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Two painters have always stood out for me, Claude Monet with his waterlilies and Wassily Kandinsky:

Happy 72nd birthday to my brother Allan

Relativity by M. C. Escher: Can't lie that I'm not equipped to understand most visual art. Maths passed off as art, like this, is more up my street. There's no kind of emotional provocation in this picture. All it asks of you is to decide which way is 'up'.

Benjamin Mkapa, the President of Tanzania from November 1995 to December 2005, has died. He was 81. https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/Breaking--Tanzania-s-former-President-Benjamin-Mkapa-has-died-/1840340-5598356-qgehgh/index.html

Dali's Christ Of St John Of The Cross. Unless you've actually stood in front of it, you can't explain how breathtaking it is, even if it's somewhat iconographic. If you are ever lucky enough to have the chance to see it in person, do.

Post your favourite paintings or works of art here. Or any that you think are striking, or have an interesting story. Starting with Gas by Edward Hopper. A simple but slightly unnerving scene that could be in a Stephen King story.

Happy 75th Birthday to Indian businessman Azim Premji, who for some reason wants to send me €2,000,000. Good Day, I am Azim Hashim Premji, a business tycoon, investor and philanthropist.I am the chairman of Wipro Limited. I have committed 25 percent of my personal wealth to charity, The first quarter of this year 2020 I have promised to give away the rest of 25% this year.. I have decided to donate €2,000,000.00 Euro to you. If you are interested in my donation, contact me for more information. I would also like you're part of my Charity Foundation as soon as you get this money so that we can bring our hands to help the needy. You can also learn more about me using the link below to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azim_Premji Contact by email for further details: Best Regards Azim Hashim Premji CEO Wipro Limited

Decide for yourself here. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tweet247.net/united%20kingdom/lord%2blawson/amp Looks quite good for 88, IMHO.

I love Brian Blessed, his book is full of little stories like this - my favourite is when he tells of punching Harold Pinter down some stairs.

Paulette Wilson a Windrush campaigner who faced deportation, has died. She was 64. Wilson had come to the UK from Jamaica in 1968, but her benefits were cut off in 2015. The Windrush scandal broke in 2018, when it emerged many children of Commonwealth citizens had been threatened with deportation. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53521408

Well if this is the way the thread has gone, I'll bring up my all time fave TV talking head bit as I don't think Gooseberry has heard it. Right, so Judi Dench has turned 70, and Channel 4 or 5 or someone I forget had this big 2 hour celebration of Judi Dench documentary on. And they had all these luvvies talking up her braveness as a performer, and her gravitas and all that stuff. Suddenly on screen appears Brian Blessed who booms: "Judi Dench is the SEXIEST WOMAN I'VE EVER MET! And she stills drives me WILD WITH LUST! What a woman!"

Predictable, perhaps.

His voice is a lot stronger than it was for the Thatcher stuff last year when he looked like a ghost. Mind you, he's either dyed his hair since then or that's a far more flattering camera shot. Ulitzer - whose "in" with politicos is far better than mine - actually met Lawson last year and said he was very frail but still sharp. His health does appear to fluctuate quite a lot in the last decade, and I know when he was ill in 2011-12 (when he got on the DL) there were folk writing him off entirely but he bounced back then. Mind you, we're not short of apparently ailing big figures. Douglas Hurd is meant to have been ill for years, Winnie Ewing is very unwell (although as she's out of the public eye entirely now, its hard to know how far gone she is), and there's been Labour radio silence around updates on John Prescott. Which hopefully means he's recuperating in private and not that he's fucked. Add Dennis Skinner and Norman Fowler and someone somewhere is well on their way to a DDP theme team!

I'm quite fond of Frans Hals' portraits; here's a painting of a bloke holding a skull.

Mel Gibson was hospitalized with it in April: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/24/mel-gibson-hospitalised-coronavirus- Maybe that explains the slow reveal of Hutton Gibson's death.

Sister in law of Ravi Shankar of course who was on the list for many years I think

Elvira Wayans, matriarch of the Wayans family, has died. She was 81. Wayans passed away a few weeks ago and her death has now been publicly acknowledged on what would've been her 82nd birthday. Among her more famous offspring are Damon, Keenan Ivory, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, all comedic actors/writers. https://www.tmz.com/2020/07/23/marlon-wayans-mother-dead-dies-family-matriarch-elvira/

Yeah BIG respect to Lardy - amazed she snagged him as a unique pick but then I got Larry Wallis as a unique last year despite his poor health being public knowledge.

Indian danseuse Amalia Shankar dead at 101 years: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/renowned-danseuse-amala-shankar-passes-away-in-kolkata-6521125/lite/

Come back to me in 4 years time.

Victory! But if I'd said "the next convention" rather than "the 2020 convention" who'd put it past him to live to 101?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12205210/keith-richards-ex-son-in-law-dies/ The 47 year old son in law of Rolling Stone Keith Richards has died a few days after a controversial incident.

Thanks for looking after this game in my absence. Much appreciated. Wifi was a joke where I was. Friday 74

You’ve mixed that up, 73 is the amount of times you take to pronounce that name correctly