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R.I.P. Plas Johnson (1931-2026)

Posted in Biographical, Film, Jazz, R.I.P. with tags , , , , on July 23, 2026 by telescoper

I first heard news of the death of tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson (left) a couple of days ago, and since then there have been numerous tributes including this one in the Irish Times. Almost without fail the obituaries introduce him as the man who played the saxophone part of the Pink Panther theme written by Henry Mancini. In fact, years ago, I won a tiebreak for my team in a pub quiz by knowing the name of the person who played that tune.

Even very good musicians struggled to make a decent living from jazz after the arrival of rock-and-roll as a popular musical phenomenon in the 1950s. Like many jazz performers, Johnson addressed this issue by moving to Los Angeles, where he found work as a session musician working to support such artists as Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye, or on film and TV music. Henry Mancini noticed Plas Johnson’s quality and it inspired him to write the Pink Panther film specifically for him. Most of these performances went uncredited, which is why his name isn’t more widely known despite him being a very fine saxophonist. Nonetheless, having the financial security of being much sought after session musician, Plas Johnson was able to continue to pursue his love of jazz. He made some fine albums as leader (I have Positively on vinyl). He also moonlighted as Johnny Beecher to evade contractual issues.

The reason I knew of Plas Johnson as a jazz musician before I found out he was the Pink Panther guy. That’s because I used to listen to Humphrey Lyttelton’s radio programme The Best of Jazz on Radio 2 on Monday evenings from 9pm when I was at school and Plas Johnson came up a few times, including on the track I’ve included below from one of the famous Hanna-Fontana sessions at the Concord Jazz Festival. The recording was made in 1975 but the record wasn’t available in the UK until a couple of years later. I used to tape Humph’s radio shows but no longer have any of the cassettes so I had to spend much of my spare time the last couple of days trying to find the track Humph played. This is it! It features Plas Johnson (ts), clearly enjoying himself in the company of Bill Berry (tpt), Carl Fontana (tb), Herb Ellis (g), Dave McKenna (p), Herb Mickman (b) and Jake Hanna (d). Not a bad line-up!

R.I.P. Plas Johnson (1931-2026), so much more than the Pink Panther guy!

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R.I.P. Kevin Keegan (1951-2026)

Posted in Biographical, Football, R.I.P. with tags , , , , on July 20, 2026 by telescoper

More very sad news. Kevin Keegan (left) has passed away from cancer at the age of 75. He made his reputation at Liverpool, and in Germany, but I remember him best as a player and captain of the Newcastle United team that got promotion to the (then) First Division in 1984. At that time I was a student at Cambridge and member of the local branch of the NUFC Supporters’ Club so I got to see him play quite a few times. Keegan retired from playing at the end of that season and bid an emotional farewell from St James’s Park after the final game against Brighton.

Kevin Keegan was an attacking midfielder who usually operated in the inside-right position. Very good on the ball and an excellent finisher, he was also surprisingly effective in the air. I say “surprisingly” because he wasn’t a very big man, around 5 foot 8 inches tall. After moving to Hamburg he was named European Footballer of Year for two successive years (1978 and 1979). It was quite unusual in those days for English footballers to play on the continent, but Keegan seems to have thrived there.

Later on, in 1992, he rejoined Newcastle United as manager and brought them to promotion to the Premier League. They team led for most of the 1995/6 season but ended up in second place. He had assembled a wonderful group of attacking players but the team’s defensive frailties cost them the title. Keegan had a rather fragile character, and the strain obviously got to him and thence to the players. He was never a great tactical manager – my Dad said Keegan was more of a mascot than a manager – but that team played some great football. Was that really 30 years ago?

On a more personal note, in the 1990s, my Mum was working at a school for physically handicapped children in Newcastle. One day they were visited by Kevin Keegan and some of the Newcastle players. Such PR trips were not uncommon and the staff didn’t think much of them. She didn’t care for footballers in general, but told me that Keegan was very different from most of the other visitors they got. He ignored the photographers aand the formal itinerary and just went to sit on the floor chatting with the kids around him. I never met him in person but it seems he was a genuinely nice man in private life.

P.S. Though he was born in Doncaster, “Keegan” is an Irish name. His paternal grandfather was born in Ireland and moved to Newcastle to work as a miner. He could therefore have played for Ireland rather than England.

