Obituaries

[Calliope]

 Phyllis Diller, the housewife turned humorist who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, has died at age 95 in Los Angeles.

Her longtime manager, Milton Suchin, says Diller died Monday morning (early Tuesday NZT) in her sleep. She had survived a near-fatal heart attack in 1999.

Diller was a staple of nightclubs and television from the 1950s until her retirement in 2002. She was famous for her distinctive laugh and portrayed herself as a bizarre housewife with a husband named "Fang."

She would tell audiences that "I bury a lot of my ironing in the back yard."

Diller was nearly 40 when she began performing, with five children and a successful career as an advertising copywriter. At the time, women were a rarity in the world of stand-up comedy.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/7515388/Comedian-Phyllis-Diller-dies

[akadaka]

http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Scott-McKenzie-60s-pop-singer-dies-3802475.php

[Magoo]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7545673/Face-of-Mainland-Cheese-dies

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

From the Los Angeles Times....

Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on moon, dies at 82

Neil Armstrong's ‘giant leap for mankind’ as he set foot on the lunar surface in 1969
climaxed a monumental achievement in human history. Despite his fame, the former
fighter pilot shrank from the spotlight and called himself a ‘nerdy engineer’.

By ERIC MALNIC | 2:17PM - Saturday, August 25, 2012


Neil Armstrong inside the Apollo 11 lunar module after his historic walk on the surface of the moon.
 — Photo: NASA/August 25, 2012.

• PHOTOS: Neil Armstrong dead at 82

• PHOTOS: Apollo 11 mission

NEIL ARMSTRONG, the U.S. astronaut who was the first person to set foot on the moon, firmly establishing him as one of the great heroes of the 20th century, has died. He was 82.

Armstrong died following complications from cardiovascular procedures, his family announced Saturday.

When he made that famous step on July 20, 1969, he uttered a phrase that has been carved in stone and quoted across the planet: "That's one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind."

Armstrong spoke those words quietly as he gazed down at his, the first human footprint on the surface of the moon. In the excitement of the moment, the "a" was left out — either because Armstrong omitted it or because it was lost in the static of the radio transmission back to Earth.

For the usually taciturn Armstrong, it was a rare burst of eloquence seen and heard by 60 million television viewers worldwide. But Armstrong, a reticent, self-effacing man who shunned the spotlight, was never comfortable with his public image as a courageous, historic man of action.

"I am, and ever will be, a white-sock, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer," Armstrong once told a National Press Club gathering.

Perhaps.

How many other nerdy engineers flew 78 combat missions as a Navy jet fighter pilot during the Korean War? Logged more than 1,000 hours as a test pilot in some of the world's fastest and most dangerous aircraft? Or became one of the first civilian astronauts and commanded Apollo 11, the first manned flight to land on the moon?

In the years that followed the flight of Apollo 11, Armstrong was asked again and again what it felt like to be the first man on the moon. In answering, he always shared the glory: "I was certainly aware that this was the culmination of the work of 300,000 to 400,000 people over a decade."

Neil Alden Armstrong was born August 5th, 1930, on his grandfather's farm near Wapakoneta, Ohio.

His father, Stephen Armstrong, was a civil servant who audited county records in Ohio and later served as assistant director of the Ohio Mental Hygiene and Corrections Department. The family of his mother, Viola, owned the farm.

For more than a decade, his family lived in a succession of Ohio cities to accommodate his father's job before settling down in Wapakoneta.

After his father bought him a ride in a Ford Trimotor transport plane in 1936, Armstrong rushed home and began building model airplanes and a wind tunnel to test them.

A good student, Armstrong was a much-decorated Boy Scout and played the baritone horn in a school band. But aviation always came first.

In 1945, he started taking flying lessons, paying for them by working as a stock clerk at a drugstore. On his 16th birthday, he got his pilot's license but didn't yet have a driver's license.

Upon graduating from high school in 1947, he was awarded a Navy scholarship to Purdue University. When the Korean War started in 1949, Armstrong was called to active duty.

