Saturday 31 December 2022

RIP, 2022

'Tis almost the close of another not-so-fucking-great-after-all year, and, ahead of our "gathering of the clans" at Dolores Delargo Towers to tell 2022 to stick it up its arse and to welcome in 2023 - which will be a momentous year for birthdays and anniversaries (if nothing else) - it's time for one last sorrowful duty.

Let's open "The Book of the Dead 2022", an inevitably selective list of the great and the good (and the not-so-good) who departed these shores this year, some for Fabulon, a few for somewhere (ahem!) hotter.

It's quite a list...

Claude Taittinger (French businessman, director of Taittinger Champagne company)
Lawrence Brooks (US supercentenarian (112), nation's oldest living man and oldest WWII veteran)
Peter Bogdanovich (US film director, The Last Picture Show, What's Up, Doc?, Paper Moon)
Sidney Poitier (Bahamian-born US actor, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Porgy and Bess, director and legend)
Jack Dromey (British politician, spouse of Harriet Harman MP)
R. Dean Taylor (Canadian singer-songwriter Indiana Wants Me, There's a Ghost in My House)
Marilyn Bergman (US songwriter (with husband Alan), The Way We Were, The Windmills of Your Mind, You Don't Bring Me Flowers)
Maria Ewing (US opera singer and icon)
Nicholas Donnelly (British actor, "Mr MacKenzie" in Grange Hill)
Margherita, Archduchess of Austria-Este (Italian aristocrat)
Gary Waldhorn (British character actor, Vicar of Dibley, Brush Strokes, Lovejoy)
Stephen Churchett (British character actor, The Brittas Empire, Agatha Christie's Marple; screenwriter, Monsignor Renard, Lewis)
Ronnie Spector (US singer, The Ronettes, Be My Baby, Baby I Love You, Walking in the Rain, and legend)
Rosa Lee Hawkins (US singer, The Dixie Cups)
Leon Lissek (Australian-born British actor, The Sullivans, Time Bandits, "Bruno di Marco" in EastEnders)
Sonny Turner (US singer, The Platters)
Lord John Sainsbury (British businessman and politician, former chairman of Sainsbury's supermarkets)
Peter Seabrook (British gardening writer and television broadcaster, Gardeners World, Pebble Mill at One)
Nino Cerruti (Italian haute couture stylist, founder of Cerruti 1881)
Jon Lind (US songwriter, Save the Best for Last for Vanessa Williams, Crazy for You for Madonna)
André Leon Talley (US fahionista and fashion journalist, creative director and editor-at-large of Vogue)
Yvette Mimieux (US actress, The Time Machine, The Black Hole)
Hardy Krüger (German actor, A Bridge Too Far, The Wild Geese)
Meat Loaf (US singer, Bat Out of Hell, I'd Do Anything for Love; actor, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Elza Soares (Brazilian singer)
Robin Sarstedt (British singer, My Resistance Is Low)
Beegie Adair (US jazz pianist)
Thierry Mugler (French fashion designer)
Wyn Calvin (British (Welsh) comedian, entertainer and pantomime Dame)
Barry Cryer (British comedian and scriptwriter, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Two Ronnies, Doctor in the House; national treasure)
Sir Crispin Tickell (British environmentalist and diplomat, United Nations)
Leonard Fenton (British actor, "Doctor Legg" in EastEnders)
Andy Devine (British character actor, Emmerdale, Queer as Folk)
Jo Kendall (British actress and comedienne, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, Emmerdale)
James Bidgood (US filmmaker and homoerotic photographic artist, Pink Narcissus)
Monica Vitti (Italian actress, Modesty Blaise, L'Avventura)
Antonio Miró (Spanish fashion designer)
Lata Mangeshkar (Indian Bollywood playback singer, voice on over 30,000 songs over seven decades)
Douglas Trumbull (US cinematic visual effects artist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner)
Bamber Gascoigne (British television presenter, University Challenge, author and national treasure)
Luc Montagnier (French virologist, pioneer in HIV/AIDS research, Nobel Prize laureate)
Joseph Horovitz (Austrian-British composer, theme for Rumpole of the Bailey, Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo)
Betty Davis (US funk and soul singer, former lover of Hugh Masekela, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Robert Palmer)
Ian McDonald (British multi-instrumentalist musician, founder member of both King Crimson and Foreigner)
Beryl Vertue (British talent agent, Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Galton and Simpson, Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd), television producer, Men Behaving Badly, Sherlock)

