The objections to restart plans are understandable and the game should pay attention, but ultimately clubs need to play games to survive

With each week the plans become a little more refined and with each week any final decision is pushed back. Football may return, and this is how it may look if it does, but nobody is sure, and any proposed date can only be provisional. Which is as it should be. In an age that often favours decisiveness over the decision itself, there is something vaguely comforting about a process that accepts the wisdom of waiting.

But in the background there is a crucial, nagging voice, and what it is saying is this: if football isn’t prepared to return, at least initially, in a form very different to the one it took before the virus, it may not return for a very long time – and for many clubs that means never.

How much do you know about clubs with dusty trophy cabinets?

More quizzes: big goals, penalties and famous photos

In which decade did Tottenham last win a major trophy?

The 2010s

The 2000s

The 1990s

The 1980s

Leeds have not won a trophy since Howard Wilkinson guided them to the league title in 1991-92. Who was their top scorer that season?

Eric Cantona

Lee Chapman

Gordon Strachan

Gary Speed

Who was the prime minister the last time Everton won a trophy?

Margaret Thatcher

John Major

Tony Blair

James Callaghan

Manchester United won the double in the 1993–94 and 1995-96 season. Which club won the League Cup in those two seasons – and have not won a trophy since?

Middlesbrough

Leeds United

Aston Villa

Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland have not won a major trophy since they beat Leeds in the FA Cup final in 1973. What was remarkable about that Sunderland team?

They were in the Third Division at the time

They won the game 1-0 even though they did not have a shot on target

None of their team had played international football at the time

They won all of their FA Cup ties 1-0 that season – including the final

Newcastle have not won the league in the post-war period. In which decade did they win three FA Cups?

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Which of these London clubs has won the top flight?

West Ham

Crystal Palace

Queens Park Rangers

Fulham

Charlton Athletic

None of them

Which club won three league titles in a row in the 1920s and have never won the league since?

Ipswich Town

Sheffield Wednesday

Huddersfield Town

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Who are the only club to have won the old First Division yet never played in the Premier League?

Notts County

Bristol City

Plymouth Argyle

Preston North End

Which club won the league title 100 years ago but haven’t won it since?

West Brom

Bolton Wanderers

Birmingham City

Swansea City

1 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

2 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

3 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

4 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

5 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

6 and above.

No trophy drought for you

7 and above.

No trophy drought for you

8 and above.

No trophy drought for you

9 and above.

No trophy drought for you

0 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

10 and above.

No trophy drought for you

Plus: the policing of goalkeepers, home shirts that became away tops and strike partners sharing birthdays

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Which two footballers have played the most matches together? I reckon Jason Dodd and Francis Benali for Southampton must be up there,” asks Mark Williams.

They’re not even close, Mark, but we’ll get back to that shortly. First, Geoff Airey has two long-standing midfielders at Manchester United who knock Benali and Dodd (170 appearances together) into a cocked hat.

This week’s roundup also features Monica Seles, the Windies and a bust-up between Souness and Dunphy

1) Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea. Zola at Napoli. And more of Zola in Serie A.

Gianfranco Zola making life difficult.

Our #OldSkoolSkillSkool feature on Chelsea TV is not to be missed... https://t.co/LSJmrcH0j2 pic.twitter.com/YbUgB1olE4

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Emotions in Scottish fitba circles were mixed on Thursday morning before the release of the eagerly-awaited Pope’s Newc O’Rangers dossier alleging assorted shenanigans on the part of the Scottish Professional Football League in ending the season prematurely. After weeks of suspense, the excitement of those intrigued to learn what hard evidence O’Rangers have been keeping up their sleeve was rather tempered by the fact they’d have to wade through no fewer than 200 pages of outrage to find out.

Not everyone can win everything. Do you know which achievements these players have missed out on in their careers?

Who has scored the most Premier League goals without ever winning the trophy?

Jermain Defoe

Robbie Fowler

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Harry Kane

And who has made the most appearances without winning the Premier League?

