Tag: Obituary

Tomorrow’s almost over…

A View From The Lanterne Rouge had a modest degree of weekly traffic when I was posting A Limerick A Week, but that understandably fell away as the limericks became (very) occasional ones only. So I was surprised to see a number of new hits on the blog that almost reached treble digits in the last couple of days.

On delving into the stats it became clear that this was for a rather unfortunate reason. The vast majority of those hits had been for a post that I’d published in December 2017 as a sort of obituary for the former Likely Lad, Rodney Bewes, who died back then. However, I don’t think Bewes or the associated limerick was the reason for the post’s renewed popularity. I think the interest was in another person named and pictured within it.

The following words from the original might give a clue…

… and I do also recall Anita Carey in her few appearances as Susan, Thelma’s sister … she was one of the 1970s actresses that remain etched in the memory of schoolboy day-dreams!

Sadly, Anita Carey’s death at the age of 75 had just been announced publicly, although she had died a few weeks earlier. As the blog’s stats also showed that Google, Yahoo and Bing were the referring sites to my original post, I can only assume that it was the actor’s fans, searching for information on her as a result of the news, that landed on the blog page. They would probably have been disappointed that the post was an old one about Bewes and not her, but I hope they appreciated the sentiment (above) and maybe the limerick as well!

As well as her appearances in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, I also remember Carey as Carter Brandon’s fianceé in the mid-70s TV comedy I Didn’t Know You Cared and I’m sad to say that almost 50 years later I still occasionally use Carter’s Uncle Staveley’s very northern utterance whenever someone sends a disparaging comment my way:  “I ‘eard that – pardon?”

Anyway, here’s the limerick…

There was once a thespian lass
Whose acting exuded great class,
But fast forward to now
As she takes her last bow
‘Cos her curtain call’s just come to pass!

Postscript: To many folks, the header for this post may not seem to have much relevance to the content, but those of us who grew up watching Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads will recall the words from the programme’s theme tune. There was always an air of forlorn nostalgia amidst the show’s comedy and that was perfectly encapsulated by the song’s mournful chorus:

Oh what happened to you?
Whatever happened to me?
What became of the people we used to be?
Tomorrow’s almost over, today went by so fast
It’s the only thing to look forward to, the past

My rearguard action against ageing is to look ahead and not behind and, to paraphrase Clint Eastwood’s words, to not let the old man in. Unfortunately, when you read the obituaries of people you remember from your youth, like Carey, it’s difficult to avoid a degree of reflection and makes you confront an interesting paradox:

“the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” Adam Rooney

True, very true!

Bare your soul, Leonora!

Here’s a somewhat belated limerick-as-eulogy for the recently departed actor Leslie Phillips. A better thespian than the smooth and rakish image his career landed him with, he was another regular fixture on film and TV during my youth (and for decades after – including a spell voicing the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter film franchise!).

Here’s the limerick…

“Oh, he-llo” he’d say, “have a drink?”
A lecherous fellow, you’d think!
Ding dong, you’re not wrong,
But now the dings gone
And expired with a nod and a wink!

Puzzled by the header to this post? It’s adapted from an exchange between Phillips’ and Liz Fraser’s characters in the film Doctor in Love.

The Doctor series of films (seven in all) was a close relation of the Carry On movie franchise; quite literally in terms of their directors as the Doctor films were directed by Ralph Thomas and the Carry Ons by his younger brother Gerald. Phillips appeared in productions of each.

Anyway, back to the header. An avid fan of the genre couldn’t fail to notice a typical Carry On moment in each of the Doctor films, and one such moment is this…

Dr. Tony Burke: Tell me about yourself. Bare your soul.
Leonora: My soul? No one’s ever asked to see that before.

(FYI my favourite Carry On moment in a Doctor film comes when Dr Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) auscultates the chesty Eva (Carol Richmond) in Doctor at Large. You can look that one up yourself – answers on a postcard to…).

Can anyone smell burning?

Lines inspired by the passing of rock and roll’s original wild man…

As the rocker was soon to expire
They put Jerry Lee on a pyre
And the last words he said
Were “Hang on, I’m not dead!
Goodness gracious, my balls are on fire!”

