Of another sad loss, an erect bloomer, a bad boy on the High Street, wool, living pink, a sperm factory and a can-can

RIP Dame Esther Rantzen, presiding hostess of the wildly popular satirical consumer affairs programme That's Life! for 21 years, charity campaigner and national treasure.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Monster plant news: For the first time in the venerable botanical gardens' 260-year history, a giant Agave montana is about to flower at Kew. It can grow to around 5m/16ft tall, so should be spectacular - but after it does so, it dies. Doomed after erecting. Like Cecil Colby or Kemal Pamuk.
• Bad boy of fashion news: In a surprising move, none other than John Galliano has designed a new collection for Spanish high street chain Zara! Judging by everything else Zara sells, you'd need to be young and really skinny to wear any of it...
• Sheep news: Happy Shetland Wool Week! Unfortunately, famous knitter Tom Daley didn't put in appearance. Dammit.

[click to embiggen]

• Think Pink! news: A bizarre pink house that has been erected in Kentish Town (near Camden in London) was recently featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs programme. I think it looks like something out of Dr Seuss's 5000 Fingers of Doctor T myself - which gives me a perfect excuse (as if any were needed!) to feature one of my all-time favourite uber-camp clips!

Hans Conried - Do-Me-Do Duds (The Dressing Song) [The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T]

• Speaking of weird homes news: A couple in Great Abington, Cambridgeshire have been forced to demolish the home they built instead of a horse semen laboratory, for which they had planning permission from the council.
• And finally: In Bordeaux today, 168 dancers attempted to set a new world record for highest number of participants in a can-can routine! [link is to a news site in French] I wonder if Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners was amongst them?

And the weather? Very pleasant, sunny and warm, considering we have arrived in October...

Of Di's revenge, scary spiders, ancient silver, a TV icon, BB and "I won't lie to you"

Princess Diana's "revenge frock" is on display this week at Sotheby's in London, ahead of its sale at auction in New York in December - with a sale estimate of $150,000–300,000 (£110,000–220,000)! [click to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader...

• Arachnophobia news: The huge Wasp Spider - native to the continent - has been spotted for the first time in Cheshire, the furthest north in Britain it has been recorded. Harmless, apparently, but you probably wouldn't want to walk face first into its web while pegging out the washing!
• Cross my palm with silver news: An amateur detectorist in Germany has discovered a horde of Roman silver coins, weighing almost 7lb (3.1 kg) - the biggest ever such discovery in the country's history. Don't spend it all at once, Mein Herr!

• Waiting for God no more news: RIP the lovely Stephanie Cole, beloved actress here at Dolores Delargo Towers, not least for her roles in Tenko, Talking Heads and Waiting for God; she also appeared in Doc Martin, and even Coronation Street. All our old faves are dropping like flies, it seems...
• Sex kitten's slippers, anyone? news: An auction of French screen legend Brigitte Bardot's personal items fetched nearly €1 million (£858,000, $1.15m) in Paris on Monday, almost 20 times the estimate. There was some right old tat among the 284 items that were for sale - I wonder who bought her old typewriter, or paid seven grand for two dog collars?
• Tidy! news: Happy 60th birthday to the simply faboo Ruth Jones, comedienne, actress - and creator of one of the best characters on telly in the last decade, Nessa!

The Best of Nessa [Gavin & Stacey]

• And finally: It's the Autumn Equinox tonight! It's all downhill from here, folks - the days are officially shorter than the nights from tomorrow until March... Dammit.

And the weather? Very warm and sunny in London, and the signs are good for the rest of the week. On Friday, it's forecast to hit 26C/78F! Hurrah!

Of bloomers, lost rooms, George, a London village, freak mice and Marcia dancing

Our Nerine bowdenii has flowered for the very first time in five years, and has cheered the garden up just as everything else is starting to look a bit tired [click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Behind closed doors no more news: A gallery at the Natural History Museum has reopened to the public today after 83 years [having been used since WWII as the storeroom for an archival collection of dried plants]! The new exhibition Nature and Us is the first of many new galleries planned to open in the run-up to the venerable institution's 150th birthday in 2031.
• Will they ever be "Putting It Together"? news: After all the hype that Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and the gorgeous Jonathan Bailey were to star in the latest attempt to revive Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George at The Barbican Centre next year [for which I had earmarked our Theatre Tokens - a Xmas gift from Mother - to buy tickets as soon as they were released], plans have gone tits-up! First Milady Ariana decided to "take a step back from visibility" after a barrage of social media scrutiny about her appearance and health. Now Mr Bailey has withdrawn from the project, and it has been cancelled! After the ill-fated plan for the previous Broadway production starring Jake Gyllenhall to "cross the pond" was thwarted by the COVID pandemic, we're beginning to wonder if we'll ever get to see a big production of the show in this country at all...

• Farewell to "London's seaside village" news: Gabriel's Wharf [pictured above], one of the quirkiest, most artisanal and unexpected places along the South Bank of the Thames - a collection of jolly hand-painted "shed-like" shops, bars and restaurants, huddled in a sort-of-village-square, complete with bandstand - is to be demolished at the end of this month, to make way for redevelopment (with proposals to build a nursing home on the site) after 40 years of operation. What a shame. Gentrification gone mad!
• Frankenstein or Danger Mouse? news: Eek! Neuroscientists in the US have successfully adapted mice to have part-human part-mouse brains. "These are not mice that think like humans", according to the scientists. Gosh, that's reassuring. The mouse we currently have under our bookcase [thanks, most likely, to having the back door open to cool down during all the heatwaves this summer] isn't actually reading our books and planning a world takeover! Like A.I. Only smaller.
• And finally: RIP, Mademoiselle Catherine Ringer. Who? I hear you ask. She was an avant-garde artist, performer and jazz singer, and one of the musical geniuses behind this beloved house fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers! [In fact, she wrote the song.]

Les Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila

Now I have that as an earworm for the rest of the week.

And the weather? Not bad at all - some good bursts of sunshine today. Make the most of it while we can - it's the Autumn Equinox next week!

Of diamonds, New Romantics, weird science, embroidery, octopi, a feminist icon and Pop Looks Bach

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• It wasn't me, Guv! news: Thieves have stolen a stunning 200-carat platinum necklace [above] encrusted with 673 diamonds, that once belonged to Queen Consort Nazli of Egypt, from a museum in Vienna. I could wear that!
• "No-no-Notorious" news: Royal Mail will issue a special set of stamps celebrating Duran Duran on 17th September. The collection features the band at different stages of their career, tracing their progression from early New Romantic origins to global chart success. I always fancied licking John Taylor, back in the day...
• How old is a kiss, and a splashback-free urinal news: This year's winners of the "coveted" (satirical) Ig Noble Prize have been announced, and winning research papers' subjects include Neanderthals kissing, a new design of urinal, the aerodynamics of nose blowing, and evidence that those in higher social classes are more likely to steal sweets from a child. So much more fun than the "real" Nobels...

[click any pic to embiggen]

• It's actually an embroidery! news: The much-hyped loan of the Bayeux Tapestry from France to the British Museum is finally here - its unveiling in situ was conducted by HM The King, the new PM and various notables as well as the press last night - and doors open to the first raft of ticket-holders tomorrow. Thanks to the brother-in-law The History Boy, we have ours booked (for December) - and it is already predicted to be the most popular exhibition in recent British history!
• RIP Gloria Steinem, doyenne of the feminist movement, who has burned her very last bra and departed, aged 92.
• Nature's way news: Italy has recruited an army of octopus into its waters to try and control the invasive blue crab, and Spain is thinking of following in its footsteps ["tentacle-steps", perhaps?]. Expect a glut of Pulpo Frito on the Costas once the octopus start to get out of control..!
• And finally: Farewell to the long-running BBC TV show Ski Sunday - and, in particular, to its absolutely unforgettable theme music!

