This week: a former Hearts midfielder, one of "Blair's Babes", a pioneering horse racer and a celebrated mountaineer

THE former Hearts midfielder Stefano Salvatori, who has died aged 49, was a member of the Jambos' 1998 Scottish Cup-winning side and became a popular member of the squad during his three years at Tynecastle.

The Italian made 58 league appearances for the club and also enjoyed spells with Atalanta, Parma and Fiorentina after coming through the ranks at AC Milan, with whom he won a European Cup winners' medal in 1990. He moved to Edinburgh in 1996 after two years with Atalanta, having helped the Bergamo club win promotion to Serie A; he also had two spells at Fiorentina.

A statement from Hearts said of Salvatori that he wrote his name into Hearts folklore by helping the Jambos to lift the 1998 Scottish Cup with a 2-1 win over Rangers.

He finished his career in Italy’s lower divisions with Alzano Virescit, AlbinoLeffe and Legnano, and retired in 2002.

THE Labour politician Candy Atherton, who has died aged 62, was one of the so-called "Blair babes", the tranche of women MPs who were elected as part of Tony Blair's first Labour government in 1997. She was also the first person selected as a candidate from an all-female shortlist.

Ms Atherton was elected as MP for Falmouth and Camborne, Cornwall, and served the constituency for eight years until her defeat by Liberal Democrat Julia Goldsworthy in 2005; she later returned to politics as Cornwall councillor for the Falmouth Smithick division in 2013.

Tony Blair described Ms Atherton as an immensely valued MP and someone who represented her constituency and Cornwall with extraordinary distinction.

Latterly, she focused on disability and local issues and lobbied government to secure over £2 billion in investment for Cornwall.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described Ms Atherton as a proud champion of Cornwall.

THE horse racing trainer Mary Reveley, who has died aged 77, saddled over 2,000 winners in a pioneering career. She was also the first woman in Britain to saddle 100 winners in a calendar year, having reached the significant milestone in 1991.

In the same year she landed the Cambridgeshire handicap at Newmarket with her favourite horse, Mellottie.

In 1992, she then became the only British female to claim 50 victories in a Flat season.

She retired from training in 2004 and passed on the baton to her son Keith, who announced his own retirement this January.

The National Trainers Federation said in a statement that Reveley "was from that rare seam of trainers whose fundamental horse knowledge enables them to bring out each horse's full potential, whatever its characteristics and aptitudes".

MOUNTAIN climber Fred Beckey, who has died aged 94, is credited with notching more first ascents than any other American mountaineer.

He was known as much for his eccentric personality as for his singular obsession with climbing.

He was born in Germany and moved to the United States as a child. His family settled in Seattle, where he got his first taste of hiking and scrambling with the Boy Scouts and later The Mountaineers club.

In 1942, he and his younger brother Helmut wowed the climbing community with an impressive second ascent of Mount Waddington in British Columbia.

He went on to accomplish hundreds of first ascents on peaks throughout the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Canada and Wyoming.

In1954, he established new routes on three of Alaska's mountains: McKinley, Deborah and Hunter. He also climbed in the Himalayas and China.

He wrote more than a dozen books, including the three-volume Cascade Alpine Guide that details hundreds of peaks in the North Cascades in Washington state.

Beckey once wrote that climbing gave him a unique sense of control over his destiny. "The exaltation one can get in the presence of mountains can be a memorable lesson in humility and an aid to self-realisation," he wrote.

Even in his 90s, Beckey was still plotting routes and climbing, though more slowly and with the help of a cadre of fiercely protective partners.