^ The voice of football commentary in the UK.
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^ The voice of football commentary in the UK.
^ I remember when he first took over football commentary from David Coleman. A bit of youngster with a poofy sheepskin coat was the initial reaction by many. However, he really knew his stuff and it didn't take long before he was accepted in the position.
Never really thought of him growing old, had such a great youngster's enthusiasm for the game.
Shit! Makes me feel really old now!
indeed, he also brought his own style to the job. These days ( i mean certainly the last 10-15 years) there's no personality or originality.Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy
yep, my childhood memories or contemporaries are all slowly disappearingQuote:
Originally Posted by Troy
He was an early target of the woke brigade when he made the innocuous comment that it was hard for commentators to tell some black players apart under floodlights because the light did not pick out their features as much as caucasian players.
The Grauniad did a scathing piece on his supposed "racism" illustrated with comments from two rent-a-quote former black players, along with their pictures.
Under which they put the wrong names.
:rofl:
‘Some Like It Hot’ producer Walter Mirisch dies aged 101
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LOS ANGELES, Feb 27 — Oscar-winner Walter Mirisch, who produced Hollywood classics such as West Side Story, Some Like It Hot and The Pink Panther, has died at age 101 of natural causes, the Academy said yesterday.Mirisch, whose career spanned six decades and who was also a former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, died on Friday in Los Angeles, the organisation said in a statement.
The Academy was “deeply saddened to hear of Walter’s passing,” said chief executive Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang in the statement, hailing him as a “true visionary.”
“He had a powerful impact on the film community and the Academy... His passion for filmmaking and the Academy never wavered, and he remained a dear friend and advisor,” they added.
Mirisch, who was born in New York City on November 8, 1921, was honoured by the Academy three times: with a Best Picture Oscar for 1967’s In the Heat of the Night, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his “consistently high quality of motion picture production,” and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
The Academy called him “one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood history.”
The Mirisch Company, formed in 1957 with his brothers Harold and Marvin, produced enduring classics including Some Like It Hot (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), West Side Story (1961), The Great Escape (1963), The Pink Panther (1963) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).
His wife Patricia passed away in 2005, and he is survived by his three children, one grandchild, and two great-grandsons. — AFP
https://www.malaymail.com/news/showbiz/2023/02/27/some-like-it-hot-producer-walter-mirisch-dies-aged-101/56935
Linda Kasabian, Charles Manson follower who helped send him to prison, dies at 73
Attachment 99328
In 1969, 20-year-old Linda Kasabian came to California to find God. Instead, she found Charles Manson.
Just weeks after joining his ragtag “family” of lost and damaged souls, Kasabian was entwined in the brutal bloodbath that became known around the world as the Tate-LaBianca murders. Actress Sharon Tate and six others were killed under orders from Manson during a two-night rampage that would terrify Los Angeles and bring the 1960s to an abrupt and grisly end.
Kasabian, who went on to serve as the chief prosecution witness in the sensational 1970 trial that sent Manson and three followers to prison for life, died Jan. 21 at a hospital in Tacoma, Wash., the Washington Post reported. The Post obtained a copy of her death certificate, which identified her as Linda Chiochios, one of various names she used after the Manson trials. No cause was listed. She was 73.
Like many of the era’s youthful seekers, Kasabian drifted around the country taking drugs, living in communes and practicing free love. In the summer of 1969, she went to Los Angeles to reconcile with her husband, Bob Kasabian, who was staying at a friend’s trailer in Topanga Canyon, but he wound up leaving her.
Stranded with her 1-year-old daughter, Tanya, and pregnant with her second child, she was excited when a new acquaintance, Catherine “Gypsy” Share, invited her to Spahn Ranch, a sprawling, remote property in the San Fernando Valley where “this beautiful man named Charlie” had established a commune. She jumped at the chance to join it.
“I was like a little blind girl in the forest,” Kasabian said in her testimony at the 1970 trial, “and I took the first path that came to me.”
That path quickly led to mayhem.
On her first night at the ranch, she slept with Charles “Tex” Watson, a high-ranking member of the Manson clan. He talked Kasabian into stealing $5,000 from her husband’s friend in Topanga, justifying the crime by telling her “that she could do no wrong and that everything should be shared,” Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who led the prosecution of the Manson killers, wrote in his bestselling book about the case, “Helter Skelter.”
Kasabian returned to Topanga the next day and absconded with the money, which she turned over to the clan along with most of her belongings.
She went on to have sex with the other men in the commune, but it was Manson whom she fell in love with. She was in thrall to the scrawny, scraggly-haired ex-con, who threw LSD orgies, was paranoid about Blacks and warned of a coming race war that he called “Helter Skelter.” Kasabian testified that she believed he was the Messiah and learned to obey him.
“The girls,” she said, referring to Manson’s other women, “used to tell me never to question Charlie. That what Charlie said was right.”
So she acquiesced to his child-rearing philosophy that gave children “complete freedom” from their parents. “They wanted me to stay away from Tanya. They were killing her ego,” she testified. She said she only dared to care for and feed her daughter when Manson was not around.
She also participated in his “creepy-crawly” raids, which entailed breaking into mansions in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air while the residents were asleep, then rearranging and pilfering their possessions.
When Manson summoned Kasabian on the afternoon of Aug. 8, 1969, she thought he wanted to send her on another nighttime thieving mission. This time, however, he instructed her to grab a knife, a change of clothes and her driver’s license. “Go with Tex, and do whatever Tex tells you to do,” he said, according to Bugliosi’s account.
She drove with Watkins, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel to the secluded Benedict Canyon estate where Tate lived with her husband, director Roman Polanski, who was out of the country filming. Once the Manson crew arrived on Cielo Drive, the nightmare began.
Kasabian testified that she saw Watkins shoot into a car that was coming down the driveway and kill the driver, Steven Parent, 18, a friend of the property’s caretaker. She remained outside as the lookout while the others entered the house and within a few minutes heard the “horrifying sounds” of Tate and her houseguests pleading for their lives.
When Atkins, who went by the nickname Sadie, emerged from the house, Kasabian begged her to stop the bloodshed. “I just looked at her and I said, ‘Sadie, please make it stop.’ And she said, ‘I can’t, it’s too late,’” she recounted in a 2009 interview with radio host Larry King.
She saw Watson chase a bleeding man — Polanski friend Voytek Frykowski, 32 — into the bushes and knife him repeatedly. She saw Krenwinkel with an upraised knife pursue a woman in a white gown — Frykowski’s girlfriend, Abigail Folger, 25 — across the lawn.
Inside, stabbed and hanged, was Tate, 26, who was 8 months pregnant. The fifth victim was Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring, 35.
Kasabian went back to the car and waited. “My thoughts went to going to get help. I didn’t do it because I was afraid they would kill me and they would kill my daughter,” she said in the 2009 History Channel documentary “Manson.”
