Burt Kwouk

Burt Kwouk and Peter Sellers in Return of the Pink Panther 

Burt Kwouk, who has died aged 85, was best known for his role as Cato Fong, the long-suffering manservant of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) in the Pink Panther films.

As well as answering the telephone and dealing with the inspector’s daily needs, Cato’s chief role was to keep Clouseau vigilant by attacking him whenever he least expected it. Their encounters became a running joke throughout the Pink Panther series and the scenes involving their preposterous karate-style sparring – interspersed with loud screams – generally resulted in the destruction of Clouseau’s flat and Cato himself being knocked out, usually because of one of Clouseau’s underhand tricks.

Burt Kwouk and Peter Sellers in A Shot in the Dark (1964) 

“But Cato,” the inspector tells him before kicking him in the face in The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), “your fly is undone… and so, my friend, are you.”

Pink Panther fans (including the Prince of Wales and Elvis Presley, who could quote chunks of dialogue verbatim) loved the gag – particularly the slow-motion martial arts yowls and Cato’s ingenious hiding places, such as the canopy of a four-poster bed and a freezer. (“You know, Cato, your freezer ambush ploy. I really congratulate you.”)

It was mayhem, half the time I was petrified I was actually going to get hurt by one of Peter’s wild lungesBurt Kwouk

Although Kwouk appeared in three James Bond films (including the spoof Casino Royale in 1967) and had a successful subsequent career on British television, his fondest professional memories were of his time in the Pink Panther films, and his friendship with Sellers endured until the actor’s death in 1980. “I learnt a lot from Peter,” he later recalled. “Particularly how to be 'second banana’ – by which I mean like a straight man to him.”

He was sanguine about Clouseau’s affectionate references to Cato as his “little yellow friend”. “They can call me anything they like,” he once said, “as long as I get paid and my name is spelt correctly.”

Burt Kwouk in an episode of The Saint (1967) 

Herbert Tsangtse Kwouk was born on July 18 1930 at Warrington while his parents were touring Europe. His father, a textile tycoon, was a descendant of a Tang dynasty general and Kwouk was brought up in the wealthy, mannered world of pre-war Shanghai. Between the ages of 12 and 16 he attended the Jesuit Mission School in the city, which he described as “the Far East equivalent of Eton”. He was then sent to the US to complete his education. He left China in 1947.

In 1949 Kwouk’s parents and sister were caught up in the Chinese revolution. Kwouk’s British passport enabled his mother and sister to leave for Hong Kong, but his father stayed in China. “I think my father supported the revolution,” Kwouk recalled, “because, morally, a person could not fail to support it: the mass of Chinese people were starving on the streets.”

He remained in America and continued his education until 1954 when he decided to tour Europe. Arriving in Britain he found a room in Ladbroke Grove and began looking for work. “I had no idea what I wanted to do,” he said, “but I went into catering because at least there you get to eat.” He worked as a dish-washer for Joe Lyons before moving on to a variety of jobs including mortuary attendant and later “butter-wrapper” at a factory in Clapham.

He spent his free time “hanging around the cheap end of Chelsea” with a group of friends. “We were the gestation period for the Swinging Sixties,” Kwouk explained. “We used to drink wine and talk about what we were going to do with our lives.”

After his girlfriend persuaded him that acting would make a suitable career and arranged for Kwouk to have some publicity photographs, he auditioned and got the part of a Malayan in Windom’s Way (1957), having persuaded the casting director that he spoke fluent Malay (he did not). 

Burt Kwouk as the Camp Commandant In the BBC series TenkoCREDIT: 

Kwouk was spotted by a talent scout who offered him a role in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). He then spent the next four years working consistently in a variety of film and television roles. “It made me very unpopular with a lot of the Oriental/American actors,” he said. “They had all been in the business for years and I just arrived from England and walked straight into non-stop work.”

After a part in the 1962 film 55 Days at Peking, Kwouk returned to Britain to appear in various television comedy shows, resisting advice from agents who suggested he change his name to Charlie Chan or Mr Woo. Through the early 1960s he was cast as a villain in series such as Danger Man, The Saint and The Avengers.

In 1964, having appeared as a baddie in Goldfinger, Kwouk was offered the part of Kato (later changed to Cato) in A Shot in the Dark. After reading the script Kwouk turned the part down. “I couldn’t see the point,” he recalled, “the character didn’t have a lot of screen time, didn’t say very much, and kept getting knocked down.” His agent eventually persuaded him that he needed the money and Kwouk accepted the role.

