Elisabeth Beresford, British children's author, creator of The Wombles.died she was , 84

Elisabeth 'Liza' Beresford, MBE  was a British author of children's books, best known for creating The Wombles died she was , 84. Born into a family with many literary connections, she worked as a journalist but struggled for success until she created the Wombles in the 1960s. The strong theme of recycling was particularly notable, and the Wombles became very popular with children across the world. While Beresford produced many other literary works, the Wombles remained her most well known creation.

(6 August 1926 – 24 December 2010)

Early life and career

Beresford was born on 6 August 1926 in Paris, France.^[1] Her father was writer J. D. Beresford, a successful novelist who also worked as a book reviewer for several newspapers.^[2] Her godparents included author Walter de la Mare (who dedicated several poems to her), poet Cecil Day-Lewis, and children’s writer Eleanor Farjeon.^[3] Beresford enjoyed many literary connections; her parents’ friends included H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, Hugh Walpole, W. Somerset Maugham, and D. H. Lawrence.^[3]
After 18 months' service as a Wren, Beresford started work as a ghostwriter specialising in writing speeches.^[2][3] She began training as a journalist and was soon writing radio, film and television columns, and working for the BBC as a radio reporter.^[3] Beresford married BBC tennis commentator and broadcaster Max Robertson in 1949.^[2][4] The couple had one son and one daughter.^[4] Trips to Australia, South Africa, and the West Indies with Robertson led to more children’s books and two television series: Seven Days to Sydney and Come to the Caribbean.^[2][3]
During the 1960s, Beresford was a struggling children's author and freelance journalist.^[5] This would, however, change with her creation of the Wombles.

The Wombles

Main article: The Wombles

'The Wombles of Wimbledon Common' were inspired by her daughter Kate’s mispronunciation of 'Wimbledon,' when Beresford took her children to Wimbledon Common for a Boxing Day stroll.^[1][3] That same day, Beresford made out a list of Womble names.^[3] Many characters were based on her family: Great Uncle Bulgaria her father-in-law, Tobermory her brother (a skilled inventor), Orinoco her son, and Madame Cholet her mother.^[2][3][5] The Wombles’ names came from sources as varied as the town where Beresford’s daughter went on a French exchange and the name of the college attended by a nephew.^[3] The first Wombles book was published in 1968.^[1][2][3] After it was broadcast on Jackanory, the BBC decided to make an animated series.^[2][3]
The Wombles’ motto, ‘Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish,’ and their passion for recycling was far ahead of its time,^[3][5] and captured the imagination of children, who began to organise 'Womble Clearing Up Groups.'^[3] Thirty-five five-minute films were broadcast on BBC1 accompanied by Mike Batt’s music and 'The Wombles' theme song, Underground Overground, Wombling Free.^[3] Characterised by actor Bernard Cribbins’s voices and the creations of puppet maker Ivor Wood, the popularity of 'The Wombles' grew.^[3] Beresford took part in live phone-ins with children in Australia, and in South Africa she enchanted a hundred Zulus with Womble stories.^[1] Back in England, she made countless public appearances with 'The Wombles' across the country.^[3]
Within 10 years, Beresford wrote more than 20 Wombles books (translated into more than 40 languages), another 30 television films, and a Wombles stage show, one version of which ran in the West End.^[3] A range of Wombles products began to appear, including soap, T-shirts, mugs, washing-up cloths, and soft toys.^[3]

Later life

Beresford and her family moved to the island of Alderney in the English Channel in the mid-1970s.^[4] She and husband Robertson divorced in the 1980s.^[4] As well as writing 20 Wombles books, Beresford wrote a variety of adventure and mystery books for children, many based on the small island of Alderney, where she lived in a 300-year-old cottage in St Anne’s.^[3] Beresford was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to children's literature in the 1998 New Year's Honours List.^[2][3]
Beresford died at 10:30 PM on 24 December 2010 in the Mignot Memorial Hospital on Alderney.^[2] According to her son, Marcus Robertson, the cause of death was heart failure.^[2]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Frances Ginsberg, American soprano, died from brain and spinal cancer she was , 55