David James

Gary Speed

Emile Heskey

Steven Gerrard

Who is the only England player to win 50 caps yet never appear at a World Cup or European Championship finals?

Glen Johnson

Colin Bell

Emlyn Hughes

Gary Cahill

Who scored 434 league goals, an English record, yet never played for his country?

Brian Clough

Arthur Rowley

Steve Bull

Kerry Dixon

Who is the last Ballon d’Or winner never to win the Champions League?

Fabio Cannavaro

Pavel Nedved

Thierry Henry

Michael Owen

Gary Lineker never won the top division in England, but for how many clubs did he finish as top scorer in the league?

None

One

Two

Three

Who has scored the most Champions League goals without winning the competition?

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Edinson Cavani

Robert Lewandowski

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Who was Serie A’s leading scorer three times in the 1990s yet never won the title?

Oliver Bierhoff

Gabriel Batistuta

Enrico Chiesa

Giuseppe Signori

Which of these players has never won the Premier League Golden Boot?

Wayne Rooney

Luis Suárez

Alan Shearer

Andy Cole

Which of these greats never won the Ballon d’Or?

Pavel Nedved

Xavi

Hristo Stoichkov

Eusébio

How many goals have Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored between them in the knockout stages of the World Cup?

None

Two

Five

14

3 and above.

You missed out too.

4 and above.

You missed out too.

5 and above.

A fine score

6 and above.

A fine score

7 and above.

A superb score

8 and above.

A superb score

9 and above.

A superb score

10 and above.

A superb score

11 and above.

You missed nothing

2 and above.

You missed out too.

0 and above.

You missed out too

1 and above.

You missed out too.

A radical solution is needed and the PFA has the money and the power to step in and help clubs that have no income for the foreseeable future

Last month I said the EFL was entering the most critical period in its history as it struggled to respond to the abrupt cessation of football. What we have seen since has elegantly illustrated the game’s inability to act decisively to protect professional football’s future. This is not a criticism of the individuals involved in negotiations, who are trying their best, but reflects structural flaws that prevent cohesive action. Put simply, it is clear the EFL and Professional Footballers’ Association cannot bring the key counter-parties to the table.

The first phase was characterised by the fight for cash given the disappearance of gate-related income. Although there was relatively swift agreement that a player wage deferral would help, it has been left to clubs and players to agree arrangements. Some players have deferred, some have not, and and the scale varies from club to club. The outcome was, in my view, too little and too late for many clubs.

Investment is bound to suffer in the post-Covid weeks of return but the outlook is cautiously positive for the women’s game

Ominous warnings have been sounded by the international players’ union that women’s football faces an existential threat. When AFC Fylde disbanded their women’s team last week it was probably the tip of an iceberg – but how gloomy is the game’s future?

Although everyone agrees there will be casualties, opinion is split about the extent of any setback. Alan Naigeon offers his assessment from a position of authority as a managing partner of the agency A&V Sports, which represents players such as Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Lyon’s Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg.

In the latest in our series on how Covid-19 will change football, we look at its impact at grassroots and non-league level

This could be the end of grassroots football. The impact is going to be horrendous. The main problem now is we’re not getting money we would usually receive from training-session fees or fundraising, because they’re not taking place. That money goes towards subsidising teams for the next season, helping them with pitch fees, league fees, trophy presentations, etc.

The club from Leeuwarden were 11 points clear of the play-off places and heading for the Eredivisie when the Dutch season was annulled

It took only two games of the season for Erik Schouten to realise Cambuur were on to something. Nobody knew how a brand new team, which had almost entirely changed during the summer, would click but their first home fixture of 2019-20 dispelled any concerns. Go Ahead Eagles were beaten 5-0, succumbing to wave after wave of blistering raids, and a pattern for the next seven months had been emphatically set.

