Roger Squires: Difference between revisions

Squires served 15 years in the [[Fleet Air Arm]], in which he trained as an observer and gained commission as its youngest ever officer and visited 44 countries, including being in the first aircraft to land in [[Port Said]] in the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]]. In March 1961 he survived an aircraft crash in the [[Indian Ocean]] off the coast of [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]], escaping from escaping from his [[Fairey Gannet|Gannet]] [[Airborne Early Warning|AEW]] 60 feet below the sea surface and qualifying to become a member of the [[Goldfish Club]] (for survivors of aircraft ditchings).<ref name=elderwick>{{cite book|last=Elderwick|first=David|title=50 Shropshire Celebrities, Past and Present|year=1989|publisher=IMPRINT, Newtown, Powys|page=37}}</ref><ref name=beeb>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2410185.stm "Tales from a cryptic crossworder"], BBC News, 7 November 2002</ref>

Squires was featured talking about crosswords in the TV programme "''How To Solve Cryptic Crosswords"'' (BBC4) in 2009, and in the BBC ''One Show'' (BBC1) in 2011.<ref>[http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2011/11/interview-roger-squires.html "Interview: Roger Squires"], Shuchismita Upadhyay, Crossword Unclued, 9 November 2011</ref> Aside from crosswords crossword-related matters, he did a three months' stint appearing in bit parts in the ITV series ''[[Crossroads (British TV series)|Crossroads]]'' and also appeared on BBC TV in ''[[Crackerjack! (TV programme)|Crackerjack!]]'' and [[Rolf Harris]] shows.<ref name=elderwick/>

Squires died on 1 June 2023,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/crossword-blog/2023/jun/12/crossword-roundup-going-back-to-the-beginning Crossword roundup: going back to the beginning]</ref> at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roger Squires – RIP |url=https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/06/10/roger-squires-rip/ |website=Fifteen Squared |access-date=11 June 2023 |date=10 June 2023}}</ref> His death was cryptically announced by means of the Guardian’s prize crossword, partly set by his colleague ‘Paul’[[John Halpern]] ("Paul"), on 10 June 2023.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29093 "Prize crossword No 29,093"] The Guardian</ref> Several old clues composed by ‘Rufus’"Rufus" were incorporated. This echoed the paper’s late solver [[John Galbraith Graham|Araucaria]] announcing his [[cancer]] diagnosis in a crossword grid.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29093 "Prize crossword No 29,093"] The Guardian</ref>

[[Category:Crossword compilerscreators]]