Charles Exford writes:
Here’s the list of “curse of HMHB” victims in order of how long they outlived being mentioned on the records.
This list was compiled after many hours of work by Tony Blews on the HMHB Yahoo Group, with a little help from his friends on there, and we’ll try to keep it up here now.
Before suggesting anybody else, please do check when they died in relation to the earliest release of that particular song. It’s not much of a curse if they were already dead. And please don’t ask questions like “Is so-and-so dead?” in this thread. That would get very tedious too. Look them up yerself and make sure they are dead before suggesting. MAKE SURE THEY’RE DEAD. And don’t leave any evid… (sorry that bit was from another message I need to send).
Other rules: members of groups, teams or organisations mentioned do not count. Yes we know about 8 members of Buena Vista Social Club have died since that august company was mentioned, but it still doesn’t count ‘cos there have been dozens of them over the years. And that one out of Motley Crue died before they were mentioned anyway. Unfortunately.
Abandoned footy grounds, demolished gig venues, defunct companies or discontinued brands don’t count on this list either. Though do feel free to start your own list for those. Note that the list contains both a royal, a pontiff and a premier: a nice hat-trick. Lech Walesa will one day add a president to the illustrious pantheon.
Talking of hat-tricks, I note that the list also contains the only Wembley FA Cup final hat-trick scorer, the only man to score 2 European Cup final hat-tricks, a man highly skilled in rabbit-from-a-hat tricks and the man who decided Brazil could keep the World Cup after their hat-trick.
Savile, Jimmy
first mentioned 07/10/1985 – died 29/10/2011
outliving the curse by 26 years and 22 days
Ganley, Len
first mentioned 07/10/1985 – died 28/08/2011
25 years and 325 days
Titmus, Fred
07/10/1985 – 23/03/2011
25 years and 167 days
Thatcher, Margaret
29/06/1998 – 08/04/2013
24 years and 283 days
Bongo, Ali
07/10/1985 – 08/03/2009
23 years and 152 days
Kitt, Eartha
07/10/1985 – 25/12/2008
23 years and 79 days
Bastable, Tony
07/10/1985 – 25/05/2007
21 years and 230 days
Puskas, Ferenc
??/01/1986 – 17/11/2006
c.20 years and 300 days
Houston, Whitney
??/10/1991 – 11/02/2012
c.20 years and 120 days
Farm, George
??/01/1986 – 18/07/2004
c.19 years and 180 days
Quinn, Harry
??/10/1991 – 1/10/2009
c.18 years
Hird, Thora
07/10/1985 – 15/03/2003
17 years and 159 days
Hassell, Sven
??/06(?)/1995 – 21/09/2012
c.17 years and 90 days
Mount, Peggy
07/10/1985 – 13/11/2001
16 years and 37 days
Wolstenholme, Kenneth
03/03/1986* – 25/03/2002
16 years and 22 days
Moore, Brian
08/09/1986* – 01/09/2001
14 years and 358 days
Shankar, Ravi
29/06/1998 – 11/12/2012
14 years and 165 days
Roddick, Anita
25/10/1993 – 10/09/2007
13 years and 320 days
Vandross, Luther
??/10/1991 – 01/07/2005
c.13 years and 260 days
Gubba, Tony
25/04/2000 – 11/03/2013
12 years and 320 days
Hull, Rod
08/09/1986* – 17/03/1999
12 years and 190 days
Vine, David
02/02/1997 – 11/01/2009
11 years and 344 days
Spencer, Di
??/01/1986 – 31/08/1997
c.11 years and 230 days
Beefheart, Captain
25/04/2000 – 17/12/2010
10 years and 236 days
Most, Mickey
25/10/1993 – 30/05/2003
9 years and 217 days
Ball, Ernie
??/06(?)/1995 – 09/09/2004
c.9 years and 90 days
“Harry The Dog”
25/10/1993 – 09/08/2002
8 years and 290 days
Rayner, Claire
04/08/2003 – 11/10/2010
7 years and 68 days
Todd, Bob
07/10/1985 – 21/10/1992
7 years and 14 days
Haley, Alex
03/03/1986* – 10/02/1992
5 years and 344 days
Mortensen, Stanley
??/01/1986 – 22/05/1991
c.5 years and 130 days
Jackson, Gordon
07/10/1985 – 15/01/1990
4 years and 100 days
Yashin, Lev
??/01/1986 – 20/03/1990
c.4 years and 60 days
Pope JP2
25/06/2001 – 02/04/2005
3 years and 281 days
Queen Mother, The
29/06/1998 – 30/03/2002
3 years and 274 days
Monopoly, Tony
??/10/1991 – 21/03/1995
c.3 years and 160 days
Gerulaitis, Vitas
??/10/1991 – 17/09/1994
c.2 years and 340 days
Dali, Salvador
08/09/1986* – 23/01/1989
2 years and 138 days
Savalas, Telly
??/10/1991 – 22/01/1994
c.2 years and 100 days
Lee, Arthur
26/09/2004 – 03/08/2006
1 year and 311 days
Warhol, Andy
07/10/1985 – 22/02/1987
1 year and 138 days
Rushton, Willie
05/08/1995* – 18/08/1996
1 year and 13 days
Moult, Ted
20/11/1985* – 03/09/1986
287 days
Rous, Stanley
??/01/1986 – 18/07/1986
c.180 days
*Peel session dates have been given, if these preceded the particular track going on sale.