Frances Ginsberg  was an American opera singer. Opera News magazine described her as "a lirico-spinto soprano of striking temperament whose vivid style made her an audience favorite at New York City Opera and other U.S. companies in the 1980s and 1990s died from brain and spinal cancer she was , 55. She particularly excelled in the operas of Giacomo Puccini and Guiseppe Verdi.^[2]

(11 March 1955 - 24 December 2010)

Life and career

Ginsberg was born to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri in 1955.^[3] In 1973 she graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in Ladue, Missouri, and in 1979 she graduated from the University of Kansas with fine arts degrees in theatre and voice. She then pursued further studies at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Center for American Artists. She later studied opera privately with Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi and Eve Queler.^[2] She was also a pupil for many years of conductor Marco Munari of La Scala whom she studied with while living in Milan.
While still a college student, Ginsberg made her professional opera debut in 1977 at the Santa Fe Opera as the milliner in the United States premiere of Nino Rota's The Italian Straw Hat.^[4] Her first major success came in 1986 when she made her debut at the New York City Opera (NYCO) in the dual roles of Margherita and Elena in Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele. She subsequently appeared with the NYCO as Donna Elvira in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni, Mimì in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, and Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata. In 1990 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.^[1]


Other US companies Ginsberg performed with during her career were Cincinnati Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, and the Washington National Opera. On the international stage she made appearances with the Opéra de Nice, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, the New Israeli Opera, the Teatro Calderón in Madrid, the Scottish Opera, and the Welsh National Opera.^[1] Some of the other roles she performed on stage were Abigaille in Nabucco, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Desdemona in Otello, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Elvira in Ernani, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Leonora in Il trovatore, Leonora in La forza del destino, Magda in La Rondine, Nedda in Pagliacci, and the title heroines in Aida, Manon Lescaut, Norma and Tosca.^[2]

Ginsberg died in 2010 at the age of 55 of ovarian cancer in Riverdale, New York. She abandoned her career in 2007 after having been diagnosed with the disease.^[2]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Nalini Jaywant, Indian actress.died she was 84,

Nalini Jaywant was an Indian movie actress from Bollywood in the 1940s and 1950s died she was  84.

 (18 February 1926 -24 December2010)

 

Personal life and education

Jaywant was born in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1926.

She is first cousin to actress Shobhna Samarth, the mother of actresses Nutan and Tanuja). Shobhna's mother, actress Rattan Bai, was a sibling of Nalini's father.^[1] Since 1983, she has been living mostly a reclusive life.^[2]
She was married to director Virendra Desai in the 1940s. Later, she married her second husband, actor Prabhu Dayal, with whom she acted in several movies.^[3]