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R.I.P. Garry Sobers (1936-2026)

Posted in Cricket, R.I.P. with tags , , , , , , on July 17, 2026 by telescoper

I just heard the very sad news of the death at the age of 89 of cricketing legend Sir Garfield (“Garry”) Sobers. He was a superb player, a genuine all-rounder. With the bat he was an extraordinary attacking strokeplayer, being the first to hit six sixes in an over (for his adopted county, Nottinghamshire, against Glamorgan in 1968.

I know there’s more than a suspicion that the dropped catch off the 5th ball might have been deliberate, but still…

When I lived in Nottingham my next door neighbour had many memories of Garry Sobers. He was fond of the nightlife, and also liked to bet on the horses. As a captain Sobers was also a bit of a gambler, often making very generous declarations. It didn’t always come off, but it sure made for exciting cricket.

Sobers’s maiden test century against Pakistan turned into a mammoth 365 not out. His batting average in 93 test matches was 57.78, a number that a specialist bat would be proud of. But he was also a superb bowler with the knack of getting good batsmen out, usually with his fast left-arm inswingers bowled over the wicket. Here is an example of him getting Geoffrey Boycott out. He always seemed to enjoy doing that. It’s a low resolution clip, but just look at the swing!

Of that delivery, which got him out lbw, Boycott later said “It was missing off, missing leg, and hitting middle halfway up”. You can tell he knew he was out. (When I played cricket at school I never figured out to bat aginst left-arm over the wicket bowlers even if they didn’t swing…). Sobers was also an adept left-arm spin bowler, who could bowl orthodox but was also adept at the Chinaman (a term for left-arm wrist spin that has fallen into disuse in recent years, but was common in my youth). I should also mention that he was an exceptional fielder too at a time before one-day cricket increased the general level of fielding.

I genuine all-rounder who reaches the level of international excellence at both batting and bowling is very rare in cricket. Most all-rounders are either bowlers who can bat a bit or batters who can bowl a bit. Sobers was the only one in his generation who was great at both. Cricket was fortunate later, from the late 70s to the 80s, to have three four at the same time: Ian Botham (England), Kapil Dev (India), Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) and Imran Kahn (Pakistan). But Sobers was probably the greatest of them all.

R.I.P. Garry Sobers (1936-2026). Pure legend.

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Space and Time with Sam Neill

Posted in Biographical, R.I.P., Television, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , on July 13, 2026 by telescoper

I was very sad this morning to read the news that Sam Neill has passed away at the age of 78. He was a very fine and exceptionally versatile actor. Among many other roles I remember him well as the sadistic and corrupt Chief Inspector Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders. I was impressed by his convincing Ulster accent but then found out he was actually born in Omagh, County Tyrone.

About 25 years ago (!) I made a very brief appearance in a BBC documentary series called Space for which Sam Neill (left) was the narrator. Apparently he only agreed to do the job on condition that they would film his segments at his home in New Zealand. I remember talking to the production team about Sam Neill and they all said he was not only very professional in his work but also a very nice man. These things don’t always go together…

After the episode I was in – the last of six – was broadcast, my Mam rang me. She didn’t mention my part at all, but asked “That Sam Neill, is he nice?”. I had to explain that I never met him, as they filmed his segments after all the other location sequences. “Oh well,” she said. “At least he knows your name”.

The following clip shows the item I took part in. Originally we were going to demonstrate wormholes using a snooker table, clever editing and reversed video. The producer, Jeremy Turner,  decided that wouldn’t look spectacular enough so instead we went to St Anton in Austria: I was flown over the Alps in a helicopter and then driven through the Arlberg tunnel in an impressively fast car. Well worth the cost to license fee payers, I’m sure, even if the three-day trip to Austria by me and a crew of six as well as the hire of the helicopter ended up as a mere three minutes of screen time.

The item is daft, I know, and I don’t really believe any of that stuff about wormholes. It was great fun doing it, but hard work. I remember after the shoot we had a few drinks to wrap it up then left on a very early flight the next morning to the UK. I got back to Nottingham University just in time for a 10am lecture.

Anyway, the episode I was in was called To Boldly Go. I remember suggesting to the producer that the only way to travel faster than light in the manner required was with a split infinitive drive, but they didn’t use that in the final script.

Notice how, in the helicopter sequence, I give the appearance of being completely terrified. A fine piece of acting by me, I thought. *Cough*

R.I.P. Sam Neill (1947-2026)

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R.I.P. David Hockney (1937-2026)

Posted in Art, LGBTQ+, R.I.P. with tags , , on June 12, 2026 by telescoper

Today brought sad news of the death of artist David Hockney at the age of 88. Hockney was one of the leaders in the pop art movement, which involved assimilating and distilling ideas from popular culture and his career spanned painting, drawing, photography, printmaking and stage design. The last exhibition I saw by him consisted of wonderful drawings done on an IPad. That was about 15 years ago; he remained remarkably active and productive well into old age.

