Jonathan Ernest "Jon" Gadsby was born on November 1, 1953, and died on December 12, 2015 from cancer.
He was a New Zealand television comedian and writer, most well-known for his role in the comedy series McPhail and Gadsby co-starring alongside David McPhail.
Jonathan was born in Derbyshire, England and went to school in Invercargill when his family moved to New Zealand.
He studied law at the University of Otago, he worked at Radio Dunedin.
Jonathan entered television with David McPhail in the comedy A Week of It, before the pair went on to the successful and long-running political satire McPhail and Gadsby.
Jonathan Gadsby appeared in numerous television programmes, several films, and wrote more than 20 books, mainly for children.
He wrote for The New Zealand Herald, Metro and The Listener, and performed corporate speaking.
Jonathan was the former editor of Christchurch magazine Avenues.
In 2008, Jonathan received a conviction for drink-driving, after being stopped at a checkpoint in December 2006.
In 2011, Jonathan was convicted of his fourth drink-driving charge, having been stopped with a breath alcohol reading 2.5 times in excess of the legal limit.
Jonathan passed away on December 12, 2015 after a battle with cancer.
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Tokyo Rose, Typist and broadcaster, merchant, Died at 90
Iva Toguri, better known as “Tokyo Rose,” died on September 26, 2006 at the age of 90; she was an American-born Japanese woman who hosted a Japanese propaganda radio program aimed at U.S. troops during World War II.
After college, she visited Japan and was stranded there after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Forced to renounce her U.S. citizenship, Toguri found work in radio and was asked to host “Zero Hour,” a propaganda and entertainment program aimed at U.S. soldiers.
After the war, she was returned to the U.S. and convicted of treason, serving 6 years in prison. Her father was a Japanese-American who owned an import shop.
Caught between two cultures, Iva Toguri aspired to be like all American teenagers.
She wanted to become a doctor and attended UCLA, graduating in 1941, but then there was a twist of fate.
Born July 4, 1916, in 1942, the U.S. government rounded up Japanese-Americans and put them in internment camps.
Iva’s family was relocated to such camps, but she didn’t know about it.
The letters between her and her parents stopped, and she was suddenly isolated without information about their lives.
She needed a job, so she went to an English-speaking newspaper and got a position listening to short-wave-radio newscasts and transcribing them.
Iva then got a second job with Radio Tokyo as s typist, helping to type out scripts for programs broadcast for GI’s in Southeast Asia.
Then, she was unexpectedly asked to host a show called the “Zero Hour,” an entertainment program for U.S. soldiers.
Her feminine, American voice was meant to reach the U.S. soldiers.
Toguri called herself "Orphan Ann," but she quickly became identified with the name "Tokyo Rose", a name that was coined by Allied soldiers and that predated her broadcasts.
After the Japanese defeat, Toguri was detained for a year by the United States military before being released for lack of evidence.
Department of Justice officials agreed that her broadcasts were "innocuous".
But when Toguri tried to return to the US, a popular uproar ensued, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to renew its investigation of Toguri's wartime activities.
She was subsequently charged by the United States Attorney's Office with eight counts of treason.
On September 29, 1949, the jury found Toguri guilty on a single charge: Count VI, which stated, "That on a day during October, 1944, the exact date being to the Grand Jurors unknown, said defendant, at Tokyo, Japan, in a broadcasting studio of The Broadcasting Corporation of Japan, did speak into a microphone concerning the loss of ships."
She was fined $10,000 and given a 10-year prison sentence, with Toguri's attorney Collins lambasting the verdict as "Guilty without evidence".
She was sent to the Federal Reformatory for Women at Alderson, West Virginia.
She was paroled after serving six years and two months, released January 28, 1956, and moved to Chicago, Illinois.
On January 15, 2006, the World War II Veterans Committee awarded Toguri its annual Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship Award, citing "her indomitable spirit, love of country, and the example of courage she has given her fellow Americans".
According to one biographer, Toguri found it the most memorable day of her life.
After college, she visited Japan and was stranded there after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Forced to renounce her U.S. citizenship, Toguri found work in radio and was asked to host “Zero Hour,” a propaganda and entertainment program aimed at U.S. soldiers.
After the war, she was returned to the U.S. and convicted of treason, serving 6 years in prison. Her father was a Japanese-American who owned an import shop.
