2019: Obits and Memorials

First one this year, Bob Einstein:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46741401

She wasn't a huge star, but she was always around providing great support. Actress Verna Bloom has died at the age of 80. Farewell Mrs. Wormer. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/obituaries/verna-bloom-dead.html

>1 CliffBurns: No doubt mourned by his brother Albert Einstein (aka Brooks).

Good-bye, Mary:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46908975

Diana Athill. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/24/diana-athill-obituary. (Obit sounds to me as if writer of it is striving to make Athill's memoirs seem standard sensitive-woman-sensitively-deals-with-loss-of-embryo-lovers-childhood idylls rubbish, which they weren't at all. Not a shred of sentimentality in them, never mind of conventional attitudes, so don't be put off reading them because of that.)

Oh yeah Cliff--that $500 you said you'd give to person posting obituary of oldest notable person to die in 2019: It wasn't Canadian dollars you meant, was it? Just er you know idle curiosity.

Oldest notable CANADIAN.

And since "notable" and "Canadian" rarely go hand in hand, I feel that five hundred clams is safe for the foreseeable future.

One of my weekend projects will be googling names of hockey players who are over 80, then.

Michel Legrand: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/27/michel-legrand-obituary. Wrote some wonderful stuff. The songs he wrote for which the Bergmanns wrote the English lyrics are many of them masterpieces of their kind--Bacharach & David wrote terrific stuff too but it really was superior Tin Pan Alley songs they created; Legrand/Bergmanns' songs transcended that just as they did even the best of film score music. Impressed that, according to obit, Boulanger took him on as student.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X4AYu5m2ko

Please note that Legrand 1) died at 86 and 2) was French and so spoke a Canadian national language & therefore 3) was a very old Canadian who died this year.

Farewell Jonas Mekas, avant-garde film-maker extraordinaire:

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/jonas-mekas-rip-cinephile-obituary-1202037652

Clive Swift (aka Richard Bucket) and ex husband of Margaret Drabble:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/feb/01/clive-swift-keeping-up-appe...

>12 justifiedsinner: I never knew about Swift having been married to Margaret Drabble until I read the obits. So that means I once worked for his brother-in-law, who was the ex-husband of Antonia Byatt. Though whether you can have valid degrees of separation when one of the links was inactive for years because of a sororial falling out is another matter.

Goodness gracious me I didn't know that. If anything came to mind when I happened on the name 'Margaret Drabble' it was, Was she the one with Alzheimer's? No more. I'm full sure that in future it will be the image of Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth B. that will.

And I'd forgotten about her sister. What comes to mind when I happen on the name 'A.S. Byatt' is, Is she the one who wrote that long, telling but nonetheless horribly boring book? I wouldn't mind replacing that with the image of two sisters running toward each other with drawn daggers but haven't much hope this will happen.

#10--are you short of rent money this month?

"Born in Paris", according to always reliable (?) Wikipedia.

Unless that's Paris, Saskatchewan...

Not impossible, we have towns called "Love" and, swear to God, "Climax".

>17 supercell: Is Yogi related to Tom of Finland?

Rosamunde Pilcher died 06Feb19 at age 94

And Big Al is done and gone too:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47175304

Tom Leonard, Scottish poet - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/04/tom-leonard-obituary

Actress Julie Adams, most famous for the Creature from the Black Lagoon - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/07/julie-adams-obituary

England World Cup winning goalkeeper, Gordon Banks (also famous for losing his sight in one eye and continuing to ply his trade in goal - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/feb/12/gordon-banks-obituary

>20 BookConcierge: - the oddest thing about Rosamunde Pilcher is that she become a massive star in Germany. One of the television channels there bought the rights to all her novels and short stories, eventually making over 100 episodes. There are German companies that run holiday tours to Cornwall, where they visit all the sites in her books.

>22 Jargoneer:, >20 BookConcierge:: Which explains why I encountered a coach-load of German tourists on a visit to the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway and the nearby Lanhydrock House in Cornwall in the early 2000s. A commercial site (in English) points visitors to the locations and the productions they were used in: https://www.staycationholidays.co.uk/news-article.html?id=10

>22 Jargoneer: That's a weird coincidence. I'd never heard of Rosamunde Pilcher until I studied in Germany in the early 1990s - not because she was big in Germany but because the other student I was with was a huge fan of her books...

