birthday. Qualified as a PE instructor, he represented the Service on the rugby field, and at light-welterweight against the Amateur Boxing Association in a packed Royal Albert Hall.
Merlin the sea lion performs at Flamingoland, one of Robinson’s amusement parks Credit: Danny Lawson
Returning to Scarborough in 1958, he became a PE teacher at the local technical college, and among several part-time jobs he ran a wet fish stall in a holiday camp. His first entrepreneurial venture arose from the task of installing expensive American trampolines in the college gym: having discovered that he could commission identical models locally for a fraction of the price, he put six of them on the beach and launched “Jumping Jiminies”, in due course expanding the offer to numerous other seaside resorts.
Unassuming and generous-spirited – a showman, but also “just a normal fellah who would buy a round in the pub for a dozen wrestling enthusiasts”, according to a source in that world – Robinson went on to follow his gut instinct in a lifetime of astute investments.
In 1963 he took a stake in what became Flamingoland, the former Yorkshire Zoological Gardens near Malton, to which Robinson and his business partner added dolphins, pink flamingos and even sperm whales. In 1965 he formed a consortium to launch Radio 270, a commercial station housed on an old Dutch fishing vessel, Ocean VII, moored three miles off Scarborough.
Don Robinson, left, with Tommy Docherty, centre, and former Hull City manager Eddie Gray, right Credit: Hull live/MEN Media
The station gave airtime to Conservative political activists as well as popular music, provoking a Labour minister to castigate “misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters”: offshore pirate stations were banned by act of parliament in August 1967.
Robinson’s other ventures included the Winston Churchill Britain at War museum in London; spooky Dungeon experiences in London and York; and zoos at Dudley and Whipsnade. He sat on the board of Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television and received the freedom of Las Vegas for organising the first charter flights from the UK to America’s gaming capital. In the 1990s, he joint-ventured to develop casinos and slot-machine arcades in ex-communist Bulgaria.
He was a director of the celebrated 1985 Live Aid concert, having helped negotiate terms for the use of Wembley Stadium, and a generous supporter of the Variety Club, medical charities and other chosen causes at home and abroad.
Don Robinson married, in 1955, Jean Trowell, who died in 2023. Their two sons survive him.
Don Robinson, born June 27 1934, died November 6 2025
Don Robinson, Yorkshire leisure magnate known for wrestling, pirate radio, zoos and Hull City AFC
He wrestled as the villainous masked ‘Dr Death’, pioneered Dungeon tourist attractions and ran the UK’s first charter flights to Las Vegas
You must log in or register to see images
Don Robinson: started out offering trampolines for hire on Scarborough beach Credit: Yorkshire Post
Don Robinson, who has died aged 91, was a larger-than-life Yorkshire-based leisure entrepreneur and sports promoter who wrestled professionally as “Dr Death”.
Among a multiplicity of bold ventures, Robinson invested in everything from North Sea pirate radio to Dungeon attractions and Bulgarian casinos. But his greatest impacts were in his home-town resort of Scarborough, where one local paper called him “the most influential and dynamic businessman of the last 60 years” – as well as in football as the saviour of Hull City AFC, and in wrestling, as both a promoter and a participant.
At Scarborough, where he was also a town councillor, Robinson started out offering trampolines for hire on the beach and went on to amass a portfolio of interests that included the Marineland (later Mr Marvel’s) amusement park, the Opera House casino and It’s a Knockout summer seasons at the Open Air Theatre.
You must log in or register to see images
Don Robinson toasting Hull City’s promotion to the Football League Second Division in 1985 Credit: Jim Mitchell
As president of the town’s cricket festival in 1988, he oversaw its first floodlit match, between Yorkshire’s county side and Michael Parkinson’s World XI. He was also chairman of non-league Scarborough FC, until he moved in 1982, taking the manager Colin Appleton with him, to rescue Fourth Division Hull City from receivership. The Tigers won promotion in their first season in charge and climbed to the Second Division in 1985, even if they never achieved Robinson’s stated ambition of becoming the first football team to play on the Moon.
Meanwhile, having been introduced to the wrestling ring by a fellow rugby league player during a brief 1960s career with Hull Kingston Rovers, Robinson became one of the top wrestling promoters in the north of England, offering bouts with accompanying razzmatazz at Queen’s Hall, Leeds, and other venues. His stable included the likes of the world champion Mike Marino and the bearded giant Klondyke Bill – a fellow Yorkshireman whose real name was Gordon Lythe and whom Robinson described as “the kindest man I knew”.
You must log in or register to see images
Robinson chaired the Wrestling Federation of Great Britain, a group of independent promoters, in opposition to the powerful Joint Promotions cartel that held sway in the south and on ITV’s Saturday-afternoon World of Sport. Though unsuccessful in a bid to launch rival BBC coverage in 1966, he raised wrestling’s international profile by taking teams to Poland, Sweden, Finland and India, grappling in his own right (having borrowed the persona with permission from another wrestler-promoter, his friend Paul Lincoln) the villainous masked “Dr Death”.
