Departed During 2022

[PHXPhlyer]

Jerry Lee Lewis, rock ’n’ roll pioneer who sang ‘Great Balls of Fire,’ dies at 87

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/28/entertai ... index.html

Jerry Lee Lewis, the piano-pounding, foot-stomping singer who electrified early rock ‘n’ roll with hits like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” before marital scandal derailed his career, has died, according to a statement from his representative, Zach Farnum. He was 87.

Lewis passed away at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis, the statement said. Farnum told CNN that Lewis died of “natural causes” when reached by phone.

His seventh wife, Judith, was by his side when he died and Lewis “told her, in his final days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid,” the statement added.

Along with Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and others, Lewis was one of the leading figures of the 1950s rock era and a master showman – nicknamed “The Killer” – whose raw, uninhibited performances drove young fans into spasmodic fits.

“I was born to be on a stage. I couldn’t wait to be on it. I dreamed about it. And I’ve been on one all my life,” Lewis said in “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,” a 2014 biography by Rick Bragg. “That’s where I’m the happiest.”

But offstage, the singer’s personal life was turbulent. Lewis was near the peak of his popularity in 1958 when the public learned that he had married Myra Gale Brown, his first cousin. She was 13 at the time; Lewis was 22.

News of the marriage leaked in London, where Lewis had flown to play some concerts. Lewis told the press that Myra was 15, but the truth soon came out and caused an outcry, as newspapers blared such headlines as “Fans Aghast at Child Bride.” Audiences heckled Lewis, and the tour was canceled after three shows.

Lewis continued to record and tour over the next decade, but his rockabilly music didn’t sell in the Beatles era and he couldn’t regain the popularity of his early years – until he made an unlikely comeback as a country singer.

Beginnings
Lewis was born in 1935 into a poor farming family in Ferriday, Louisiana. One of his cousins, Jimmy Swaggart, would go on to become a popular TV evangelist. Lewis’ website says he began playing the piano at age 9, aping the styles of preachers and Black musicians who passed through the region.

After dropping out of school to focus on playing music, Lewis traveled in 1956 to Sun Studios in Memphis, where he quickly gained work as a session player for such budding stars as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. He also recorded with Elvis Presley.

A December 1956 recording session with Lewis, Presley, Perkins and Cash – nicknamed the “Million Dollar Quartet” – became a seminal moment in rock history.

By the following year, thanks to Top 5 hits like “Great Balls of Fire,” Lewis was internationally famous, even though his incendiary style and suggestive lyrics led some radio stations to boycott his songs.

Then came the marriage scandal, and Lewis’ aura was never quite the same.

After a decade of dwindling sales, he reinvented himself in the late 1960s as a country artist and revived his career, scoring a series of Top 10 country hits well into the Seventies.

In 1989 “Great Balls of Fire!”, a biopic starring Dennis Quaid as Lewis, brought new attention to Lewis’ life and music. Lewis even recorded new versions of his hits for the soundtrack.

But his personal life remained messy. He was married seven times and filed for bankruptcy in 1988, claiming he owed the IRS more than $2 million.

He also battled alcoholism, drug addiction and other health problems for years. In one infamous 1976 episode, he was arrested at Graceland in the wee hours of the morning after drunkenly crashing his car into the mansion’s gates – with a loaded gun – while trying to visit Presley.

“I ain’t no goody goody, and I ain’t no phony,” Lewis said in Bragg’s biography. “I never pretended to be anything, and anything I ever did, I did it wide-open as a case knife. I’ve lived my life to the fullest and I had a good time doin’ it.”

In October, Lewis was inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame but was unable to attend the ceremony because he was ill with the flu, according to a statement posted to his social media.

Giving the people a ‘show’
Lewis was raised in a strict, religious household and sometimes struggled to reconcile his faith in God with his love of rock ‘n’ roll, which conservative listeners in the 1950s condemned as “the devil’s music.”

He didn’t write many songs but was brilliant at reinterpreting others’ compositions with his infectious, boogie-woogie rhythms, which helped bring rockabilly music into the mainstream.

But his most enduring legacy may have been his unhinged piano-playing style, which influenced Elton John and many other musicians. During concerts Lewis banged the keys with his fists and elbows, kicked over his piano stool, climbed atop his instrument and once even set it on fire.

In this way, he showed that rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t just about the guitar.

