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Popular motoring journalist Peter Wherrett loses battle

Pioneering motoring journalist and television personality Peter Wherrett has died after battling cancer for the past year.

Wherrett, who co-wrote and presented the popular motoring program Torque in the 1970s died on Monday aged 72.

His second wife Lesley Brydon told AAP Wherrett was a natural in front of the camera and adored cars and working on the program.

``It was his lifeblood,'' she said.

``So when the ABC ran out of funding for these programs it was like tearing his heart out really.''

Wherrett's love affair with cars was sparked as a teenager and by the late 1960s he was working teaching advanced driving skills in Sydney.

He eventually bought the business and created controversy at the time with his comments that women were better drivers than men.

But it was with Torque that he became famous and Ms Brydon said it was an enormously exciting time.

``He was a natural television talent, there was no question about that,'' she said.

``He took to television like a duck to water. He just stood in front of the camera and opened his mouth.

``He never prepared, he never had notes, he just uttered whatever came into his head and it was invariably to the point, concise and entertaining.''

Wherrett was married three times and separated from his third wife, Kim Mathers, in 2006.

A private memorial service is expected to be held later this week.

JENNY of Jenny's Side Party BEM (British Empire Medal)

Died Not known Reported by AE(OL) on 20-Mar-09

Generations of sailors who visited Hong Kong will mourn the death of Jenny. She was a much loved living legend who. for all the colony's constant change, remained the same incomparable institution for over half a century.
Much of her life was an enigma. However. the authors of her twenty-seven Certificates of Service generally agreed that she was born in a sampan in Causeway Bay in 1917. Her mother, Jenny One, according to her one surviving Certificate of Service, which was copied in 1946 from an older, much battered and largely illegible document., 'provided serviceable sampans far the general use of the Royal Navy, obtained sand. and. was useful for changing money’. She brought up her two daughters to help her.
Behind her perpetual great gold-toothed grin Jenny complained; “I velly chocker. All time work in sampan. N0 learn to lead or lite.” But what she lacked in education she made up more than a hundredfold with her immense and impressive experience in ship husbandry. her unfailing thoroughness and apparently inexhaustible energy. her unquestionable loyalty and integrity, her infectious enthusiasm and her innate cheerfulness.
Officially Jenny's Date of Volunteering was recorded as 1928. From then until 1997, when the colony became a Special Administrative Region of China and the Royal Navy moved out. she and her team of tireless girls. who at one time numbered nearly three dozen, unofficially served the Royal and Commonwealth Navies in Hong Kong by cleaning and painting their ships. attending their buoy jumpers, and, dressed in their best. waiting with grace and charm upon their guests at cocktail parties. Captains and Executive Officers would find fresh flowers in their cabins and newspapers delivered daily. And many a departing officer received a generous gift as a memento from Jenny. For all of this she steadfastly refused ever to take any payment. Instead she and her Side Party earned their keep selling soft drinks to the ships' companies and accepting any item of scrap which could be found on board.
Jenny's huge collection of photographs - too big. she said. to be put into books - she stored in a large envelope. They dated back to the mid 20th century and showed her in the ships she so faithfully served, with Buffers and Side Parties, and with grateful officers. many of whom became distinguished admirals. In two thick albums she proudly kept her letters of reference, all without exception filled with praise and affection for her. One was a commendation by the Duke of Edinburgh for her work in the Royal Yacht during her visit to Hong Kong in 1959. She has a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal presented to her in 1938 by the captain of HMS DEVONSHIRE, and a bar engraved 'HMS LEANDER 1975’.
Most treasured of all Jenny's distinctions was the British Empire Medal awarded her in the Hong Kong Civilian List of the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1980 and with which she, formally named Mrs. Ng Muk Kah, was invested by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray MacLehose.
In later years Hong Kong was no longer visited by the great fleets of battleships and cruisers which gave Jenny and her Side Party their livelihood and she found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Yet she stayed fit and always willing to undertake any work available. To the end of the Royal Navy's presence in Hong Kong there could be seen in the shadow of the towering Prince of Wales building within the naval base, a small round figure in traditional baggy black trousers and high-collared smock, with a long pigtail and eternal smile who, regardless of time. remained it seemed for ever – just Jenny.


Jenny died peacefully in Hong Kong on Wednesday 18th February 2009. She was 92 years old.

Angel star Andy Hallett dies of heart failure

Andy Hallett, who starred as Lorne ("the Host") on the TV series Angel, died of heart failure last night at age 33, according to his longtime agent and friend Pat Brady. The actor passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with heart disease, with his father Dave Hallett by his side.

Hallett, from the Cape Cod village of Osterville, Mass., appeared on more than 70 episodes of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff, Angel, between 2000 and 2004. The accomplished actor was also a musician and sang two songs ("Lady Marmalade" and "It's Not Easy Being Green") on the Angel: Live Fast, Die Never soundtrack, released in 2005.