“That was the moment we believed everything was possible,” says Schouten, who had arrived from Volendam and was immediately made captain. “Playing attacking football, playing fast, defeating a really good side. We knew then that, if we played well, we could beat anyone.”

• Pardew departs Dutch club after just eight games in charge
• Assistants Chris Powell and Paul Butler also leave the club

Alan Pardew has left his position as the manager of Eredivisie club Den Haag by mutual consent, days after the Dutch season was cancelled.

Pardew was appointed in December and tasked with saving the club from relegation. The 58-year-old was unable to lead them out of the relegation zone, but the team were reprieved when the season was scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The league’s centralised structure should help during the pandemic but it is also vulnerable in a way that European competitions are not

The warning from Adrian Hanauer was stark. According to the Seattle Sounders majority owner, the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic could result in “astronomical” losses for Major League Soccer teams. “Hundreds of millions, billions, really big numbers,” he told the Sounder At Heart podcast earlier this month.

Hanauer’s remarks were in line with much of what is being said around the soccer world. The sport has never experienced anything like this with entire seasons on hold, soon to be abandoned in some cases, and competitions such as Euro 2020 and Women’s Euro 2021 pushed back a whole year. For all the meetings that have been held and contingency plans drawn up, nobody can guarantee when play will resume.

• President calls for resumption of football despite crisis
• Brazil has more than 5,900 deaths due to the coronavirus

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro wants to see football competitions restart soon despite the country’s high number of coronavirus cases, arguing that players are less likely to die from Covid-19 because of their physical fitness.

Bolsonaro is one of the few world leaders that still downplays the risks brought by the coronavirus, which he has likened to “a little flu”.

• Amiens relegated, Lyon miss out on European qualification
• Lyon president says club will seek damages for financial losses

Amiens and Lyon have both reacted angrily to Ligue 1’s decision to officially end their season on Thursday and determine final league placings, European qualification and relegation amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The 2019-20 campaign was suspended as part of the French government’s steps to contain the spread of coronavirus last month. With some teams having played 27 matches and others 28, the French league (LFP) drew up the final standings according to a performance index – number of points per game weighed by head-to-head record.

Former Barcelona player and Chile coach on Camp Nou life, Guardiola and why Sánchez could yet shine for Manchester United

“Most of the time, you fail; there are many more defeats than victories,” Juan Antonio Pizzi says. He is right, even when it comes to his peer group – possibly the most successful coaching class in history – but it is still an unusual reflection for a man who was La Liga’s top scorer and, as a player and manager, won the league in three countries. All the more so when it is a reflection prompted by the time he led Chile to the 2016 Copa América. Minutes after winning the final, Pizzi sat before the press – and started talking about failure.

He laughs now but there was a lesson there. “It’s true: when you take over a team, most of the objectives you set, you fail to meet,” he says. “And however much you try to console yourself with your style, methodology, some improvement, what you want is to win and when you don’t, which is most of the time, disappointment comes. You lose more than you win and your mind is occupied more with defeat than enjoying victory, which is gone very quickly.”

• Claims of abuse by Yves Jean-Bart at national centre
• Jean-Bart denies all allegations made against him

The president of the Haitian football federation has been accused of sexually abusing young female footballers at the country’s national training centre.

Yves Jean-Bart, known as “Dadou”, the president of the Fédération Haïtienne De Football (FHF) since 2000, denies accusations that he coerced several players at the Centre Technique National in Croix-des-Bouquets into having sex. The alleged incidents are understood to have taken place within the last five years.

Des Buckingham followed Under-20 World Cup success by qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics but lost his job last week

There is a word that Des Buckingham, during almost six years working in New Zealand, has used as a mantra to live by. In the Maori language, Mana represents a spiritual essence that almost defies translation but in everyday use it broadly applies thus: a way of holding oneself through dignity, respect, humanity and authority.

It has been invaluable over the past five days because Buckingham is navigating one of the biggest disappointments of a young coaching career that, since he moved to the other side of the world after leaving Oxford United in 2014, had rarely let up.

