Long-serving Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter, who turned the children's show into a television institution, has died at the age of 92. Over more than two decades, she introduced generations of children to the pleasures of sticky-backed plastic, on-screen pets, presenters' adventures and charity appeals - a recipe that stood the test of time. She was also passionate about getting her viewers involved in the programme, long before audience participation became an industry mantra. But during her tenure, which lasted from 1965 to 1988, she also gained a reputation as a formidable figure - a tyrant who fell out with presenters and jealously guarded the Blue Peter brand.
RIP Derby County is saddened to confirm the passing of its former player Terry Hennessey at the age of 82. please log in to view this image The club was informed of the sad news by his family on Friday morning. Hennessey joined Derby County under the management of Brian Clough in the early stages of 1970 from Nottingham Forest. His move across the East Midlands saw Hennessey enter the history books by becoming the Rams’ first-ever £100,000 signing as the side finished fourth in the top-flight in 1969/70. Hennessey played 18 times in the club’s historic 1971/72 title-winning campaign, while he also featured significantly in the Texaco Cup winning team in the same season. The Wales international defender, who gained 39 caps for his country, also played four times in the club’s run to the Semi-Final stage of European Cup during the 1972/73 season. Hennessey played 82 times for the club in all competitions and scored five goals and left the club in 1973 and retiring due to injury, bringing down the curtain on his impressive professional career. Derby County’s deepest condolences and thoughts are with the family and friends of Terry Hennessey at this difficult time. Statement from the family of Terry Hennessey We Mourn the Passing of Terry Hennessey (1942-2025) It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of William Terrence “Terry” Hennessey, the legendary Welsh international footballer and former club captain, who died peacefully on the 8th of August 2025, at the age of 82. Born on 1st September 1942 in Llay, near Wrexham, Hennessey became one of Wales’ most respected footballers of the post-war era. A commanding presence at the heart of defence, his career spanned over a decade and a half at the highest levels of the game. Terry began his professional journey with Birmingham City in 1959, making over 170 league appearances and helping the club to victory in the 1963 Football League Cup Final. He went on to captain Nottingham Forest, earning admiration for his leadership and consistency over 159 appearances. His final English club was Derby County, where he played a pivotal role under Brian Clough in the club’s historic 1971–72 First Division title-winning season. On the international stage, Hennessey proudly earned 39 caps for Wales between 1962 and 1972, captaining his country on 20 occasions, marking the legendary Pelé at just 19 years old in 1961, and serving as a role model for future generations of Welsh players. After retiring due to injury, Terry transitioned to management and coaching, leaving his mark overseas. He found success in the North American Soccer League (NASL), most notably guiding the Tulsa Roughnecks to the 1983 Soccer Bowl championship. His coaching journey later took him to Australia, where he continued to contribute to the game through roles with Melbourne Croatia and Heidelberg United. A man of humility and passion, Terry Hennessey was not only a footballer of great stature but also a devoted ambassador of the sport across continents. He spent his later years on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula in Australia, where he remained closely connected to football as both a mentor and enthusiast. Terry was a devoted husband to the late Sandra for over 44 years. Terry is survived by his son Dean, daughter Samantha and son-in-law Jim. Terry was a loving grandfather of six grandchildren and four great grandchildren. We pay tribute to a man whose influence transcended borders and whose legacy will endure through the many lives he touched on and off the pitch. Rest in peace, Terry. You will forever be part of football’s proud history and much-loved family man.
John Cruickshank, last person left who won a VC in WW2 has passed sway. A life worth commemorating, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/08/16/john-cruickshank-last-surviving-vc-recipient-ww2/
Joe Caroff, the unheralded graphic designer whose iconic creations included James Bond's 007 gun logo, posters for West Side Story and A Hard Day's Night and typography for Last Tango in Paris, Manhattan and Rollerball, died on Sunday aged 103. please log in to view this image He got paid $300 for this, it was supposed to be for a letterhead for the launch of the first film, but has been used for every Bond film since... please log in to view this image
RIP Bobby Whitlock obituary Rock musician who formed the band Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton and also worked with George Harrison https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/aug/13/bobby-whitlock-obituary
An article which gives more details of why John Cruickshank received his VC. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15011763/lord-ashcroft-wwii-vc-holder-dead-105.html
15th: bob simpson, australian cricketer, allrounder and national captain, 89. A key figure in Australian cricket for more than four decades, as cricketer, captain, coach and commentator, Bob Simpson first toured with Australia in 1957-58 as an allrounder, bowling legbreaks and fielding infallibly at slip. He subsequently became a first-rate opening batsman, although it wasn't until his 30th Test, by which time he had succeeded to the captaincy, that he first posted a Test hundred. He made this breakthrough innings at Old Trafford count, by turning it into 311 in almost 13 hours. In all he made 1381 Test runs in 1964, a record at the time. Hard-bitten and immensely dedicated, he steadily rationalised his repertoire of strokes, eschewing the hook, but excelling as an acquirer of singles; Australia has had no more productive an opening pairing than Simpson and Bill Lawry. With the advent of World Series Cricket in April 1977, Simmo emerged from retirement at 41 to lead Australia again, against India, where his old powers against spin were evident, and West Indies, whose fast bowlers proved more taxing: his captaincy record, ultimately, was rather modest. When Australia went looking for a fulltime coach in the mid-1980s, he was again the Board's choice, and gave Allan Border's team a taste of the discipline to which he had always submitted himself as a player. A martinet where fitness, fielding and batting technique were concerned, he held the job for a controversial but successful decade, during which time the team won the World Cup and regained both the Ashes and the Frank Worrell Trophy. He also had stints in county cricket, coaching Leicestershire and Lancashire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Simpson_(cricketer)
He didn’t actually design this actual one, I redid this just after Tomorrow Never Dies, although it’s very close, went through soooo many designs and it was just tweaked over the previous one.