PJ O'Rourke (US satirist, humorist and journalist, National Lampoon, Rolling Stone, and author, Parliament of Whores)
Jack Smethurst (British comedian and sitcom actor, Love Thy Neighbour)
Brad Johnson (US actor and model, "Marlboro Man")
Gary Brooker (British musician, vocalist and founder member of Procol Harum)
Richard Shepherd (British politician, MP who had the Tory whip withdrawn as a "Maastricht Rebel", aka one of John Major's "bastards")
Stewart Bevan (British actor, To Sir With Love, Doctor Who, former fiancé of Katy Manning)
Sami Clark (Lebanese singer)
Anna Karen (British character actress and "national treasure", "Olive" in On the Buses, "Aunt Sal" in EastEnders)
Sally Kellerman (US actress, M*A*S*H (the film), The Big Bus, Prêt-à-Porter)
Nick Tesco (British punk vocalist, founder member and lead singer of the Members, The Sound of the Suburbs)
Hugh O’Shaughnessy (British journalist, foreign correspondent for The Observer)
Bob Wellings (British television presenter and journalist, Nationwide)
Alan Ladd Jr. (US film magnate, president of 20th Century Fox who approved the production of Star Wars; film producer, Braveheart, Moonstruck, Thelma & Louise)
Tony Walton (British set and costume designer, All That Jazz, Murder on the Orient Express)
Shane Warne (Australian world champion cricketer)
Lynda Baron (British actress, "Nurse Gladys Emmanuel" in Open All Hours)
Jeremy Child (British character actor, Jewel In The Crown, Fairly Secret Army, Minder, and noble (Baronet Child of Bromley Place))
Ron Pember (British character actor, Only Fools and Horses, Victoria Wood, The Two Ronnies)
Timmy Thomas (US singer-songwriter, Why Can't We Live Together)
William Hurt (US actor, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Body Heat, Children of a Lesser God)
Micaela, Countess of Paris (Chilean-Spanish aristocrat)
Steve Wilhite (US computer scientist, inventor of the GIF)
Peter Bowles (British actor, To the Manor Born, The Bounder, Rumpole of the Bailey; national treasure)
George Montague (British gay rights activist, "The Oldest Gay in the Village" regular at Brighton Pride)
Alan Hopgood (Australian character actor, "Wally Wallace" in Prisoner Cell Block H)
Madeleine Albright (US politician, former Secretary of State and ambassador to the United Nations)
Denise Coffey (British comedian and actress, "Mrs Black (and 'er 'orrible 'andbag)" in Do Not Adjust Your Set, The Stanley Baxter Show, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End)
Taylor Hawkins (US drummer, Foo Fighters)
Jennifer Wilson (British actress, The Brothers)
Tom Parker (British pop singer, The Wanted)
Patrick Demarchelier (French fashion photographer, portraitist of Princess Diana)
C. W. McCall (US country singer, Convoy)
Estelle Harris (US character actress, Seinfeld, voice artist, Toy Story series)
June Brown (British actress, "Dot Cotton" in EastEnders, "Nanny Slagg" in Gormenghast; legend and national treasure)
Derrick Goodwin (British screenwriter and director, Within These Walls, Z Cars, Mixed Blessings)
Pamela Rooke aka Jordan (British punk, model and actress, Derek Jarman's Jubilee)
Bobby Rydell (US rock'n'roll singer, Wild One; actor, Bye Bye Birdie)
Dame Jill Knight (British politician, homophobe, proponent of Clause 28)
David McKee (British children's illustrator, creator of the animation series Mr Benn)
Con Cluskey (Irish vocalist, founder member and lead singer of The Bachelors)
Jack Higgins (British best-selling author, The Eagle Has Landed)
Liz Sheridan (US character actress, ALF, Seinfeld)
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (British modernist composer)
Gavin Millar (British (Scottish) film director, critic and BBC television presenter, Arena)
Robert Morse (US actor, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Mad Men)
Eric Chappell (British television comedy writer, Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh, Duty Free, Home to Roost)