“Peter Sellers made me,” he said later, “there’s no doubt about it. He raised me to higher level and was a very generous actor, he kept finding ways for Cato get a bigger laugh.” Despite Sellers’s eccentricities Kwouk maintained that they had a good working relationship. “Peter was odd,” he admitted, “but few geniuses are not odd. I learned a lot about comedy acting just by watching his eyes before a take.” Cato proved so popular that he was written into all but one of the subsequent films. “1 loved playing the part,” Kwouk recalled, “but it was mayhem, half the time I was petrified I was actually going to get hurt by one of Peter’s wild lunges.”

Kwouk then alternated between playing villains in films such as The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) and You Only Live Twice (1967) and playing Cato, which he did through the 1970s in The Return of the Pink Panther (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and The Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). After Sellers’s death Kwouk wanted to give up the part and possibly against his better judgment he accepted roles in both The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) and Curse of the Pink Panther (1983). Both films were made after Seller’s death and both flopped. He made a small appearance in the Meryl Streep vehicle Plenty (1985) before concentrating on his television career.

He took roles in television drama series such as Tenko (1981-83), in which he played a chilling, sadistic Japanese commandant. While admitting that many of the parts he played were seen by the Chinese community as “derogatory to their race” Kwouk rarely refused a role. “If I don’t do it someone else will,” he reflected.

Kwouk returned to filmmaking with appearances in Air America, opposite Mel Gibson, in 1990, and in Leon the Pig Farmer, a low-budget British production, in 1993. That year he revisited the role of Cato one final time in The Son of the Pink Panther. He became familiar to a new generation on television, with a recurring role as Entwistle in Last of the Summer Wine, and in The Harry Hill Show (as himself).

He was appointed OBE in 2011.

Burt Kwouk was an affable man who liked a glass and a smoke. He is survived by his wife Caroline, whom he married in 1961, and a son.

Burt Kwouk, born July 18 1930, died May 24 2016

Roger Millward, Rugby League player

Roger Millward in 1980 

Roger Millward, who has died aged 68, was a Great Britain Rugby League captain whose try secured the last Ashes series victory over Australia in 1970.

A half-back, he was the record try scorer in the history of Hull Kingston Rovers, with 207 in 406 appearances, and won 11 major trophies as a player and coach with the club.

Nicknamed “Roger the Dodger” for his electrifying pace and elusive running, standing only 5 ft 4 in and weighing less than 11 stone, Millward was a Lilliputian in a land of giants. His physique was alien to the bruising sport of Rugby League but he always claimed that his size was an advantage, helping him to weave past larger and more formidable opponents.

However, even his considerable evasive skills and fleetness of foot were powerless to avoid an opponent’s illegal challenge during his greatest achievement in domestic Rugby League, when he guided Hull KR to a 10-5 Challenge Cup Final victory over arch rivals Hull at Wembley Stadium in 1980.

Roger Millward and Hull KR celebrate their victory over Hull FC in the 1980 Wembley Rugby League Cup Final 

It was the only Challenge Cup final between the two Hull clubs in the 121-year history of the sport and Millward was Hull KR’s player-coach. Hull knew that he posed the biggest threat to their chances of victory, and they targeted him so fiercely that his jaw was broken and dislocated after only 13 minutes.

Nevertheless, Millward refused to leave the field and inspired his side to such a famous triumph that a function room at their Craven Park stadium in East Hull is still named the “10-5 Suite”.

Millward knew immediately that his jaw was broken, as he later recalled, but he pressed on regardless. “Fortunately,” he said, “a few seconds later, I went in to tackle Hull’s Steve Norton and my jaw caught his knee. The impact caused my jaw to click back in place and I was able to carry on playing.”

He was renowned for his sportsmanship, and he bore his opponents no malice, even accepting the offer of a pint of beer from the perpetrator of the injury in the Wembley bar after the match, before heading to hospital for surgery.

Roger Millward, left, in action 

That Wembley final, watched by 95,000 supporters, was the proudest moment of Millward’s domestic career and he often reminisced about how Hull became a ghost town that day.

“I always remember a home-made sign someone placed on the road out of the city with hundreds of coaches and cars heading to London,” he recalled. “ 'Last one out turn the lights off!’ ”

Roger Millward was born at Castleford, West Yorkshire, on September 16 1947, the younger of two brothers. His father Billy, a former professional footballer, was a miner and his mother Ivy a factory supervisor.

