Enrique Morente, Spanish flamenco singer did he was , 67

Enrique Morente Cotelo, known as Enrique Morente, was a flamenco singer and a controversial figure within the world of contemporary flamenco. After his orthodox beginnings, he plunged into experimentalism, writing new melodies for cante (flamenco singing) and jamming with musicians of all styles, without renouncing his roots in traditional flamenco singing, which he kept on cultivating  did he was , 67.^[1][2] In spite of severe criticism from the most "purist" amongst the critics and public,^[2][3] he was perhaps the most influential contemporary flamenco singer, who not only innovated, but it could also can be said that he create tradition: some of his cantes have been performed by other singers such as Camarón de la Isla, Mayte Martín, Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda, Segundo Falcón and Arcángel.

(25 December 1942 – 13 December 2010)

 Biography

Beginnings

Enrique Morente, born in the traditional quarter of Albaicín in Granada, started to sing as a seise (a member of a group of children who sing, dance and play castanets on certain religious festivals)^[3] He started to feel attracted to flamenco singing as a child, and had the opportunity to learn at family gatherings and to listen to established figures from Granada like Cobitos, the family of the "Habichuelas", or Aurelio Sellés (Aurelio de Cádiz):

"The cante begins inside you when you listen to the villager’s singing, to people in their birthplace. Groups of people that meet in a tavern and start singing, and then you listen to them and start singing as well: you learn that at family parties where everybody sings and everybody drinks, and everybody dances and... Apart from that, it turns out that, of course, you need a technique, you need a school, you need to learn. In order to achieve this, what you need... the main help you can get is to have a liking for it; and then the skill to know who to learn from, and from what sources, where to find the good. Then you are on."^[4]

However, this appreciation for the popular side of flamenco does not mean that he considers flamenco as just "an art of the people". A flamenco artist, for him, needs technique and dedication:

"It is us, the professional artists of flamenco, who have to make cante flamenco, and nobody else, Flamenco, like any other art, is an art of professionals, although there are many people who peer at us, with a look as if to say: What interesting little creatures! or maybe: Oh! What music the people are playing! and so on. And people often think that maybe you have to have fingers swollen from picking potatoes to be able to play the guitar with feeling. Look, picking potatoes is every bit as worthy as playing a guitar. But I can tell you that a man -with fine, sensitive fingers is not going to be able to make a go of picking potatoes: and I can also tell you that a man with fingers swollen from picking potatoes is not going to be able to play a guitar because he hasn't got the manual dexterity and he hasn't got the dedication. This is a profession like any other which you have to dedicate yourself to completely. It is an art of professionals." ^[5]

Still in his teens, Morente went to live in Madrid to start a professional career as a singer. There he was able to meet some old masters like Pepe de la Matrona and Bernardo el de los Lobitos, and learned as much as he could from them. Pepe de la Matrona took special interest in teaching the young singer: "This interest was raised not so much by Enrique Morente’s intonation, by his registers or by his melismatic as by his attitude towards things, his respect and his learning capacity."^[4] In Madrid, he started singing at peñas flamencas (clubs for flamenco fans). In 1964, he signed a contract with the Ballet de Marienma, with whom he then performed at the Spanish Pavilion at the New York Worlds Fair and at the Spanish Embassy in Washington DC. Later he took part in a flamenco festival at Teatro de los Alcázares de los Reyes Cristianos, sharing the bill with Juan Talega, Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, Gaspar de Utrera, Tomás Torre and Antonio Mairena. During that year and the following one, he also toured Europe and Japan with different flamenco dance companies, and was employed at several tablaos (flamenco venues) in Madrid, such as Las Cueva de Nemesio, Zambra and El Café de Chinitas.

First recordings

Morente made his first recording, Cante flamenco in 1967 with guitarist Félix de Utrera. The recording received a special mention award from the Cátedra de Flamencología, and was followed by Cantes antiguos del flamenco (1969), with guitarist Niño Ricardo. His first recordings were strictly orthodox and showed deep knowledge of traditional flamenco, a rare quality for singers of his generation.^[3] During this period he also made his first contact with guitarist Manolo Sanlúcar, with whom he would cooperate on several occasions. Sanlúcar accompanied him in his concert in Ateneo de Madrid, the first occasion in which a flamenco singer performed in that prestigious cultural institution.
His next record, Homenaje flamenco a Miguel Hernández (Flamenco Homage to Miguel Hernández, 1971), initiated his frequent use of lyrics by outstanding poets. Later on, he would record flamenco songs with lyrics by Federico García Lorca, John of the Cross, Lope de Vega, Al-Mutamid, Antonio Machado and Manuel Machado, Jorge Guillén, and others. Soon later, an illegal live recording was published in Holland.

"The thing that most calls your attention in his first productions is how much care he devotes to the lyrics of his cantes. This is probably the first step in his future career as as an innovator in flamenco. The poems by Miguel Hernández, for example, became immortal in his impressive 'Nana de la Cebolla' or 'El Niño Yuntero'. With the attitude he showed, in these poems, against the francoist regime, he became the favourite flamenco singer for the left-wing opposition in the country, as well as one of the first innovators." ^[6]

In 1971 and 1972, he toured Mexico with guitarist Parrilla de Jerez and dancer Ana Parrilla, a tour which included his presentation at the Auditorium of the Universidad de las Américas, and performed at Lincoln Center (to which he would return to perform at again in 1973) and the Spanish Institute in New York. In 1972, he was also awarded the Premio Nacional del Cante (National Award for Flamenco Singing) by the Cátedra de Flamencología in Jerez.