The next night, Manson joined the deadly foray to the Los Feliz home of grocer Leno LaBianca, 42, and his wife, Rosemary, 38. Manson tied up the couple, then ordered Watkins, Atkins, Krenwinkel and a fourth clan member, Leslie Van Houten, into the house. They stabbed the LaBiancas, then used the couple’s blood to scrawl the phrases “Death to Pigs” and “Rise” on the walls. While the slaughter unfolded, Manson returned to the car where Kasabian was waiting.
After leaving the LaBianca house, Manson ordered Kasabian and another follower, Steven “Clem” Grogan, to kill an actor friend who lived in Venice, but Kasabian thwarted the plan by deliberately knocking on the wrong door. “I just wasn’t going to kill somebody. If Charlie wanted to kill me, then he was going to kill me,” she said in the “Manson” film.
Two days later Manson told Kasabian to visit Bobby Beausoleil, the clan member who had been arrested a few days earlier for killing Manson associate Gary Hinman at Manson’s direction. She seized the opportunity to escape, leaving her daughter Tanya behind because the child had been taken to a remote location with other Manson family children. She returned for her a few months later, after the ranch was raided and Tanya was placed in foster care.
Kasabian hitchhiked across the country, ending up at her mother’s home in New Hampshire. When she learned she was wanted on a fugitive warrant, she surrendered to local authorities.
In Los Angeles, she was charged with seven counts of murder but was given immunity from prosecution after she testified against Manson and the others.
Born Linda Drouin in Maine on June 21, 1949, she grew up in Milford, N.H., in an unstable home and left when she was 16. After dropping out of high school, she married, divorced and married again, and drifted from commune to commune, practicing free love and dropping acid. She became a mother at 19.
“She described all this with a candor that at times shocked me,” Bugliosi wrote, “yet which, I knew, would be a plus on the witness stand. ... I knew that if Linda testified truthfully about those two nights of murder, it would be immaterial whether she had been promiscuous, taken dope, stolen.”
During her 18 days on the witness stand, she held firm against attacks by the defense team and Manson, whose attempts at intimidation included making throat-slashing gestures at her.
Although the jury foreman discounted the importance of Kasabian’s testimony after guilty verdicts were handed down for Manson, Krenwinkel, Atkins and Van Houten, Bugliosi had a different view. “I doubt we would have convicted Manson without her,” he told The Observer in 2009.
She also was a prosecution witness at Watson’s trial. Like the others, he was convicted and sentenced to death, which changed to life in prison after the California Supreme Court briefly ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. Atkins and Manson died behind bars, in 2009 and 2017, respectively.
After the trials Kasabian went into hiding and changed her name but could not completely elude public notice.
She is often mentioned in connection with writer Joan Didion’s classic 1979 essay “The White Album,” in which Didion tells of buying a dress for Kasabian to wear on her first day on the stand. Two decades later, a British rock band, inspired by the former Manson follower’s notoriety, named itself after her. And the 2019 Quentin Tarantino movie “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” which takes place the year of the murders, includes a character based on Kasabian called Flower Child.
Kasabian lived in New Hampshire and later in Washington state, where she had run-ins with the law for drug possession. She raised four children, including a son who was born while she was in prison awaiting the start of the Manson trial.
She said she thought about the murders every day.
“I could never accept the fact that I was not punished for my involvement in this tragedy,” she said in the 2009 film. “I felt then what I feel now, always and forever, that it was a waste of life that had no reason, no rhyme. It was wrong. And it hurt a lot of people.”
Linda Kasabian, Charles Manson follower who helped send him to prison, dies at 73 - Los Angeles Times
...but not, I presume, poofy...Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy
Wayne Shorter, sage of the saxophone, dies at 89
Wayne Shorter, the 12-time Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer and the creator of one of the singular sounds in contemporary jazz over more than half a century, died on Thursday, March 2 in Los Angeles. Shorter was 89 years old.
Cem Kurosman, a publicist at Blue Note Records, which released Shorter's recent recordings, confirmed his death in an email to NPR.
Wayne Shorter, sage of the saxophone, dies at 89 : NPR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVtA8YFGrwk
Wayne Shorter, enigmatic saxophonist who shaped modern jazz, dies at 89
Attachment 99382
Wayne Shorter, the enigmatic, intrepid saxophonist who shaped modern jazz as one of its most admired composers, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89.
His publicist, Alisse Kingsley, confirmed his death, at a hospital. There was no immediate information on the cause.
Shorter’s career reached across more than half a century, largely inextricable from jazz’s complex evolution during that span. He emerged in the 1960s as a tenor saxophonist and in-house composer for pacesetting editions of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet, two of the most celebrated small groups in jazz history.
He then helped pioneer fusion, with Davis and as a leader of Weather Report. He also forged a bond with popular music in marquee collaborations with singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, guitarist Carlos Santana and the band Steely Dan.
Shorter wrote his share of compositions that became jazz standards, such as Footprints, a coolly ethereal waltz, and Black Nile, a driving anthem.
His recorded output as a leader, especially during a feverishly productive stretch on Blue Note Records in the mid-1960s – when he made Night Dreamer, JuJu, Speak No Evil and several others, all post-bop classics – compares favourably to the best winning streaks in jazz.
Since the turn of the 21st century, the Wayne Shorter Quartet – by far Shorter’s longest-running band, and the one most garlanded with acclaim – set an imposing standard for formal elasticity and cohesive volatility, bringing avant-garde practice into the heart of the jazz mainstream.
Wayne Shorter was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 25th, 1933. His father, Joseph, worked as a welder for the Singer sewing machine company, and his mother, Louise, sewed for a furrier.
Wayne and his older brother, Alan, a trumpeter, joined a local bebop group led by a flashy singer named Jackie Bland.
Shorter earned a degree in music education at New York University. After serving two years in the Army, he re-entered the scene as a member of Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.
Shorter joined the second Miles Davis Quintet in 1964, with pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.
Most of Shorter’s output on Blue Note unfolded while he was working with Davis. Speak No Evil, recorded in 1964, featured his wife, Teruko Nakagami, known as Irene, on the cover, and contained a song (Infant Eyes) dedicated to their daughter, Miyako. The marriage ended in divorce in 1966.
Together with Austrian keyboardist and composer Josef Zawinul and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous, Shorter formed Weather Report, which released its debut album, called Weather Report, in 1971. Weather Report’s most commercially successful edition, featuring electric bass phenom Jaco Pastorius, became an arena attraction, and one of its albums, Heavy Weather, was certified gold (and later platinum).
While in Weather Report, Shorter made precious few solo albums – but Native Dancer, a 1974 collaboration with Brazilian troubadour Milton Nascimento, inspired more than one generation of admirers, notably guitarist and composer Pat Metheny and bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
The idea of working with Nascimento had come from Shorter’s second wife, Ana Maria (Patricio) Shorter.
