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

In the mid 1970s, David Jason (aka Captain of the B Ark) and Bill Wallace (aka Mr Prosser and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz) were regulars on the Radio 4 programme 'Week Ending'. They had a slot which appeared at least once each week where they were talking about some item of the past week's news. One would be explaining it to the other - with a heavy dose of satire of course At the end of the explanation, the penny would drop and the would light up for the one doing the listening, upon which he'd say 'Ohhhhhh. Makes you fink, dunnit?', and the other would reply 'Werl, yeah'.

I read today that there are only 26 known survivors of World War One in the UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3445347.stm

Some time during the 90s I think (it might have been the 80s), I heard that the last known survivor of the Boer War had died. That surprised me because as far as I was concerned, the Boer War was a piece of ancient history, something from a whole nother century even! But when I was a young Gosho there were still plenty of survivors of The Great War around. I even knew many of them personally because it was perfectly common for people of my age to have elderly relatives, neighbours, or family friends who had been in the trenches. In the year I was born it had been 38 years since the guns fell silent, and the youngest soldiers to fight could easily have still been ten years off retirement. My Nan's neighbour had been a soldier and had been handed a white feather by a woman when he was on leave and out of uniform. During the muster which began each year's Festival of Remembrance at The Royal Albert Hall, the Chelsea Pensioners were almost entirely made up of WW1 veterans. And now there are only 26 British people who have personal experience of that terrible period of history.

Even World War Two veterans are getting on. That war finished a mere 11 years before I was born. My father had fought in it. Almost everyone's had. Now, it ought to be impossible for anyone involved in the hostilities to be under 77 years old.

Makes you fink, dunnit?

And Johnny Rotten, being the same age as me, will reach 50 two years from now

I was having a discussion with Mrs Gosho the other day about famous people who have died younger than I am now. We came up with names such as JFK, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther-King, Glenn Miller, several pop stars including (but not limited to) Lennon, Hendrix, Morrison, Presley, Joplin, Jones, and Moon, Gerard Hoffnung, Mozart, and a few others I can't recall.

Perhaps I'm going through my mid-life crisis and thinking about how much I haven't done compared to the relatively short time I've got left in which to try and do it

That's weird you should say all this, because earlier this week I was thinking about how many icons of my youth have died. I thought of John Lennon of course, his death was such a shock, I was in high school. And I thought of Mister Rogers. His show was such a staple when I was a little kid.

JEllen

Mrs Gosho was upset about Mr Rogers too, and she's only 25!

>Perhaps I'm going through my mid-life crisis and thinking about how much I haven't done compared to the relatively short time I've got left in which to try and do it<

Hey Gosho Life is all about grabbing opportunities and having no regrets. When died, I resolved not to waste any of my time: to enjoy all the things that are good about life and to get rid of the things that aren't so good. And daydreams turn into plans for the future...



Frenchbean

It does rather make one think doesn't it.

Whilst I am someshat younger than you Gosho, I do have some rather large generation gaps in my family. It wasn't until just before my father died in 2000 that I learned that his father had been amongst the thousands who went over the top on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Suffice to say that he did make it back to his trench as his son, my father, wasn't born until 5 years later.

Like this thread..will catch up later...

Yes in WW1 my forefathers fought on opposite sides. In WW2 my parents were allied to opposite sides. The 20th century was a mixed up time.

I'm on premod BTW..so I apologise for the delay.
An amazing advice note just arose on my last post...
Something about "WARNING...this thread may contain NUTS"
Amazing!

I think *all* of Gosho's threads may contain nuts, LOOPYBOOPY.

I'm 55, so there are likely a *lot* of famous people who never lived to be as old as I am now. I've done lots of interesting things. They just weren't enough to make me famous. That's life. In a way, it's okay, because I can find a quiet spot to hide away in from time to time, and the media will not worry about what my opinion is on various issues.

"Life is all about grabbing opportunities and having no regrets"
Yeah, I know F/b, but I'll still have regrets when I'm on my deathbed, like 'I wish I'd gone to The Mayflower Club a few hours earlier that day and not missed seeing Joy Division' and 'Despite having tried and tried, I was never able to play the piano as well as I wanted to'.

I've often wondered about what direction my life would have taken if I'd said something to M***** that day or gone upstairs with C***** at that party (the names have been changed to protect the innocent ), but I know that if I had done either of those things I probably wouldn't have met all the fascinating people I've known, had my own business, and ended up working at a CD store in Texas at the age of 47.

And I know that there's plenty more to come yet

Yep quality not quantity

Who wants to be famous these days Paul? I'm with you on that. Anonimity is wonderful!

There's a difference between regrets and wonderings, isn't there? Regrets happen when you wish you had done something differently because you regret the outcome. Wonderings are about what would have happened other than what did - no matter whether it was good or not so good. Does that make sense?

Perhaps my regrets are about not taking the big risks: the things I dream about but don't have the bottle to actually do. So I do it - so long as it's something that attracts me of course. I don't do things like bungey jump or sky dive, cos they don't attract me at all (vertigo)

Ooh err. Must be late - I'm rambling...


F/b

I agree with abbi.

My ex's grandmother served as a nurse in the US Army in WWI. I met her on her 100th birthday. She died 6 days before her 106th birthday, in 1996. She was the last person left in the Unit in which she served, and the last WWI veteran left on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve.
http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/americanindian/women.html#charlotte
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cascadiaGPS/profile1.htm
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cascadiaGPS/honour.htm

"In the event of war, I'm a hostage." -- Woody Allen

Amazing. There should be a WW1 site like they have a WW2 site.

Thanks for the link Mudhooks..beebyes time for me 00:48 so I'll run it 'morrow. Good Night.

I do know what you mean Frenchbean - I wonder what would have happened if I'd hooked up with one of those other women, but I regret not having taken the opportunity to see Joy Division.

Was her last name really Division?

Are Joy Division still happening? If so, why not go and see them now, even if we are all a bit / lot older and wiser and even more cynical!
F/b