Alternating tradition

Morente arrived back to orthodox flamenco singing with his recording Homenaje a Don Antonio Chacón (Homage to Antonio Chacón, 1977, which obtained the National Award for best folk music album, granted by the Ministry of Culture. In this recording, Morente vindicated the figure of singer Antonio Chacón the creator of the granaína and a fundamental figure of flamenco in the first decades of the 20th century, who had been, nevertheless, relegated by the views of the 1950s-1970s flamencology, as a representative of the non-Romani (Gypsy) flamenco which that generation considered impure. However, in an alternation between tradition and innovation typical of Morente, the recording was immediately followed, in 1978, by Despegando ("Taking off"), this time in an innovative mood: the title itself is, in fact, a declaration of intentions.
In 1981 he toured a new show, Andalucía hoy ("Andalusia Today"), which he would later performed at the Paris Olympia in Paris, France. In 1982, some of his recordings were chosen by flamencologist José Blas Vega to take part in the flamenco anthology Magna Antología del Cante (a complete collection of traditional styles of cante) to illustrate songs such as the tarantas from Almería, several types of cartageneras, the fandangos by Frasquito Yerbabuena, and all the malagueñas and granaínas created by Antonio Chacón.
In 1990 in another comeback to orthodoxy, he recorded Morente-Sabicas, with guitarist Sabicas, who was already in his eighties. In the following year, he created and recorded a flamenco mass, a type of creation that already had some precedents, like the one recorded by Antonio Mairena, Luis Caballero, and Naranjito de Triana in 1968. However Morente's mass is totally different from any previous examples. Whereas earlier flamenco masses basically tried to use traditional flamenco singing for the liturgy, Morente's does not even have a liturgic purpose, and mixes flamenco with other genres like Gregorian chant. About this mass, in one of his touches of humour, Morente said:

"At a given point, I thought I could dedicate it to Pope Clement, the one of El Palmar de Troya, but then I remembered that he had canonized Franco, Primo de Rivera, Carrero Blanco and all those guys and, while on the one hand I thought it was funnier, on the other hand I thought the joke could be interpreted in a strange way and I didn't do it, though I was about to do it. But the record was made with a sincerity and a true intention, no matter the results, and I thought it was like ruining it a bit because of the joke.. and that was too much!"^[7]

Later works

In 1995 he appeared singing a siguiriya in Carlos Saura's film Flamenco and recorded his most controversial recording: Omega, together with the alternative rock group Lagartija Nick, with the participation of guitarists such as Tomatito, Vicente Amigo, Juan Manuel Cañizares or Miguel Ángel Cortés and percussionists like Tino di Geraldo. Flamenco and punk rock are mingled with recreations of songs by Leonard Cohen, and lyrics by Federico García Lorca's book Poeta en Nueva York ("A Poet in New York"), together with traditional flamenco lyrics. The work was performed at the 2008 Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, under the stage name Morente Omega con Lagartija Nick.^[8]
The year 2001 saw the publishing of a very much sought for record by Morente, "Enrique Morente en la Casa Museo de García Lorca de Fuentevaqueros", a collection of songs based on the poetry of Federico García Lorca. The recording had been made in studio in Madrid, in 1990, and it had been commissioned by the Diputación de Granada (a government institution). Only a limited edition was made and the copies were sent as gift to particular persons. In the second hand marked, those copies reached 25,000 pesetas (150 euros).^[9]
Another interesting release of Morente, El Pequeño Reloj, saw the light in 2003. Whereas the second half of the CD a more or less random collection of songs, the first half of the record comprises a surprising series of songs which are broken in two parts: in the first part of the song, Morente's voice is superimposed on top of old 78 r.p.m recordings of old masters of the flamenco guitar like Ramón Montoya, Sabicas or Manolo de Huelva, while the second part is a modern development of the same palo, with the side guitar of the young and innovative guitarist Niño Josele.
Although Morente could not read musical notation he composed music for theatre plays, films and television, such as the work Las Arrecogidas del Beaterio de Santa María Egipcíaca", the music for Oedipus the King with José Luis Gómez.
He has tried the mixture between flamenco and classical music in works like Fantasía de cante jondo para voz y orquesta (Cante jondo Fantasy (music) for voice and orchestra, together with pianist Antonio Robledo, guitarists Juan Habichuela and Gerardo Núñez and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Luis Izquierdo, 1986) or with Allegro Soleá, which he presented at Seville's Flamenco Biennal in 1990. Along the lines of the mixture of flamenco with other types of music, he collaborated in the show Macama Jonda by José Heredia Maya, together with the Tetuan Andalusian Orchestra and Abdessadeq Cheqara, or with the Bulgarian Voices choir Angelite. In Morente's aforementioned recording Omega, he mixed flamenco singing with punk rock, music by Leonard Cohen, and lyrics by Federico García Lorca. In the show África-Cuba-Cai he mixed flamenco with music from Senegal, and Cuba (Cai is the way Cádiz is pronounced in Andalusian Spanish). The show also underlinks the historic links between Cuban and flamenco music: "That's always been close to flamenco, since way back, because the ships in Cádiz went to Cuba, some came and others stayed over there, we've always had that.".^[10] It is difficult to think of any kind of music which has not interested Morente. After one of his concerts with Cheqara Orkesta of Tetuan, he declared: "…if I had to put out a CD for every culture I mixed with I'd be putting out about 7 or 8 CDs a year. It wouldn't be bad - if I got paid for it by the record company then I could build myself a home."^[11]
Owing to his innovative approach, Morente was widely criticized by the more extreme traditionalist sectors of flamenco's critical faculty and public, though it had been said that "Needless to say, all this cost Morente a real torment, since flamenco is still a very closed world, in which the slightest attempt for novelty is taken as a deadly sin of heresy.".^[12] Although Morente's work is now widely recognized by most critics, and has inspired many singers of the young generation like Mayte Martín or Arcángel, there is still a section of traditionalist critics and public that still disparage his work:

