hTTi

Is that a known, known? TBH I thought he was bonkers at the time but now seems quite competent compared to the present team. Weird. Ditto George Bush, Ronald Reagan.

The Clarence Darrow quote on obituaries comes to mind, for some reason...

Pauline Collins who played Shirley Valentine

American molecular biologist James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, dies at the age of 97.

My father was a crystallographer (Manchester University) & knew / worked with colleagues such as Dorothy Hodgkin & Jack Dunitz (mentioned in the Wikipedia article)...

I have vague recollections of Dorothy Hodgkin (Nobel prize in Chemistry for determining the structure of vitamin B12) coming to our house (South of Manchester) for dinner.

With Jack Dunitz (& his daughter Marguerite) we (father, brother + self) hiked up the Grosser Mythen - must have been in the 1970s.
Luckily it was foggy the whole time so I didn't see the steep drop (scared of heights). Jack lived near Zurich (worked at the ETH).

Jack lived to be 98 - I sent him an e-mail a couple of years before he passed away & got a long & lucid response.

Steven Lee Cropper (October 21, 1941 – December 3, 2025), sometimes known as "The Colonel", was an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer.

He was the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, and Johnnie Taylor.

He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations.

RIP

Jürgen Raps - ex chief pilot Lufthansa. Was only 74.
https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/pan ... ahren.html

In English: https://www.aerotelegraph.com/airlines/ ... en/vmryjc1

Involved in the introduction of the A380.

"Zed's dead, baby, Zed's dead."

Peter Greene, October 8, 1965 – December 12, 2025


A scene from Pulp Fiction involves Butch and Fabienne escaping on a stolen chopper,
where she asks about the bike, leading to Butch's famous line...

Fabienne: "Whose motorcycle is this?"
Butch: "It's a chopper, baby."
Fabienne: "Whose chopper is this?"
Butch: "Zed's."
Fabienne: "Who's Zed?"
Butch: "Zed's dead, baby, Zed's dead."

Rob Reiner (March 6, 1947 – c. December 14, 2025) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor.

Reiner made his directorial film debut with the mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap".
He is probably best known for "When Harry Met Sally...".

The sign at Katz's Delicatessen commemorating the film "When Harry Met Sally..."

Franklan wrote: ↑Mon Dec 15, 2025 9:25 am Rob Reiner (March 6, 1947 – c. December 14, 2025) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor.

FYI:
Further comments concerning that homocide have been moved to a separate thread: Obituaries, reactions to Rob Reiner's death

RIP Chris Rea.

Mr. Rea died in hospital after a short illness on 22 December 2025, aged 74.

His death prompted tributes from across sport, broadcasting and entertainment.
Middlesbrough FC expressed that it was "deeply saddened" and referred to him as a "Teesside icon".
His hometown mayor, Chris Cooke, remarked that Mr. Rea had "helped put Middlesbrough on the map".

Not this year he isnt.....

It is a madly annoying shit Xmas song, but ha, a bit harsh.

snowingagain wrote: ↑Mon Dec 22, 2025 6:40 pm It is a madly annoying shit Xmas song

To you maybe, but it's one of my favourite Christmas songs, I'm sad he's gone.

I liked him too.. saw him at the concert place near Mollies in munich......

Favourite song..... Either.. On the beach.. or Its all gone...

OK, chastened. I think it is all the over exposure of Xmas hits that is annoying. Happy Christmas.

Brigitte Bardot just died.

Franklan wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 11:00 am Brigitte Bardot just died.

And that means that there are only three left:

Spanish woman’s attempt at restoration of church artwork was widely mocked but became lucrative tourist attraction...

Cecilia Giménez, famed for ‘Monkey Christ’ mural mishap, dies at 94