Can’t say I remember him RIP Charlie Partridge My father, Charlie Partridge, who has died aged 72 after suffering complications from cancer, was a journalist, broadcaster and champion of local media. Having begun his career at Radio Trent, he moved to the BBC’s Radio Nottingham in 1978 before joining Radio Humberside, eventually presenting the breakfast show. Always up for an attention-grabbing stunt, he once broadcast from a RAF Lightning fast jet, and on one April Fools’ Day claimed the town of Goole would be rebranding itself as “Go Olé”. He moved on to become news editor at BBC Essex and despite being serious about his journalism he also starred in a regular feature on the station in which listeners would have to guess what song he was performing “in a pub singer style”. In 1999 Charlie became managing editor of BBC Radio Lincolnshire, where his belief in the power of local media to create and bind communities together led to campaigns, alongside Lincolnshire Life magazine, for a Lincolnshire flag and a Lincolnshire Day (now marked on 1 October). please log in to view this image View image in fullscreen The county flag of Lincolnshire. Illustration: Alamy Unusual sightings of the flag became a fixture of our family’s WhatsApp group, with it appearing in the crowd at Glastonbury and at the Tour de France, and inspiring a number of Lincoln City FC away shirts. His biggest source of professional pride, however, was the number of successful journalists he had either trained or worked with early on in their BBC careers. Born in Plymouth to Ronald Partridge, a civil servant, and Vera (nee Harrington), Charlie moved with his family to Gloucester at the age of seven. He was educated at the Crypt grammar school and then the University of Nottingham, where he studied politics. It was in Nottingham that he alighted on the world of radio as a career, after a short detour into teaching. There, too, he met Jill Rowland, whom he married in 1981, and who later worked as an academic librarian at the University of Lincoln. They went on to have three sons, Simon, Dominic and me. A lifelong football fan, Charlie’s passion for the game was sparked by childhood visits to Home Park and later on he was, I’m pretty sure, the only Plymouth Argyle supporter with a season ticket for Lincoln City, whose games he attended alongside his sons. He was also a keen skier and cyclist. Retiring from the BBC after 42 years amid the pandemic in 2020, he went on to work as mayor’s officer at the Guildhall in Lincoln, where his duties included carrying the mace as part of the lord mayor’s procession. He is survived by Jill, Simon, Dominic and me, and his grandchildren, Finlay and Anna, and sister, Caroline.
ken shuttleworth, cricketer (1964-1979), 80. played for lancashire and leicestershire, and five tests in 1970-71. took 623 first-class wickets at 24.51. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Shuttleworth_(cricketer) https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/ken-shuttleworth-20182
Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, has died. He was 84. Turcotte’s family said through his longtime business partner and friend Leonard Lusky that the Canada-born jockey died of natural causes Friday at his home in Drummond, New Brunswick. He won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes twice each, most notably sweeping the three with Secretariat to end horse racing’s Triple Crown drought that dated to Citation in 1948. Secretariat’s record time of 2:24 in the Belmont, winning by 31 lengths, still stands 52 years later. “Ron was a great jockey and an inspiration to so many, both within and outside the racing world,” Lusky said. “While he reached the pinnacle of success in his vocation, it was his abundance of faith, courage, and kindness that was the true measure of his greatness.” Turcotte won more than 3,000 races over a nearly two-decade career that ended in 1978 when he fell off a horse early in a race and suffered injuries that made him paraplegic. Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund chairman William J Punk called Turcotte one of the sport’s greatest champions and ambassadors and praised him for his advocacy and efforts to help fellow fallen riders. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1979. “The world may remember Ron as the famous jockey of Secretariat, but to us he was a wonderful husband, a loving father, grandfather, and a great horseman.” the Turcotte family said in a statement through Lusky. please log in to view this image View image in fullscreen Ron Turcotte poses next to a statue of him and Secretariat in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, in May 2023. Photograph: Stephen MacGillivray/AP Turcotte was born in Drummond on 22 July 1941, as one of 12 children. He quit school to work as a lumberjack before moving to Toronto to get involved in horse racing, first as a hotwalker and then a jockey, becoming the leading rider at Woodbine Racetrack before rising to the Triple Crown level. Woodbine chairman Jim Lawson said Turcotte was “a true Canadian icon whose impact on horse racing is immeasurable”. “Ron carried himself with humility, strength and dignity,” Lawson said. “His legacy in racing, both here at Woodbine and around the world, will live forever.” Turcotte won the Preakness in 1965 aboard Tom Rolfe and the Derby in 1972 with Riva Ridge. But it was his time with Secretariat that made Turcotte a household name in racing, and he called it “love at first ride.” “He was the type of horse that you’ll never see again,” Turcotte said in 2023, nearly 50 years to the day since riding Secretariat in the Belmont. “He was doing something that you’ve never seen before and will probably never see again.”