"Aficionados were scratching their heads after the show, trying to figure out exactly, which forms--if any--Morente was working in much of the time. 'Remember the old days when you could actually recognize what flamenco forms were being performed?'"^[13]

Ethnic bias is often not alien to these criticisms. A good number of flamenco critics and public were introduced into flamenco at the time of the "reappraisal period" led by singers like Antonio Mairena and critics like González Climent or Ricardo Molina, in whose views, pure flamenco singing would be a patrimony of Romanis, which non-Romanis could only try to imitate in vain without ever reaching its essence. In the same review quoted above we can read: "And once you have experienced truly great Romani singing of this sort, the erudition of an artist like Morente pales like a candle flame next to a blazing torch." ^[13] These views on Morente,though very common in the seventies and eighties, have almost died down. The controversy between tradition and innovation, Romani and non-Romani singing and other topics, so common twenty years ago, is now relatively confined to a limited section of the public, while most flamenco fans and critics acknowledge Morente's deep artistic intelligence and commitment:

"This comes from the man who never sings the same way twice, who tirelessly seeks that new inflection, that unheard-of scale, the change of tone that best matches the desired feeling and intentions at a given moment. The easy option would be the other one. To do what Enrique does you need extreme intellectual abilities and extreme emotional commitment. He takes the perfectly-laid, common foundations, defined by tradition, and on them builds with all the conceivable potential of flamenco."^[14]

In December 2010 it was reported that Morente had fallen into a coma after an ulcer operation, and had been declared brain dead.^[15] He died in Madrid on December 13, 2010.^[16]

Awards

First prize at the contest Málaga Cantaora (1967)
Premio Nacional de Cante (Flamenco Singing National Award) granted by Cátedra de Flamencología y Estudios Folklóricos Andaluces de Jerez de la Frontera (1972)
National Award for best folk recording, awarded by the Ministry of Culture (1978)
En 1989 es nombrado Socio de Honor del Club de Música y Jazz San Juan Evangelista
Honorary Membership of the San Juan Evangelista Jazz and Music Club (1989)
Premio Nacional de Música (Music National Award), Ministry of Culture, awarded to a flamenco singer for the first time (1994)
Golden medal of the Cátedra de Flamencología de Jerez de la Frontera (1995) Compás del Cante (1995)
“Galardón de Honor de los Premios de la Música”, awarded by the Ministry of Culture (1998)
Pastora Pavón ("Niña de los Peines") Award, awarded by the autonomous government of Andalusia (2004)
Medal of Andalusia, awarded by the autonomous government of Andalusia (2005)
National Critics award for best DVD and best flamenco singing record for Morente sueña la Alhambra (2006)
National Award of Music for best flamenco recording for Morente sueña la Alhambra (2006)
Morato de Oro, awarded by Peña El Morato (2006)
Best flamenco recording, Deflamenco.com Awards (2006)

Filmography

• Flamenco. Directed by Carlos Saura (1995)
• Morente sueña La Alhambra. Directed by José Sánchez-Montes (2005)
• Iberia. Directed by Carlos Saura (2005)

Discography

• Cante flamenco (1967)
• Cantes antiguos del flamenco (1969)
• Homenaje flamenco a Miguel Hernández (1971)
• Se hace camino al andar (1975)
• Homenaje a Don Antonio Chacón (1977)
• Despegando (1977)
• Morente en vivo, Díscolo, (1981), illegal recording live
• Sacromonte (1982)
• Cruz y Luna (1983)
• Esencias flamencas (1988)
• Morente - Sabicas (1990)
• Enrique Morente en la Casa Museo de Federico García Lorca de Fuentevaqueros (1990); Republished (2001)
• Misa flamenca (1991)
• Negra, si tú supieras (1992)
• Alegro, Soleá y Fantasía del Cante Jondo (1995)
• Omega (1996)
• Morente – Lorca (1998)
• El pequeño reloj (2003)
• Morente sueña la Alhambra (2005), Mute Records
• Pablo de Málaga (2008)

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Woolly Wolstenholme British progressive rock musician (Barclay James Harvest), committed suicide.he was , 63,

Stuart John Wolstenholme, usually known as Woolly Wolstenholme  was vocalist and keyboard player with the British progressive rock band Barclay James Harvest.^[1]

(15 April 1947 - 13 December 2010)

