… Richard Griffiths, he who as a youth used to weep in butchers’ shops; he who as a grown-up was uncle to Harry Potter and father to Dudley Dursley; he whose anecdotes were wont to set the table at a roar – alas, poor Richard, I knew him not at all, but somehow I felt I knew him all the same: you can smell the actors’ yarns he would spin, late into the night over a bottle of claret, surrounded by friends and fellow-actors. Sadness is instantiated in the breasts of Richard E Grant and Daniel Radcliffe, and other tributes will surely flood in as the days pass.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21973505
He was born at a very early age, to parents who were both deaf, and he learnt sign-language in order to communicate with them. He left school at 15 and worked as a porter but later went back to drama school and joined the RSC: he became a celebrated stage actor and appeared in many plays including Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, but he will perhaps be remembered best for his role in Withnail and I where he played an outrageously camp Uncle Monty.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094336/
I also enjoyed his role in the entertaining but preposterous crime’n’cookery series, Pie in the Sky.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106102/
He was apparently considered for Dr Who at one point: his weight must have been a problem for him in some roles, but it clearly didn’t stop him being successful.
RIP Richard, we will miss you.
Bong! In other news, I got up rather drastically early this morning and went to all-night prayer at the church: I was going to go last night but was too tired, so just made it down there for the last hour or so. A much better way to start the day than tossing and turning in bed. And then home to surprise Mark with a pot of coffee and to this dialogue:
Mark: When is happy hour, usually?
Me: Around five to six pm – when people don’t usually go to the pub.
Mark: Oh, right. Well, why don’t they have a sad hour to counterbalance it?
Me: Mark, every other hour apart from happy hour, is ‘sad hour’. If you drank alcohol you would be only too aware of that fact.
We then went on to discuss our pet peeves in modern language: nouns as verbs – eg ‘to process’ – and the reverse, verbs as nouns. My worst one of these is ‘spend’. So don’t ever let me catch you saying ‘the total spend is…’ or you will be deleted from my followers forthwith.
And speaking of followers, did you know? If you sign up to follow this blog I will always take a look at your blog or website – and I may reblog it if it’s good.
So follow me!
follow me, the wise man said
but he walked behind.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 