Iska, Shorter’s daughter with Ana Maria, died of a grand mal seizure in 1985 at age 14. Then, in 1996, Ana Maria and the Shorters’ niece Dalila Lucien were among the 230 people killed when TWA Flight 800 crashed shortly after take-off from Kennedy International Airport in New York.
In 1999 he married Carolina Dos Santos, a Brazilian dancer and actor. His wife is among his survivors, who also include Miyako Shorter; another daughter, Mariana; and a grandson. Alan Shorter died in 1987.
Shorter won 12 Grammy Awards, the last bestowed this year for best improvised jazz solo, for Endangered Species, a track written with Spalding.
He also received a lifetime achievement honour from the Recording Academy in 2015. He was a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow and a 1998 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. He received the Polar Music Prize, an international honour recognising both pop and classical music, in 2017. And he was among the recipients of the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors.
Wayne Shorter, enigmatic saxophonist who shaped modern jazz, dies at 89 – The Irish Times
Tom Sizemore, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ Actor, Dies at 61
Attachment 99444
Tom Sizemore has died after being taken off life support, his manager Charles Lago confirmed to Variety on Friday. The 61-year-old actor suffered a brain aneurysm on Feb. 18.
“It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore (‘Tom Sizemore’) aged 61 passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank,” Lago said in a statement. “His brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger (17) were at his side.”
Lago had previously said on Feb. 27 that “doctors informed his family that there is no further hope and have recommended end of life decision.”
On Feb. 18, Sizemore collapsed in his Los Angeles home and was transported to the hospital by paramedics. There, doctors determined that he had suffered a brain aneurysm as the result of a stroke. Sizemore had remained in critical condition since then and had been in a coma under intensive care.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of my big brother Tom,” his brother Paul Sizemore said in a statement. “He was larger than life. He has influenced my life more than anyone I know. He was talented, loving, giving and could keep you entertained endlessly with his wit and storytelling ability. I am devastated he is gone and will miss him always.”
Born in Detroit on Nov. 29, 1961, Sizemore moved to New York City to pursue acting in the ’80s. One of his first credits came in 1989 with an appearance in Oliver Stone’s best picture nominee “Born on the Fourth of July.”
Known for playing the tough guy, he rose to fame in the 1990s with films like “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man,” “Passenger 57,” “True Romance” and “Natural Born Killers.” He got his big break in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 war film “Saving Private Ryan,” in which he played Technical Sergeant Mike Horvath. “Saving Private Ryan” went on to score a best picture nomination at the Academy Awards. Along with his co-stars, among them Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, Sizemore received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. Over the course of his career, Sizemore has worked with directors including Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, Peter Hyams, Carl Franklin, Oliver Stone, Ridley Scott and Michael Bay.
Sizemore was also a convicted abuser. In 2003, he was convicted of domestic violence against his girlfriend at the time, and in 2017, Sizemore pled no contest to two charges of domestic violence after being arrested a few months earlier on suspicion of assaulting his partner.
In 2005, Sizemore was sentenced to several months in jail after being caught attempting to fake a urine test. In 2007, he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, and in 2019, he was arrested for possession of “various illegal narcotics.”
Sizemore has been public about his struggles with substance abuse, appearing on “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew” and “Dr. Phil” to discuss his legal troubles.
In 1998, the actor shared that his “Heat” and “Witness to the Mob” co-star, Robert De Niro, personally assisted in helping Sizemore enter a drug rehabilitation program. In 2013, the actor released a memoir detailing his career and personal battle with addiction, titled “By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There.”
Sizemore is survived by his two children, Jagger and Jayden. There will be a private cremation service for Sizemore’s family, with a larger celebration of life event planned in a few weeks.
Tom Sizemore Dead: 'Saving Private Ryan' Actor Was 61 - Variety
Gary Rossington, Last Original Member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dies at 71
Attachment 99512
Gary Rossington, the legendary guitarist who became the last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, died on Sunday. He was 71.
“It is with our deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington, today,” the band wrote on Facebook. “Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does.”
A cause of death was not immediately given, though Rossington had been hospitalized multiple times in recent years over heart problems and took his leave from the band in 2021, citing the strenuous impact of touring on his blood oxygen levels. He had emergency heart surgery the same year, but eventually recovered and rejoined the band.
“The last of the Free Birds has flown home,” the Twitter account run by the estate of Charlie Daniels, the country singer and Rossington’s late friend, tweeted.
A long-haired cat from Jacksonville, Florida, Rossington was undoubtedly living out his ninth life in his final years. Tragedy dogged Lynyrd Skynyrd, most notably in the form of the 1977 plane crash that killed six people, including three of the band’s members—frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backup singer Cassie Gaines—and devastated the 20 survivors.
Rossington was left with two broken arms, a broken leg, a punctured stomach and liver, injuries grave enough that the news of his bandmates’ deaths was initially kept from him. “When I woke up after a few days, there was just a priest and my mama standing there,” he told music journalist Lee Ballinger for his oral history of the band. “I went ‘What happened?’ I was in shock and they said, ‘Don’t tell him anything, it’ll freak him out.’ And I went ‘Mama?’ And she told me.”
Three days before the crash, Lynyrd Skynyrd had released Street Survivors, their fifth studio album. On it was the single “That Smell,” a darkly finger-wagging song that Van Zant had been inspired to write after Rossington had narrowly escaped death the year prior, drunkenly crashing his Ford Torino into an oak tree. “I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought I’d blow lines, slam some H and write a morbid song,” Van Zant said, according to author Tim Morse.
The band was able to reform for a reunion tour in 1987 with Van Zant’s brother Johnny leading them (and Rossington playing with steel rods in his arm and leg). Skynyrd would soldier on in the years to come, eventually chewing through more than 25 members. During “Free Bird,” the band’s iconic nine-minute opus defined by Rossington’s slide guitar solo, a screen overhead would flash through the names of all its deceased members.
At the time of Rossington’s death, the band was gearing up for a 22-city summer tour with ZZ Top. “It’s a tribute band right now, and everybody knows it’s not the original,” he told Rolling Stone last year. “Everybody who comes to see us is told that during the show, and probably knows before they even get there. But people still come to hear it live.”
The band’s original lineup was Rossington, Van Zant, drummer Bob Burns, guitarist Allen Collins, and bassist Larry Junstrom. Growing up playing baseball together in Jacksonville, Rossington, Van Zant, and Burns decided to try jamming together after Burns was smacked in the shoulder by a ball hit by Van Zant. It was 1964; they began calling themselves My Backyard, and spent the next five years gigging around the area. They switched the name of the group to The Noble Five, then to The One Percent, then finally to Lynyrd Skynyrd, paying “tongue-in-cheek homage” to a gym teacher who had tortured Rossington for his shaggy hair.
As the real Leonard Skinner would later observe to The Times-Union of Jacksonville, “They were good, talented, hard-working boys. They worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard.” Their self-titled 1973 debut LP, subtitled Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd, went double platinum and hit No. 27 on the Billboard 200. Four more studio albums and a live album would follow before the plane crash brought it all to a screeching halt.
