Pennant Roberts Directorhas died at the age of 69

Pennant Roberts was a Welsh director noted for his work on British television.

He worked on the following BBC programmes: Softly, Softly, Doomwatch, The Onedin Line, Sutherland's Law, Survivors, Angels, Blake's 7, Doctor Who, Juliet Bravo, Tenko and Howards' Way.

(15 December 1940 – 22 June 2010^[1])

Directed Pennant Roberts has died at the age of 69; he’ll be best remembered for his directing work on Dramas such as Tenko, Howards’ Way, Blakes 7, Juliet Bravo and Survivors as well as Doctor Who. Roberts directed six stories for Doctor Who between 1977 and 1985 and was one of the only directors invited back by producer John Nathan-Turner after he took the reigns in 1980. Nathan-Turner preferred to use new directors, those who hadn’t worked on the series before, but Roberts was an exception to this rule. The six stories he directed for Doctor Who were: The Face of Evil, The Sun Makers, The Pirate Planet, Shada (which was never completed because of industrial action), Warriors of the Deep and Timelash. Unfortunately his final two stories are not fan favourites but this is mostly due to other factors.

For example production on Warriors of the Deep was brought forward by several weeks because the Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, called a snap election and the studios used by Doctor Who would be required. Rather than scrap the story all together producer John Nathan-Turner opted to bring the filming forward meaning very little pre-production time which led to all kinds of problems.

Aside from Doctor Who Roberts had a long and varied career especially within the BBC’s own Drama department. He directed episodes of Terry Nation’s Survivors and Blakes 7 as well as the critically acclaimed Tenko (working alongside Louise Jameson who he had worked with on Doctor Who). His other credits for the BBC include the police drama Juliet Bravo and the glamorous 1980s drama Howards’ Way. His other credits include Angels, Doomwatch and Wycliffe.

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Tracy Wright, Canadian actress, has died of pancreatic cancer.she was , 50

In the realm of Canadian arts and culture, Tracy Wright was veritable royalty.

Over the past 20 years, the actress worked with some of Canada’s most prominent artists, including Daniel MacIvor, Bruce McCulloch, Bruce McDonald, and her husband Don McKellar (the two wed last January after a years-long partnership).

She died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 50 years old.

Although many Canadians never knew her name, anyone who saw her perform never forgot her presence, which had a way of emanating from her expressive eyes through to the audience, often without her ever uttering a line.

While she appeared in an almost surprising number of films, Wright was firmly rooted in the Canadian tradition of stage acting. At the beginning of her career she founded the Augusta Company with McKellar and Daniel Brooks, an experimental theatre company that spurred the kind of offbeat and inventive characters for which she would later be remembered. It also earned her a lifelong place on the Toronto stage, where she appeared in shows put on by some of the country’s best and most avant-garde companies, including STO Union and da da kamera.

One of her last turns in the spotlight was in A Beautiful View, Tarragon Theatre’s 2009 remount of the 2006 Daniel MacIvor show in which Wright originally starred alongside Caroline Gillis. She earned rave reviews for her portrayal of a vulnerable straight woman who falls unintentionally in and out of a relationship with another woman. In this, as in her other work, Wright was effortlessly funny, real, and fearlessly smart.

Wright thrived onstage, even planning on returning despite being hospitalized in the last months of her life. An artist staunchly devoted to her craft, she had been preparing for the title role in a staged reading of Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo by Toronto’s Small Wooden Shoe company (performed May 30 without her) and a role -- to be shared with her husband -- in the Theatre Centre’s rendition of TTTTg (Triple Trooper Trevor Trumpet Girl).

Her presence lives on, though, in her film work, for which she rarely starred but always shone. She established herself as a distinguished character actor whose talents complemented a wide range of genres. From her uproarious Kids in the Hall performance as a woman having an affair with Bruce McCulloch to her scene-stealing performances in McKellar’s Last Night and Reg Harkema’s Monkey Warfare, Wright proved that comedy is subtle, and that a glance, a stare, or a silent shrug can carry more emotional weight than any amount of dialogue. Indeed, her role in Last Night earned her one of her biggest roles, as an art curator engaged in an online affair with a young boy in Miranda July’s 2005 film Me and You and Everyone We Know. The apocryphal story goes that July wrote a character for her film based on Wright’s in Last Night. When July randomly spotted her at a film festival in Rotterdam, Wright was cast in the role she unwittingly created.