Career

In her teens, she got some prominence through her performance in Mehboob Khan's Bahen (1941), a movie about a brother's obsessive love for his sister. The movie had strong shades of incest. She performed in a few more movies before the notable Anokha Pyaar (1948). The movie involved a love triangle among characters played by Dilip Kumar, Nargis, and Nalini, Nalini's character sacrificing her love for the hero played by Dilip Kumar. Nalini's performance in that movie proved to be the movie's saving grace.^{[citation needed]}
1950 was a breakthrough year for Nalini when she became a top star with her performances opposite Ashok Kumar in Samadhi and Sangram. Samadhi was a patriotic drama concerning Subash Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Though the leading movie magazine of the day, Film India, called it politically obsolete, it enjoyed big success at the box office. The song Gore Gore O Banke Chhore sung by a Lata Mangeshkar and Ameerbai Karnataki for Nalini's character in Samadhi had become immensely popular. Sangram was a crime drama wherein she played the heroine reforming the anti-hero. Nalini and Ashok Kumar performed together in several more movies: Kafila (1952), Naubahar (1952), Saloni (1952), Mr. X (1957), and Sheroo (1957).
Nalini remained an important leading actress through the mid-1950s. Movie makers K. A. Abbas (Rahi), Ramesh Saigal (Shikast and Railway Platform), and Zia Sarhady (Awaaz) extended Nalini Jaywant’s association with realistic movies, while movie makers Mahesh Kaul (Naujavan (1951)) and AR Kardar (Jaadu) developed her musical persona. She performed admirably in successful Filmistan musicals like Nastik (opposite Ajit), Munimji (opposite Dev Anand), Hum Sab Chor Hain (opposite Shammi Kapoor).
The 1958 movie Kaala Pani, directed by Raj Khosla, was Nalini's last successful movie. That year, she won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in that movie as a shady nautch girl, Kishori, who formed a "key witness" in framing the hero's father for a murder. Her come-hither mujra in S. D. Burman's composition Nazar Laagi Raaja Tore Bangle pe and her tearful looks at Dev Anand from across the room in Burman's Hum Bekhudi Mein were memorable.
Bombay Race Course (1965) was Nalini's last main movie, though she did make a comeback of sorts playing a blind mother in Nastik (1983). (This Nastik had no connection with Nastik(1954) in which she had starred.)
Actor Dilip Kumar considered Nalini as the greatest actress he ever worked with, citing her instinct for grasping the essence of a scene as second to none.^{[citation needed]} A Filmfare poll in the 1950s named her the most beautiful woman in the Indian movie world.^{[citation needed]} She acted opposite all top actors of her time, barring Raj Kapoor, in hit movies like Samadhi (1950), Jaadu (1951), Nastik (1954), Munimjee (1955), Mr. X (1957), and Kaala Pani (1958). She received much critical acclaim for her performances in Rahi (1952), Shikast (1953), Railway Platform (1955), and Awaaz (1956). Nalini Jaywant died on the afternoon of 20th December 2010 in tragically lonely circumstances at her bungalow of 60 years at Union Park, Chembur, Mumbai. (ref:times of india edition dated 25 Dec 2010)

Selected filmography

• Nastik (1983)
• Bombay Race Course (1965)
• Kaala Pani (1958)
• Sheroo (1957)
• Mr. X (1957)
• Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956)
• Durgesh Nandini (1956)
• Awaaz (1956)
• Railway Platform (1955)
• Munimjee (1955)
• Nastik (1954)
• Kavi (1954)
• Baap Beti (1954)
• Shikast (1953)
• Rahi (1952)
• Naujawan (1951)
• Jaadu (1951)
• Sangram (1950)
• Samadhi (1950)
• Anokha Pyaar (1948)
• Radhika (1941)
• Bahen (1941)

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Neil Rogers, American radio personality, died from heart failure.he was , 68

Neil Rogers  was an American talk radio personality. Until his retirement on June 22, 2009, "The Neil Rogers Show" aired weekdays from 10am-2pm on 560 WQAM. It was consistently the top rated show in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale media market and had been since his Miami debut in 1976.

Although he was not syndicated nationally or even regionally, Talkers magazine, the trade publication of talk radio, ranked Rogers at Number 15 on its 2006 list of the 100 most important personalities in the business.^[1] Rogers died at the age of 68 at the Vitas Hospice at Florida Medical Center in Broward County, Florida.^[2]

(November 5, 1942 – December 24, 2010)

Career

Rogers was born Nelson Roger Behelfer in Rochester, New York. Growing up there, he amused himself by announcing his own play-by-play while watching baseball on television. His first job in radio was as a music disc jockey at a small station, WCGR, in Canandaigua, New York. He studied broadcasting at Michigan State University, but left shortly before he would have graduated to pursue his radio career.

Over the next decade, Rogers worked at several stations in several states, including New York, Michigan, and Florida, where he ended up at WJNO AM in West Palm Beach. Rogers subsequently lost his job in West Palm Beach and was headed to Yuma, Arizona when he called his mother from the road and learned that Miami-Ft. Lauderdale's WKAT (AM 1360) had offered him a job without application or audition. Rogers turned his car around and headed for Miami, debuting on WKAT on March 1, 1976. By the end of 1976, he was one of the top-rated radio personalities in the market.

Nine months later, when singer Anita Bryant began a crusade to repeal Dade County's ordinance banning discrimination against homosexuals, Rogers responded by announcing on the air that he was homosexual. Although Bryant's campaign to repeal the ordinance was successful, Rogers' admission did nothing to hurt his radio career; indeed, his ratings steadily increased with every Arbitron period.
When his contract with WKAT expired in 1979, Rogers remained in Miami but moved down the AM dial to 790, WNWS. By that time Rogers was unrivaled as the highest-rated talk-show host in Miami, dominating both the 18-24 and 25-54 demographics (the most coveted age ranges in the business). His style — unabashed liberal, steadfast conspiracy theorist, scatological, and funny but acutely mean when dealing with callers (especially elderly callers), a schtick that may best be described as caustically comic — was firmly established, making Rogers something of an icon in the market.

