Instead of demanding, perhaps if they had asked, they might have received?
R.I.P.
Mobsters don't ask.
Mickey Rooney RIP
What a career.
Mickey Rooney RIP
What a career.
One of my mother's favourites - he was already an established star when she was born in 1935. Read his life story a few years ago. Scottish father (real name Joe Yule). Started out in his parents' music hall act as a baby and then progressed to silent movies in the 1920's.
A lot of sadness in his life - married eight times and none of them worked very well (shortest was 100 days). Just when he found someone compatible and had been married eight years, his fifth wife was murdered in the mid sixties. The USA - what a place. A lot of freedom - but a lot of violence.
Worth tracking down a biography - 93 year life covered so much. Still acting in his nineties ("The Muppets" 2011)
"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day." - Mickey Rooney
"If he'd been any more beautiful they would have had to have called it 'Florence of Arabia'. - Noel Coward.
He's one I'll miss. Acting in films almost to the end. Still has a few posthumous ones coming out.
One of his best later films is "Dean Spanley" (2008) an Anglo-Kiwi co-production filmed in England (and a little in NZ) by NZ director Toa Fraser with a mostly NZ crew. Also stars Sam Neill. For my money, one of the best NZ films ever made.
Based on an Irish humorous short novel poking fun at the English, Church of England etc.
Amazing that O'Toole's last film award was in the NZ Film and Television Awards where he won Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film (also nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award and London Crtitics Circle Award).
Well-received movie - 85% rating over-all from all critics on Rotten Tomatoes site.
I grew up on stories of O'Toole - he was a boyfriend of one of my mother's best friends in Leeds after the war.
He grew up in Leeds after immigrating from Ireland aged one.
Staunch socialist in his youth (Communist Youth Theatre, Leeds) and traditional Catholic upbringing (an altarboy and climbed Croagh Patrick, St Patrick's holy mountain barefoot with my mother's friend Eileen and her brother in his youth. They traveled around Ireland on a donkey cart with crates of Guinness on the back).
A very generous fellow who never locked his house even when a well-known actor and let all sorts of waifs and strays stay in his house.
A complex personality - the hell-raising and brawls was one side of it - until he quit the boozing due to it's detrimental effect on his health about 1975. But reading was his main pursuit outside acting - had a huge library. Also loved cricket (keen player) and rugby.
I first saw him as a boy playing the dual roles of the Mad Earl and Jack the Ripper in the "Ruling Class" on TV in the mid-seventies before a rugby test while staying at the house of Irish NZers the Daly's, a school friend from our Catholic school in Nelson. Hugely inspiring!
Wow, what an awesome piece Pete. As an actor he seemed so relaxed yet so intense. Born in a generation of many good actors and some excellent ones.
Take no prisoners, take no prisoners!
The Ultimate Warrior RIP. Less than 24 hours after appearing on WWE Raw, he collapsed walking down the street. Stunned tbh.
Stunned indeed! Just finished watching Wrestlemania 30, showed him getting inducted into the WWE hall of fame, finally.
RIP James Hellwig, the Ultimate Warrior. Absolute rasslin' legend!
He was a motivational speaker. I had contact with him a few years back via email on a topic he had discussed. Seemed lkke a nice guy. Great wrestler though, all in good fun.
Sue Townsend.
Her Adrian Mole book came out at exactly the right time for me as I was just a little younger than the arse Adrian. I loved it. She totally got teenage boys of a certain age, their families and lives in Thatcher's Britain. She wrote beautifully funny prose.
Very sad.
On Sue Townsend
Robin Ince
Two books have made me snort milk out of my nose through apoplectic laughter, both are diaries of deluded, fictional males, and both still provide me with delight when I return to them decades on: The Diary of a Nobody and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 133/4. I no longer drink milk when reading, for health reasons.
I was fortunate that my puberty began when the first Adrian Mole was published and The Smiths formed. Here were two great self-regarding narrators who would help me through those difficult years of penile panic, acne eruptions and romantic notions that were untroubled by real possibilities.
Sue Townsend invaded the minds of teenage boys and revealed the terrors and desires that lay within with startling accuracy. At the time, inthe midst of my own onslaught of hormonal confusion, I was too busy laughing to see the mirror in front of me.
