So farewell then...

[DeLorean]

Johan Cruyff, aged 68 (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35892775) :(

[BonnieShels]

2016 knocking it out of the park again.

[DeLorean]

Was thinking the same thing. It's doing some clear out... I read somewhere recently that Gerd Muller isn't in the best of health either, another icon of that 1974 World Cup and beyond.

[SkStu]

he'll be Cruyff turning in his grave. RIP

[the 12 th man]

Getting a bit silly now,Gary Shandling...

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/garry-shandling-dead-larry-sanders-show-show-1201738601/

[BonnieShels]

What the actual **** is going on? Are we of a generation now where this stuff is more noticeable because these people are our idols and who we grew up with or is it just ****e?

[BonnieShels]

2016 knocking it out of the park again.

Little did I know. RIP Larry. Your bro will be a great POTUS.

[stann]

Getting a bit silly now,Gary Shandling...

Of all the losses lately this one has floored me. Just on the last disc of the Larry Sanders box set I got with an amazon voucher recently, and only last night was again wondering would he ever go back and do another series. Not now.
RIP Larry. We can feel free to flip.

[nigel-harps1954]

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35934024

2016 is really starting to take the p!ss at this stage.

Ronnie Corbett aged 85.

[pineapple stu]

So it's goodbye from him...

[OwlsFan]

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35934024

2016 is really starting to take the p!ss at this stage.

Ronnie Corbett aged 85.

Alas, as you get older, more and more people begin fall off their perch. I might be looking for a set of wings soon...

[nigel-harps1954]

Cesare Maldini, aged 85.

[OwlsFan]

Douglas Wilmer, one of the earliest Sherlock Holmes on TV:

2418

[nigel-harps1954]

Another kick in the nuts for music lovers in 2016. Merle Haggard at 79.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/merle-haggard-revered-country-singer-of-common-man-anthems-dies-at-79/2016/04/06/39647f2c-fc1e-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html

[OwlsFan]

Another kick in the nuts for music lovers in 2016. Merle Haggard at 79.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/merle-haggard-revered-country-singer-of-common-man-anthems-dies-at-79/2016/04/06/39647f2c-fc1e-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html

Interesting life history, including five years in California's San Quentin State Prison for car theft and burglary!

[nigel-harps1954]

Mr. Nice, Howard Marks. Aged 70.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/10/howard-marks-dies-aged-70

[nigel-harps1954]

David Gest aged 62.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36028232

[pineapple stu]

Oh my God - David's dead!

What? No he's not, he's inside.

Oh, wait.

[Seagull]

Robbie Brennan, drummer with Skid Row, Phil Lynott and more R.I.P.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Brennan

[SkStu]

What a time to be alive!

[nigel-harps1954]

Voice of darts for many years, most famous for his phrase before matches "Let's....Play....Darts!". Martin Fitzmaurice, master of ceremonies at the BDO since day one, aged 75.

https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/12993516_974763119274167_6956617029998701727_n.jpg ?oh=98d8d01a23e87923ed5d3849cb777752&oe=57B87220

[Eminence Grise]

And so the Terran Federation finally got Blake...

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/apr/14/gareth-thomas-obituary

(For sci-fi fans of an era when plywood sets and dodgy props were at least half the charm!)

[nigel-harps1954]

Doris Roberts, aged 90. Best known most likely for her role as the mother in Everybody Loves Raymond.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36079924

[Spudulika]

Another funny woman passed away today, Victoria Wood.

[the 12 th man]

Like flies....

[the 12 th man]

Prince:(:(

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341522/prince-dead

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Glenn Frey, David Bowie, Prince.......

Still raging I missed the chance to see Eagles on their last European tour.

Not going to make that mistake when Don Henley comes back over in June.

[nigel-harps1954]

Can't even describe how devastated I am by the news this evening..

Chyna is dead. Former WWF wrestler.

[Paddy Garcia]

Prince:(:(

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341522/prince-dead

.. this is now one too many.......

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Frey's death hits the hardest blow.

[the 12 th man]

Feel a bit like the Grim Reaper,Percy Sledge

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-b-great-percy-sledge-dead-at-74-20150414

[nigel-harps1954]

Feel a bit like the Grim Reaper,Percy Sledge

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-b-great-percy-sledge-dead-at-74-20150414

A year ago..

[SkStu]

Frey's death hits the hardest blow.

He's not dead yet but after what he did to the Tully's and the Stark's, it has to be around the corner.

[the 12 th man]

A year ago..

Slow internet round my way...:lying:

[Eminence Grise]

Feel a bit like the Grim Reaper,Percy Sledge

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-b-great-percy-sledge-dead-at-74-20150414


A year ago..

The BBC had a link yesterday to Percy Sledge's death as well. I knew he died last year - I thought it must have been one hell of a comeback tour I'd missed.

[nigel-harps1954]

Here's one that slipped past us in February. Tony Burton, famous for his role as Duke, Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creeds trainer in the Rocky films died in February.

He was also a pro boxer himself. He was 78.

