Joan Wile, a former songwriter and actress who in her 70s weaponised the power of grandmotherhood by organising a nine-year-long weekly vigil by fellow venerable protesters against the war in Iraq, has died in Nanuet, New York. She was 86. Wile had written letters and marched against the war, but it was a horrific photograph in Time magazine — of a 12-year-old Iraqi boy who had been burned and lost both arms and whose family had been killed by American bombs — that galvanised her to do even more. "I've got to do something," Ms. Wile later recalled saying to herself. "Suddenly the word 'grandmother' popped into my head. 'Wow,' I thought, 'that's a magic word. It connotes wisdom, love, nurturing, maturity, good common sense. People will take us seriously.'" New York Times

Desmond "Des" Saunders, who has died aged 91, was a television and film director who enjoyed a long association with the producer Gerry Anderson – famous for his 1960s productions filmed with "Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electronic moving parts). Though Supercar was his first directorial work, he went on to become one of the main directors of Supermarionation series such as Stingray (1964–65) and Thunderbirds (1965–66), and by the time of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–68) had risen to the position of supervising director. He would recall that he received constant requests from the producer to make the puppets more "real". Once, while directing Thunderbirds, he decided to respond by attaching "little willies" to the male characters. When the crew came in during the morning, there was, as he recalled, "the most terrible uproar".The Telegraph, London

Robert Indiana, a pop artist whose career was defined — and limited — by one of the most familiar images of the 1960s — the word LOVE, set in a block pattern with the letters LO above the VE — which appeared in paintings, sculptures, greeting cards and postage stamps, died May 19 at his home on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine. He was 89. Indiana, who adopted what he called his "nom de brush" from his home state, was part of the generation of pop artists who emerged in the early 1960s — including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist, all of whom were known for their bold visual images drawn heavily from pop culture. Indiana's early work was known for its striking use of graphic design, with circles, stars and other forms, usually accompanied by words or numbers.The Washington Post