Sheffield Press revisits 2026 deaths of notable figures and public lives

Dermot Murnaghan died on July 12 at 68 after a period of illness with prostate cancer, and his family said he was with them at the end. The former BBC and Sky News presenter’s death, in north London, placed the year’s obituary coverage back on the public figures who spent decades in view, speaking to millions and shaping how Britain took in its news.

Ann Widdecombe, who died aged 78, represented another kind of public life: the politician who became a fixture of the Brexit era and one of the most recognisable faces of populist conservatism. Theo Burrell, who died aged 39 after a glioblastoma battle, brought a different audience into that same roll call. As an Antiques Roadshow expert known for decorative arts, she bridged specialist knowledge and mainstream television, a reminder that cultural authority increasingly came through broadcasters as much as institutions.

The year’s business and football deaths pointed to older power structures fading from view. Ken Bates died aged 94 in Monaco after buying Chelsea for £1 and later owning Leeds United. Chelsea said he died peacefully, surrounded by his wife, Suzannah, and family. Humphrey Smith died on June 29 at 81, closing a chapter on Samuel Smith Old Brewery, the family business known for pub rules that banned mobile phones and laptops. Those names speak to eras when one owner’s decisions could define a club, a brewery or an entire chain of pubs for years at a time.

David Hockney died on June 11 at 88, another landmark loss from Britain’s postwar cultural generation. J. Michael Bishop died at 90 and was remembered for Nobel Prize-winning cancer research that helped reshape modern oncology, work he shared with Harold E. Varmus. The health context around Murnaghan’s death was stark as well: Cancer Research UK says the UK sees around 57,900 new prostate cancer cases and about 12,300 deaths each year.

Sheffield’s own obituary pages have stayed busy through July, with The Star carrying multiple local death notices and Funeral Guide maintaining recent Sheffield listings. Against that steady local flow, The Sheffield Press, which launched on June 30 as a digital newsroom focused on breaking news and analysis, has folded these deaths into a city newspaper tradition that dates back to 1787.