After flight training, Armstrong was assigned to the carrier Essex, flying combat missions over North Korea. Although one of the Panther jets he flew off the carrier was crippled by enemy fire, he nursed the plane back over South Korea before bailing out safely. Recognized as an outstanding pilot with a flair for leadership, he received three Air Medals before finishing his active duty in 1952.

He returned to Purdue and earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955.

Within months, he was a civilian test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He was soon stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, chronicled by author Tom Wolfe as the home to pilots with "The Right Stuff."

Aviators were closely scrutinized there, evaluated carefully as they pushed high-performance aircraft to "the edge of the envelope" and quizzed repeatedly about the scientific implications of their work.

"A lot of people couldn't figure Armstrong out," Wolfe wrote. "You'd ask him a question and he would just stare at you with those pale blue eyes of his.

"And you'd start to ask the question again, figuring that he hadn't understood, and — click — out of his mouth would come forth a sequence of long, quiet, perfectly formed, precisely thought-out sentences, full of anisotropic functions and multiple-encounter trajectories or whatever else was called for.

"It was as if his hesitations were just data punch-in intervals for his computer."

Armstrong had dated a sorority beauty queen, Janet Shearon, at Purdue, and they were married in 1956. For a while they lived in a small shack without indoor plumbing in the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Edwards.

Children soon followed. A son, Eric, in 1957 and a daughter, Karen, two years later. The couple had a second son, Mark, in 1963, a year after Karen died of a brain tumor. True to form, Armstrong did not speak publicly about the tragedy or any other aspects of his family life.

Instead, he concentrated on his work.

By 1963, NASA was striving to fulfill President John F. Kennedy's goal of beating the Soviet Union in the space race and putting an American on the moon. Kennedy wanted some civilian astronauts, and Armstrong was one of the first.

In 1966, he made his first space flight, with fellow astronaut David R. Scott. Their ship, Gemini 8, was docking with an unmanned Agena rocket when a malfunctioning thruster sent the interlocked space vehicles tumbling uncontrollably.

Unperturbed, Armstrong disconnected the two vehicles, brought Gemini 8 back under control and made a safe emergency landing in the Pacific. NASA officials cited his "extraordinary piloting skill."

Two years later, a lunar landing training vehicle he was piloting suffered control failure just 200 feet off the ground. Armstrong ejected, parachuting to safety.

On January 1st, 1969, he was named commander of Apollo 11, the first manned spaceship scheduled to land on the moon. His crewmates were fellow space veterans Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Five months later, the massive Apollo 11 spaceship was nudged carefully onto the launch pad at what was then called Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The vehicle was as long as a football field, tipped on end. It consisted of the command module Columbia, which would carry the three astronauts on their 238,000-mile journey and in which Collins would orbit the moon; the lunar lander the Eagle, which would carry Armstrong and Collins down to the lunar surface; and a huge Saturn booster rocket to hurl the whole thing into space.

On July 16th, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off. Two and a half hours later, after an orbit and a half around the Earth, onboard rockets fired to send the spaceship on its three-day trip to the moon.

Once in lunar orbit, Armstrong and Aldrin clambered into the Eagle and descended toward the lunar surface, leaving Collins to circle above them.

The landing wasn't easy. The lunar surface was rockier than expected, and Armstrong had to pilot the fragile craft horizontally until he found a safe, flat spot.

On July 20th, 1969, at 1:04:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, the small spacecraft came to rest gently near the moon's dry Sea of Tranquillity.

"The Eagle has landed," Armstrong radioed back to Earth.

At New York's Yankee Stadium, 16,000 fans stood up and cheered.

Six hours and 52 minutes later, as an onboard television camera sent grainy but stunning images back for the world to see, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on lunar soil.

There had been some dispute over who would be first, Armstrong or Aldrin, but Donald "Deke" Slayton, head of the astronaut corps, said he made the decision.

"Neil was the commander," Slayton once said. "He had the seniority, and that was all there was to it."

Aldrin stepped out of the Eagle a few minutes after Armstrong. The pair spent about 21/2 hours on the lunar surface, collecting dozens of soil and rock samples, setting up seismic equipment, planting an American flag and taking photographs.