Ken Nordine--"the Voice" has been silenced:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-ken-nordine-dead-0217-story....

That's twice you've caught me out. First I was surprised to hear that Al Jankovic was dead--whoops, Weird Al not Big Al--and now that homeless guy who washed windscreens on the freeway or something of that sort & then was put on radio because of his having The Voice is dead too.

In any case Ken Nordine age 99 was not Canadian. Just noting that, publicly, in case you should claim him as one in future.

...and I sense I'm being provoked...

>26 bluepiano:, the Weird Al thing was a rumour or something, he's still living.

Peter Tork of The Monkees is gone: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/peter-tork-of-the-monkees-dead-at-77-repor...

That one shocked me. Now & again there are airings of The Monkees on telly here.--Quite annoyed that clicking on link to 'adenoid cystic carcinoma' led only to on-site tabloidish stories about people with cancer then noticed the URL and was quite annoyed to have clicked on obit. In any case, was cancer of salivary glands in case anyone else is curious and in case anyone else is curious, Tork wasn't Canadian though he did once say 'eh' in an interview with a reporter.

>30 bluepiano: in death we are all Canadian

Some folks here are looking for a pinch...

>31 anna_in_pdx: That might be the first post on LT to make me laugh aloud. Don't often come across a sombreness + absurdity combo like this. Thanks.

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/feb/19/karl-lagerfeld-obituary

I'm guessing no-one has mentioned Stanley Donen (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/24/stanley-donen-obituary) because everyone is out singing in the rain or are out on the town. Directed some great musicals and some decent non-musicals (Charade, Two for the Road and Bedazzled).

Also Mark Hollis (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/feb/26/mark-hollis-obituary). For most people Talk Talk were one those new romantic bands that appeared, had a few hits and then disappeared but in truth they probably developed further musically than most bands - from electro-pop to music that was more classical than pop. It was disappointing that they released so little, nothing after 1991 although there was a Hollis solo album in 1998. It was almost as if Hollis had written himself to a point of silence.

...and folks tactfully choose to forget Donen's contributions to perhaps the worst science fiction film of all time, "Saturn 3".

Any artfulness Donen possessed was long gone by the time he excreted that horrendous turd.

The fault wasn't entirely his--I mean, Marty Amis provided the screenplay...

https://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/saturn-3/252551/saturn-3-the-1980s-weirdest-...

>35 CliffBurns: Most of us hope other people will tactfully choose to forget our worst excrescences. I sure do.

That said, I confess that in my very brief pseudo-review of London Fields I couldn’t help identifying (i.e. damning) Amis as screenwriter for Saturn 3, so perhaps my own pleas for others' forgetfulness should be swept aside.

But bottom line is, you’re sure right about that movie!

I'd rather watch "Plan 9 From Outer Space" than sit through "Saturn 3" again.

The movie is very hard to find on DVD on this side of the pond.

Perhaps that's for the best--the principal people involved ought to feel ashamed of themselves.

>37 CliffBurns: - Donen initially didn't want his name on the credits of Saturn 3 so he knew it was a stinker. Although that didn't stop him directing Blame It On Rio which was even worse. It starred Michael Caine when he would appear in anything for the money and it is probably only notable for the fact that the producers got legal clearance to film nude scenes with their 17 yo starlet. (The answer is yes, the 46 yo Caine has an affair with her - that's the blame placed on Rio).

Incredibly there is a website dedicated to the mess that is Saturn 3 - https://saturn3makingof.com/

>35 CliffBurns: - Amis best novel, Money, came out of Saturn 3. His main character, John Self, is making a film that turns into a disaster, and the lead actor in that film is obviously based on Douglas.

DEAD BABIES is still my favorite Amis--nasty, nasty book.

Katherine Helmond--I'll always adore her work in two Terry Gilliam films:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47423586

Andre Previn: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/obituaries/andre-previn-dead.html

Always remember the Dory Previn lines:
Loved I two men equally well .....
One was an artist, one drove a truck
One liked to make love the other would fuck

Keith Flint:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47442312

Dunno how many times I've blasted "Firestarter" in my office to get warmed up.

90210 star Luke Perry is gone:
https://www.today.com/popculture/luke-perry-dead-52-following-massive-stroke-t14...