Matt
Based on the above, is it possible to produce a list of predictions of people’s deaths who are still alive and have been mentioned in HMHB songs?
I think this information is vital. Full statistical analysis please!
29 October 2010
John Anderson
T for Thatcher God willing.
29 October 2010
Chris The Siteowner
Major revision, Nov 2010: Claire Rayner added; dates recalculated to account for confirmed “Back In The DHSS” release date; some dates recalculated to use Peel session dates if these preceded the particular track going on sale; some manual recounts.
4 November 2010
Scott
No mention of Rob Fisher (Ballad of Climie Fisher)? I think he lasted about two weeks after Nigel had written the lyric. Someone should know the timelines involved.
8 November 2010
BrumBiscuit
@Scott: I thought that too, but did some research a while ago and discovered:
“Now, I could’ve sworn that (Rob) Fisher’s death was post-Trouble over Bridgwater, but disappointingly he shuffled off this mortal coil exactly eight months prior to that – 25/8/1999 and 25/4/2000 respectively.”
Wikipedia says he died following bowel surgery, which considering the shite he produced is very fitting.
8 November 2010
Bobby String
Alas, the curse of Blackwell strikes again!
“Avant-garde musician and visual artist Don Van Vliet, who performed under the name Captain Beefheart, has died aged 69. Van Vliet died of complications from multiple sclerosis at a hospital in Northern California, it was reported.”
Ô¿Ô
18 December 2010
Charles Exford
A Christmassy poem by Captain Beefheart
A Tin Peened Reindeer
A tin peened reindeer
Metalically hoofed on glass
Scorched cotton snowmen edged the corners
Flesh coloured powder mountains
Yellow lights melts cobwebbed articles
Vague wire tunnels resembling
Peeled flesh caterpillers
Housing very tiny red Christmas tree lights
The Nativity scene
Re-enacted in Ivory soap
A bone shade from age complete
With tiny straw manger
The Christ child its face replaced by an elephant’s head
Intricate lace cups each ear and bands the trunk
18 December 2010
Bobby String
10 years 236 days is not a bad innings compared to some who suffered the Biro of Blackwell (a sort of musical version of the Sword of Damocles). To my eternal shame (considering I was born in 1962 and therefore had plenty time) I never in my life heard a single Captain Beefheart track. Now I’ll have to go and find some and see what I was missing!
Ô¿Ô
18 December 2010
Bobby String
According to the duly added data in red he won’t die for at least another 10 years so that has to be some kind of record!
Yours sincerely
A.Nitpicking-Pedant
Ô¿Ô
Thanks – Ed
18 December 2010
Bobby String
Just a thought, Ed, but do you include band members in the above list? For instance, ELO get a mention in the same song as Captain Beefheart and I know at least one member of the band is brown bread, just can’t remember which one. Or do we have to wait for the whole band to die, perhaps in a Jim Reeves style plane crashing into a mountain scenario? Just wondered.
Ô¿Ô
21 December 2010
Chris The Siteowner
Before Charles sees that and writes anything so cutting it’ll saw teh interwebs in half, I’ll draw attention to paragraph 4, rule 1 above. And leave it right there.
21 December 2010
Bobby String
Yeah, good point, I should put my brain in gear before going anywhere near a keyboard!!! As a bit of a computer geek I often ask clients “Did you RTFM?” so maybe I should take my own advice now and again.
