![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Oh, 2010. That was a year and a half. I always knew, when my grandfather and I started living together, that it was only going to end one way. Obviously. I always assumed I'd take him his cup of tea one afternoon, and find that he'd slipped away in his armchair though. That or that he'd just not come down to breakfast one morning. I didn't expect him to have to take to his bed and slip away by degrees. I imagine that neither did he! The cruel irony of old age is that, if you're strong enough to still enjoy life, you're too strong for your body to give in easily - and just a few weeks before he fell ill, he was still getting up the stairs faster than all three of his sons. I suppose it was stupid of me to expect him to go quickly. The NHS were amazing, though. District nurses are a wonderful thing. (Even if it is always a slight disappointment that they don't ride bicycles nowadays).
As to the rest of it, I think it was a quiet sort of a year. I wasn't paying attention for the first few months, admittedly, but I'm sure I'd have noticed if pirates had raided the Houses of Parliament, or Prince Charles and Prince Andrew had duelled over the succession. Or even something major that didn't involve swords. It was the year when Nip/Tuck ended, my beloved show that was now a shadow of its former self thanks to bad management. It was the year when Lost ended, and 99% of the fandom boggled at the screen in bewilderment, and wondered why we'd bothered. It was also the year when several million childhoods heaved a collective sigh, when both Corey Haim and Gary Coleman died - and Stephen J Cannell, come to that.
On the international stage, there was some brief hilarity when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano became the bane of every newsreader's existence, by spitting out lots of smoke and debris, and buggering up the airlines for a good few weeks. It was also the year when America raided the BBC's store cupboard, and nicked the superb TV miniseries Edge Of Darkness for a Hollywood remake. It seems to have vanished without trace, so clearly sometimes the the gods of the screen are just and true. Not often, I'll grant you, but sometimes. The BBC also raided their own store cupboard, and came up with a sequel to Upstairs Downstairs, annoying pretty much all the fans of the original. I enjoyed it, but admittedly I never got around to bothering with the second series, whenever that was.
And of course this was the year when a-ha called it a day, the year after their final album, Foot Of The Mountain. They released a final single, and then went their separate ways. Until this year, of course! Sometimes you do get a happy ending - albeit a temporary one. Naturally.
a-ha and Butterfly Butterfly (The Last Hurrah):
From their The Illusion Of Safety album, this is the Hoosiers and Unlikely Hero:
The Manics with the title track from their 2010 album Postcards From A Young Man:
This year saw the death of jazz great Lena Horne. Here she is appearing on The Dean Martin Show in 1969. They were good friends, and I think this comes across nicely here. As so often with the guests on that show, it's clear that they're having fun.
One sad point about this year, that went almost unremarked upon due to the passage of time, was the death of Johnny Sheffield, the former child actor who had played Boy to Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan throughout the 1940s. Those films were on a lot when I was a kid, and I spent a fair chunk of time being Boy. Badly, I'll grant you. But with enthusiasm! Here's the trailer for 1939's Tarzan Finds A Son, the film that launched the world's most danger prone infant upon the world:
And to close, and continuing with the animal theme, this year also saw the death of Simon MacCorkindale. So here's the theme from Manimal. No prizes for guessing what decade it's from! (It says, I know. But if it didn't. Obviously. Yes okay, I'll shut up now).
Blimey, that wasn't the most cheerful year ever, was it!
As to the rest of it, I think it was a quiet sort of a year. I wasn't paying attention for the first few months, admittedly, but I'm sure I'd have noticed if pirates had raided the Houses of Parliament, or Prince Charles and Prince Andrew had duelled over the succession. Or even something major that didn't involve swords. It was the year when Nip/Tuck ended, my beloved show that was now a shadow of its former self thanks to bad management. It was the year when Lost ended, and 99% of the fandom boggled at the screen in bewilderment, and wondered why we'd bothered. It was also the year when several million childhoods heaved a collective sigh, when both Corey Haim and Gary Coleman died - and Stephen J Cannell, come to that.
On the international stage, there was some brief hilarity when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano became the bane of every newsreader's existence, by spitting out lots of smoke and debris, and buggering up the airlines for a good few weeks. It was also the year when America raided the BBC's store cupboard, and nicked the superb TV miniseries Edge Of Darkness for a Hollywood remake. It seems to have vanished without trace, so clearly sometimes the the gods of the screen are just and true. Not often, I'll grant you, but sometimes. The BBC also raided their own store cupboard, and came up with a sequel to Upstairs Downstairs, annoying pretty much all the fans of the original. I enjoyed it, but admittedly I never got around to bothering with the second series, whenever that was.
And of course this was the year when a-ha called it a day, the year after their final album, Foot Of The Mountain. They released a final single, and then went their separate ways. Until this year, of course! Sometimes you do get a happy ending - albeit a temporary one. Naturally.
a-ha and Butterfly Butterfly (The Last Hurrah):
From their The Illusion Of Safety album, this is the Hoosiers and Unlikely Hero:
The Manics with the title track from their 2010 album Postcards From A Young Man:
This year saw the death of jazz great Lena Horne. Here she is appearing on The Dean Martin Show in 1969. They were good friends, and I think this comes across nicely here. As so often with the guests on that show, it's clear that they're having fun.
One sad point about this year, that went almost unremarked upon due to the passage of time, was the death of Johnny Sheffield, the former child actor who had played Boy to Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan throughout the 1940s. Those films were on a lot when I was a kid, and I spent a fair chunk of time being Boy. Badly, I'll grant you. But with enthusiasm! Here's the trailer for 1939's Tarzan Finds A Son, the film that launched the world's most danger prone infant upon the world:
And to close, and continuing with the animal theme, this year also saw the death of Simon MacCorkindale. So here's the theme from Manimal. No prizes for guessing what decade it's from! (It says, I know. But if it didn't. Obviously. Yes okay, I'll shut up now).
Blimey, that wasn't the most cheerful year ever, was it!