Culture Icons... R.I.P

An icon in his particular world was Prof. Richard Fortey, of the London Natural History Museum, who died earlier this month aged 79. He was a world expert on trilobites and a very engaging writer. I have read three of his books, "Trilobite!", "Life, An Unauthorised Biography" and "Dry Store Room No 1", the last being a very entertaining account of goings on in the museum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fortey

This included an unforgettable tale of an eccentric who wanted to go diving, to look at some form of sea life he was studying, and decided to try out the diving suit he had obtained, complete with metal helmet and lead boots, after everyone had gone home for the day- and then found he could not get the helmet off again. As there was no one in the museum to help, there was nothing for it but to laboriously clunk his way, in the heavy boots, out of the main entrance, down the steps and off along the Cromwell Road in Kensington, looking for a passer by to help him get out of ths bloody thing, ker-lunk, ker-lunk, ker-lunk, like an extra from a sci-fi movie or an episode of Dr Who. Of course everyone thought it was student prank, or else a nutter, so it was a while before he got anyone to help him get out of it.

Fortey was a good bloke and both the world of palaeontology and the scientifically curious public will miss him.
 
Jeff Beck A great guitarist passed away about a year ago .

I have the album( CD ) , Wired . 1976 . Its instrumental . Guitar and Keyboards .

Listen to it .
 
river said:
Jeff Beck A great guitarist passed away about a year ago .

I have the album( CD ) , Wired . 1976 . Its instrumental . Guitar and Keyboards .

Listen to it .
Click to expand...
Blow by Blow 1975.
 
Pope Francis, one of the more enlightened and compassionate and truly Christian pontiffs. Made it through Easter. I'm sorry his last politician visitor had to be JD Vance. I admired his advocacy for the poor and striving to follow his namesake St Francis of Assisi. (I was born in a hospital named for the saint, and remember from very early, maybe two or three, when we walked past it and I saw the statue of him holding out his arm and birds landing there) My wife, a Catholic, hopes the church can retain his reforms and emphasis on tolerance and inclusiveness. He made defense of the planet, the plight of migrants and building peace through dialogue the pillars of his papacy - nice work, your Holiness!
 
TheVat said:
Pope Francis, one of the more enlightened and compassionate and truly Christian pontiffs. Made it through Easter. I'm sorry his last politician visitor had to be JD Vance. I admired his advocacy for the poor and striving to follow his namesake St Francis of Assisi. (I was born in a hospital named for the saint, and remember from very early, maybe two or three, when we walked past it and I saw the statue of him holding out his arm and birds landing there) My wife, a Catholic, hopes the church can retain his reforms and emphasis on tolerance and inclusiveness. He made defense of the planet, the plight of migrants and building peace through dialogue the pillars of his papacy - nice work, your Holiness!
Click to expand...
Говорят, что тот, кто умирает на Пасху, попадает сразу в Рай. Эта неделя вся праздничная, пасхальная. Наверное, папа Франциск очень просил Бога дожить до светлого праздника Пасхи, чтобы в последний раз благословить свою паству. Тем более, это тот редкий случай, когда Пасха совпала у разных конфессий. Вчера её кроме католиков также отмечали православные и армяне григорианцы. Наверное, действительно светлый был человек.
 
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