Mr. Exford, please feel free to let me have a full (Vatican) broadside if you wish, it will be thoroughly deserved!
Ô¿Ô
22 December 2010
Bobby String
Whilst posting a thread on antoher music forum, asking for lists of non-HMHB songs that mention other bands / musicians, I discovered that Joe Strummer also had a Nigel-type premonition. ’1977′, the B-side of ‘White Riot’ contains the line “No Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones in 1977″. It was released in March 1977, a full five months before the demise of the “burger-eating king of rock ‘n’ roll”. However, with the exception of Lennon and Harrison the others are, to the best of my knowledge, still alive and Strummer, of course, is dead, so his curse perhaps wasn’t as strong as Nigel’s!
Ô¿Ô
18 February 2011
Groucho Merckx
Conny Plank is now also deceased… he shall nevermore require a strobe.
1 March 2011
Charles Exford
Well he certainly was deceased 3½ years before his PBR, so I trust he still is.
The man, of course, who when Eno suggested a collaboration, refused to produce U2′s “The Joshua Tree” because “I can’t work with this singer”. Nuff respect
1 March 2011
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
I’m tempted to put in a claim.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12751227
But the prior trip around Katharine Hamnett’s warehouse, will probably tell us a different story.
In which case I will claim the pedant of the week award ‘cos that David Emanuel is a single ‘m’.
http://davidemanuel.com/home/
Whilst the recently deceased one is a double ‘m’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley_Culture
So the lyrics of A Country Practice need to lose one letter or we need to acknowledge that Badmouth has struck again.
16 March 2011
murf
RIP Fred Titmuss
23 March 2011
chedgzooy
Fuckin’ ell
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/9433563.stm
RIP Fred
23 March 2011
Nick Howe
Fucking hell, it’s Fred Titmuss.
23 March 2011
nigel, no not that one (n3to)
@Murf
“One ‘s’ in Titmus, there’s only one ‘s’ in Titmus…”
23 March 2011
Ben
Rather randomly I once spotted the now late Fred Titmuss in Hemel Hempstead in 1981! I’m afraid I didn’t say “Fucking Hell – it’s Fred Titmuss” I think I may have uttered – “Ooh look, is that Fred Titmuss?” He was wearing his Middlesex CC v-neck pullover at the time, which helped to confirm the celebrity spot!
Anyway – RIP Mr Titmuss!
23 March 2011
murf
F*ckin Ell there’s only one S in Titmus!
(although I had heard Abi likes a second one in there……)
PS Does Liz Taylor count as she starred in the film version of Who’s afraid Of Virginia Wade?????
23 March 2011
TWO FAT FEET
That must put Fred top of the list? A momentous day, for maybe not the right reasons.
23 March 2011
Toerag
Letter in today’s Guardian points out omission of HMHB track mention from Fred Titmus’ obituary. His family are no doubt relieved that the balance has been redressed. Apparently he was some kind of cricketer.
26 March 2011
Treadmore
Eddie Stobart (who’s been referenced live):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-12923203
31 March 2011
TWO FAT FEET
I know this one doesn’t count except as a tenuous footnote, but Sidney Lumet, the director of Equus [On The Buses], died the other day.
11 April 2011
Sawbo
As an incredibly pedantic man I feel compelled to point out that George Farm died at the relatively ripe old age of 80, not 19. (13/07/1924 – 18/07/2004)
Also the Oi! revival never eally took off….does that count?
20 April 2011
TWO FAT FEET
You could easily apply that to all the other entries on the list – it’s how long they outlived the curse, not how old they were when they died.
20 April 2011
SAWBO
That’s true but, like I said, I’m an incredibly pedantic man!
28 April 2011
Phillip Wright
Sadly, Len Ganley is no longer with us.
28 August 2011
2 Chevrons
Confirmation that Len is no longer in need of the white gloves…
28 August 2011
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
No no no no, no more Locomotion.
This puts Len top of the pile at 25 years and 325 days.
28 August 2011
2 Chevrons
With 90 Bisodol (Crimond) almost upon us, I bet there are a few people shitting themselves. Possibly a builder from Hackney among them.
29 August 2011
Charles Exford
Len Ganley, may he pass the long rest in peace, makes Back in the DHSS the first Biscuit album with a curse tally into double figures. Its surviving nominees can however at least comfort themselves that this album also now occupies all of the top 5 spots for post-curse longevity.
