My friend and colleague, the actor Eileen Pollock (Polly), has died aged 73. She was best known for playing Lilo Lil in the BBC sitcom Bread (1986-91), about the Liverpudlian Boswell family. The role was originally written as native Liverpool, so Polly tried out her Scouse on her taxi driver.…

Opera director who came to prize directness and psychological insight over deconstruction and irony

Mahmud Kianush, who has died aged 86, was an Iranian poet, writer and translator who had lived and worked in London since 1974. He played an important role in introducing English literature to Iranians and also translated many modern Iranian poems into English. He was a close friend of my…

Broadcaster who for decades topped the ratings with the celebrity interview show Larry King Live

Writer with an expert knowledge of Turkish politics and history

Phil Spector, who has died from Covid-19 aged 81, was a gifted record producer and songwriter whose recordings in the 1960s, and later with The Beatles, revolutionised pop music, but whose talents were undermined by a mercurial temperament that would lead to him twice standing trial for the murder of…