Divorced. Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, 60, principal developer of radar (patents filed in 1935); by his onetime research assistant, Lady Watson-Watt; after 36 years of marriage; in London.

Died. Alfred Neumann, 56, German poet (Songs of Laughter and Despair), historical romancer (The Devil, The Patriot, The Gaudy Empire), whose contempt for tyrants and dictators (Louis XI, Paul I, Napoleon III) caused Hitler to banish both him and his works from Germany; of a heart ailment; in Lugano, Switzerland. The Devil, an extraordinary reworking of Quentin Durward into a psychological flesh-creeper, was a bestseller of the late '20s; The Patriot, also a bestseller, was made twice into a movie (first with Emil Jannings, later with Harry Baur).

Died. James Capone, 60, white sheep brother of Chicago's Scarface Al, Ralph and Matt Capone, who went west after World War I, took the name Richard J. Hart, led a law-abiding life as Indian agent, later town marshal and justice of the peace in Homer, Neb.; of a heart attack; in Homer.

Died. Merlin Hall Aylesworth, 66, pioneer in network radio (he introduced listeners to Amos 'n' Andy, Major Edward Bowes, the Walter Damrosch music appreciation hour), first president of the National Broadcasting Co. (1926-36), onetime (1938-39) publisher of the old New York World-Telegram; after long illness; in Manhattan.

Died. Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch, 66, publisher of Australia's two largest daily newspapers (the Melbourne Herald, the Sun News-Pictorial); of a heart attack; in Frankston, Australia.

Died. Viscount Astor, 73, onetime (1939-44) Lord Mayor of Plymouth, newspaper executive (the London Observer); of asthma; in Cliveden. A New York-born great-great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, he became a British subject when his father was naturalized in 1899, later married tart-tongued Nancy Witcher Langhorne of Greenwood, Va., who became the first woman to sit in the House of Commons (1919-45). Said he: "When I married Nancy, I hitched my wagon to a star; when she got into the House of Commons, I found I had hitched my wagon to a sort of V-2 rocket." Because the Cliveden estate was once a popular meeting place for British politicians and foreign diplomats (the "Cliveden Set"), the Astors were widely criticized in the late '30s as appeasers of Hitler.

Died. Septer Palin, 74, oldtime harness racing driver, horse trainer and two-time winner (with Greyhound in 1935, with Hoot Mon in 1947) of the Hambletonian; in Lexington, Ky.

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