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/tony-burton-dead-dies-rocky-trainer-1201716009/

[OwlsFan]

Tony Cozier, West Indian cricket commentator/

[pineapple stu]

Christy O'Connor Snr, just a few months after Christy O'Connor Jnr.

[OwlsFan]

Burt Kwouk who starred as Inspector Clouseau's hapless sidekick Cato in the Pink Panther films dies aged 85

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3606786/Burt-Kwouk-starred-Inspector-Clouseau-s-hapless-sidekick-Cato-Pink-Panthers-films-dies-aged-85.html

[SkStu]

Float on.

RIP Mohammed Ali.

[Wolfman]

The Greatest.

RIP.

[The Fly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJbZR8M9a0

[Eminence Grise]

Playwright Peter Shaffer, of Equus and Amadeus fame. Haven't seen the plays, but the film versions are superb.

http://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2016/0606/793672-equus-and-amadeus-playwright-peter-shaffer-dies-aged-90/ (What is it with Cork that it gets to many thesp types?)
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/06/peter-shaffer-elaborate-theatre-he-succeeded-equus-amadeus

[BonnieShels]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJbZR8M9a0



That's a wonderful piece.

We are all of an age where we remember the end of boxing's golden age and some of us are still just young enough to be told of the age of Ali, Frazier and Foreman by parents and grandparents... simply put they were the greatest.

---

Also this photo:

Always always gets me.

http://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/04120200/muhammad-ali4.jpg

[DannyInvincible]

Muhammad Ali was a fascinating human being. So utterly charismatic, majestic and captivating. In a brilliant New Yorker piece (http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-outsized-life-of-muhammad-ali) documenting his life, David Remnick asked: "What modern athlete, much less one at Ali's level, has ever talked with such political complexity, ambiguity and engagement?" I can't think of one who comes close.

Ben Carrington astutely observed (https://twitter.com/BenHCarrington/status/739069327622672385): "The significance of Ali isn't so much that he 'transcended' sport into politics but that he showed how sport itself was inherently political."

Of course, there are the detractors too. Piers Morgan, the fool, claimed (https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/739553739841798144) Ali said "many more inflammatory/racist things" than Donald Trump. Presumably Morgan was referring to Ali's comments with regard to the "White Devil" and the self-preservation of his own marginalised, stigmatised and brutalised people. To equate Ali's words in the '60s and '70s with Trump's displays a profound and contemptible ignorance of Ali's life, experiences and cultural memory on the part of Morgan. Ali never oppressed anyone for their race.

Ali said: "Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong."

Ali and his people were the victims of some of the worst injustices and oppression known to man; this was all at the hands of dominant white society. On the other hand, Trump is a white billionaire who has enjoyed an upbringing steeped in privilege. That's the key qualitative difference that one must consider when interpreting Ali's statements about white people and when interpreting Trump's statements about Mexicans or Muslims. Ali was talking about how he and his people were mistreated by whites. He was speaking for the disenfranchised and punching up. He was expressing valid anger. He wasn't talking about people he wanted to mistreat or prejudice, nor was he trying to manipulate through stoking division. That's what Trump does. Trump punches down. There's a world of difference.

Challenging oppression isn't racist. If Morgan thinks challenging oppression is inflammatory, I think that says more about Morgan than it does about Ali who he's trying to discredit.

Ali was entirely right to take on white America, it's privilege and its prejudice. He wasn't so much the embodiment of the "American Dream". He exposed it for the nightmare that it was. He shone a light deep into its dark core.

Here is a section of his 1972 interview with RTÉ's Cathal O'Shannon where he speaks of struggle, solidarity and culture upon his visit to Ireland:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppMjFhJ2Gy8


This is one thing I love and I admire about the Irish people. I studied a little bit of history since I've been here. I found out you been underdogs for years. Hundreds of years. People dominating you and ruling you and you can identify with this freedom struggle. You understand, but I just have mine on the other side of the water, but we're all fighting for the same cause and idea, but we have different reasons and different approaches.

I feel honoured he had that to say of us. Sure, Ali mightn't have been perfect - who doesn't have flaws? - but he had immeasurably more insight to disclose to America and the world than the likes of Donald Trump could ever dream of. What a ludicrous comparison.

Rest in peace, the Greatest.

[tetsujin1979]

Kimbo Slice, not the best known MMA fighter, but relatively young at 42.

[Eminence Grise]

RTE are reporting that former u-21 Eamonn Dolan has passed away, aged 48. Far too young, but he battled cancer for a long time

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2016/0621/797147-eamonn-dolan-passes-away/

[pineapple stu]

Pat Dolan's brother, and the one at the centre of the slighty controversy around the Kevin Doyle (or was it Shane Long) transfer.

Didn't know he'd been ill.

[nigel-harps1954]

Musician and owner of the famous Leo's Tavern pub in Donegal, and father of Enya and Clannad, Leo Brennan, died today at the ripe old age of 90.

A sad loss to Donegal today.

[The Fly]

The UK state.