BillF

Black Beauty Beau Brummel Bo Derek

Took to this one by Amenabar as a bit of relief from Almodovar, but found I was still in the familiar territory of incomprehensible plot, multiple flashbacks and Penelope Cruz - not that she was much bother.

Mustafa Mond Toots Mondello Boots Mussulli

Dick Wellstood Dicky Wells H G Wells

King Crimson Red Adair Pinky

Eric Pickles Dill Jones Richard Branson

Arshile Gorky Arsene Wenger Johnny Butts

The Firebird Arthur Brown (who was at school with me) Steve Dowsing

Duke Jordan River Phoenix Arthur Ashe

Count me as one!

Jar Jar Binks Jaws Sharkey Bonano

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dudu Pukwana Dodo Marmarosa

Didier Drogba Grand Poobah

Sad news of the death of this great British musician.

Rock Hudson Bay City Rollers Rolly Bundock

Not forgetting that in the classic era there were the "retirements" from the scene of Dexter, Art Pepper et al.

Bags Oliver Sacks Sex Pistols

Chemical Brothers The Alchemist Jazz Lab

I used to hear a great deal about Laughton from my parents. They were in their early thirties when this film was made.

John Donne Andrew Marvell Wonder Woman

Cardinal Sin The Justified Sinner James Hogg

Phil Woods announced his retirement some days before his sad demise in 2015.

The Mock Turtle The Gryphon The Little Giant

Eubie Blake almost got there! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OiYcwO_3mQ

The first Coltrane I heard was the track "Bakai" played on a Radio Luxembourg show called Jamboree Jazz Time in 1959 when I was 19 and had been listening to jazz for 2 years. The show roared from my speakers every week with its theme tune, Shorty Rogers' "Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud". I first heard Ornette on the same show and, thinking it crazy music, wondered if Bird had sounded like that inside Camarillo. Within months of that I saw the very late Billie Holiday on television. Wikipedia says, "When Holiday returned to Europe almost five years later in 1959, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's Chelsea at Nine in London."