He was educated at Wheldon Lane School, close to the town’s Rugby League ground, where he was a regular visitor. The Great Britain half-backs Alan Hardisty and Keith Hepworth were his idols. He later studied at Castleford Grammar School before training as an electrician at Wheldale Colliery, where he worked for 15 years.

Millward’s rugby prowess was honed playing for Castleford juniors in a televised inter-town tournament, and he realised his ambition of becoming a professional player with his home-town club, making his debut as a 16-year-old winger. Despite being unable to claim a regular half-back spot, owing to the form of the established Hardisty and Hepworth, Millward became one of Great Britain’s youngest internationals when he was selected in the pivotal stand-off role against France at the age of 18.

I went in to tackle Hull’s Steve Norton and my jaw caught his knee. The impact caused my jaw to click back in place and I was able to carry on playingRoger Millward

Notwithstanding his impressive record of having scored 16 tries in 40 appearances, Castleford then accepted a £6,000 offer from Hull KR for the teenage Millward; the player recalled later that he “was shocked and disappointed at being shown the door by Castleford, but it turned out to be the best move of my life”. He kicked 607 goals for Hull KR, who appointed him captain at the age of 21 and player coach at 30 after the sudden death of Harry Poole.

According to Colin Hutton, the Hull KR president and a former Great Britain manager, Millward was “the greatest player this country has ever seen, a true legend”. Even opponents were full of respect for his talents and Johnny Whiteley, the former captain and coach of Hull, the rival team from the other side of the city, said: “A finer gentleman you could not ask to meet.”

Millward made a big impact on the international stage too, playing an integral role in Great Britain’s last Ashes victory in 1970. He was not part of the first Test defeat in Brisbane – his old club colleague Hardisty having been chosen instead – but was recalled for the second Test, when he scored a record-equalling 20 points in a 28-7 victory.

The third Test was at Sydney Cricket Ground, where Millward, a keen cricket follower, was inspired by seeing the photographs of famous England cricketers in the visitors’ dressing room. He sprinted 40 yards to score the series-winning try in a 21-17 success, rejoicing in the sight of “77,000 Aussies crying at the Sydney Cricket Ground”.

Millward captained Great Britain on the 1978 Kangaroo tour after a short stint playing for the Australian club Cronulla in 1976. He never forgot his first visit to Papua New Guinea where he was puzzled by the proliferation of red pavements.

Asking a local about it, he was told that the stains were caused by all the betel nuts the Papuans chewed before spitting out the juice. “I never saw anything like that in Castleford,” said Millward.

All in all he won 47 caps for Great Britain and England, and Hull KR named a stand in his honour at their ground. “I expected to see a small plaque over a door,” Millward explained after the unveiling, “but when I drove to the ground my name was emblazoned in letters 20 ft high on the stand.”

His last senior match was that Wembley final in 1980, also the last time Hull KR won the trophy, and he retired after breaking his jaw for the fourth time in a reserve comeback at Batley the following season. He later had a brief spell as coach at Halifax before retiring from the sport to work as a transport manager and later premises manager at Royds School in Rothwell, where the current Leeds and England winger Ryan Hall was a pupil.

Millward was appointed MBE in 1983, having been inducted in the Rugby League Hall of Fame in 1980. As a sign of respect Hull KR announced after his death that they had permanently “retired” his No 6 jersey.

Roger Millward, who suffered from cancer in recent years, is survived by his wife Carol, whom he married in 1968, and a daughter.

Roger Millward, born September 16 1947, died May 2 2016

Christy O'Connor Sr, golfer

Christy O'Connor Sr in the 1970s

Christy O'Connor Sr, was the outstanding Irish golfer of his generation, a village boy from Galway who made good, enjoying a long career that brought him 24 tournament victories on the European Tour and 10 consecutive Ryder Cup appearances between 1955 and 1973.

His main, perhaps his only, regret was failing to win the British Open in 26 attempts. The nearest he came was a tie for runner-up at Royal Birkdale at the age of 40 in 1965, when he was pipped by the great Australian player Peter Thomson.

The landscape of professional golf was very different in O’Connor’s peak years. Travel was time-consuming and prize money modest, although the year 1970 was significant, the John Player Classic at Hollinwell offering a first prize of £24,375 (about £200,000 today), by far the highest purse yet seen in Europe. That O’Connor, then aged 45, won that tournament was a testament to his durability and skill, but he was too old to cash in on the boom years of the 1980s and beyond enjoyed by the likes of Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam.