“I’ve talked about it here and there, but I don’t like to,” Rossington told Rolling Stone of the crash in 2006, the same year the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “It was a devastating thing. You can’t just talk about it real casual and not have feelings about it.”
Still, Rossington, who’d grown up imitating Elvis in front of the mirror and was inspired to buy his first guitar at 13 after seeing The Rolling Stones perform on television, remained grateful for it all. “I thank God every day and night that I can keep playing and spreading the name of Skynyrd and our brand…” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2014.
“We had a dream back in the day to be in a big band and make it and then it was taken away from them real quick,” he continued. “They didn’t get a chance to see how Skynyrd developed, how ‘Free Bird’ became an anthem. So I get to tell their story.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmqZzY
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gary-r...yrd-dies-at-71
I wonder if she knew?
Quote:
Mystic Meg, one of Britain's most famous astrologers, dies aged 80
Attachment 99659
Margaret Lake, known as Mystic Meg, has died aged 80.
The astrologer had written daily horoscopes for the Sun for almost 23 years.
The paper reported that she was admitted to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London last month suffering from flu. She died at 3.45am this morning.
Her agent of 34 years Dave Shapland told the Sun: "Without any question, she was Britain's most famous astrologer by a million miles.
"Nobody came close to Meg in that respect. She was followed by millions in this country and also around the world.
"She even became part of the English language - if a politician, somebody from showbiz or ordinary people in the street are asked a tricky question they will say 'Who do you think I am, Mystic Meg?'
"It shows what an impact she made."
Victoria Newton, the editor of the Sun, said: "This is devastating news. We have lost an icon.
"Our brilliant and incomparable Meg was synonymous with The Sun - she was a total legend. We loved her and so did our readers. For more than two decades Mystic Meg has been a must read column and cemented her as Britain's most famous astrologer. She was a true professional whose guidance helped our readers daily - our postbag bears testament to this".
"One of my favourite memories of Meg is when all the Spice Girls came to the office, just as they were riding high at number one.
"We planned a tour for them but all they wanted to do was meet Mystic Meg!
"You know you're a true icon when the only person Victoria Beckham is interested in is you.
"Farewell Meg. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our thoughts are with her family and friends."
Mystic Meg was born on 27 July 1942 in Accrington, Lancashire.
She received a teacher's diploma from the university of Leeds.
She did not go into teaching and instead worked as a sub editor on a women's magazine.
She also wrote erotic stories and worked as a journalist at the now-defunct News of the World magazine.
She started her phone-line horoscope readings in 1989 and soon became a household name.
She was also a feature on the National Lottery TV show in the 1990s when she would appear on stage and with her crystal ball to predict who would win the weekly jackpot.
Her horoscopes and clairvoyant messages captured the imagination of the public and she received huge amounts of correspondence - particularly from angry Manchester United fans who were angry Mystic Meg predicted their team would lose to Everton in the FA Cup final in 1995.
Mystic Meg, one of Britain's most famous astrologers, dies aged 80 | Ents & Arts News | Sky News
:smileylaughing:Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Topol, Fiddler on the Roof Star, Dies At 87
Attachment 99698
Chaim Topol, star of Fiddler on the Roof, has died at 87. Known mononymously as Topol, the legendary Israeli actor is best known for starring as Tevye in the stage and screen versions of Fiddler on the Roof. Though he has many stage and screen credits to his name over the years, including Flash Gordon and For Your Eyes Only, Topol had been mostly absent from the public eye in recent years due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, after a long battle with the illness, Topol has passed away in Israel at the age of 87, his representative confirmed to CNN. Shortly after his death, a number of notable Israeli figures paid tribute to Topol and conveyed condolences, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who called the actor a “multi-faceted artist with great charisma and energy" whose "contribution to Israeli culture will live on for generations.” Israel’s president Isaac Herzog honored Topol as a “gifted actor who conquered many stages in Israel and overseas, filled the cinema screens with his presence and especially entered deep into our hearts.”
Topol, Fiddler on the Roof Star, Dies At 87
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TC1n9lhXU
Traute Lafrenz, the last of the White Rose anti-Nazi resistance, dies aged 103
The last surviving member of the White Rose resistance movement, which urged Germans to stand up against Nazi tyranny during the second world war, has died, according to the group’s historical foundation.
Traute Lafrenz died at her home in South Carolina on Monday at the age of 103, the group said in a statement on Thursday, paying tribute to her “courageous resistance and lasting testimony”.
One of the most famous groups to resist the Nazis in Germany, the White Rose distributed anti-war pamphlets at Munich university in 1942-3, calling on people to rise up against the regime.
According to the foundation, Lafrenz met Hans Scholl, one of the founders of the group along with his sister Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, in the summer of 1941.
A year later, Lafrenz, a medical student, came across a flyer and realised Hans Scholl’s involvement from the literary quotations used in the text.
She carried flyers to Hamburg where they were distributed by friends.
When Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested in February 1943, Lafrenz drove to the city of Ulm to inform their family.
Following a summary trial, the original White Rose leaders – the Scholl siblings and Probst – were beheaded at the Stadelheim prison in Bavaria, along with others including their philosophy professor Kurt Huber.
In April 1943, Lafrenz also fell into the hands of the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, and was sentenced to a year in prison for “complicity”.
Shortly after her release, she was arrested again by the Gestapo in Hamburg. Lafrenz spent time in four Nazi prisons before her liberation from the one in Bayreuth in April 1945.
She emigrated to the US in 1947, where she completed her medical studies.
On her 100th birthday in 2019, the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, praised her as a “hero of freedom and humanity”.
Lafrenz was one of few people who, “faced with the crimes of the Nazis, had the courage to listen to the voice of her conscience and to rebel against the dictatorship and the genocide of the Jews”, he said at the time.
Lafrenz’s contemporary Sophie Scholl, born on 9 May 1921, has become the most famous face of the resistance movement, with surviving photos showing her distinctive cropped hair and determined smile.
Hundreds of schools and streets now bear her name, and in 2003 she was named the nation’s fourth favourite German behind Konrad Adenauer, Martin Luther and Karl Marx.
tps://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/09/traute-lafrenz-the-last-of-the-white-rose-anti-nazi-resistance-dies-aged-103
^ An absolute once in a lifetime person and should be lauded as one of the greatest Human Beings ever.
I've never heard of her before but respect her and love her as a fellow Human Being.
Thank you and RIP!
Robert Blake, actor who was tried over wife’s killing, dies at 89
Attachment 99706
Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, has died age 89.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake’s career never recovered from the long ordeal that began with the shooting death of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley outside a Studio City restaurant on 4 May 2001.
He was adamant that he had not killed his wife, and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30m, a judgment that sent him into bankruptcy.
The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him Robert, not Dad.
In his youth, Blake starred in the Our Gang comedies and acted in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a movie classic. As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of the murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime bestseller In Cold Blood.