Fans can catch a glimpse of Wright in theatres this Friday as the Box Office Woman in Bruce McDonald’s This Movie is Broken, and later in McDonald’s upcoming Trigger, which stars Sarah Polley, Don McKellar, Caroline Gilli and Daniel MacIvor.

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Russell Ash, British writer and publisher (The Top 10 of Everything) has died he was , 64

Russell Ash was the British author of the Top 10 of Everything series of books, as well as Great Wonders of the World, Incredible Comparisons and many other reference, art and humour titles, most notably his recent series of books on strange-but-true names, Potty, Fartwell & Knob, Busty, Slag and Nob End and (for children) Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface has died he was , 64.

(18 June 1946 – 21 June 2010)

Russell Ash was born in Surrey, a descendant of a family of craftsmen – goldsmiths and silversmiths in 18th century London that included Claudius Ash (1792–1854), one of the pioneering inventors of false teeth. His father worked as a bookbinder for the British Museum Library and also served in the RAF in the Second World War.

The family moved to Bedford where he attended primary school and Bedford Modern School. He studied anthropology and geography at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University and began a publishing career in 1967. He worked as a picture researcher for Man, Myth & Magic and a researcher/writer for Reader’s Digest Books and as European Correspondent for Newsweek Books on their Wonders of Man series.

In 1973, with his friend Ian Grant, Russell Ash established the publishing company Ash & Grant, that ran for five years. He was also a director of Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1980–83, where he worked with authors including comedian Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna Everage), and Pavilion Books in 1984–88, where he published works by satirist John Wells, Hockney Posters and numerous other illustrated books. However, his principal occupation has been that of freelance author, having written or contributed to over a hundred non-fiction books.

He was married to Caroline Ash, fundraiser with the Malaria Consortium, and has a daughter and two sons. He lived in Lewes, East Sussex, from 1991 up to his death from a heart attack.

Russell Ash has written for both adults and children on a diverse range of subjects, including reference, art, history, biography and humour. Top 10 of Everything, probably his best-known work, has been published annually since 1989 and was the basis of a children’s TV series broadcast on ITV in 1998–2001. Related books – The Top 10 of Sport, The Top 10 of Music, The Top 10 of Film, Top 10 for Men, Top 10 of Britain and others – have been issued at intervals. Formerly published by Dorling Kindersley, Top 10 of Everything has been published by Hamlyn since 2006 and also appears in a number of translations.

The art books Russell Ash wrote during the 1990s include titles on the Pre-Raphaelites, the Impressionists and their contemporaries: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, James Tissot, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lord Leighton and Sir John Everett Millais.

He compiled a range of illustrated information books for children, including Incredible Comparisons (1996), The World in One Day (1997), The Factastic Book of 1001 Lists (1998), Factastic Millennium Facts (1999) and Great Wonders of the World (2000), all of which were published by Dorling Kindersley and internationally in numerous editions.

He was the co-author (with Brian Lake) of Fish Who Answer the Telephone and Other Bizarre Books (2006). Among his other recent publications are Whitaker’s World of Facts (annual 2005–; published in North America as Firefly’s World of Facts), Potty, Fartwell & Knob: Extraordinary but True Names of British People (2007; expanded paperback 2008; US edition as Morecock, Fartwell, & Hoare, 2009), Busty, Slag and Nob End (2009) and Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface (2009).

He was a contributor to a number of annual publications, including Whitaker's Almanack and Children's Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook and an occasional journalist, with articles published in most UK national newspapers.

On 7 April 2008, he took part in BBC2’s University Challenge: The Professionals, in the team representing the Society of Authors, which also comprised Antony Beevor (captain), Katie Fforde and Anna Claybourne.