"Isn't this fun?" the usually reserved Armstrong remarked jocularly at one point, patting Aldrin on the shoulder as they bounded about in the low lunar gravity.

As they climbed back into the Eagle, they left behind a plaque that reads: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon. We come in peace for all mankind."

Within hours, the Eagle had lifted off from the moon, rejoined the Columbia and the three astronauts were on their way back to Earth.

On July 24th, 1969, Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific about 950 miles south of Hawaii. To assure they weren't carrying any lunar organisms, the astronauts were placed in quarantine for 18 days. President Nixon waved to them through a window of their isolation chamber.

On August 13th, 1969, the nation saluted them. They appeared in a parade in New York City in the morning and another in Chicago in the afternoon. That night, they were honored by 1,400 at a state dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Nixon gave them each the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Then the trio left on a 22-nation tour, during which they met the queen of England, the shah of Iran and the pope.

The public adulation eventually dimmed for Aldrin and Collins — but not Armstrong. He was in demand, and whenever he made a public appearance people clamored for his autograph.

It all made him uncomfortable.

He worked a NASA desk job in Washington for a couple years and after earning a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at USC, he returned to Ohio. For a decade, he taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.

He bought a secluded, 200-acre dairy farm near Lebanon, Ohio, and occasionally ventured into town for a quiet lunch at a local cafe. The town respected his privacy and he said he enjoyed doing the moderate physical work required on a farm.

When called by his country, he responded, serving in 1985 on the National Commission on Space and in 1986 as vice chairman of the presidential commission that investigated the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

He continued to fly, piloting a light plane he kept at a nearby airport. He served on the boards of several large corporations, and as chairman of AIL Technologies, an aerospace electronics firm on Long Island, New York.

He even surprised everyone and did a television commercial for Chrysler.

In 1994, Armstrong divorced his wife of 38 years. Shortly afterward, he married the former Carol Knight, a woman 15 years his junior, and receded further from public life.

The closest he came to describing what the Apollo 11 mission meant to him was during a Life magazine interview several weeks before the flight.

"The single thing which makes any man happiest is the realization that he has worked up to the limits of his ability, his capacity," Armstrong said. "It's all the better, of course, if this work has made a contribution to knowledge, or toward moving the human race a little farther forward."

Information on survivors was not immediately available.

• Malnic, a former Times staff writer, prepared a draft of this story before he died in 2010

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-neil-armstrong-20120826,735,911920,full.story

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

It's interesting that the Los Angeles Times had prepared a draft of their news story two years ago in 2010.

I wonder how many other draft, prepared obituary news stories are being sat on by news media organisations, waiting for the day when the people they are written about die, then they are presumably pulled out and updated, then published.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

From the Los Angeles Times....

Armstrong: a never-read eulogy recalls danger of his feat

By LAURA J. NELSON | 5:40AM - Sunday, August 26, 2012


The Apollo 11 crew — from left, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin — conduct
an equipment check in their command module. — Photo: MCT/August 26, 2012.

TWO DAYS before Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, speechwriter William Safire sent 12 sentences to President Nixon’s chief of staff.

The title of his memo: “In the event of moon disaster.”

Getting the astronauts to the moon was one thing, Nixon had been told. Getting them home was quite another.

“The most dangerous part of the moon mission was to get that lunar module back up into orbit of the moon and join the command ship,” Safire told Tim Russert in 1999 on an episode of “Meet the Press”, just after the memo was released. “If they couldn’t, and there was a good risk that they couldn’t, then they would have to be abandoned on the moon — left to die there.”

Had Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin been stranded on the moon, left to choose between starvation or suicide, Nixon would have given the following address.

“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.”

Those words by Safire never had to be spoken.

Armstrong, 82, died Saturday a national hero, just after the 43rd anniversary of his footstep that changed history.