A wrestler who became famous in the Hulk Hogan era, King Kong Bundy is gone:
https://www.wwe.com/article/king-kong-bundy-passes-away

Farewell to Patrick Lane:

https://www.cbc.ca/books/patrick-lane-award-winning-canadian-poet-and-novelist-d...

Jan-Michael Vincent:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47502183

Two essential authors:

John Richardson:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/obituaries/john-richardson-dead.html

W. S. Merwin:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/obituaries/w-s-merwin-dead-poet-laureate.html...

>48 mejix: I have 2 of Richardson's Picasso biographies. I was going to wait until they all came out to read them in case he died first. Now am I safe or not?

>49 justifiedsinner:
The third volume came out some years ago. The article says that the fourth volume was "close to completion" but no publication date has been set.

Dick Dale, surf guitar wizard

Dale and The Del-Tones with one of the most famous pieces of surf music, "Misirlou": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8

Oh, wow, Ralph Metzner has died:

https://boingboing.net/2019/03/18/psychedelics-pioneer-ralph-met.html

Any Scott Walker fans in these parts?

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47691705

>54 CliffBurns: - I admire the albums Tilt, The Drift and Bish Bosch but I'm not sure I "like" them. However I'm not sure liking them is the point, they are deliberately difficult albums.

The great Agnes Varda:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/mar/29/agnes-varda-french-new-wave?CMP=twt...

As noted elsewhere (https://www.librarything.com/topic/305475), the sci-fi author Vonda N. MacIntyre:
http://file770.com/science-fiction-author-vonda-n-mcintyre-official-obituary/

>57 Cecrow: - McIntyre is one of those authors who produced some very good stuff but you can't help thinking that there should have been more. What I learned from her obituary is that her last novel, The Moon and the Sun, was filmed in 2015 but is still unreleased, supposedly due to effects being completed.

Gene Wolfe has died:

https://www.tor.com/2019/04/15/gene-wolfe-in-memoriam-1931-2019

:'(
Paris was always on my bucket list.

>60 supercell: Perhaps deceptively moribund rather than dead; latest news is that structure--which seems to mean foundation, walls, and I do so hope towers--might well be saved. Even if so, it's heartbreaking to think of how much of it in future will be restoration & of how much detail will be made with mere approximation of techniques/materials no longer available or known. I learned only from news reports tonight that Viollet-le-duc had a hand in the 19th-century restoration work. Viollet although much admired paid little respect to the original work he restored (a bit like those historical English garden designers who're adulated despite their giving little regard to the natural landscape) & so I'm trying to console myself by thinking that modern-day restoration of a UNESCO site will be meticulously faithful in a way that previous restorations mightn't have been.--Still, this could be moot point; perhaps nothing of it will survive. In any case it's very deeply saddening.

Oh and hey Cliff even if you go by completion date rather than starting date, given that as I've pointed out what's French is by default Canadien I think supercell wins Oldest Defunct Canadian prize. (Or did you specify oldest Canadian author? If you did well, then, loads of authors have written about Notre Dame. So there.)

Canadian artists/authors are old before their time because no one shows them the slightest interest. They shrivel and wizen from lack of attention.

There is a Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal--not as ancient or historic but a fine building in its own right:

https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&rls=en&q=notre+dame+basilica,+...

>62 bluepiano: A significant portion of it was restoration already. The spire was 19th century, for example. I don't think any European cathedral currently exists purely as what was originally built - except perhaps for La Sagrada Familia, which has yet to be completed.

>64 CliffBurns: And if they don't age prematurely they get horrible madey-uppy diseases like margellos syndrome. Or die youngish, like one of my favourites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga%C3%A9tan_Soucy, whilst the likes of Neil Young & Margaret Atwood are unaccountably thriving.

>59 CliffBurns:, Gene Wolfe's death will not get a fraction of the attention he deserves, because he never made the bestseller lists like so many others in his genre. But his legacy stands to grow in years to come like other greats of the past who were underappreciated in their lifetime. Someone says "what's literary in genre fiction?", he is the first one I name, then Ursula.

>65 iansales:, sounds like a Ship of Theseus debate. Either way, sad but definitely not dead. Just between versions.

>67 Cecrow: He will be remembered for The Book of the New Sun - but not its sequels - but it's too difficult a book to gain the stature of The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, or even Dune. Everything else will likely be forgotten - most of it is already out of print - which is a shame for some of them, and a blessing for others.

