OBITUARIES

[Stanley]

Leonard Nimoy video

[Thomo]

The funeral of my Brother in Law, Mr. Peter (Satch) Booth will take place at Crown Hill Crematorium in Milton Keynes on Monday the 9th of next week. His ashes will be returned to Barnoldswick at a later date to be interred at Ghyll Church. There will be a Memorial Service for Peter at Holy Trinity Church here at 11.00 am on Monday the 23rd of this Month, anyone who wishes to join with the family at that time will be most welcome. This is Peter:-

[Big Kev]

Terry Prachett, such a shame.

[Stanley]

A brave and intelligent man......

[Tizer]

I think I've read most of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels twice now and will read them again in the future. As well as being humorous and entertaining they are a wonderful way of indirectly probing and analysing our own world (`Roundworld'). Having started with his magical world of goblins, dwarfs, witches etc the books evolved into a more modern Discworld and addressed some of our own issues even before we knew they were issues. He revealed the flimsy and vulnerable basis of the banking system in `Making Money' which was written just before the credit crunch and published in September 2007 - it features a former conman, Moist von Lipwig, who is given the job by Lord Vetinari of running Ank Morpork's big bank and preventing a collapse of confidence. Wearing his golden suit, von Lipwig convinces everyone that the bank can meet their needs for money even though he knows there is none in the vault. Sounds familiar? In the next book he is given the job of running Ank Morpork's Post Office and makes extra money for them by `inventing' stamp collecting' - just before when, in our world, the Stanley Gibbons company's shares rocketed from 99p to nearly 400p. Later, von Lipwig built Discworld's railway system, again using a lot of diplomacy and `smoke & mirrors'. I'll bet Terry would have loved to write a book about von Lipwig becoming the Discworld equivalent of Prime Minister!

Terry Pratchett also wrote the four volumes of `Science of Discworld' which are great books for learning, in an entertaining way, about science. His co-writers for these were Iain Stewart (not to be confused with Ian Stewart the TV geologist) and Jack Cohen. If you read them make sure you do it in chronological order.

[Tripps]

Lee Kuan Yew aged 91. Former Prime Minister of Singapore. I was there in 1965 when Singapore broke away from Malaysia. Can it really be 50 years ago? One of those moments (for me) which stay in your mind. I was actually having a haircut when the news was announced on the shop radio.

Lee Kuan Yew.

[Marilyn]

Our little gem, Richie Benaud, Cricket Commentator, died this morning aged 84.

[Stanley]

I heard that this morning Maz. Ironic that he blamed all those years out on the pitch in the sun for the cancer..... A good man....

[Cathy]

He will be missed, a real gentleman.
"Maarvellous"
RIP Richie Benaud

[Nolic]

RIP Richie. Nolic

[Bruff]

I particularly liked his habit of introducing his fellow commentators by their initals and surname. So for example, he would hand over to ‘A R Lewis’, the former England cricket captain, or D I Gower, or I T Botham. This charming habit refects the old ‘gentlemen’ vs ‘players’ divide in cricket where you had a good chance of spotting the ‘gentleman’ from the number of initials he had.

It stirred in me a fascination with cricketers’ full names so D I Gower is David Ivon (yes, Ivon, not Ivan) and Bothan is Ian Terence. The former West indies fast bowler Andy Roberts rejoices in Anderson Montgomery Everton. I thought this was just a reflection of me perhaps needing to have got out more as a teenager, but I read a book by the author and journalist and cricket buff Harry Pearson and it wasn’t that unusual for some boys to become absessed with this.

I love cricket. Richie Benaud was very much a voice of my youth. ‘Morning everybody’.

Richard Broughton

[Marilyn]

His family has been offered the honour of a State Funeral I believe, but of course it is up to them if they accept or prefer their own private goodbye.
Perhaps they will choose one of his suits ( the White, the beige, or the off-white, or the cream)...they were all basically the same colour!

[Marilyn]

Dare I add, he was quite good looking in his youth too!

[Marilyn]

Richie Benaud's family have declined a state funeral, in keeping with his wishes.

[Stanley]

In keeping with the man.......

[Stanley]

My good friend John Harrison died peacefully on April 24th after a long and distressing illness. A good man, I shall miss him. Here he is at Old Stone Trough Farm, Kelbrook in 1977 in happier days....

[PanBiker]

B.B. King 89 Blues Legend - RIP

[Tripps]

A bit electric for me.
Eric Clapton just said - almost nobody is playing this sort of music now.

However he was not exactly what might be 'termed a role model'
Ch4 news - 'he had sixteen children by 15 different women'

[Bruff]

The fomer New Zealand rugby player and captain Jerry Collins has been killed in a car crash in France. He was 34 years old. Ordinarily a bit niche this perhaps but there’s an interesting little story about Jerry Collins.

Back in 2007, just after he’d played in the 2007 rugby World Cup in France when he really was one of the big names in the game playing for the biggest team, he was holidaying with friends in Devon. He got talking to a chap on holiday who rather cheekily asked if he’d come along to the local club and give the kids a coaching session. Collins agreed and asked if he could get a game in too. So Jerry Collins who had just played in a World Cup, turned out for Barnstaple RFC 2nd XV in their big game against local rivals Newton Abbott RFC. There’s footage on YouTube. A month after, Collins was selected for the famous Barbarians invitational side to take on the South African Springboks at Twickenham. The Barbarians wear the famous black and white hooped shirts, but all players wear their club socks. Jerry Collins wore the red socks of Barnstaple RFC.

A nice story I think.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Nice..... I heard the report this morning of his death and even though he was unfamiliar to me I reflected the words 'in the early hours of the morning' and his age. Such a waste and it makes you wonder about the circumstances.....

[Bruff]

Circumstances appear very tragic indeed.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/j ... -car-crash

Richard Broughton

[Marilyn]

Alan Bond has died.

[Stanley]

I didn't realise until yesterday that Mrs Collins died also and their daughter is seriously injured. A tragedy .....

[Tripps]

Alan Bond has died.

Must admit - I had to look him up. Then I remembered who he was. Not widely covered here, but the BBC have mentioned him. Not too flattering though.

Mr Bond shot to public acclaim in Australia in 1983 after he bankrolled what would be the country's successful challenge of the coveted America's Cup yachting race.
But a decade later, the man dubbed Australian of the Year in 1978, fell spectacularly from grace. In 1992 he was declared bankrupt, with personal debts totalling A$1.8 billion ($1.4bn;£900m). He was jailed in 1997 for what would be described as Australia's biggest case of corporate fraud.
In Western Australia (WA), where his corporate collapse had the most impact on investors who lost money, not everyone remembers him favourably.

[Stanley]

David, I remembered him and when I saw Maz's post I was tempted to say that his family would be able to afford the funeral.... But I thought better of it on the grounds you shouldn't speak ill of the dead but yes, you're right, he was a slippery character who looked after himself first.