• Team issues joint statement before planned return to training
• La Liga: ‘Playing football safer than going to supermarket’

Eibar have become the first La Liga side to publicly express concerns about the planned return to training, and have called for “responsibility” from league officials.

Clubs in Spain’s top two division are due to start individual training this week after testing for Covid-19 with matches behind closed doors planned for June. But in a strongly worded joint statement, the Basque club have raised doubts about the plan.

Alphonso Davies was born in a refugee camp after his parents fled civil war in Liberia. He has since become the youngest footballer to play for Canada and won a Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich. The 19-year-old talks to Gary Lineker about his incredible journey

Barcelona icon Andrés Iniesta has video-called the children born because of his famous goal against Chelsea in 2009. The late winner at Stamford Bridge led to a spike in pregnancies. 'Has your mum shown you the goal?' Iniesta asks Ignacio, born on 18 January. Of course she had, Ignacio says: 'You were a star.'

• Happy conception day: Andrés Iniesta calls children born because of his goal

Many questions need answers, not least where games will be played and the not-insignificant 100 concerns of club doctors

Without government endorsement of a return to play, nothing can happen. Since the beginning of March, when games were still being played in front of paying crowds, the Premier League has said it would follow government advice on the best way to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Everton right-back joined Schalke on loan in pre-season and hopes to play against Borussia Dortmund on 16 May

As Jonjoe Kenny remembers the sights and smells that defined his childhood it is tempting, more so at a time such as this, to close your eyes and travel back with him. He can tell what, with a few bumps here and there, is the textbook story of a local boy made good, and Everton games were the focal points throughout. Kenny grew up in Kirkdale, virtually on the doorstep of Goodison Park, and the glimpse of a buzzing County Road brought the kind of sensory assault that would leave thousands pining today.

“It’s about a five-minute walk round the corner,” Kenny says. “On matchdays going to the stadium it was always busy in our area. The chippies were packed, the pubs were packed, and when you’re walking to the game through it all there’s no better feeling. As a kid growing up, it was such a big thing.”

Using the Fifa archive we rewatch a series of memorable games in search of answers we didn’t find at the time

“It was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” – Albert Camus, the Outsider

The World Cup final, France v Italy in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. It’s still humid under the lights. The score is 1-1, the players wide-eyed but still running.

Max Rushden and Barry Glendenning talk to Jacqui Oatley about the ups and downs of being the first woman to commentate on Match of the Day and her love of Wolves. Also, Archie Rhind-Tutt on the impending return of the Bundesliga

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Max and Barry talk with Jacqui Oatley about her love of football, how her career came about and how she learned to deal with the enormous level of scrutiny which came with becoming the first woman to commentate on Match of the Day.

• Premier League can resume home and away, says Paul Barber
• ‘If Germany can, why can’t we make it happen’

Brighton’s chief executive, Paul Barber, has urged Premier League clubs to follow the Bundesliga’s lead and rethink proposals to complete the season at neutral venues.

“If Germany can, why can’t we?” said Barber, who believes the English top flight could resume behind closed doors with home and away matches, as planned in Germany from 16 May.

• Premier League could be played as normal, says Owen West
• ‘Tone demonises fans who have been very mature’

Police advice that Premier League clubs must play at neutral venues if they resume the season has “no rationale” and risks demonising supporters by assuming they will gather unsafely outside grounds, a former football policing commander has said.

Owen West, a recently retired West Yorkshire chief superintendent, told the Guardian that football clubs can help give a lead as local community organisations to any gradual easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and do not need to be switched from their home grounds to play games.

• Manchester City defender admits visiting sister and parents
• Club will not discipline him due to extenuating circumstances

Kyle Walker believes he is being harassed by the media after contravening lockdown rules again when visiting his parents and sister, with Manchester City deciding against disciplinary action due to extenuating circumstances.

