Alistair Cooke RIP

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I know It was on the cards, but it still seems a shame

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 06:50 (twenty-two years ago)

rip the other ally c :(

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 08:05 (twenty-two years ago)

And may his almost namesake's life be just as extraordinarily long and prolific...

RIP.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 08:12 (twenty-two years ago)

(Alistair Cookie?)

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

When he retired, did anyone else assume that he'd probably die very soon afterwards?

(he really did have a CLASSIC radio-presenter voice)

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 09:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I was surprised it was so soon after actually. Didn't get to enjoy his retirement for very long did he? :(

Not that he necessarily wanted it to begin it. I hope I retain all my faculties into old age like he did...

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 09:45 (twenty-two years ago)

RIP the king of subclauses

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm very sad about this. I used to fall asleep listening to him on friday nights when I was young.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 11:26 (twenty-two years ago)

We were good together. RIP, AC.

― Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I assumed he was probably already 'resting'/comatose when the retirement was announced; there were no more programmes following the announcement.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 12:48 (twenty-two years ago)

First Peter Ustinov and now this? This is indeed a bad week for windy old bores.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, none of that -- to any aspiring Anglophile in America, watching him host the PBS Masterpiece Theatre series, which admittedly was an excuse to repackage a slew of BBC TV series for the States, was a rite of passage. I can't *not* think of I, Claudius without him hosting it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Strangely, I never watched Masterpiece Theatre so only had peripheral Cooke knowledge.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 13:23 (twenty-two years ago)

has anyone seen the photo of him w. the beavis and butthead t shirt ?

― anthony, Tuesday, 30 March 2004 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I preferred Monsterpiece Theatre.

― Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

just after Peter Ustinov too. Who is next?

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

The bbc website is running old LFA at the moment, as on radio 4. The latest one is truly great- and enilghtening on how brilliant he was about making the vastness of America understandable to us hicks in the UK, and at the same time- well, quite vast. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

― G., Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I listened to that on Friday; great illustration of Cooke's role as conversational reporter, who did not make comment, but explain and allow the listener to make up their own mind as to the wider issues.

― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

C'mon - cooke was a reactionary zealot, framing his arguments in an oh-so-wise patter schtick that stank of all the rankness involved in a b rit living in new york thinking he had something unique to say to the world.

― queen grinding teeth, Thursday, 6 May 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

qgt completely otm

I had the misfortune to hear loads of these in the late 70s/80s as it was the compulsory background for breakfast on Sundays.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Thursday, 6 May 2004 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

On Jazz Record Requests last Saturday they played a transcription recording of a Jess Stacy jam session from 1937 on "St Louis Blues," introduced by WC Handy and performed by a cracking band including Mezz Mezzrow, Bud Freeman and others. Completely ruined by youthful BBC announcer Alistair Cooke bawling out the names of the musicians every three seconds and fucking up their solos like a snooker referee with Tourette's. "Zutty Singleton ON DRUMS-AH! OH NO I FORGOT TO MENTION BUD FREE-MUUUUNNNNHHHH-AH!"

Still, I suppose when they get Christopher Hitchens to take over LFA (it's just a hunch), the era of Cooke will carry the semblance of a golden one.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 6 May 2004 07:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Can't say I liked the one they repeated tonight on R4 as much as the last. This was from November 2001, and the history being so much more recent, as well as the fact that he was far more opinionated than in the 1970 one from last week, didn't add up to well... But well, he was 93 and an 'institution', so some level of hubris may be expected. Though I do remember far preferring to this the last ever LFA, that he did in around March; seemed far more in his older style.

The 1937 jazz reportage sounds anathema really to his latter-day (read 35, 40 years? ;)) style; which is to say: lugubrious, soberly avuncular. Difficult for me to imagine him that excitable, having only been exposed to a handful of LFAs and half of his "America" TV documentary, which was repeated on BBC4 last year. Difficult to imagine him young full-stop; to think that when he started LFA he was nearly forty... :)

― Tom May (Tom May), Friday, 7 May 2004 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

The hell?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

The ignominy!

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

And why steal bones? I'll bet that if they asked people if they could have the bones, a lot of people would be like, "yeah, sure - if it's going to give someone new teeth..."

(remind me to opt for the synthetic dentures, should I ever need any.)

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

http://www.livejournal.com/users/rwillmsen/21022.html?mode=reply

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

"...body snatchers allegedly surgically removed his bones and sold them for more than $7,000 (£4,000) to a company supplying parts for use in dental implants and various orthopaedic procedures."

Somebody's walking around with a mouth full of Alaister Cooke!

― Marcel Post (Marcel Post), Thursday, 22 December 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

I am half way through having a dental implant. When it's finished I half expect to start braodcasting in a resonant and reassuring voice.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

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