In 1986, he joined a constellation of seminal figures – Berry, Presley, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and the Everly Brothers – as the first group of artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Lewis lived most of his life on a ranch in northern Mississippi with a piano-shaped swimming pool. He never quite outran the scandal of marrying his young cousin. But to his fans, his infectious music and his fiery live shows made up for his personal transgressions.

“I want to be remembered as a rock-n-roll idol, in a suit and tie or blue jeans and a ragged shirt, it don’t matter, as long as the people get that show. The show, that’s what counts. It covers up everything,” he told Bragg.

“Any bad thoughts anyone ever had about you goes away. ‘Is that the one that married that girl? Well, forget about it, let me hear that song.’”

Lewis is survived by his wife, Judith Coghlan Lewis, his children Jerry Lee Lewis III, Ronnie Lewis, Pheobe Lewis and Lori Lancaster, sister Linda Gail Lewis, cousin Swaggart and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews, according to his representative’s statement.

Information on services will be announced in the coming days, the statement added.

In lieu of flowers, the Lewis family requested donations be made in the singer’s honor to the Arthritis Foundation or MusiCares.

PP

[TheGreenAnger]

Really sorry to see that Julie Powell, the blogger who attempted to cook all Julia Child's recipes, and blogged her experiences, later writing a book about this from which a very good film was made, has died at the very young age of 49. I thoroughly enjoyed her book and the resulting film.

Julie Powell.JPG (63.05 KiB) Viewed 1917 times

Julie Powell, author of the bestselling and beloved book, "Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously," has died from cardiac arrest at the age of 49, according to the New York Times.

Powell first rose to prominence as a food writer after she made the decision to chronicle her year cooking all 524 recipes from her mother's copy of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1." It wasn't going to be an easy road. Powell was an untrained home cook and, as she put it in the book she wrote about her project, her kitchen was located on top of "the rotting floorboards of [her] 'fixer-upper' 'loft.'"

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/01/julie- ... julia-has/

Meryl Streep was superb in the film,

[FD2]

An exceptional officer:


Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, Chief of Defence Staff and a ‘burr under the saddle’ of the Blair government before the Iraq War – obituary

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/ ... ved-thorn/

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, Chief of Defence Staff and a ‘burr under the saddle’ of the Blair government before the Iraq War – obituary

He was determined, he said, to ‘tell the truth as I saw it, even when it was not always convenient’
By Telegraph Obituaries 7 November 2022 • 3:46pm


Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, who has died aged 79, was the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2001 to 2003, and challenged the Blair government’s legal authority in the run-up to the Iraq War.

In 1997-98, Boyce was Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area and Commander Naval Forces North Western Europe, taking up these offices shortly after Tony Blair had become prime minister. For a few weeks in early 1998 Boyce also became acting First Sea Lord while his predecessor Sir Jock Slater was ill, and he formally became First Sea Lord in late 1998.

Boyce found this period “comprehensively knackering”, but was successful, through the Labour government’s Strategic Defence Review, in helping to shift British defence policy towards a maritime, expeditionary role and away from land-based campaigning with a defensive position on the central front in Germany.

Blair authorised several small-scale military interventions, and in a speech delivered in Chicago in 1999 he announced what would become known as his “ethical foreign policy”, advocating greater use of armed forces to protect a civilian population, rather than exclusively to protect national interests. Boyce thought that Operation Palliser in May-June 2000 – British intervention to end the civil war in Sierra Leone – was an exemplar of this new policy: “a quick in and out, and not too much mission-creep”.


However, funds to achieve the SDR were being starved by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and as First Sea Lord Boyce was determined to win sufficient funding for the Navy, an ambition which he extended to cover all three services when he succeeded General Sir Charles Guthrie as Chief of the Defence Staff in February 2001.

The flamboyant Guthrie’s style, some said, had been to cosy up to Blair and his advisers, while Boyce was determined to “tell the truth as I saw it, even when it was not always convenient”.

He was “irritated but not bothered” that in retirement Guthrie continued to be consulted by Blair and his communications director Alastair Campbell: Boyce was confident that his own instincts and his interpretation of the intelligence would prove to be right.

He was undeterred when during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan he was ridiculed by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for contradicting Rumsfeld’s view that the war would be over by the following year (it lasted 20 years); he spoke out against the US’s proposed ballistic missile defence shield; he thought that the so-called war on terror was a distraction from the long-term threats provided by Russia and China; and he warned that participants in the 2nd Iraq War in 2003 would not be greeted as “liberators with flowers on the end of rifles”.

