Cable briefs

Press, 1 June 1985, Page 10

Cable briefs

Roy Plomley dies The veteran British broadcaster, Roy Plomley, who devised and presented the world’s longest-running radio series, “Desert Island Discs,” has died. He was 71. Mr Plomley’s simple formula was asking a weekly guest celebrity to choose the eight records he or she would take with them as a castaway on a desert island. The show first went out in 1942 for what was planned as a limited series. It proved so popular that the 8.8. C. kept it on. The most recent series ended on May 11 this year. Mr Plomley’s 1791 guests ranged from Royalty to politicians to entertainers and included Princess Margaret and the Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher. — London. S.A. explosion An explosion ripped through a building in central Johannesburg yesterday, two days after 10 people were hurt in a limpet-mine blast in the city. — Johannesburg.

Musician dies A former Australian rock musician, Russel Handley, has died in a Sydney hospital after contracting the A.I.D.S. virus. Handley, aged 31, was a member of the bands Popular Mechanics and Numbers, both of which achieved success on the live music circuit during the early 1980 s. — Sydney. Syrian help The Lebanese President, Amin Gemayel, has raised a prospect of Syrian-Lebanese military co-operation to help implement reforms and end Lebanon’s civil war. Speaking in Damascus, where he has held two days of talks with President Hafez Assad, Mr Gemayel said Syrian troops stationed in much of east and central Lebanon could work with Lebanese troops on “a comprehensive political, security and reformatory plan for the whole of Lebanon.” — Beirut.