Derek Scott obituary

Former Blair adviser who foresaw dangers from the European single currency

Gore Vidal obituary

Novelist, playwright and essayist with a complete mastery of the scene he described

Other lives: Distinguished scholar who in the 1970s helped establish the Centre for the Study of Conflict at the University of Ulster

America's first female astronaut whose 1983 space flight captured the world's imagination

Theatre director and playwright who became a campaigner for disabled people

Other lives: Member of the politics department of Warwick University from 1974 until 2011 who lost his sight as a child

Scholar of ancient Greek literature and philosophy who changed our understanding of how Plato combined the two

Other lives: Critic, writer and English teacher with a great ability to communicate his passion for literature and poetry

Author, playwright and civil rights activist who confronted the tough realities of race, sex, class and poverty in her work

Commonwealth correspondent for the BBC World Service

Prolific novelist best known for 633 Squadron, his book that was turned into a classic second world war film in 1964

Mexico's most celebrated novelist

Like most great children's writers and illustrators, his work came from deep within – in his case somewhere very dark, writes Shirley Hughes

Artist and writer both blessed and burdened by her Bloomsbury group inheritance