 Biography

Wolstenholme was born in Chadderton, Lancashire on 15 April 1947, and went to school at North Chadderton Secondary Modern. His first instrument was a tenor banjo, which he took up at the age of twelve, and he also played tenor horn for the Delph band. He met John Lees at Oldham School of Art and Woolly played tambourine and sang with John in The Sorcerers, then The Keepers, where Woolly played whatever instrument was required, such as harmonica and twelve-string guitar.^[2]
The pair then founded Barclay James Harvest, together with Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard, in 1967. Woolly taught himself keyboards, first the Mellotron and then adapting to organ, piano and synthesisers. His musical influences range from Love and Vanilla Fudge through Mahler to UK and Radiohead. Woolly remained with Barclay James Harvest until 1979, when he became frustrated and unhappy at the direction their music was taking.^[3]
He recorded a solo album, Mæstoso, in 1980, and toured as support to Judie Tzuke and Saga, as well as writing film and TV music. A projected second album, Black Box, was shelved and Woolly lost interest in the music business, preferring instead to farm, initially in Lancashire and later in west Wales. Tapes from the sessions for his second album were finally issued in 1994, along with the complete Mæstoso album, as Songs From The Black Box.
Woolly returned to the music business in 1998 after meeting John Lees again,^[3] and this resulted in the Eagle Records album Nexus credited to Barclay James Harvest Through The Eyes Of John Lees. The album was followed by live shows in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and the UK, the first English concerts by any members of Barclay James Harvest for nine years, and Eagle released a live album called Revival. A studio follow-up with the working title North was planned and recording began at John's Friarmere Studios, but after only a few days the project was shelved because John felt that due to a number of factors, the timing was not right to do justice to a new album.
A new CD of the Black Box sessions with previously unreleased material (including a brand new demo) was released in February 2004 as Black Box Recovered, and a new studio set, One Drop In A Dry World, followed in May 2004. A short UK tour was planned to promote the CD, but in the event only one concert, at London's Mean Fiddler, went ahead, on 12 May. The live set, including rarely heard BJH classics as well as Mæstoso material, was captured for posterity and released on a limited, warts and all live CD, Fiddling Meanly, released in February 2005. On 27 November 2004 Mæstoso played again in London, this time as support to Caravan at the Bloomsbury Theatre. At this show John Lees also made a surprise guest appearance for two songs.
This proved to be one of Woolly's most creative periods, with another Mæstoso studio album, Grim, appearing in October 2005, and a brand new album, Caterwauling, released in November 2007. Most of the Maestoso band also found time between recording commitments to perform as part of John Lees' Barclay James Harvest, including a full-scale UK tour in October and November 2006.
Woolly committed suicide on 13 December 2010, after a battle with mental illness. From his website: "It is with profound sorrow that we have to announce the passing of Woolly Wolstenholme. In recent weeks Woolly's mental health had taken a turn for the worse and sadly he took his own life on Monday 13th December 2010. In this difficult time our thoughts are with Woolly's partner, Sue. We would ask all of Woolly's fans to remember his incredible contribution to popular music and his unique presence on stage."^[4]

Discography

• Maestoso Polydor 1980 (Released twice on CD (once in 2000) and Remastered and Re-released in 2006) Brimstone Records, Eclectic Discs
• Songs From the Black box 1994 Voiceprint Records
• One drop in a dry world 2004 Eclectic Discs
• Fiddling meanly 2004 Eclectic Discs
• Black Box Recovered 2004 Eclectic Discs
• Grim 2005 Eclectic Discs
• Caterwauling 2007 Esoteric Recordings (formerly Eclectic Discs)
• Uneasy Listening 2009 Esoteric Recordings, Compilation

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Helen Roberts British singer and actress.died she was , 98,

Helen Florence (Betty) Roberts , later known by her married name, Betty Walker, was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company .died she was , 98,.

After beginning her career touring in Italy and then England in grand opera, Roberts joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano in 1938. She remained with that company for ten years, marrying another company member, the baritone Richard Walker, in 1944.
After four more years of theatre in Britain, the couple moved to Australia in 1948, where they joined the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. They toured with Williamson throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. They also appeared in musicals, including a four-year engagement in the original Australian production of My Fair Lady. They also presented Gilbert and Sullivan in two-person entertainments throughout North America. After her husband died in 1989, Roberts returned to England.

(15 July 1912 – 12 December 2010)

Early life and career

Roberts was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. She was educated at the Bruton School for Girls, then studied music first in London and later in Italy. She toured in Italy with the Milan Opera Company, singing the role of Norina in Don Pasquale by Donizetti. After returning to England, she toured in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman as the Doll and Antonia and also sang briefly with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.^[1]
In September 1938, Roberts was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano.^[2] She began to perform there under the name Betty Roberts, but Rupert D'Oyly Carte soon asked her to change it to something more fitting to a leading lady, and she returned to her birth forename.^[1] During her decade of performing with the D'Oyly Carte company, she appeared regularly as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, the title character in Princess Ida, Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Gianetta in The Gondoliers. She soon added the role of Phyllis in Iolanthe to her repertoire. She sometimes also played as Yum-Yum in The Mikado and briefly played the title character in Patience.^[3] This was the longest continuous D'Oyly Carte career of any of the company's principal sopranos.^[4] The Times repeatedly praised her singing and appearance,^[5] and The Manchester Guardian, reviewing the company's 1941 tour, wrote, "One of the chief pleasures of last night's performance was the lovely voice of Miss Helen Roberts."^[6]
Roberts married fellow company member Richard Walker on 31 July 1944.^[1] Earlier that month, the two found themselves very close to an exploding German rocket near Piccadilly Circus, as they approached a restaurant. They were not seriously hurt, but just before they went on stage that evening as Wilfred and Elsie in The Yeomen of the Guard, Walker proposed marriage.^[7]

Later years

At the end of July 1948, Roberts and her husband, seeing some of their roles being given to new talent, left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. After a year playing in other theatre in Britain (he returned for part of that time to D'Oyly Carte), they joined J. C. Williamson Limited to tour Australia and New Zealand. They continued to appear with this company throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. The Williamson company played Gilbert and Sullivan for extended tours every few years, and Roberts reprised her D'Oyly Carte roles in these, adding the new roles of Plaintiff in Trial by Jury and Rose Maybud in Ruddigore.^[1] Roberts and Walker also performed in musical comedies in Australia under other management, including touring for more than four years in the original Australian production of My Fair Lady, beginning in 1959, in which she played Mrs. Eynsford-Hill (the mother of Eliza's suitor Freddy), and he played Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle. She would later return to the role.^[8]
Roberts and Walker also gave two-person concert tours of Gilbert and Sullivan throughout North America beginning in the 1950s.^[9] President Eisenhower asked them to give their concert programme at his pre-inauguration party at the White House following his re-election in 1956, but they were unable to travel from Australia to attend.^[8]
After her husband's death in 1989, Roberts returned to England and lived first at Blandford Forum and, in her last years, at Gillingham, Dorset, in a retirement home where her two sisters also lived. She died at The Malthouse, Gillingham, in December 2010, aged 98.^[10] Her remains were cremated at Salisbury Crematorium.<sup>[11]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here</sup>