Cynthia Albritton aka Cynthia Plaster Caster (US artist and "super-groupie", created casts of the penises of all her rock star lovers)
Renate Holm (German-Austrian operatic soprano, Vienna State Opera)
Susan Jacks (Canadian singer-songwriter, The Poppy Family)
David Birney (US actor, Serpico, St. Elsewhere)
Neal Adams (US comic book artist, Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers for Marvel, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman for DC)
Régine Zylberberg (Belgian-born French singer, nightclub owner, gay icon and legend)
James Anderton (British chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, homophobic commentator on the AIDS crisis)
George Pérez (US comic book artist and writer, Inhumans, Fantastic Four, Avengers "Korvac saga" for Marvel, Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths for DC)
Robin Parkinson (British character actor, Allo, Allo, Rising Damp, Kenny Everett Television Show)
Dennis Waterman (British actor, Minder, The Sweeney, New Tricks, singer, I Could Be So Good For You)
Norman Dolph (US music producer, The Velvet Underground, songwriter, Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me))
Teresa Berganza (Spanish mezzo-soprano)
Kay Mellor (British television writer, Coronation Street, Brookside, Band of Gold, Fat Friends)
Vangelis (Greek electronic pioneering musician and film composer, Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner)
Anne Howells (British operatic mezzo-soprano)
Bob Neuwirth (US singer-songwriter, Mercedes Benz for Joni Mitchell)
Colin Cantwell (US film concept artist and designer, Star Wars "Death Star" and "X-Wing fighter")
Andy Fletcher (British musician, keyboardist and founder-member of Depeche Mode)
Ray Liotta (US actor, Goodfellas, Something Wild, Field of Dreams)
Alan White (British drummer, long-serving member of Yes)
Patricia Brake (British character actress, Porridge/Going Straight, Eldorado, Coronation Street)
Lester Piggott (British jockey, nine-time Epsom Derby winner)
Paul Vance (US songwriter, Catch a Falling Star, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini)
May Routh (British-US costume designer, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Being There, Splash!)
Joyce Burditt (US television writer and producer, Father Dowling Investigates, Perry Mason, created Diagnosis: Murder)
Hal Bynum (US songwriter, Lucille for Kenny Rogers)
Sir David Nicholas (British journalist, news editor and producer, former chief executive of Independent Television News (ITN) and director of Channel 4)
Jean Varon (British "Swinging 60s" fashion designer, possible inventor of the mini-skirt, costumier for Diana Rigg as "Emma Peel" in The Avengers)
Jim Seals (US musician and songwriter, Summer Breeze, hit for The Isley Brothers)
"Monsignor" Bruce Kent (British priest, former chair and secretary-general of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND))
Julee Cruise (US singer, Falling (the theme from Twin Peaks))
Meg Wynn Owen (British actress, Love Actually, "Hazel Bellamy" in Upstairs Downstairs)
Matt Zimmerman (Canadian-British actor, voice of "Alan Tracy" in Thunderbirds)
Terry Sanderson (British secularist, former president of the National Secular Society, gay rights activist, Campaign for Homosexual Equality, and author, How to be a Happy Homosexual)
Patrick Adams (US music arranger and record producer, Musique, Jocelyn Brown, Loleatta Holloway)
Jimmy Bryant (US playback singer, the voice of Richard Beymer's "Tony" in West Side Story and James Fox in Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Frank Williams (British actor, "Reverend Timothy Starling" in Dad's Army)
Peter Brook (British theatre producer-director, Royal Shakespeare Company, film director, Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade)
Brian Jackson (British character actor, "The Man from Del Monte" in the advert for fruit juice)
Alan Blaikley (British songwriter and composer, Have I the Right?, The Legend of Xanadu, themes for The Flame Trees of Thika and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple)
Mona Hammond (Jamaican-British actress, "Blossom Jackson" in EastEnders)
Robert Hoffmann (Austrian actor, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe)
Manny Charlton (British (Scottish) rock guitarist, founder member of Nazareth)
James Caan (US actor, The Godfather, Misery, For The Boys)
Michael Barratt (British journalist and television presenter, Nationwide; national treasure)