Boyce also reported to the Blair government that neo-conservatives in Washington were being misled by Iraqi exiles who were promising that a flowering of democracy would follow any invasion, and he warned about the dysfunction he found in Washington.

There was, he said, “poor communication between the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House, and I often found myself briefing my American counterpart on what was going on in State rather than him actually finding out directly”.

[FD2]

Part 2

But it was at home that Boyce, in his own words, made himself “a burr under the saddle” of the Blair government. Boyce thought that Gordon Brown’s lack of understanding of defence amounted to contempt and put service personnel in danger by refusing to fund training and equipment.

“Getting money out of the Treasury is like getting blood out of a stone anyway,” Boyce said. “The Treasury didn’t think we were on a war footing [in 2003], a new accounting method introduced by Brown meant the Ministry of Defence was discouraged from holding large stocks, and as a result, the MoD adopted a policy of ‘just enough, just in time’ for equipment delivery.”

Of the Iraq War, Boyce later told the Chilcot Inquiry that the government was without any cohesion in the way it approached the 2003 invasion. “What we lacked was any sense of being at war,” he said. “There was no sense that we had a war cabinet or that we had a cabinet that thought that we were at war. I suspect if I asked half the cabinet whether we were at war, they would not have known what I was talking about. There was a lack of political cohesion at the top – in Iraq’s case, possibly because some people were not happy about what we were doing there.”

Boyce was alarmed that the prime minister had gained an appetite for intervention and had given unconditional support to President Bush in his response to the September 11 attacks. But Blair had not told his cabinet or his party of this commitment, while Boyce was restricted to high-level planning rather than detailed preparations for war.


Even several months later, Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, instructed Boyce not to discuss the possibility of war with his chief of defence logistics, as it could be unhelpful to the efforts to secure a new UN Security Council resolution if it became public that military planning was under way.

As CDS, Boyce’s initial plan in May 2002 was for the deployment in Iraq of a Navy task force and special forces, but after Blair and President Bush met at Camp David in September, he was called upon to prepare a much larger-scale operation, and at divisional strength, not least in order to maximise British influence over US planning.

Although Boyce continued to be concerned that the defence budget was too small, by March 2003 British forces were preparing to enter Iraq from the north through Turkey, until Turkey vetoed that plan. Nevertheless, some ships had been sailed “not knowing whether they were going to turn left or right when they got to the Mediterranean”.

Meanwhile, there were growing anti-war protests in the UK, and the three service chiefs presented their concerns about the legality of the war to Boyce. Boyce himself was concerned for the morale of the Armed Forces and for his servicemen and women and for their families, some of whom were being abused by protestors.

So, in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Boyce pressed for an assurance from the attorney general in “clear and simple words” whether the proposed military action would be lawful or not.


Some thought that the opinion which was eventually wrung from the attorney general was equivocal, but it did not matter to Boyce, who “wanted to make sure that we had this anchor which has been signed by the Government law officer … It may not stop us from being charged [in a court of law] but, by God, it would make sure other people were brought into the frame as well.”

Asked if he meant the prime minister and the attorney general, Boyce replied: “Too bloody right!”

The normal length of appointment of a CDS is two or three years with a short extension, but Boyce’s outspokenness had prompted Alastair Campbell to question whether he wanted to be sacked: meanwhile, Boyce resigned himself to winning the Iraq war. Victory was declared on April 9 2003.

Michael Cecil Boyce was born in Cape Town on April 2 1943, the son of Commander Hugh Boyce and an Afrikaner mother, Madeleine, née Manley. His father recalled the prophetic words of the doctor who announced the birth of his first-born: “This little admiral is doing well!”

Mike inherited his faith, his self-restraint and his work ethic from his parents who, with their free church backgrounds, were firm believers in self-improvement, and skimped themselves to achieve good educations for their three boys: Philip Boyce became a professor of psychiatry in Sydney, and (Sir) Graham Boyce a diplomat.

Mike was educated at Fernden School, Haslemere, and Hurstpierpoint College before joining Dartmouth in 1961 under the short-lived Murray Scheme, the last time the Navy attempted to give its officers a complete education.


During his fourth year under the Murray scheme, Boyce spent two weeks in the submarine Auriga, where he was “impressed by the mixture of professionalism and piracy” on-board, and, when an emergency occurred, the quickness and competence with which the incident was handled.

