I have been seriously amiss in my death blogging for a month now. David Sheppard died on the eve of his birthday. The day my new nephew was born, I was on the phone to my mother, and we were discussing the famous people with which the baby shares a birthday. After reeling off various famous people, I added "And David Sheppard, of course..." My mother responded "Oh! My pin-up hero..." To which I rather undiplomatically and blunderingly had to respond "You know he died yesterday...?" She didn't. I saw him outside the Lords (no, not Lords...) last year.
Then Tommy Vance died. Somebody somewhere in the blogosphere said "This was no John Peel moment. I didn't like heavy rock/metal." I'm afraid I agreed. But I recognise that he had an artistic integrity. And quite a name...Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prue Hope-West.
That same week Dave Allen died. This was breaking news when I was at work. I mentioned it but everyone seemed indifferent. I was surprised, he was one of the great comedians of the Seventies and Eighties, a real forerunner of the Comedy Store-style Stand ups.
In his own words -
We spend our lives on the run: we get up by the clock, eat and sleep by the clock, get up again, go to work - and then we retire. And what do they give us? A fucking clock.Which is the fastest game in the world? Well, it's played in Belfast pubs, and it's called pass the parcel
And then Jim Callaghan died. I'm not really sure what to say. In so many ways remarkable - to rise from humble background to hold all four great offices of State was something remarkable. But was he a successful Prime Minister. I have to say 'no'. He was a an in-between, between Wilson and Thatcher, and I'm afraid I can't think of any great lasting legacy of those three years. But I think it's fair to say that as a man, he as worthy of respect.
I think there is something terribly poignant that he died just eleven days after the death of Audrey, his wife of 67 years. Imagine being married for 67 years. Surely it must be one of the longest marriages in British history, certainly amongst public figures.
He, like David Sheppard, died on the eve of his birthday. My friend Helen in Essex did some research at University that demonstrated statistically that famous people are more likely to die just after their birthdays, whilst non-famous people die just before.
Then we had the Pope, and Prince Rainier today. Saul Bellow also died today. I can't say I've ever read anything by him, but, as you know, I'm not literary. He won the Nobel Prize and according to the Beeb Bellow was married five times, and fathered a daughter at the age of 84
That kind of facinates me a) is it possible, you know, naturally and b) I know people who were disapproving of Des O'Connor at 72, or various celebs in their 60s, but I reckon, if fear of dying before the child reaches adulthood is an issue, well, should soldiers ever become fathers? Or people with terminal illnesses? Or dead people? Or anyone, really?
I would reckon Saul Bellow's daughter is well provided for financially. And, probably, knowing his age, he may have taken the effort to spend time with her rather than spending sixteen hours at the office and weekends on the golf course.
