The number of stories I saw over the weekend that were “Tom Leher was the first interview I had when working for my college paper/radio station and…” was remarkable.
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RTE news : Broadcaster and actor Seán Rocks dies aged 63
Am shocked and saddened to hear this. Iconic voice of Irish radio and supporter of the arts and creativity.
I met him once after a gig, real gentleman with an interest in everyone who spoke to him.
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Rest in eternal peace. Ziad Rahbani
He was Lebanon’s most brilliant minds, celebrated composer and musician. Ziad Rahbani wasn’t just a musical genius, he was a poet/playwright, he reshaped the culture through art and brutal honesty on the civil war in Lebanon. He gave the words to what so many felt but couldn’t say, and created something real in a country that often ran on fantasy.
Ziad reintroduced his mother, living musical legend Fairouz to a new generation, using Jazz, Classical Arabic and Tarab, a sound never before heard in the Arab world. He is a huge loss in the Arab world and beyond the borders.
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He wrote wonderful books which I read to my daughter and now reading to my grandchildren.
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RIP Sam Backo. Stalwart QLD and Canberra Raiders Rugby League player and longstanding Indigenous Rights campaigner.
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Stella Rimington, the former MI5 director has died. She was quite notable as one of the first women in a senior role of a security agency, and also a model for Judy Dench’s portrayal of “M” in the James Bond films.
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RIP Suleiman al-Obeid - the ‘Palestinian Pele’.
Yet another who was killed by Israeli forces as they attack civilians waiting for humanitarian aid
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Apollo 13’s commander, Jim Lovell, has died:
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And just to add to this Mo has come out:
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The long time Blue Peter producer Biddy Baxter has died:
Back when I watched Blue Peter as a kid, she was one of the few backroom staff from BBC programmes that I was aware of. Apparently, she had something of a reputation for being rather authoritarian. I spoke to Peter Purves a few years ago and said that there was one occasion that he had to change his shirt at the last minute and forgot to put his Blue Peter badge on. She gave him a severe ticking off in front of the rest of the production crew.
The only thing that you could say, is that kind of attention to detail always came over on the screen. It was very professional looking for what was always a live TV broadcast.
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Was on an 8 hr road trip today to take my lad to college. Move in day is tomorrow for him. Just got dinner and now chilling at the air b&b Mrs ROTW booked for us on Route 66. As is often the case, I stick Radio 2 on in the car on a road trip as I love the connection with home, even as we were driving across three Midwest states.
One of the programs I listened to had Janet Ellis as a guest and she was sharing a lot of Blue Peter stories, and the attention to detail, especially in replying to letters from children, was deeply impressive. It was all indexed and logged, so if the child wrote again - and many did - they would know what was covered before and could meaningfully continue the conversation. Form letters were not the done thing.
It was lovely hearing about it all, and it made me proud of my roots.
Biddy Baxter was behind all that, setting the standards. RIP. A great lady behind a great British institution from my childhood.
I remember Shep the dog and later John Noakes and those presenters with him, and then Simon and Goldie, but not too much after that as I was off to uni and growing up, so you lose touch with it.
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Sounds like a right old biddy…
Sorry the joke was too good to pass RIP.
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That definitely was the case. I had a brief secondment at the BBC in 2011 when they were moving to Salford, and one task I had was transferring their database of badge winners. It was all very meticulous.
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The actor Terence Stamp has died:
All of the obituaries appear to refer to him as General Zod from Superman. It’s probably what gave him international fame, but he had so many to pick from. I suppose it’s surprising that someone with such a statuesque face didn’t have more leading man roles.
Anyway, my personal favourite was “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. An absolutely bonkers film.
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Brilliant but small role in Young Guns.
Great actor, RIP
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Watched many clips of this guy and read about his background…
What a thoroughly nice human being he was…
RIP Frank Caprio
‘Nicest judge in the world’ dies after cancer diagnosis
A US judge who amassed a huge online fan base via clips of his compassion in the courtroom has died.
Frank Caprio was on the bench at a court in Providence, Rhode Island, for almost four decades.
He became affectionately known as the “nicest judge in the world”, NBC Boston reported, after viral videos of him handing out justice with a smile were viewed more than a billion times on social media.
The latter years of his career, which ended in 2023, were documented in the TV show Caught In Providence.
A statement on Wednesday on his Instagram page, which had 3.2 million followers, said he had died aged 88 “after a long and courageous battle with pancreatic cancer”.
It said he was “beloved for his compassion, humility, and unwavering belief in the goodness of people”.
He had posted a message from his hospital bed the day before, saying: “Unfortunately I’ve had a setback, I’m back in the hospital now, and I’m coming to you again asking you to remember me in your prayers once more.”
Caprio’s persona was at odds with my fellow TV judges, who were less sympathetic and more confrontational.
In one popular clip, he dismissed a traffic ticket handed to a bartender who skipped a red light, as they were only earning less than $4 (£2.97) an hour.
Another saw him listening sympathetically to a woman whose son had been killed, before dismissing her tickets and fines which had totalled $400 (£297).
Caprio also used his fame to speak out about inequality in the justice system.
“Almost 90% of low-income Americans are forced to battle civil issues like health care, unjust evictions, veterans benefits and, yes, even traffic violations, alone,” he said in one video.
After his death was announced, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee paid tribute to his “warmth and compassion”.
“He was more than a jurist - he was a symbol of empathy on the bench, showing us what is possible when justice is tempered with humanity,” he said.
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Sending out toots