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Veteran British TV broadcaster Alan Whicker.

Rarely off British screens since the 1950s, his ubiquity was parodied by the Monty Python sketch 'Whicker Island', which is probably the most famous thing with his name on outside his native country. (Whicker himself apparently thought it was hilarious, which reflects very well on him).

I was surprised to hear that he was only 87 - he's one of those people that's hard to imagine ever having been young.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Amar Bose

Sorry for his passing, but he designed some of the worst speakers ever conceived. Audio garbage.

That's certainly a contrarian opinion.

Wouldn't know other than hearing the display at Best Buy. I don't have an extra arm and leg to buy a set with.

Bose speakers are like the Le Samourai Blu-ray of audio, except without enough people complaining about them.

mfunk9786 wrote:That's certainly a contrarian opinion.

It's contrary to the claims made by the advertising, but is an opinion really contrarian if it's not that unusual?

mfunk9786 wrote:That's certainly a contrarian opinion.

It may be an opinion you've never heard, but it's certainly not contrarian if you talk to anyone who knows jack shit about speaker design.

What are the best ones on the market then, in your opinion?

flyonthewall2983 wrote:What are the best ones on the market then, in your opinion?

There are no "best ones". There are a number of properly designed speakers employing various technologies that when mated with appropriate amplification and quality sources will produce realistic music in the home (much like the combination of a high quality video source and top drawer projection technology will produce a realistic, film-like experience.) Acoustics are room-dependent, so what might work in one environment won't necessarily be the bees' knees in another.

I've spent over 40 years hanging around manufacturers, designers (and am one myself), reviewers and hobbyists and the next positive comment about the flagship 901s I hear will be the first one. They are considered a joke.

Japanese actor Isao Natsuyagi died back in May.

I'm not terribly familiar with his work, but Glee and The Invisible actor Cory Monteith is being reported as dead at 31.

Apparently he'd checked into rehab earlier this year. I'm no Glee fan but Jesus, 31 is too young for anyone to go

A very good show, and Monteith was one of the best actors on it. Terrible news.

Played many a burly redneck, both for laughs and menace. An absolutely outstanding foil for Redd Foxx on Sanford.

Polybius wrote:Played many a burly redneck, both for laughs and menace. An absolutely outstanding foil for Redd Foxx on Sanford.

I hate to admit it, but I've never actually seen that show. I'll remember him best as the silent, but menacing biker (with a heart of gold) from Mask. I honestly had no idea that he was in King of the Hill until I read the obituary.

Paul Bhattacharjee

bamwc2 wrote:

Polybius wrote:Played many a burly redneck, both for laughs and menace. An absolutely outstanding foil for Redd Foxx on Sanford.

I hate to admit it, but I've never actually seen that show.

If you don't see any other episodes, make sure you catch the one where they discover that, due to a clerical error on Fred and Elizabeth's marriage certificate, he's technically married to Esther.

Mel Smith.

antnield wrote:Mel Smith.

Terrible news - so his last acting role was in that recent Poliakoff series Dancing On The Edge.

Not The Nine O'clock News which introduced Mel Smith along with a whole host of famous comedians (Rowan Atkinson, Nigel Planer, Stephen Fry, Andy Hamilton, Ruby Wax and so on are all credited as writers, as is Griff Rhys Jones - Mel Smith's most associated comedy partner) was one of the BBCs best sketch shows - not just of the 80s but still damn good today.

It might not have been quite as groundbreaking as Monty Python's Flying Circus (though it did come close with its sketch reacting to all of the controversy over Life of Brian!) but frequently hilarious.

I'm trying to think of the best sketches featuring Mel Smith: it would have to either be his argument with Gerald The Gorilla, or the "what can we do about soccer hooligans?" sketch!

I wasn't a big fan of many of the later films he actually directed such as Blackball, High Heels and Low Lifes or Bean, but The Tall Guy was good (i.e. the one with the over the top sex scene between Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson where they destroy an entire bedroom during their lovemaking) and I think Radioland Murders is quite underrated.

Terrible news indeed. My fave Smith & Jones skit is probably "The Homemade Xmas Video", which we watch every christmas.

Vincenzo Cerami, screenwriter of many of Roberto Benigni's films (sharing an Oscar with Benigni for Life Is Beautiful; sharing a Razzie with Benigni for Pinocchio) and of Marco Bellocchio's The Eyes, The Mouth.

Briony McRoberts, actress, mostly on British TV, died after being hit by a London Underground train.