His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series Baretta. He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” was often quoted.
Blake won an Emmy in 1975 for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was racked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors but also one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.
In 1993, Blake won another Emmy for the title role in Judgment Day: the John List Story, portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.
Blake’s career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch’s Lost Highway, released in 1997.
According to his niece, Blake spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry and watching many Hollywood classic films.”
Blake married the actor Sondra Kerr married in 1961 and they had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.
His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness. “Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out,” he said in a 2002 interview. “I’d been alone for a long time.”
He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: “She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for.”
When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando – son of Marlon – as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.
Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child. “Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me,” he said. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together.”
Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.
On her last night alive, the couple dined out. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year later.
Robert Blake, actor who was tried over wife’s killing, dies at 89 | US news | The Guardian
Robert Blake, actor who was tried over wife’s killing, dies at 89
Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, has died age 89.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake’s career never recovered from the long ordeal that began with the shooting death of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley outside a Studio City restaurant on 4 May 2001.
He was adamant that he had not killed his wife, and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30m, a judgment that sent him into bankruptcy.
The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him Robert, not Dad.
In his youth, Blake starred in the Our Gang comedies and acted in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a movie classic. As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of the murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime bestseller In Cold Blood.
His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series Baretta. He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” was often quoted…………………….
Robert Blake, actor who was tried over wife’s killing, dies at 89 | US news | The Guardian
TIDY UP
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64932762
Bill Tidy: Cartoonist who appeared on Countdown and Countryfile dies aged 89
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Image caption,Bill Tidy appeared on many television shows including The Chris Stuart Cha Cha Chat Show in 1985
By Rachel Russell
BBC News
Bill Tidy, the cartoonist who was known for his quick artistry on shows including Countdown and Countryfile, has died at the age of 89.
His family paid tribute to "the most brilliant cartoonist and the very best dad" after he died with his children, Sylvia and Rob, by his side.
Among Tidy's greatest works in a decades long career were The Fosdyke Saga and The Cloggies.
But his health declined in recent years after he suffered two serious strokes.
In a statement on his official Facebook page, Tidy's family said: "It is with huge sadness that I have to share with you the tragic news that we lost our dad, who is not only the most brilliant cartoonist but the very best dad two sons, a son-in-law and a daughter could ever wish for."
Tidy, who was born in Liverpool in 1933, did not receive any formal artistic training growing up and instead started his working life in the Royal Engineers branch of the Army.
His cartoonist career began when he sold a sketch to a Japanese newspaper in 1955.
Skip twitter post by David Quantick
End of twitter post by David Quantick
He went on to publish cartoon strips in a host of UK national newspapers, including The Fosdyke Saga for the Daily Mirror and The Cloggies for Private Eye.
The Fosdyke Saga became so popular it eventually became the subject of a 42-part radio series for the BBC from 1983.
Over the years he also appeared on television shows such as Watercolour Challenge, Countdown, Blankety Blank and Countryfile and he illustrated more than 70 books.
Tidy was awarded an MBE in 2000 for services to journalism and helped to set up the British Cartoonists' Association.
Chinese military surgeon who blew the whistle on Sars cover-up dies at 91
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Jiang Yanyong, the military surgeon who blew the whistle on a cover-up of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003, died in Beijing on Saturday. He was 91.
He died in the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, where he worked for decades, from pneumonia and other illnesses at around 3.30pm on Saturday, according to sources.
It is not known if his death was related to Covid-19. But a source who knows the family said Jiang had tested positive for the virus in January, when it was sweeping across many parts of China after zero-Covid restrictions were lifted.
Jiang, who was the PLA hospital’s chief surgeon before he retired, became a national hero in 2003 when he revealed that the Chinese authorities had covered up the extent of the deadly Sars outbreak in Beijing.
In April of that year, Jiang told Time magazine he was angered and shocked by then-health minister Zhang Wenkang’s claim that there were only a dozen people being treated for Sars in Beijing at the time. He spoke to his colleagues and discovered at least 60 people being treated for the virus in the hospital where he worked, seven of whom had died.
Before he spoke to foreign media, Jiang had written to two mainland Chinese outlets – Phoenix Television and China Central Television – about his discovery but his letter was ignored. It was then obtained by foreign media.
It was a bombshell that saw Beijing come under intense international and domestic pressure, prompting an effort by the authorities to shift the narrative. About two weeks later Zhang and Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong were fired. The authorities also released a new tally of cases that was 10 times higher than the official figure given in early April – it said there were more than 300 confirmed cases and 400 suspected cases as of April 20.
A huge campaign was also rolled out to fight the epidemic, which ended up claiming nearly 800 lives worldwide.
Jiang – who was then 71 and had already stepped down as the hospital’s top surgeon – was recognised for his efforts by mainland media and intellectuals at the time. He rarely spoke to the media and maintained that he was a loyal Communist Party member.
But the following year, after writing to party leaders to condemn the deadly crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-democracy protesters in 1989, he was detained for nearly seven weeks, when his family said he was subjected to interrogation and indoctrination.
In the letter, in which Jiang called for redress for the Tiananmen movement, he described how his head “buzzed” and he almost fainted as he saw young student protesters who had been killed and injured in the crackdown.
He was later held under intermittent house arrest, and became largely a taboo subject for mainland media. Most of the posts about Jiang’s death and tributes have been censored on Chinese social media in the last two days.
Jiang was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in August 2004, but was unable to accept it because he was banned from leaving China and his daughter received it in Manila on his behalf.
Chinese military surgeon who blew the whistle on Sars cover-up dies at 91 | South China Morning Post
Masatoshi Ito, Japanese billionaire behind the rise of 7-Eleven, dies at 98
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Hong Kong/TokyoCNN —
Masatoshi Ito, the Japanese billionaire who turned 7-Eleven convenience stores into a global empire, has died aged 98, closing the chapter on one of Asia’s most storied retail entrepreneurs.
Seven & I Holdings (SVNDF), operator of 7-Eleven, confirmed the death in a statement on Monday, adding that Ito died from old age on March 10.
“We would like to express our deepest gratitude for your kindness and friendship during his life and respectfully inform you of his passing,” the company said.
Ito transformed everyday retail in Japan, turning a US-born company into an international brand, particularly in Asia where 7-Eleven shops are rarely more than a few minutes’ walk away in many cities.
Seven & I Holdings now operates over 83,000 stores around the world, including 7-Eleven shops in 19 regions and countries as well as the Speedway convenience store chain in the United States.
Chief competitors include the Japanese-owned Lawson and Family Mart convenience store franchises, but neither has reached the sheer size or global reach of the 7-Eleven empire.
Ito’s business acumen was influenced by his friendship with the late management consultant Peter Drucker, who described Ito as “one of the world’s outstanding entrepreneurs and business builders.”