Ski Sunday theme ["Pop Looks Bach"]

And the weather? "Up and down like a whore's drawers" again...

...We've had some heavy showers this week. Yesterday felt quite chilly. Today - despite the strong gusts - it was warm and quite humid. Unless we get an "Indian Summer", however, sadly I think it's "goodbye to all that". The "Season of Death" is just around the corner...

Hang up the wigs

We at Dolores Delargo Towers have our black armbands on today, still reeling as we are at the very sad news that our Patron Saint of Big Wigs, Miss Dolly Parton has ascended the rhinestone-studded stairway to preside over the pinkness of Fabulon...

It cannot all be sad, however, when one remembers the great lady's wit, self-deprecating humour and sparkle. On losing a drag queen contest, she said:

“They had a bunch of Chers and Dollys that year, so I just over-exaggerated - made my beauty mark bigger, the eyes bigger, the hair bigger, everything. All these beautiful drag queens had worked for weeks and months getting their clothes. So I just got in the line and I just walked across, and they just thought I was some little short gay guy... I got the least applause.”

Such a great loss. There is little more I can offer, dear reader, but a wallow in some of her most beloved and memorable tunes...

Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

Dolly Parton - Here You Come Again

Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - Islands In The Stream

Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colours

Dolly Parton - Love Is Like a Butterfly

Dolly Parton performs Jolene at Glastonbury 2014

RIP, Dolly.

Fascinating rhythm locked me on the groove

Sad news today that the music production genius William Orbit has departed - far too soon, aged just 69 - for the "Ambient Trance Party Lounge" in Fabulon...

His "sound" was unmistakeable - and he gave a boost to the careers of several of our most cherished artists, not least Queen Madge. Here's a selection of faves here at Dolores Delargo Towers, by way of a tribute to his talent!

Bassomatic - Fascinating Rhythm

William Orbit - Barber's Adagio for Strings [Ferry Corsten remix]

All Saints - Pure Shores

Madonna - Frozen

A fantabulosa legacy!

RIP, Mr Orbit.

Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy, being in my nuddy

Farewell, Gunther Von Hagens, whose Body Worlds freakshows exhibitions of "plastinated" corpses were wildly popular amongst the ghoulish in the early 2000s.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• It could crush a small child news: As part of its centennial celebrations, the Los Angeles Public Library has put on display the world's biggest-ever pop-up book, spanning approximately 31 by 20 feet when open! Your arms would be aching trying to read that one...
• Surprising food choices for a heatwave news: Supermarket giant Waitrose has reported a surprise increase in sales of winter comfort foods, such as cottage pies, gratins and red wine, despite the ongoing heatwaves across the UK. Let's face it, that kind of dish is a damned sight tastier than lettuce, any day!
• We're almost at the end of [the somewhat concocted] "Disability Pride Month" [something I certainly never heard of in all the time I worked for the leading UK disability charity Scope, so I assume it's yet another US import] - but no further excuse is necessary, really, to play one of the UK's most celebrated and defiant disabled heroes, the late, great Ian Dury:

Ian Dury and The Blockheads - Reasons to be Cheerful (Part Three)

• Wakanda Forever news: In a surprise announcement at Comic-Con in San Diego, the next "Black Panther" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be British actor David Jonsson - an actor best known for, ummm, a load of stuff we've never watched and are not likely to, such as "investment bank-based drama" Industry or streaming-channel-only rom-com The Road Trip. Let's hope he lives up to expectations.
• Don't do this at home news: In possibly the most pointless Guinness World Record ever, an Idaho man got the record for the most consecutive flaming torch juggling catches while riding on a unicycle - and burned off his eyebrows in the process! The only thing that comes to mind is "why the fuck would you do that?"
• And, finally: RIP, "national treasure" Bill Oddie, comedian, broadcaster, one of the original hosts of the BBC's Springwatch, famous birdwatcher - and, of course, a pivotal member of this lot, one of the most beloved anarchic comedy troupes of the 70s, alongside Monty Python:

The Goodies - Kitten Kong

The Goodies - Funky Gibbon

And the weather? Heatwave #4 is upon us - with temperatures in London set to reach 33C/92F (and possibly higher) tomorrow, and no respite in sight. Pass me a gin'n'tonic with loads of ice and a slice of lime, my dear...

Saxy!

Our Lilium speciosum var. rubrum is looking lovelier than ever this year!

And so, farewell then, the implausibly-named Plas Johnson, who I just discovered has died, a week short of his 95th birthday.

Who?! I hear you ask, dear reader!

OK, he was a saxophonist and session musician who played on records by myriad artists such as B.B. King, Peggy Lee, Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra, Duane Eddy, Ricky Nelson and Bobby Vee...

...but it was for this that he is most well-known [well his playing is, if not his name]!

Theme from The Pink Panther [Henry Mancini]

What a legacy!

It's a Heartache

"I wanted to be a singer, not a star. There's a difference between wanting to be famous and wanting to sing well. I have never gone out of fashion. And do you know why? Because I never sought it. When you don't seek it, it's always with you."

We here at Dolores Delargo Towers are distraught at the sad news that Swansea's finest export Miss Bonnie Tyler has donned her last pair of leather trousers and departed for the great pyrotechnics-dry-ice-and-wind-machine-equipped stadium in Fabulon.

We adored her for her down-to-earth, no-nonsense personality, her bounce-backs and - of course - her vocal talents. She's gone far too soon...

Facts about Our Bonnie:

• Her uniquely husky singing voice was apparently the result of an operation to remove vocal nodules in the mid-1970s.
• From working in a local shop, the then Gaynor Hopkins won a local talent contest in 1969 and launched herself as a singer under the name "Sherene Davis".
• Finally, her big break came in 1975 when a talent scout spotted her, brought her to London to secure a record deal, and suggested she ditch "Sherene"; so Bonnie Tyler was born.
• Through her husband, property developer Robert Sullivan, she was related to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and attended her wedding to Michael Douglas.
• In the 1970s and 80s, she became one of the best-selling artists in the world, with a string of million-selling singles.

Speaking of hits, here are two of her early ones, before she ever met Jim Steinman:

Bonnie Tyler - It's a Heartache

Bonnie Tyler - Lost in France

Regarding the "Steinman years", I posted their collaboration Holding Out for a Hero back in May [when the news first hit that Bonnie was in a coma], so how about this, that rarely gets an outing, despite its outrageously camp video:

Bonnie Tyler - Faster Than the Speed of Night

No tribute on this sad day would be complete, of course, without this song. No, not the original, but the hilarious "literal interpretation" video of her campest ever single - Total Eclipse of the Heart!

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (literal video version)

RIP, Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins, 8th June 1951 - 8th July 2026).

Feel the room swayin', for the band's playin'

Sad news. The last surviving member of that fabled and eternally camp trio The Beverley Sisters, Teddie Beverley has shimmied her way up the dazzling stairway to Fabulon, at the ripe old age of 99.