Art

• Alma-Tadema (1973) ISBN 978-0852632376
• Alma-Tadema (catalogue of the Funt Collection) (1973)
• Victorian Studio Photographs (with Bevis Hillier et al.) (1975) ISBN 978-0904069037
• The Impressionists and their Art (1980) ISBN 978-0856132926
• Selections from the Reader’s Digest Collection (1986)
• Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1989) ISBN 978-1851454228
• Toulouse-Lautrec: The Complete Posters (1991) ISBN 978-1851455171
• The Impressionists’ River (1992) ISBN 978-1851455126
• Van Gogh’s Provence (1992) ISBN 978-1851455072
• James Tissot (1992) ISBN 978-1851457410
• Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1993) ISBN 978-1857930177
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1995) ISBN 978-1857934120
• Impressionists’ Seasons (1995) ISBN 978-1857936285
• Lord Leighton (1995) ISBN 978-1857937329
• Sir John Everett Millais (1996) ISBN 978-1857937923
• Victorian Masters and their Art (1999) ISBN 978-1862053045

Biography and history

• Highwaymen (1970) ISBN 978-0852631010
• Britain’s Buried Treasures (1972) ISBN 978-0903356176
• Wrecks & Sunken Treasure (1972) ISBN 978-0903356046
• Comets (with Ian Grant) (1973) ISBN 978-0904069006
• The Wright Brothers (1974) ISBN 978-0853403425
• Dear Cats: The Post Office Letters (1986) ISBN 978-1851450855
• Highwaymen (revised edition) (1994) ISBN 978-0747802600
• Great Wonders of the World (2000) ISBN 978-0751328868

Humour

• Dead Funny (with Ian Grant) (1974) ISBN 978-0904069020
• The Cynic’s Dictionary (1984) ISBN 978-0552990523
• The Official British Yuppie Handbook (1984) ISBN 978-0906710562
• Last Laughs (with Ian Grant) (1984) ISBN 978-0048271235
• Bizarre Books (with Brian Lake) (1985) ISBN 978-0333383124
• Howlers (1985) ISBN 978-0906710739
• They Didn’t Really Mean It (1987) ISBN 978-0552133197
• I’ll Drink to That (1987, with Bernard Higton) ISBN 978-0552133180
• Private Parts (1987, with Bernard Higton) ISBN 978-0552133173
• The Uncensored Boy’s Own (1990, as ‘Dick Beresford’) ISBN 978-0356195087
• The Uncensored Guide to the Movies (1991, as ‘Dick Beresford’) ISBN 978-0356203065
• Henry & Caroline At Home (with Joanna Isles) (1990) ISBN 978-1851453580
• Tall Stories (1994) ISBN 978-1854103352
• Bizarre Books (with Brian Lake; new edition) (1998) ISBN 978-1862051027
• Fish Who Answer the Telephone and other Bizarre Books (with Brian Lake) (2006) ISBN 978-0719560187
• Potty, Fartwell & Knob (2007) ISBN 978-0755316540; expanded paperback (2008) ISBN 978-0755316557; US (as Morecock, Fartwell, & Hoare) (2009) ISBN 978-0312545352
• Busty, Slag and Nob End (2009) ISBN 978-0755318704
• Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface (2009) ISBN 978-0385617239

[edit] Literature and language

• The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori (introduction) (1974) ISBN 978-0852632444
• Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense (introduction) (1980) ISBN 978-0460044998
• Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (Lewis Carroll; introduction) (1985) ISBN 978-0907516941
• The Life and Times of Paddington Bear (with Michael Bond) (1988) ISBN 978-1851452866
• Larkrise to Candleford Diary (1989)
• A Dictionary of RAF Slang (Eric Partridge; introduction) (1990) ISBN 978-1851455263

[edit] Reference and trivia

• Fact or Fiction? (1973) ISBN 978-0276000430
• Talking about the Family (1973) ISBN 978-0853402664
• Talking about Race (1974) ISBN 978-0853403562
• The Pig Book (1985) ISBN 978-0852234174
• The Londoner’s Almanac (1985) ISBN 978-0712609289
• The Frog Book (1986) ISBN 978-0356123059
• The Daily Trivia Diary ’87 (1986)
• Top 10 of Everything (annual; 1989–2009) ISBN 978-0600617426 (UK); ISBN 978-0600620488 (US) (latest edition)
• The Top 10 of Sport (with Ian Morrison) (1992) ISBN 978-0747207146
• The Top 10 of Music (with Luke Crampton and Barry Lazell) (1993) ISBN 978-0747207986
• Top 10 Quiz Book (1996) ISBN 978-0751354430
• Incredible Comparisons (1996) ISBN 978-0751354218
• Crucial Top 10 (1997) ISBN 978-1862082144
• The World in One Day (1997) ISBN 978-0751356182
• Factastic Book of 1001 Lists (1998) ISBN 978-0751357998
• Factastic Book of Comparisons (1999) ISBN 978-0751362084
• Factastic Millennium Facts (1999) ISBN 978-0751356632
• The Top 10 of Sport (with Ian Morrison; new edition) (2002) ISBN 978-0751346428
• The Top 10 of Film (2003) ISBN 978-1405300506
• Whitaker’s World of Facts (annual; 2005–08) ISBN 978-1408115060 (UK); US (as Firefly’s Book of Facts) ISBN 978-1554074990 (latest edition)
• Top 10 for Men (2008) ISBN 978-0600618171
• Top 10 of Britain (2009) ISBN 978-0600619215
• Top 10 of Football (with Ian Morrison) (2010) ISBN 978-0600620679