Known as 'Himself', O’Connor was a stickler for golf etiquette and hated slow play

Widely known as “Himself” as his fame in Ireland spread, O’Connor was a stickler for golf etiquette and hated slow play. His mettle was tested in his second Ryder Cup, at Lindrick in 1957, when he played Dow Finsterwald. The fiery American claimed a hole when O’Connor assumed that a putt had been conceded with his ball about an inch away from the hole. The incident spurred O’Connor to a handsome “7 and 6” win, and swept Great Britain and Ireland towards their first success against the US since 1933. O’Connor, often with Peter Alliss as his partner, went on to a Cup career exceeded in longevity only by Nick Faldo.

O’Connor was an intensely competitive player and, though generous in spirit and revered by his peers, he could be prickly off the course with occasional arguments quickly forgotten. And he liked a drink and a sing-song.

Once in 1963 the first round of the world team championship Canada Cup in Paris was cancelled due to fog and the players gravitated to the bar, led by O’Connor and his Ireland team-mate Jimmy Martin. O’Connor was almost late for the start the following day and his first tee-shot skirted into the trees. Spectators thought he had hit a bad shot, but they did not know that O’Connor had driven there deliberately, having prepared a discreet black coffee and whisky for his hangover out of sight. He returned a 68, the third-best score of the day.

Christy O'Connor in action during the British Seniors Open Golf Championship at Turnberry in 1989 

One of 11 children of a farmer, Patrick Christopher O’Connor was born on December 21 1924 at Knocknacarra in Galway. As a small boy he caddied at the Galway Golf Club for extra money before becoming intrigued by the game. From informal practice with cast-off clubs he graduated to proper play, showing enough ability to be taken on as an assistant professional at Ashford Castle, Tuam, Bundoran, Killarney and finally Royal Dublin.

At the age of 26, he was funded by supporters to enter the 1951 British Open at Royal Portrush, where he seized attention as the leading Irish finisher. He settled with his new wife Mary (née Collins) in Clontarf, and his worldwide golf commitments meant that he saw less of his six children than he would have liked.

It was at Bundoran golf club a few years after his first Open appearance that the O’Connor legend for virtuosity grew. During a four-ball friendly game with members he responded to a challenge for fun to find the green at the downhill 235-yard 13th hole with every club in the bag and he succeeded with nearly all of them, including the putter.

On the professional circuit he caused a sensation at Royal Dublin in 1966 with an eagle-birdie-eagle finish to pip Eric Brown for the Carroll’s International title, then the Irish Open equivalent.

Christy O' Connor holding the trophy at the end of the 1977 World Seniors Championship 

O’Connor’s easy swing and perfect hand action suggested that he was a “natural” player, but he would always insist that only hours of practice made this possible. “Wristy Christy” was perhaps the world’s best player from “tight” lies, no doubt as the result of having struck hundreds of balls cleanly off the sea-washed sand on the Dublin shore.

Many circuit professionals admired O’Connor’s swing, including Severiano Ballesteros, who became known as “Yer Man” during his frequent visits to Ireland. Thousands of Irish spectators flocked to Portmarnock when Ballesteros was paired with the ageing O’Connor in the third round of the 1980 Irish Open, a duel between Yer Man and Himself.

O’Connor became a formidable player on the senior circuit, winning six PGA championships, and for 50 years gave time to the Links Golfing Society, the Irish pro-am charity he co-founded. Even recently he continued to practise at Royal Dublin and give advice. His twin sons, Peter and Christopher, followed him into professional golf and his nephew Christy O’Connor Jr achieved fame as a Ryder Cup player before his death in January this year.

O’Connor is survived by his wife and their three daughters and two sons. A daughter predeceased him.

Christy O’Connor Sr, born December 21 1924, died May 14 2016

Emile Ford, singer

Emile Ford

Emile Ford, who has died aged 78, was the first black pop star to sell a million copies of a single in Britain alone when at the end of 1959 What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For? spent six weeks at No 1.

The follow-up, On A Slow Boat To China, almost did the same (reaching No 3), and Counting Teardrops climbed to No 4 during the rainy autumn of 1960. But, with well-paid bookings stretching years into the future, Ford was able to invest in a lucrative recording complex in Barbados, where he could indulge a serious interest in electronics.

Born Michael Emile Telford Miller on the neighbouring island of St Lucia on October 16 1937, he was the eldest child of the eminent West Indian parliamentarian Frederick Edward Miller and Madge Murray, a soprano. He attended St Mary’s College.