Tom Walkinshaw, British engineer and racing team owner (Tom Walkinshaw Racing, Arrows), died from cancer he was , 64

Tom Walkinshaw^[1] was a Scottish racing car driver and the founder of the racing team Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR). He was also involved in professional rugby union, as owner of Gloucester Rugby, and chairman of the team owners organisation for the Aviva Premiership.^[2]

(14 August 1946 – 12 December 2010)

Racing career

Walkinshaw was born at Mauldslie Farm, near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. He began racing in 1968, starting in an MG Midget, before moving on to a Lotus Formula Ford car. The following year he won the Scottish FF1600 title at the wheel of a Hawke. In 1970 he entered the British Formula Three championship with Lotus. He later moved to the March 'works' team, where he broke his ankle in a racing accident.^[3] Continuing his career despite this setback, he drove in many classes, including Formula 5000 and Formula Two.^[4]
Ford hired Walkinshaw to drive a Capri on the British Touring Car Championship circuit in 1974. This resulted in him winning his class that year. In 1976 Walkinshaw established Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), continuing to drive for his own team. In 1984 he won the European Touring Car Championship in a Jaguar XJS.^[5]
In 1985, Walkinshaw teamed up with Jaguar and entered a three-car team in the Bathurst 1000 touring car endurance race in Australia. The pairing of John Goss and Armin Hahne won the race, while Walkinshaw himself placed third, driving alongside Win Percy.
Walkinshaw retired from driving after 1988 to concentrate on the management of TWR's increasing motorsports portfolio.

Team management

In 1975 Walkinshaw established Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), a group whose business was the manufacture and design of racing and road cars. TWR ran touring car programmes in the mid 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983 the TWR team took an amazing eleven wins in eleven races in the British Saloon Car Championship running Rover Vitesses, before being stripped of the title for a technical infringement. TWR also ran a Jaguar XJ-S ETCC touring car programme before taking on their World Sportscar Championship programme. In six years the programme won Le Mans twice and the World Championships three times. The same team brought engineer Ross Brawn to prominence. ^[6]
In 1991 Walkinshaw was recruited as Engineering Director of the Benetton F1 team which subsequently won the 1994 Formula One World Championship. He was involved in the recruitment of Michael Schumacher by Benetton after the German's Formula One debut with the Jordan team. As Engineering Director, his role also came under scrutiny when the team was investigated for suspected technical infringements during the 1994 season, including the potential use of banned electronic aids and unauthorised modifications to the refuelling apparatus used on the cars. Although illegal software was found in the Benettons, the FIA had no evidence that it had ever been used in a race and no action was taken against the team.
For 1995 Walkinshaw bought 50% of the Ligier team from Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore. His intention was to take over the team completely, but he was unable to purchase 100% of the team and therefore pulled out of the deal. Instead he bought the Arrows team, achieving a coup for the 1997 Formula One season by recruiting reigning world champion Damon Hill to his squad.
1997 saw Walkinshaw voted Autocar Man of the Year. By this stage the TWR Group employed 1500 employees in the UK, Sweden, Australia and the United States. At the time, Tom was also Managing Director of Arrows Grand Prix International.
His TWR racing group went into liquidation in 2002 after the Arrows team ran out of money. This led to the Australian arm of the operation being bought by Holden. However, since the regulations for the V8 Supercar Championship Series forbid a manufacturer owning a race team, Holden had to divest the teams assets and sell the Holden Racing Team to lead driver Mark Skaife, and K-Mart Racing (later HSV Dealer Team) to John and Margaret Kelly (the parents of V8 Supercar drivers Todd and Rick).
In 2005 Tom Walkinshaw returned to the V8 Supercars Australia and began a new relationship with his former teams, HSV Dealer Team and Holden Racing Team, helping lead Holden to its first series win since 2002 through driver Rick Kelly (2006) and Garth Tander (2007). In late 2006 Walkinshaw Performance bought the small Australian sports car manufacturer Elfin Cars. In 2007 Walkinshaw Performance acquired a 50% stake in the Holden Racing Team, and in 2008 fully re-acquired the team from Skaife Sports. 2009 saw the debut of Walkinshaw Racing a two car operation known individually as Bundaberg Red Racing and Team Autobarn.

Death

Walkinshaw died on Sunday 12 December, 2010, aged 64, from complications arising from lung cancer.^[2][7] He is survived by his first wife Elizabeth and their son Fergus, and his second wife Martine and their two sons Ryan and Sean. Walkinshaw's memorial service was held at Gloucester Cathedral on 4 February 2011.

References

• Collings, Timothy (2004). The Piranha Club. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0965-2. 

Sporting positions
Preceded by Dieter Quester	European Touring Car Championship champion 1984	Succeeded by Gianfranco Brancatelli
Preceded by Hans-Joachim Stuck	Guia Race winner 1984	Succeeded by Gianfranco Brancatelli

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Dick Hoerner, American football player (Los Angeles Rams), died from a stroke he was , 88

Lester Junior "Dick" Hoerner  was an American football player. He played fullback for the University of Iowa in 1942 and 1946 and for the Los Angeles Rams from 1947 to 1951 died from a stroke he was , 88. He helped lead the Rams to three consecutive National Football League championship games from 1949 to 1951, played for the 1951 Los Angeles Rams team that won the 1951 NFL Championship Game, and was selected to play in the inaugural 1951 Pro Bowl. He was the Rams' all-time leading rusher at the end of his playing career with the team. He concluded his professional football career as a member of the Dallas Texans in 1952.