29 August 2011
Toerag
BBC news site records of Len..
“His cult status was officially confirmed when the Merseyside post-punk band Half Man Half Biscuit penned a song about him, The Len Ganley Stance.”
So its official!
29 August 2011
gordo
The Belfast Telegraph not only mentioned it, but put a YouTube link at the bottom of their article.
29 August 2011
TWO FAT FEET
It’s fair to say that anyone from the first album who cops it will automatically go to the top of the table. Those from later albums really need to cling on for at least a year or two after every last one of them has gone to see the great gig in the sky if they wish to take their place at the top.
30 August 2011
TWO FAT FEET
Looking forward to seeing Eric Hall in this list VERY VERY soon.
28 September 2011
waldron76
You seem to be missing Johnny Kwango, from Prag Vec At The Melkweg – he died January 19th, 1994. Also, would Maharishi Mahesh Yogi count from Ready Steady Goa? If so he died February 5th, 2008.
2 October 2011
Alarming Svarc
Rather ironically I think you are missing Alex Haley from carry on cremating
11 October 2011
Charles Exford
Jimmy Saville always relished announcing a new entry at number one – 7/10/85 – 29/10/11 = 26 years and 22 days, fixed it for himself to go straight to the top.
29 October 2011
Steve Nicholls
St Peter: About this asterisk, Sir Jimmy….
29 October 2011
Charles Exford
Hmm. Not sure about adding any dodgy honorific titles not mentioned in the lyrics. Quite a few of the others on the list have been awarded, or inherited, such honorifics but this would not seem to be a band who approve of them or the institutions that confer them.
30 October 2011
John Anderson
Though not mentioned by name, Bob Holness has died. He’ll be missed more than the handclapping sequence. RI.
6 January 2012
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
Apparently Harry the Dog died several years ago.
Stumbled on this devastating news today; it completely passed me by at the time. What time, I don’t know as all internet mentions I can find are a bit vague as to the when. Seems to have been a few years prior to 2007 but I’m not sure how you can use this temporal vagary to place him in the list.
BTW, this little Youtube clip shows a few seconds of the delightful chap from about 1:50. I thought he was the hardest man in the world when I was 14. That’s an ominous example of the power of TV.
12 January 2012
Paul Rodgers (Crimond)
Whitney’s gone.
11 Feb 2012 American time I believe.
Houston no longer has a drug problem.
12 February 2012
STEVE NICHOLLS
The most distressing thing about Whitney’s death is, through this column, to have it confirmed that it is 20 Years since McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt was released.
20 February 2012
MIKE IN COV
No-one, whatever their taste in music, can have wanted this curse (from £24,99 From Argos) to work its malevolence.
2 July 2012
MIKE IN COV
I wasn’t aware of the Radiohead reference in On Passing Lilac Urine, so my earlier post fits that also.
10 July 2012
New York Skiffler
Stapeley Water Gardens have gone bust!
18 July 2012
Chigley Skin
^^^ A nice day out, but best to take a £10,000 donation?
18 July 2012
Washboard Overnight
Peter Glaze must be about 200!? Also, The Outdoor Group (including Millets) are in administration.
25 September 2012
John Burscough
@WO: Peter Glaze passed away in 1983, unfortunately, aged 65 (10 years before This Leaden Pall was released, so not on the TNLINOST list).
26 September 2012
Charles Exford
Which reminds me to reply to Vendor (comment 45 above) that Harry the Dog (real name David Triggs!) went to the great Den in the sky on 9th August 2002, as posted by his son on a Millwall forum.
25/10/93 – 9/8/02 gives him 8 years 9 months 15 days or so, a comfortable if not exactly respectable top twenty entry.
26 September 2012
vendor of quack nostrums
Mid-table mediocrity. Quite apt really.
26 September 2012
Charles Exford
Just found out that Sven Hassell*, aged 95 (so for a long time the obvious pick in the “who’s next?” sweepstake), finally joined Harry the Dog in the fiery pit last Friday… I was away at a festival, so seem to have missed the obits.
??/06(?)/1995 – 21/9/12 = approx 17 years & 3 months, slipping into the legion of the damned between Thora Hird and Peggy Mount.
