OBITUARIES

[Stanley]

Aunty Wainwright who ran the secondhand shop was superb!

[PanBiker]

Jimmy Perry 93, classic comedy scriptwriter writer.

"What is your name boy", "Don't tell em Pike".

"Good Mornin Campers, today at Maplins....."

[Stanley]

Agreed, he was a comic genius.....

[Nolic]

RIP Pete Burns singer with Dead or Alive. A troubled man after cosmetic surgeries failed. Nolic

[Bruff]

Pete Burns. Or to give him his full name, Peter Jozzeppi Burns. A surprisingly exotic heritage; his mother was Evelina Maria Bettina Quittner von Hudec, born in Hiedelberg Germany and who fled to Vienna to escape increasing anti-Jewish sentiment where she met his father, a Liverpudlian soldier, at a soldiers tea dance. They married and settled in Wirral.

You Spin Me Round is still guaranteed to fill a dance-floor, in my experience, though I increasingly fail to do its high-octane rhythm justice as the years pass.

Richard Broughton

[Moh]

Singer & presenter Jimmy Young died yesterday aged 95.

[Stanley]

Indeed Moh, derided by many in the BBC when he mixed political interviews with music he surprised everyone by his ability to get major politicians to speak openly on his show. His attitude was that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar!

[Wendyf]

RIP Leonard Cohen.

[David Whipp]

"Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye"

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it's come to distances and both of us must try,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

[Stanley]

I love his songs.......

[Wendyf]

The letter to Marianne when he knew she was dying...HERE

[PanBiker]

Light as the Breeze.

She stands before you naked
You can see it, you can taste it,
And she comes to you light as the breeze.
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it,
It don't matter how you worship
As long as you're
Down on your knees.

So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
At the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
For something like a second
I was healed and my heart
Was at ease.

O baby I waited
So long for your kiss
For something to happen,
Oh something like this.

And you're weak and you're harmless
And you're sleeping in your harness
And the wind going wild
In the trees,
And it ain't exactly prison
But you'll never be forgiven
For whatever you've done
With the keys.

O baby I waited
It's dark now and it's snowing
O my love I must be going,
The river has started to freeze.
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees.

Then she dances so graceful
And your heart's hard and hateful
And she's naked
But that's just a tease.
And you turn in disgust
From your hatred and from your love
And comes to you
Light as the breeze.

O baby I waited
There's blood on every bracelet
You can see it, you can taste it,
And it's please baby
Please baby please.

And she says, drink deeply, pilgrim
But don't forget there's still a woman
Beneath this
Resplendent chemise.

So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
I knelt there like one who believes.
And the blessings come from heaven
And for something like a second
I'm cured and my heart
Is at ease.

R.I.P. Leonard

[Nolic]

RIP actor Robert Vaughan. Last of the Magnificent Seven and The Man from UNCLE. Nolic

[Marilyn]

Nolic...we never hear from you unless you are reporting a death!

[Stanley]

I heard today that a old mentor of mine, Norman Sherry, died on the 19th of October aged 91. Norman was a flawed man, a hypochondriac and at times a drunken womaniser but despite all this I liked him. He was a brilliant teacher. See this LINK.



Norman and Stanley at Lancaster in 1981.....

[Marilyn]

Well...he did well for a hypochondriac and a drunken womaniser! Not a bad "innings"...

[Nolic]

I see where you are coming from Mazza. I do read many posts but do rarely comment. Nolic

[Stanley]

Maz, he was actually a lovely bloke once you realised that beneath the flawed exterior there was a very sound man who at times could be very appealing. I remember him once being off ill and when he came back he asked me to sit in on his first lecture (not on my course but fascinating) as he wanted a friendly face in the middle of the hall he could focus on. He suffered from stage fright!
I once called in on him when he was no longer my tutor, I was after a cup of coffee (he used very good coffee!). He had a large photo copier in the middle of the floor and he said "Two copies of each Dear Boy" and went off the make the coffee. The first document I did caught my eye as it was a letter with an Edward Ardizzone drawing on it. The next was from Vita Sackville West and I realised I was copying the originals of Graham Greene's private correspondence! The next was from Harold Macmillan. As I was doing this Norman suddenly said "Personally Dear Boy, I can't understand why you are pissing about. You're quite obviously a writer". I never replied but have though many a time since that when someone like Norman tells you something like that, you should really take notice! An interesting man......

[Marilyn]

Mrs Brady ( Florence Henderson).

[Stanley]

Fidel Castro has died aged 90 years old. Described as possibly the last of the 'Cold War Warriors'. Widely criticised but he held power for fifty years and left a mainly unified country.

[Cathy]

Andrew Sachs aka 'Manuel ' from Fawlty Towers has died aged 86.
RIP

[Stanley]

They showed an episode on TV last night.... it was scheduled before Andrew's death I think. Lovely!

[Tripps]

Am I the only one who didn't think Fawlty Towers was very funny ? I'm sure that any modern series which was proposed, and included bullying an immigrant worker, and slapping him round the head would be rejected immediately by the programme commissioners.

[Marilyn]

I was not a fan, Tiz. It was predictable and OTT.
Mind you, what would the world think of "Love thy Neighbour" and it's political correctness nowadays?

[Marilyn]

I remember back in the 70s...meeting my first husband's grandmother ( formidable woman...stiffly permed purple hair, reptilian eyes and tightly drawn lips). Many times she would glance at her TV and say ( in a shrill voice) " I don't know what is happening to the world - there are so many of these "darkies" on TV now." Her neck would wobble with the indecency of it all.
Made me feel sick to the core. I knew somehow that the world would change, even if it only meant ignorant people dying out by natural progression. In her case we had to wait a while. She didn't die until she was 96.