Sue Townsend carried off the trick of writing as a deluded lad who would never have the ability to be a writer, and did so with such wit and yet believability in his frequent witlessness. The teenager is frequently spoofed, but it takes great empathy to make such an antihero so lovable and real.
"I saw Malcolm Muggeridge on the television last night, and I understood nearly every word. It all adds up. A bad home, poor diet, not liking punk. I think I will join the library and see what happens." And so, Adrian declares himself an intellectual.
We may all like to have imagined that we were Holden Caulfield, but really we were Adrian Mole. I hope no one else tries to revive Adrian. You might be able to hand Sherlock Holmes or James Bond to other authors, but Mole has more humanity than them, and it is a tribute to the humane vision of Sue Townsend that she could create such a character.
Sue Townsend – 'a lone voice, a humanist and a genius'
With
the death of the author of Adrian Mole and The Queen and I, the world
has lost a unique comic talent. We asked writers to share their memories
of the woman who hated to be called a national treasure
-
Ian Rankin, Michael Rosen, Jonathan Coe, Alexis Petridis, Bob and Roberta Smith, Susan Calman, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Robin Ince, Luke Wright and Isy Suttie
- The Guardian, Friday 11 April 2014 20.39 BST
- Jump to comments (30)
Author Sue Townsend at her home in Leicester in 1993. Photograph: Jonathan Player /Rex Features
Ian Rankin I was in my early 20s and a student when the first Adrian Mole book was published. I came from a working class background and was the first member of my family to attend university. I'd been a quiet teenager, hiding in my bedroom, reading everything from Ken Kesey to Solzhenitsyn (without ever really understanding the latter) and writing poems and song lyrics, mostly about love and death, which I showed to no one. My parents had left school at 15 and only read books during our annual holiday to a caravan site in St Andrews. Now here I was studying Eng Lit, much to their bemusement, and trying desperately to become an intellectual – and a published writer.
So Adrian Mole filled me with a certain horror as well as providing much laughter. I saw so much of myself in him. But Sue Townsend provided more – there was social commentary: how the breakup of a marriage affects all concerned; the way society deals with an OAP like Adrian's eventual friend Bert. Then there's first love, friendship, and a wealth of other beautiful observations. All of it cleverly contained in diary form. Yes, dear reader, I too kept a diary, and did so since the age of 12. Would I share it with the world? Would I hell. But I'm glad Adrian did
Elaine Morgan - She wrote books that suggested humans actually spent time living in the sea as part of our evolutionary development based on the findings of others.
Hence we are different from apes: We have little hair, our newborns can shut of the larynx and survive being under water which other apes cant, brain size and development, etc.
Thing is these days it's actually gaining some credence.
Goback far enough and we probably all emerged from some soupy green swamp. Those theories make for good discussions.
Goback far enough and we probably all emerged from some soupy green swamp. Those theories make for good discussions.
The idea is that as with all land based life we came out of the sea, but that humans returned to it and lived a partial life in and next to water. I guess like Seals, etc.
Our Rachel Smalley fat is another example is more like blubber apparently. David Attenborough has seen a lot of merit in the theory, ("made more sense"), but most mainstream science is sceptical.
During a recent conference "Professor Rhys Evans, a surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "We are trying to discuss the pros and cons of the theory. But many of the things which are unique to humans - such as a descended larynx, walking upright, fat beneath the skin, and most obviously an extremely large brain - it seems can best be accounted for as adaptations to extended periods in an aquatic environment."
Extremely large brain that is mostly under used, even by this typist from time to time. ;)
Live Sport Radio Producer John Matheson passed away suddenly on 9th April. He certainly had his critics. None the less he wrote about the 82 All Whites and the All Whites road to the 2010 world cup. May he Rest in Peace.
Live Sport Radio Producer John Matheson passed away suddenly on 9th April. He certainly had his critics. None the less he wrote about the 82 All Whites and the All Whites road to the 2010 world cup. May he Rest in Peace.
Only 46 or 47, seemed to get more than his fair share of scoops in the sports world.
Steve Moore - Co-founder of Fortean Times - editor, contributor, wrote for many comics, 2000AD,etc. Fort won't be the same.