Caught between two cultures, Iva Toguri aspired to be like all American teenagers.
She wanted to become a doctor and attended UCLA, graduating in 1941, but then there was a twist of fate.
Born July 4, 1916, in 1942, the U.S. government rounded up Japanese-Americans and put them in internment camps.
Iva’s family was relocated to such camps, but she didn’t know about it.
The letters between her and her parents stopped, and she was suddenly isolated without information about their lives.
She needed a job, so she went to an English-speaking newspaper and got a position listening to short-wave-radio newscasts and transcribing them.
Iva then got a second job with Radio Tokyo as s typist, helping to type out scripts for programs broadcast for GI’s in Southeast Asia.
Then, she was unexpectedly asked to host a show called the “Zero Hour,” an entertainment program for U.S. soldiers.
Her feminine, American voice was meant to reach the U.S. soldiers.
Toguri called herself "Orphan Ann," but she quickly became identified with the name "Tokyo Rose", a name that was coined by Allied soldiers and that predated her broadcasts.
After the Japanese defeat, Toguri was detained for a year by the United States military before being released for lack of evidence.
Department of Justice officials agreed that her broadcasts were "innocuous".
But when Toguri tried to return to the US, a popular uproar ensued, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to renew its investigation of Toguri's wartime activities.
She was subsequently charged by the United States Attorney's Office with eight counts of treason.
On September 29, 1949, the jury found Toguri guilty on a single charge: Count VI, which stated, "That on a day during October, 1944, the exact date being to the Grand Jurors unknown, said defendant, at Tokyo, Japan, in a broadcasting studio of The Broadcasting Corporation of Japan, did speak into a microphone concerning the loss of ships."
She was fined $10,000 and given a 10-year prison sentence, with Toguri's attorney Collins lambasting the verdict as "Guilty without evidence".
She was sent to the Federal Reformatory for Women at Alderson, West Virginia.
She was paroled after serving six years and two months, released January 28, 1956, and moved to Chicago, Illinois.
On January 15, 2006, the World War II Veterans Committee awarded Toguri its annual Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship Award, citing "her indomitable spirit, love of country, and the example of courage she has given her fellow Americans".
According to one biographer, Toguri found it the most memorable day of her life.
Friday, 11 December 2015
Douglas Hoylman, American crossword puzzle solver, Died at 72
Douglas John Hoylman was born on July 2, 1943, in Kalispell, Mont and died December 2, 2015.
He was an American crossword puzzle solver.
Douglas Hoylman skipped a grade in high school.
Then earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964 and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 1969.
Reportedly he told the newspapers, he completed 20 to 30 crossword puzzles a week,and has a young boy he loved reading.
Hoylman settled in the Washington area around 1970 and retired from Geico in the 1990s.
Douglas began competing in crossword tournaments in the mid-1980s by filling out a qualifying puzzle, and he won his first tournament in 1988.
Douglas entered other championships came in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2000.
He also had three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes.
Earlier this year, Douglas has finished in the top 40, which is said to be highly unusual for a man of 72.
He has competed in 81 tournaments between 1993 and 2009, at the Washington unit of the North American Scrabble Players Association.
His single best performance was in 2006, when he won a divisional title.
Douglas trivia expertise came in handy in 1999 when a friend and crossword competitor, Trip Payne, appearing on the TV game show “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” and use his ask a friend option to call Douglas.
Douglas Hoylman passed away at 72 yrs old due to heart disease.
He was an American crossword puzzle solver.
Douglas Hoylman skipped a grade in high school.
Then earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964 and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 1969.
Reportedly he told the newspapers, he completed 20 to 30 crossword puzzles a week,and has a young boy he loved reading.
Hoylman settled in the Washington area around 1970 and retired from Geico in the 1990s.
Douglas began competing in crossword tournaments in the mid-1980s by filling out a qualifying puzzle, and he won his first tournament in 1988.
Douglas entered other championships came in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2000.
He also had three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes.
Earlier this year, Douglas has finished in the top 40, which is said to be highly unusual for a man of 72.
He has competed in 81 tournaments between 1993 and 2009, at the Washington unit of the North American Scrabble Players Association.
His single best performance was in 2006, when he won a divisional title.
Douglas trivia expertise came in handy in 1999 when a friend and crossword competitor, Trip Payne, appearing on the TV game show “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” and use his ask a friend option to call Douglas.
