ONE reason we’re not likely to forget 2016 is the sad number of deaths of prominent people.

They ranged from one of the biggest rock stars in the world, David Bowie, to possibly the greatest sportsman of them all, Muhammad Ali.

Today, Echoes remembers some of the prominent people we lost this year – especially the surprising number with local links.

JANUARY

* Ed Stewart, the former presenter of BBC radio’s Junior Choice and TV’s Crackerjack died in hospital in Bournemouth on January 9 after suffering a stroke.

The DJ, who was also a frequent host of Top of the Pops, was described as “one of the kindest men you could have met” by friend Frances Cornelius, Wessex chair for Variety, the Children’s Charity.

His parents lived at Swanage and he made many charity appearances locally. He later moved to Westbourne and New Milton and became a keen supporter of charities, as well as performing in panto and presenting Magic of Mantovani concerts at Poole’s Lighthouse.

* The entertainment world was shocked by the death of one of rock’s most influential stars, David Bowie on January 10, at the age of 69.

He was born David Jones and was said to have first revealed his new identity as Bowie in Bournemouth in 1965, while playing the Pavilion Ballroom with his band The Lower Third. The official announcement came weeks later.

Bowie performed in at Starkers in Boscombe and at Chelsea Village in Glen Fern Road, Bournemouth, in 1972. In 1973, he was filmed by the BBC’s Nationwide programme preparing for a gig at the Winter Gardens, with reporter Bernard Falk describing him as a “Bizarre, self-constructed freak”.

* Broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan died on January 31, at the age of 77.

In 1981, Beales had to bring in more staff on “crowd control” when the DJ arrived for a book-signing. The fans, or ‘Togs’, were just as enthusiastic in 2011 when he signed his book Wogan’s Ireland at Castlepoint.

* Also lost in January were the actor Alan Rickman, 69; musician Glenn Frey of the Eagles, 67; and George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, 96, who, joined the future Bournemouth East and Christchurch MP Nigel Nicolson in founding the publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

* February saw the loss of Frank Kelly, 77, actor best known as Father Jack in Father Ted.

* Cliff Michelmore, who died on March 17, aged 96, presented coverage of the Apollo moon landings and several general elections, as well as hosting the BBC magazine programme Tonight. But in the south, he was also known as the presenter of Day By Day, the evening news programme he presented until Southern Television lost its franchise in 1981.

* The hugely popular TV magician Paul Daniels, who died on March 17 aged 77, made many stage and charity appearances locally. In 1977, he supported the singer Val Doonican at the Pavilion – and it was the last summer show in which the magician did not top the bill.

He brought his show to Poole Arts Centre in 1979, played the Pavilion in 1980 and 1984, and starred in Dick Whittington there in 1996-97.

* Ronnie Corbett, who died on March 31, aged 85, made frequent visits to Dorset to film The Two Ronnies. Sequences were shot in Poole, Shaftesbury and Swanage among other locations, and it was while on location in Corfe Castle that Ronnie Barker confided to Corbett that he wanted to retire after their 1987 Christmas special.

* Also lost in March were Coronation Street’s creator Tony Warren, 79; Beatles producer Sir George Martin 90; rock musician Keith Emerson, 71, of Emerson Lake and Palmer; conductor Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (who had backed the campaign to save Bournemouth’s Winter Gardens), 81; Sylvia Anderson, 88, of Thunderbirds Fame; US comedian Garry Shandling, 66; and Frank Sinatra Jr, 72.

* April saw the loss of hugely popular comedian, actress and writer Victoria Wood (who had sold out the BIC and Poole Arts Centre), 62; Blake's 7 actor Gareth Thomas, 71; entertainer and producer David Gest, 62; and musical superstar Prince, 57.

* May saw the death of actor Burt Kwouk, 85, and Carla Lane, 87 – writer of The Liver Birds, Buterflies and Bread.

* June saw the death of one of the world’s great sportsmen, boxer Muhammad Ali, 74; Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, 27; and Elvis Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore (who had played concerts in Bournemouth and Weymouth), 84.

* July saw the deaths of comedian and writer Caroline Aherne, 52; and Marni Nixon, 86, whose singing voice was heard in The King and I, West Side Story and My Fair Lady.

* Weatherman Trevor Baker, who died at 95 on August 19, was one of the most popular figures on local TV screens.

‘Trevor with the Weather’ was familiar on Southern Television’s Day By Day and on its successor, TVS’s Coast to Coast, until 1987. His 25 years’ service made him Britain’s longest-serving forecaster.

* August also saw the death of acclaimed actor Sir Alan Bates, 69; Kenny Baker, the actor best known as R2-D2 in Star Wars, 81; actor Frank Finlay, 89; the actor and disability campaigner Lord Brian Rix, 92; and the comic actor Gene Wilder, 83.

* September saw the death of playwright Edward Albee, 88; and author WP Kinsella, 81, whose book Shoeless Joe became the film Field of Dreams.

* October saw the loss of Jean Alexander, the actress best known as Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street, 90; sitcom writer Jimmy Perry, 93; and Bobby Vee, the 1960s pop singer who had played the Winter Gardens and the BIC.

*November saw the death of actor Andrew Sachs, known as Manuel in Fawlty Towers, 86; actor Robert Vaughn, 83; DJ Sir Jimmy Young, 95; and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, 82, who had sold out the BIC.

* Greg Lake, from Poole, who became an international star as part of Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP), died on December 7, aged 69.

Raised in Dale Valley Road, Oakdale, he took guitar lessons in Westbourne and played in a succession of local bands before achieving stardom in King Crimson and ELP. The band played Bournemouth’s Winter Gardens on the night of his 25th birthday in 1972 and Lake later bought Stanbridge Mill near Wimborne. His solo song I Believe In Father Christmas is a perennial favourite.

* December has also seen the death of actor Peter Vaughan, 93; astronaut and politician John Glenn, 95; weatherman Ian McCaskill, 78; writer and critic AA Gill, 62; actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99; and Rabbi and broadcaster Lionel Blue, 86.