In a 1988 interview with The Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry, Ito said he traveled to the US in 1960 and “experienced a kind of cultural shock at how rich everybody seemed” at a time when Japan was recovering from the aftermath of World War II.
“I became particularly conscious of the sheer size of America’s consumer society and the distribution techniques that made it all possible,” he was quoted as saying.
“It then occurred to me that people in different cultures still have basically the same desires, assuming that they are at the same of development, and I thought that Japan’s distribution system would become more like America’s as the Japanese consumer society grew bigger.”
Masatoshi Ito, Japanese billionaire behind the rise of 7-Eleven, dies at 98 | CNN Business
^ He influenced me with his innovation and as simple a concept that an average minded person can understand.
Proves one again keep it simple and stupid!
Fosbury has flopped
Buckets full of adviceQuote:
Originally Posted by Loy Toy
In addition to Sports bar with benfots (wash kids, meet crusty (pie) shoot your chicken in the basket fresh at the rifle range, beauty contest , gay friendly squish courts, tennis, puddle, karaoke , pie shop cum punters bar you might add a 7-11?
Apparently the funeral Music will be
DING DONG your welcome!!
A succinct ad would work for me with many paces offering hot chicks and cold beer
HOT PIES
COOL ATMOSPHERE
(so you can play jazz when aircon fails!)
Jim Gordon, Drummer for Eric Clapton and ‘Layla’ Co-Writer Who Was Convicted of Murder, Dies at 77
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Jim Gordon, a top drummer for Eric Clapton, George Harrison and countless others who was diagnosed with schizophrenia after murdering his mother in 1983, has died.
According to the announcement, he died Monday from natural causes at California Medical Facility in Vacavillle, Calif., after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness. He was 77.
Gordon was a member of Clapton’s group Derek and the Dominos and is the credited co-writer of the classic 1970 hit “Layla,” and played on literally hundreds of songs as part of the elite crew of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. He was also a member of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen group and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and was one of the main drummers on George Harrison’s epochal 1970 album “All Things Must Pass.” His work on the Incredible Bongo Band’s 1972 song “Apache” is one of the most sampled drum breaks in hip-hop history.
Any casual fan of 1960s and ’70s rock has heard his playing on songs by the Beach Boys (including the “Pet Sounds” album), Steely Dan (“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”), Carly Simon (“You’re So Vain”), Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Nilsson, Sonny and Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell and even the Byrds — that whipcrack drum fill at the end of their 1967 cover of Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Goin’ Back” was played by him. He was indisputably one of the greatest rock drummers of his era, but his long, improperly treated mental illness resulted in the murder of his mother.
Born in 1945, he was raised in California’s San Fernando Valley and began his professional career the day after he graduated high school in 1963, playing with the Everly Brothers. He cut his teeth as a session musician on hits by many of the above artists, occasionally touring with the likes of Delaney and Bonnie, Cocker and Derek and the Dominos.
However, he had a history of mental illness and his behavior became unstable in the late 1960s. While on tour with Cocker in 1970, he assaulted singer Rita Coolidge, his girlfriend at the time. Quoted in Bill Janovitz’s Leon Russell biography, Coolidge says, “Jim said very quietly, so only I could hear, ‘Can I talk to you for just a minute?’ He meant he wanted to talk alone. So we walked out of the room together … And then he hit me so hard that I was lifted off the floor and slammed against the wall on the other side of the hallway… It came from nowhere.”
While he had been treated for mental illness, Gordon previously had exhibited few if any signs of unstable behavior to his fellow musicians. “He was an amazing guy, just really so charismatic,” Coolidge continued. “[But] after everything happened, I started to recognize that look in his eye and knew that he was not playing with a full deck.”
However, the tour and Gordon’s busy career continued, peaking with Derek and the Dominos — Gordon is credited with the piano-driven, instrumental second half of “Layla” (although two of his bandmates insist that the composition was actually written by Coolidge). His career continued through the ‘70s via work with Alice Cooper, Steely Dan, Dave Mason, Helen Reddy, Frank Zappa, Johnny Rivers and many others.
In June of 1983, he bludgeoned and then stabbed his 72-year-old mother to death, claiming that voices told him to do so. He was then officially diagnosed with schizophrenia and in 1984 was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He was up for parole multiple times, which was denied.
Jim Gordon, Drummer and 'Layla' Cowriter Convicted of Murder, Dies - Variety
David Lindley obituary David Lindley obituary | Pop and rock | The Guardian
Sought-after session player best known for his collaborations with Ry Cooder and Jackson Browne
When Ry Cooder famously made his debut appearance at Glastonbury, playing on the Pyramid stage on a damp day in June 1990, he chose not to be backed by a band but by a second guitarist who came on sporting bright red trousers, and hair and sideburns that were very long, even by rock music standards. The duo perched on stools, surrounded by a dozen guitars, mandolins or bouzoukis, and proceeded to prove that they were both virtuoso players who could sound as thrilling as any amplified band as they switched from the atmospheric Paris, Texas to songs made famous by Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly or Jerry Lee Lewis.
Cooder’s companion, David Lindley, who has died aged 78, was a musicians’ musician. He may never have been as well known as those he played with, but he was one of the most sought-after session players in the US. Best known for his collaborations with Cooder and Jackson Browne, he also recorded with an astonishing list of musicians that included Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Iggy Pop, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, John Prine, David Crosbyy, Graham Nash, Ben Harper, Rickie Lee Jones and Bruce Springsteen.
They wanted to work with Lindley not just because he was a great musician who could play almost any stringed instrument, from guitar and fiddle to slide guitar and mandolin through to oud and bouzouki, but because he knew how to interpret the mood of a song, adding texture and emotion without ever dominating.
His own musical taste was far more varied than the rock or singer-songwriter styles of the stars for whom he acted as sideman. When leading his own band, El Rayo-X, he was able to branch out and demonstrate his sense of humour as he explored blues, funk and reggae.
Like Cooder, he was fascinated by musical styles from around the world, and some of his most original recordings were with musicians from Madagascar, Hawaii, Norway and Jordan. …………………................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7umanpQ9sjQ
'THE WIRE' STAR LANCE REDDICK
DEAD AT 60
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Lance Reddick, famous for his work on HBO's "The Wire" and the "John Wick" movie franchise has died ... TMZ has learned.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Lance's body was discovered at his Studio City home Friday morning around 9:30 AM. His cause of death is currently unclear, but our law enforcement sources say it appears to be natural.
Lance had been doing a press tour for the fourth installment of the 'John Wick' franchise -- he plays Charon in the movie -- and had a guest appearance scheduled for next week on Kelly Clarkson's show.
Lance posted a selfie video on social media Wednesday morning, appearing to be at home with his dogs instead of attending the 'Wick 4' premiere in New York City ... though he never mentioned why he wasn't going to the premiere.
Before his work on 'Wick,' Lance was best known for playing fictional Baltimore Police Department officer Cedrick Daniels on the hit HBO series "The Wire" ... with his character appearing in all five seasons.
