RIP

Fond memories of watching with my Dad.

Nearly all the guys from Dads Army have all died now, just Ian Lavender left,I think. I did love Captain Mainwaring & sargent Wilson, just the right hint of snootiness between those two. Capt M thought he was socially higher standing than Sgt Wilson & so disliked it when he was constantly put down a tad.

RIP Sir Patrick Moore. Biritains most famous astronomer and one of its longest serving broadcasters.
The Sky at Night has been constant viewing for me since I was a kid.

me too. He was a true English eccentric and inspired me into being interested in the stars. Its an older generation of really interesting and lovely people that are lost to us. very sad.

Rest in peace Patrick Moore, I watched the Sky at Night only once, but thought it was very good.

I liked him, I loved his eccentricities, I enjoyed his progs also. I miss the quintessentially English Gentleman type! Why do the nice ones always seem to "go" near Christmas ? makes it more poignant.

Not a person, but very sad to see one of the icons of the Harlem Renaissance being shuttered.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP36919891053a48d0b81aeed5cabe8037.html

The Lenox Lounge is within walking distance of me, and I have been there any number of times to recapture a feeling of the Harlem Renaissance. So many of the old jazz standards have been lost over the years, it hurts to see another one go. The third venue in my neighborhood to close in the last 5 years.

I hate it when a part of your life is snatched away like that. It feels more & more of "you" is going, & you cant get it back. Ive seen lovely buildings,with beautiful architecture be ripped down,just for a chuffing ugly block of "offices".
You cant recapture some things from the past. They have an aura of their own, & once its gone,its gone.

Hey, I think walked by that place a few years ago on my round the world train trip. I'd flown into JFK about 11pm in freezing weather and I needed a cheap place to crash. The Info desk called around and found me a little hostel in an old brownstone up around 124th that was mostly full of Caribbean folks trying to stay warm and find work. The subway stop was by this cool club on 125th and Lenox I think. Is that the place?

very true Azriel. I have been away from England for 15 years and everytime I go home things have changed for the worst in my town. The old familiar atmosphere has gone forever. Some parts I dont even recognize, its now full of off licences and Argos and betting shops, where once were the butchers bakers and little sweet shops that smelt of sherbet. There was a little cobbler, and there was the smell of Hovis bread from the bakery, now it smells of decay and its full of hulking great teenagers in baseball caps and hoodies. I walk down past my old school and its turned into a curry house, the old people no longer leave their front doors open, the market hall is full of tat. I cant go back. It used to feel like a sunny Easter day with Daffodils and church bells, now it feels like a wet grey Monday morning.

Wow, Mrs Figg, That summed it all up for me beautifully! I couldnt agree with you more !!, sometimes I feel I dont belong anymore, theres to much change that I dont like. I can smell the daffodils now! & the primroses! mmmm

Mrs Figg wrote:very true Azriel. I have been away from England for 15 years and everytime I go home things have changed for the worst in my town. The old familiar atmosphere has gone forever. Some parts I dont even recognize, its now full of off licences and Argos and betting shops, where once were the butchers bakers and little sweet shops that smelt of sherbet. There was a little cobbler, and there was the smell of Hovis bread from the bakery, now it smells of decay and its full of hulking great teenagers in baseball caps and hoodies. I walk down past my old school and its turned into a curry house, the old people no longer leave their front doors open, the market hall is full of tat. I cant go back. It used to feel like a sunny Easter day with Daffodils and church bells, now it feels like a wet grey Monday morning.

Well said, almost poetry

RIP Ravi Shankar. By introducing Indian Classical Music to the world he may very well have saved it, or at least invigorated this most cerebral of all the world's musical forms. If not for him the ancient forms may have been overwhelmed by Bollywood pop. I'm afraid world demand for Indian classical music is again fading though.

I've often been disappointed that more westerners never took the effort to understand the intricacies of the raga, so much more ancient and formalized yet every bit as free and expressive as American Jazz. Without Shankar I likely never would have discovered it.

No recognition? Humph. And here I was thinking you folks were cultured.

I saw this on the news earlier- a great musician. It was, like many folks no doubt, listening to the Beatles that first introduced me to the existence of this musical style, and Ive loved it ever since.
I think the comaprison to jazz is a good one, although I prefer it over jazz as I prefer th sound of Indian instruments.

Okay, you just made the cut, Petty! Seeing Anouchka smile is such a treat as well.

who are the beatles lol

geezer rock always ends up in elevators.

I always thought Within You Without You sounded alien yet strangely beautiful at the same time, you know?

Bit like a conversation in Forumshire then?

do you like West African Kora music Halfy? I do.

RIP Gerry Anderson.

Thanks for the childhood memories, but especially Stingray which was a personal favourite.

Tony Greig the cricketer died today (66)
Liked his commentary.

Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, a Nobel-prize winning scientist who defied the Fascist regime in her native Italy, died Sunday at her home in Rome at age 103.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno announced her death in a statement, calling it a great loss "for all of humanity" and said she represented "civic conscience, culture and the spirit of research of our time," reports AP.

A biologist and neurologist, Dr. Levi-Montalcini conducted underground research in defiance of the Fascist government and discovered critical clues to medical mysteries including cancer, developmental malformations and dementia, reports AP.

Her research with American biochemist Stanley Cohen earned the pair a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1989.

Dr. Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin, Italy on April 22, 1909 to Italian Jewish parents. According to her 1988 autobiography "In Praise of Imperfection", Levi-Montalcini decided she wanted to become a doctor after the cancer death of her governess, Giovanna.

According to the New York Times, her father did not approve of her career choice and preferred her to become a wife and mother but eventually agreed to support her.

"I told him how much Giovanna's death had shaken me and how I was convinced that the profession I wanted to follow was that of medical doctor. He objected that it was a long and difficult course of study, unsuitable for a woman," she wrote. "'If this is really what you want,'' he replied, ''then I won't stand in your way, even if I'm very doubtful about your choice.''"

Dr. Levi-Montalcini graduated summa cum laude from the University of Turin medical school in 1936, the year that Italian dictator Benito Mussolini banned Jews from universities and major professions, reports AP.

Her family stayed in Italy during WWII and she set up a makeshift laboratory in her bedroom to study chicken embryos, which AP reports, would later lead to her "major discovery of mechanisms that regulate growth of cells and organs."


Dr. Levi Montalcini kept up with her research well into old age. "At 100, I have a mind that is superior — thanks to experience — than when I was 20," she said in 2009.