Movies&Tennis

Tbh I think it'll become harder to guess what's an actual concern and what isn't with former Presidents and ex-Presidents and First Ladies because its clear they all despise Trump and I think some would make up any form of illness as an excuse not to attend. Considering Trump has been attacking Cheney's daughter for the last four years I can see a 'oh far too crowded for me to go' explanation because he doesn't want to be anywhere near that guy.

I'd say it's more likely she doesn't want to be in the same room as Donald Trump so she won't be attending anything like this until Trump goes.

It’s been a rough year in general, looking over past lists only one former DL pick - Shannen Doherty - has died this year. So it’s not even as if we’ve missed a bunch of previous picks that could’ve stayed on…

Cross-posting again for Quincy Jones - majority of 2001 honorees now gone - just Julie Andrews and Jack Nicholson left. also 5th honoree to go this year, shame none of the ones on the list!

Cross-posting the death of Phil Lesh here. One of those very rare occasions where an honouree dies before actually receiving the award. I believe the only other to have done that is Glenn Frey of The Eagles.

Re-posting here something I posted about dames in the Glynis Johns thread a few months ago… I think the issue with acting Dames is that they tend to award those in British theatre early - Kristin Scott Thomas for example - then they wait a little longer for the ones high in British cinema - eg Julie Walters - and then the ones who make their career in the US rather than the U.K. tend to have to wait til they’re super old or not at all - see Angela Lansbury and Olivia de Havilland. Seems to me that the damehood can depend on the amount of impact you have on U.K. rather than international cinema/TV.  Obviously the rare exception such as Julie Andrews or Elizabeth Taylor but it’s much rarer for an ‘international’ British star to get a damehood early. 

Almost forgot that the new honourees were announced a month ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/07/18/kennedy-center-honors-coppola-raitt-grateful-dead/ Not much here for DL purposes this time I don't think...other than Coppola all honourees in their 70s...

I'll also point out that there's an 'unofficial' Baby of the House as well, the youngest MP by age. Father of the House is, as RoverandOut says, basically an honourary function that works only at the beginning of the Parliament. I believe the Father of the House also gets to speak first in debates after the frontbenches...but otherwise it has just as much meaning as Mother of the House.

Wouldn't say Bottomley...when Dennis Skinner was in a similar position in 2019 the cameras didn't even go the announcement at the count. Father of the House is an important role but only really the political nerds would know who was in that role. Heavy chance is that Diane Abbott would be given the Labour whip back and be allowed to retire as a Labour MP so i doubt you'd get anything there - although if she does run as Labour she's next in line to be Mother of the House after Harriet Harman's retirement. If she does retire Angela Eagle becomes Mother of the House but Labour would have to have a terrible night for her to lose...

Listening to the valedictory debate on Friday and Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans mentioned two names - John Howell and David Duguid who are ‘recovering’. Howell already announced he’s standing down but no word from Duguid yet - worth remembering should he run again and win…

Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr dead at 87: https://apnews.com/article/louis-gossett-jr-dies-1e86e1441ec8b614a282f3de22490a07

Shot of her on stage tonight… https://x.com/ruddick/status/1771672269720268824?s=46&t=wwnuCz-mCX2KuaQWKZFAKA

Cross-posting here Seiji Ozawa, who was a 2015 honoree... https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/11/seiji-ozawa-obituary

I think the issue with acting Dames is that they tend to award those in British theatre early - Kristin Scott Thomas for example - then they wait a little longer for the ones high in British cinema - eg Julie Walters - and then the ones who make their career in the US rather than the U.K. tend to have to wait til they’re super old or not at all - see Angela Lansbury and Olivia de Havilland. Seems to me that the damehood can depend on the amount of impact you have on U.K. rather than international cinema/TV. Obviously the rare exception such as Julie Andrews or Elizabeth Taylor but it’s much rarer for an ‘international’ British star to get a damehood early.

Cross posting here the death of Norman Lear. He's the 6th Kennedy Center Honoree to die this year, making this year the deadliest since 2003. He's also the 4th honoree on this year's deathlist to die, besting last year's 3. Given the hit rate perhaps worth considering one or two honorees who've not made the list before - Leontyne Price, John Kander, Clint Eastwood or Berry Gordy next year...