Along with the flag Armstrong and Aldrin planted on the moon, they left a plaque. It is inscribed with other words that Safire wrote:

"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-armstrong-eulogy-moon-20120825,0,5041703.story

[Alicat]

Veteran entertainer Max Bygraves dies aged 89 after battle with Alzheimer's

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2196740/Max-Bygraves-dead-Veteran-entertainer-dies-aged-89-battle-Alzheimers.html#ixzz25G3XvS00

Veteran comedian and entertainer Max Bygraves has passed away, it was revealed today.
The beloved performer died at his daughter's home last night after suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, his son Anthony confirmed.
The 89-year-old singer, who topped the bill numerous times at the London Palladium, emigrated from his home in Bournemouth to Australia in 2005.

[Newtown-Fella]

Legendary Singer Andy Williams Has Died at 84

ST. LOUIS — Andy Williams, the silky-voiced, clean-cut crooner, whose hit recording “Moon River” and years of popular Christmas TV shows brought him fans the world over has died, his publicist said. He was 84.

Williams died Tuesday night at his home in Branson following a yearlong battle with bladder cancer, his Los Angeles-based publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday.

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/09/26/legendary-singer-andy-williams-has-died/

[Alicat]

Legendary Singer Andy Williams Has Died at 84

ST. LOUIS — Andy Williams, the silky-voiced, clean-cut crooner, whose hit recording “Moon River” and years of popular Christmas TV shows brought him fans the world over has died, his publicist said. He was 84.

Williams died Tuesday night at his home in Branson following a yearlong battle with bladder cancer, his Los Angeles-based publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday.

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/09/26/legendary-singer-andy-williams-has-died/

RIP Andy

[akadaka]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7847665/Knighted-rugby-great-dies


a bit before my time but some of you might remember him

[Lovelee]

Awww I remember my Grandad listening to the rugby on the radio on Saturdays - along with the smell of lamb cooking and fresh mint sauce.

another rugby great gone

[Newtown-Fella]

PROUD: Sir Wilson Whineray was a proud rugby player, pictured here with the Rugby World Cup in 2009.

another might Totara has fallen

[Alicat]

another might Totara has fallen

Well said.

[Newtown-Fella]

Lady June Blundell dies at 90


Lady June Blundell, the regional patron of St John, cuts a ribbon to officially open the newly-refurbished Thames Ambulance Station.

 One of the longest serving members of the Order of New Zealand has died.

Lady June Blundell, 90, died yesterday afternoon at Auckland Hospital after a short illness.

Lady June was raised in Wellington and was a Samuel Marsden Collegiate School old girl.

She received the country’s highest honour on 6 February 1988, a year after the Order was established, in recognition of her outstanding service to New Zealanders and the Crown.

She was also the widow of the late Sir Denis Blundell, New Zealand's first resident Governor-General (1972-77).

Current Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mateparae, expressed his sorrow today.

"Lady June dedicated her life to the service of others.

"A softly spoken person who never sought the limelight, she worked quietly and tirelessly on behalf of many community organisations and charities."

She was active in St John throughout her life, was the founding patron of the Child Cancer Foundation, and contributed to the establishment of CanTeen in 1988.

She was also involved with the Homai College for the Blind, Save the Children New Zealand, and the Asthma Foundation.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7894252/Lady-June-Blundell-dies-at-90

[Alicat]

Dad's Army star Clive Dunn dies

British actor Clive Dunn, best known as a bumbling old butcher in the popular World War II sitcom Dad's Army, has died.

Dunn passed away on Tuesday (local time), his agent Peter Charlesworth said, adding that he believed the actor died in Portugal where he has lived for many years. He was 92.

As Lance-Corporal Jones in Dad's Army - a hit television series in the 1960s and 1970s about a group of local volunteer members of the Home Guard - Dunn was famous for catchphrases such as "Don't panic!" and "They don't like it up 'em."
He also had a No. 1 hit song with Grandad in 1971, which he performed several times on TV music show Top of the Pops.

Dunn was born in London in 1920 and enrolled in an acting academy after leaving school.

He played several small roles in films in the 1930s before serving in the army in World War Two, ending up in prisoner-of-war and labour camps for four years.

After the war he worked in music halls before enjoying success as Jones in Dad's Army.

