Obituary: Alun Evans

<em>Farewell, Axe.</em> Alun Evans, 1949-2023 Alun Evans, who has died aged 73, was better known to readers of the Catholic Herald as “Axe”, our veteran crossword contributor. Alun was born on the last day of the 1940s, 31 December 1949, and grew up in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. In the late 1950s, he moved to London to attend university, after which he married his childhood sweetheart, Caryl.&nbsp; They lived in Yorkshire and North Wales before settling in Milton Keynes with their two daughters and, later, five grandchildren. They regularly holidayed in the south of France, for Alun loved the sea and enjoyed the Mediterranean in particular. He adored history, geography, language, sport, music and films, and poured this love and his immensely wide and general knowledge into writing several books and creating his crosswords.&nbsp; The arrival of his monthly creation was like clockwork, and it was an activity from which he never wanted to retire. He enjoyed it until the end, and submitted his final crossword – which appears opposite – only a few days before his death on 9 August. We shall all miss him very much, and extend our condolences to Caryl and their family. <em>Jesu mercy, Mary pray</em>.&nbsp;