George Melly (1926-2007)

Jazz-singer, journalist, radio presenter, TV chat show regular and pop culture icon (Alan) George (Heywood) Melly died on 5 July, aged 80. He was also the scriptwriter of 'Flook', the Daily Mail strip drawn by Wally ("Trog") Fawkes, which he took over from Humphrey Lyttelton in 1956 and continued to write until 1970. Melly ghosted I, Flook. An autobiography (Macmillan & Co., 1962) and a retrospective collection of his strips, A Flook's Eye-View of the Sixties, was published by Sidgwick & Jackson (1970). In the 1970s he would often provide ideas for political pocket cartoonist Mark ("Marc") Boxer for The Times.

Obituaries: The Times (6 July), Daily Telegraph (6 July), The Independent (6 July), The Guardian (6 July).