Although some of his siblings entered politics – notably his sister Billie, later deputy prime minister of Barbados – Miller was to embark on a career in show business after uprooting to London in 1954. Initially, he was a recording engineer, while teaching himself to play a multitude of instruments, ranging from drums to violin.

By the age of 20, however, he was singing with a north London ballroom combo, and had adopted his stage alias of “Emile Ford”. Although he admired Mario Lanza, it made sense to pay heed to prevailing trends, no matter how abhorrent they might have seemed to many adult dancers. “I like music with a beat,” he commented at the time, “and if it happens to be called rock 'n’ roll – which I know is regarded as a dirty word in some quarters – then it’s too bad.”

Emile Ford in 1957 

Nevertheless, he amassed television appearances on variety programmes such as The Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson Show, Sunday Serenade (in a group with his half-brother George) and, crucially, Oh, Boy!, an ITV series aimed directly at teenagers.

In 1959, Ford gained a contract with Pye Records, who allowed him more studio freedom than most other pop artists in Britain at that time. The company’s faith was rewarded with the commercial triumph of What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?, a revival of a song originally recorded during the Great War.

Taped in 30 minutes at the end of a session, this singalong, doo-wop arrangement was released as the B-side to Don’t Tell Me Your Troubles, a cover version of an American country hit by Don Gibson, until it picked up sufficient air play in its own right. Promoted to the A-side, its impact – and that of On A Slow Boat To China and three further Top 20 entries – was such that Ford was voted “Best New Act” of 1960 in the annual poll of New Musical Express readers.

The accolade also belonged to Ford’s backing group the Checkmates, an ensemble augmented eventually by a female chorale duo, the Fordettes. Among those passing through the ranks were the drummer John Cuffley – later of The Climax Chicago Blues Band – and the keyboard-player Alan Hawkshaw, remembered chiefly as a composer of film and television theme music.

Emile Ford in 1973 

Ford’s chart farewell was I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now – from the 1909 musical The Prince of Tonight – and after that earnings on the road came to take priority over making new records. An ebullient live performer, Ford remained a dependable draw both at home and abroad, partly because he relied on a self-devised PA system rather than trusting in-house equipment, thus ensuring that he and the Checkmates sounded clearer and punchier than other performers on a given bill. Support acts during Ford’s heyday included the Beatles (at New Brighton in 1962), and it was their rise and the beat group boom that precipitated the sundering of Emile Ford and the Checkmates in 1963.

Ford was not to forsake the limelight completely, however, and continued with considerable success as a studio boffin, having pioneered the use of his own pre-recorded backing tracks when necessary for stage shows, thereby pre-empting (after a fashion) what was to be known as karaoke.

This and further electronic innovations – such as the Liveoteque Sound Frequency Feedback Injection System, an open-air playback structure – were developed in his Barbados premises and in Sweden after he moved there in the mid-1970s and then in California where, in 1988, he founded his own electronics concern.

He is survived by four daughters and three sons.

Emile Ford, born October 16 1937, died April 11 2016

Barry Davies, SAS soldier

Barry Davies

Barry Davies, who has died aged 71, was an SAS counter-terrorist expert and took part in a daring raid on a hijacked German airliner in Somalia.

On October 13 1977, a Boeing 737 airliner on a Lufthansa flight from Palma, Majorca, to Frankfurt was hijacked by four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Eight-six passengers (including 11 German beauty queens) and five crew were taken hostage. The terrorists demanded the release of leaders of the Red Army Faction (RAF), known in its early stages as the Baader-Meinhof Group, held in German jails, together with two Palestinians held by Turkey.

Helmut Schmidt, the German Chancellor, asked for assistance from the British government and Davies, then a sergeant, and Major Alastair Morrison, second-in-command of 22 SAS, were summoned to Downing Street. Davies told assembled ministers and heads of security organisations together with members of GSG9, the West German anti-terrorist unit, that, in his opinion, an assault using the recently developed stun grenade offered the best chance of freeing the hostages.

For the next few days, Davies and Morrison trailed the airliner as it was moved from one airport to another in Europe and the Middle East. Several airports refused to let the aircraft land. In Bahrain, it touched down with only enough fuel for three more minutes in the air.

In Dubai, the SAS and GSG9 contingents were on the point of making an assault when the Lufthansa jet took off and flew to Aden. There, the pilot, Captain Jürgen Schumann, was shot dead. The aircraft flew on to Mogadishu in the Somali Democratic Republic.

