2024

Martin Mull died, aged 80
Martin Mull was an American comic actor whose career included contributions as a musician and painter. Mull gained visibility on screen for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and its spin-off Fernwood 2 Night. His other notable roles include Colonel Mustard in the 1985 film Clue, Leon Carp on Roseanne, Willard Kraft on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Vlad Masters / Vlad Plasmius on Danny Phantom, and Gene Parmesan on Arrested Development. He had a recurring role on Two and a Half Men as Russell, the drug-using, humorous pharmacist. He appeared in Grace and Frankie, Roseanne, The Golden Girls, Taxi. He has also been a voice on TV shows, Danny Phantom, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Worthing Day Out 2024
Jezz, Nik and I planned a day out while Jezz was off for a week. We headed out around 10am to miss the school hour and took the M23 and A24 to Worthing. The journey took around 1 hour and 15 minutes and the weather was absolutely perfect, if not a little too hot.
After finding a parking space for three hours, we headed off to the town centre and walked through the open market, trying to stay in the shade. Jezz then found a Wimpy in town by looking on his phone, and we went there for lunch.
Then, after moving the car to a new spot along the parade, we got an ice cream and went to the pier. We all had a go on the 2p machines, went for a drink in the bar and took more photos. After a stroll around M&S, we went back to the car and came home. A brilliant and excellent day out.

Bill Cobbs died, aged 90
Bill Cobbs was an American actor, known for such film roles as Louisiana Slim in The Hitter (1979), Walter in The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Reginald in Night at the Museum (2006) and Master Tinker on Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He also played Lewis Coleman on I’ll Fly Away (1991–1993), Jack on The Michael Richards Show (2000), and had guest appearances on Walker, Texas Ranger and The Sopranos. In 2012, he had a reoccurring role as George in the sitcom, Go On. In 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series Dino Dana.

Crazy Golf Session
To kickstart Jezz’s week off, he organised for us both to go to World Of Golf, in Surrey. I’ve never been to any Crazy Golf before, and this was more fun than I thought it was going to be. There were 18 holes, and no one came in after us, so it felt as though we had the place to ourselves. We took loads of photos and a few videos.

Wimbledon Common Picnic
After an hour or so at crazy golf, Jezz and I headed for Wimbledon Common for a picnic that we had prepared earlier at home. It was a gorgeous day, maybe a little too hot. We only stayed for under an hour, but it was nice.

Donald Sutherland died, aged 88
Donald Sutherland was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades. He received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. He is considered one of the best actors never nominated for an Academy Award, but was given an Academy Honorary Award in 2017. Sutherland rose to fame after starring in films such as The Dirty Dozen (1967), MAS*H (1970), and Kelly’s Heroes (1970). 
He also starred in many films including The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The First Great Train Robbery (1978), Ordinary People (1980), Backdraft (1991), JFK (1991), The Italian Job (2003), and Pride & Prejudice (2005).

Jezz get taken to A&E by ambulance
After several nights of chest pains, coughing convulsions and vomiting, and this evening it lasting more than 4 hours, we decided it was time we got help and called 111. An ambulance arrived and two lovely paramedics, did an ECG, advised he gets checked out at the hospital. We got there at 4 and didn’t leave until 2.30pm. He had three more ECG’s, 2 blood tests, treatments for anti-sickness, pain relief and blood thinning. A very thorough doctor consulted with a cardiologist and while there was no evidence of cardiac arrest, the tests were carried as though he had. This resulted in them suspecting a new onset of angina and sent home with medication. He is being referred for an electrocardiogram, (ECG while undergoing exercises) and should get an appointment in the next 2 weeks.

Paul Spencer died, aged 53
Paul Spencer was a third of the band, Dario G. A trio of English DJs and producers. The band were most famous for their UK No. 2 hit single, Sunchyme, in 1997. Scott Rosser, and Stephen Spencer were the other band members. Other hits included: “Dream To Me” and “Heaven Is Closer (Feels Like Heaven).”

Kevin Campbell died, aged 54
Kevin Campbell was an English professional footballer, sports television pundit and co-commentator. A striker, he played in the Premier League for Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Everton and West Bromwich Albion. He also played in the Turkish Süper Lig for Trabzonspor, and in the Football League for Arsenal, Leyton Orient, Leicester City and Cardiff City.

Movie: Nope ★★★
It’s an ok film. A bit daft and a tad slow.

Movie: Big Game ★★★★★
Nice. Good Acton-packed, a little daft but wonderful film.

Michael Mosley died, aged 67
Michael Mosley was a British television journalist, producer, presenter, and writer who worked for the BBC from 1985. He was a presenter of television programmes on biology and medicine and regularly appeared on The One Show. Mosley was an advocate of intermittent fasting and low-carbohydrate diets who wrote books promoting the ketogenic diet. He died while on holiday on the Greek island of Symi in June 2024.

New tap fitted to the driveway
Today, Essy came round and installed our outside garden water tap, on to the wall under the kitchen window. This will enable us to use the water more easily when washing the cars with the pressure washer.
Essy also fitted a new light fitting in the downstairs toilet, so now we have a motion-censored light that is also connected to our light system in the home.

Nicholas Ball died, aged 78
Nicholas Ball was an English actor. He was best known for playing the title role in the television series Hazell.
He portrayed the vicious gang lord Terry Bates in EastEnders between 2007 and 2009. He played Garry Ryan in series five of Footballers’ Wives and both series of its spin-off programme, Footballers’ Wives: Extra Time. In 2019, he appeared in an advert for Premier Inn, playing the part of Lenny Henry’s manager. Nicholas Ball was married to actress–comedian and psychologist, Pamela Stephenson from 1978 until her affair—and eventual elopement, with Billy Connolly.
Other TV shows he appeared include: The Young Ones, Bergerac, Heartbeat, Red Dwarf, Jonathan Creek, Eastenders, Hustle, Holby City, Doctors and more.

William Russell died, aged 99
William Russell was an English actor who performed as both Russell Enoch and William Russell. He first achieved prominence in the title role of the TV series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956–1957). In 1963, he was in the original lead cast of BBC1’s Doctor Who, playing the role of schoolteacher Ian Chesterton from the show’s first episode until 1965.
Russell’s film roles include parts in The Man Who Never Was (1956), The Great Escape (1963) and Superman (1978). On TV, he appeared as Ted Sullivan in Coronation Street in 1992. In his later years, he continued his association with Doctor Who and returned as Ian for a 2022 cameo in “The Power of the Doctor”, 57 years after the character left, which won him a Guinness World Record for the longest gap between TV appearances.

Jeannette Charles died, aged 96
Jeannette Charles was a British actress who was often chosen to portray Queen Elizabeth II because of her supposed physical resemblance to the monarch. I remember her best for her portrayal of our former Queen, in the movie: “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”

Colin Gibb died, aged 70
Colin Gibb was a British musician, best known as an original member of Black Lace, who were famous for their novelty party records, including their biggest hit, “Agadoo”.