B83: Four deaths

 There were four deaths recently which I found notable in different ways.

Firstly, two men of the 60s, Charlie Watts and Ted Dexter. Both have an Ealing link.

The Rolling Stones, as is well known, formed at the Ealing Club, opposite Ealing Broadway Station. That's where Jagger and Richards first saw Charlie Watts, inter alia, play.

Charlie Watts, even since I first learnt about rock'n'roll in the late 80s, has always been a significant, emblematic figure. More than anyone else, he was held up as the other side of the myth, just that actually rock'n'roll contains and needs plenty of people who are perfectly sensible, who are just good at something and get on with it, that the drummer is the most important person in a great band. 

As for Ted Dexter, he lived just up from Ealing Broadway, on Woodville Gardens, which touches on Ealing Cricket Club. A couple of times I saw him there. Dexter was pretty well known in the late 80s/early 90s, as the much-maligned head honcho of English cricket. Lord Ted was used rather disparagingly. So the truth that he was one of the very finest post-war English batsmen was rather underplayed, as was the extent he was one of cricket's great innovators.

Quite significant figures in the post-war British culture that I love.

And then there's Sarah Harding and Michael K Williams, significant figures in early 20th century culture. Both deaths more poignant. 

Girls Aloud, certainly the best British pop band this century, absolutely changed how we think about pop music, the sound, the look, the style, all of it. And, you could see how Harding was the one that brought the "rock'n'roll" element, that aspect that one over more hesitant critics.

And Michael K Williams, whose Omar Little is, as everyone is saying, one of the great TV characters of all time, the X factor that lifted The Wire to a different place. He's also excellent in Boardwalk Empire, and several other things.

I haven't anything else to add really. I haven't blogged for a while, and I just thought I'd mark these four notable deaths/