Underlining his ability to play characters far older than his real age, he followed Dad's Army with a five-year run in children's comedy series Grandad as an elderly caretaker.

According to the BBC, he is survived by his wife Priscilla Morgan and two daughters, Jessica and Polly.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv/7922322/Dads-Army-star-Clive-Dunn-dies

[Alicat]

I have the entire Dad's Army DVD Collection.

[Magoo]

RIP Mr Dunn.   Watching some video clips of him on TV1 news.    A good innings and left a marvelous legacy.

[akadaka]

many years ago i went to a Dads Army appreciation society meeting in Cambridge.Rum by a bloke called Dave Homewood who i think KTJ might know as he is involved in warbirds etc as well.

http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Dads_Army.html

[Alicat]

Coro Street star Bill Tarmey dies


Actor William "Bill" Tarmey, who played Jack Duckworth on Coronation Street for more than 30 years, has died.

He was 71.

His family confirmed to British media he died on Friday morning while on holiday in Tenerife, Spain, and asked for "privacy as they grieve for a wonderful husband, father and brother". 

He leaves behind his childhood sweetheart Alma, who he had been married to for 50 years, and two children.
Having played one of the Street's most beloved characters since 1979, Tarmey left the soap in 2010 in an emotional storyline. 

As well as suffering ill health himself, Tarmey left Coronation Street to help care for his son Carl, who was battling a brain tumour.

He told ITV Granada earlier this year: "If this hadn't happened, they would've had to drag me out of there screaming. It was a wonderful bloody job, especially for an old coffin-dodger."

Tarmey was a heavy smoker all his life and at the age of 35 suffered a severe heart attack and then a stroke a year later. 

He underwent bypass surgery after suffering another heart attack in 2002. 

Jack and his nagging wife Vera were considered British icons by many, and the loveable rogue who had a soft-spot for pigeons was one of the most popular characters.

Tributes from Coronation Street co-stars have been pouring in. 

Liz Dawn, who played Tarmey's on-screen wife Vera Duckworth until 2008, said: "I am totally bereft. He will always be remembered by everyone he came into contact with because he was such a kind and generous man."

Vicky Entwistle, who plays Janice Battersby on the soap, said Tarmey would be missed by everyone who was fortunate enough to have worked with him.

"He was just such a lovely man to have around," she said. 

"So warm and always full of fun. The character of Jack was such a jack the lad, there was that wonderful mischievous side to him. He was so well loved by everyone - just a beautiful kind man."

On the show, Jack had been left heartbroken for two years as he carried on after Vera died.

They were reunited one last time in Tarmey's final episode as they appeared to be dancing together while a dying Jack drifted in and out of consciousness.

Some 11 million people across the UK tuned in to watch Jack pass peacefully in his armchair.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/7932660/Coro-Street-star-Bill-Tarmey-dies

[Magoo]

He was a wonderful Jack.   Goodnight Mr Tarmey

[nitpicker1]

coincidence or history repeating? Note the date.  His last appearance was broadcast on 8 November 2010

 End of an era as Coronation Street's Jack Duckworth joins wife Vera in the soap afterlife
By Emily Sheridan
 UPDATED:18:01 GMT, 3 November 2010

...Jack's death will be screened on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday, November 8.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1326204/Coronation-Streets-Jack-Duckworth-dies.html

[Newtown-Fella]

All Black great Bob Scott dies


FINE PLAYER: Bob Scott dies aged 91.

 Rugby watchers of the 1940s and 1950s continue to swear there has never been a better fullback than All Blacks great Bob Scott, who died today, aged 91.

An All Black from 1946-54, even the small amount of film available of his career is enough to convince those who were never lucky enough to see Scott play that he was a supreme player.

Black and white footage shows his magnificent body control, his ability to swerve, feint and sidestep to beat on-rushing forwards, his tremendous punting and his flair.

Those skills would have stood up even under today's searching spotlight, giving reason for many to label him one of the finest-ever All Blacks.

Veteran commentator Winston McCarthy wrote: ‘‘For me there will never by anyone as great as Scott.''

