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This week
Friday听7th July 2006
Matthew Bannister听tells the life stories of people who have died recently. This week:Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs, Kenneth Lay, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Don Lusher, Eileen Barton, John Beloff and Fred Trueman.
Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs who has died aged 85
Rabbi Louis Jacobs was voted "the greatest British Jew of the past 350 years" by a Jewish Chronicle poll last December.听听 But in the early 1960s what became known as "Jacobs Affair" split English Jewry.听The dispute was over the publication of Jacobs'听book called 'We Have Reason to Believe' which challenged orthodox thinking about the origins of the Torah.听听When it was suggested he might become听a teacher at the leading college for training Rabbis听he was banned by the Chief Rabbi from preaching or officiating in any of the 63 congregations of the United Synagogue.听 This led him to create听a breakaway New London Synagogue in St John's Wood and the Masorti听movement听grew up around him.
No one from the Board of Deputies of British Jews听or the United Synagogue wished to speak about the affair at this time so听we brought together Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg - who gave the address at Louis Jacobs' funeral - and William Frankel who was Editor of the Jewish Chronicle in the 1960s and who published the book which sparked the controversy.
Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs CBE was born on July 17th 1920. He died on July 1st 2006.听听
Kenneth听Lay听
Former chief of Enron has died aged 64.
Before his death from a heart attack earlier this week, Kenneth Lay was awaiting sentence after being convicted of听America's biggest corporate fraud.
He had built up the Houston based energy company Enron into one of the most admired companies on Wall Street but in 2001 the company collapsed.听听
One of the journalists to follow the story was Peter Elkind, co-author of "The Smartest Guys in the Room" and he spoke to Matthew Bannister.
Kenneth Lay was born April 15th 1942. He died on July 5th 2006.
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Lorraine Hunt Lieberson American mezzo soprano who has died aged 52 after suffering with breast cancer.
She performed less often than many of her contemporaries and that led to an expectation amongst audiences coming to Glyndebourne or the Wigmore Hall to hear her sing.听 Her repertoire included music by Purcell and Handel as well as more contemporary compositions from John Adams and her husband Peter Lieberson.听 In 2004 she performed on the first night of the 大象传媒 Proms.听听
She regularly collaborated with the director Peter Sellars who described her qualities on Radio 3's In Tune earlier this week.
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was born on March 1st 1954 and died on July 3rd 2006.
Don Lusher Trombonist who has died aged 82.
Gordon Douglas Lusher began by playing the trombone alongside his father and grandfather for the Salvation Army in Peterborough but he went on to become a mainstay of the Ted Heath big band and eventually to form his own ensemble in 1974.听 He was twice president of the British Trombone Society.
Geoffrey Smith pays tribute. The music is Don's Theme.
Don Lusher was born on November 6th 1923. He died on July 5th 2006.
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Eileen Barton Singer who has died aged 76
Eileen Barton worked with Frank Sinatra, Buddy Greco and Nat "King" Cole. Her father was a successful music publisher and her hits included "May I Take Two Giant Steps", "You Brought a New Kind of Love for Me" and "If knew you were coming, I'd've baked a cake", which topped the US charts for three months in 1950.
Eileen Barton was born on November 24th听1929.听She听died on June 27th听2006.
Dr John Beloff
Parapsychologist who has died aged 85.
John Beloff started life as an architect but found the career unsatisfying. Then after reading a book on Extra Sensory Perception he enrolled on a psychology course at London University. In 1962, he joined the psychology department at Edinburgh University and stayed there until his retirement.
When the writer Arthur Koestler gave his entire estate to establish a chair of parapyschology because he wished the discipline to be taken seriously - it was his friend John Beloff who ensured that the Chair was established at Edinburgh University.
Under John Beloff's mentorship several students wrote dissertations on parapsychology even though none of his own experiments produced positive results. He was known as a psi-inhibitor - that is his presence seemed to discourage phenomena that would appear in the laboratory for other people.
Dr Richard Broughton from the University of Northampton and Dr Caroline Watt a Senior lecturer in Psychology at Edinburgh University听discuss the importance of parapsychology to Dr John Beloff.
John Beloff was born on April 19th 1920. He died on June 1st 2006.
Fred Trueman Cricketer, journalist and broadcaster who has died aged 75. Fred Trueman was the first bowler to reach 300 wickets at test level. When he was Prime Minister Harold Wilson described Trueman听as the greatest living Yorkshire man. Trueman听later became a blunt commentator on the game of cricket.
We commissioned a poem from Ian McMillan.
Frederick Sewards Trueman was听born on February 6th 1931.听He听died on July 1st 2006.
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