(*Sven’s real name my well have been Børge Villy Redsted Pedersen …though he denied it)
I was just trying to check my immediate impression that Sven’s exit leaves his fellow survivor of both fronts Bert Trautmann (89 next month) and then Thatcher (87 next month) as the oldest extant cursees -anyone know any different? Bert’s still looking a lot fitter than Maggie on his regular appearances at Man City games so here’s hoping she’s next, eh?!
26 September 2012
Washboard Overnight
By virtue of Reasons to be Miserable the late great Ian Dury surely qualifies, albeit at one remove?
27 September 2012
Charles Exford
As a follow-up to Steve’s comment & mine both last October (42 & 43 above), can we get rid of the ‘Sir’ Jimmy now please? It looks out of place.
Surely we won’t be putting ‘Lady Margaret’ when she gets hers?
And if the Lady id for titling, then Di Spencer’s ghost will be well miffed. Not to mention Stanley Rous’. He might come in. To our houses. To search for bootlegs off YouTube. And demand his title.
2 October 2012
John Burscough
As might Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. And Kenneth Wolstenholme, DFC & Bar.
2 October 2012
Chris The Siteowner
Charles: if Mercy Rimell is still with us (and in the absence of any reported unfortunate news, she appears to be), then she is 93.
3 October 2012
Charles Exford
Hi Chris,
Harry the Dog still needs to be added – see post 54 above. I am convinced of the date – no reason for his son not to be telling the truth – it wasn’t somebody claiming to be his son answering a question on the Millwall Forum, it was a new thread (“8 years ago today since my dad Harry the Dog went to the great Den in the sky”), and it does fit in with other “died a few years ago” posts about him on football forums in the mid-to-late noughties.
8 October 2012
Mr Galbraith
Just heard of the sad demise of Ravi Shankar at the age of 92. Honourable passing mention of him in Ready Steady Goa from FLWSTW. It’s 6.40am and only been up for 40 minutes (I don’t want a medal though) so my bleary reckoning makes that about 14 years? Over to you, Chris…
12 December 2012
John Burscough
RIP Ravi (and see RSG comment 16 re the Maharishi while you’re at it, Chris).
12 December 2012
Mathematically_Safe
Look’s like Stringy Bob’s been missed too? Although it it may or not be a cliche, I’d like to wish you all a merry xmas…
24 December 2012
BrumBiscuit
Stringy Bob passed away a couple of years ago…
26 December 2012
Paddy
Poor old Tony Gubba
11 March 2013
Gordo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/21740038
11 March 2013
Mark C
Bloody Hell Paddy – that was quick. Is it wrong that my first thought on hearing the news was to look for this article?
11 March 2013
Gordo
it was the first thing I thought of when a colleague told me of the news
11 March 2013
EMERGING FROM GORSE
If only they’d mention old Bacon Face, manager of the scum, in one of their songs. Oh how we’d laugh if he became a victim.
11 March 2013
BrumBiscuit
Paul Lambert?
11 March 2013
Alan
@ Mark C
Same here.
11 March 2013
Chris The Siteowner
12 years and 320 days.
“When I walk towards the light
Something somewhere won’t be right”
Only the second to go from “Trouble Over Bridgwater”, after Capt. Beefheart. Which still leaves us with Luis Arconada, Michael Ball, Joël Bats, Joseph-Antoine Bell, Bonnie Prince Billy, Hamilton Bland, Simon Climie, Chris de Burgh, Bob Dylan, Peter Frampton, Daryl Hall, Mary-Anne Hobbs, Katrina Leskanich, Meat Loaf, Steve Madden, Thurston Moore, Giorgio Moroder, Neil Morrissey, Charles Nove, John Oates, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Vreni Schneider, Patti Smith, Sly Stone and Carol Vorderman, several of whom wouldn’t be missed as much as Tony Gubba…
11 March 2013
Peter Gandy
Third casualty of TOB: Rob Fisher too.
12 March 2013
Peter Gandy
…or was he already dead when the album came out?
12 March 2013
Chris the sIteowner
Yep, a pre-emptive strike from the popsters; HMHB fell foul of the Curse Of Climie Fisher, which is ironic. See the very first comments at the top of this page.
12 March 2013
Paul F
Does Noel Edmonds not count then? (Comment 73)
12 March 2013
Jim Wickham (NOW IN THE BAY OF BENGAL)
Or Vanessa Feltz? (Comment 73)
14 March 2013
Paul F
Whereas the line “You’re a dead man Fisher” might be seen as the exact opposite of ironic.
