LIVES REMEMBERED

Major Ben Strachan

Major Ben Strachan, who has died aged 92, became a diplomat after a career in the Army; as ambassador to the Lebanon he became the first senior British official to meet the PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and during his final posting as ambassador to Algeria, he flew over the Sahara desert with Margaret Thatcher’s husband Denis to locate their son Mark, who had disappeared during the 1982 Paris to Dakar car rally.

Strachan’s first ambassadorial posting, at the end of 1976, was to Yemen. Three years later he was appointed ambassador to the Lebanon. He retired as ambassador to Algeria in 1984 but returned to the Foreign Office as a special adviser during the first Gulf War in 1990.

Later he settled on his farm in Aberdeenshire, where he published a book, The Skirts of

Alpha, on the internet, in which he attempted to prove that consciousness exists in the atom. Born January 4 1924 , died July 12 2016

Fred Tomlinson

Fred Tomlinson, who has died aged 88, was the founder and leader of the Fred Tomlinson Singers, who provided vocals for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Two Ronnies and other television shows.

For some 20 years from the late 1960s Tomlinson’s singing, playing, arranging, compositional and even whistling skills were frequently called upon for musical items in television programmes.

Among other things he co-wrote the Python team’s

Lumberjack Song (his singers played the Mounties in the original sketch and the Vikings singing Spam! Wonderful Spam! in another famous skit) and had a starring role as a soloist on The

Two Ronnies in the St Botolph Country Dance Team’s rendition of Bold Sir John. It was often left to Tomlinson to complete other people’s musical ideas. The comedians and scriptwriters would come up with suggestions for a musical sketch and then say: “We’ll leave the rest to Fred.”

Tomlinson did not confine his musical interests to the popular field and, as a bass singer, was often roped in as a last-minute “stiffener” by amateur choral groups. He did much work for John McCarthy and the Ambrosians, a vocal ensemble which performed at concerts and operas, as well as in musicals, films and television.

He also met and became friendly with the tenor Ian Partridge and his sister, the pianist Jennifer Partridge. They shared a love of the music of Peter Warlock and collaborated in many performances of his work. Born December 18 1927, died July 17 2016

Queen Anne of Romania

Queen Anne of Romania, who has died aged 92, was queen of a country whose language she did not speak and on whose soil she did not step until she was nearly 70.

Related to most of the royal families of Europe, and wife of the exiled King Michael of Romania, she was content to live the life of a Swiss housewife. Her great simplicity and adaptability were invaluable attributes in her marriage to a serious-minded man who had been dispossessed of his country and the duties which gave his life purpose.

His career took her from a chicken farm in Hertfordshire to suburban life in Switzerland, and then threw the pair both back into the public eye after the overthrow of Ceausescu in Romania in 1989.

She met her future husband in London in November 1947, at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece. Their introduction was arranged. One of her brothers took Michael to the cinema and afterwards returned to the family suite at Claridge’s, where the princess was waiting to receive him. King Michael claimed a coup de foudre. He was charmed, he said, by her frank regard, her bold smile and her simplicity. Born September 18 1923, died August 1 2016