R.I.P.

Phillip Joel Hughes.

Author PD James has died aged 93

My old boss Mike Kelly.

Good bastard.

Cheers mate

Sommet Sports (with acknowledgement to Big Pete, who RIP'd them on another thread)

That just sucks.

132 school children from Peshawar Pakistan :(

Sickening. 

They (these extremists) all need to be rounded up and nuked.

Peter Underwood - Writer, Ghost hunter, Parapsychologist and former Ghost Club President died aged 91.

Loved his ghost hunting books and scared myself silly as a child investigating derelict houses looking for ghosts.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/17/peter-underwood

my metabolism.

has been battling for the past couple of years, but was finally condemned at the beginning of December.  I'm going to miss you, little fella.

Diffrent ends of the social spectrum i guess but Mandy Rice Davies famous for her involvement in the 'profumo affair' which bought about the resignation of the british prime minister. Billie Whitelaw acclaimed british actress. Both ladies have died in the last couple of days. R.I.P

Joe Cocker many hazy memories to his music some remembered most just a blur.Them was the days.RIP Joe cant wait to see that band when i finally arrive as well.

With a little help from my friends. I wonder if we could use the basic verse in the Fever Zone. Classic song. Also likes his work on Auf Weidersein Pet

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends

RIP Joe. An absolute legend and his music will live on. Some of the greatest songs ever written.

I was lucky enough to briefly meet him when he performed at Alana Estate in Martinborough about 8 years ago.   He certainly lived the rock and roll lifestyle.

In the meantime watch out for Oz tribute band, Joe Cockatoo.

Jerzy, you are carrying on like an Abbotts Booby.

Agree. 

Abbotts's Booby (Papasula abbotti) is an endangered seabird placed withing its own monotypic genus, first identified from a specimen collected by W L Abbott, who discovered it in 1852 on Assumption Island .... [and which is] now threatened by introduced yellow crazy ants.......

- see wiki

PS Saw Joe Cocker's last NZ gig at NP's Bowl of Brooklands 2 summers ago. Not too bad. Still a great voice. And a great band. Spastic twitching confined mostly to wrists and fingers; and his star jumps never got lift-off. But not nearly as good as when I saw him at Western Springs 3/4 way thru last century.

RIP  Donna Douglas.

I remember her when I was a kid, on the Beverly Hillbillies.

Elli Mae. The cutest Tom Boy ever?

R.I.P Gasan Magomedov - 20 year old midfielder for Anzhi Makhachkala's reserve team. Shot dead in Russia's restive Dagestan region in the Northern Caucasus.

who was he apart from being a young footballer? Sincere question I just don't know how this has made the media.

Stuart Scott. Lost his battle to cancer early this morning our time. For as long as i've watched ESPN i've known him to be one of the main anchors. Sad news.

RIP     Rod Taylor.

A star in the Time Machine and Hitchcock's The Birds.

Forgot he was in the Oregon Trail! That was great!

& Zabriskie Point.

wasnt he j  a Tv Show with Dennis Cole and they drove around the West in a Stutz Beercat?

i guess more recently inglorious bastards and welcome to woop Woop

Anita Ekberg, 83.

yep, think it was called Bearcats, he was also quite good in VIP's with liz taylor richard Burton etc

Rip sir jack Hayward..Wolverhampton wanderers

Thanks for that - the stuff you learn on Yellow Fever  - hadn't heard he'd died.

Wonderful actor. 

Often a bit "tongue in cheek" as if he was in on a joke with a twinkle in his eye.

Have seen so many of his movies on Turner Classic Movies

Many varied roles in a 55 year career:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Taylor#Filmograph...

Interesting trivia about the Time Machine's connection to NZ:

Well-known Hollywood film music composer Russell Garcia who wrote the much-respected score for the Time Machine settled in NZ in 1969 after visiting here on his yacht and stayed here the rest of his life until dying aged 95 in 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Garcia_(compo...

One of the most talented people to compose for film and TV, he also worked with many of the jazz greats like Armstrong, Gillespie, Torme, Ella Fitzgerald etc. Wrote the Academy Award-winning score for Chaplin's "Limelight". Worked with Orson Welles, Judy Garland.

TV scores for "Rawhide" and "Laredo" in the 1960's.

One of the greatest musical figures to ever live in NZ. Awarded a QSM here in 2009. A tireless worker for international peace and education through music in NZ schools. Like his friend Dizzie Glliespie, followed the Baha'i faith.

In one of the most incredible mistakes by the Academy, they awarded the Academy Award for Best Score to Chaplin instead of Garcia in 1972. In 1952 Garcia provided the score for Charlie Chaplin's Limelight. Due to Chaplin being investigated for "subversive tendencies" the film was not released in the United States until 20 years later, when it won several Oscars. One of them should have gone to Garcia but, due to a mix up of names, it went to Chaplin, along with Larry Russel and Ray Rasch.

Garcia received major obituaries all over the world:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russ-...

A belated mention of one of Hollywood's greatest directors, Mike Nichols who passed away in November.

It's going to be a very emotional Academy Awards next month (Robin Williams, Nichols, Rod Taylor, Richard Attenborough etc.)

Only noticed this myself last week.

Director of The Graduate, Catch 22, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Closer etc.

A German Jew with Russian Jewish father (Nichol's real name was Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky - that would've gone down well in the States during the Cold War !!!) and a famous anarchist and socialist grandfather Gustav Landauer who was a writer and politician who briefly was cultural minister in the short-lived Soviet Republic of Bavaria after World War One - and was stoned to death by the right-wing Freikorps.

Escaped the Holocaust with his parents in the 1930's and settled in New York.

One of the few actual geniuses to succeed in Hollywood (funnily enough he was related to Einstein), Nichols was also one of the greatest Broadway directors of the 20th century (8 Tony Awards).

Started his career as a very successful comedian - and his last Tony was for directing the Python's "Spamalot" on Broadway in 2005. 

Brian Clemens died on the weekend.

A name you see on so many TV show credits.

Creator of the Avengers, the New Avengers, the Professionals, Danger Man, the Invisible Man, the Persuaders etc.

Related to that other well-known writer Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2906968/Th...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Clemens

"Samuel Clemens told the BBC  the last thing his father did before he died was watch an episode of The Avengers.

'His last words were: I did quite a good job,' he said."

At the time the Professionals was my favourite.

Somewhat belated but sad to hear that radio cricket commentator Trevor Rigby died recently. His dulcet tones were synonymous with long hot summers spent listening to Sports Roundup in the good old days when there was a commentary team at every cricket ground for every game.

Excellent football commentator too. Like Piney he had the ability to make a difficult job sound easy.

Anne Kirkbride ( Deidre Barlow  in Coronation Street)

RIP

She was only 60.

think she suffered from throat cancer some years ago

Bob Symes TV presenter and Inventor.

Greek singer Demis Roussos aged 69 R.I.P

my friend the wind, classic, open shirts and hairy chests.  The 70s had its quirks.