Monty Norman (British composer, James Bond theme)
Chris Stuart (British journalist, radio presenter, BBC Radio Wales, executive producer, BBC Two quiz show Only Connect)
Ivana Trump (Czech-American businesswoman, author, model and socialite, former wife of Donald)
Paul Ryder (British bass player, founding member of the Happy Mondays)
Dee Hock (US businessman, founder of bank card company Visa)
Enam Ali (Bangladeshi-born British businessman, founder of The British Curry Awards)
Rebecca Balding (US actress, "Carol David", mother of "Jodie Dallas"'s child in Soap)
Alan Grant (British comic book writer, Judge Dredd, Batman)
David Warner (British actor, The Omen, Tron, Time After Time, Titanic)
Paul Sorvino (US actor, Goodfellas, Nixon, Law & Order)
David Trimble, Baron Trimble (British (Northern Irish) statesman, former first minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the Good Friday Agreement)
Bernard Cribbins (British actor, The Railway Children, Carry On films, Fawlty Towers, Doctor Who, voice of The Wombles, singer, Right Said Fred; national treasure)
Burt Metcalfe (US actor, writer, director and producer, M*A*S*H)
Sir Christopher Meyer (British diplomat, former Downing Street press secretary and ambassador to the United States)
Tom Springfield (British musician, The Springfields), songwriter, I'll Never Find Another You, Georgy Girl)
Michael Redfern (British character actor, The Two Ronnies and many other comedy series, "Dad" in the "OXO family" in the long-running series of adverts)
Pat Carroll (US actress, voice of "Ursula the Sea Witch" in The Little Mermaid)
Nichelle Nichols (US actress and legend, "Lieutenant Uhura" in Star Trek)
Fidel Ramos, (Filipino military officer and statesman, pivotal in the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, former president)
Alastair Little (British restaurateur, influential chef and cookery writer)
Judith Durham (Australian singer, The Seekers)
Issey Miyake (Japanese fashion designer and perfumier, L'eau d'Issey)
Torgny Söderberg (Swedish songwriter, Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley [winning song at the Eurovison Song Contest 1984])
Carlo Bonomi (Italian clown and voice actor, Pingu)
Lamont Dozier (US record producer, Holland–Dozier–Holland, and songwriter, You Can't Hurry Love, Nowhere to Run, Standing in the Shadows of Love and dozens more)
Dame Olivia Newton-John (British-Australian singer, Take Me Home Country Roads, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Physical, actress, Grease, Xanadu)
Raymond Briggs (British children's writer and illustrator, The Snowman, Fungus the Bogeyman)
Nicholas Evans (British best-selling author, The Horse Whisperer)
Sir Ralph Halpern (British fashion industry executive, founder of Topshop)
Darius Danesh (British singer, Colourblind, talent show contestant, Popstars, Pop Idol, musical theatre actor, Chicago)
Anne Heche (US actress, Donnie Brasco, the remake of Psycho; former partner of Ellen DeGeneres)
Pauline Stroud (British actress, Lady Godiva Rides Again)
Wolfgang Petersen (German film director, Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story, Troy)
Duggie Brown (British stand-up comic, The Comedians, The Good Old Days, and character actor)
Tony Hunt (British structural engineer, the biodomes of the Eden Project in Cornwall)
Bruce Montague (British actor, "Leonard" in Butterflies)
Robert Kime (British interior designer to Prince Charles and the nobility)
Josephine Tewson (British actress, "Elizabeth" in Keeping Up Appearances, "Miss Davenport" in Last of the Summer Wine)
Jerry Allison (US drummer, The Crickets, and songwriter, That'll Be the Day, Peggy Sue)
Inez Foxx (US singer (with brother Charlie), Mockingbird)
Mikhail Gorbachev (Russian statesman, last general secretary of the Communist Party, former president who oversaw the break-up of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc)
Bill Turnbull (British journalist and presenter, BBC Breakfast; national treasure)
Charles Wilson (British journalist and editor, the Times, managing director, the Mirror group)
Drummie Zeb (English reggae musician, lead singer of Aswad)
John McVicar (British robber and writer, subject of a biopic starring Roger Daltrey)
Marsha Hunt (US actress of the Hollywood "Golden Age"; centenarian)


HM Queen Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Queen of Scots, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, Royal Lady and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Sovereign of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, Dame Grand Cross and Sovereign Head of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Lady of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, Sovereign of the Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, Colonel-in-Chief of the UK's armed forces.