(July 25, 1922 – December 11, 2010)

Iowa

A native of Dubuque, Iowa, Hoerner was a state track champion while attending Dubuque High School. He also led Dubuque to Mississippi Valley Conference championships in 1939 and 1940 and was twice selected as an All-Iowa player.^[1] He enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1941 and played for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team as a sophomore in 1942. He ran 88 yards for a touchdown against Fritz Crisler's 1942 Michigan Wolverines.^[2] In May 1943, Hoerner was inducted into the U.S. Army.^[3] After missing three years due to war-time service, including service overseas in the field artillery,^[4] Hoerner returned to the Iowa Hawkeyes football team in 1946.^[5]

Los Angeles Rams

Hoerner was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams and played for the team from 1947 through 1951.^[5] After he signed with the Rams, the Los Angeles Times touted his potential: "When you find a 6-foot, 4-inch, 220-pounder that can move, you have something. But when you run across one who is downright fast, can handle himself like a 160-pounder and can kick and pass to boot, they you have Lester (Dick) Hoerner, the Los Angeles Rams' great fullback prospect."^[6] As a rookie in 1947, he was sidelined by a broken foot in an October 1947 game against the Chicago Cardinals.^[7] In 1948, Hoerner was the Ram's leading rusher with 354 yards and average of 4.7 yards per carry that ranked 4th in the NFL.^[8][9] In a November 1948 game against the New York Giants, he tied a club record with three rushing touchdowns and was described as "unstoppable."^[10] Hoerner also played linebacker for the Rams. In December 1948, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Hoerner was a "6 foot 4 inch speedster" and "a murderous line backer."^[8]
In June 1949, Hoerner signed a 1949 contract with the Rams. The Los Angeles Times reported that he was both the fastest man on the team and "by far the hardest hitting."^[11] The Times noted that Hoerner had been "coveted by more rival National Football League clubs than any other member of the Los Angeles Rams."^[11] He helped lead the Rams to the 1949 NFL Championship Game, led all fullbacks in rushing during the 1949 NFL season^[4] and ranked among the league's leaders in rushing yards (6th, 582 yards) and yards from scrimmage (7th, 795 yards).^[9]
In 1950, Hoerner helped lead the Rams to their second consecutive NFL championship game. He scored 11 touchdowns, the second highest total in the NFL, and was selected to play in the inaugural 1951 Pro Bowl.^[9] He also totaled 827 yards from scrimmage in 1950, with 381 rushing yards and 446 receiving yards. In November 1950, Frank Finch of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Many stars have twinkled for the Rams this season, but none more brilliantly than Dick Hoerner. Off the field the 220-yard Ram fullback wears glasses, but on the field he wears a mean expression with a disposition to match."^[12] In the 1950 NFL Championship Game, Hoerner scored two touchdowns and accounted for 86 of the Rams' 106 rushing yards, but the Rams lost in a close game to the Cleveland Browns by the score of 30-28. After the 1950 season, the Los Angeles Times wrote that, although he had been dogged by injuries in 1947 and 1948, "the giant Hoerner has been probably the hardest running fullback in the league since."^[13]
In his final year with the Rams, Hoerner helped lead the 1951 Rams to the NFL championship as part of the Rams' famed "Bull Elephant" backfield along with Paul "Tank" Younger and "Deacon" Dan Towler.^[14][5] Hoerner rushed for 569 yards in 1951, ranking 7th in the NFL. He also averaged 6.1 yards per carry, the 4th best average in the league,^[9] and scored a touchdown in the 1951 NFL Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns.^[5] Tank Younger, who in 1949 became the first NFL player from a historically black college, recalled that Hoerner pitched in unselfishly to help Younger learn Clark Shaughnessy's offensive system, even though they were both competing for the same position. Interviewed in 1970, Younger noted, "I used to go up to Dick's room every afternoon to study the offensive formation and the terminology. Dick helped me a great deal."^[15]
After five seasons with the Rams, Hoerner was the team's all-time career leader with 2,020 rushing yards.^[16][14] He also held the Rams' record for most rushing attempts in a season (455 attempts in 1949) and ranked second in team history in touchdowns scored in a single season behind Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch.^[16]

Dallas Texans

In June 1952, Hoerner was traded to the newly formed Dallas Texans as part of an 11-for-1 deal that sent Les Richter to the Rams.^[14] The trade was described as "unquestionably the biggest shift of pigskin personnel in National Football League history."^[14] When Hoerner returned to Los Angeles as a member of the Texans, he expressed his desire to prove that the Rams had erred in trading him:

"Hoerner gladly would sacrifice his right arm all the way up to the armpit to squash a few Rams and score a couple of touchdowns by way of informing the Ram high command that they were plain loco when they cut him loose. And as an added incentive to make his personal crusade, the terrible-tempered neo-Texan has all the warm affection for his old backfield coach, J. Hampton Pool, that a cobra has for a mongoose."^[16]

The Texans compiled a record of 1–11–0 in 1952, and Hoerner rushed for 162 yards and a career-low 2.9 yards per carry.^[9] After only one season, the Dallas Texans folded, and Hoerner signed in the spring of 1953 with the Detroit Lions.^[17] However, Hoerner retired from football in July 1953 before appearing in any regular season games with the Lions.^[18]

Later years

After retiring from football, Hoerner went into business in Southern California where he specialized in turning around struggling businesses, taking them "out of the red and into the black."^[1] Hoerner died in December 2010 at age 88 after suffering a stroke.^[5] He was survived by his wife, Kathy, daughters, Cecilia Hoerner, Leslie Hoerner, and Louise Hubbard, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.^[19]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Jacques Swaters, Belgian racing driver died he was , 84

Jacques Swaters was a racing driver from Belgium and former team owner of Ecurie Francorchamps and Ecurie Nationale Belge died he was , 84.

(30 October 1926 – 10 December 2010) 


Swaters made his debut in the 24 Hours of Spa in an MG co-driven by his friend and racer-turned-journalist Paul Frère, entered under the Ecurie Francorchamps banner. In 1950 Swaters, Frère and André Pilette established Écurie Belgique, a banner in which they prepared cars for themselves and other Belgian races, both in Grand Prix and sports car racing. Swaters himself raced a yellow Talbot-Lago in several events, including two World Championship rounds, the 1951 German and Italian Grands Prix.