14 March 2013
Exxo
I wanted to be the first in here to kick her rotting corpse into the baying crowd behind the goal
All the obvious songs on the playlist here but Attila the Stockbroker’s. “Maggots 1 Maggie 0″ is one track you may not all have.Look it up on the web or something and enjoy.
Curse stats will follow from somebody more temperate I’m sure.
8 April 2013
EMERGING FROM GORSE
Beat me to it Exxo. After backing the 2nd and 3rd in the National (and losing out on £hundreds to a 66/1 rag made it all the more galling), that’s really put a smile on my face again.
Just need Fergie to croak on the touchline tonight for the best win double in history!
8 April 2013
ACIDIC REGULATOR
You beat me minutes only @Exxo.
Thatcher, Margaret. 13 Oct 25 – 8 Apr 13. 24 years and 283 days since A Country Practice (29 Jun 88) by my calculation.
Songs of funereal tribute by The Not Sensibles and Alan Dean.
As Dylan nearly said, “And I’ll dance on your grave now I’m sure that you’re dead.”
8 April 2013
Nige
Sad day for us southerners who like to see the great unwashed northern hoi-polloi kept in their place
Can I take my tongue out of my cheek now?
8 April 2013
BrumBiscuit
Maggots 1 Maggie 0 taken down off YouTube. Bastards!!!
What is the opposite of National Shite Day?
8 April 2013
Exxo
Good recording here, someway down this list of Attila classics. Partyyyyyyyy:
http://www.reverbnation.com/attilathestockbroker/songs
8 April 2013
ACIDIC REGULATOR
In her own words.
8 April 2013
Exxo
Some more songs for a party today.
http://dingdongdead.org.uk/
Best just avoid mainstream media for a fortnight I think. It’s all my arse. State f*cking funeral! Was planning to go Tranmere’s next match but it’s odds-on that a minute’s silence will be respected there. If anyone needs me, I’ll be with some like-minded people and 5 gallons of homebrew.
8 April 2013
Duchess of Westminster
Mother Knows Best. Richard Thompson and his “tribute”.
I have been off the booze for a month but tonight I am intending to party till dawn.
8 April 2013
Chris the siteowner
On hols at the moment – will update the list when I get a moment. Despite being a few thousand miles from home, I heard the news while standing in a bus queue behind a family of Liverpudlian origin, where the mother was remonstrating with her menfolk: “Look, I disliked what she stood for as much as yous lot, but it’s disgraceful to say you’re glad that someone’s died. And as for people like Stevie G sayin’ they’re going out partying tonight, well, they really should know better.” I don’t think she convinced any of them, to be honest. And it was odd that although she didn’t actually say *who* had just died, I knew…
8 April 2013
Sober Chiropodist
Not Forgetting Elvis.
Got this typed before the Champagne hits.
8 April 2013
ACIDIC REGULATOR
Stealing from an on-line friend (you know who you are @k) – “Witch” with a capital ‘B’.
8 April 2013
vendor of quack nostrums
Ref: comment 82.
Thatcher, Margaret. 13 Oct 25 – 8 Apr 13. 24 years and 283 days since A Country Practice (29 Jun 88) by my calculation.
ACP released June 98 so subtract 10 years from the milk snatchers curse survival stats. I don’t care if it was warm from sitting in the morning sun until playtime, it was mine by rights and its removal taught this 10 year old that Tories always punish the working man (or in this case, boy).
9 April 2013
Dr Desperate
And not forgetting Martin Carthy.
9 April 2013
ACIDIC REGULATOR
An American friend of mine has asked an apposite question on Yahoo! Answers. Feel the lovvve…
9 April 2013
Paul F
Shame she couldn’t have hung on another 14 months and been back together with her beloved Jimmy at the top of the list. But well done to CNN for using a picture of the two of them together to illustrate her demise.
9 April 2013
Little Eve
Saw that picture of Savile and Thatcher, now I know where Nadine Dorries came from.
13 May 2013
BrumBiscuit
Bill Pertwee has croaked, so does he count as Warden Hodges?
27 May 2013
Warden Hodges
I would say so , yes.
Another name to the list.
27 May 2013
Charles Exford (sTill in HALF CENTURY CELEBRATION MODE, IN FACT ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED REALLY)
Yes, and thrice yes. It just seems meet, right, and our bounden duty that he should be included – as Warden Hodges (Bill Pertwee). Rather than the other way round.