Mavis Nicholson (British (Welsh) writer and broadcaster, After Noon, Mavis on 4)
Gwyneth Powell (British actress, "Mrs McClusky" in Grange Hill)
Harry Landis (British actor, "Felix" in EastEnders)
Ramsey Lewis (US jazz pianist, The 'In' Crowd, Wade in the Water)
Jean-Luc Godard (French-Swiss film director, Breathless, Bande à part)
Irene Papas (Greek actress, Zorba the Greek, The Guns of Navarone)
Eddie Butler (British (Welsh) rugby union player, British & Irish Lions, Barbarians, national team, commentator and journalist)
Cherry Valentine (British drag queen, RuPaul's Drag Race UK)
Stu Allan (British dance music DJ and producer, Clock, Whoomph! (There It Is), Keep the Fires Burning)
Dame Hilary Mantel (British author and Booker prize-winner, Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies)
Robert Marlow (British synth-pop singer (and friend of Vince Clarke), The Face of Dorian Gray)
Louise Fletcher (US actress, "Nurse Ratched" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Coolio (US vocalist and rapper, Gangsta's Paradise)
Raymond Allen (British television screenwriter, creator of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em)
Eamonn McCabe (British photographer)
Loretta Lynn (US country music singer-songwriter, Coal Miner's Daughter)
Peter Robinson (British-Canadian crime writer, DCI Banks novels)
Lenny Lipton (US poet and lyricist, Puff, the Magic Dragon)
Ivy Jo Hunter (US songwriter, Motown, Behind a Painted Smile, Dancing in the Street)
Judy Tenuta (US comedian, actress and comedy musician)
Gabrielle Beaumont (British television director, Hill Street Blues, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dynasty)
Kenny Clayton (British record producer and arranger, Petula Clark, Matt Monro, Cilla Black)
Dame Angela Lansbury (British-US actress, The Manchurian Candidate, Death On The Nile, Murder She Wrote, five-time Tony winner, singer; legend)
Joyce Sims (US singer-songwriter, Come Into My Life)
Robbie Coltrane (British (Scottish) actor and comedian, Cracker, Tutti Frutti, Harry Potter, Blackadder; national treasure)
Noel Duggan (Irish musician, founder member of Clannad)
Libor Pešek (Czech conductor, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic)
Leslie Jordan (US comedian, writer, raconteur and actor, Will & Grace, Sordid Lives; gay icon)
Julie Powell (US blogger and author, subject of the film Julie & Julia)
Joyce Molyneux (British chef and Michelin-star-winning restaurateur, The Carved Angel in Dartmouth, Devon)
Jerry Lee Lewis (US pioneering rock'n'roll singer, Great Balls of Fire, Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On)
Peter de Savary (British business tycoon and property developer, once owned both Land's End and John o' Groats)
Kevin O'Neill (British comic book illustrator, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
David Davis (US television producer and writer, co-creator of The Bob Newhart Show and Taxi)
Ron Peck (British gay film producer, Nighthawks)
Nicole Josy (Belgian singer, "Nicole & Hugo", Eurovision Song Contest 1973)
Aaron Carter (US teen heartthrob singer, Crush on You)
Carmelo La Bionda (Italian musician and songwriter, La Bionda, One for You, One for Me)
Bill Treacher (British actor, "Arthur Fowler" in EastEnders)
Michael Butler (US theatre producer, Hair)
Leslie Phillips (British actor, Carry On films, Doctor films, The Navy Lark, national treasure)
Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (British financier and philanthropist, former chairman of The Economist, one-time financial adviser to HM The Queen)
Pierre Kartner (Dutch musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, "Father Abraham" of The Smurfs)
Tom Owen (British actor and son of "Compo" Bill Owen, Last of the Summer Wine)
Dan McCafferty (British (Scottish) co-founder and lead singer of Nazareth)