The Sun reported that Walker travelled to Sheffield on Wednesday to visit his sister and parents. This came after the defender apologised following a report he held a party at his house with two sex workers present last month, breaking lockdown rules.

• Statement dismisses Rangers complaints as ‘self-serving’
• Proposals for three-tier league system are abandoned

Directors of the Scottish Professional Football League have snapped back at allegations raised in a dossier issued by Rangers and urged clubs not to back calls for an independent investigation into the handling of a vote to abandon this season.

Rangers, who last month called for the suspension of the SPFL’s chief executive and legal adviser, distributed an extensive document to fellow league members on Thursday as they seek to win the 75% support needed at Tuesday’s extraordinary general meeting to trigger an inquiry. Rangers raised a series of questions over the conduct and governance of the SPFL, whose board was firm in its recommendation the season vote should pass.

In an empty stadium with strict coronavirus protocols enforced, probably the first spit- and snot-free match in football history drew legions of online fans to South Korea

So football is back. Jeonbuk Motors and Suwon Bluewings opened the coronavirus-delayed K-League season in an empty stadium in the south-west city of Jeonju on Friday evening and for legions of online fans around the world, starved of football by the pandemic, the exertions were a sporting balm. It is fair to say that no football match played on South Korean soil had attracted this level of international interest since the 2002 World Cup finals.

With the exceptions of Belarus, Burundi, Tajikistan and Nicaragua, the global game has been at a virtual standstill, presenting the K-League with an opportunity to fill the hole left by the postponement or cancellation of all other major competitions.

As football prepares to start or resume seasons we look at 17 countries to see how close they are to a return

Clubs and the football federation hope for an August restart with a July training phase to step up for a resumption of the A-League, which was postponed indefinitely on 24 March. Five rounds of games, plus the finals, remain. All games are likely to be played in Sydney without spectators, with Wellington Phoenix to be based in NSW for a two-week quarantine before playing. The National Rugby League has the green light to restart on 28 May, which may lead to fixture clashes at cross-code venues such as Kogarah and Bankwest Stadium.

The England and Manchester City goalkeeper on career highs and lows, including Covid-19 delaying her comeback from injury

Karen Bardsley has had a lot of time to reflect on her career. The goalkeeper left England’s World Cup quarter-final victory over Norway in 2019 with a hamstring injury, knowing she would not make the semi-final, and has not played since. With cruel irony, her clearance to return to training at Manchester City came as the Lionesses returned from the SheBelieves Cup and went straight into isolation in March.

“I was like: ‘Wow, OK, I just got cleared to train with the whole squad and now I’m gonna have to wait for ever to do it,’ or at least that’s what it felt like,” Bardsley says with a laugh. “I’m just taking this as an opportunity to get as strong and as physically resilient as possible.”

• Ifab gives green light but clubs expected to stick with it
• Vote needed on whether to allow five substitutions

Premier League clubs will debate whether to dump VAR for the remainder of the season – if it can be completed – after the International Football Association Board (Ifab) said that individual competitions can do so if they want to.

The clubs, who will hold a conference call on Monday, must also vote on another Ifab temporary amendment – whether to agree to the use of five substitutes in matches.

Club’s charity has adjusted swiftly amid Covid-19 and faces challenges with youngsters previously involved in crime

Like most workers in the charity sector, George Henry knew he had a problem when the UK entered lockdown on 23 March. As the targeted interventions manager at the Palace for Life Foundation – Crystal Palace’s charity – Henry uses football to help disadvantaged young people in south London and organises a team of mentors who try to keep them on the straight and narrow.

“Most of them have been arrested or been in gangs and we try to get them into positive outcomes,” he says. “We’re based in schools and a custody suite for our Divert programme, which aims to get them back into employment and training. Around this time of year we usually help with the transition from year six to year seven but because of the lockdown that couldn’t happen.”