True "national treasures", The Bevs (as they were known) gave a much-needed boost to post-War Britain with their close-harmony singing and their cheery personas, which made them an ideal Light Entertainment staple. They always dressed in identical outfits, had a string of hits in the 1950s, performed endlessly on the cabaret circuit, and were the highest paid female entertainers in the UK for more than 20 years, becoming "gay icons" in the process.

I actually saw them on stage, headlining the Gay Pride festival at Jubilee Gardens [where the London Eye is located today], at the first Pride I ever attended way back in 1985!

Another long-distant chapter of my life closes. Sigh.

Beverley Sisters - Hello Dolly/Mame

More Beverley Sisters over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, including this footnote, that I simply have to repeat here:

---

FOOTNOTE

Such was the "camp icon" status of the girls, even Rod Stewart, Elton John and Freddie Mercury desired their "look":

[In 1978 the trio discussed] "...the possibility of the three of us forming a supergroup; the name we had in mind was Nose, Teeth & Hair, a tribute to each of our most remarked-upon physical attributes. The general idea was that we could appear dressed like the Beverley Sisters. Somehow this project never came to anything, which is contemporary music’s deep and abiding loss."

Of po-faces (British and French), Tom of Finland and Matilda, Weller's ex, avian wanking and a Colombian diva

Clematis “General Sikorski” is scaling the heights of the downpipe outside our back door! [click to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• NIMBY news: The joyless arseholes calling themselves "The Soho Society" have declared that they will oppose every new and renewed alcohol licence in the area, causing a backlash from The Mayor and local businesses. This ain't rural Surrey, dears - without pubs, Soho will be yet another dead space in the heart of London's West End!
• Puffins and porn news: The world’s largest space dedicated to illustration, and named after one of the UK's most beloved illustrators of children's books (in particular those of Roald Dahl), the Quentin Blake Centre at New River Head in Clerkenwell opened its doors on Friday. Surprisingly, amongst all the Moomins, Where the Wild Things Are, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Puffin Books and so forth, there's a display of Tom of Finland's graphic gay artwork! Possibly worth a visit...

• Scary how time flies: Former backing singer for Wham!, Style Council ingenue (and former Mrs Paul Weller) Dee C Lee celebrated her - gulp - 65th birthday yesterday! She only ever had one solo hit, but what a classic it is:

Dee C Lee - See The Day

• Po-faced Lefties news: Speaking of "joyless", over in France the massive gastronomic (and boozy) gatherings known as banquets géants have become quite "the thing" for young hedonists. Step forward radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI - France Unbowed), which has accused the events of being a mask for nationalism and not representative of "...modern France, which is a place rich in its diversity." Proof, if ever any were needed, that "politically correct" people simply do not understand the concept of FUN...
• Doing what comes naturally news: Birds wank, scientists have observed.
• And finally: RIP, the esteemed Colombian singer Totó la Momposina. Nope, me neither - then I looked her up, and found this!

Totó La Momposina - La Candela Viva

Perfect for a Sunday.

And the weather? All over the place! Still blustery and battering our garden, but at least the rain held off today. Until tonight...

---

PS:

The demon spawn next door have been screaming all afternoon on their fucking trampoline. Thanks to a discovery by Madam Arcati, we have the perfect answer:

Don't judge a book by its cover

And so, farewell to the twinkly-eyed, devilishly handsome, suave and sophisticated Anthony Head, who died this week.

Many people associate him most, understandably, with his long-running character "Rupert Giles" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hardly ever watched the show.

Instead, like most Britons of a certain age, it is for this - the role that made him famous, the most romantic "soap opera" ["coffee opera", perhaps?] on telly in the 80s - that we remember him most!

Gold Blend adverts compilation [Anthony Head, Sharon Maughan]

He was so much more than that, needless to say. He had a much-lauded stage career, and as a singer released a few albums of solo work.

This, of course, was perhaps his most surprising role...

Anthony Head - Sweet Transvestite [Rocky Horror Tribute Show, 2006]

Don't get strung out...

RIP, Anthony Stewart Head (20th February 1954 – 1st June 2026)

It's grey, it's grey since she went away, oh, oh

Our lovely Hippeastrum “Cape Horn” has been outside all winter, and evidently came to no harm

It was another beautiful Spring day today, and the chilly wind of earlier this week had completely dropped - so, obviously I spent most of it in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers. The last of the summer annuals-filled window-boxes and a wall pot are done. I moved-on a few more plants in little pots into bigger ones, then began the task of tackling the moth-eaten overwintered large-leaf salvia collection, which have all exhausted the soil they were in. More tomorrow, no doubt - and then hopefully everything will be ready for the summer "jungle" display. Once we get back from Spain, It will be time to do the "Tetris" task of placing the gazillions of pots into the best location for them to thrive and look their best [of course, everything's covered in a coat of flowers and detritus from the bastard weed trees at the moment; there's not a season when they don't give us grief]...

Meanwhile, sad news - Mademoiselle Evy Lenton, lead singer of the camp-as-tits one-hit-wonders La Belle Époque has donned her last glittery jacket and ascended the dry-ice strewn staircase to Fabulon, at - gulp - the age of 80.

It's obvious what to play in tribute, of course, really, since they only ever had one hit:

La Belle Epoque - Black is Black

Love it!

RIP, Évelyne "Evy" Lenton (born Evelyn Verrecchia, 16th December 1945 - 22nd April 2026)

Of banana excess, Viv up North, chocolate theft, "Hello Campers!", a Macca media mishap, Totty of the Day and surrealism

RIP the utterly surreal cartoonist Glen Baxter (4th March 1944 – 29th March 2026)

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Yes! We have no bananas news: Tesco in Kirkwall, Orkney, is giving away boxes of bananas for free after mistakenly ordering 38,000 of the things - apparently equivalent to two per person living on the island! They had, it seems, intended to order 380kg (750lb) of the fruit. However, a mistake meant that 380 wholesale boxes arrived at the weekend instead.
• Fashion maven news: A new landmark exhibition dedicated to one of the most off-beat fashion pioneers the late Dame Vivienne Westwood opened last weekend - featuring dozens of items from the personal collection of a Lancashire chemistry teacher(!), as well as items on loan from other museums across the country. I was getting excited when I read about it, but then realised that it's actually on at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham! I'm not likely to be travelling 262 miles just to see it. Let's hope it arrives in London some time in the future...
• Easter, ruined? news: The theft of a shipment of 12 tonnes of the eternally popular Nestle KitKat chocolate bars somewhere en route between Italy and Poland has led to warnings that there might be a shortage - just in time for the "peak chocolate season", Easter. I imagine Cadbury's is rubbing its hands with glee...

• British holidays nostalgia news: To celebrate 90 years in operation, the pioneering holiday-camp company Butlins [the inspiration for the comedy series Hi-de-Hi, of course] has commissioned a bejewelled version of its iconic "redcoat" (as worn by the camp hosts) to mark the occasion in style. The "Rhinestone Redcoat" [designed by The Masked Singer costume designer Tim Simpson] is being auctioned now to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital charity. I could be a "camp host" in that...
• Old people and social media news: The venerable and venerated Sir Paul McCartney found himself banned from Reddit for sharing photos of his own concert! Apparently attendees at the Fonda Theatre in LA were instructed to deposit the mobile phones before the show, and this was intended to be his way of rewarding them with official pics taken by his team. Oops...
• And finally: Happy 55th birthday today to "sex god" Ewan McGregor!

And the weather? Blustery, showery - but warming up. Typical Spring.

