Gehrels died on February 6, 2017 at the age of 64.
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West CBE (born 20 October 1934) is an English movie, stage and television actor. He is known for his roles as Bradley Hardacre in "Brass", as King Francis in "", as Commissioner Berthier in "The Day of the Jackal" and as Stan Carter in "EastEnders".
Arthur Lehning
Paul Arthur Müller-Lehning (23 October 1899 – 1 January 2000) was a Dutch writer, historian and anarchist. He was born in Utrecht. He was known for French translations of Mikhail Bakunin works. In 1992, he won the Gouden Ganzenveer, and in 1999, the P. C. Hooft Award.
Lehning died on 1 January 2000 in Lys-Saint-Georges, Indre, France. He was 100.
Paul Di'Anno
Paul Andrews (born 17 May 1958), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, is a British singer. He is best known as the first lead singer of heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1977 to 1981.
Di'Anno was born in Chingford, London. In 2011, he was jailed for fraud.
Ólöf Nordal
Ólöf Nordal (3 December 1966 – 8 February 2017) was an Icelandic politician. She was a member of the Independence Party. She served as the Minister of the Interior from 4 December 2014 to 11 January 2017.
Ólöf was born in Reykjavík. She was married to Tómas Már Sigurðsson and had four children.
Ólöf died from pancreatic cancer on 8 February 2017 in Reykjavík. She was 50.
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (23 December 1971 – 8 February 2017) also known as T P-T, was an English socialite, "it girl", television presenter, model and charity patron.
Palmer-Timkinson was born in Hampshire. She studied at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset. After graduating, she moved to London where she worked at a bank.
In 2002, Palmer-Tomkinson made an appearance on the British television series "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!", finishing as runner up. In November 2005, Palmer-Tomkinson presented her third behind the scenes series on ITV2 for the hit show "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! Now".
Palmer-Tomkinson was a contestant on "Comic Relief Does Fame Academy" for the BBC.
Palmer-Tomkinson played the piano, as was demonstrated at events at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra, at the Royal Albert Hall with Mozart, and at The Coliseum during a Leonard Bernstein Tribute.
Palmer-Tomkinson was also a writer. She wrote "The Naughty Girl's Guide To Life" (2007) , "Inheritance" (2010) and "Infidelity" (2012).
In January 2016, Palmer-Tomkinson was diagnosed with brain cancer.
On 8 February 2017, she was found dead at her home in London, aged 45. The cause was a perforated ulcer.
Alan Simpson (scriptwriter)
Alan Simpson, OBE (27 November 1929 – 8 February 2017) was an English scriptwriter. He was born in London. He was best known for the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Ray Galton. He wrote the BBC sitcom "Steptoe and Son" (1962–1974), "Hancock's Half Hour" (1954–1961) and the first two series of "Comedy Playhouse" (1961–1963).
Simpson was appointed an OBE in 2000 and he and Galton received a BAFTA Fellowship on 8 May 2016.
Simpson died on 8 February 2017 in London from lung disease, aged 87.
Ray Galton
Raymond Percy "Ray" Galton, OBE (17 July 1930 – 5 October 2018) was an English scriptwriter.
Galton was best known for the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Alan Simpson. He, along with Simpson, wrote the BBC sitcom "Steptoe and Son" (1962–1974), "Hancock's Half Hour" (1954–1961) and "Comedy Playhouse" (1961–1975).
Galton died on 5 October 2018 at his Paddington, London home from dementia, aged 88.
Mikhail Tolstykh
Mikhail Sergeyevich Tolstykh (; July 19, 1980 – February 8, 2017), better known by his callsign Givi (Ги́ви), was a Ukrainian commander in the pro-Russian Somalia Battalion in the War in Donbass. He served as Lieutenant colonel.
On February 16, 2015, Tolstykh was included by the European Council in their sanctions list.
Tolstykh was killed on February 8, 2017 in Donetsk, Ukraine by a rocket launcher explosion, aged 36.
Antonín Přidal
Antonín Přidal (13 October 1935 – 7 February 2017) was a Czech translator and writer. He translated works from English, Spanish and French to Czech. He was also a journalist and university lecturer. He was born in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia.
He worked at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts since 1991. In 1998, he received the Prize of Ferdinand Peroutka. His most notable works include "Všechny moje hlasy" (1967) and "Sudičky" (1968).
Přidal died on 7 February 2017 in Brno, Czech Republic from a stroke, aged 81.
Richard B. Wright
Richard B. Wright, CM, (March 4, 1937 – February 7, 2017) was a Canadian novelist. His break-through 2001 novel was "Clara Callan". He won three major literary awards in Canada for "Clara Callan": The Giller Prize, the Trillium Book Award, and the Governor General's Award.
Wright died on February 7, 2017 at a hospital in St. Catharines, Ontario from complications of a fall. He was 79 years old.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza (, born 7 September 1981) is a Russian politician, critic, activist and journalist.
Since 2012, he served as Senior Policy Advisor at the Institute of Modern Russia. He is an elected member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition. He serves on the federal council of the Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party and the Solidarnost pro-democracy movement.
Kara-Murza is a coordinator of Open Russia, which promotes civil society and democracy in Russia.
On 2 February 2017, Kara-Murza was hospitalized for sudden multiple organ failure and was placed on life-support.
His father was television host and Putin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza Sr..
Arabesque (group)
Arabesque was a disco girl group. It was created in 1977 in Frankfurt, West Germany. When the trio formed in 1977, it had members: Karen Ann Tepperis, Mary Ann Nagel and Michaela Rose. They released a single called, "Hello Mr. Monkey". It became very successful in Asia, especially Japan and Korea.
Shortly after the release, Mary Ann Nagel decided to leave the group.Her spot was taken by Heike Rimbeau. In 1978, they released the successful album, "Friday Night". Karen Ann Tepperis had a son in 1978 and left the group. A former gymnast named Jasmin Vetter replaced her. Heike left the group in 1979 due to her pregnancy. A country singer named Elke Brückheimer replaced Heike for a few months. Finally in June 1979, Sandra Ann Lauer was accepted into the group. The trio had members Michaela, Jasmin and Sandra from 1979, until they split.
The first album they released with Sandra was "City Cats". In 1980, they released their most successful album, "Marigot Bay". Apart from it being popular in Asia, it was the first album that was successful in their native country. That same year they released "Midnight Dancer". In 1981, "In For A Penny, In For A Pound" was released. "Caballero" was released in 1982. Their last 3 albums had different musical genres than just disco. "Why No Reply", "Dance Dance Dance" and "Time To Say Goodbye" were not as successful as their previous albums. Two songs from their last album, "Ecstasy" and "Time to Say Goodbye" became very popular in the 1980s.
Arabesque split up in 1984 because Sandra wanted to sing by herself. Jasmin and Michaela formed their own group called "Rouge". It lasted until 1988.
Val Demings
Valdez Venita "Val" Demings (née Butler; March 12, 1957) is an American police officer and politician.
She serves as the member of the United States House of Representatives from . She served as Chief of the Orlando Police Department, the first woman to hold the position. She was the Democratic nominee in both 2012 and 2016 to represent Florida's 10th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, the latter of which Demings won.
In June 2020, Demings became one of the final four finalists for Joe Biden's running mate for the 2020 election.