Rogers moved again in 1982, to Miami's WINZ. When he moved to mid-days on WINZ, his "Hallandale Vice" routine set the market and WINZ on fire. After years of agitating for an earlier time slot, WINZ's owner, Guy Gannett Publishing, moved him to mornings on co-owned WZTA (Zeta-4) in 1988. Although ratings in the morning were immediate, Roger's long simmering battle with station management boiled over, culminating with him moving to WIOD in the fall of 1989. From WIOD he was briefly simulcast in the Tampa Bay market on WSUN. His last relocation was to 560 WQAM in 1997. Regardless of his station, he was consistently the top rated personality in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market, prompting one Miami radio executive to call him "the most consistent performer among men 25-54 that this market has ever seen." ^[3] He also has a devoted audience in Europe and around the world who listen via the Internet.
He has been targeted from time to time by local activists who find him offensive; one, Jack Thompson, a former Miami attorney, unsuccessfully sued Rogers and his employers to remove him from the air^[4]. In 1989, the Hallandale City Commission voted to censure Neil Rogers for "offensive comments" that he had made about the elderly^[5]. Rogers had survived all such attacks, and indeed, many of them have increased his popularity.

It was announced on April 14, 2008 that Rogers agreed to a new 5-year contract on WQAM, which would have kept "Uncle Neil", as he was called by his fans, firmly on the air until 2013.
On the May 13, 2009 show it was announced but not confirmed that Rogers' longtime show producer and fill in host Jorge Rodriguez was being fired by WQAM in a cost-cutting measure. Rogers' contract includes the ability for him to choose his producer and no resolution was found by the end of the program even after Rogers called his agent on the air. Rodriguez's future with the show has been the topic of interest in the South Florida media including the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.^[6] Rodriguez's firing was confirmed by Rogers at the start of the May 14, 2009 program.
Rodriguez' firing drew great response from Neil's fans. Rodriguez later began his own show on SoFloRadio.com

Rodriguez was replaced by WQAM Deputy Program Director Lee "Flee" Feldman. Feldman stated that he is working on the Neil Rogers show without any increase in his salary.
It was announced on June 22, 2009 that Rogers and Beasley Broadcast Miami reached an agreement where Neil Rogers will no longer be featured on air at WQAM, but would consult for the station under a new agreement. Neil Rogers had retired from on-air radio.^[7]
Rogers, at age 68, had been suffering from several health ailments in the last months of his life. His friend and attorney Norman Kent says the radio host suffered a stroke and heart attack in October and his condition had been declining since Thanksgiving.^[8] He died on December 24, 2010 at the age of 68.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

John Warhola, American museum founder (The Andy Warhol Museum) and brother of Andy Warhol, died from pneumonia he was , 85

John Warhola  played a pivotal role in maintaining the legacy of his younger brother, pop artist Andy Warhol, assigned responsibility by their father on his deathbed to ensure that Andy attended college and serving as a trustee of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts after his brother's death in 1987 died from pneumonia he was , 85. Warhola oversaw the establishment of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce, Slovakia.

(May 31, 1925 – December 24, 2010)