27 May 2013
cyclops
dammit, missed out on the sweepstake at work ……..again
27 May 2013
CHRIS THE SITEOWNER (ON HIS OWN HALF-CENTURY TOUR)
Hmmm, anyone think this might be a dangerous path? Who next? Derek Jacobi because he played Cadfael? Whoever was Wally out of Crossroads? We might have a whole lot more research to do.
27 May 2013
BrumBiscuit
I think this is a special case. Apart from some radio work, Pertwee was so typecast as Warden Hodges that he was one and the same. I do take your point though and am not personally that bothered, which was why I put the question. He won’t exactly be jumping to the top of the league, anyway.
28 May 2013
vendor of quack nostrums
We could end up on a very sticky wicket indeed if we leave this particular pitch uncovered. Whilst I can see the logic of including those who carry their bats, such as William Roach, or those who occupy the crease for significant periods of time, like Bill Pertwee, I think we are heading down the corridor of uncertainty if we include ferrets, rabbits and nightwatchmen (what about the bloke who drums in The Bootleg Beatles when the real Beatles drummer calls a full house – to quote some Ringo bingo lingo).
To put it in simple terms, don’t include the trundlers, the dibbly dobblers or the pie-chuckers, but only those who can bowl a good line and length, who come up with the occasional jaffa or who have an in-swinging Yorker or wrong-un up their sleeve.
Problem solved. Move on.
Congrats on nurdling one to fine leg to bring up your 50 btw.
28 May 2013
Third Rate Les
I always thought Bill Pertwee was that chap who played Dr Who and Wurzel Gummidge. It turns out he was a distant cousin.
I share Chris’s slippery slope concerns. Mainly because I have a strong dislike of Derek Jacobi (as he’s a fairly prominent “Shakespeare must have been written by someone who went to a nice school” snob). I have never even been to The Globe because it’s full of those idiots too.
However, the “we might have a whole lot more research” to do objection swayed me the other way. It’s nice to have lots of research to do about such weighty matters rather than, say, work. So yes, put Warden Hodges on there, and Wally Out Of Crossroads too.
28 May 2013
Charles Exford (sTill in HALF CENTURY CELEBRATION MODE, IN FACT ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED REALLY)
The mannequin was not ‘Dressed up as Dads Army,’ therefore we surely need have no worries about having to include Derek Jacobi, even as an eponymous character.
Off the top of me head v. few characters from shows & films are actually named in the lyrics. It’s surely quite a short list, though obviously not one I can be arsed making right now.
28 May 2013
Gordo
other than being referred to as Jim(will you fix it for me) did “Jimmy Saville” get mentioned by name in a song? If not then I think Warden Hodges is as synonymous with Bill Pertwee as “Jim will you fix it for me?” is with Jimmy Saville and should count even if that does irk the purists
28 May 2013
Buzz Killington
If you want to be pedantic (form a queue), warden Hodges ‘as a person’ isn’t mentioned.
It’s a “mannequin dressed up as Warden Hodges”
Just saying, like
28 May 2013
Dr Desperate
Assuming he was in his early forties when War broke out (as Bill Pertwee was when Dad’s Army started), then Warden Hodges would have been around 115 if he’d died yesterday. I’m with Chris on this one.
28 May 2013
Chris The Siteowner
If nothing else has come out of this discussion, I’ve at least discovered that “Wally Out Of Crossroads” (first mentioned 03/03/1986*) was played by the great Max Wall (died 21/05/1990). Here he is (at 1 min 25). I have been thinking for some time of doing a page on the site listing the characters (fictional or otherwise) mentioned in the songs, maybe we can mourn the demise of the Bill Pertwees of this world there.
31 May 2013
vendor of quack nostrums
Max Wall – A jewel in the crown of England’s Glory indeed.
And I for one agree with a separate page for demised fictional characters. Leave Those No Longer In Need Of Season Tickets for the living (so to speak).
31 May 2013
JOHN aNDERSON
Not a person I’ll grant you, but sadly you can no longer get Shawshank Redemption for £5 at HMV.
4 June 2013
ACIDIC REGULATOR
@Gordo, I’d like to say that I’m sorry to say this, but actually I’m filled with savage beer-fuelled glee. Post 106: there’s only one ‘l’ in “Savile”.
8 June 2013