Born in Barrow County, Georgia, in 1904, Charles Arthur Floyd, alias "Pretty Boy", participated in the Kansas City Massacre in 1933 when four law enforcement officers, including one FBI Special Agent, were killed.  A leading …

Recognised as the first heavyweight boxing champion of the world, John Lawrence Sullivan was born in Boston, USA, in 1858.  Son of a quick-tempered Boston Irishman, he at first attempted to learn a trade, being …

AKA The Boston Strangler.  Or was he?  And come to that, was he really a plumber?  His father Frank DeSalvo certainly was, although he let down the profession by being an alcoholic who knocked seven …

Born in Hammersmith in May 1914, Arthur Haynes was the only son of a baker.   Although remembered today only by Nissan Micra drivers, Haynes was an immensely popular television comedian throughout the middle of …

Few political party leaders have had funerals marked by the presence of leopardskin armbands, a cavalcade of motorbikes and rock and roll.  But then David Edward Sutch was no ordinary politician. Screaming Lord Sutch, who …

Britain’s answer to Frank Sinatra.  Okay, Matt was no Ol’ Blue Eyes but he carved out a successful career as a romantic ballad singer both in Britain and America in an age dominated by raucous …

Ronnie Laine, bassist and founder member of The Small Faces, was born in Plaistow, East London, on April 1, 1946, son of a lorry driver.  At 16 he left school and began working as a …

Short, bad baldie who rose to fame in The Long Good Friday, Hoskins was born in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk in 1942 where his mother had been sent to escape the Blitz.  They couldn’t …

Walter Charles Dance was born in Birmingham, England, in 1946, son of a parlour maid and a civil engineer who died when he was four.  When the son was four that is, not the father. …

He was the pianist who brought joy with his tinkling fingers and his twinkling smile.  This attractive combination brought Russ Conway huge success in live concert and on record, and made him one of Britain’s …