Negotiators in the control tower engaged the terrorists in protracted discussions order to give the raiding party time to re-train. As a result, the hijackers became increasingly nervous. The male passengers were tied up with stockings taken from the women. In the intense heat, the stench from inadequate sanitation, and fumes from highly inflammable duty-free spirits with which the terrorists had doused the cabin, created intolerable conditions.

The authorities ostensibly agreed for the German and Turkish prisoners to be flown to Mogadishu and the terrorists agreed to a final extension of the deadline to allow time for this. If there was any further delay, they insisted that they would destroy the aircraft and all its passengers.

Survival is a Dying Art

President Siad Barre of Somalia gave his permission for an assault. The control tower kept up a continuous dialogue with the terrorists, relaying fictitious accounts of the progress of the prisoners. At eight o’clock on the evening of October 18, 28 members of GSG9 arrived in Mogadishu. Davies and Morrison put on GSG9 shirts to avoid any risk of “blue on blue” casualties. All wore body armour; some carried pistols, others sub-machine guns.

Shortly before midnight, the raiding party moved off. The plan was to approach from the rear of the aircraft, the “blind spot,” but the airfield lights gave them gigantic shadows and some anxious moments. While the assault ladders carried by the six teams were being erected, Somali soldiers lit a large bonfire on the runway in front of the aircraft to create a diversion and draw the hijackers into the cockpit.

The non-fragmentation grenades were designed to stun anyone close to the detonation for between three and five seconds. Davies pulled the pins of two of them. He threw one over the starboard wing and another over the cockpit. This exploded two feet above the flight deck.

He then scaled a ladder on to the wing and followed two GSG9 soldiers through the hatchway into the aircraft. The terrorists exploded two grenades and there was a fire fight for close to five minutes, largely confined to the flight deck, with shouts to the passengers of “Get down! Get down!” while continuous gunfire rattled up and down the aircraft.

Davies (in stripes) with the Chief of the Malaysian Army in the SAS jungle warfare school in Northern Malaysia 

Morrison cradled one of the beauty queens in his arms as he helped her down from the wing. “I’m afraid you may have to give her back,” Davies shouted to him. One member of GSG9 had been hit and three passengers and a stewardess were slightly wounded. Two of the terrorists had been shot dead. A third died a few hours later in hospital. News of the rescue of the passengers was followed by the deaths in custody of three of the Red Army group. Davies was awarded the British Empire Medal. Morrison was appointed OBE.

Barry Davies, the son of a farmer, was born on November 22 1944 at Wem, Shropshire, and was educated locally. He subsequently joined the Welsh Guards, was posted to the 1st Bn and served with them in BAOR and Aden.

Aged 22, he passed the selection test for the Special Air Service Regiment and served with the SAS for the next 18 years. His service included missions in Northern Ireland, Oman and Malaya. He resigned from the Army in 1985 and joined BCB International. The company provides camping and survival equipment. Davies was closely involved in marketing and product development.

A prolific author and an ebullient character, he published more than 35 books including Fire Magic: Hijack at Mogadishu (1994), Survival is a Dying Art (1999) and The Complete History of the SAS (2003). In 1996 he moved to Spain where he enjoyed walking, photography and writing.

He was married four times, lastly, in 2011, to Mary Dixon. She survives him with their daughter and a son and a daughter of his second marriage.

Barry Davies, born November 22 1944, died April 18 2016

Jimmy Riley, reggae singer

Jimmy Riley

Jimmy Riley, who has died of cancer aged 68, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter who scored numerous hits both as a member of vocal harmony groups and as a solo artist.

The second of eight children, he was born Martin Norman Riley on May 22 1947 in the west Kingston slum of Jones Town. His father worked as a night watchman at the Myers rum plant, his mother as a shift-worker at a nearby clothing factory.

At Kingston Senior School he came into contact with such talented vocalists as Alton Ellis and Carl Dawkins, while his close friendship with Slim Smith soon brought him honorary membership of the Techniques. Since there was no room for him to join that group, however, Riley formed the rival Sensations band with Cornell Campbell, Aaron “Dego” Davis, and Buster Riley, just as the ska style began to wane.