>68 iansales: - I agree with you but aren't most writers reduced to being remembered for one or two books. The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Peace probably deserve to survive as well as a decent collection of his short stories.

>67 Cecrow: - Re literary genre - I had an argument at a SF book group when I asked people to name a great SF writer under 50. I don't mean ideas but someone who is actually a good writer and it was difficult to think of (m)any.

The great Australian poet Les Murray has died - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/29/les-murray-australian-poet-and-lit...

>69 Jargoneer: Reminds me I must read some Les Murray. I always wanted to since I saw the title of one of his books: Subhuman Redneck Poems.

>71 Jargoneer: - you can read some of his stuff here - https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/murray-les

Seems we overlooked actor Albert Finney, died 7th February. Just made a connection last night while watching the 1982 version of "Annie" with the kids, where he played Daddy Warbucks. And I still miss Geoffrey Holder.

Whoops, nope, >21 CliffBurns: got him. Ran a page search for Albert, not Big Al, lol.

Peter Mayhew/Chewbacca

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/02/entertainment/peter-mayhew-star-wars-dead-trnd/in...

>73 Taphophile13:, we're running out of original cast members, fast. Get those autographs while you still can.

A truly magnificent human being, Jean Vanier, has died:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/obit-jean-vanier-1.5125807

I doubt anyone has missed this but Doris Day has died - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/13/calamity-jane-star-doris-day-dies-a...

Also Peggy Lipton, star of The Mod Squad and owner of the diner in Twin Peaks - https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/13/peggy-lipton-obituary-actor...

Tim Conway from the Carol Burnett show
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-conway-died-carol-burnett-show-star-dead-today-...

Peggy Lipton and Tim Conway--it's nice to see that minor pop culture folk are still remembered.

Conway was very like one of my uncles in appearance & humour. This uncle's birth cert named him as 'Baby' because his parents never got round to changing default name to his proper given one. It did not go at all well for him when he joined the Marines and the sergeant called roll for the new recruits.

>78 bluepiano:, Tim Conway didn't resemble any uncle of mine but had a similar effect on me anyway. The whole cast of the Carol Burnett Show felt like family.

Herman Wouk, author of The Caine Mutiny and The Winds of War - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/17/herman-wouk-obituary

One of those cases where I thought he was already gone.

He was interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning in 2017. His health was poor, but his mind was sharp. Here's a you tube link to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx8vBzKDBoU

Musician Leon Redbone.

This is one sweet cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6d1-k2p1Ck. List of backup musicians worth a look, too.

Roky Erickson:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/01/roky-erickson-us-psychedelic-rock-...

Mourned by, among other people, William Gibson.

:( Dr. John, right after Leon Redbone, it's been a tough time lately.

https://pitchfork.com/news/dr-john-dead-at-77/

Franco Zeffirelli:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48648278

Gloria Vanderbilt :'(

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/17/entertainment/gloria-vanderbilt-dies/index.html

Romance author Judith Krantz, at 91
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-krantz-judith-1.5187314

Dave Bartholomew - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/24/dave-bartholomew-taught-the-world-...

>92 Cecrow: - (from The Guardian) Angela Carter said that reading Krantz’s books was like “being sealed inside a luxury shopping mall whilst being softly pelted with scented sex technique manuals” – but admitted they were “not without a certain preposterous charm, as of a champagne picnic on the crust of an active volcano”.

>90 CliffBurns: - this is a little odd - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/24/john-francis-lane-obituary - it was only when the Guardian published Lane's obituary of Zeffirelli that they found out he had been dead for a year.

Norman Stone - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/25/norman-stone-obituary - no love lost in this obituary.

The biographer Brenda Maddox - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/28/brenda-maddox-obituary

>94 Jargoneer: that obit on Norman Stone is vicious! It seems like he was a real piece of work.

>95 anna_in_pdx: Yeah, looks as if the days of obits w. codes like 'convivial', 'a lifelong bachelor', & 'free-spirited' are gone. To be fair
though the hateful impression comes from Stone's own beliefs & words & not the obit writer's comments.

I'm wondering did he forsake PhD work on that particular topic and move on to another or did he never get the degree at all--? If the latter, bad cess to Oxford for taking him on.

Richard Evans, who wrote the vivisection of Stone, IS a truly great historian, unlike his subject.