However, in 1952, Swaters and another Belgian, Charles de Tornaco, restarted Ecurie Francorchamps, a racing stable mainly associated with Ferrari. Swaters drove the team Ferrari 500 in a small number of events, but did manage to take a victory at the 1953 Avusrennen, a Formula 2 race. As a driver, Swaters later concentrated in sports car racing at the hand of a Jaguar C-Type and D-Type.

After retiring from racing in 1957, Swaters became manager of the Ecurie Nationale Belge, which had been formed in 1955 as a merger of his Francorchamps, Frère's Ecurie Belgique and Johnny Claes' Ecurie Belge. The ENB entered several Cooper-Climax cars in Formula 2 racing for both experienced and upcoming Belgian drivers, and helped launch the career of Olivier Gendebien, Lucien Bianchi and Mauro Bianchi. The team moved into F1 in 1960 and later reworked the Emeryson into the ENB chassis.

However, by 1964 Swaters was no longer interested in ENB and had turned his attention to sports car racing completely. Swaters' Ecurie Francorchamps, which had remained independent from the ENB effort during the 1950s and 1960s, was always a top contender, with occasional class wins (including the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans) and frequent class podiums. An overall victory at the 1965 500km Spa was Swaters' crowning achievement as a manager.

The Ecurie Francorchamps stopped operating in 1982, but Swaters retained his Garage Francorchamps, a Ferrari dealership. Swaters last appearance in the sports car world was in an Ohio Courtroom where he was defending his possession of a very rare 1954 Ferrari 375 plus chassis 0384AM that was stolen from the U.S. collector Karl Kleve in the late 1980s. Swaters said that he bought the car as a burnt out chassis in 1990, and that he and Kleve settled its ownership in 1999.

Complete World Championship Grand Prix results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	WDC	Points
1951	Ecurie Belgique	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot Straight-6	SUI	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER 10	ITA Ret	ESP		NC	0
1953	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Straight-4	ARG	500	NED	BEL DNS	FRA	GBR	GER 7	SUI Ret	ITA	NC	0
1954	Ecurie Francorchamps	Ferrari 500/625	Ferrari Straight-4	ARG	500	BEL Ret	FRA	GBR	GER	SUI 8	ITA	ESP Ret	NC	0
1955	Ecurie Filipinetti	Gordini T16	Gordini Straight-6	ARG	MON	500	BEL DNA	NED	GBR	ITA			NC	0

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

John du Pont, American billionaire and murderer, died from natural causes he was , 72

John Eleuthère duPont  was an American billionaire and member of the prominent du Pont family who was convicted of murder in the third degree (of Freestyle wrestler Dave Schultz) died from natural causes he was , 72. He was also known as an amateur ornithologist and conchologist, philatelist, philanthropist, coach, and sports enthusiast.

(November 22, 1938^[1] – December 9, 2010)

 Personal Life

John duPont was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William duPont, Jr. and Jean Liseter Austin (1897–1988). His parents' nuptials—on January 1, 1919, in Rosemont, Pennsylvania—were billed as the "Wedding of the Century" in media accounts. Jean's father, William Liseter Austin, an executive of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, gave the couple more than 242 acres (0.98 km²) of land as a wedding gift. William duPont Sr. built Liseter Hall, a sumptuous, three-story Georgian mansion^[2], for the couple on the land in 1922
Both of his parents' families immigrated to the United States in the early 19th century. DuPont was the youngest of four children; he had two older sisters, Jean duPont McConnell and Evelyn duPont Donaldson, and an older brother, Henry E. I. duPont.
DuPont graduated from Haverford School in 1957. He attended college in Miami, Florida, where he studied under and was mentored by Oscar T. Owre, Ph.D.^[3] He graduated from the University of Miami in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. He also held a doctorate in natural science from Villanova University, which he received in 1973.
On September 3, 1983, he married therapist Gale Wenk, but the marriage was annulled 90 days later.
DuPont died on Thursday, December 9, 2010. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said DuPont was found unresponsive in his bed at the Laurel Highland State Correctional Facility. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 a.m. at Somerset Community Hospital. DuPont had unspecified health issues and had been ill.^[4]