Donald Robinson was born on June 27 1934 to Joe Robinson, a storeman, and his wife May, née Wray. In his early childhood the family lived at Batley Carr, near Dewsbury; they moved first to a village near York and in 1944 to Scarborough, where by his own account Don “wasn’t too bright” at Friarage School but showed promise in sport.
Having left school at 14 to work in the town’s Marshall & Snelgrove department store, he was Yorkshire boys boxing champion in 1950 before being called for National Service in the RAF on his 18th birthday. Qualified as a PE instructor, he represented the Service on the rugby field, and at light-welterweight against the Amateur Boxing Association in a packed Royal Albert Hall.
You must log in or register to see images
Merlin the sea lion performs at Flamingoland, one of Robinson’s amusement parks Credit: Danny Lawson
Returning to Scarborough in 1958, he became a PE teacher at the local technical college, and among several part-time jobs he ran a wet fish stall in a holiday camp. His first entrepreneurial venture arose from the task of installing expensive American trampolines in the college gym: having discovered that he could commission identical models locally for a fraction of the price, he put six of them on the beach and launched “Jumping Jiminies”, in due course expanding the offer to numerous other seaside resorts.
Unassuming and generous-spirited – a showman, but also “just a normal fellah who would buy a round in the pub for a dozen wrestling enthusiasts”, according to a source in that world – Robinson went on to follow his gut instinct in a lifetime of astute investments.
In 1963 he took a stake in what became Flamingoland, the former Yorkshire Zoological Gardens near Malton, to which Robinson and his business partner added dolphins, pink flamingos and even sperm whales. In 1965 he formed a consortium to launch Radio 270, a commercial station housed on an old Dutch fishing vessel, Ocean VII, moored three miles off Scarborough.
You must log in or register to see images
Don Robinson, left, with Tommy Docherty, centre, and former Hull City manager Eddie Gray, right Credit: Hull live/MEN Media
The station gave airtime to Conservative political activists as well as popular music, provoking a Labour minister to castigate “misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters”: offshore pirate stations were banned by act of parliament in August 1967.
Robinson’s other ventures included the Winston Churchill Britain at War museum in London; spooky Dungeon experiences in London and York; and zoos at Dudley and Whipsnade. He sat on the board of Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television and received the freedom of Las Vegas for organising the first charter flights from the UK to America’s gaming capital. In the 1990s, he joint-ventured to develop casinos and slot-machine arcades in ex-communist Bulgaria.
He was a director of the celebrated 1985 Live Aid concert, having helped negotiate terms for the use of Wembley Stadium, and a generous supporter of the Variety Club, medical charities and other chosen causes at home and abroad.
Don Robinson married, in 1955, Jean Trowell, who died in 2023. Their two sons survive him.
Don Robinson, born June 27 1934, died November 6 2025
Interesting article. Didn’t mention how he allegedly raised the money to get the trampolines by fooling HKR at a trial. His greyhound racing exploits were interesting, a Mafia type operation.From today's Telegraph, a thumping good read. And I got them to change FC to AFC in the title, so I edited a major national today
Don Robinson, Yorkshire leisure magnate known for wrestling, pirate radio, zoos and Hull City AFC
He wrestled as the villainous masked ‘Dr Death’, pioneered Dungeon tourist attractions and ran the UK’s first charter flights to Las Vegas
You must log in or register to see images
Don Robinson: started out offering trampolines for hire on Scarborough beach Credit: Yorkshire Post
Don Robinson, who has died aged 91, was a larger-than-life Yorkshire-based leisure entrepreneur and sports promoter who wrestled professionally as “Dr Death”.
Among a multiplicity of bold ventures, Robinson invested in everything from North Sea pirate radio to Dungeon attractions and Bulgarian casinos. But his greatest impacts were in his home-town resort of Scarborough, where one local paper called him “the most influential and dynamic businessman of the last 60 years” – as well as in football as the saviour of Hull City AFC, and in wrestling, as both a promoter and a participant.
At Scarborough, where he was also a town councillor, Robinson started out offering trampolines for hire on the beach and went on to amass a portfolio of interests that included the Marineland (later Mr Marvel’s) amusement park, the Opera House casino and It’s a Knockout summer seasons at the Open Air Theatre.
You must log in or register to see images
Don Robinson toasting Hull City’s promotion to the Football League Second Division in 1985 Credit: Jim Mitchell
As president of the town’s cricket festival in 1988, he oversaw its first floodlit match, between Yorkshire’s county side and Michael Parkinson’s World XI. He was also chairman of non-league Scarborough FC, until he moved in 1982, taking the manager Colin Appleton with him, to rescue Fourth Division Hull City from receivership. The Tigers won promotion in their first season in charge and climbed to the Second Division in 1985, even if they never achieved Robinson’s stated ambition of becoming the first football team to play on the Moon.
Meanwhile, having been introduced to the wrestling ring by a fellow rugby league player during a brief 1960s career with Hull Kingston Rovers, Robinson became one of the top wrestling promoters in the north of England, offering bouts with accompanying razzmatazz at Queen’s Hall, Leeds, and other venues. His stable included the likes of the world champion Mike Marino and the bearded giant Klondyke Bill – a fellow Yorkshireman whose real name was Gordon Lythe and whom Robinson described as “the kindest man I knew”.