Gal Costa (Brazilian singer, bossa nova and tropicalia)
Carlos Pacheco (Spanish comics artist, Avengers Forever, X-Men: Legacy, Fantastic Four)
Garry Roberts (Irish guitarist, founder member of The Boomtown Rats)
Nik Turner (British saxophonist, flautist and vocalist, Hawkwind)
Keith Levene (British guitarist, founder member of both The Clash and Public Image Ltd)
Rab Noakes (British (Scottish) singer and guitarist, founder member of Stealers Wheel, touring member of Lindisfarne)
David English (British charity fundraiser, cricketer, actor, writer and former president of RSO Records who signed the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton)
Nick Fisher (British television scriptwriter, journalist and angler, collaborator with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on The River Cottage Fish Book)
Joyce Bryant (US singer, dancer and civil rights activist)
Gray Frederickson (US film producer, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
Wilko Johnson (British guitarist, founder member of Dr. Feelgood)
Dame Frances Campbell-Preston (British courtier and centenarian, former lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother)
Richard Shepherd (British Michelin-star-winning chef and restaurateur, Langan's Brasserie)
Irene Cara (US singer and actress, Fame, Flashdance)
Sheila Vogel-Coupe (British sex-worker, oldest prostitute in the UK)
Louise Tobin (US singer with the Benny Goodman Band, I Didn’t Know What Time it Was, There’ll Be Some Changes Made, encouraged former husband Harry James to sign the young Frank Sinatra; centenarian)
Doddie Weir (British (Scottish) rugby union player, Scotland national team)
Derek Granger (British film and television producer, Brideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust,; centenarian)
Jiang Zemin (Chinese statesman, former general secretary of the Communist Party and president)
Christine McVie (British musician, singer and songwriter, Fleetwood Mac, Don't Stop, Everywhere, Songbird)
Al Strobel (US actor, "Mike, the one-armed man" in Twin Peaks)
Bob McGrath (US actor and singer, original and long-serving member of the cast of Sesame Street)
Kirstie Alley (US actress, "Rebecca" in Cheers)
Antonio D'Amico (Italian fashion designer and model, long-term partner of Gianni Versace until his murder)
Jet Black, (British drummer, founder member of The Stranglers)
Johnny Johnson (British Royal Air Force officer, centenarian, last surviving member of "The Dambusters")
Lee Lorenz (US cartoonist, The New Yorker)
Lord David Young (British politician, Secretary of State for Employment and later for Trade and Industry under Margaret Thatcher)
Herbert Deutsch (US electronic music composer, co-inventor of the Moog synthesizer)
Ruth Madoc (British (Welsh) actress, Hi-de-Hi!, Fiddler on the Roof, Little Britain; national treasure)
Victor Lewis-Smith (British film, television and radio producer, TV Offal, restaurant critic, newspaper columnist, Time Out, and satirist, Private Eye)
Georgia Holt (US singer and actress, mother of Cher)
Dame Beryl Grey (British ballerina)
JJ Barnes (US singer, Northern Soul favourite)
Chris Boucher (British television screenwriter, Blake's 7, Shoestring, creator of the companion "Leela" in Doctor Who)
Christopher Tucker (British makeup designer and prosthetics technician, Elephant Man, Phantom of the Opera, Company of Wolves)
Bertha Barbee-McNeal (US singer, founder-member of The Velvelettes)
Belinda Douglas-Scott-Montagu, Baroness Montagu of Beaulieu
Angelo Badalamenti (US film and TV score composer and arranger, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks)
Stuart Margolin (US character actor, "Angel" in The Rockford Files)
Mike Hodges (British screenwriter, film and television director, Get Carter, Flash Gordon)
Terry Hall (British singer and songwriter, The Specials, Fun Boy Three, Colourfield; legend and national treasure)
Martin Duffy (British musician, keyboardist, Primal Scream)
Thom Bell (Jamaican-US co-creator of "The Philly Sound", songwriter: You Make Me Feel Brand New (and more) for The Stylistics; Could It Be I'm Falling in Love (and more) for The Detroit Spinners; Are You Ready for Love for Elton John)
Maxi Jazz (British musician, singer and songwriter, Faithless, Insomnia, God Is a DJ)
George Cohen (British professional footballer, Fulham, one of the last three surviving members of the England World Cup-winning team of 1966)
John Bird (British actor, comedian and satririst, Not So Much a Programme More a Way of Life, Blue Remembered Hills, Bremner, Bird and Fortune)
Pelé (Brazilian world champion footballer)
Dame Vivienne Westwood (British fashion designer, guiding influence of both Punk and the New Romantics)
Maximilian, Margrave of Baden (German aristocrat and businessman, cousin of King Charles III)
Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict III (German Pope, homophobe, subject of the unprecedented "Protest the Pope" rally)
Barbara Walters (US journalist, newsreader, talk show host)

