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Randy Bachman is 79 today. Known chiefly as a founder member of Bachman Turner Overdrive, who had numerous hits in their native Canada, but famous in the rest of the world (especially in the Smashie & Nicey reception area) for their 1975 hit You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. Also 79 today is Welsh singer/comedian Max (I know, 'cos I was there) Boyce

Its 35 years since the death of writer, actor & director Emlyn Williams. Born in Flintshire, Wales, Williams stated that he'd probably have ended up down the mines had he not come to the attention of a teacher, Sarah Grace Cooke, who encouraged him in his academic studies (even as far as helping financially, to enable him stay in France to perfect his French). He won a scholarship to Christ Church College, Oxford, studying French & Italian and while there he enrolled in the Oxford University Drama Society, and later, a London-based repertory company. He became an overnight star with his play Night Must Fall, which wrote and also played the lead. His most famous work is The Corn is Green, based on his childhood - the character Miss Moffatt is based on his teacher Sarah Grace Cooke. This was made into a film starring Bette Davis, and also a TV production starring Katherine Hepburn. he also wrote an autobiographical light comedy The Druid's Rest, which played at London's St. Martin's Theatre in 1944 and gave Richard Burton his stage debut. The only film he directed (as well as writing and starring in), The Last Days of Dolwyn, was Burton's screen debut (1949). Williams became friends with Burton & his first wife, Sybil, and was godfather to their daughter, actress Kate Burton. He died aged 81, from complications of Bowel cancer.

Its 32 years since the death of Carmen Nigro, aka Ken Roady, aged 84. Nigro worked as a railroad dining car chef for the Santa Fe Railway, and then a security guard. He claimed, in 1969, that he was also a Hollywood stuntman, working under the alias Ken Roady, and was the human inside the ape costume for the 1933 movie KIng Kong (starring Fay Wray & Robert Armstrong), and others, including Mighty Joe Young, and 25-30 in total. At the time, these claims were largely taken at face value and he gave talks at schools and youth groups on his time playing the role. Film historians have dismissed his claims - Kong was an animated model, and other great apes have verified performers credited. Early reports of Nigro's claims came from Bob Greene, of the Chicago Sun-Times, who wrote this on his death.

Louise Fletcher, for completeness (QO)..

Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, known to millions as Play School presenter Floella Benjamin, is 73 today.

Its 44 years since the death of California Angels center-fielder Lyman Bostock. After playing in the minor leagues for the Twins organisation, he made his major-league debut in 1975, against the Texas Rangers, scoring three runs on 1 hit and 2 walks. The following season, his first full season, he finished fourth in the American League batting with .323, and in 1977, finishing second with .336. After the '77 season ended he became an early beneficiary of free agency, signing a six-year deal with the Angels worth $2.3million (he'd received $20k for his final season at Minnesota), immediately donating $10k to his hometown church to rebuild their sunday school. After a poor first month, he attempted to return that months salary, claiming he hadn't earned it, a request that was refused. He instead donated it to charity. As the season approached its end, he was leading the Angels batting, going 2 for 4 against the White Sox at Comiskey Park, to take his average to .296. Following the game, as was usual when he played in Chicago, he visited his uncle in nearby Gary, Indiana and they visited an old acquaintance, later giving her and her cousin Barbara Smith a lift. Lyman Bostock & Barbara Smith got in the back of the car; unbeknown to them, this was observed by Smith's estranged husband, Leonard, who on seeing this concluded that the two were having an affair. When the car stopped at a signal, Smith drew alongside, and fired a single shot from a .410 calibre shotgun into the back seat. Bostock, sitting between the gun and Barbara Smith, took the brunt of the blast, and two hours later in hospital. He was 27. Barbara Smith suffered only superficial injuries. Leonard Smith was tried twice, pleading temporary insanity, the first trial ending in a hung jury, and in the second he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He served seven months in a mental hospital, after which he was released. Including pre-trial time spent in custody this amounted to 21 months total for the killing. Indiana state law was changed subsequently, so that those found not guilty could still be sent to prison after spending time in psychiatric care, should they no longer be considered insane. Following his release, Leonard Smith never commented on the case, lived a law-abiding life and died in 2010 of natural causes, aged 64.

I am often disdainful of our local newspaper, and I know the area has a large LGBTQ+ population, but is the death of a drag queen (with no obvious connection to the area) really deserving of a liveblog? https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/22568374.live-lgbtq-community-mourns-death-drag-race-uk-star-cherry-valentine/ Maybe all queens' lives (& deaths) are equal.

Luke Bell's death was from an accidental fentanyl overdose, according to the autopsy.

I don’t remember hearing about this https://time.com/6215318/eric-idle-pancreatic-cancer/

Its 41 years since the death of composer Harry Warren, aged 87. Born Salvatore Guaragna, to Italian immigrant parents in New York, he demonstrated an early aptitude for music, teaching himself the accordion, and playing drums professionally by age 14. By 18 he was working at the Vitagraph Motion Picture Studios, where he also played piano amongst his other, administrative, tasks. Self-taught, he was also playing in Silent-movie houses and cafes. During his time serving in the Navy he began writing songs. He was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film, with over 500 published songs appearing in over 300 films, including an 18-film collaboration with Busby Berkely. He was nominated for eleven Academy Awards for Best Song, winning three times ("Lullaby of Broadway" (1935) w. Al Dubin for Gold Diggers of 1935, "You'll Never Know" (1943) w. Mack Gordon for Hello, Frisco, Hello, and "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" (1945) w. Johnny Mercer for The Harvey Girls), and his song Chatanooga Choo-Choo (lyrics by Mack Gordon), as recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, was the first certified million-seller, in 1942. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.