You must log in or register to see images
Robinson chaired the Wrestling Federation of Great Britain, a group of independent promoters, in opposition to the powerful Joint Promotions cartel that held sway in the south and on ITV’s Saturday-afternoon World of Sport. Though unsuccessful in a bid to launch rival BBC coverage in 1966, he raised wrestling’s international profile by taking teams to Poland, Sweden, Finland and India, grappling in his own right (having borrowed the persona with permission from another wrestler-promoter, his friend Paul Lincoln) the villainous masked “Dr Death”.
Donald Robinson was born on June 27 1934 to Joe Robinson, a storeman, and his wife May, née Wray. In his early childhood the family lived at Batley Carr, near Dewsbury; they moved first to a village near York and in 1944 to Scarborough, where by his own account Don “wasn’t too bright” at Friarage School but showed promise in sport.
Having left school at 14 to work in the town’s Marshall & Snelgrove department store, he was Yorkshire boys boxing champion in 1950 before being called for National Service in the RAF on his 18th birthday. Qualified as a PE instructor, he represented the Service on the rugby field, and at light-welterweight against the Amateur Boxing Association in a packed Royal Albert Hall.
You must log in or register to see images
Merlin the sea lion performs at Flamingoland, one of Robinson’s amusement parks Credit: Danny Lawson
Returning to Scarborough in 1958, he became a PE teacher at the local technical college, and among several part-time jobs he ran a wet fish stall in a holiday camp. His first entrepreneurial venture arose from the task of installing expensive American trampolines in the college gym: having discovered that he could commission identical models locally for a fraction of the price, he put six of them on the beach and launched “Jumping Jiminies”, in due course expanding the offer to numerous other seaside resorts.
Unassuming and generous-spirited – a showman, but also “just a normal fellah who would buy a round in the pub for a dozen wrestling enthusiasts”, according to a source in that world – Robinson went on to follow his gut instinct in a lifetime of astute investments.
In 1963 he took a stake in what became Flamingoland, the former Yorkshire Zoological Gardens near Malton, to which Robinson and his business partner added dolphins, pink flamingos and even sperm whales. In 1965 he formed a consortium to launch Radio 270, a commercial station housed on an old Dutch fishing vessel, Ocean VII, moored three miles off Scarborough.
You must log in or register to see images
Don Robinson, left, with Tommy Docherty, centre, and former Hull City manager Eddie Gray, right Credit: Hull live/MEN Media
The station gave airtime to Conservative political activists as well as popular music, provoking a Labour minister to castigate “misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters”: offshore pirate stations were banned by act of parliament in August 1967.
Robinson’s other ventures included the Winston Churchill Britain at War museum in London; spooky Dungeon experiences in London and York; and zoos at Dudley and Whipsnade. He sat on the board of Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television and received the freedom of Las Vegas for organising the first charter flights from the UK to America’s gaming capital. In the 1990s, he joint-ventured to develop casinos and slot-machine arcades in ex-communist Bulgaria.
He was a director of the celebrated 1985 Live Aid concert, having helped negotiate terms for the use of Wembley Stadium, and a generous supporter of the Variety Club, medical charities and other chosen causes at home and abroad.
Don Robinson married, in 1955, Jean Trowell, who died in 2023. Their two sons survive him.
Don Robinson, born June 27 1934, died November 6 2025
Nice tribute to the Charlton fan who collapsed at the game against Portsmouth and later passed away. The sort of supporter there are not enough of.
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Comedian Stanley Baxter dies aged 99
Baxter, who was born in Glasgow, was one of the biggest stars on British television for several decades.
www.bbc.co.uk
With the global 24 hour news cycle we mostly consume I think to a degree you can’t help but become desensitised to suffering on a scale that if you were closer to it would be horrific, but by any measure this is just heartbreaking in 2025.
RIP
https://www.irishtimes.com/world/af...danese-city-which-resembles-a-slaughterhouse/
RIP
https://www.irishtimes.com/world/af...danese-city-which-resembles-a-slaughterhouse/
The former Sunderland striker Gary Rowell has died at the age of 68, the Black Cats have announced. He was being treated for leukaemia.
The Seaham-born Rowell, who scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Division Two win over Newcastle at St James’ Park in February 1979, died on Saturday. His death comes 50 years to the day since he made his Sunderland debut and just a day before the Black Cats host the Magpies in the first Premier League derby between the clubs since March 2016, at which the hosts will mark Rowell’s death.
The Seaham-born Rowell, who scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Division Two win over Newcastle at St James’ Park in February 1979, died on Saturday. His death comes 50 years to the day since he made his Sunderland debut and just a day before the Black Cats host the Magpies in the first Premier League derby between the clubs since March 2016, at which the hosts will mark Rowell’s death.
RIP the 12 Jews mown down by maniacs at a celebration event on Bondi Beach.