A successful audition for Duke Reid yielded the hits Everyday is Just a Holiday and Those Guys, and in 1967 Riley joined Slim Smith and Lloyd Charmers in a new vocal group, the Uniques, the partnership yielding an impressive string of hits, including Let Me Go Girl, Watch This Sound, Out Of Love, My Conversation, and Build My World Around You. The group beat Bob Marley and the Wailers at the “Battle of the Bands” competition at the Ward Theatre, and were employed by Prince Buster and Ken Khouri as backing vocalists.

Through the encouragement of the producer Bunny Lee, Riley then went solo, working closely with Lee and his fellow producer Lee “Scratch” Perry into the 1970s. He gave coaching to up-and-coming artists such as Dave Barker and helped shape some of the Wailers’ biggest hits for Perry, who also issued Riley’s rude ditty, Self Control. A cover of the Staples Singers’ When Will We Be Paid was also creditable, though not particularly popular.

Jimmy Riley

In the mid-1970s, after Riley recorded Eat Where You Sleep, the London-based producer Tony Ashfield offered to record an album with him, and Riley also put Ashfield in touch with the reggae singer John Holt whose popular The Further You Look Ashfield cut with Riley’s assistance.

Since most of Riley’s family had moved to the Bronx, he began spending time in New York, so his own album for Ashfield took longer to finish, and the subsequent collapse of Trojan Records meant that it was never issued. Nevertheless, Riley recorded some great singles for Lee “Scratch” Perry in this era, with Hypocrites, Sons of Negus, I Man Stand Still, and a sensitive reggae reading of Bobby Womack’s Woman’s Got To Have It among the most noteworthy.

In the late 1970s, after covering Summertime with Ossie Hibbert and issuing the self-produced Give Thanks And Praise, Riley released the albums Tell The Youth The Truth, Majority Rule and Showcase, all of which deserved wider distribution than they received. After a fallow period, Riley finally scored a No 1 solo hit, teaming with Sly and Robbie for a re-cut of the Uniques’ Love And Devotion, which led to the acclaimed Rydim Driven album, released by Island in 1981.

Put The People First was released by Shanachie the following year; but Riley somehow failed to maintain momentum and subsequent albums were of varying quality.

A move to Miami to open a record shop kept him out of the limelight in the late 1980s, but on his return to Jamaica Riley began nurturing new talent from the producer’s chair, issuing records on his own Love Promotion label. His 1997 release of Anthony B’s Waan Back was particularly successful. He also helped his son Tarrus to become one of Jamaica’s most successful performing artists, collaborating with him on numerous singles, of which Pull Up Selector (2007) was the most popular.

He is survived by his wife Sandra and several children.

Jimmy Riley, born May 22 1947, died March 23 2016

Tony Cozier, cricket commentator

Tony Cozier in Bridgetown, Barbados, commentating on the ICC Cricket World Cup Super Eights match between West Indies and England at the Kensington Oval in 2007

Tony Cozier, who has died aged 75, was a West Indian cricket journalist and commentator whose kindly, mellifluous, Barbadian lilt became familiar to radio and television audiences around the world.

Cozier’s first Test Match commentary on radio was on West Indies v Australia in 1965, but he became well-known in Britain after joining the BBC’s Test Match Special team the following year. He remained a fixture on the programme during England v West Indies matches for some 50 years, charting the rise and fall of Caribbean cricket with authority and eloquence.

Cozier was a master of ball-by-ball commentary, moving seamlessly from quick-fire descriptions of pace bowling to the more languorous 'in the air' with which he anticipated a caught dismissal

Renowned for his knowledge of cricket statistics, Cozier was a master of ball-by-ball commentary, moving seamlessly from quick-fire descriptions of pace bowling to the more languorous “in the air” with which he anticipated a caught dismissal. Like other members of the TMS team, however, Cozier sometimes found himself at the receiving end of practical jokes.

On returning to the commentary box after a rain break during the MCC tour of the West Indies in 1967, he was challenged by a mischievous Brian Johnston to recite the bowling figures and birthdays of the entire West Indies team “to the nearest decimal point”. When Cozier tried to fob him off by offering to describe the state of the pitch, Johnston continued to insist on the statistics, concluding with, “Well, Tony, if you can’t give us the details I suppose we had better return to the studio.”

Cozier got his own back in 1991 on the famous occasion when Johnston dissolved into helpless giggles after Jonathan Agnew remarked, apropos Ian Botham stepping on his wicket, “he didn’t quite get his leg over”. For the next 90 or so seconds, as motorists had to take to the hard shoulder in the interests of road safety, and as Johnston and Agnew struggled to recover their composure, Cozier refused to help out.

