comic genius tony hendra has died–
It is generally recognised that without Chris Barber we may not have got skiffle and skiffle was what led to the explosion of British pop music in the late '50s and the 60s. The Beatles started as a skiffle group.
Chris, as a merchant seaman took a job on a ship to the US and jumped ship to go to New Orleans to play with the trad jazz groups there. He sat in on several gigs with African Americans, which as a white guy was illegal then. He went to renew his visa three days late and was arrested and imprisoned for 38 days before being deported. Visa overstayers were usually put in hostels, but the suspicion is that Chris was imprisoned as punishment for overstepping the mark by playing with black musicians in public.
(“Rock Island Line: The Song That Made Britain Rock” tells this story. It was on BBC 4 but is not currently available on iPlayer, but if you ever get a chance to see it, it is highly recommended. Tells the story from Alan Lomax thru Leadbelly all the way to British skiffle.)
celebrated journalist who had achieved a great age, dies.
Dutch inventor of the audio cassette tape dies aged 94 - DutchNews.nl.
Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape and a CD pioneer died aged 94 at his home in Duizel in Brabant on Saturday, Dutch media report. Ottens, who studied to be an engineer, started working for Philips in 1952. Eight years later he became head of the firm’s recently introduced product development department. Within a year he and his team had developed the first portable tape recorder of which over a million were sold. Two years later he revolutionised the old reel-to-reel tape system by inventing the cassette tape. ‘I got annoyed with the clunky, user-unfriendly reel to reel system, it’s that simple’, Ottens said later. The new carrier had to be small enough to fit into his jacket pocket, Ottens decided, and he had a wooden model made to determine the ideal size. In 1963 the first plastic encased cassette tape was presented at an electronics fair carrying the slogan ‘smaller than a pack of cigarettes!’ The tapes were quickly copied by the Japanese but in different formats. Ottens managed to make a deal with Sony to use the mechanism patented by Philips to introduce a standard cassette which was then rolled out globally. Over 100 billion were sold worldwide. Ottens went on to develop the CD, which again became a Sony-Philips standard and which sold over 200 billion.
Read more at DutchNews.nl:
ETA I just saw Pesco put it on the main page.
Aw. He was my favourite Stargate Bad Guy.
Dead scientist (not celebrity) who ought to have been better known - basically the guy to whom anyone who ever benefitted from an MRI scan owes a huge debt.
Only just heard it, myself …
I was - and am - a huge fan and admirer.
In describing Walker’s commentary style, the late broadcaster and writer Clive James hit the nail on the head: “In his quieter moments, he sounds like his trousers are on fire.”
This was classic Murray…
If anyone is into motor sport but not familiar with Murray (seems unlikely) this is possibly the best tribute to him
ETA that the above documentary might possibly be back on iPlayer soon - it is being shown again on BBC1 next Tuesday, in tribute.
Would have made a great Captain Sisko
You misspelled Picard… 
He turned the role down, though, and Sir Pat Stew was cast.
Sisko was perfect as he was…
Oh I know, (and I know you know). I’ve been bingeing DS9 for the past few months and had thought about Kotto playing Sisko a few times.
It was by coincidence that just yesterday I chose to look him up and saw that he had just died.
Super weird coincidence!
He was a great actor, though for sure.
Oh, no! I didn’t watch a lot of Top Gear but I did see that particular episode. I just told my husband and he said, “The race car driver who raced a van on that crazy course in Germany?”
Very, very sad to hear.
