The RIP Thread

Thoughts are with you Herts

 

All the best, mate.

 

German reunification architect Helmut Kohl dies at 87

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Despite occasional differences, Mr Kohl forged alliances with UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan
Helmut Kohl, Germany's ex-chancellor and architect of reunification in 1990, has died at 87.

Mr Kohl led Germany for 16 years (from 1982 to 1998). He is credited with bringing East and West Germany together after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

Brian Cant, Play School presenter, dies at 83

• 49 minutes ago

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Image caption Cant was a famous face in the 1970s and 1980s
Children's presenter Brian Cant has died at the age of 83.
He was best known for presenting BBC's Play School for 21 years from 1964, and Play Away from 1971 to 1984.
His agent said he had been living with Parkinson's disease and died at Denville Hall, a retirement home often used by those in the entertainment industry.
A statement from the family said: "He lived courageously with Parkinson's disease for a long time."
Cant was also a guest presenter on Jackanory and appeared on ITV's Dappledown Farm, which ran from 1990 to 2003.
He got his big break when he auditioned for Play School, when part of the audition required him to climb into a cardboard box.
His voice was known to millions in shows such as Trumpton, his most famous line being the fire brigade call-out: "Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub."

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Image caption Brian Cant with Humpty and Chloe Ashcroft with Jemima. two of the Play School presenters
Brian Cant: A much loved part of childhood - by David Silitto, Arts correspondent
For millions his voice immediately evokes childhood.
In the early '60s - an audition in which he was asked to sit in a cardboard box led to a job on a new programme called Play School.
Born in Ipswich, he trained as a printer before having a go at acting.
The warm, friendly voice was perfect for another children's venture - Trumpton, Camberwick Green - and the slightly more industrial Chigley.
If it sounds as though it was recorded in a cupboard, it's because it was.
Along with Play Away, Bric a Brac and other programmes he was part of children's TV for more than 20 years.
He wrote and appeared on stage, but more than anything he was - for many - a much loved part of childhood.

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Cant's Play School co-presenter and former Coronation Street star Derek Griffiths paid tribute on Twitter, posting a reunion picture of the team.
Former Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson also tweeted: "Brian Cant was my mentor and friend on Play Away. We wrote and performed together for two years. Always patient, courteous and funny P-L-A-Y R-I-P."

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Image copyright Twitter/Derek Griffiths
Cant was honoured with a special Children's Bafta award in 2010.
In a BBC interview, he explained that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1999.
He said the one thing he wanted children to take away from his work was "that I made them laugh, I made them feel happy".
On receiving his Bafta, Cant said: "One of the main rules of those Play School days was that we should play to the camera as though we were talking to one child, in whatever circumstance.
"It could be somebody in a tower block, a nice semi-detached somewhere, or a Royal palace. You had to phrase everything so, whoever was watching it, they felt you were talking to them."

 

I'm quite sad to hear about Brian cant, saw playaway being filmed a long long time ago - he was really great with the children. A real part of my childhood.

 

Really gutted about this one.....I would think the vast majority of lads and lasses our age grew up with Brian in our childhoods

 

Writer/creator of Paddington, Michael Bond has passed away - when I was a kid, that was the last program on before the news started (that or Rubarb and Custard!)......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40432946

 

Reminded me that tomorrow will be 10 years since my Mum passed away. Three years after my Dad, who grew up in West Kilburn, and followed the R's with his Dad, passed way in 1993, Mum emigrated here to Canada aged just 76 - within 3 months she had a TIA (mini stroke), followed 6 weeks later by a heart attack, that she totally survived with no adverse effects (enzyme test), then an idiot Dr. in the recovery ward put her on IV Heparin that the ER Dr. told me, although it can be a heart attack protocol, would not be prescribed due to the extreme risk, given her stroke history. She developed a small bleed in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke), that could not clot due to the Heparin in her system, and resulted in major damage that robbed her of mobility and speech, she spent the next 11 years of her life confined to a wheelchair in a local nursing home (10 mins away from home) - at least she had her family here, including five grand-daughters, and we built a wheelchair ramp for our house, so included Mum in all family gatherings.

When Mum arrived as a landed immigrant, she did not quality for provincial Medicare for the first 3 months, so as a precaution I took out an $800 policy to cover her for that period, just in case. Her TIA resulted in a 4 day hospital stay just before NB Medicare kicked in, resulting in a $5,000 bill, so was happy I took out that policy with John Inglis Company (a private insurer here) , but those bastards fought paying the hospital bill for 2 years since they said Mum was disqualified from benefits since they said she had a pre-existing medical condition - I had to dig out her Canadian immigration medical file, that indicated she had a clean bill of health when examined a couple of months in UK before she came over.

For Canadian immigration purposes I had to sign a 10 year agreement to cover any extreme medical services, so Mum would not be a burden on the state, meaning for the first 10 years of nursing home care our family was responsible for $60,000 per year to pay such costs. When Mum passed away (a simple cold that developed into pneumonia), she was 88 and I believe had had enough of her restricted life at that point.

Because Mum died June 30th, and since her UK pension and Dad's widow's work pension had already been paid for June, those amounts were clawed back. Two months before Mum passed away she had just become eligible for subsidized nursing home care.

Recently I discovered tucked away in an envelope £150 of Premium Bonds that Mum held since 1968, that had accumulated various prizes totaling £200 over the years - after numerous communications with the ERNIE folks in Scotland I was eventually issued a cheque for the original face value of the bonds and any prizes up until the month of her death, but any prizes after that were forfeited.

 

Sad story about your mum but how did Ernie know whose bonds they were. (I still have a 1 pound bond I bought with my !st pay in 1967).

 

Luckily back in 1970 my Dad had written down on a piece of paper all the details that included the account number (Holder Number) the bonds were associated with. I even had a $10 premium bond in my name (so a block of 10 #'s) from that era that is still in play with the monthly prize draws and they now have my updated contact details. Mum's bonds were more complex since she was deceased and I to produce her death certificate and an affidavit stating that I was her son and benefactor. They wouldn't allow me to transfer Mum's bond #'s to my account since she was deceased - unfortunately she missed out on a £25 win from 2011, 4 years after her death. she had a £50 win from June 2007, the month she died, that they allowed her to keep. It took about 12 rounds of correspondence back and forth with NSANDI in Scotland to get this sorted. Initially they only wanted to return the principal (bond face value), and indicated that they had already re-distributed Mum's prizes to other bond holders.

You can enter your Holder Number # at this site and it will tell you if you missed any winnings over the years - great form of savings for kids - no interest, but opportunity to win huge monthly prizes, and you can always get the face value returned on demand - makes much more sense than a lottery ticket.

Not sure what you do if you no longer have your Holder Number, just the bond #.

My brother in Oz had a £7 in bonds - I ran his Holder Number, but no prizes over the years, none for me either. If Dad hadn't written down those family Holder Numbers we would have been screwed. Perhaps your £1 bond holds the jackpot!

https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker

Article on the pros and cons of Premium Bonds:-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds

 

Nothing!!! and a £1 was a lot of money in those days out of my £7 10shillings/week

 

You could always ask for your quid back - so you had your Holder Number?

 

Much better than Jonathan ross

 

I loved his film reviews which were a joy to watch. He educated me to go to the cinema and watch "movies".

RIP

 

I'm sure Barry Cryer will see the funny side of his demise...

 

Barry C was on telly saying a few nice words about Barry N last night, the child journo probably just cut and pasted from the BBC. Also 'and why not' was an entirely invented catchphrase, used by impressionists.

The third estate is really on top form at the moment.....

 

Sad news, The Princess Vic, gone.