Douglas Hoylman passed away at 72 yrs old due to heart disease.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Fayard Antonio Nicholas, American choreographer, dancer and actor, Died at 91
Fayard Antonio Nicholas died on January 24, 2006 at the age of 91; he was an American choreographer, dancer and actor.
Fayard Nicholas was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in 2001, along with his brother.
Heading west in 1934, to Hollywood, California, Fayard and Harold appeared in the films Kid Millions (1934), The Big Broadcast (1936) and Black Network.
They made their Broadway debut in a version of the Ziegfeld Follies, alongside the likes of Bob Hope and Ethel Merman, in 1936.
That same year, while performing in Manchester, England, as part of the cast of the touring show Blackbirds, the brothers were introduced to and developed an appreciation for a number of highly regarded European ballet companies.
By the start of the 1940s, the Nicholas Brothers were international celebrities.
The two men starred in several hit films, including Stormy Weather (1943) with Cab Calloway and Lena Horne, and acquired a reputation as the finest dance team in America.
Fayard Nicholas was one-half of The Nicholas Brothers, a famous African-American tap dancing team who appeared in several movies and became one of the famous and most beloved dance team of all time.
Self-taught, Fayard learned how to dance watching vaudeville shows while their parents played in the orchestra pit.
He then would teach the routines to his younger brother.
Fayard was considered the gregarious one of the duo; Harold was more withdrawn and introspective.
The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of musicians who played in their own band at the old Standard Theater, their mother at the piano and father on drums.
At the age of three, Fayard was always seated in the front row while his parents worked, and by the time he was ten, he had seen most of the great black Vaudeville acts, particularly the dancers, including such notables of the time as Alice Whitman, Willie Bryant and Bill Robinson.
He was completely fascinated by them and imitated their acrobatics and clowning for the kids in his neighbourhood.
The Nicholas Brothers have headlined shows all over the world. They have appeared in every major television show, nightclub and theater in America and performed for the troops in Viet Nam in 1965.
The Nicholas Brothers have received many tributes and awards, which include: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, The Kennedy Center Honors (presented by President George Bush), and an honorary doctorate degree from Harvard University.
They are also proud of the some of students they have taught tap.
They include Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson.
In April 1995, the Nicholas Brothers received the "Dance Magazine" Award around the same time as the opening of Harold's latest film, "Funny Bones", and in April 1996 they completed a very successful residency at Harvard and Radcliff as Ruth Page Visiting Artists in
Fayard Nicholas was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in 2001, along with his brother.
Heading west in 1934, to Hollywood, California, Fayard and Harold appeared in the films Kid Millions (1934), The Big Broadcast (1936) and Black Network.
They made their Broadway debut in a version of the Ziegfeld Follies, alongside the likes of Bob Hope and Ethel Merman, in 1936.
That same year, while performing in Manchester, England, as part of the cast of the touring show Blackbirds, the brothers were introduced to and developed an appreciation for a number of highly regarded European ballet companies.
By the start of the 1940s, the Nicholas Brothers were international celebrities.
The two men starred in several hit films, including Stormy Weather (1943) with Cab Calloway and Lena Horne, and acquired a reputation as the finest dance team in America.
Fayard Nicholas was one-half of The Nicholas Brothers, a famous African-American tap dancing team who appeared in several movies and became one of the famous and most beloved dance team of all time.
Self-taught, Fayard learned how to dance watching vaudeville shows while their parents played in the orchestra pit.
He then would teach the routines to his younger brother.
Fayard was considered the gregarious one of the duo; Harold was more withdrawn and introspective.
The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of musicians who played in their own band at the old Standard Theater, their mother at the piano and father on drums.
At the age of three, Fayard was always seated in the front row while his parents worked, and by the time he was ten, he had seen most of the great black Vaudeville acts, particularly the dancers, including such notables of the time as Alice Whitman, Willie Bryant and Bill Robinson.
He was completely fascinated by them and imitated their acrobatics and clowning for the kids in his neighbourhood.
The Nicholas Brothers have headlined shows all over the world. They have appeared in every major television show, nightclub and theater in America and performed for the troops in Viet Nam in 1965.
The Nicholas Brothers have received many tributes and awards, which include: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, The Kennedy Center Honors (presented by President George Bush), and an honorary doctorate degree from Harvard University.