Sandy Jardine RIP
An excellent footballer.
Tito Vilanova. Died this morning our time aged 45. This time last year he was managing Barca to a La Liga title.
R.I.P.
Sue Townsend.
Her Adrian Mole book came out at exactly the right time for me as I was just a little younger than the arse Adrian. I loved it. She totally got teenage boys of a certain age, their families and lives in Thatcher's Britain. She wrote beautifully funny prose.
Very sad.
I was a student at Canterbury University in 1985/1986 when the first Adrian Mole TV show screened in NZ and inspired by Adrian wore red socks around the campus. Fellow student Stuart MacKenzie, now an established writer and film director living in Wellington and married to actress Miranda Harcourt, noticed my red socks and stopped to chat and talk about the TV series and books he also loved.
Happy days...
Just over a decade late - but I only just noticed the sad news that Irish player Sean Byrnes died back in 2003.
Back before this website even existed or much in the way of NZ football websites at all.
Sean was a legend of our National League in the 1980's with Gisborne City under Kevin Fallon.
He first visited these shores with a "League of Ireland" side (comprising the best players from the Repub. of Ireland's league) in 1982 to help the All Whites prepare for the '82 World Cup Finals.
Kevin Fallon persuaded Sean to stay and play for Gisborne City, winning the league and Chatham Cup. He also gained five All Whites caps.
Late in the 1980's he and his wife moved to Melbourne. He sadly developed motor neuron disease and passed away in 2003 aged only 48.
Ben Hall, a defender with Canterbury United in the ASB Premiership, also has motor neuron disease and had to retire from playing a couple of years ago aged only in his mid-twenties (details on how to help Ben follow).
Two obituaries for Sean:
BY IAIN GILLIES, EDITOR OF THE GISBORNE HERALD:
"....Few players of his era were more committed to the game, fiercer in the tackle or more likely to enforce the thou-shalt-not-pass law on invaders misguided enough in their arrogance to think they could impose some form of superiority on Seán’s defensive space. The difference between the Dubliner who played for Dundalk, and other defensive assassins gracing the high-quality New Zealand national league of the 1980s, was that Seán could do it all with a smile. He had a bubbling sense of humour on and off the field that endeared him to one and all. He could defuse the most volatile situation with a quip that had everyone grinning where moments before they had been ready to strangle each other. But, perhaps it helped that Seán Byrne was a man of steel as far as New Zealand football was concerned. He led from the front and played the game with Caesarean authority...."
http://foot.ie/archive/index.php/t-9524.html
MOTOR NEURON APPEAL FOR BEN HALL EX-CANTERBURY UNITED:
As a tribute to Sean and Bens' contributions to football in NZ, Yellow Feverites way like to consider this fund-raising appeal on behalf of Ben to buy much-needed specialist equipment - any equipment such as a modified van already purchased, Ben puts in a trust to pass on to other sufferers in the future. Life expectancy of motor neuron disease sufferers is not long. Being struck so young, Ben has no savings.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MNDMachine/240314519366394
Hello everyone,
As you may or may not know my good friend Matt Lear was a huge catalyst for fundraising for my van over two years ago. By running 620km's he got a large chunk of funding for the van for his efforts. Well he doesn't do things by halves so he has signed up to run the Auckland Marathon in September to raise money for my ongoing battle with MND i.e Tobii Communication software & computer (see link below), bathroom conversion & a possible treatment.
http://www.tobii.com/assistive-technology/global/products/hardware/tobii-i-series/
Here's a word from Matt:
"Hello all I have entered the Auckland Marathon this year to fundraise for my friend Ben Hall who most of you know suffers from Motor Neuron disease. We are looking to raise money for Ben to buy a computer system that will help with communication, this little guy costs 30k so hopefully can make a dent in that. Even if you can donate $1 it all helps. People like Rob Spence however I expect a decent amount. Similar to last time below is what you will get if you donate
1) You will be helping out a good man and if your friends with me chances are you could do with doing a good deed
2) Knowing Ill be in pain for over 6 months while training and knowing that I hate running so double rainbow
3) Knowing ill be in a lot of pain on the actual day and you can feel free to pelt me with pillow cases filled with bars of soap on the way round the course
4) Invite to exclusive after party/BBQ, my house holds twelve so first twelve in win
5) Biggest donation can choose what I wear (No Liverpool kit)
Feel free to share with others"
I have created an account for funds to be donated into.