Warhola was born May 31, 1925, in Pittsburgh, the second of three sons of Andrij and Julia Warhola.^[1] Shortly before his death in 1942, his father asked Warhola to take responsibility for Andy's college education.^[2][1] Warhola's son recalled that his grandfather had said that "Your role is to take care of Andy and make sure he goes to school, because he's going to be successful someday".^[1] Warhola attended vocational school himself and used the proceeds of savings bonds that his father had set aside to pay for Andy's first two years at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and used the money he earned at a series of jobs to pay for Andy's final two years in college.^[1]
After Warhol graduated from college and moved to New York City, Warhola kept in touch with his brother on a regular basis, calling him weekly until his death. As part of Andy Warhol's will, Warhola was named as one of the trustees of an organization that would support the arts. As vice president of the foundation for two decades, Warhola helped oversee the creation of museums dedicated to Warhol's work in their native Pittsburgh and in the area of Slovakia where his parents had grown up. Established in 1991, the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art was given some two dozen works of Warhol, as well as other pieces created by the eldest Warhola brother, Paul.^[2] Warhola was an active participant at The Andy Warhol Museum located in Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhood, often speaking with children visiting the museum about his brother's work.^[3]
A resident of Freedom, Pennsylvania, Warhola died at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh at the age of 85 due to pneumonia on December 24, 2010.^[2][3] He was survived by three sons and two grandchildren, as well as by his older brother Paul.^[3]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

K. Karunakaran, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Kerala (1977; 1981–1987; 1991–1995), died from a stroke he was , 92

Kannoth Karunakaran was a senior politician from Kerala, India belonging to Congress party died from a stroke he was , 92. He was a former Chief Minister of Kerala, Home minister of Government of Kerala, and Minister for Industries of Government of India. He was one of the most influential persons in Kerala politics for several decades and was affectionately called "Leader" by Congress activists. He was often criticized for apparent nepotism.^[1]

( July 5, 1918 - December 23, 2010)

Early life

Karunakaran was born on 5 July 1918 at Chirackkal in Kannur District to Shri.Thekkedathu Ramunni Marar and Smt. Kannoth Kalyani Amma with birth star “Karthika". His father Ramunni Marar was a 'sirastadar', a government job under the then British Malabar state government. He had two elder brothers (Kunjiraman Marar and Balakrishnan Marar) and a younger brother (Damodaran Marar aka Appunni Marar). Their only sister Devaki died when she was merely 5 years old.
As a young boy, Karunakaran was passionate about swimming, football and volleyball. He also demonstrated ample interest in painting. During his early years, while being admitted to the lower primary school, he insisted not to add the caste name 'Marar' to his official name at the school unlike the normal practice of those days. He started his school education in Vadakara LP School and continued through Andalloor and then Chirakkal Raja's School till eighth standard. Later, he had to undergo prolonged treatment due to an eye-related disorder, and was thus relocated (with his elder brother Kunjirama Marar) to the home of his uncle Puthenveettil Raghavan Nair at Vellanikkara, a village, ten kilometer away from Thrissur. The two brothers would later actively participate in the prevailing Indian freedom movement since an early age. The stay at Thrissur would transform their life altogether and engulf them into the politics and trade union activism that was brewing up in the region.
After continuing the school at Sarkar High School, Thrissur (presently Govt. Model Boys High School, Thrissur), Karunakaran wanted to pursue his career in drawing and painting. He joined the Maharaja's Technical Institute (MTI), Thrissur for a Diploma in Design and Drawing. Although he earned the Diploma with a Gold Medal, except for a short stint at a Fine Arts Institute in Thrissur he did not take up painting as a profession and instead turned his attention completely towards the political issues. However, as an artist, he recalls in his biography, his paintings were appreciated well and many of them would fetch a price as good as Rs.500 per piece.
In 1937, Karunakaran joined the flood relief camps that were conducted by V.R. Krishnan Ezhuthachan, C. Achyutha Menon, R.M. Manakkalath and other leaders of Prajamandalam, an early freedom struggle movement in Cochin State. He became a member of the Indian National Congress and began to wear Khadi. He also participated intensively in the trade union activities in the vast Thattil rubber estates where his uncle Raghavan Nair was a 'writer'. During this time, he would spare his artistic skills and labour in helping the workers' union (later INTUC) for their wall writings and campaigns. Gradually, he was picked up by Panampilly Govinda Menon as his most favourite follower. In due course, Karunakaran rose to a level of the senior-most Leader of the Indian National Trade Union Congress(INTUC). The INTUC later became one of the largest trade unions in India having with over 4 million memberships today.