They are also proud of the some of students they have taught tap.
They include Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson.
In April 1995, the Nicholas Brothers received the "Dance Magazine" Award around the same time as the opening of Harold's latest film, "Funny Bones", and in April 1996 they completed a very successful residency at Harvard and Radcliff as Ruth Page Visiting Artists in
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Lawrence Herkimer, cheerleading innovator, Died at 89
Lawrence Russell Herkimer was born on October 14, 1925, and died on July 1, 2015.
He was an American innovator in the field of cheerleading.
Lawrence created the Herkie cheerleading jump, which was named after him, and received a patent for the pom-pom.
Lawrence described his contribution to the field as taking it "from the raccoon coat and pennant to greater heights".
He was born in Muskegon, Michigan.
As a cheerleader at Southern Methodist University, Lawrence developed what became known as the Herkie by accident while intending to perform a split jump.
The move features one arm extended straight up in the air and the other on one's hip, with one leg extended straight out, and the other bent back.
At SMU, Lawrence formed a national organization for cheerleaders and created a cheerleading-oriented magazine called Megaphone.
Lawrence started his first cheerleading camp in 1948 at Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University) with 53 participants, funded with $600 he had borrowed from a friend of his father-in-law.
By the following year, enrollment had grown to 350 participants.
Shortly thereafter, Lawrence was making more money from his summer programs than he was teaching the remainder of the year at Southern Methodist, so he gave up teaching and took up the cheerleading business full-time.
His camps had as many as 1,500 instructors teaching tens of thousands of students nationwide each summer, and his Cheerleader Supply Company was successfully retailing skirts and sweaters for cheerleading squads.
Lawrence sold his cheerleading camp program in 1986 for $20 million.
It was originally purchased by the BSN Corporation, which sold it to the Prospect Group in June 1988, with Herkimer staying on to run the business.
By 1990, Lawrence expected the business to bring in $50 million in revenue.
Lawrence Herkimer passed away due to heart failure on July 1, 2015, at the age of 89, in Dallas, Texas.
He was an American innovator in the field of cheerleading.
Lawrence created the Herkie cheerleading jump, which was named after him, and received a patent for the pom-pom.
Lawrence described his contribution to the field as taking it "from the raccoon coat and pennant to greater heights".
He was born in Muskegon, Michigan.
As a cheerleader at Southern Methodist University, Lawrence developed what became known as the Herkie by accident while intending to perform a split jump.
The move features one arm extended straight up in the air and the other on one's hip, with one leg extended straight out, and the other bent back.
At SMU, Lawrence formed a national organization for cheerleaders and created a cheerleading-oriented magazine called Megaphone.
Lawrence started his first cheerleading camp in 1948 at Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University) with 53 participants, funded with $600 he had borrowed from a friend of his father-in-law.
By the following year, enrollment had grown to 350 participants.
Shortly thereafter, Lawrence was making more money from his summer programs than he was teaching the remainder of the year at Southern Methodist, so he gave up teaching and took up the cheerleading business full-time.
His camps had as many as 1,500 instructors teaching tens of thousands of students nationwide each summer, and his Cheerleader Supply Company was successfully retailing skirts and sweaters for cheerleading squads.
Lawrence sold his cheerleading camp program in 1986 for $20 million.
It was originally purchased by the BSN Corporation, which sold it to the Prospect Group in June 1988, with Herkimer staying on to run the business.
By 1990, Lawrence expected the business to bring in $50 million in revenue.
Lawrence Herkimer passed away due to heart failure on July 1, 2015, at the age of 89, in Dallas, Texas.
Sunday, 6 December 2015
Fang Jing, China Central Television news anchor, Died at 44
Fang Jing was born in June 1971, and died on November 18, 2015.
She was an anchorwoman of China Central Television (CCTV).
Fang hosted several programs, including the prime-time military program Defence Watch.
In 2009, Fang came under suspicion of spying for Taiwan.
Fang started working for CCTV in 1994 after graduating from China's top school for broadcasting and spent four months at Harvard University as a visiting scholar.
She hosted a number of shows including the three day live coverage of the Transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong and other millennium celebrations.
In 2009, Fang Jing was accused of disclosing state secrets to a man from Taiwan and receiving money from him.