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Irwin Barker, Canadian comedian and television writer (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer Report), has died of leiomyosarcoma he was 58

Irwin Barker was a Canadian comedian and writer. He wrote for This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Rick Mercer Report, and was nominated for four Gemini Awards as a writer and one as stand-up performer for his 2005 performance at the Halifax comedy Festival. Barker was also nominated for three Writers’ Guild of Canada Screenwriter’s awards, and won the award in 2008. He was also a regular writer and contributor for CBC Radio's The Debaters.

(June 13, 1952 – June 21, 2010)

In June 2007, Barker was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare type of terminal cancer. He joked that his doctor had given him twelve months to live, "but my lawyer says he can get it down to eight".

After his diagnosis, he was active as an inspirational speaker on how he used humour as a vital coping mechanism in his personal fight against cancer. He was a headline performer at numerous cancer fundraisers, as well as a keynote speaker for conferences dealing with cancer and palliative care.

His first year of cancer treatment was the subject of a CTV documentary entitled “That’s My Time.” The documentary debuted at the 2008 Atlantic Film Festival and was nationally televised in September 2008.

Reactions to Barker’s presentations on comedy and cancer have been overwhelmingly positive. In Barker's own words. “Cancer has my body but not my spirit, and I’ll continue to make jokes, not so much about cancer, but in spite of it.”^{[citation needed]}

He died in Toronto on June 21, 2010.^[1]

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Stanley Lucas, British supercentenarian, oldest man in Europe has died he was , 110

Stanley Lucas ^[1] from Bude, Cornwall was a British supercentenarian who, at the age of 110, was the oldest living man in Europe since the death of Harry Patch on 25 July 2009.^[1][2] He was also the third-oldest man in the world. Lucas was born at Morwenstow and had two brothers and two sisters.

(15 January 1900 – 21 June 2010)

In 1908 the family moved to Marhamchurch, where he lived until 1948. He left school at 14 and was later called up for service in both the First and Second World Wars. However, Lucas did not serve due to a pre-diagnosed heart condition.^[2] Instead, Lucas helped on the family farm during the First World War. Lucas married Ivy Nancekivell in 1926 and took over the family farm. Lucas was a breeder of Devon cattle and Devon longwool sheep and started a dairy farm in the early 1940s. In 1948 he relocated to live with his family at Poughill, where he continued to live after Ivy's death in 1963. In 1950, Lucas started playing bowls, which he continued to play until the age of 100.

Lucas was a member of Bude Town Council from 1959–1970, as well as vice chairman. His daughter said "He has worked hard in his working life and was a teetotaller and non-smoker and since he has been elderly has been well cared for".^[3][4] Lucas was the last living British male born in the 19th century and the Victorian era

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Chris Sievey, British comedian and musician (Frank Sidebottom), has died of lung cancer he was , 54

Christopher Mark Sievey was an English musician and comedian known for fronting the band the Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards.^[2]

(25 August 1955 – 21 June 2010)

The character was instantly recognisable by his large spherical head, styled like an early Max Fleischer cartoon. This was initially made from papier-mâché, but later rebuilt out of fibreglass.^[3]

Frank, usually dressed in a 1950s-style sharp suit, was portrayed as an aspiring pop star from the small village of Timperley near Altrincham, Cheshire. His character was cheerfully optimistic, enthusiastic, and seemingly oblivious to his own failings. Although supposedly 35 years old (the age always attributed to Frank irrespective of the passage of time), he still lived at home with his mother, to whom he made frequent references. His mother was apparently unaware of her son's popularity. Frank sometimes had a sidekick in the form of "Little Frank", a hand puppet who was otherwise a perfect copy of Frank.