---

PS - more Glen Baxter:
[click any pic to embiggen]

Loved his work!

Of a drag emporium, old age, drought, a wounded Dame, space sperm and Troggs on the Tube

"The Palladium of Drag" in 1895 and today. [click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Gays of London rejoice! news: The legendary Black Cap in Camden ["The Palladium of Drag"], subject of an impressive eleven-year battle over its closure and proposed conversion into flats by property developers, has finally re-opened. We plan to pay a visit soon, of course!
• Old age is no place for sissies news: A new exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation The Coming of Age explores experiences and perceptions of ageing, from adolescence to later life, and asks how societies can adapt for us all to age better. Apparently, one in ten children in the UK are expected to live beyond the age of 100! As the curator says, however: “people want to live for ever, but they don’t want to get old”. Could be interesting. Or scary.
• Hosepipe news: Apparently, England is no longer in drought. No shit, Sherlock! It was pissing down for months this winter...

• Icon news: Dame Shirley Bassey [pictured above, accepting her "Women of Monaco" award at a society do on 10th March] has announced - at the age of 89 - that she can no longer write replies to every one of her fan letters, as she has always done throughout her long career, because she has to have surgery on her hand. What a trouper! Imagine any other star of her magnitude answering their own post...
• It's not just the Robinsons news: Sperm get lost in space, scientists have discovered. In zero gravity, I'd make sure I was wearing eye-shields - you never know what might float your way!
• And finally: RIP, Chip Taylor. Who? I hear you ask. Apart from being Jon Voight's brother [his real name was James Voight] he was a prolific songwriter, and among his hits were PP Arnold's Angel of the Morning [a hit in the US for Merrilee Rush, and later Juice Newton], the Hollies I Can't Let Go and this one [memorably covered by Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie aka The Creatures]. This sort of thing never happens to me when I'm on London Underground!

The Troggs - Wild Thing

And the weather? Sunshine again - but really quite chilly!

Of a bonk-buster queen, floral vibrators, a radio legend, reincarnated Daleks, snake oil, a cuddly rat and wife-carrying

I'm very sad to discover that the very lovely Lauren Henderson aka "Rebecca Chance", doyenne of the "bonk-buster", Polari stalwart, raconteur and very funny lady has departed for Fabulon, aged just 59. A great loss. RIP.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Catch that buzz news: Attendees at this year's Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show (from 19th to 23rd May) may be in for a double shock - there will be a sex-themed garden on show sponsored by a company that sells vibrators(!) and the "ban on garden gnomes" has been lifted. Not sure which is going to cause the most uproar amongst the blue-rinse brigade!
• Another sad departure news: The utterly faboo Liza Tarbuck, host of our absolute favourite Radio 2 show every Saturday, is leaving after 14 years at the helm. Nobody understands quite why, least of all Michael Hogan in The Telegraph, who wrote:

  The funniest show on British radio is no more. News that the unfailingly hilarious Liza Tarbuck has left her Saturday evening programme on Radio 2 after 14 glorious years has left listeners distraught and colleagues stunned. The talent exodus from BBC radio in recent years has been worrying enough. Tarbuck’s exit represents another nail in the coffin... there remains an air of mystery around the reasons for Tarbuck’s typically unconventional departure, which seems to have blind-sided bosses. Had the 61-year-old broadcaster fallen foul of BBC management? Are rumblings of ageism relevant? Does that enigmatic line, “imagine what else we could do”, tease a surprise new chapter for this maverick talent? There are few clues at this stage.

  ... Since 2012, Tarbuck’s joyous blend of eclectic songs and freewheeling chat sound-tracked listeners’ Saturday sundowners, supper-making or domestic pottering... So how did a weekly gossip session, helmed by a self-effacing midlife woman, become appointment listening for so many? It was all down to the riotous brand of mayhem and mirth that Tarbuck created. It’s not hyperbole to describe her as one of our last radio geniuses. This is why her loss to the national airwaves is so deeply sad. If the Corporation can’t retain such one-off broadcasters, we all suffer.

• Exterminate!? - not quite - news: Two lost episodes of Doctor Who featuring old foes the Daleks, unseen since airing in the 1960s have been discovered in a cardboard box belonging to a deceased film aficionado - and one of the co-stars (alongside the First Doctor William Hartnell) of that early series, the [gulp!] 87-year-old Peter Purves was treated to a surprise showing at the premiere of the restored archives at a cinema in Leicester, where they were found. Regeneration, indeed.
• Snake oil news: Want to lose weight? Try ingesting extract of python! There's no mention of side-effects. A sudden craving for live mice, perhaps?
• G'Day, Possum! news: A real, live possum startled shop staff when they discovered it hiding amongst the stuffed toys on display at the main airport in Tasmania, Australia. Beats bloody Labubu dolls, hands down!
• And finally: A Finnish couple won a barrel of local ale after finishing first in the the annual UK Wife Carrying Race! I said Dorking was a strange place...

And the weather? Bloody lovely - just in time for the Spring Equinox tomorrow!

Takes me to a brighter day

And so, farewell, another 1970s legend...

Mr Neil Sedaka, one of the most unlikely of pop stars - definitely no heartthrob - yet one of the most talented hitmakers of his generation, has tinkled his last ivories and joined a growing rosta of talent gracing "The Crooners' Stage" at the Fabulon Tiki Lounge.

His dominance of the music scene in the 50s, 60s and 70s was a phenomenon. As a songwriter (of the "Brill Building" school), he gave Captain & Tennille their signature tune Love Will Keep Us Together, he wrote Solitaire for The Carpenters (a hit here for Andy Williams), (Is This the Way to) Amarillo that was a huge hit for Tony Christie, Connie Francis's Stupid Cupid and her iconic "gay standard" Where the Boys Are, Eruption's One Way Ticket, and the English-language lyrics for Abba's first hit Ring Ring.

Among his own classic hits were Oh! Carol, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Calendar Girl...

...and these:

Neil Sedaka - That's When The Music Takes Me

Neil Sedaka - Laughter In The Rain

We had the great pleasure of seeing him hold the 40,000-strong crowd at Proms in the Park in the palm of his hand back in 2010, and enjoyed every moment.

He's a great loss.

RIP, Neil Sedaka (13th March 1939 – 27th February 2026)

Nobody cares how you wear your hair, darling!

Sad news reaches us today...

Sir Monti Rock III - surely the campest vocalist of his, if not every generation - has twirled his last twirl, boogied his last boogie and, in a puff of dry ice, ascended the glitterball-strewn stairway to Fabulon.

His career began as a celebrity hairdresser, but his flamboyant clothes and personality led him to become something of a fixture on the TV chat show circuit. Famously, he once accused none other than Liberace of "stealing his look"!

By 1974, the music style known as "Disco" had begun to erupt, and Sir Monti Rock III burst upon the dance scene with a new group - Disco Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes! Their first single, Get Dancin', never failed to fill the dance floor in New York clubs, and their appearances at Trude Heller's and Le Jardin nightclubs were always sure to sell out. The song was written by Kenny Nolan and Bob Crewe (who wrote loads of hits for the Four Seasons). Backing vocals, for a time, were by Jocelyn Brown. Needless to say, he was head-hunted for a cameo appearance as the club DJ in the film Saturday Night Fever, and his legend continued - Get Dancin' was featured in The Simpsons, and Disco Tex and his Sex-O-Lettes were name-checked in Elvis Costello's song Invasion Hit Parade and prominently in the Pet Shop Boys' 1996 hit Electricity.