Matt's Running Account
12-3287-0096639-53
I thank you in advance for your support.
Ben
Bob Hoskins, 71.
He was in the Pink Floyd movie, "The Wall" as "Pinks" Manager. As well as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" "A long Good Friday"
Elena Baltacha, UK tennis player and daughter of Russian footballer Sergei, ex-Ipswich Town plus various Scottish clubs, aged 30, of liver cancer.
I saw her play at Stanley St, Auck, a few years ago.
(see latest on www.guardian.co.uk/sport)
RIP Duncan Cole.Those were the days.
Randy Coven
played Bass Guitar with Steve Vai for a while
super-chops '80's speed.
RIP Duncan Cole.Those were the days.
Wow this is hard to believe. One of the Spain World Cup legends. Thanks for the memories Duncan
Randy Coven
played Bass Guitar with Steve Vai for a while
super-chops '80's speed.
Randy Coven
played Bass Guitar with Steve Vai for a while
super-chops '80's speed.
Rik Mayall
Dangerous Brothers was a great series.
Shocked. Rick with a silent P . Gone. RIP
absolutely gutted.
Idiot subeditor of the Independent calling one of his characters Kevin Turkey...
and no Richie Rich
In a time when "Open all hours" and "One foot in the grave" were the norm for Brit Comedy, (whilst still excellent) the Young Ones were so staggeringly diffferent. Comic Genius.
Legend.
Rik Mayall. Will be missed. I grew up watching The Young Ones at High School and then Bottom and Filthy, Rich and Catflap. Gone way too soon at 56. RIP.
Tribute from Adrian Edmondson "There were times when Rik and I were writing together when we almost died laughing," Edmondson said. "They were some of the most carefree, stupid days I ever had, and I feel privileged to have shared them with him. And now he's died for real. Without me. Selfish bastard"
RIP Rick
"The peoples poet is dead. I guess it must be time to grab the last freedom moped out of nowhere city and not even tell our parents what time we'll be back."
YOUNG ONES Series 2 ep.1:
[Rick is trying to commit suicide]
Rick: I feel sorry for you, you zeros! You nobodies! What's going to live on after you die? I'll tell you - nothing! That's what! [struggling to hang himself] Oh, this is pathetic![he gives up trying to hang himself, then sees a jar of pills and attempts to overdose]Neil: [upon seeing Rick eating the pills] Vyv, Vyv – er, can you, like, actually kill yourself with laxative pills?
Vyvyan: I don't know Neil, but I'm going to stay and find out!
Neil: I think I'm going up to my room for a bit![Rick swallows pills in front of Neil as he leaves]
Rick: This house will become a shrine, and punks and skins and rastas will all gather round and hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader. And all the grown-ups will say, "But why are the kids crying?" And the kids will say, "Haven't you heard? Rick is dead! The People's Poet is dead!"[Vyvyan crouches down to watch Rick's rear as he talks]
Rick: And then one particularly sensitive and articulate teenager will say, "Other kids, do you understand nothing? How can Rick be dead when we still have his poems?" And then another kid will say... [he then farts loudly and realises what he's been taking]
Pack of matches: Don't look at me. I'm irrelevant.
Gone too soon. His friends say his health never fully recovered after suffering brain injuries when falling off his farm bike 16 years ago. May be connected to his sudden death. I was surprised at the time he made such a good recovery, his injuries were so bad. Working to the end but mainly small parts in recent years. He had to quit the stage show of "The New Statesman" in 2007 due to bad health.
I don't think anyone under the age of 40 could ever truly understand the impact The Young Ones had when it first screened.
It was so good and so different that it changed TV comedy forever. It was like a bomb going off.
It was the moment comedy went punk and in that spirit even their musical guests were great - Madness, Motörhead, The Damned - they certainly influenced my musical tastes as a teenager.
Hard to believe that The People's Poet and Lord Flashheart are both dead.
Really sad news about Rik Mayall's passing.