Figures from across the men’s professional game including managers, players and a scout, discuss how football will alter

When life has finally returned to normal, I think football will change for the better. We should see the reversal of a power balance that has swung the wrong way for too long, switching it back in favour of the clubs. I would certainly expect that to happen in the divisions below the Premier League, where the financial implications of Covid-19 are hitting particularly hard. Players and agents will have to lower their expectations, and we will see fewer instances of football clubs being held to ransom over deals and contracts.

Peruvian politician and diplomat who served for two terms as the UN secretary general and helped to end the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who has died aged 100, was a cautious and conservative Peruvian diplomat who became the secretary general of the United Nations for two terms during a difficult and dismal decade from 1982. He also served, briefly, as prime minister of Peru in 2000-01.

As secretary general, Pérez de Cuéllar faced a series of global crises, including the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the subsequent Gulf war, and he had to deal with the difficulties caused by the permanent hostility of the Ronald Reagan administration to the UN, as well as the consequent failure of the Americans to pay their dues.

Chef and restaurateur who, with his brother, Albert, transformed the British dining experience

The chef Michel Roux, who has died aged 78, was the younger half of the formidable partnership with his brother, Albert, that transformed the British restaurant scene in the late 1960s with their Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche. Later, as sole director of the Waterside Inn, situated by an idyllic stretch of the Thames at Bray, Michel proved he was a chef’s chef. His menu was a statement of the most classic form of French cooking – nouvelle cuisine had no part to play. Luxury ingredients, many mousses and forcemeats, the finest of pâtisserie, were integral. Michelin soon recognised the quality and this restaurant gained three stars, perhaps the highest professional accolade available, in 1985, which it has retained for longer than any outside France.

From the outset, the Roux brothers’ style of cooking embraced wholeheartedly the standards and practices of classic haute cuisine while offering a refined interpretation of a more homely cuisine bourgeoise. The rapid success of Le Gavroche from its star-studded opening on Lower Sloane Street, London, in 1967, attended by Ava Gardner, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks Jr and a brace of marquesses, enabled the construction of a veritable empire, largely driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of Albert. The pair took in more restaurants, retail outlets, a restaurant supply business distributing produce shipped in from Paris markets, contract and outside catering, and production of vacuum-packed restaurant dishes. Michel was an integral part of this furious activity, while concentrating to an ever greater degree on the kitchen at the Waterside.

Comedian, actor and presenter of the long-running radio show The News Huddlines

For much of his long career, it could be a little difficult for people to get an exact fix on Roy Hudd, who has died aged 83. What was he – a comedian, an author, a radio satirist, a serious actor, a soap star, an archivist, or a leading authority on British music-hall and variety entertainment?

Hudd was all of these, but saw himself primarily as a man born too late to fulfil his dream of life as an old-style variety comic, which is how he started out in the late 1950s at the bottom of bills topped by artists such as the comic Max Miller and the male impersonator Hetty King.

One of the founders of the Northern Ireland Peace People and a joint Nobel laureate

The afternoon of 10 August 1976 in the Provisional IRA heartland of Andersonstown in west Belfast was hot and sunny. But, as ever, the ongoing conflict was being played out, this time with a British army patrol pursuing a suspect speeding car through streets busy with people shopping and walking.

At about 2pm, when the chase reached Finaghy Road North, soldiers opened fire on the speeding car, killing “Volunteer” Danny Lennon, the 23-year-old driver. His car immediately went out of control and veered on to the pavement outside a church. Before it careered to a halt against the railings, it had run down three children and their mother, Anne Maguire. Eight-year-old Joanne and her six-week-old brother, Andrew, died immediately while another brother, two-year-old John, died from his injuries the next day. Anne, after days in a coma, survived, but killed herself eight years later. Another son, Mark, aged seven, who was on his bicycle ahead of the family group escaped injury. A second person in the car fled the scene.

One of the great American country singers who had hits with The Gambler, Lucille and Islands in the Stream

Kenny Rogers, who has died aged 81, was a prolific hit-maker from the late 1960s into the 80s, and with songs such as Lucille, The Gambler and Coward of the County helped to create a bestselling crossover of pop and country material. “I did songs that were not country but were more pop,” he said in 2016. “If the country audience doesn’t buy it, they’ll kick it out. And if they do, then it becomes country music.”

