Charles Hill, detective who recovered Munch's The Scream, dies at 73

Charles Hill, a detective from Scotland Yard renowned for his role in the recovery of Edvard Munch's The Scream in 1994, has passed away at the age of 73, as reported by the Association of Former Metropolitan Police Officers. Hill, a member of the Art Squad, was instrumental when thieves stole The Scream from the National Museum of Oslo, leading Norway to seek assistance from his team. In a clever ruse, he impersonated a Getty Museum official to engage an art trafficker, resulting in the painting's recovery in 1996. Born in 1947 in Cambridge, England, Hill served in the Vietnam War before joining the Metropolitan Police, where he retrieved works by Titian, Cézanne, and Vermeer. He retired in 2002 and gained cult status, later appearing in a 2020 BBC documentary.