There is some justice in this obituary as Stone did something similar to E.H. Carr following his death. As in Stone's obit of Carr there is a political aspect to this, left v right - it is noticeable that the right-press was much more sympathetic to Stone.

>96 bluepiano: - that raises the interesting of what should an obituary be? Should it make personal/professional judgements or just print the "facts"? I know some people get upset when an obituary criticises someone (usually stating it is not the time and place). Personally I get more irritated when the obituary is fawning, even with people I admire.

Arte Johnson. Remember him?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKfesU9Oc_E&fbclid=IwAR2iXeIpKfT5tZWS-tjQ07P...

>99 CliffBurns: Very interesting.

Oh yes; one of his characters would walk in with a very large sunflower, recite a silly poem, and bow. I'd crack up my dad by imitating him. Very funny man. I tried watching reruns and the show is just too dated to watch, but oh it was so marvelous in its time!

>101 cindydavid4:

That was Henry Gibson, not Arte Johnson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I6S_hvOQdc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gibson

Ack, you are right!!!!! Gah it was so long ago. Anyway, I thought Arte Johnson was wonderful, and also forgot he was in one of my fav movies, Love at First Bite

>103 cindydavid4:
Actually I got them a little confused too. I was looking in the Arte Johnson obits for mentions that he had gone to the famous drama school at Catholic University in WashDC. But he didn't-- that was Gibson.

Simon Norton, subject of The Genius in My Basement by Alexander Masters, who also wrote the obit: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/feb/22/simon-norton-obituary

>104 Crypto-Willobie: glad I wasn't the only one!

A giant of Brazilian music, Joao Gilberto.

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/06/739224759/jo-o-gilberto-master-of-bossa-nova-dies...

Two virtually unknown pioneers of cinema:

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6481-film-culture-loses-two-innovators

(From Gord)

Ah, damn. Rip Torn. Love this guy:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/emmy-winning-actor-rip-torn-dead-at-88-1.5...

I was surprised to find that Torn was his real surname. I wonder why his daughter took her mother's last name, they were both famous.

Allegedly when he was married to Geraldine Page the name on their house was Torn Page.

>111 Jargoneer: I still think the best celeb pairing would have been Whoopee Goldberg and Peter Cushing, which would have made her Whoopee Cushing...

>112 iansales: I read this post & immediately thought 'iansales is British'. Went to your profile page. God, I'm astute. Any particular volume of seaside postcards in your library you'd like to bring to our attention?

Good one, though.

>113 bluepiano: I'm not *that* British. I don't drink tea and I don't like baked beans. And I live in Sweden :-)

Farewell Johnny Clegg:

https://pitchfork.com/news/johnny-clegg-south-african-musician-and-activist-dead...

RIP Andrea Camilleri, died 17July19

David Hedison--sci fi nut here remembers him best as Captain Crane on the woefully bad TV series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea":

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49077424

The original Replicant, Rutger Hauer at 75.

:'( That hit hard. I thought he was the handsomest man I've ever seen.

Paul Krassner has died--countercultural types will remember him:

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/23/744431081/remembering-paul-krassner-journalist-an...

I watched a lot of B-movies on the basis that Rutger Hauer was the star - Blind Fury anyone? I also drank a lot of Guinness on the back of their ad campaign in which he starred. These ran for years as did my did my drinking of the black stuff - https://adage.com/article/advertising/rutger-hauers-8-best-guinness-ads-ranked/2.... The sad thing is that given the opportunity Hauer was actually a decent actor.

Surprised no-one has mentioned - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/17/andrea-camilleri-obituary-inspecto... - every time I watch an episode of Inspector Montalbano I feel the urge to move to Sicily despite the murder rate.

#121--see #116.

Hal Prince
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/theater/hal-prince-dead.html

Barrington Pheloung, the composer of the Inspector Morse theme (among others), which included the Morse code for M O R S E in the theme.

Ooh... I love that music...

Toni Morrison

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html?action=click&am...

David Berman, mastermind of Silver Jews:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/09/david-berman-obituary?utm_term=Aut...

'Easy Rider' actor Peter Fonda, 79

Good obit on Fonda here:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/17/peter-fonda-elegant-rebel-set-the-c...

>127 CliffBurns: - good band, deserved more success but got a little lost in the Americana boom of the late 90s/early 2000s.