Rogers’s knack for finding a popular song – he was modest about his own writing skills and preferred to pick songs from other writers – was unerring, bringing him huge hits with Don Schlitz’s The Gambler (1978), Lionel Richie’s Lady (1980), and, with Dolly Parton, the Bee Gees’ Islands in the Stream (1983) among many others. Though his record sales waned in the late 80s, he bounced back in his last years with three successful albums, The Love of God (2011), You Can’t Make Old Friends (2013) and Once Again It’s Christmas (2015). Altogether he recorded 65 albums and sold more than 165m records.

Folk singer whose TV appearances on The Frost Report in the 1960s made her a household name

In 1966, at the height of the folk music boom in Britain, David Frost’s satirical television show The Frost Report featured a young American folk singer whose thoughtful songs, strong voice, charm and good looks endeared her to audiences, turning her into a household name. Within a year, Julie Felix, who has died aged 81, was hosting her own television series, with an impressive list of special guests.

Having landed in England in 1964, Felix performed in folk clubs in London, including the famous Troubadour in Earls Court, and on the strength of a tape of her singing that was sent to Decca, she was signed to the record label. Living on the third floor of a Chelsea block of flats, she was on her way to her debut album’s launch when she met Frost, a fifth floor resident, in the lift. Frost tagged along and, impressed by her singing, persuaded the BBC to engage her for his forthcoming television series.

Illustrator who with the writer René Goscinny created the much-loved comic books featuring the exploits of Asterix the Gaul

On the balcony of a flat in Bobigny, near Paris, one afternoon in 1959, two men – the writer René Goscinny and the artist Albert Uderzo – were desperately seeking an idea for a comic strip. It had to be original, it had to be inspired by French culture and it had to be finished within three months, to go into the launch issue of a new magazine. Browsing through the history of France they settled on an idea that seemed full of possibilities: the history of the Gauls.

From their school days they recalled the name Vercingetorix and decided their chief characters’ names should also end in “ix”. Roman names would end in “us” and town names in “um”. That Eureka moment gave birth to Asterix the Gaul and a series of 38 books that have sold 377m copies in 111 languages, and have inspired 10 animated and four live-action films, a theme park and more than 100 licensed products.

Fast-talking comedian and impressionist who was one half of the TV comic duo Little and Large

The beaming, ebullient, fast-talking comedian and impressionist Eddie Large, who has died aged 78, having contracted Covid-19 while being treated for heart failure, was half of a double-act that partially eclipsed Morecambe and Wise on British television in the late 1970s and early 80s.

After years of success with the BBC had turned them into a national institution, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were enticed to ITV in 1978, but through a combination of inferior scripts and Morecambe’s deteriorating health the switch proved to be a disappointment, and marked the decline of Britain’s top double-act.

American soul singer who enjoyed huge success with hits such as Lean on Me and Ain’t No Sunshine

The career of Bill Withers, who has died aged 81 of heart complications, followed an unusual trajectory. He did not try to enter the music industry until after he had spent nine years in the US Navy, leaving the service in 1965 and moving to Los Angeles two years later. By the time he released his debut album, Just As I Am, in 1971 he was 33, an age at which many pop careers have already been and gone.

But Withers made up for lost time. His album was packed with memorable songs, including Harlem and Grandma’s Hands, and entered the US Top 40. Ain’t No Sunshine, his first single, reached No 3 and became one of the landmark songs in his career, despite lasting a scant two minutes. Inspired by Blake Edwards’ gruelling 1962 film about alcoholism, Days of Wine and Roses, it has become an enduring anthem of loneliness and heartbreak.