Fang denied the accusation, but no longer hosted CCTV's Defence Watch program after March 1, 2009.
Fang suffered from cancer and received treatment in Taiwan, where she passed away on 18 November 2015, aged 44.
She was an anchorwoman of China Central Television (CCTV).
Fang hosted several programs, including the prime-time military program Defence Watch.
In 2009, Fang came under suspicion of spying for Taiwan.
Fang started working for CCTV in 1994 after graduating from China's top school for broadcasting and spent four months at Harvard University as a visiting scholar.
She hosted a number of shows including the three day live coverage of the Transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong and other millennium celebrations.
In 2009, Fang Jing was accused of disclosing state secrets to a man from Taiwan and receiving money from him.
Fang denied the accusation, but no longer hosted CCTV's Defence Watch program after March 1, 2009.
Fang suffered from cancer and received treatment in Taiwan, where she passed away on 18 November 2015, aged 44.
Rodney Milnes, British opera critic, Died at 79
Rodney Milnes Blumer was born on July 26, 1936, and died on December 5, 2015.
He was an English music critic, musicologist, writer, translator and broadcaster, with a particular interest in opera.
Born in Stafford, Rodney attended Rugby School and studied history at Christ Church, Oxford University, before working in publishing.
Rodney was an opera critic of Harpers and Queen (1970 to 1990), opera critic of The Spectator (1988 to 1990), Evening Standard (1990 to 1992), and Chief Opera Critic The Times (1992 to 2002).
He was associate editor of Opera from 1976, deputy editor from 1984, and editor between 1986 to 1999.
There he honed his reputation as a "trenchant and entertaining writer, with a strong background in literature and theatre, and wide musical sympathies".
In his final editorial for Opera, Rodney wrote "Thank you to all of those who have written in outrage cancelling their subscriptions, and then not done so.
Thank you to all readers for being so patient with my bêtes noires. I know I’m wrong about surtitles (like hell I am) and they’re here to stay.
So are sponsors and their lordly, impertinent ways. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t really feel that a century that starts with Lilian Baylis and ends with Chris Smith is one that has seen a lot in the way of progress".
Rodney translated various operas under his original name, including Rusalka, The Jacobin, Osud, Don Chischiotte, Pollicino, Undine, Giovanna d'Arco, Die drei Pintos and Tannhäuser.
Rodney Milnes contributed entries on Massenet and his operas in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
He was consultant editor of the Viking Opera Guide, and revised and updated A Concise History of Opera in 1987.
Rodney was a contributor to Opera on Record Vol 1 (Carmen), Vol 2 (Thais and Don Quichotte) and Vol 3 (The stage works of Weill).
Rodney passed away at age 79 in December 2015.
He was an English music critic, musicologist, writer, translator and broadcaster, with a particular interest in opera.
Born in Stafford, Rodney attended Rugby School and studied history at Christ Church, Oxford University, before working in publishing.
Rodney was an opera critic of Harpers and Queen (1970 to 1990), opera critic of The Spectator (1988 to 1990), Evening Standard (1990 to 1992), and Chief Opera Critic The Times (1992 to 2002).
He was associate editor of Opera from 1976, deputy editor from 1984, and editor between 1986 to 1999.
There he honed his reputation as a "trenchant and entertaining writer, with a strong background in literature and theatre, and wide musical sympathies".
In his final editorial for Opera, Rodney wrote "Thank you to all of those who have written in outrage cancelling their subscriptions, and then not done so.
Thank you to all readers for being so patient with my bêtes noires. I know I’m wrong about surtitles (like hell I am) and they’re here to stay.
So are sponsors and their lordly, impertinent ways. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t really feel that a century that starts with Lilian Baylis and ends with Chris Smith is one that has seen a lot in the way of progress".
Rodney translated various operas under his original name, including Rusalka, The Jacobin, Osud, Don Chischiotte, Pollicino, Undine, Giovanna d'Arco, Die drei Pintos and Tannhäuser.
Rodney Milnes contributed entries on Massenet and his operas in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
He was consultant editor of the Viking Opera Guide, and revised and updated A Concise History of Opera in 1987.
Rodney was a contributor to Opera on Record Vol 1 (Carmen), Vol 2 (Thais and Don Quichotte) and Vol 3 (The stage works of Weill).
Rodney passed away at age 79 in December 2015.
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