Celebrated South African No 8 Hennie Muller described him as ‘‘altogether, the greatest footballer I've ever played against in any position''.

Until Scott's arrival, the mantle of the world's greatest ever fullback belonged to compatriot George Nepia.

Yet, good as Nepia was, Scott's all-round ability and vision forced a re-evaluation.

Nepia himself was emphatic that he never saw a player to touch Scott, who brought a new dimension to the custodian role.

He wasn't just the last line of defence, but also a source of attack.

His later instructional book ‘‘Bob Scott on Rugby'' carried the

tagline: ‘‘in which is expressed the conviction that attack is the art of rugby football''.

The New Zealand Rugby Union today paid tribute to Scott who

passed away early this morning at his home in Whangamata on the Coromandel.

"It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Bob Scott who was the oldest living All Black," said NZRU chairman Mike Eagle.

"Bob was a much admired player, regarded by many as the complete fullback who played the game with passion and courage.

"Many will remember Bob as one of the greatest players to pull on the No15 jersey and he was certainly a hugely popular member of the teams he played for. "I am sure in coming days he will be fondly remembered across New Zealand and in particular at the Ponsonby Rugby Club from where he was first selected for Auckland and the All Blacks and the Petone Rugby Club where he was heavily involved after finishing playing for the club in 1956.

"We extend our condolences to his family at this sad time."

Born in Wellington on Waitangi day in 1921, Robert Wiliam Henry Scott grew up in Auckland as one of six children during the Depression years and suffered extreme poverty.

But he was always gifted at sport and by the time World War 2 began, he was regarded as a brilliant rugby league, rugby and soccer player, all of which he played competitively to a high level.

A natural sportsman, he also represented Auckland at softball and in later years became a fine golfer and lawn bowler.

He served with the Army Service Corps in the Middle East and Italy during the war, describing driving trucks of ammunition to the front lines as the most lonely experience of his life.

Scott was chosen in Charlie Saxton's famous Kiwis Army side of 1945-46, with he and prop Johnny Simpson having to seek special dispensation because they had earlier played rugby league.

All Blacks selection followed and, in Australia in 1947, his goal kicking was quite brilliant. He totalled 72 points in six matches, including 15 in the second test.

Two years later in South Africa, he played marvellously but suffered kicking woes and was unable to land crucial goals which would have on occasion turned defeat into victory.

He blamed himself for the 0-4 series defeat, yet his captain Fred Allen and teammates laughed at the suggestion, saying it was Scott's ability which kept the All Blacks in with a chance.

Scott and his wife Irene were still struggling to establish their lives in 1950 - they never owned a car until 1957 - and he retired to concentrate on business.

But after pleading from the national selectors, he made a comeback for the 1953-54 tour of Britain and France.

It was one long triumph for Scott, who was feted wherever he went and turned in a series of breathtaking displays, the peak being the Barbarians match at Cardiff, won 19-5 by the All Blacks.

Scott's entries into the line and his linking with his forwards that day foreshadowed by three decades the development of fullback play.

He retired again, but when he was 35 he was once more asked to return to international rugby, to take on the 1956 Springboks.

‘‘I felt fit enough. My rugby would have been fine,'' he said.

‘‘But I was worried the pressure of the situation might have affected my kicking. Eventually I turned down the invitation, but I regarded it as the biggest compliment of my rugby career.''

Even before television arrived to lift sportsmen to superstardom, Scott was a celebrity.

In 1954 when he announced he was transferring from Auckland to Petone to run a menswear shop, the Petone Recreation ground was booked out for the season in just a few hours.

Scott had another string to his bow.

He could place-kick goals bare footed from halfway, a thought which would make today's top kickers cringe.

In all, he scored 840 points in first-class rugby, a record at the time.

During his nine-year international career, Scott played 52 matches for New Zealand, including 17 tests.

Scott retired to Whangamata and kept a close eye on rugby, often attending test matches and casting a benevolent eye over today's All Blacks.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7960641/All-Black-great-Bob-Scott-dies

[nitpicker1]

He could place-kick goals bare footed from halfway, a thought which would make today's top kickers cringe