Comedy character Mrs Merton started out as Frank's sidekick on his radio show "Radio Timperley", and the similarity of the characters is evident, exuding a sense of great ambition which belies a domestic lifestyle in the North of England. Sidebottom's former "Oh Blimey Big Band" members include Mark Radcliffe and Jon Ronson, and his driver was Chris Evans.^[3]

Frank was first revealed to the world on a 12 inch promotional record which came free with the Chris Sievey-created video game The Biz for the ZX Spectrum computer in 1984. The Frank Sidebottom character was initially created to be a fan of Sievey's band the Freshies but the popularity of the character led Sievey to focus his output on Frank Sidebottom comedy records, many of which were released on Marc Riley's 'In Tape' record label of Manchester^[4] and previous to that, the 'Regal Zonophone' label.

He reached cult status in the late 1980s/early 1990s thanks to extensive touring of the country, and focusing on large towns such as St Helens. Performances were often varied from straightforward stand-up comedy and featured novelty components such as tombola, and a lot of crowd interaction. Sometimes the show also included lectures. Contrasting against the alternative comedians of the time, Frank Sidebottom's comedy was family-friendly, if a little bizarre for some.

Frank also had his own comic strip in the children's weekly comic Oink! which was launched around the mid 1980s as the children's alternative to Viz.

Frank was perhaps most popular in the North West of England, where his success was caught up in that of the Madchester scene, and for a time was a regular on regional ITV station Granada. He even featured as a reporter on its regional news programme, Granada Reports. At one point Frank had his own television show on ITV entitled Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show.^[5] He also made numerous appearances on Channel 4, including the British version of the game show Remote Control which was presented by Anthony H Wilson, where each week he would pose "Frank's Fantastic Question" to the contestants.^[6] He also made several appearances on the Television South/ITV Saturday morning children's show No. 73.^[7]

Along with television, the Frank Sidebottom character also made appearances on radio, on stations such as Manchester's Piccadilly Radio and on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5, alongside Mark and Lard.^[8][9][10]

Frank sang the Beatles song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" on the charity album Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father, which featured other acts like Michelle Shocked, the Christians, Sonic Youth, Billy Bragg, Hue and Cry, the Fall and Wet Wet Wet. ^{[11] [12]} He later recorded "Flying" for another Beatles tribute album, Revolution No. 9.^[13]

Frank faded into obscurity in the late 1990s, rarely appearing either on TV or live appearances. A one-off performance at Manchester's Club Indigo Vs Manic Street Mania in December 2005 seemed to be the catalyst for a comeback.

In 2006, Frank reappeared in Greater Manchester on local television channel, Channel M. His new show, Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show in B/W, featured celebrity guests and animation. The first showing of each show was in black and white ("so you don't have to turn the colour down"), whilst subsequent repeats were shown in full colour. He has also made five appearances on Iain Lee's programme on London's LBC as well as on numerous community radio stations.

A recent appearance has been as a "test card" shown late at night on Channel M, where he and Little Frank ramble on and sing songs whilst framed in a parody of the classic "Test Card F". On 6 March 2007, in an episode of the Podge and Rodge Show, he appeared in their 'Sham-Rock' talent section, performing a medley of songs by the Smiths. He received an overall score of 22 points from judges James Nesbitt and Glenda Gilson, putting him in first place for all the series' acts so far.

Frank starred in his own exhibition of drawings, animation and cardboard at London's Chelsea Space Gallery next to Tate Britain between 4 July–4 August 2007. He also appeared at "Late" at Tate Britain on 3 August 2007. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

He appeared in the Series 3 Christmas special of BBC Scotland's Videogaiden, performing 'Christmas is Really Fantastic', and later appeared on the Series 3 Awards show, and the final web-exclusive episode ("Closedown").

In late 2009 and early 2010 he supported John Cooper Clarke on a UK tour.

He appeared as a Shildon F.C. fan in the FIFA 10 advert.

Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show was a television programme shown in 1992 featuring Chris Sievey as fictional character Frank Sidebottom.^[17]

The show was produced by Yorkshire Television and was shown on most of the ITV network in the United Kingdom.^[18]

The producer and director was Dave Behrens.