Here is the classic for which he will forever be so fondly remembered - the song that launched campery of a most glittering kind upon an unsuspecting, and grateful, public in that dismal recession-hit mid-70s era:

Disco Tex and the Sexolettes - Get Dancin'

To quote Sir Monti's "ad-libs" in that song:

America needs you!
We need you to go dance!
We need you to get together, and boogie woogie woogie woogie!
RADAR LOVE IS HERE! THE STAR OF STARS!
THIS IS YOUR NIGHT! THIS IS YOUR LIFE!

No matter how pretty you are,
Nobody cares how you wear your hair, darling!
Just keep doing it!
Do it, baby

You can't think of all the wrong
All the wrong of the world.
You can't think of all the bad things you do.
You just get out.
Get dancing!

And you can't say fairer than that.

By way of a very special bonus, here is the grande dame's very own Coronation - as King and Queen of Las Vegas - in 2010:

Monti Rock's Coronation

There'll never be another.

RIP, darling!

Sir Monti Rock III (born Joseph Montanez Jr., 29th May 1939 – 23rd February 2026)

Of beards, cultural deficit, zero zero, rough trade, Dilbert, fake pandas, Welsh Romans, Bowie and Gallic electro

A gamble that paid off news: a Belgian art dealer who bought a painting that caught his eye for under €100,000 (£86,600/$115,000) "on a hunch" is now the owner of not only a Rubens, but a Rubens "two-in-one" - if you flip the picture upside-down. [click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Preposterous delusions of grandeur news: The tatty, backward, uncultured city of Plymouth, birthplace of Madam Arcati (and the city where we met) has announced it has placed its bid to become the UK's next "City of Culture"! Both of us were convulsed with laughter at the very thought of it...
• Pointless rebranding news: Whatever next? The iconic London Underground Tube signs on the Bakerloo Line have "temporarily" been taken over by a promotional advert for Heineken Zero, and people - particularly disability access campaigners on behalf of people with learning difficulties - are really unhappy about it. I am not surprised! More of our "beloved" Mayor Sadiq Khan's attention-seeking, money-making shit. Of course.
• Vinyl's not dead! news: Iconic London indie record shop Rough Trade is marking its fiftieth anniversary in 2026, with a year-long series of events and special edition vinyl record releases. Keep the faith!

RIP, Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert.

• Human zoo news: Staff at a zoo in Japan have been dressing up as pandas, and encouraging the public to "feed them", because their last real pandas have gone back to China. It really is another world...
• Pompeii in Port Talbot? news: A vast Roman villa has been discovered under the largely-undisturbed Margam Park in South West Wales. Why the fuck they chose to settle in the godforesaken Port Talbot, of all places, is a mystery.
• God news: David Bowie's childhood home in Bromley, South London is being restored and is set to re-open as a museum/cultural centre in 2027. "Fame (fame), what you need you have to borrow..."
• And finally: Happy 70th birthday wishes today to the coolest French singer you never heard of, Étienne Daho. Oh! Les années 80!

Etienne Daho - Tombé pour la France

And the weather? Rain, mizzle, rain, ad infinitum...

RIP, 2025

As I embark upon preparations for our annual New Year's Eve party tonight, there is just one more task to perform...

Yep, it's time for me to open "The Book of the Dead" again - and once more, it's quite the list!

Lady Sally Oppenheim-Barnes (British politician, MP, Minister in Mrs Thatcher's government, made a Baroness)
Rosita Missoni (Italian knitwear designer, co-founder of Missoni)
Wayne Osmond (US singer-songwriter, The Osmonds, Crazy Horses, Let Me In)
Britt Allcroft (British writer, creator of Children's TV show Thomas & Friends (based on the books by Rev. W. Awdry))
David Lodge (British Booker Prize-nominated author, Changing Places, Small World, Nice Work)
Costas Simitis (Greek statesman, former prime minister)
The Vivienne (British drag performer, RuPaul's Drag Race UK)
Jean-Marie Le Pen (French politician, founder of the National Front)
Peter Yarrow (US singer-songwriter, Peter, Paul and Mary, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Puff, the Magic Dragon)
Laurie Holloway (British pianist, musical director and composer, Engelbert Humperdinck, Parkinson show, wrote TV show themes for Game for a Laugh, Blind Date and more)
Phyllis Dalton (British Oscar-winning costume designer, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Oliver!, Henry V, The Princess Bride)
Sam Moore (US soul and R&B singer, Sam & Dave, Soul Man, Hold On, I'm Comin')
Oliviero Toscani (Italian photographer, Benetton adverts)
Tony Slattery (British actor and comedian, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Peter’s Friends, Just a Minute)
Teddy Osei (Ghanaian Afro-rock and jazz saxophonist, founder-member of Osibisa, Sunshine Day)
Lynne Taylor-Corbett (US choreographer, Footloose)
Diane Langton (British character actress, Hollyoaks, Heartbeat, EastEnders)
Christopher Benjamin (British character actor, Doctor Who, Dick Turpin, It Takes a Worried Man)
Linda Nolan (Irish singer, actress and television personality, The Nolans)
David Lynch (US television and film director, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive)
Dame Joan Plowright (British actress, Enchanted April, The Entertainer, Tea With Mussolini, Nothing Like a Dame, widow of Sir Laurence Olivier)
Denis Law (British (Scottish) footballer, Manchester United, Huddersfield Town, national team)
Leila Hayes (Australian actress, Prisoner Cell Block H, "Beryl" in Sons and Daughters)
John Sykes (British guitarist, Whitesnake, songwriter Is This Love)
Charlotte Raven (British journalist, Modern Review, The Guardian, New Statesman)
Marianne Faithfull (British singer-songwriter, As Tears Go By, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, and icon)
Diana Melly (British author, widow of George Melly)
Brian Murphy (British actor, Man About the House, George and Mildred, Last of the Summer Wine)
David Edward Byrd (US music and theatre poster graphic artist, created the original poster for Sondheim's Follies)
Nigel McCrery (British screenwriter and producer, creator: Silent Witness, New Tricks)
The Aga Khan (Swiss-born British-Portuguese religious leader, imam of Nizari Ismaili)
Mike Ratledge (British musician, founder member, Soft Machine)
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas (British (Welsh) politician, Welsh nationalist campaigner, former leader of Plaid Cymru, first presiding officer of the Welsh assembly)
Tom Robbins (US novelist, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues)
Asil Nadir (Cypriot businessman, convicted fraudster, Polly Peck scandal)
Geneviève Page (French actress, Belle de Jour, El Cid, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes)
Francesco Rivella (Italian chemist and chocolatier, Ferrero, inventor of Nutella)
Julian Holloway (British actor, Carry On films, father of Sophie Dahl) 
Paquita la del Barrio (Mexican singer, songwriter and actress)
Rick Buckler (British rock drummer, founder-member of The Jam)
Jerry Butler (US soul singer, Only the Strong Survive)
Gwen McCrae (US soul singer, Rockin’ Chair, All This Love That I’m Givin’, first artist to release Always on My Mind)
D. G. Hessayon (British-Cypriot author and botanist, best-selling "Expert Guides" series of paperback gardening manuals)
Roberta Flack (US singer, Killing Me Softly With His Song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Feel Like Makin' Love, and legend)
Henry Kelly (Irish-born British TV presenter, Going for Gold, Game for a Laugh)
Michelle Trachtenberg (US actress, Gossip Girl)
Gene Hackman (US actor, Oscar winner, The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, Unforgiven)
Boris Spassky (Russian world champion chess grandmaster, famously beaten by Bobby Fischer in the World Chess Championship 1972 during the Cold War)
Jane Reed (British journalist, editor, Woman’s Own, Today, director, Times Newspaper Holdings)
David Johansen (US musician, founder member of the New York Dolls, actor, Scrooged)
Tuppy Owens (British disability rights and and sexual health activist, founded the Outsiders Club)
Angie Stone (US R&B singer, Wish I Didn't Miss You)

