Died: November 6, 2020. GEORGE COCKCROFT, who has died aged 87, was better known to millions of readers as Luke Rhinehart, author of one of the quintessential late 20th-Century counter-cultural novels. The Dice Man (1971), about a bored psychiatrist – also named Luke Rhinehart – who decides to live his life based on the roll of the dice, transcended cult status to become a totem of its time. Presented as a kind of pseudo-autobiography of the mythical Rhinehart, the book tapped into the 1960s generation’s search for freedom with a darkly troubling humour, and went on to sell more than two million copies. While Cockcroft stayed away from the limelight, the success of The Dice Man saw another 10 books appear under the Rhinehart byline, with some of them later reworked.