Guests

Guests included:

• James Whale
• Mrs Merton
• Lee Chapman
• Dennis Taylor
• Kevin Lloyd
• John Stalker
• Phil Cornwell
• Oceanic
• Adamski
• Dennis Locorriere
• Midge Ure
• The Farm
• Gerry Anderson
• Pop Will Eat Itself
• Nicholas Parsons
• Don E
• Keith Chegwin
• Bob Holness
• Keith Emerson

Death & Memorial Concert

Sievey was diagnosed with cancer in May 2010.^[19] On Monday, 21 June 2010, Sievey died at Wythenshawe Hospital after collapsing at his home in Hale, Cheshire. He was 54 years old.^[20][21] Sievey left a daughter Asher (aged 31) and two sons: Stirling, 31, and Harry, 18, who was still living with Sievey's ex-wife Paula. After it was reported that Sievey had died virtually penniless and was facing a "pauper's funeral" provided by state grants,^[22] a grassroots movement on various social networking websites quickly rallied round and donated significant sums to help out with the costs, raising £6,500 in a matter of hours. The appeal closed on Monday 28th June with a final balance of £21,631.55 from 1632 separate donations..^[23]

Sievey's funeral was held on 2nd July 2010 at Altrincham Crematorium. The private service was attended by more than 200 members of his family, friends and former colleagues.^[24]

On 8th July 2010, over 5,000 fans of Frank Sidebottom gathered for a party at the Castlefield Arena in Manchester to celebrate Sievey's life. The acts included Badly Drawn Boy and surviving members of 'Frank's Oh Blimey Big Band' who played in tribute.

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Tam White, British musician and actor, has died of a heart attack he was , 67

Tam White^[1] was a Scottish musician, stonemason and actor.

(born Thomas Bennett Sim; 12 July 1942 – 21 June 2010)

Primarily known as a blues vocalist with a trademark gravel-voiced sound, in the 1960s he recorded with beat groups The Boston Dexters and then The Buzz, who recorded one single with producer Joe Meek in 1966. In the 1970s White was the first artist to sing live on Top Of The Pops^[2], and he provided the vocals for Robbie Coltrane to mime to as Big Jazza McGlone in John Byrne's award-winning television series Tutti Frutti in 1987.

Mixed fortunes in the 1970s after the Boston Dexters split saw him hosting his own TV show on Scottish Television and performing in working men's clubs, followed by a spell when he returned to stonemasonry. He told the Scotsman: "Everyone wanted me to be somebody else. I did a series for STV in the 1970s, my own show, and I ended up in a monkey suit – it was incredibly embarrassing – and doing working men's clubs. I got hooked into that, anything to make a living." During this time White was drinking heavily, a habit he kicked in 1980.^[3]

In the same year White reformed the Dexters with a changing line-up that over the years included guitarist Jim Condie and jazz pianist Brian Kellock, with whom he also recorded a duet album. Billed as Tam White & The Dexters, the band built up a solid and loyal following for their live appearances, which generally sold out. In addition to being "a fixture" at the Edinburgh Jazz And Blues Festival^[4], there were also support slots for many better-known blues artists including BB King, Al Green and Van Morrison.^[5] As the Dexters split for a second time, collaborations with musicians such as guitarist Neil Warden, the harmonica player Fraser Speirs and bassist Boz Burrell eventually developed into a permanent lineup known as The Shoestring Band, who continued performing together either as a trio or a larger band until Burrell's death in 2006. After this White re-formed the Dexters again and continued to be a firm favourite at the box office.

Tam White began acting on television in 1990, playing John Maguire in "The Wreck On The Highway" by Colin MacDonald. His most notable appearances include Paper Mask, The Negotiator, Braveheart, Cutthroat Island, Orphans, and two roles in Taggart, once in 1992 and once in 2000.

He also had roles in Rebus: Black and Blue, playing Rico Briggs, The Legend of Loch Lomond, Goodbye, Mr Steadman and Man Dancin'.

His latest television appearance's was playing Tony Macrae in EastEnders in late 2003 and early 2004, followed by a brief stint in 2009 in the BBC Scotland soap River City.

A fitness enthusiast, he died of a heart attack after a gym session in Edinburgh on 21 June 2010.^[6]

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