>129 CliffBurns: - I watched "Easy Rider" a couple of years ago and found it more interesting as a reflection of its times rather than a good film.

Terrance Dicks, of "Doctor Who" fame:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49555763

Dicks and Enid Blyton are huge early influences on Ian Sales.

You been drinking again, Cliff? :-)

I'm half-Irish, Ian: you have to ask?

We all have our dirty secrets, our guilty pleasures.

I also happen to know you are a huge fan of "Dan Dare".

Frankly, it's your vulnerabilities that make you an interesting person.

Please don't ask me about my early obsession with the Hardy Boys...

>132 CliffBurns: I would imagine most children of a certain age read a lot of Blyton. Personally I blame her elitist, sexist, racist and xenophobic views for the current mess in the UK. I imagine that when Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Michael Gove et al have a cabinet meeting they ask "What would Enid do?" along with "What would Nanny do?" (which is essentially the same thing as Nanny was probably reading Blyton to them, highlighting the parts were poor people were third class citizens and that Johnny Foreigner is bad bad bad). It is almost certain that none of them read, or had read to, Terence Dicks as none of the liberal values of these works appear to have made any impact?
Is this what you mean when you say Ian Sales has been influenced by these writers? That his works promote a Dicks-ian moral universe in conflict with a Blyton one?

Cliff, you may be interested to know that Dicks wrote a trilogy concerning a Royal Canadian Mountain Police recruit. In 1976 this was very progressive as at time most people didn't realise Canada was a real country, most believing that is was an imaginary place where disillusioned Americans escaped to, like Narnia or Sesame Street.

>135 Jargoneer: Rees-Mogg's nanny campaigned with him when he first ran for MP.

#135--I think Ian's work is undeniably reliant on Blyton's fast-paced storylines and Dicks' peerless sentence structure.

Surely, my meaning was obvious.

(I refuse to employ emoticons to indicate I'm winking/kidding/whatever. Silliness should be obvious without the use of such rubbish.)

>136 justifiedsinner: - and it was up in Scotland as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he asked nanny why he was standing for election in a colony.

>137 CliffBurns: I certainly read Blyton when I was a kid. Who can forget such titles as The Adventures of Bojo and Mogg, or Five Run for Parliament Together, or Six Cousins at Eton?

Robert Mugabe is being fitted for a roasting spit in Hell as I type this and I couldn't be happier:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49604152

>140 CliffBurns: He who fights monsters must take care that he does not himself become a monster, as Nietzsche said.

Valentina Cortese, cult actress:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/10/valentina-cortese-obituary

Daniel Johnston, musician, featured in "The Devil & Daniel Johnston", a great documentary:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49673013

Pop/rock singer, Eddie Money:

http://apne.ws/Coeimdu

Saw him perform back in the day. Good, old-fashioned American Rock-n-Roll!

Spent a few hours listening to this guy:

https://pitchfork.com/news/the-cars-ric-ocasek-dead-at-75

Sad sad news https://abcnews.go.com/US/legendary-journalist-political-commentator-cokie-rober...

She was one of my favorites. Wasn’t she Birch Bayh’s daughter?

(Thomas) Hale Boggs

Thank you for the info. I knew it started with a B.

Her mother took over his seat after he died in a plane crash

Jessye Norman, Opera Singer died 30Sep19
NYTimes obit

Diahnn Carroll https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2019-10-04/diahann-carroll-dead

Loved her in Julia, glad to hear she got an Emmy for the role.

Legendary Rock/Jazz Drummer Ginger Baker.

>154 jldarden: Listening to Toad right now.

Good Ginger obit here:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/06/ginger-baker-wild-and-brilliant-cr...

Miss my Disraeli Gears and Ginger Baker’s Air Force double LP’s

Irish poet Ciaran Carson:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/books/ciaran-carson-dead.html?smid=tw-nytbook...

Astronaut Alexei Leonov:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50017409

Actor Robert Forster https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-forster-dead-resurgent-oscar-nomin...

This guy led an interesting life:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/15/scotty-bowers-male-madame-to-stars-...

Literary critic Harold Bloom:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/15/harold-bloom-obituary

>162 CliffBurns:, it was a blurb by Bloom that finally got me reading Little, Big. I appreciate the obit's point that he valued impact rather than consistency, but his opinions bore weight nonetheless.