Lance also had recurring roles on a bunch of popular TV shows ... including "Fringe," "Bosch," "Oz" and "Lost."
In addition to his success on TV, Lance also acted on the big screen outside the 'Wick' franchise ... with credits in films like "Angel Has Fallen" and "Godzilla Vs. Kong."
Lance has some unreleased projects in the works ... he plays the Greek god Zeus in the upcoming Disney+ series, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians."
Born and raised in Baltimore, Lance earned a music degree from the University of Rochester and he got his MFA from Yale.
Lance was 60.
RIP
'The Wire' Star Lance Reddick Dead at 60
NRL news 2023, John Sattler dead aged 80 after battle with dementia
Rugby league icon John Sattler has died at the age of 80.
Sattler had suffered from dementia for a number of years.
He played 195 games for South Sydney in the 1960s and 70s, and famously led the Rabbitohs to victory in the 1970 grand final despite breaking his jaw during the game.
That was one of four premierships he won with his beloved Bunnies, having been named captain of the team in 1967 and that season leading the club to its first title in 12 years.
He also captained South Sydney to titles in 1968 and 1971.
He was inducted into the National Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2008.
Following the 1967 grand final, Sattler was picked to represent Australia and toured with the Kangaroos to Great Britain and France.
He began his career at lock and later transitioned to the front row, and to this day is regarded as one of the toughest players to ever play the game.
This was never more evident than the 1970 premiership decider, when he broke his jaw in the first five minutes but played the rest of the game and led the Rabbitohs to a 23-12 victory over Manly.
The injury unfortunately robbed Sattler of the chance to represent Australia at the World Cup that year.
Sattler's son, Scott, played 203 first grade games and famously pulled off a grand final winning tackle for Penrith in 2003.
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Niccholas Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber'''s son Nicholas dies aged 43 - BBC News
Entertainment legend Paul O'Grady has died "unexpectedly but peacefully" at the age of 67, his partner Andre Portasio has announced.
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The star came to prominence in the 1980s with his drag alter-ego Lily Savage, who then broke into the mainstream as a presenter of shows including Blankety Blank, The Big Breakfast and The Lily Savage Show.
O'Grady went on to host his own hugely-popular daytime chat show, which ran for 15 series on ITV and Channel 4, the long-running Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs and a short-lived revival of Blind Date for Channel 5.
Portasio said in a statement: "It is with great sadness that I inform you that Paul has passed away unexpectedly but peacefully yesterday evening.
"We ask, at this difficult time, that whilst you celebrate his life you also respect our privacy as we come to terms with this loss.
"He will be greatly missed by his loved ones, friends, family, animals and all those who enjoyed his humour, wit and compassion.
"I know that he would want me to thank you for all the love you have shown him over the years."
O'Grady was not known to be in ill health prior to his death although he did have a history of heart problems, having suffered two heart attacks in 2002 and 2006, while in 2013 he underwent heart surgery following an angina attack.
Earlier this month he completed a short stint playing the role of Miss Hannigan in Annie in Newcastle and had been due to present a show on Boom Radio this Easter.
O'Grady is survived by daughter Sharon, a grandson and a granddaughter.
Paul O'Grady dies, aged 67 - Media Mole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ2_a-84YAc&list=RDybRf8-P1UZM&start_radio=1&rv=ybRf8-P1UZM
Nigel Lawson: Reforming Chancellor dies aged 91 - BBC News
Nigel, Nigella's father, has died.
UPDATE AND A ANOTHER CHANCE TO HEAR
Fleetwood Mac star Christine McVie’s cause of death disclosed | The Independent
DREAMS ON A LOOP AS USED IN THE CAFE
Dreams - Fleetwood Mac (10 hour | 10 horas) | Full Version - (Official Tik Tok Video Music) - YouTube
Margaret Thatcher’s Former Chancellor Nigel Lawson Dies at 91
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Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Chancellor, Lord Nigel Lawson, has died at the age of 91.
The former Conservative MP—whose political career lasted almost five decades—passed away on Monday.
Leading the many tributes to the Tory “giant” was Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said he hung a picture of Lawson on his wall during his own time as chancellor of the Exchequer.
“He was a transformational chancellor and an inspiration to me and many others,” Sunak wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
“My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson also paid tribute, describing Lawson as “a fearless and original flame of free market Conservatism.”
“He was a tax-cutter and simplifier who helped transform the economic landscape and helped millions of British people achieve their dreams,” Johnson said on Tuesday.
“He was a prophet of Brexit and a lover of continental Europe.
“He was a giant. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Lawson represented the constituency of Blaby from 1974 to 1992, and served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet from 1981 to 1989.
Best known for his role as chancellor, he retired from the House of Lords in December, ending a parliamentary career that spanned 50 years.
‘Lawson Boom’
Prior to taking up politics, Lawson was a financial journalist.
According to his parliamentary profile, he worked for various publications including the Financial Times, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator, where he served as editor from 1966 to 1970.
Lawson also acted as special assistant to Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Horne from 1963 to 1964, and became a special policy adviser for the Conservative Party in 1973.
He would go on to be one of most renowned members of Thatcher’s cabinets.
The controversial Tory prime minister, who died in 2013, put Lawson in charge of the Treasury in 1983, where he was responsible for slashing income tax, boosting share ownership, and paying off growing government debt.
He was credited for modernising London’s financial markets, overseeing the UK finance sector’s “Big Bang” in 1986, when the UK stock market was deregulated.
The radical move revitalized the London Stock Exchange making it a private limited company, allowing external corporations to enter its member firms, and an automated price quotation was established.
Lawson’s tax-cutting moves helped turn a budget deficit into a surplus, halved unemployment, and curbed inflation, leading to his stewardship era being coined the “Lawson Boom.”
His work on the economy was credited for winning Thatcher a third term in office.
However, harder times followed for Britain, with soaring inflation and sky-rocketing interest rates which rose from 7 to 15 percent in just 16 months.
Lawson’s resignation in 1989, sparked by rows over Europe and economic policy, marked the early stages of Thatcher’s downfall a year later.
The Tory politician chaired the Vote Leave campaign ahead of the 2016 EU referendum but faced allegations of hypocrisy after applying for a French residency card.
He also faced criticism for not believing in man-made climate change.
Margaret Thatcher’s Former Chancellor Nigel Lawson Dies at 91
Paul Cattermole dies weeks after S Club 7 reveals reunion plans
S Club 7 have announced that band member Paul Cattermole has been found dead at home aged 46 with no suspicious circumstances
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...1438450107.jpgPaul Cattermole has died just weeks after S Club 7 revealed their plans for a reunion tour.
The pop legend has been found dead at his home in Dorset aged 46 and there are thought to be “no suspicious circumstances” around his death.
His bandmate Hannah Spearritt is said to have "broke down" when she was given the shocking news and his bandmates have been left in "horror and disbelief".
The singer had been looking forward to joining them for the reunion scheduled for later this year.