So in 1965 he volunteered for “the Trade” (as the Submarine Service was nicknamed), and also specialised as a torpedo and anti-submarine warfare specialist. In 1970 he served briefly in the diesel-engined submarine Oracle, commanded by the future Admiral Sir Hugo White, whom he described as a “remarkable” role model.

In the early 1970s, Boyce stood by Conqueror, building in Cammell Laird’s yard at Birkenhead. Conqueror’s construction was delayed by industrial action and by sabotage of the ship’s gearbox before she was commissioned on November 9 1971, the last nuclear submarine built by Cammell Laird.

Boyce was also qualified as a shallow-water diver, and to fulfil his compulsory minimum diving hours per month, he would drive to the Lake District and sit on the bottom of Windermere for the necessary time.

He was fortunate to be selected early to attend the “perisher”, the make-or-break course for potential submarine commanders. The teacher was Commander Terry Woods OBE, a hard-playing submariner from whom the austere and abstemious Boyce learnt much. Years later he would recall: “The highlight – bar none – of my life is still that moment in 1973 of assuming command of HMS Oberon as a lieutenant, fresh from the perisher.”

Then, as a lieutenant-commander, he commanded Opossum (1974-75) and he would later choose for the crest to his personal coat of arms “Mouse Opossum Argent … and claws Azure”: in other words, a tiny mouse hanging by its tail from the stock of an anchor (a detail often too small to see), while his heraldic motto is Ipsis Fretus Impedimentis Possum, or “I can trust myself with hindrances”.

In 1977-79 he was the first appointee as Staff Warfare Officer (Tactical Systems), responsible for introducing into the submarine service a new tactical data-handling system; his shrewd insights into software and mathematical problems which Ferranti had sown into the system, made him, in Ferranti’s eyes, a difficult customer.

As a newly promoted commander, he was given the nuclear-powered attack submarine Superb (1979-81). When he was appointed OBE for special operations against the Soviet navy (vividly described in Peter Hennessy’s 2015 book The Silent Deep) Boyce observed: “I wear the medal, but it is for the whole crew.”

Boyce enjoyed close links with the Special Boat Service. As a junior officer in the submarine Ocelot in the Far East he had been responsible for liaison with a young Paddy Ashdown, the future Lib Dem leader, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. While Ashdown was conducting trials in clandestine operations, in particular covert landings from submarines, Boyce was infused with huge admiration for the Royal Marines of the Special Boat Service (SBS).

Much later, as CDS, Boyce preferred to use in operations the reticent SBS over more publicity-hungry forces – for example, in November 2001, sending C Squadron SBS to seize the airfield at Bagram in Afghanistan.


In 2003-04, Boyce sympathised when the SBS sought a more independent identity as a service not exclusive to the Royal Marines but a tri-service organisation open to all. Subsequently, he accepted the honour of becoming colonel commandant of the SBS. In retirement he advised Ashdown on a book about the SBS, which after Ashdown’s death, was completed by Saul David as Silent Warriors (2021), for which Boyce wrote the foreword.

Boyce was never overtly ambitious: “I just did whatever job I was given well, and people gave me a better job to do,” he said, and he rose swiftly in general service. Promoted to captain in 1982, he commanded the frigate Brilliant (1983-84). He was a calm and understanding captain in charge of submarine sea training 1984–86, a leading student at the RCDS in 1988, and a successful Senior Naval Officer, Middle East, in 1989.

Subsequently, when his first marriage was breaking up, Boyce was Director of Naval Staff Duties (1989–91), when he became renowned for working late, sitting at his desk in darkness except for a banker’s green-shaded desk lamp. He said it helped him to concentrate and avoid distractions.


Promoted to rear-admiral, he was Flag Officer Sea Training (1991–92), and as a vice-admiral Flag Officer Surface Flotilla (1992–95), and as a full admiral, he was Second Sea Lord (1995–97).

Created a life peer on retirement in 2003, he sat as a crossbencher, speaking out about the risk to service personnel facing liability for their actions for which he claimed politicians are ultimately responsible.

He gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry, and, though a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, was a strong advocate that the UK, as one of the P5, should retain a nuclear deterrent. He also launched scathing attacks on the government for Britain’s “anorexic” fleet of warships.