Jack Vettriano (British (Scottish) painter, The Singing Butler (the UK's biggest-selling image))
Bill Dare (British comedy show creator, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Dead Ringers, producer, Spitting Image)
Kathryn Apanowicz (British actress, "Nurse Rose Butchins" in Angels, regional ITV television presenter, widow of Richard Whiteley)
Carl Dean (US businessman, married to Dolly Parton for 60 years)
Roy Ayers (US jazz-funk musician and composer, Everybody Loves the Sunshine)
Brian James (British punk rock guitarist, founder-member of The Damned, songwriter, New Rose)
Janet Pharaoah (British dancer, choreographer and artistic director, the Moulin Rouge)
Stanley R. Jaffe (US film producer, Fatal Attraction, The Accused, Kramer vs. Kramer)
Stedman Pearson (British singer, founder-member of Five Star)
Bob Rivers (US radio personality and parody musician, Twisted Christmas)
Maisie Trollette (British oldest drag queen, gay scene legend)
Felice Picano (US ground-breaking gay author, Like People in History, The Lure, editor and publisher, SeaHorse Press)
John "Paddy" Hemingway (Irish/British RAF pilot, last surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain, centenarian)
AnNa R. (German singer, Rosenstolz, Gleis 8)
Torquil Norman (British businessman and philantropist, led the restoration of the Camden Roundhouse concert venue)
Eddie Jordan (Irish racing driver, manager and businessman, Formula 1, broadcaster and pundit)
George Foreman (US world champion heavyweight boxer, businessman, "the George Foreman Grill")
Andy Peebles (British radio DJ and presenter, BBC Radio 1, Top of the Pops)
Richard Chamberlain (US actor, Dr. Kildare, The Three Musketeers, The Thorn Birds)
Betty Webb (British WWII code breaker at Bletchley Park, centenarian)
Trevor Lock (British policeman, awarded the George Medal for bravery during the Iranian Embassy siege)
Val Kilmer (US actor, Top Gun, The Doors, Batman Forever)
Johnny Tillotson (US singer-songwriter, Poetry in Motion)
Amadou Bagayoko (Malian musician, Amadou & Mariam)
Clem Burke (US award-winning drummer, Blondie, Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, Eat to the Beat)
David Sassoon (British couturier, designer for Princess Diana, Princess Margaret, other royals and Hollywood stars)
Nino Tempo (US singer, Nino Tempo & April Stevens, Deep Purple)
Mike Berry (British singer, The Sunshine of Your Smile, actor, Are You Being Served?; his brother was the legendary Bette Bourne)
Roy Thomas Baker (British record producer, Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody, The Cars: My Best Friend's Girl, T'Pau: China In Your Hand)
Jean Marsh (British actress, Upstairs, Downstairs, The House of Eliott)
Paddy Higson (British (Scottish) film and TV producer, Gregory's Girl, Monarch of the Glen)
Wink Martindale (US radio and TV host, singer, Deck of Cards)
Colin Berry (British radio DJ, presenter and newsreader, BBC Radio 2)
Clodagh Rodgers (British (Northern Irish) singer, Come Back and Shake Me, Jack in the Box and TV regular)
Damien Thomas (British character actor, horror film star, Twins of Evil, Shogun, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger)
Pope Francis (Argentinian Roman Catholic prelate, pontiff)
Virginia Giuffre (US-Australian massage therapist, claimed to have been trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew's accuser)
Philip Lowrie (British actor, "Dennis Tanner" in the first broadcast of Coronation Street, returned in 2011 after a 43-year absence)
Mike Peters (British (Welsh) rock musician, songwriter and vocalist, founder member of The Alarm, Sixty Eight Guns)
Ruth Buzzi (US comedian, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In)
James Foley (US film director, Glengarry Glen Ross, Who's That Girl; music video director, Papa Don't Preach, Live To Tell)
Joe Don Baker (US actor, GoldenEye, Edge of Darkness, Cape Fear)
Sir Tom Farmer (British businessman, founder and CEO of Kwik Fit)
John Edwards (US vocalist, lead singer of the Detroit Spinners, Working My Way Back to You, Cupid)
Robert Benton (US film writer-director, What's Up, Doc?, Kramer vs. Kramer, Bonnie and Clyde, Superman)
Charles Strouse (US composer and lyricist, Annie, Applause, Bye Bye Birdie)
Taina Elg (Finnish-US actress, Les Girls)
Yuri Grigorovich (Russian ballet choreographer, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995)
Colton Ford (US gay pornographic actor)
George Wendt (US actor and comedian, "Norm Peterson" in Cheers)
Michael B. Tretow (Swedish record producer and audio engineer, ABBA, Chess)
Barry Fantoni (British author and cartoonist, "E.J. Thribb" in Private Eye)
Leslie Dilley (British (Welsh) Oscar-winning art director and production designer, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien)

