Vinegar Tits

Sad news. I liked Dr Dressler.

I didn't realise the members of Bogart Co. were that old! Or was he older than the rest of them? Sad news anyway - my sister had a Finnish penpal and I remember them sending a couple of tapes, amongst them Bogart Co., which was probably the best out of them.

Seems a bit obvious to say 'another part of my childhood gone' but... I loved Fingerbobs, it was such a simple premise but Yoffy/Rick Jones brought it to life. RIP.

That's sad news, though not a surprise. I used to post on a forum where one of The Delays was a regular - can't remember if it was Greg but whoever he was he was a nice chap.

John Challis has died. Sheila Ferguson has announced it on Twitter. Explains why he pulled out of public engagements the other week. Ah, didn't realise there was a dedicated OFAH thread. As you were.

If TOTP was good enough for Bowie and Bolan it was good enough for the Banshees was their reckoning. Which I thoroughly agree with. It was only the silly old Clash who purposely refused, the Sex Pistols weren't allowed on it.

Pffft. Siouxsie And The Banshees never sold out.

We haven't done this for a while so here's my picks for most significant deaths of 2021 so far: JANUARY - Phil Spector (honorable mention to Larry King) FEBRUARY - Captain Tom (yes, it really ought to be Christopher Plummer, but...) MARCH - Murray Walker (honorable mentions to Peter Lorimer/Bunny Wailer) APRIL - Prince Philip. Will probably be the most significant death of 2021 (honorable mentions to Shirley Williams/Michael Collins) MAY - Norman Lloyd (v tempted to put Freddy from Rod, Jane & Freddy to be honest) JUNE - Kenneth Kaunda (honorable mentions to Ned Beatty/Edward De Bono) JULY - Raffaella Carrà. Yes, I'm biased, but this was a seriously *huge* death (honorable mentions to Jackie Mason/Tom O'Connor/Andy Fordham) AUGUST - Charlie Watts (tough one as also Una Stubbs Don Everly, Gerd Müller, Nanci Griffith, Lee Scatch Perry, Ed Asner. Am v tempted to say Geronimo the alpaca too...) SEPTEMBER (so far) - Jean-Paul Belmondo (honorable mentions to Sarah Harding/Michael K Williams) OK argue, do your worst, maybe even agree!

Nancy Olsen looks to be the last remaing cast member of Sunset Boulevard, though there's a question mark over Gerry Ganzer (last credit 1952), Roy Thompson (says on IMDB he appeared in Neighbours in the 90s but I suspect it's a different actor) and Emmett Smith (last credit 1962).

First of the band to die, which for 60s psychedelic bands is not a bad innings at all.

My favourite Darts song. Loved it in 1978, still love it now. That was such an amazing time in the charts - Take A Chance On Me Figaro, Sorry I'm A Lady, Wuthering Heights, Denis, Baker Street, all within a few weeks. Always interesting to see who gets the love on Twitter during the TOTP repeats - the main ones seemed to be Darts, Liquid Gold and Imagination. All three seemed to have the time of their lives and had a ball.

So I guess the Rolling Stones are now essentially The Mick N Keef Show. I presume Charlie's death is connected to what he underwent that emergency op for. Really sad news, a huge death and I'm really surprised it isn't getting more coverage on the news - I suppose Biden's continuing Afghanistan cock-up is dominating. Really sad news, seemed a good guy. To clear up a few little points earlier in the thread, I agree 1940s pop stars (and late 30s/40s-born actors) are the next big DP thing. Never mind the excesses of the 60s and 70s, they're simply all getting on in age. However, unless they are known to have an illness they're currently pot luck - any of them could just pop off out of the blue. I do think some rock n roll excesses are overestimated, as said by a few people here. However, as also stated, quality of product is important too. You can quite happily maintain a heroin addiction for many years and with little fuss with a decent supply and being careful with dosing. Keef was already rich and with access to the best people with the best connections by the time he dabbled with smack (Robert Fraser, Miles, John Dunbar - the Indica Gallery types - plus minor aristocracy like the Ormsby-Gores). His real rock bottom was 1977 and the Toronto drugs bust - most of the stories of excess after that are almost certainly, if straight up untrue, then exaggerated to maintain the myth. Re Jefferson Airplane - they used to get their acid direct from Owsley Stanley; there was no better source! I still think Grace Slick will outlive the lot of them, in much the same way that I suspect David Crosby will be the last CSNY to fall. Sod's law and all that. Crosby was by far more of a reckless intoxicant pig than Grace - she was always fairly cautious (didn't touch heroin, for example) and she's on record as saying, even with drink she was a binger more than anything, she could go months without doing anything but when she did indulge it was to excess and often resulted in bad behaviour. We often think of Grace as being the main hedonist of the Airplane but Jorma Kaukonen's drug intake was far, far riskier to himself. As for real rock n roll casualties, other than the usual names (Ozzy, Steven Adler) I'd mention John Frusciante, who was really down and out for years. Stevie Wright (Easybeats) was a complete wreck by the time he died. Joe Walsh seems to be somewhat damaged too, he certainly doesn't come across as all there in interviews even today.

Bob Fish, main lead singer of Darts, has died

Bloody hell, that's a bit of a shocker. Didn't know she was ill. Sad news, even though she did introduce 'From A Distance' to the world.

Sad news, but time to drag out my anecdote. While she was starring in She Stoops To Conquer at Bradford Alhambra she stopped me in the centre of town and asked for directions to M&S, which I duly give her. She was nice and not as fragile looking as she often appeared on screen.