The Carnival (Really) Is Over…

Here’s a folksy playlist from the Sixties:

I’ll Never Find Another You
Georgy Girl
Morningtown Ride
Island Of Dreams
When Will The Good Apples Fall
A World Of Our Own
The Carnival Is Over

If you’ve ever heard any of them, then you will probably have heard what Elton John referred to as “the purest voice in popular music”.

Sadly, Judith Durham, who possessed that voice, has died.

I celebrated her 75th birthday in a post four years ago with a bit of a cheeky limerick, whilst highlighting the fact that she sound-tracked my early life when I was so often ill and off school; looked after my my grandmother who was a big fan of The Seekers.

She was Australia’s Sweetheart (Judith, that is, not my grandmother!), and I guess the saddest guys around today will be Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley; the remaining members of the group. Mind you, I bet St Peter’s witnessing a cracking version of this…

The Seeker whose voice would bestride
The world of my childhood has died.
Now her tears are falling
And the harbour light’s calling;
As she makes her last Morningtown Ride.

You’ll never get nowhere if you’re too hasty

Here’s a question for you: which singer had two top ten hits (and a third in the top thirty) in 1962 all produced by George Martin (clue; not one of The Beatles)?

I could add some extra clues and, perhaps, yesterday they would have helped some-but-not-all of you, guess the name. However, since his death was announced this morning the explosion of tributes to him and his career means you would have to be something of a troglodyte not to know of whom I speak.

Yep, Bernard Cribbins is the answer (aka ‘Perks’ the station porter in the original Railway Children film and star of many other productions). I shan’t repeat here what has been said elsewhere, but I will reinforce the thread that states what a lovely man he was.

As a 12 or 13 year old schoolboy (circa 1970/71) and a keen angler, my English teacher had asked everyone in my class to write to a famous person with whom they shared a hobby.

I wrote to Bernard Cribbins, telling him that I’d heard he was a keen angler and could he give me any tips. I didn’t expect a reply, but I did receive one. Just a short handwritten note telling me he that he was glad that I liked fishing, wishing me ‘tightlines’ and his tip was “don’t fall in”. I was one of the very few, if not the only pupil, that got a reply from their ‘famous person’. I don’t know what happened to it, but I wish I’d kept it safe.

Later in life, one of his top ten hits (his were all novelty songs), Hole in the Ground, became a favourite that Firstborn and I regularly belted out (we tried the same with his other hit, Right Said Fred, but could never remember the words beyond the first verse).

It was a delight to see his resurgence as the country’s favourite grandad in Dr Who although he had never really disappeared from public performance. I shall certainly look out for him when he appears in the Dr Who 60th anniversary episode(s).

Here’s the limerick:

The actor that sang “Right said Fred”
And voiced all the Wombles is dead
It looks like he’s found
His “Hole in the Ground”
As he’s finally reached life’s railhead.

Postscript#1: Cribbins’ third musical ‘hit’ in 1962 (Gossip Calypso) is much less well known than either Right Said Fred or Hole in the Ground. It joined the post-Windrush episode of calypso cultural appropriation of that era.

What set Cribbins’ song apart from those of, say, Lance Percival is the latter’s attempt to assume a mock-Caribbean accent when singing; the vocal equivalent of ‘blacking up’. Cribbins song was all Cockney (or as Cockney as a northerner could effect) without a single Caribbean overtone in sound or word. Still, it certainly wouldn’t be made today as the ‘gossiping women’ trope would be widely deprecated.

Postscript#2: Here’s a birthday/Christmas prezzie hint!

I’ll have to hurry you…

So, Bamber Gascoigne has died at the grand old age of 87. I remember him as the oddly-named question master of University Challenge who presided over the TV show throughout my childhood and youth, so it has come as a bit of a surprise that his first name was the altogether more prosaic Arthur!

He was the originator of a number of quiz-orientated catchphrases such as Fingers on buzzers, please and No conferring as well as a couple of others on show in this post. Moreover, as has been said elsewhere, you really believed that he could answer all the questions himself – unlike Jeremy Paxman, his successor, who carries what appears to be a mock intellectual air about him.

… and this is the limerick

Bamber was one of those men
Whose name, every now and again,
Brought a smile to your face,
But has now left this place
‘Cos he’s run out of starters for ten