The actor's character on Angel was Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, or Lorne for short. Hallett's Lorne was a friendly demon, who, when not assisting Angel and his team in the investigation of various and sundry underworld mysteries, served as the host and headliner at a demon bar.

Back in 2001, Hallett said that despite constant flirtation with David Boreanaz' character Angel, and the occasional sly Elton John reference, "We don't really know if he's gay. I don't really know. It's funny, because sometimes he's right in Angel's face, and that's when I feel it the most. And viewers would probably think, hmm, what's going on here? This guy's pretty curvy."

Hallett has spent his post-Angel years working on his music career, playing shows around the country. He had been admitted to the hospital three or four times in the past few years for his heart condition, according to Pat.

A private funeral service will be held for family and close friends in Cape Cod, most likely over this weekend.

ACT Brumbies rugby player Mackay dies

ACT Brumbies Super 14 rugby forward Shawn Mackay has died in a Durban hospital from injuries he received after being hit by a vehicle, team officials said.

Mackay, 26, died at about 1100 AEST, having suffered a cardiac arrest, a Brumbies spokesman said.

He had been in hospital, critically ill with head and spinal injuries, since March 29 when he was hit by an armed response car in a Durban street while on the Brumbies' tour of South Africa.

Team officials said Mackay had shown some positive signs after being brought out of a medically-induced coma late last week and underwent surgery.

"After his surgery Shawn contracted an infection in his bloodstream," the Brumbies' chief executive Andrew Fagan said.

"He deteriorated rapidly and suffered a cardiac arrest from which he didn't recover."

Golden Girl Bea Arthur dies at 86

LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Emmy Award-winning actress Bea Arthur, best known as star of the hit TV comedies "Maude" and "Golden Girls," has died at age 86, entertainment news websites reported Saturday.

Arthur, a longtime stage actress whose comic timing and deadpan delivery were a perfect fit for her sharp-tongued roles on the two series, died of cancer at her Los Angeles home, celebrity website TMZ reported.

Representatives for the actress, who won best-actress Emmys -- America's top television award -- for "Maude" and "Golden Girls," could not immediately be reached for comment.

"Thirty-seven years ago she showed me how to be very brave in playing comedy," one of Arthur's co-stars, Rue McClanahan, told TMZ in a statement. "I'll miss that courage and I'll miss that voice."

Born Beatrice Frankel in New York on May 13, 1922, Arthur began performing in college and appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway roles, winning a Tony Award opposite Angela Lansbury in "Mame."

In the early 1970s, Arthur appeared on the groundbreaking television comedy "All in the Family" as Edith Bunker's fiercely liberal cousin Maude. Producers who saw gold in the role quickly devised a spinoff for the character.

"Maude" debuted on CBS in 1972 and became one of the top-rated sitcoms on U.S. television during its six-year run.

In a two-part episode that aired in November 1972, the show stirred protest and controversy when Maude decided to have an abortion because of her age. The procedure was legal in New York state, where the show was set, but not nationwide.

Two months later, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in its landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

Arthur followed with "Golden Girls," an unlikely hit from 1985 to 1992 that featured four female retirees living together.

Central to the popularity of "Golden Girls" was the comic interplay between Arthur's character and her mother, played by Estelle Getty -- who in real life was a year younger and who also won an Emmy for the show.

Getty died last July at the age of 84.

According to CNN, no funeral services had been planned for Arthur. She is survived by two sons and two grandchildren, and family members have asked that in lieu of flowers donations be sent to her favorite cause, the ArtAttack foundation.

Veteran Australian actor Bud Tingwell dies in Melbourne aged 86

Veteran Australian actor Charles 'Bud' Tingwell has died aged 86.

His agent Joanne Baker confirmed he died this morning in a Melbourne hospital.

"He had been suffering from prostate cancer," Ms Baker said.

It is understood Tingwell had been battling the disease for the last couple of years.

The Sydney-born star first appeared on the silver screen in 1946 and is best known for his roles in classic Australian films Breaker Morant, The Castle and TV cop show Homicide.

He became a radio actor while still at school, before joining the Royal Australian Air Force in 1941 and serving as a reconnaissance pilot flying Spitfires and Mosquitoes over Nazi-occupied north Africa and southern Europe.

After leaving the service, he entered the film industry and landed his first speaking role in 1945 in the film Smithy, which was about aviator Charles Kingsford Smith.

In 1952, he was invited to Hollywood to work alongside Richard Burton on The Desert Rats.

He went on to have roles in a number of Australian films and TV shows, including All The Rivers Run, Puberty Blues, The Flying Doctors, All Saints and Neighbours.

Most recently, Tingwell had small roles in The Craic, The Dish and the ABC series Changi and Bed Of Roses.

He was awarded the AM (Member of the Order of Australia) in 1999 for his services to the performing arts as an actor, director, producer, and to the community.

He is survived by his son Christopher and daughter Virginia - who is an actress.

Tingwell's wife Audrey died in 1996.