OBITUARIES

[Nolic]

RIP Jerry Collins former All Black Back flanker who was killed in a road accident in Southern France along with his wife. He was a true sportsman revered by colleagues and opponents alike. I love the tale about him from a couple of years ago when he was playing for the Welsh Ospreys. He and his family were on holiday in Devon and he turned up at a local rugby club and asked if he could have a game for them. His little girl is still in a critical condition. Nolic

[Tizer]

I missed seeing obituaries of this interesting lady in June: Lady Rozelle Raynes.
"Lady Rozelle Raynes, Wren stoker - obituary
Earl’s daughter who rejected her destiny as a debutante for a life of high adventure on the ocean wave " LINK
There's a extract from her book here: LINK

[Cathy]

Cilla Black RIP

Great voice, loved her spirit

[Marilyn]

Funny how none of you Brits have mentioned Cilla. She was one of your biggest exports once.
Mind you, I turned to son and his girlfriend last night and said " what a shame Cilla Black has died" and two heads turned back in unison and said " Who was Cilla Black?"
I took a sip of my wine and declared to myself that I must be getting old...terrible thing...but my dotage has arrived!

[Thomo]

Squadron Leader Les Munro has died at the age of 96 and was the last of the Dam Buster Pilots, only two other Aircrew now remain. Les was a very courageous New Zealander and was still flying aged 91. Thank you Sir, and rest in peace, you have earned it.

[Tripps]

Funny how none of you Brits have mentioned Cilla. She was one of your biggest exports once.
Mind you, I turned to son and his girlfriend last night and said " what a shame Cilla Black has died" and two heads turned back in unison and said " Who was Cilla Black?"
I took a sip of my wine and declared to myself that I must be getting old...terrible thing...but my dotage has arrived!

I'm afraid she was one of a long list of celebrities for whom the channel change button is imediateley activated. I expect that says more about me than them.

The conspiracy theories will start soon. First report said her son knocked the bedroom door in, when she didn't appear in the morning. Later reports said the police arrived at 6.00 pm, and she was found on he balcony with bruising. It was immediately reported, that death was due to natural causes before any enquiry, and the man who cleaned the pool was widely quoted yesterday saying that she had a stroke. He would know wouldn't he? Now after an autopsy, it is reported that it has not been possible to establish the cause of death. Puzzling.

[Sue]

I was a great fan when 13, and remained so although I never liked Blind Date and Surprise Surprise. In later years her voice went but I classed her in the same vein as Dusty Soringfield. They both had a raw emotional voice. There was no doubt she had a personality as big as her voice. I find her death very sad indeed. However it was fast, painless and apparently what she wanted.

[chinatyke]

In later years her voice went ...

I'm afraid she was one of a long list of celebrities for whom the channel change button is imediateley activated.

That irritating grating strident voice? I agree with Tripps. She reminds me of Cherie Blair.

[Sue]

All a matter of opinion.

[Bruff]

Cilla Black’s dad worked on the docks in Liverpool and there was a tradition of everyone having a nickname. When Cilla became famous as Cilla Black, he was know as the ‘reluctant minstrel’ as he didn’t know whether he should be black or white.

The Throstles Nest where her grandad supped and the butchers that sold her family sausages are still there on Scotland Road, but the area today is largely unrecognisable from those times and is what I think they call challenging.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

I agree Sue. Funny how some voices attract and others grate. I never went a bundle for Cilla and didn't like Gracie Fields either but I seem to have been in a minority. Nowt wrong with that.....

[Tizer]

Perhaps this is the place to mention today the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. I still remember as a child being horrified by the images released in the 1950s of the effects on the people of that city. Some were fortunate enough to be instantly vaporised but others had their skin peeled off and I particularly remember the shots of them throwing themselves into the river. And others had a lingering death from radiation sickness. The only evidence left of some people was their shadows left on the walls of buildings after the flash.

We still live with the danger of nuclear weapons but we now also have the possibility of the`dirty bomb' as well, a bomb set off by conventional explosive but loaded with a radioactive chemical which is then spread over a wide area. A long report in The Times last weekend describes how Ukrainian rebels are working with Russian experts to make a dirty bomb using radioactive materials from a captured storage bunker in Ukraine. There's a massive amount of such chemicals stored there.

[Cathy]

What can be said Tizer, a dispicable happening, and the possibility of another. Lest We Forget

[Big Kev]

George Cole, 90 years old. Not a bad innings...

[Bodger]

" a dispicable happening,"
Cathy, at the time what would you have done ?, The allies finished the war, they didn't start it we lost family to the japs and the nazis, so ive no regrets

[Tizer]

We know the Japanese military carried out terrible atrocities during WW2 but Hiroshima and Nagasaki saw the killing and wounding of civilians - women, children and babies included - on a colossal scale and it was a turning point for the human race.

[Stanley]

George Cole.... Loved his work. Always struck by the fact he was a protege of Alastair Sim, in fact I think he lived with him at one point....
Hiroshima, I agree with you Cathy but at the time, after sitting in the Anderson Shelter with big bombs dropping all around, I can tell you that we were all in favour of Dresden and Hiroshima. The times have changed, we can afford to be more critical now..... Remember it was Total War, a concept that has faded from memory now.

[Stanley]

See THIS for an obituary for Jackie Collins who has died aged 77 of breast cancer...
Another cancer victim.... BRIAN SEWELL has died. Definitely a one-off and always entertaining even if sometimes barking mad in his opinions. I remember being surprised to find he was an avid fan of stock car racing.....

[Whyperion]

I'll miss Brian Sewell - I mostly read him in the (Free) Evening Standard, didn't realise he was that age. I think I sold him a book on cars at a charity boot sale in Wimbledon a few years back - I always expected to get back to the same venue and see him again but weather and other commitments that date in the year meant I could never get there.

[Stanley]

Dennis Healey has died. Regarded by many as the best Prime Minister we never had. He was a prolific and good snapper as well and had exhibitions of his work.

[Sunray10]

Gordon Honeycombe the former ITN newsreader has died at the age of 79.

[Stanley]

Geoffrey Howe is dead. I remembered Dennis Healey's jibe that arguing with him was like being savaged by a dead sheep. Nice turn of phrase and that is how many remember him but his close friends say he had a mind like a steel trap and we should not forget his famous 'cricket bat' resignation speech which is still seen by many as one of the factors in her subsequent defeat. Not much 'dead sheep' there!

[Moh]

Peter Baldwin who played Derek Wilton - husband of Mavis in Coronation St. has died.

[Tripps]

Maureen O'Hara, who has died aged 95, once regarded as among the most beautiful women on earth, was a red-haired Irish-born actress who played passionate heroines in the golden era of Hollywood.

I must say I didn't know she was Irish, or even that she was still alive. I enjoyed 'The Quiet Man' - super fight scene. I guess if she had posted on here she could have called herself MOH.

[Stanley]

I liked her and remember her films well....