[Woody]

Leslie Phillips

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

"Ding Dong!"
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Leslie Phillips.
Passed at 98.
Worked very hard in elocution lessons to lose his Cockney/Essex accent for acting, then got sent for officer training because he sounded too posh for a ranker.
Shot down a few V1s, commanding a RA AA battery in WW2.
He has now been Sorted (voiced the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter).

[Karearea]

Ya, I was sorry to see that Leslie Phillips had gone.

BBC: Leslie Phillips obituary: The comedy Casanova who made it to Hogwarts

Rest in peace, sir, and thanks for all the joie de vivre your acting portrayed.

[FD2]

Sad news - always enjoyable to watch and a fine actor. I see Shirley Eaton there as well - ding dong!

One person writes most of the military obituaries and they are very accurate. This person made a slight error with the caption but we shouldn't complain. Phillips lost his second wife Angela Scoular in the most distressing circumstances.

Leslie Phillips.png (244.85 KiB) Viewed 1811 times

[CharlieOneSix]

It must be about 45 years ago that I was walking on Brighton seafront and he was coming the other way - he lived in Brighton. It was all of a 10 second meeting, I said something or other and he said a normal 'Hello', not his catchphrase version(!) and smiled. I loved The Navy Lark - always listened to the early episodes on the Light Programme on a Saturday whilst I was still of school age.

[Karearea]

^ still enjoying episodes of The Navy Lark, thanks to YouTube.

[Woody]

Dan McCaffertey , Nazareth and SAHB vocalist

[TheGreenAnger]

Dan McCaffertey , Nazareth and SAHB vocalist

Sorry to read it! One of my favourite bands back in my youth.

[PHXPhlyer]

Comedian Gallagher, famous for smashing watermelons, dies at 76
Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., known professionally as Gallagher, was an American comedian famous for the "Sledge-O-Matic, a signature sketch where he smashed a variety of foods and ended with a watermelon.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/co ... -rcna56770

American comedian Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr. has died at the age of 76, according to his family.

Gallagher passed away from organ failure while in hospice care in his Palm Springs, California home, his son-in-law told NBC News. He had been unwell and suffered multiple heart attacks prior to his death.

Gallagher was known for his signature sketch, "Sledge-O-Matic," where he'd take a large wooden mallet and smash a variety of foods before ending in the main act -- a watermelon.

In his career spanning decades, Gallagher had 14 Showtime specials and around 3,500 live comedy shows.


I have seen many of his shows on TV and have the full box set of the Showtime shows.
I will have to revisit them.
He was very funny and was one of the few stand-up comedians who could do a relatively clean show that was still funny.

PP

[TheGreenAnger]

Nik Turner, co-founding saxophonist, flutist and vocalist of the pioneering English space-rock band Hawkwind, has died at the age of 82.

"We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Nik Turner — The [Mighty] Thunder Rider, who passed away peacefully at home on Thursday evening," Turner's family wrote on his personal Facebook profile. "He has moved onto the next phase of his Cosmic Journey, guided by the love of his family, friends and fans. Watch this space for his arrangements."

Born in 1940 in Oxford, England, Turner took two years of saxophone and clarinet lessons in the early '60s. He took an interest in free jazz, which emerged in the late '50s and early '60s, and sought to incorporate these improvisational stylings into the context of a rock band. He got his chance in 1969 when he began working as a roadie for a new band comprising Dave Brock, Mick Slattery and John Harrison. Turner and fellow roadie Michael "Dik Mik" Davies were soon promoted to band members, and the quintet adopted the name Group X, which soon changed to Hawkwind Zoo and, ultimately, Hawkwind.

Turner first played with Hawkwind from 1969 to 1976. This marked the band's most successful period, including a run of four consecutive Top 20 albums in their native U.K., beginning with 1971's In Search of Space and ending with 1975's Warrior on the Edge of Time. Turner briefly returned to the band from 1982-84, lending a saxophone solo to "Void City" on 1982's Choose Your Masques and participating on several live albums and compilations.

Between his two Hawkwind stints, Turner founded the psychedelic-punk hybrid band Inner City Unit, which released four albums between 1980 and 1985. Shortly after his dismissal from Hawkwind, Turner also vacationed in Egypt and recorded himself playing flute in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. These recordings were later incorporated into a full album, recorded with a plethora of musicians under the moniker Sphynx. The resulting album, Xitintoday, was released in 1978 and featured lyrics Turner had adapted from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Many of the Sphynx musicians also appeared on the 1978 protest single "Nuclear Waste," featuring lead vocals from Sting.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/nik-tur ... m=referral



viewtopic.php?p=350524#p350524

Stacia doing her dance on the stage here...