It 31 years since radio and television producer Barney Colehan died. Colehan joined the Army at the outbreak of the second world war, and sent scripts to the British Forces Network, eventually becoming a producer for them. On leaving the Army he joined the BBC, producing the radio quiz Have A Go, hosted by Wilfred Pickles, personally awarding the prize money to the winning contestants, in response to the audience cries (or Pickles' prompting) of "Give him (her) the money, Barney". Moving into television, he produced the inter-town talent competition Top Town, from 1951, before his biggest success, The Good Old Days, which ran for 30 years, hosted by Leonard Sachs. He's also credited with bringing Top of the Pops to TV, as well as Its a Knockout. He was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting in 1981, retiring from the BBC in 1983, following the final broadcast of The Good Old Days. A keen golfer, he suffered a stroke whilst playing at his club, Otley, dying aged 77.

If anyone's interested, John Hamblin reported dead at 87.

Its four years since the death of writer & presenter John Cunliffe. Born and educated in Colne, Lancashire, he later moved to Kendal, Westmorland (Cumbria), which provided inspiration for the setting of his most famous creation, Postman Pat (& his black-and-white cat), Greendale being based on nearby Longsleddale. Following the success of 'Pat', Cunliffe then wrote Rosie & Jim, over which he maintained more control (having been unhappy with some of the developments surrounding Pat), which was commissioned by ITV, Cunliffe himself presenting the first 50 episodes over two series. Cunliffe died aged 85, from cardio-pulmonary failure, his death being first announced in the Ilkley Gazette: CUNLIFFE John Left his Ilkley home in a deluge of rain on Thursday, September 20, never to return. Even the skies wept for John the gifted creator of "Postman Pat", "Rosie and Jim" and author of many earlier published collections of poetry and picture story books for children. John's last poetry collection, significantly entitled "Dare You Go", has now come to fruition for John has dared to go and he has gone.

Pete Murray may or may not be 97 today. Variously his birthdates can be found as 19 September 1925, 19 September 1928 and 25 September 1925. After a stint at Radio Luxembourg, he moved to the BBC, becoming a regular on the Light Programme; he was then one of the original DJs at the opening of Radio One. His show was cancelled by the BBC in 1983 as his style was too outdated, and nothing at all to do with his appearance on BBC Breakfast time when he told viewers that "a vote for Labour was a vote for Communism; May God have mercy on your soul if you don't vote Conservative".

Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent the longest continuous period in space (437 days), has died aged 80.

No angry mob, a few folk who look as if they don't know what to so with themselves as all the amusement arcades are closed.. Plus the Queens Arms is closed again, but the Kings Arms is open.

I'm off out soon, I've got a dentist appointment

Here's the NME report. I'm not personally familiar with them but a mate of mine is a big Bellowhead fan.

Tweet from earlier this evening reporting the death of Marcello Magni. All over Facebook too. and from Complicite

A couple of evenings ago someone on Twitter recommended Patriot on Prime Video, so I thought I'd give it a look. The strange thing is, Amazon seems to think I'd already watched it (it gave me the "Watch Again" option) but I don't remember anything about it, except about 3 situations though ten episodes! Anyway, its pretty good; at certain times it reminds me of Fargo, other times its doing things that would be at home in Better Call Saul, and then again, some of the music is reminiscent of Detectorists. Season 2 still awaits.

Its 61 years since the death of Dag Hammarskjöld. An economist and diplomat from Sweden, he was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointed at the age of 47, he remains the youngest person to have held the post. He presided over the first UN peacekeeping forces (in Egypt and the Congo) and remains the only posthumous recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was described by John F. Kennedy as the "greatest statesman of our century", and is considered (along with U Thant) as one of the best two UN Secretary-Generals. He was killed in a plane crash, along with 15 other passengers & crew, in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) while en-route to negotiate a ceasefire between UN peacekeeping forces in the Congo and Katangese breakaway forces . No definitive cause of the crash has ever been established - an initial Rhodesian enquiry attributed it to pilot error; a UN investigation was indeterminate, while the US CIA said it was shot down with the KGB responsible. Former President Truman also suggested external agents were involved. Conspiracy theories have abounded ever since, with one report claiming it was shot down by the Katangese Air Force mercenaries. Hammarskjöld was 56 at the time of he is death.

From yesterday, Mike Farrell (83) & Alan Alda (86) toasting the 50th anniversary of M*A*S*H.

I've no idea what my streak was (no more than double figures, but I too, failed on this. Got a second-liner today though.

Former Daily Telegraph Equestrian Correspondent Alan Smith dead aged 89. Covered 10 Summer Olympic Games & also covered skiing at 8 Winter Olympics.

TTMC (as I believe its sometimes known) is still sitting on my bookshelf, at about 12th in line to be read. Osman is writing faster than I'm reading, currently (though that might change once winter arrives). I've currently got 3 books on the go - one book of short stories (one more story to read), one diary, which I'm reading to correspond with the actual dates, so will finish next spring, and Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which is really three books in one volume. I've read book one, two more to go. I started reading that a few years ago but it hasn't grabbed me like others he's written. Maybe it's the translation? Who knows.