h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know. While his daughter is the public face of the family, he was the charismatic glue that bound it together. I think without its center it may fall apart.

I can hope so anyway.

Fingers crossed.

In guessing they will. One thing odd little sects like that like to do is form more splits than anarchist groups do. Often the death of a centrepiece like Fred is what sends them all scattering.

It was my understanding that the church officials excommunicated Fred last year. If that is true, I don't expect their operation to change much due to his death.

That's right, they did. In that case they'll probably picket his funeral too

It was just mentioned on the local news here that his daughter announced that there will be no funeral service. Cowards.

Regardless, I'm sure there is quite the raucous party going on here: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/21/man-turns-house-across-the-street-from-westboro-baptist-church-into-gay-pride-flag/

The talk of excommunication seems to all be very recent - within the past week. If that's the case, the fragmentation could be well underway already. Although I must admit, it's hardly the Vatican or the Kremlin. I'm not really interested enough to spend much time researching their inner politics.

Why do I get cynical about everything to do with that bunch of *******

Since they are almost all lawyers, why do I suspect that Excommunicating the old man was a means of avoiding the "churches" assets being tangled up with his estate?

DING DING DING!


I'm sure you are correct. That makes too much sense. I hadn't heard anything about this supposed "excommunication", but it would be like the catholic church excommunicating the pope. He was the church. There was no schism. If a family member starting questioning anything they were kicked out and never spoken to again. His son is an outspoken atheist now and he's never indicated that there was anything but complete submission to Fred Phelps' ideology. The members question nothing, nothing, or they're ex-members. Seeing interviews with the children is disturbing to say the least.

Y'know, despite the notion that we'd all rather the world ignore them and they go away, Phelps' death has generated more conversation than any person in this or the previous thread.

At this point I really wish we had a chin-stroking 'hmm' smiley that I could insert right about...

Well... personally, I usually don't know half the folks you eulogize in this thread from Adam.


Phelps on the other hand enfuriates people across many lands. It's one thing to be a fundamentalist with an exceptionally hateful mission. It's another thing to make a name for yourself by targeting funerals, antagonizing and insulting people in mourning, and publicizing this abhorrent behaviour to the fullest extent, and all that in the purpose of filing countersuits against the grieving families or local municipalities.

F that !

In the words of Clarence Darrow: "I've never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."

Here's to Fred Phelps.
That c is dead.

I want that last bit to be the QotD.

"Fred Phelps, a colossal jerk, died Thursday."
http://time.com/32564/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-obituary/

Kate O'Mara
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26809417

Something of a lust object for the teenage Gosho

I suppose she'll be remembered mostly for Dynasty () and a certain kind of British TV programme (Persuaders, Champions, The Saint, Danger Man, Jason King), but she did more than that, including Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies and Doctor Who as well as some serious roles, so good on her

I remember in Ab Fab as Patsy's sister, Jackie.

I don't recall that, but I can definitely see it working

Here's the first of three parts of one of the episodes she's in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLcmRLIDAg

But if you want to just see her, she shows up in the second part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLcmRLIDAg

Bob Larbey
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26899040

The Good Life (which the IMDb *still* insists on calling Good Neighbors ) was one of my favourite sitcoms of the time, the other being The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, and just like the creator of Reginald Perrin, David Nobbs, Bob Larbey spent some time writing for at least one of David Frost's shows.

I so wanted to try the self-sufficiency thing, which was all the rage at the time with plenty of books and a TV series or two to get wrapped in, and which was then revived in a small way with Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall's first two or three River Cottage series, but it just never happened. It's a little late for me now, but if I should ever buy the winning lottery ticket, a small house with a few acres where I could grow some fruit and veg, keep a chicken or two, maybe even a couple of pigs, would be on the shopping list

Let's not forget Bob Larbey's other work though. Ever Decreasing Circles was another one that I followed every episode of. Martin and Tom were so different in some ways and so alike in others. Tom had the vision to do something utterly new and scary - leave his job and start a completely new life - which Martin could never do, being so anal, impractical and a lover of routine, but they both had feelings of pomposity and self-importance.

And then there was Brush Stroke - a strange little sitcom which also pulled me in and which I think I'd like to see again.

We can't forget Please Sir (Derek Guyler's Norman Potter was a classic British sitcom character: "I was a Desert Rat you know, ho yus") and The Fenn Street Gang, but I never cared for some of his work - A Fine Romance and As Time Goes by, both of which must have made him a nice little nestegg judging by how much they get shown on American public television.

He also wrote the screenplays for the first four episodes of The Darling Buds of May, which I didn't realise until now despite having watched the entire series at least four times.