Throughout his career, Hockney’s work was often inspired by his fascination with light, especially its interplay with water, as well as his unique sense of space and unusual use of colour. His most famous early expressions of these were realised in California, where he became obsessed with the bright sunshine and the plethora of swimming pools.

As Hockney’s fame grew his work became very collectible, commanding huge prices at auction, so much of it ended up in private collections. This large-scale work, A Bigger Splash, painted in 1967, followed a smaller painting, The Splash (1966). The earlier work fetched around $30M at auction and is in a private collection, but A Bigger Splash can be seen at Tate Britain. The spare composition and distinctive palette are his instantly recognisable trademarks.

A Bigger Splash by David Hockney (1967, Acrylic on Canvas, 242.5 × 243.9 cm, Tate Britain, London)

Update: here’s a very poignant cartoon by Ben Jennings.

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R.I.P. Sonny Rollins (1930-2026)

Posted in Jazz, R.I.P. with tags , , , , , , , , on May 26, 2026 by telescoper

I woke this morning to the sad news that the great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins passed away yesterday at the age of 95. He was one of the most influential and creative musicians of his time and there are many justifiably glowing obituaries of him. I can’t add much that hasn’t already been said by them, other than say that I consider myself deeply privileged to have been able see and hear Sonny Rollins play live, not once but twice, during the 1980s. The first was in the relatively intimate surroundings of Ronnie Scott’s club in London and the second in the Royal Festival Hall. On both occasions he was fantastic. Sonny Rollins was one of those musicians who made me think when I watched him that if you took the instrument out of his mouth it would somehow carry on playing on its own. At Ronnie Scott’s club he opened one set by starting to play in the band room, walking out through the audience onto the stage still playing and then about an hour later walked off back the way he came, still playing. The tune was Thelonious Monk’s 52nd Street Theme. He ended his set at the Festival Hall with an unstoppable version of Don’t Stop The Carnival that had everyone leaping about in the aisles. There was so much music in him it just had to come out. Was he playing the music or was it playing him?

Sonny Rollins began playing professionally when he was a teenager in the late 1940s but came to the attention of the jazz world in earnest when he teamed up with Miles Davis for a 1954 recording session that led to a record called Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins. (Coincidentally, today would have been Miles Davis’s 100th birthday). That record, originally issued on a 10″ LP, showcased Rollins’s big muscular sound on tenor sax, but also consisted of four tracks, three of which were compositions by Sonny Rollins, including a now-standard Oleo. That record was really Sonny’s breakthrough and he went on to record dozens of superb albums both as leader: A Night at the Village Vanguard, Saxophone Colossus, Newk’s Time, and Way Out West, to name just four. He also made many records as a side man, including the must-have album, Brilliant Corners with Thelonious Monk.

Having established himself as a major artist, Rollins suddenly took a three-year break from playing between 1959 to 1961 to develop his technique. Lacking space to practice in his apartment, he did so every day on the Williamsburg Bridge. When he returned to a recording studio in early 1962, the result was another classic album, The Bridge.

(Left: Sonny Rollins c. 1960)

Having established himself as a major artist, Rollins suddenly took a three-year break from playing between 1959 to 1961 to develop his technique. Lacking space to practice in his apartment, he did so every day on the Williamsburg Bridge. When he returned to a recording studio in early 1962, the result was another classic album, The Bridge.

In all he made over 60 albums, of which I have about a dozen. I’ll be listening to them a lot over the next few days and may post a few further items about them in due course.One thing I always liked about Sonny Rollins was his tendency to take a shine to very unexpected tunes and turn them into something magical. Off the top of my head I can think of The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, How are Things in Glocca Morra? and I’m an Old Cowhand.

It’s impossible to pick a single track than can do justice to Sonny Rollins so I’m just going to include a couple here. The first is the very first track I ever heard by him, on a Blue Note sampler album. It’s a Miles Davis tune called Tune Up and it’s from the 1957 Blue Note album Newk’s Time with Wynton Kelly (piano), Doug Watkins (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). Perhaps listening to the energy and invention of his playing, delivered with that characteristically leathery tone then you’ will understand why I fell instantly in love with his music and wanted to hear more.