The BBC Test Match Special celebrates its  50th anniversary in 2007. Crozier is on the far right of the group standing behind (l-r) Henry Blofeld, Jonathan Agnew and scorer Bill Frindall. 

Johnston was said to have been angry with him for not coming to the rescue. “It did flash through my mind at the time,” the laconic Cozier admitted later, “but only for a split second.” The next morning, however, Johnston woke up to hear that the gaffe had become an instant comedy classic, then turned up at the Oval to find himself a national hero.

The likelihood of a white West Indian, even one with Caribbean roots dating back to the 18th century, seemingly remains as improbable as a black Eskimo.Tony Cozier

In an article in The Independent in 2004, 41 years after covering his first tour of England by the West Indies, Cozier reflected on the changes he had seen, but observed that one thing had remained constant: “The confusion caused when it is discovered that my Barbadian accent emanates from a white mouth. The likelihood of a white West Indian, even one with Caribbean roots dating back to the 18th century, seemingly remains as improbable as a black Eskimo.”

Winston Anthony Lloyd Cozier was born on July 10 1940 in Bridgetown, Barbados, into a family descended from Scottish labourers who had emigrated to the island in the 18th century. His father, Jimmy, was a well-known newspaper editor and publisher in St Lucia and Barbados.

Beating England in England - especially at Lord’s, the home of the establishment - made us feel we could do anythingTony Cozier

Cozier always believed in the ideal of an inclusive Caribbean community and saw cricket as a unifying force: “I was 10 in 1950, the year West Indies recorded their first series win in England with the help of Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell,” he recalled in The Observer in 2007. “Beating England in England was a huge psychological boost for everyone in the Caribbean. Everything we had ever got from Britain was a hand-me-down: they paid special prices for our sugar and we had to go cap in hand to them for everything. Beating England in England – especially at Lord’s, the home of the establishment – made us feel we could do anything.”

After studying journalism at Carleton University, Ottawa, Cozier began working as a reporter, and became sports editor of his father’s newspaper, the Barbados Daily News in 1961. He also played hockey as a goalkeeper for Barbados and cricket as a batsman and wicket-keeper for two local Barbados clubs, Wanderers and Carlton.

It was while working for his father that he covered his first West Indies tour of England – in 1963, when, as he recalled, “I slept mainly on the couches of West Indian student friends, and at modest YMCAs and bed and breakfasts, and travelled much of the time on a rail system that, at the time, seemed to work just fine.”

Tony Cozier in 1973 

Later Cozier worked as cricket correspondent of the Barbados Advocate and was instrumental in setting up the Nation newspaper in 1973. In Britain he wrote regularly for The Independent and also contributed to the cricketing website Cricinfo. As well as TMS, he commentated for Channel Nine in Australia and for Sky Sports. He edited the West Indies Cricket annual for 22 editions and in 1978 published The West Indies: 50 Years of Test Cricket, with a foreword by Garfield Sobers.

There were a few occasions when Cozier’s on-air utterances made it into compendiums of sporting quotes, including his observation that Queen’s Park Oval was “exactly as its name suggests – absolutely round”. In 2007 he provided entertainment by reading out a spoof email from a TMS fan during a lunch break at Chester-le-Street: “One listener says he is trying to introduce cricket to Mexico but is finding it hard as it’s very mountainous and there are no flat areas at all. That’s from a Mr Juan Carr.”

Despite howls of laughter from fellow commentators, it took Cozier some time to see the joke. “I think you’ve been done there, Tony,” said Jonathan Agnew.

Cozier was a popular man with fellow commentators and players. As a tribute the press box at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, was named after him and no tour of the West Indies by a visiting team was complete without an invitation to a barbecue at his modest wooden beach hut at Conset Bay, on the east side of Barbados.

Cozier on TMS in 2007 during the Cricket World Cup 2007 Bangladesh v West Indies match at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown

He was less popular with some within the West Indies Cricket Board, the frequent target of his wrath over the decline of the West Indian game. When in 2011 he was awarded life membership of MCC he recalled that his first Test match at Lord’s had been “the thrilling last-over draw in 1963, after which there was an extended sequence of West Indies successes. That ended in 1995 and I now trust that previous service will be resumed on my first Test as an MCC member next May.”

He lived to see the West Indies win the Under-19 World Cup, the Women’s T20 World Cup and the World T20 finals earlier this year.

Cozier is survived by his wife, Jillian, and by their son and daughter.

Tony Cozier, born July 10 1940, died May 11 2016