Media and performing arts

Aspinall, John Victor (1926–2000), gambler and zoo owner, was born on 11 June 1926 at Delhi, India, the second son of Mary Grace (1904–1987), daughter of Clement Samuel Horn, engineer, and wife of Colonel Robert Stivala Aspinall (1895–1954), of the Indian Medical Service (IMS), serving in ...

Bailey, Trevor Edward (1923–2011), cricketer, broadcaster, and journalist, was born on 3 December 1923 at 11 Imperial Avenue, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, the younger son (there were no daughters) of Bertrand Fothergill Bailey (1884–1947), a civil servant at the Admiralty, and his wife, Muriel Elsie, ...

Berk [née Heymansohn], Lieselotte [Lotte] (1913–2003), dancer and fitness trainer, was born on 17 January 1913 in Cologne, Germany, the only daughter of Jewish parents. Her Russian father, Nicolai Heymansohn, was originally a tailor and owned shops selling clothing for men. Her German mother died of a stroke when ...

Butt, Sir Alfred, first baronet (1878–1962), music-hall entrepreneur and racehorse owner and breeder, was born on 20 March 1878, the only son of Frederick Butt, a builder. He was educated at Westminster School and, after leaving school, worked in the accounting department at ...

Damm, Sheila Van (1922–1987), rally driver and theatre director, was born on 17 January 1922 in Gloucester Terrace, Paddington, London, the youngest of three daughters (there were no sons) of Vivian Van Damm (d. 1960) and his wife, Natalie Lyons. Although her father had sponsored motorcycle speedway events in the 1920s, before inheriting the ...

Elliot, Launceston (1874–1930), weightlifter and strongman, was conceived in Launceston, Tasmania (hence his first name), but born in Bombay, India, on 9 July 1874, the first son of Gilbert Wray Elliot (1833–1910), who was from 1853 to 1877 an official in the Bombay...

Gardner [married name Dyson], Maureen Angela Jane (1928–1974), athlete and ballet teacher, was born at 88 Chilswell Road, Oxford, on 12 November 1928, the only daughter and elder of two children of Fred Gardner (1888–1959), a police constable, and his second wife, ...

Gillies, Ian Malcolm (1927–2002), question-setter and broadcaster, was born at Upper Heath, Hampstead, London, on 7 December 1927, the son of Duncan Neil Gillies, company accountant, and his wife, Elsie Mary, née Nowell, of 16B Golders Way, Golders Green, London. He spent his early life in ...

Gravell, Raymond William Robert [Ray] (1951–2007), rugby player, broadcaster, and actor, was born at 36 Station Road, Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, on 12 September 1951, the first child of Thomas John (Jac) Gravell (1924–1966), coalminer and amateur rugby player, and his wife, Nina Eileen, née...

Hughes, Emlyn Walter (1947–2004), footballer and television sports personality, was born on 28 August 1947 in Risedale Maternity Hospital, Barrow in Furness. He was the second of three brothers, the son of (William) Frederick Hughes, known as Ginger, and his wife, Anne Elizabeth, ...

Jenkins, Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin- (1945–2013), cricket commentator, was born on 20 January 1945 at 5 Geneva Street, Peterborough (his maternal grandmother's home), the second of three sons of Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis Frederick Martin-Jenkins (1911–1991), a Royal Artillery officer who later worked in shipping for ...

Longhurst, Henry Carpenter (1909–1978), golf journalist and television broadcaster, was born on 18 March 1909 at Bromham, Bedfordshire, the only child of (William) Henry Longhurst, the owner of a large furnishing business in Bedford, and his wife, Constance Smith. From St Cyprian's, Eastbourne...