Wow, I was a young (well 30ish) naive lit fan who had never heard of him till discoverig allthe discussions on the old Atlantic Table Talk. I never read any of his work (well , articles and such) , but remember the discussions opened my eyes about modern lit, esp his talk of a canon. Think I might want to try a few. May his name be a blessing.

Sorry Cliff, It all sounds like bullshit to me. And I usually trust your outlook :-)

>#161

Well, remember that line from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

The new Scorsese film "The Irishman" is supposed to be a "true" story, but it's clear the vast majority of it was fabricated by an old man with a gift for fantasy.

Elijah Cummings

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/17/politics/elijah-cummings/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0m...

Really sad news. We have lost a giant. Condolences to all who loved him. May his memory be a blessing

>167 cindydavid4:, a sadly rare instance of a politician who was in 'the game' to do the right thing.

So Trump sends his 'warmest condolences' also called Pelosi a third grade politician. I wonder if he is from another country. he doesn't seem to speak the language well at all.....

Nick Tosches:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/21/nick-tosches-the-writer-who-made-h...

Producer Robert Evans:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/28/robert-evans-celebrated-hollywood-p...

Norman Myers:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/31/norman-myers-obituary?utm_te...

Ernest J Gaines has passed away

http://www.wbrz.com/news/pointe-coupee-native-literary-master-ernest-gaines-has-...

Branko Lustig:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/producer-lustig-obit-1.5359634

Farewell Gahan Wilson:

https://www.cbr.com/gahan-wilson-obituary

Chris Moncrieff, the Parliamentary journalist everyone has probably read but not many know about:
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/chris-moncrieff-fleet-street-legend-a...

Moncrieff worked for the Press Association, so his reports were syndicated, and so have the tributes. I've chosen the Belfast Telegraph one because it's better illustrated than many.

Actor Michael J. Pollard:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/24/michael-j-pollard-obituary

Ah, dang, Jonathan Miller exits the stage:

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/jonathan-miller-dead-intl-gbr-scli/index.html

...and Clive James too:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50578512

The stuff of legend, Gaur Vartanyan:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50580937

>178 CliffBurns:, >179 CliffBurns: That we should lose such people when our public space is currently inhabited by so many intellectual nonentities I find particularly saddening.

I know what you mean, Robert. The art of civil discourse is obsolete, the screamers and the terminally stupid hold the floor.

Miller's, in particular, was an amazing mind. "Polymath" doesn't begin to sum him up.

One of the writers for the original "Star Trek" series, D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana has died.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/star-trek-writer-d-c-fontana-dead-80-1203422727...

Danny Aiello:

https://www.tmz.com/2019/12/13/danny-aiello-dead-dies-infection-do-the-right-thi...

Actress Anna Karina:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50799366

Ward Just:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ward-just-washington-post-report...

Not long ago I bought his acclaimed novel ECHO HOUSE.

Literary folks we lost in 2019:

https://lithub.com/notable-literary-deaths-in-2019

So much great poetry in translation by W.S. Merwin...

Louis Jenkins, Mark Rylance's favorite poet.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/12/21/poet-louis-jenkins-found-beauty-in-the-...

Richard Alpert, AKA "Ram Dass":

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/obit-alpert-dass-1.5406523

aka Baba Ram Dass not to be confused with Baba Au Rhum or Rum Baba.

"Hello, Dolly!" composer Jerry Herman
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jerry-herman-dead-broadway-composer_n_5e05d774e4b...

Don Imus radio shock jock
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/radio-broadcaster-don-imus-has-died-n110808...

Alastair Gray, Scots writer, artist and general polymath:

http://alasdairgray.info/contents.htm

I always wanted to read LANARK.

Farewell, Monsieur Gray.

Aw, goddamnit:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/dec/30/neil-innes-the-rutles-monty-python...

Better Innes obit here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50948921

Syd Mead, designer of the future, is gone:

https://boingboing.net/2019/12/30/syd-mead-1933-2019.html

>192 Taphophile13:, that's sad. Not two months ago I loaded up "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" on a playlist and it's become one of my favs.

Terry Jones

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/arts/television/terry-jones-dead.html

>200 cindydavid4:, already noted in our 2020 topic: https://www.librarything.com/topic/315241

oops, not ready for 2020 apparentlyl