A statement from the band reads: "We are truly devastated by the passing of our brother Paul. There are no words to describe the deep sadness and loss we all feel. We were so lucky to have had him in our lives and are thankful for the amazing memories we have.
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...union-Tour.jpgS Club 7 are in 'disbelief' after the shock death of bandmate Paul Cattermole (left) ( Image:
Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images For X)
"He will be so deeply missed by each and every one of us. We ask that you respect the privacy of his family and of the band at this time."
A statement from his family reads: "It is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of our beloved son and brother Paul Cattermole.
"Paul was found yesterday, 6th April 2023 at his home in Dorset and was pronounced dead later that afternoon.
"While the cause of death is currently unknown, Dorset Police has confirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances. Paul’s family, friends and fellow members of S Club request privacy at this time."
Paul was one of the original members of S Club 7 but broke hearts across the nation when he quit the band in 2002.
"It had got to the point where things were being handled so badly, I had to go," Paul told The Guardian.
Paul reunited with some old school friends to form nu metal group Skua, but they split in 2003 after failing to sign a record deal.
Five years after S Club broke up, Paul started performing at nightclub, universities and holiday camps across the UK with Jo and Bradley as S Club 3.
But Paul struggled adjusting to life after the band and was declared bankrupt.
By 2018, Paul became desperate and even tried to flog his Brit Awards on eBay.
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...1465921129.jpgPaul at the S Club 7 reunion in February this year
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...0_S-Club-7.jpgPaul quit the band in 2002 ( Image:
Getty Images)
Paul admitted he had already tried to sign up to shows like I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! but he had been turned down because he was not "famous enough".
While he also struggled to find work an accident during work on The Rocky Horror Picture Show left him with a permanent back injury.
The penniless singer opened up about his serious money troubles on Loose Women in 2018 and didn't even have enough money to pay for a shirt for the interview.
When Jane asked whether any family members had helped him out with his money troubles, he insisted that his "mum has helped in a big way this year".
He also said that he was very keen to dip his toe into reality TV, citing Dancing On Ice and I'm A Celeb as examples, but quipped: "For some reason they don't want me".
Paul had a relationship with bandmate Hannah which they kept secret for six months before going public in 2001.
They carried on seeing each other when Paul left the group but split in 2006.
The pair got back together in June 2015 and were seen snogging on the tube, but they broke up again in November that year.
Paul was looking for love on First Dates Hotel, where he admitted his past life had made it tough to get in a real relationship and he wanted to get out of the public eye.
He also claimed he was forced to date Hannah for their Hollywood 7 TV shows as it was "written into their TV contracts".
"There was nothing natural about it. It wasn't how people actually hook up and get together," he said in 2019.
"Lovely person but not at any point did it hint this would actually lead to...I think because of the lifestyle of work.
"If you are being controlled to the point your girlfriend's being chosen for you you’re going to quit it. So I did."
Paul went on to make a shock career change and left the music industry to become a tarot card reader.
The singer-turned-card-reader detailed his skills on the website Ask The Answer, where he wrote: "I have an abundance of experience and knowledge to share with you from my days in pop band S Club 7 to my present role as a spiritual psychic where my reputation over the years has earned me the title of Psychic Detective.
"I have a keen interest in getting to the root and cause of any problem as an Intuitive Paranormal Investigator."
He also claimed to be a psychic, clairvoyant and spirit coach, as well as a tarot card reader.
I wonder if he saw it coming.Quote:
He also claimed to be a psychic, clairvoyant and spirit coach, as well as a tarot card reader.
could be if using his foresightQuote:
Originally Posted by dirk diggler
Ben Ferencz, last living prosecutor of Nazis in Nuremberg trials, dies aged 103
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AP — Benjamin Ferencz, the last living prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, who tried Nazis for genocidal war crimes and was among the first outside witnesses to document the atrocities of Nazi labor and concentration camps, has died. He had just turned 103 in March.
Ferencz, who had lived in the United States, died Friday evening in Boynton Beach, Florida, according to St. John’s University law professor John Barrett, who runs a blog about the Nuremberg trials. The death also was confirmed by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
“Today the world lost a leader in the quest for justice for victims of genocide and related crimes,” the museum tweeted.
Born in Transylvania in 1920, Ferencz immigrated as a very young boy with his parents to New York to escape rampant antisemitism. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Ferencz joined the US Army in time to take part in the Normandy invasion during World War II. Using his legal background, he became an investigator of Nazi war crimes against US soldiers as part of a new War Crimes Section of the Judge Advocate’s Office.
When US intelligence reports described soldiers encountering large groups of starving people in Nazi camps watched over by SS guards, Ferencz followed up with visits, first at the Ohrdruf labor camp in Germany and then at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. At those camps and later at others, he found bodies “piled up like cordwood” and “helpless skeletons with diarrhea, dysentery, typhus, TB, pneumonia, and other ailments, retching in their louse ridden bunks or on the ground with only their pathetic eyes pleading for help,” Ferencz wrote in an account of his life.
“The Buchenwald concentration camp was a charnel house of indescribable horrors,” Ferencz wrote. “There is no doubt that I was indelibly traumatized by my experiences as a war crimes investigator of Nazi extermination centers. I still try not to talk or think about the details.”
At one point toward the end of the war, Ferencz was sent to Adolf Hitler’s mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps to search for incriminating documents but came back empty-handed.
After the war, Ferencz was honorably discharged from the US Army and returned to New York to begin practicing law.
But that was short-lived. Because of his experiences as a war crimes investigator, he was recruited to help prosecute Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials, which had begun under the leadership of US Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. Before leaving for Germany, he married his childhood sweetheart, Gertrude.
At the age of 27, with no previous trial experience, Ferencz became chief prosecutor for a 1947 case in which 22 former commanders were charged with murdering over 1 million Jews, Romani and other targets of the Third Reich in Eastern Europe. Rather than depending on witnesses, Ferencz mostly relied on official German documents to make his case. All the defendants were convicted, and more than a dozen were sentenced to death by hanging even though Ferencz hadn’t asked for the death penalty.
“At the beginning of April 1948, when the long legal judgment was read, I felt vindicated,” he wrote. “Our pleas to protect humanity by the rule of law had been upheld.”
With the war crimes trials winding down, Ferencz went to work for a consortium of Jewish charitable groups to help Holocaust survivors regain properties, homes, businesses, artworks, Torah scrolls and other Jewish religious items that had been confiscated from them by the Nazis. He also later assisted in negotiations that would lead to compensation to the Nazi victims.
In later decades, Ferencz championed the creation of an international court that could prosecute any government’s leaders for war crimes. Those dreams were realized in 2002 with the establishment of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, though its effectiveness has been limited by the failure of countries like the United States to participate.
Ferencz is survived by a son and three daughters. His wife died in 2019.
Ben Ferencz, last living prosecutor of Nazis in Nuremberg trials, dies aged 103 | The Times of Israel