Eccentric aristocrat and chatelain of the Longleat safari park who was a favourite of newspaper gossip columns

As the chatelain of Longleat, one of the grandest Tudor mansions in Britain, the Marquess of Bath, who has died aged 87 after contracting Covid-19, devoted his life to a remorseless and self-conscious campaign to preserve the English aristocracy’s reputation for eccentricity.

An imposing 6ft 5in figure with flowing shoulder-length hair and a straggly beard, colourful waistcoats, shirts and trousers, often topped with a fez, he was a tabloid favourite, not only for his picturesque appearance and peculiar artistic tastes but for his string of mistresses, whom he referred to as his wifelets (he reckoned there to have been around 74 of them).

Stage and screen actor best known for playing Pussy Galore in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger and Cathy Gale in TV’s The Avengers

Many actors might have objected to being associated throughout their careers with a character called Pussy Galore. But Honor Blackman, who has died aged 94, revelled in the notoriety of the role of the aviator she played in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).

Having been knocked out with a tranquilliser gun by a hench- man, the first thing Bond (Sean Connery) sees when he regains consciousness is Blackman’s face leaning over him. “Who are you?”, he asks. “My name is Pussy Galore,” she says. “I must be dreaming,” he replies. Later, after trying a few judo moves on each other, they fall into a different kind of clinch.

British motor racing ace who, although he never won the world championship, inspired devotion in followers of the sport

He was content to be known, he often said, as the man who never won the world championship: a way of distinguishing him from those of lesser gifts but better luck who had actually succeeded in winning motor racing’s principal honour. But it was the manner in which Stirling Moss, who has died aged 90, effectively handed the trophy to one of his greatest rivals that established his name as a byword for sporting chivalry, as well as for speed and courage.

It was after the Portuguese Grand Prix on the street circuit at Oporto, the eighth round of the 1958 series, that Moss voluntarily appeared before the stewards to plead the case of Mike Hawthorn, threatened with disqualification from second place for apparently pushing his stalled Ferrari against the direction of the track after spinning on his final lap. Moss, who had won the race in his Vanwall, testified that his compatriot had, in fact, pushed the car on the pavement, and had thus not been on the circuit itself. Hawthorn was reinstated, along with his six championship points. Three months later, when the season ended in Casablanca, he won the title by the margin of a single point from Moss, who was never heard to express regret over his gesture.

In 1989 I directed a film for the Owen family, owners of British Racing Motors (BRM), for whom Stirling Moss drove in 1959. David Owen arranged for drivers to take part in three days of filming at Donington Park. Stirling was there to be reunited with his P25, a car he thought was the best the team had produced. His old skills were still in evidence as he sped around the Leicestershire circuit.

This pre-dated the revolution in onboard cameras, so Stirling had to drive with the recording equipment in his lap. Despite this handicap he never complained.

Tomie dePaola was ahead of his time in terms of environmental awareness and gender roles. One of the loveliest picture books that I read to my now 40-something children was his Michael Bird-Boy (1975), whose understanding of the role of bees and flowers in the process transformed the practices of Boss Lady, who ran the environmentally unfriendly honey factory. I still have a copy, and the drawings and words are glorious.

It was very telling that the footballer Norman Hunter was elected by his peers as the first Player of the Year. While defenders are often overlooked for this honour, hewas recognised by his fellow professionals for his skill, determination and consistently high level of performance, as when the England manager Sir Alf Ramsey selected him ahead of Bobby Moore in the 1973 World Cup qualifier against Poland.

He will always be remembered for his commitment to his teammates. After collecting his medal in the 1972 Cup final, Norman declined to join the immediate celebrations, but walked back down from the royal box to help his teammate Mick Jones, who was suffering from a dislocated shoulder, and they climbed the steps together.

Bob May and I met through the game of bridge at Sydney University in the 1960s and he never forgot the daring “psych” no trump bid he pulled off against the US national team.

When members of an exclusive Sydney chess club declined to appear until after dinner, Bob led the university team in breaking into the cupboards, setting up the boards and starting the clocks in their absence.