Billy Williams (British cinematographer, Women in Love, On Golden Pond, Gandhi)
Lillian Boutté (US jazz singer)
Alan Yentob (British television executive, controller of BBC1 and BBC2, TV presenter, Imagine, Arena)
Gigi Canu (Italian guitarist, founder member of Planet Funk, Chase the Sun)
Barry McIlheney (British (Northern Irish) journalist, magazine director and editor, Smash Hits, Empire, Premiere, launched Heat and Zoo)
Peter David (US comic book writer, The Incredible Hulk, Supergirl, Spider-Man 2099, X-Factor)
Loretta Swit (US stage and television actress, "Hotlips" Houlihan in M*A*S*H)
Roland Curram (British actor, "Freddie" in Eldorado)
Edmund White (US author and gay memoirist, A Boy's Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty)
Arthur Hamilton (US songwriter, Cry Me a River for Julie London)
Wayne Lewis (US singer-songwriter, Atlantic Starr, Always, Secret Lovers)
Frederick Forsyth (British journalist, spy and author, The Day Of The Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs of War)
Sly Stone (US musician, singer-songwriter, Sly and the Family Stone, Everyday People, Family Affair, Dance To The Music)
Brian Wilson (US vocalist, musician, songwriter and producer, founder member of The Beach Boys, Surfin' USA, I Get Around, God Only Knows, Good Vibrations)
Violeta Chamorro (Nicaraguan stateswoman, 55th President of Nicaragua, first elected female head of state in the Americas)
Leonard Lauder (US businessman, heir and former CEO and chairman emeritus of Estée Lauder, billionaire and philanthropist)
Kim Woodburn (British television personality, How Clean Is Your House?)
John Reid (British (Scottish) producer, singer and founder member of Nightcrawlers: Push the Feeling On, songwriter, Westlife, Tina Turner, Monica Naranjo)
Alfred Brendel KBE (Austrian much-lauded classical pianist, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic)
Lou Christie (US singer-songwriter, I'm Gonna Make You Mine, Lightnin' Strikes)
James Prime (British (Scottish) musician, keyboardist and founder-member of Deacon Blue)
Cavin Yarbrough (US musician, arranger and songwriter, Yarbrough and Peoples, Don't Stop the Music)
Mick Ralphs (British guitarist, founder-member of Mott the Hoople, All The Young Dudes, and Bad Company, Feel Like Makin' Love)
Bobby Sherman (US singer and 70s teen heartthrob in America)
Lalo Schifrin (Argentine-US composer, theme from Mission: Impossible, arranger, The Three Tenors)
Walter Scott (US singer, founder-member of The Whispers, And The Beat Goes On, It's A Love Thing)
Stuart Burrows (British (Welsh) operatic tenor, Welsh National Opera, La Scala Milan, Metropolitan Opera, nicknamed "The King of Mozart")
Sandy Gall (British (Scottish) journalist, Reuters, ITN, newsreader on News at Ten from 1970 to 1991)
Jim Shooter (US comic book writer, Secret Wars, Superman, editor, Marvel Comics)
Kenneth Colley (British actor, The Empire Strikes Back, Monty Python's Life of Brian)
Jimmy Swaggart (US televangelist, bigot and arch-homophobe, caught paying prostitutes)
Julian McMahon (Australian actor, Nip/Tuck, Fantastic Four, Home and Away)
Gerald Harper (British actor, Hadleigh, Adam Adamant Lives!, A Night to Remember)
Michael Madsen (US actor, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill films, Donnie Brasco)
Lord Norman Tebbitt (British politician, senior cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher)
Donald Rose (British supercentenarian and World War II veteran, oldest man in the United Kingdom)
Iris Williams (British (Welsh) singer, He Was Beautiful)
Judy Loe (British actress, Singles, The Chief, Casualty, widow of Richard Beckinsale and mother of Kate)
Connie Francis (US singer, Who's Sorry Now?, Lipstick On Your Collar, Stupid Cupid, and gay icon)
Felix Baumgartner (Austrian record-breaking parachutist)
Alan Bergman (US songwriter (with his late wife Marilyn), In the Heat of the Night, Windmills of Your Mind, The Way We Were, Yentl soundtrack)
Sir Roger Norrington (British conductor, Kent Opera, Camerata Salzburg, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra)
Eamon Downes (British DJ, Liquid: Sweet Harmony)
Chuck Mangione (US jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, pioneer of easy-listening “smooth jazz”)
Ozzy Osbourne (British heavy metal rock musician and singer, Black Sabbath, songwriter, Paranoid, TV personality, The Osbournes)
George Kooymans (Dutch guitarist and vocalist, founder member of Golden Earring, songwriter, Radar Love)
Michael Ochs (US pioneering rock and pop photographic archivist)
Hulk Hogan (US professional wrestler, TV celebrity and actor, Rocky III)
Dame Cleo Laine (British vocalist, the UK’s most successful and celebrated jazz singer, national treasure)
Tom Lehrer (US satirical singer-songwriter, The Vatican Rag, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, TV regular, That Was The Week That Was, The Frost Report)
Amelia Freeedman (British classical music impresario, founder and artistic director of the Nash Ensemble chamber music group)
Allan Ahlberg (British children’s author, Burglar Bill, The Jolly Postman)
Sylvia Young (British drama teacher, founder and principal of the Sylvia Young Theatre School)

Loni Anderson (US character actress, The Jayne Mansfield Story, former wife of Burt Reynolds)
Dame Stella Rimington (British archivist and intelligence officer, first female director general of MI5)
James Whale (British radio personality, "shock jock" and television presenter, The James Whale Radio Show)
Jane Morgan (US singer, The Day the Rains Came, Fascination, nightclub, stage and television performer, centenarian)
Ion Iliescu (Romanian statesman, first democratically-elected president after the fall of the Ceaușescu regime)
Jim Lovell (US astronaut, Gemini and Apollo missions, piloted the ill-fated Apollo 13 to a safe return)
Ray Brooks (British character actor, Big Deal, EastEnders, the voice of Mr Benn)
Graham Fenton (British singer, lead vocalist, Matchbox, Rockabilly Rebel, Midnite Dynamos, When You Ask About Love)
Biddy Baxter (British children's television producer, ran the most successful British kids' TV show Blue Peter for 23 years)
John Cruickshank (British flight lieutenant, last surviving WW2 Victoria Cross recipient, centenarian)
Terence Stamp (British actor and "Swinging Sixties" icon, Billy Budd, Poor Cow, Superman II, Priscilla Queen of the Desert)
Joe Caroff (US graphic designer, James Bond‘s 007 gun logo, posters for West Side Story, Cabaret, A Hard Day’s Night, centenarian)
Gordon Bowker (US businessman, co-founder of Starbucks)
Manuel de la Calva (Spanish singer, founder-member of "Spain's answer to the Beatles" Dúo Dinámico, Eurovision Song Contest winning songwriter, Massiel's La, la, la)
Graham Greene (Canadian First Nations actor, Dances With Wolves, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Green Mile)
Joe Bugner (Hungarian-born British champion boxer)
Giorgio Armani (Italian fashion designer, founder of the House of Armani, style icon)
Baddie Winkle (US nonogenarian influencer, fashion model and internet personality)
Katherine, Duchess of Kent (British Royal, cousin-in-law to the late HM The Queen)
Mark Volman (US singer-songwriter and guitarist, founder member of The Turtles, Flo & Eddie, backing vocalist, T Rex, Bruce Springsteen)
Richard Davies (British singer-songwriter and keyboardist, founder member of Supertramp)
Christoph von Dohnányi (German conductor, Oper Frankfurt, Hamburg State Opera, Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonia Orchestra)
Stuart Craig (British Oscar winning production designer, Harry Potter films, Dangerous Liaisons, Gandhi, The English Patient)
Francesco Trapani (Italian businessman, former CEO of Bulgari jewellery empire, great-grandson of its founder)
Nicky Ryan (Irish music producer, Enya)
Charlie Kirk (US conservative activist, murdered)
Bobby Hart (US songwriter, Monkees, Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees, Last Train to Clarksville)
Chris Hill (British DJ, pioneer of "Soul nights" in the 1970s/80s, Caister Soul Weekenders and Brit Funk)
Stephen Luscombe (British musician, founder member of Blancmange, Don't Tell Me, Living on the Ceiling, Blind Vision)
Ricky Hatton (British professional boxer, World champion several times)
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (British award-winning architect, The Eden Project, Waterloo International terminal, former president of the Royal Academy)
Robert Redford (US actor, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Sting, Oscar-winning film director, Ordinary People, heartthrob and icon)
Sonny Curtis (US musician, The Crickets, songwriter, I Fought the Law, Walk Right Back, More Than I Can Say)
Claudia Cardinale (Italian actress, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Leopard, 8½)
John Stapleton (British journalist and broadcaster, Nationwide, Newsnight, Watchdog, GMTV)
"Dickie" Bird (British international cricket umpire, best-selling memoirist, eccentric "national treasure")
Sara Jane Moore (US accountant, attempted assassin of President Gerald Ford)
Lord Menzies Campbell (British (Scottish) politician, MP, former leader of the Liberal Democrat Party)
Shirley Abicair (Australian-British zither player, singer, actress and television personality)
Sir Terry Farrell (British award-winning architect, the MI6 Building, Charing Cross station (Embankment Place), TV-am HQ)
Patrick Murray (British actor, "Mickey Pearce" in Only Fools and Horses)
Soo Catwoman (British punk pioneer, model and fashion icon)
Dame Jane Goodall (British zoologist, primatologist, anthropologist and conservationist, world's foremost expert on chimpanzees)
Dame Patricia Routledge (British Tony award-winning stage, musical and TV actress, Keeping Up Appearances, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, national treasure and gay icon)
John Lodge (British singer-songwriter, bassist, The Moody Blues)
Adrian Sutton (British theatre composer, War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Angels in America)
Diane Keaton (US Oscar-winning actress, Annie Hall, The Godfather, First Wives' Club)
Admiral of the Fleet Sir David Benjamin Bathurst (British naval officer, former First Sea Lord and former NATO Commander-in-Chief for the Channel and Eastern Atlantic)
Tony Caunter (British character actor, "Roy Evans" (married "Pat Butcher") in EastEnders)
Jack White (born Horst Nußbaum, German music producer, Gloria, Self Control for Laura Branigan, Looking for Freedom for David Hasselhoff; songwriter, Who's Leaving Who for Hazell Dean)
D'Angelo (US neo-soul singer-songwriter)
Samantha Eggar (British actress, The Brood, The Butterfly Collector, Doctor Dolittle)
Ace Frehley (US guitarist, songwriter, founder member of Kiss)