The second is one of my favourite records of all time. It’s called Hold’ Em Joe and it was recorded in 1965 with Ray Bryant (piano), Walter Booker (bass) and the fabulous Mickey Roker on drums:

As a sad footnote on this sad occasion, the passing of Sonny Rollins means that not one of the great musicians in this famous photograph A Great Day in Harlem, taken on August 12th 1958, is still with us:

Rest in Peace Sonny Rollins (1930-1954), Saxophone Colossus indeed.

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R.I.P. Len Deighton (1929-2026)

Posted in Literature, R.I.P. with tags , , , on March 18, 2026 by telescoper

With all the excitement yesterday I missed the news that novelist Len Deighton had passed away (at the age of 97). I learnt from his obituary that he began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist, but he is far more famous as an excellent writer, especially of spy stories. The IPCRESS File (left) is one of my favourite novels in this genre.

It’s superbly written in a very down-to-earth fashion, and as a result far more credible than the more famous James Bond stories of Ian Fleming. In my opinion Deighton was a far better writer than Fleming. The IPCRESS File was in fact, Deighton’s first espionage novel, written in 1962, and the first appearance of Harry Palmer. Deighton was roughly contemporary with John le Carré though the characters of Harry Palmer and George Smiley could hardly be more different!

I found the copy shown above on my shelves and must read it again. Funeral in Berlin is another cracker, but I can’t find my copy. I probably lent it to someone and never got it back…

Rest in peace, Len Deighton (1929-2026)

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Remembering David MacKay

Posted in R.I.P. with tags , on February 25, 2026 by telescoper

Approaching the 10th anniversary of the untimely death at the age of 48 of David MacKay, who was Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. I wrote about him at the time of his passing here. I’ve just been told about a one-day meeting in Cambridge on March 27th 2026 to remember David and his work and thought I would do a quick post to pass on a flier (below) about the meeting in case any readers of this blog would like to attend.

MacKay flier linksDownload

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R.I.P. Yannick Mellier (1958-2025)

Posted in Euclid, R.I.P., The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , on December 21, 2025 by telescoper

Last night I received a message via the Euclid Consortium conveying the very sad news of the death, at the age of 67, of the French astrophysicist and cosmologist Yannick Mellier (pictured left). Among many other things, Yannick was the Euclid Consortium Lead in which role he took on enormous responsibility for getting the project started and, with his team, keeping everything running. His loss is incalculable.

Yannick’s research work focussed on cosmology and the search for dark matter using gravitational lensing. Back in 1987 he was part of the observational team that discovered the first giant arc produced by strong gravitational lensing. He also did pioneering work in the field of weaking gravitational lensing with the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope in that regard starting back in 2000.

For well over a decade now Yannick had been involved with the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission. He was a major force right from the beginning, making the proposal, and after it was accepted leading the Consortium assembled to bring the project into being, preparing for launch, and dealing with the first data. The Euclid Consortium is a huge collaboration and it is impossible to overestimate the scale of the task facing the Lead. The first full data release (DR1) from Euclid will take place towards the end of next year (2026). It is sad beyong words that he did not live to see this.

During the period when I was Chair of the Euclid Consortium Diversity Committee I had a number of interactions with Yannick, sometimes dealing with difficult and confidential matters. I found him to be a man of great wisdom and sensitivity. Despite having many other things to deal with, including a long-term illness, he was unfailingly supportive and his advice was always sound.

The following is an excerpt from the message sent out yesterday:

Yannick’s death leaves a huge void within the consortium and our community. Those of us who have been here the longest know how hard he worked to make the Euclid project a success. He became its embodiment, working tirelessly to ensure its success; we owe him an immense debt of gratitude, and we will surely have the opportunity to reflect in detail on all that we owe him.

Indeed. I hope the Euclid Consortium – and the international cosmological community generally – will, at some stage, organize an appropriate tribute to Yannick.

Rest in Peace, Yannick Mellier (1958-2025)

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

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R.I.P. Patricia Routledge (1929-2025)

Posted in R.I.P., Television with tags , , , on October 3, 2025 by telescoper

Very sad news arrived today of the death at the age of 96 of the wonderful Patricia Routledge. I guess she is best known for her portrayal of Hyacinth Bucket of Keeping Up Appearances, but to me she will always be Kitty in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV back in the 1980s. She did many other things besides, but here by way of a tribute is an example of Kitty holding forth as was her wont (although usually not in inebriated fashion). Cheadle just won’t be the same without her.

R.I.P. Patricia Routledge (1929-2025)

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