The long, tempestuous political career of Zhao Ziyang, the former Communist Party leader ousted for opposing the use of military force to crush the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, provided tragic testimony of the limits of reform in China. It also exposed the secrecy, fear and forces of brutality still operating at the heart of Chinese Communist politics during the 1980s, despite a decade of economic reform. After the Tianamen Square protests, his advocacy of economic reform became intolerable to the cabal of “Elders” within the party. He was sacked, disgraced and remained under detention for the rest of his life, the broken icon of political reform.

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  Johnny Carson, television presenter, was born on October 23, 1925. He died on January 23, aged 79.

  Johnny Carson reigned as undisputed king of US late-night television for almost 30 years. For generations of American insomniacs, Carson appeared on the screen with the trademark cry of “Heeeeere’s Johnny!” From 11.30pm until 1am, he consistently attracted more than 15 million viewers, gaining enormous profits for NBC and vast wealth for himself.

  Carson’s style was cool and affable, an understated mixture of wide-eyed Midwestern innocence and worldly sophistication, laced with a deft wit that was seldom cruel. Faultless timing, a limitless range of expressions and a smile that seemed infinitely adjustable combined to place him head and shoulders above his many rivals.

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  Arthur Miller, dramatist, was born on October 17, 1915. He died on February 10, aged 89.

  Arthur Miller will be remembered by some as the intellectual who made a famously unsuitable marriage to Marilyn Monroe, and by others as the staunch liberal who risked imprisonment by defying the House Committee on Un-American Activities. But his main legacy is the series of plays — Death of a Salesman and The Crucible prime among them — that had established him as his nation’s leading dramatist by the mid-1950s and continue to be revived throughout the world. He brought a unique blend of intelligence, moral passion and dramatic skill to concerns ranging from the lure of materialism to the importance of the individual conscience and the significance of the Holocaust.

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  Hunter S. Thompson, writer, was born on July 18, 1937. He was found dead of a gunshot wound on February 20, aged 67.

  Widely regarded as the wayward father of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson brought a savage subjectivity to bear on all things American. As a chronicler of the US of the 1960s and 1970s, he was far from being the first apostle of the counter-culture, but he brought to the process of reporting the era an irresistible immediacy.

  His first book, Hell’s Angels (1966), had involved him in living and breathing the same air as his subjects, to produce a chronicle of terrible conviction — and one which seemed almost to frighten its author.

  But it was with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972) that Thompson redefined the role of the journalist, as not merely commentator, but as actor and participant in the manic social drama of his times.

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  Lord Sheppard of Liverpool, English cricket captain and Bishop of Liverpool, was born on March 6, 1929. He died of cancer on March 5, aged 75.

  David Sheppard, captain of cricket for England in 1954 and Bishop of Liverpool for 22 years from 1975, was one of the most admired English religious leaders. His warm personality in cricket, the Church and social reform, gave him unusual influence. Quiet, good-looking, focused and exceedingly well organised, he took courageous stands in major controversies. His recognition of how impossible life had become for disadvantaged people drove him to passionate advocacy of reform in society and the Church.

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