David Schultz murder

In 1997, DuPont was convicted of murdering Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler Dave Schultz the year before and sentenced to 13 to 40 years in prison. Experts at the trial testified that DuPont suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
On January 26, 1996, DuPont shot Schultz dead in the driveway of Schultz's home on DuPont's 800-acre (3.2 km²) estate while Schultz's wife and DuPont's head of security witnessed the crime. The security chief was sitting in the passenger seat of DuPont's car while DuPont shot 3 bullets into Schultz. Police did not establish a motive. Schultz was a longtime friend of DuPont who had repeatedly tried to help him.^[5]
DuPont's friends said the shooting was uncharacteristic behavior for him. Joy Hansen Leutner, a triathlete from Hermosa Beach, California, lived for two years on the estate.^[6] Leutner said DuPont helped her through a stressful period in the mid 1980s. She later said, "with my family and friends, John gave me a new lease on life. He gave more than money; he gave himself emotionally." She expressed incredulity about the killing. She is quoted as saying "There's no way John in his right mind would have killed Dave."^[7]
Newtown Township supervisor John S. Custer Jr. said, “at the time of the murder, John didn’t know what he was doing.”^[8] Charles King, Sr., a DuPont stable hand and manager for 30 years, claimed he knew DuPont well throughout his life. King's son Charles “Chuckie” King Jr. said he considered DuPont his friend during his childhood. Charles King Sr. blames the DuPont security consultant, for influencing what happened. King said “I don’t think John could shoot someone unless he was pushed to or was on drugs”. “After that guy starting hanging around him, my son always said Johnny changed. He was scared of everything. He was always a little off. But I never had problems with him, and my son never had problems.”^[8]
After the shooting, the multimillionaire locked himself in his mansion for two days while he negotiated with police on the telephone. Police turned off his power and were able to capture him when he went outside to fix his heater. During the trial one of the defense's expert psychiatric witness described DuPont as a paranoid schizophrenic who believed Schultz was part of an international conspiracy to kill him. He said DuPont believed people would break into his house and kill him, the reason he put razor wires in his attic.
DuPont pleaded "not guilty by reason of insanity". The insanity defense was thrown out and on February 25, 1997, a jury found him guilty of third degree murder but mentally ill. In Pennsylvania, third degree murder is a lesser charge than first degree (intentional) or second degree (during the perpetration of a felony) and indicates a lack of intent to kill. In Pennsylvania criminal code, "insanity" applies to someone whose "disease or defect" leaves him unable either to understand that his conduct is wrong or to conform it to the law.^[9] The jury verdict of "guilty but mentally ill" meant the sentence would be referred to Judge Patricia Jenkins who then was given the opportunity to sentence him from 5–40 years. The prosecution failed to mention DuPont used hollow point bullets and fired the last shot into Schultz's back while Schultz was bleeding to death from a gunshot wound to his chest and crawling face down in the snow trying to get away. Some Schultz family members were outraged at the verdict. The wrongful death lawsuit petitioned by Dave's widow Nancy following the guilty verdict resulted in Nancy and Dave's two children receiving a multi-million dollar settlement.
DuPont was sentenced to 13 to 30 years incarceration and was housed at the State Correctional Institute-Mercer, a minimum-security institution in the Pennsylvania prison system.^[10]
He was first eligible for parole January 29, 2009; however, it was denied. DuPont's maximum sentence would have ended on January 29, 2026, when DuPont would have been 87.^[11] The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 2000. In 2010 the 3rd Circuit U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia rejected all but one issue raised on appeal (involving his use of a Bulgarian prescription drug, scopolamine, before he fatally shot Schultz in 1996), and requested written briefs.^[12] However, DuPont died in prison on December 9, 2010.

Interests

Ornithology

As an ornithologist, DuPont is credited with the discovery of two dozen species of birds. He wrote a number of books on the subject of birds, including: South Pacific Birds, South Sulu Archipelago Birds; an Expedition Report, Birds of Dinagat and Siargao, Philippines; an Expedition Report, and Philippine Birds. He was the second author of Living Volutes: a Monograph of the Recent Volutidae of the World, which he co-wrote with Clifton Stokes Weaver.

Philately

Du Pont was also a philatelist. In a 1980 auction, while bidding anonymously, he paid $935,000 for one of the rarest stamps in the world, the British Guiana 1856 1c black on magenta.^[13]

Athletics

Before his arrest, DuPont was an accomplished athlete and coach in wrestling, swimming, track, and modern pentathlon. He was also involved in promoting a subset of the modern pentathlon (run, swim, shoot) as a separate event.^[14][15] DuPont was a competitive wrestler. His only wrestling experience prior to taking up the sport in his late 50's was as a freshman in high school. He began competing again at the age of 55 in the 1992 Veteran's World Championships in Cali, Colombia; in 1993 in Toronto, Canada; in 1994 in Rome, Italy;^[16] and in 1995 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Supported institutions

DuPont founded the Delaware Museum of Natural History in 1957 which opened to the public in 1972. He was the institution's director for many years.
He helped fund a new basketball arena at Villanova University which opened in 1986. Originally, the venue was called duPont Pavilion, but his name was removed from the facility after his conviction. Today, the building simply is called The Pavilion.
After his mother's death, DuPont turned his 440-acre (1.8 km²) estate in Newtown Square into a wrestling facility for amateur wrestlers^[17]. DuPont's wrestling team was called "Team Foxcatcher."

Foxcatcher Farm

William Sr. built Liseter Hall for Willie and Jean in 1925 on more than 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land given to the couple as a wedding gift in 1919 by Jean’s father, William Liseter Austin, an executive of Baldwin Loco­motive Works. The DuPonts divorced in 1940, but Jean Austin du Pont maintained Liseter Hall Farm until her death in 1988, at which point Willie and Jean’s son John Eleuthere duPont assumed stewardship and renamed it Foxcatcher Farm after his father's famed Thoroughbred racing stable.^[18]
The operations under Willie and Jean were among the envy of horse racing operations. In the 1920s and ’30s, Liseter Hall was considered the ne plus ultra of Mid-Atlantic horse facilities. In addition to the indoor galloping track, the farm featured a large barn for race horses; a 40-foot (12 m)-wide by 120-foot (37 m)-long indoor riding ring, still used by King for breaking and schooling; the half-mile training track and its adjacent combination viewing stand/water tower; a breeding shed, which continues to host matings for Two Davids and Tricky Mister; a hunter barn; a show horse barn; a loading barn with ramps for transporting horses to competition; and a grassy, half-mile chute that connected the training track with the race horse, hunter and show horse barns.^[18]
Before, during and after the legal issues following John (cited above) significant changes occurred to the DuPont property. First to go: John's mother’s dairy herd, nearly 70 Guernseys, in the fall of 1996. Next, the dairy farm itself, sold by the Delaware Museum of Natural History, which he formerly headed, in January 1998. Since then, the land, where Jean Austin du Pont’s cows grazed contentedly for the better part of the 20th century, changed hands again, and now is slated to become the campus for a relocated prep school, as well as a community of new million-dollar-plus homes.^[18] That left only the 400-plus acres of Foxcatcher Farm.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here