Karunakaran is the founder of United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1970. He evinced utmost care in ensuring cordiality, unity and understanding among the constituent parties, and he commanded absolute control and due respect from them.
His closeness to the Nehru family begins from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and culminated and pinnacled during the tenure of Smt. Indira Gandhi and Shri. Rajiv Gandhi. Karunakaran played the role of King Maker in finding out a successor to Rajiv Gandhi. Being the senior mostensuing elections of 1977.
Karunakaran has been the Chief Minister of Kerala four times. He took charge as Chief Minister for the first time on 25-3-1977. However he tendered his resignation on 25-4-1977, immediately following certain references by the Kerala High Court in what came to be known as Rajan case.
He took charge as Chief Minister again on December 28, 1981. However, this ministry did not last long. He resigned on 17 March 1982, following the withdrawal of support by a member of the Kerala Congress (M). Midterm elections to the 7th Kerala Legislative Assembly was held on May 19, 1982. The Ministry with Shri. K.Karunakaran as Chief Minister assumed office on 24 May 1982 and continued till 1987. On June 24, 1991, Shri.K.Karunakaran took charge again as Chief Minister of Kerala for the fourth term, and resigned on March 16, 1995, making way for A.K.Antony to take up the Chief Ministership.
After A. K. Antony was elected as Kerala chief minister in 2001, Karunakaran was on the warpath with the Government led by his own party and the party high command. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to regain supremacy in the Kerala wing of the Indian National Congress, the dissidents led by him landed up in the bad books of the Congress high command. With the sharp increase in factional meetings held all over Kerala, mostly led by his son K. Muraleedharan, Indian National Congress suspended Muraleedharan from the party.
As a veteran parliamentarian, whose career stretches over five decades, Karunakaran has been elected three times to Rajya Sabha and to Lok Sabha twice. He was a member of Rajya Sabha during 1995-97, 1997–98 and 2004-2005. He has been elected to Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram in 1998 and from Mukundapuram constituency in 1999. Karunakaran served as the Minister for Industries in the Union Cabinet for one year in 1995.
With Muraleedharan being pushed to the verge of political orphanage, Karunakaran left his party and formed a new political outfit with him as the President. Thus, on 1 May 2005, Karunakaran formed a new party in Kerala National Congress (Indira). Later, the new party was renamed to Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran). Later, Karunakaran merged his party with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), despite opposition from many senior leaders like T. M. Jacob who has since left the party. K Karunakaran and his daughter Padmaja returned to their parent party (Indian National Congress) following a spilt . However his son Muraleedharan dissociated himself from his father and continued in NCP.A great Leader who gave a helping hand to the Minorities and supported them.

Death

Karunakaran died on 23 December 2010 at Ananthapuri Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He was suffering from respiratory problems, fever and other age related diseases. His condition worsened following a stroke and the death occurred when he had a cardiac arrest. His death was confirmed by doctors at 5:30 PM. It was coincidental that his death and Narasimha Rao's death was on same date. Karunakaran had played key role in backing the Rao Government and later Rao had dismissed Karunakaran from the chair of Chief Minister of Kerala^[2][3]. His funeral was attended by the prime minister Manmohan Singh and the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi.

Controversies

K. Karunakaran was the home minister of Kerala during the emergency period. After the Emergency, the Rajan case rocked Kerala politics like no other issue before and Karunakaran was forced to step down as the case attracted national attention. It was a habeas corpus petition filed by T.V. Eachara Warrier seeking the state machinery produce his son Rajan (a student of Regional Engineering College ,Calicut who actively participated in protests against the emergency declared by the Indira government), in court. Rajan was allegedly killed by the police at Kakkayam police torture camp and the body disposed off Mad. The legal battle lead by Rajan's father became one of the most remembered human rights fight in the state^[4] and the legal struggle by his father T V Eachara Warrier had diminished the popularity of Karunakaran.The book Memories of a father is a lamentation of a father over his son's brutal death. He was an accused in the palmolein corruption case, which was pending before the supreme court at the time of his death.
Karunakaran will be remembered for his strong stand against Naxalism in Kerala and for completely removing its roots from the society.