Martin Townsend (British journalist, former editor of the Sunday Express)
Lady Annabel Goldsmith (British socialite, after whom Annabel's nightclub was named, friend of Princess Diana and other royals)
Melanie Ward (British fashion stylist and editor, The Face, Karl Lagerfeld, Helmut Lang, Harper’s Bazaar)
Dave Ball (British musician, founder-member of Soft Cell, The Grid)
June Lockhart (US actress, Lost In Space, Lassie, centenarian)
Sirikit, Queen Mother of Thailand
Tony Adams (British character actor, "Adam Chance" in Crossroads, "Dr Neville Bywaters" in General Hospital)
Björn Andrésen (Swedish actor, the "most beautiful boy, Tadzio" in Death in Venice)
Prunella Scales (British actress, Fawlty Towers, Mapp and Lucia, After Henry, A Question of Attribution)
Diane Ladd (US actress, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Chinatown, Wild at Heart)
Dick Cheney (US statesman, former Vice President)
Gopichand Hinduja (Indian-British billionaire businessman, chairman of Hinduja Group, head of Britain's richest family)
Gilson Lavis (British drummer, founder-member of Squeeze, Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra)
Pauline Collins (British award-winning actress, Shirley Valentine, Upstairs Downstairs, Quartet)
Manfred Goldberg (German-born British educator and Holocaust survivor)
James D Watson (US scientist, joint Nobel prize-winner with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for the discovery of the nature of DNA)
Lee Tamahori (New Zealand director, Mulholland Falls, Die Another Day, Once Were Warriors)
Quentin Willson (British motoring journalist, television presenter, Top Gear)
Richard Darbyshire (British singer, songwriter, founder member of Living in a Box)
L.T. Lam (Lam Leung-tim, Hong Kong businessman and manufacturer, inventor of the yellow rubber duck, centenarian)
Lady Helen Newlove (British rights campaigner after the murder of her husband, appointed UK victims’ commissioner)
Marina Lewycka (Ukrainian-British author, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian)
Charlotte Bingham (British novelist and television scriptwriter, No, Honestly, Jilly Cooper’s Riders)
Alice and Ellen Kessler (German singers, dancers and TV personalities, "The Kessler Twins")
Gary "Mani" Mounfield (British bass guitarist, founder-member of The Stone Roses, Primal Scream)
Jellybean Johnson (US musician and producer, Alexander O'Neil Criticize)
Jean Guidoni (French out-gay pioneering singer-songwriter, collaborated with Astor Piazzolla and Michel Legrand)
Paul Costelloe (Irish fashion designer, personal designer to Diana, Princess of Wales)
Udo Kier (German out-gay character actor, Story of O, My Own Private Idaho, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Madonna's Erotica and Deeper and Deeper videos)
Dharmendra (Indian actor, Bollywood star)
Jimmy Cliff (Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter, Wild World, Wonderful World, Beautiful People, Many Rivers to Cross)
Jack Shepherd (British character actor, Wycliffe, Wonderland)
Pam Hogg (British (Scottish) fashion designer, Blitz club regular, designed outfits for Debbie Harry, Siouxsie Sioux, Björk and Kylie Minogue)
Sir Tom Stoppard (Czech-born British playwright, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, screenwriter, Shakespeare in Love, Empire of the Sun)
Chubby Tavares (US funk and disco singer, founder-member of Tavares)
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith (British financial journalist and editor, co-founder of The Independent newspaper, president of the British Board of Film Classification, and of the Church Commissioners)
Brian Hayes (Australian-British Radio presenter and DJ, LBC, BBC Radio 2)
Sir Alec Reed (British business executive, founder of Reed recruitment agency, philanthropist)
Steve Cropper (US blues guitarist, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, songwriter, In the Midnight Hour, record producer, (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay)
Frank Gehry (Canadian-American deconstructivist architect, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Gehry House)
Martin Parr (British photographer and photojournalist, The Last Resort)
Iain Douglas-Hamilton (British zoologist and conservationist, world-leading authority on the behaviour of African elephants, founder of Save the Elephants charity campaign)
Raul Malo (Us singer and musician, founder-member of The Mavericks, songwriter, Dance the Night Away)
Sophie Kinsella (British novelist, Shopaholic, Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess)
Joanna Trollope (British novelist, The Choir, A Village Affair, The Rector's Wife, "queen of the Aga saga")
Stanley Baxter (British (Scottish) actor, comedian, impressionist, female impersonator and "national treasure", The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, Mr Majeika)
Rob Reiner (US actor, film director, This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me, Misery, murdered)
Carl Carlton (US singer, She's a Bad Mama Jama)
Dame Shân Legge-Bourke, DCVO (British heiress, Glanusk Park estate, mother of the nanny to Princes William and Harry, Tiggy Legge-Bourke)
Gil Gerard (US actor, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Antony Price (British fashion designer, stylist for Roxy Music's first eight albums and Lou Reed's Transformer, designed for Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Amanda Lear, Jerry Hall and Robert Palmer)
Sir Humphrey Burton CBE (British radio and TV broadcaster, Aquarius, Omnibus, Classic FM, former BBC head of music and arts, founder of BBC Young Musician of the Year, biographer)
Chris Rea (British singer-songwriter, Fool (If You Think It's Over), Driving Home for Christmas, The Road to Hell)
Annette Dionne (Canadian media personality, last-surviving of the "Dionne babies" (quintuplets))
David Rosen (US entrepreneur businessman, founder and longtime CEO of Sega arcade gaming empire)
Don Bryant (US rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, I Can't Stand the Rain)
Brigitte Bardot (French actress, And God Created Woman, sex symbol, animal rights activist and legend)
Michael Lippman (US music artists manager, David Bowie, Melissa Manchester, George Michael)
Khaleda Zia (Bangladeshi politician, former Prime Minister on two occasions, second female premier of a Muslim state)
Vicomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes (French aristocrat, designer, businesswoman, philanthropist and style icon)

RIP, (almost) all!

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STOP PRESS

Eddy Shah (British businessman, founder of the Today newspaper, famous for challenging and winning against the print union)
Elizabeth Kelly (British character actress, "Auntie Nellie" in EastEnders, centenarian)