Slackhurst Broadcasting

In the Fall's later years Mark Smith was working with musicians a good bit younger than himself, some born in the Eighties and even the Nineties. Tracking the group's last surviving members may be a task for whoever's on this forum c.2060.

Re Clem Clempson, I remember reading The NME Book of Rock (1975) and thinking facetiously that people were very into personnel back then, because so many bands' entries were accounts of what other bands the members had been in. But the other week I saw a mid-80s interview with John Peel, and it seems that was actually true - he said how in the years before punk it was almost impossible for a band to get a record deal and promotion if they had no track record from being in other bands. So if you were forming a rock outfit in 1974, Clem Clempson would have been a useful man.

Strange thing: just yesterday I was reminded of the storyline in Brookside where Harry Cross wouldn't talk to his son because he was living "over the brush," and I remembered that he'd been in Grange Hill too. I can't have thought about it since c.1986.

It's funny, when I was a kid it was still quite common to get George VI and V coins, and I occasionally got Edward VII ones, and once even a Victoria penny - not through looking for them, just in ordinary change. I remember the older ones looked visibly worn - the Victoria one was almost unreadable, and the portrait on it was largely a blur. That doesn't seem to happen to coins nowadays.

Perhaps Idle will finally allow Rutland Weekend Television to come out on DVD.

Damo Suzuki had colon cancer for years, he survived it a long time.

Reminds me of the fable of the frogs who wanted a king.

He'll never abdicate. People seem not to realise that Edward VIII's abdication was a disgrace. What could happen is that William became Prince Regent, i.e. a sort of caretaker king. But I don't think they'd do that if Charles was terminally ill.

If there was a thread for British voice-over artists, Michael Jayston would have a place there.

Baby, the earth must fall...

Old joke deleted.

Is the hair still all genuine? Wearing a wig would have the advantage that he could just take it off and go unrecognised in public.

Back then it was still Emmerdale Farm and had yet to be invaded by plane crashes and lesbians.

Only Gyorgy Kurtag (b.1926) still surviving on that list now.

I was just looking at the start of this thread, and the Big Four of Minimalism are still all with us fifteen years later - Terry Riley and La Monte Young both 88, Steve Reich 87 and Philip Glass 87 next week. Perhaps the music is conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Has any minimalist composer embraced the "too fast to live, too young to die" ethos?

Back in the Seventies there was a Melanie Music Society that put out at least one collection of Melanie-inspired poetry written by her fans. Sad day for them if they're still around.

Laurie Johnson's incidental music was great too, especially for Brian Clemens' Thriller.

That joke pretty nearly killed Julian Clary's career.

Has Roman Polanski ever been picked? Possibly the most famous living director, certain to be big news when he goes - albeit much comment will be along the lines of "burn in hell."

Also the Shangri-Las are all gone now.

Sven was very nearly Alex Ferguson's successor at Manchester United instead of England manager. What might have been...

It'd be a surprise if Pete Townshend was last survivor of the Who.

Not a week into 2024 and he's dead. What better pick for a death list could there be?

Another of those deaths that strike a chord with people of a certain age.

She is a genuine household name here, and her passing will lead the headlines. There'll also probably be a good deal of scurrilous/scandalous stuff to follow.