Biographies

1. The first Biography on him titled 'K.Karunakaran' was written by Vrindavanam Venugopalan. Published by Islamiya Books, Aluva in 1992

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Fred Foy, American radio and television announcer (The Lone Ranger), died from natural causes he was , 89

Frederick William Foy was an American radio and television announcer, who used Fred Foy as his professional name  died from natural causes he was , 89. He is best known for his narration of The Lone Ranger. Radio historian Jim Harmon described Foy as "the announcer, perhaps the greatest announcer-narrator in the history of radio drama."^[1]
Shortly after graduating from high school in 1938, Foy began in broadcasting with a part-time position at WMBC, a 250-watt independent station in Detroit. He moved to WXYZ in 1942, but World War II interrupted his radio career.

(March 27, 1921 – December 22, 2010)

WWII

He was inducted August 28, 1942, entering the American armed forces September 11, 1942. Attached to the 14th Special Service Company, Sergeant Fred Foy became the American voice on Egyptian State Broadcasting, delivering news and special programs to the Allied Forces in Cairo. He handled the distribution throughout the Middle East of American recordings, in addition to local broadcasts of Command Performance, Mail Call, Personal Album, Radio Bric-a-Brac and Front Line Theatre. He also announced The American Forces Programme. For Stars and Stripes he did American News Letter, a weekly summary of news from America, plus sport flashes and items from various theatres of war. For Cairo cinemas, he announced Headline News of the Day. Foy helped stage and announce USO sponsored programs, including a Jack Benny broadcast from Cairo to New York and an Andre Kostelanetz concert with Lily Pons.
Foy scripted his own shows, including Up To Scratch, a lively program of the current hit tunes, and Shows on Parade, which he hosted. When he wrote and directed Christmas Overseas, broadcast from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Holy Land it received top honors from Washington. Featuring Christmas music by the Franciscan Boys’ Orphanage Choir, the program opened with a Christmas story offering reasons for fighting the War. Working with Stars and Stripes, he created and announced a program airing World Series play-by-play to GIs. He also scripted, directed and acted with the American Red Cross during the 1945 War Fund Campaign. Foy received a commendation for voluntarily remaining at his post during the hours from August 10, 1945 until final August 15 confirmation of the Japanese surrender, making the latest news available at all times during the news emergency prior to the surrender. He was discharged on January 3, 1946 at Camp Atterbury in Indiana.

Radio

After the war, Foy returned to WXYZ in Detroit. He took over the position of announcer and narrator for radio's The Lone Ranger beginning July 2, 1948 and continuing until the series ended on September 3, 1954. He understudied the title role and stepped into the part on March 29, 1954 when Brace Beemer had laryngitis. His long run as announcer and narrator of The Lone Ranger made the Foy's distinctive voice a radio trademark. He was also heard on radio's The Green Hornet and Challenge of the Yukon.^[2][3]
His stentorian delivery of the program's lead-in thrilled his audience for years and helped the program achieve even greater popularity and status. Most radio historians agree that Foy’s Lone Ranger introduction is the most recognized opening in American radio:

Hi-Yo, Silver! A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi-Yo Silver"... The Lone Ranger! With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early West. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoof-beats of the great horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again!^[4]

Television

In 1955, Foy reprised his famous “Return with us now...” opening narration for The Lone Ranger television series (1949-57). In 1961, Foy joined the ABC announcing staff in New York. For ABC Television he spent five years as announcer and on-camera commercial spokesman for The Dick Cavett Show. He was also the announcer for The Generation Gap and other network quiz shows. For ABC Radio he narrated the award-winning news documentary, Voices in the Headlines, as well as serving as host and narrator for the ABC's radio drama series, Theatre 5 (1964-65). He narrated network documentary specials in tribute to Sir Winston Churchill, JFK, Herbert Hoover and others. As spokesman for national advertisers, Foy represented Colgate, General Motors and Sinclair. Foy stayed with ABC until 1985.

Awards

Fred Foy was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in March 2000 and received the Golden Boot Award from the Motion Picture and Television Fund in August, 2004.
Foy performed his "Return with us now..." Lone Ranger opening narration live at the Hollywood Bowl in August, 2000, with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and conductor John Mauceri. In 1986, he wrote his autobiography, Fred Foy from XYZ to ABC: A Fond Recollection, and he has also released a 45-minute CD/cassette of memories, Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch.

Death

Fred Foy died on December 22, 2010 of natural causes. ^[5]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here