RIP, (almost) all...


STOP PRESS:

Anita Pointer (US singer, The Pointer Sisters)

21 comments:

  1. This is like my 92-year-old aunt showing us her high school yearbook. As she perused the photos, she pointed her finger and said, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead...

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    1. And each one of those names remembered with fondness, no doubt. There certainly are a significant number of names on this list of whom we were particularly fond... Jx

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  2. Good grief that's a roll call.
    So saddened by many of these icons passing on, but in particular John Bird, Terry Hall, and Leslie Philips.
    Sx

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    1. We're particularly saddened about the passing of Dame Angela, June Brown, Barry Cryer, Leslie Jordan, and, and, and... Jx

      PS and of course, Her Majesty The Queen!!

      Delete
  3. I knew that was going to be a big list and now just today you can have Barbara Walters

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  4. There's not enough room in the cemetery!

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    1. The queue for Fabulon's snaking around the block! Jx

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    2. Yes! All you need is a cemetery the size of Rhode Island!

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  5. I miss Leslie Jordan the most. But so many others as well. Well, that damn bell tolls for us all eventually. Wishing you the very best in the New Year, my friend. Have fun tonight!

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    1. Ding, dong (to quote another one we lost, Leslie Philips).

      We'll do our best! Here's to 2023... Jx

      Delete
  6. Oh, no! Mrs McClusky's departed for Fabulon?!? Imelda Davis is going to be unstoppable!

    Aside from the Big One, the passings of Bernard Cribbins, Angela Lansbury, and Nichelle Nicholls hit me the hardest.
    Let's hope 2023 isn't quite so keen with the pruning shears.

    Happy New Year, Jon!

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    1. Not just Mrs McClusky, but Mr MacKenzie, too! The classroom is in chaos.

      Yes, let's keep our fingers crossed for 2023. However, it is a fact that our most dearly-beloved actors, actresses and singers are not getting any younger... Jx

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  7. A sad and very long list indeed.

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    1. So many "national treasures" have gone... Jx

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  8. A very comprehensive and depressing list. So many national treasures gone this year. For me, apart from the obvious (H.M.), it was Angela Lansbury; Bernard Cribbins; Leslie Jordan; Barry Cryer and Terry Hall. But really too many to mention. I just re-read your tribute to Bernard Cribbins, and it fair made me tear up. Goodbye 2022. You will not be missed. Hils xxx

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    1. The "Book of the Dead" is a labour of love (all the more so, after the mysterious data loss a few weeks ago, which meant I had to restore it from scratch). So many, many sad losses amongst them...

      Bernard Cribbins was a particularly poignant one, I do agree. Jx

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  9. I did not know about the passing of Sidney Poitier and Peter Bowles until today. So many of my contemporaries...gulp!

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    1. A few from our generation, too (Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode, Irene Cara, Victor Lewis-Smith, Terry Hall), sadly... Jx

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    2. Victor Lewis Smith wrote the TV reviews in The Evening Standard, didn’t he? And that’s going back some for me as I haven’t read the Standard since 2009 - but he made laugh so much. He was a bit of an influence and was very sad to read of his demise.
      2022 was a bit of an emotionally painful year!
      Sx

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    3. Victor Lewis-Smith was a genius. I loved his TV Offal show back in the 80s and, basically, everything he wrote or did since. 'Tis funny - you don't realise how much you'll miss someone until they're gone... Jx

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