[tango15]

OK, so no-one on the forum has heard of this lady, but she was a huge star in the Brazil of the 1970s/80s. I was fortunate enough to see her on several occasions. Think of her as a Brazilian Shirley Bassey.
I present one of her best-known songs of the time, which for me at least, is one of the most romantic songs I have ever heard. I appreciate that few on here will understand Portuguese, but just listen to the sentiment:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-63576952

Never a beauty by Brazilian standards, but her voice more than made up for it:



For anyone who is really interested, here is an English translation of the words:

Day of Sunday

I need to talk to you
I need desperately to see you
To sit and talk
And later to walk together
to the wind

I need to breathe
the same air that surrounds you
And I want to have burning on my skin
the same sun that tans you

I need to touch you
And see you smiling again
And then, to dive in a beautiful dream

I can no longer live
a meaningless sentiment
I need to find out again
the thrill of being with you

I need to see the sun dawning
and the life going by
as if it was a day of Sunday

Pretend that it's still early to get up
Everything will happen
by the will of the emotion
Pretend it is still early
And let
the voice of the heart flow

[FD2]

I think it's the Portuguese influence that makes love songs and laments so appealing. She brought back some enjoyable evenings listening to Fado in Lisbon. From Joao Gilberto and the ultra cool bossa nova through bands like Gilberto Gil Brazilian music is amazing and it's impossible to sit still when listening to it - lively, super rhythmic. Then to Europe with Portuguese and Cape Verde music. Thanks for that tango15.

[Karearea]

tango15, have had exactly that song on my list of post-to-the-soundtrack-thread-one-day songs.
Very easy to listen to.
Sorry to learn the lady has gone.

[tango15]

I think it's the Portuguese influence that makes love songs and laments so appealing. She brought back some enjoyable evenings listening to Fado in Lisbon. From Joao Gilberto and the ultra cool bossa nova through bands like Gilberto Gil Brazilian music is amazing and it's impossible to sit still when listening to it - lively, super rhythmic. Then to Europe with Portuguese and Cape Verde music. Thanks for that tango15.

Yes, I agree. There was also another lady called Cesária Évora, a Cape Verdian who always sang bare-footed. I saw her a couple of times in Lisbon. Certainly Fado-ish and greatly admired. She died about 11 years ago on her native islands.

[FD2]

We both love her music. About 20 years ago we had a holiday in northern Portugal and after a long drive inland one day we had lunch in a university town called Fafe. She was performing that night at a local theatre but we were a long way, pre-GPS maps and on night time unfamiliar roads from our rented cottage, so made the decision to return there. I wish now we'd taken a room at a local hotel and gone to the concert. I expect this will get moved but just in case:

[TheGreenAnger]

Sue Baker, one of the original presenters of BBC’s Top Gear and the Observer’s former motoring editor, has died aged 67. Baker, who joined the original format of the TV series in 1980, died on Monday morning after suffering with motor neurone disease (MND).

She appeared on more than 100 episodes of the car programme until 1991. She then left to continue her work as a motoring journalist.

In a career that included setting up and running the Motor Racing News Service, based at the Kent motor racing track Brands Hatch, she was the Observer’s motoring editor for 13 years, leaving in 1995. She also worked for Saga Magazine and as a freelance writer.

Tributes paid to her included those from motoring journalists, who praised her for helping them when they first entered the industry.

Geraldine Herbert, motoring editor for the Sunday Independent in Ireland, said: “I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of Sue Baker. She was a wonderful person, a brilliant journalist, and a dear friend. A former Top Gear presenter and motoring editor at the Observer, she blazed a trail for women in a man’s world.”

The Guild of Motoring Writers, of which Baker was the vice-president and a former chair, said they were deeply saddened. “Sue was a pioneer for women in automotive journalism,” they said.

A statement from Baker’s family said: “It is with great sadness, that we share the news of Sue’s passing. A doting mother to Ian and Hannah, a loving grandmother to Tom & George, and a wonderful mother-in-law to Lucy. She passed at home this morning with family around her.

“She was a talented and prolific writer, a charismatic TV presenter, and a passionate animal lover. She had a life and career that many would envy, but did it all with such grace that she was admired and respected by all who knew her. We know she meant so much to so many.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported her over the last few years as she battled with MND.”

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... er-dies-67