LIVES REMEMBERED

John Woolford

John Woolford, who has died aged 96, was better known in 1930s Britain as Wulff Scherchen, the muse, confidant and teenage lover of the composer Benjamin Britten. He was the inspiration for Young

Apollo, a work for piano, string quartet and string orchestra.

They first met at the International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Florence in 1934, when Wulff was 13. Four years later Britten wrote to the teenager, inviting him to visit his windmill (the Old Mill) in Suffolk. A correspondence grew, punctuated by occasional meetings, largely at the insistence of the composer, who was infatuated with the tall, blond German.

If and when their relationship was consummated is unclear, although Wulff spent Christmas 1938 at the Mill, writing to Britten afterwards: “Dearest, thank you for everything, & especially for last night”. Born May 30 1920, died August 9 2016

Sir Antony Jay

Sir Antony Jay, who has died aged 86, was a writer, broadcaster and director, and co-author, with Jonathan Lynn, of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, the political comedies which kept the nation laughing through the Thatcherite 1980s.

Yes Minister, which first aired on BBC2 in 1981, was a gentle satire on a governing system in which elected politicians are outmanoeuvred by their more worldly, unelected officials. The series starred Paul Eddington as Jim Hacker, the hapless, publicity-hungry but risk-averse minister engaged in constant wrangles with the Civil Service in the form of his Machiavellian permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne). The minister was aided and abetted (sometimes) by his private secretary, Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds).

Despite not being renowned for her sense of humour, the Prime Minister claimed that Yes Minister was her favourite programme and once turned up at the BBC studios with her own script. The show’s stars had to be cajoled into acting out a slightly awkward scene, broadcast on the evening news bulletins, in which Mrs Thatcher was seen ordering Hacker and Sir Humphrey to ‘’abolish economists’’ as a first step toward cutting the budget.

It was Jay’s growing interest in public choice theory that helped to shape Yes Minister, an interest that grew after he became a partner with John Cleese and two others in Video Arts, a company that makes comedy training films for business managers and campaigners. ‘ Born April 20 1930, died August 21 2016

Walter Scheel

Walter Scheel, who has died aged 97, was President of West Germany from 1974 to 1979, during which time he did much to humanise his country’s image abroad, helping to dispel boring or threatening national stereotypes.

A jolly Rhinelander and a former foreign minister under Willy Brandt, Scheel sang well and gave good parties. In Germany he was best known for his lilting performance on television of the popular song Hoch auf dem Gelben Wagen (“Up On the Yellow Car”), a ditty ostensibly about the demands of the postal service, although some experts interpret the lyrics as a haunting allegory about death. In January 1974 the song, released to raise money for charity, rose to No 1 in the German pop charts.

As president, Scheel was sometimes attacked for his lavish lifestyle, though he made a refreshing contrast to his highly religious predecessor President Heinemann.

He won numerous awards, including the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Medal for Combating Deadly Seriousness, an award presented by the German city of Aachen. He was honorary president of the German-British Society. Born July 8 1919, died August 23 2016