Okay...I know I've been taken to task about this before...but doesn't this year seem to be 'over-represented' with celebrity deaths?
Natalie Cole, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Terry Wogan, Ronnie Corbett, Glenn Frey, Frank Finlay, Maurice White, George Kennedy, George Martin, Sylvia Anderson, Frank Sinatra Jr., Keith Emerson, Garry Shandling, Patty Duke and now David Gest.
I know some of the above were quite old, but this is now averaging out at one a week since the start of the year!!!
I think the year could only be 'over represented' if there were other years when only a couple or fewer of those known to the general public died.
It's just nature, they're not The Immortals of legend.
My theory is that the 60s and 70s were prolific times for cultural icons to be born. The post war years were over, television was a growing media, the music scene was thriving so a lot of singers/comedians/tv actors etc were coming to the fore in those decades. They are now all getting old, hence they are all dying off.
ah, Mr Minnelli, I knew I'd heard of him somewhere. Tbh, I'd put him way lower on the celebrity list than any of those sp1814 mentions, but no doubt Americans knew him.
“David Alan Guest (May 11, 1953 – April 12, 2016) was an American producer, UK television personality.”
I’m glad you said that, Balders. It saved me asking my usual question (er..who is xxx?) when announcements of this sort are made. I have to say, though, I’m somewhat none the wiser in this particular instance.
“My theory is that the 60s and 70s were prolific times for cultural icons to be born.”
Does this geezer number among those “cultural icons”? An icon born in 1970 would only be 46 now. Surely they’re not dying off at that young age? Many “cultural icons” (aka Rock stars) born in the 40’s and 50’s did indeed die young mainly due to substance abuse. But I thought that phenomenon had largely disappeared.