And they die an equal death - the idler and the man of mighty deeds

 Remembering those we lost in 2010: 

 those in the public eye, and those who 

 came to be for the wrong reasons... 

Rue McClanahan, the actress, 76.

Corey Haim, the actor, dead at 38.

Gary Coleman, the actor, 42.

John Forsythe, the actor best known for his role as Blake Carrington in Dynasty, 92.

Kristian Digby, the BBC television presenter, 32.

Meinhardt Raabe, the munchkin coroner in The Wizard Of Oz, is really most sincerely dead, 94.

Teena Marie, the singer, 54.

Bobby Farrell, the Boney M singer, 61.

Pauly Fuemana, OMC frontman, 40.

Ambrose Olsen, the model, 24.

Charles DeVoe, the model, 28.

"Randy", a model who appeared for gay porn website ActiveDuty, 22.

Chris Kanyon, the openly gay wrestler, 40.

Manute Bol, the 7-feet-7 inches former NBA star, dead at 47.

David Mills, the television writer and producer behind The Wire, 48.

Also in 2010: Ronald Neame (the director perhaps best known for The Poseidon Adventure, 99. Elisabeth Beresford (creator of The Wombles) 84. Alexander Anderson (creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle), 90. Stephen Perry (the ThunderCats cartoon writer), 56. John Hicklenton (the graphic artist best known for Judge Dredd) 42. John Embry (who founded Drummer magazine in 1976), 83. Tobias Wong (the artist and designer), 35. J.D. Salinger (the literary recluse), 91. Fred Morrison, inventor of the Frisbee, 90. David Warren, the scientist who invented the black box flight data recorder, 85. Nicolas Hayek, the self-styled Mr Swatch, 82. Theo Albrecht, the reclusive billionaire who founded German retail giant Aldi, 88.

Gay youth suicide made the headlines this year. Far from being a sudden epidemic, it's actually endemic, and it's far from new. The faces that made the headlines in America are just the tip of the iceberg: imagine all their counterparts in any number of African countries, anywhere in the Middle East, or sunny Jamaica. Frightening, isn't it?

Corey Jackson (19).

Tyler Clementi (18).

Raymond Chase (19).

Seth Walsh (13).

Asher Brown (13).

Cody J. Barker (17).

Zach Harrington (19).

Justin Aaberg (15).

Brandon Bitner (14).

Prominent figures in the GBLT community who passed away this year: Joseph Jefferson (left), a gay youth activist in New York, 26. Adele Starr, a gay rights activist since 1974, 90. Antony Grey, "arguably the most important British gay rights campaigner of the 20th century", 82. Georges Kanuma, Burundi's leading gay activist, 38. Dr. Dorothy Height, civil rights champion and vocal supporter of gay equality, 94. Dr. Bertram H. Schaffner, one of the very first doctors to treat AIDS patients, 97. Durand Robinson, a gay activist, 41. Allan Gassman, the O Boys co-founder and safe sex activist, 47. Rev. Robert Carter, one of the first Roman Catholic priests to come out in the United States, 82. Raymond Castro, a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall rebellion, 68. Seymour Pine, who led the raid on Stonewall Inn over forty years ago, 91. Denise King, a spokeswoman for gay rights, 40.

Seventeen London teenagers lost their lives to violent crimes this year, outstripping 2009's death toll of 14. These are the boys who died before they lived.

Isschan Nicholls (18).

Olukorede Fajinmi (17).

Godwin Nii Lawson (17).

Sofyen Ghailan (15).

Charlie Wright (17).

Wesley Sterling (16).

Marcin Bilaszewski (19).

Nick Pearton (16).

Samuel Ogunro (17).

Ailton Campos (16).

Zac Olumegbon (15).

Rio McFarlane (18).

Marvin Henry (17).

Samuel Adelagun (16).

Update: Since this article was published, a 15-year-old was found dead in a bath on Christmas Day in Newham, east London. On 29th December, another youth was shot dead in Peckham, south London.