Bob Smithies

Robert (Bob) Smithies (22 April 1934 - 31 July 2006) was a photographer, journalist and crossword compiler. He was born in Middleton, near Rochdale, Lancashire.

Smithies began his career from school at the Manchester Evening News as a darkroom assistant, progressing to the post of photographer there and later at the Manchester Guardian.

Smithies joined Granada Television in the mid-1970s and presented a number of television programmes between then and 2005.

Since his first cryptic crossword was accepted by The Guardian newspaper in 1966, Smithies was a regular compiler for the newspaper, under the pseudonym Bunthorne, the name taken from the leading character in the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera "Patience".

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1835760,00.html Obituary in The Guardian]