John Le Carré - d. December 13th 2020

Reading you was my Fall:

before, glam spies in cars; 

after, a drab inner world,

lamplit by career shadows,

pieces on a board, trading

stock and scalps, made real

by the pen of true Control.

Charley Pride - d. December 12th 2020

After you they undrew 

the lines, wedged open

the Opry doors, spun 

both sides of the disc.

This morning an angel

told me you cannot keep 

a song from being sung.

Barbara Windsor - d. December 10th 2020

Spying, Doctor, 

Camping, Again Doctor, 

Henry, Matron, Abroad, 

Girls, Dick, Giggling,

Flirting, Disrobing, 

Pouting, Bitching, 

Barring, Shaaaahting, 

Struggling, Smiling, 

Carrying On.

Read about Barbara Windsor here

Doug Scott - d. December 7th 2020

When I face my own ascent

I pray I'll see you up ahead,

tapping in pitons, belaying  

the rope, pointing out 

the favourable pitch, then

reaching down to haul me

up those final few feet.

Read about Doug Scott here

Chuck Yeager - d. December 7th 2020

A peaceful glide home?

Shoulda gone in '47,

smouldering 

in a burnt-out bullet, 

barrel-rolled or broken 

by unrecoverable spin,  

demon grinning gleefully 

as you hammer 

on those titanium gates.

Read about Chuck Yeager here

Peter Alliss - d. December 6th 2020

In my inner game

I hear that voice -

the amiable duffer, 

unreconstructed,

every observation

underclubbed in an

overclubbed world.

Read about Peter Alliss here

Hugh Keays-Byrne - d. December 1st 2020

Death is the Bronze

you cannot outrun, 

even on the swiftest bike,

down the emptiest road.

I will remember you

when I look up 

at the night sky.

Read about Hugh Keays-Byrne here

David Prowse - d. November 28th 2020

When I reach that final road

I will see the black sentinel
shrugging off his cloak 

revealing the hero in green

and white, who bids me stop, 

looks left, right, left again,

then beckons me to cross.

Read about David Prowse here

Luke Rhinehart - d. November 6th 2020

One says ticket to oblivion
Two says dark ignominy
Three's merely a someone
Four is the fate of memory
Five's a critic's absolution
Six says you live in eternity

Read about Luke Rhinehart here

Diego Maradona - d. November 25th 2020

This is to mark 

the empty space

you swaggered through,

grass rippling in your wake, 

a squat, lengthening shadow,

half angel, half devil,

hands and feet of a God

Read about Diego Maradona here

Des O'Connor - d. November 14th 2020

To entertain is to pretend,
not once, but every night,
to be at one with the air,
to hold the note to the end,
leaving a smile like moonlight
shining on an empty chair. 

Read about Des O'Connor here

Geoffrey Palmer - d. November 6th 2020

Bit of a cock-up
on the being alive front.
I blame the Trotskyists,
Maoists, Guardian readers.
Bleeding hearts. The NHS.  
Bloody foreign surgeons.
Bloodsuckers all.
Bloody disgrace.

Read about Geoffrey Palmer here

John Sessions - d. November 2nd 2020

We leave little behind

as singular as the heavy

tread of our voice. Find

another voice, find many: 

a chorus of ghosts, sign 

of a craft extraordinary.

Read about John Sessions here

Sean Connery - d. October 31st 2020

Kiss. Shrug off the danger.

Kiss. PPK under the pillow.

Bang. A spectre does not knock.

Bang. Licence revoked.

Read about Sean Connery here

Nobby Stiles - d. October 30th 2020

Spit out that song
for the spoilers, short 
on skill, wit, physique,
whose call is to compete, 
to urge, when all is lost. 
Swing that rattle
for the tiny, toothless,
dancing destroyers.

Read about Nobby Stiles here

Bobby Ball - d. October 28th 2020

I seen yer through fug

o Workingmens' smoke,

ole in tha kecks, Medlock 

in tha veins, muck or nettles,

proper monkified, an ah sez

eeyafflaff, dunt yer?

Read about Bobby Ball here

Frank Bough - d. October 21st 2020

Quiet on the studio floor, coming 

to you in five, Frank - ready? 

Up to Eddie Waring in Oldham, 

in the cold of the Watersheddings

where both hookers are called Bert

and the lines are just fresh paint.

Read about Frank Bough here

James Randi - d. October 20th 2020

I won’t believe he’s really dead. Take

his pulse. Is he holding his breath? Fake.

A trick. Misdirection or suggestion. Wake

him up because I have questions. I’ll make

him talk. Look, he’s laughing, for God’s sake.

Read about James Randi here

Herbert Kretzmer - d. October 14th 2020

Despite the chill
that autumn brings
and those bitter tears,
heavy on my tongue,
I smile for you, when
I hear the people sing
your songs of yesterday,
when you were young.

Read about Herbert Kretzmer here

Bunny 'Striker' Lee - d. October 7th 2020

Drum roll for the keeper
of the keys to the kingdom
of bass, that treasured isle.
Flying the flag of low-freq,
deep symbol of eternal echo,
striker of the sharpest snare,
now and forever be.

In Dub
Drum roll
           keys
    bass
Flying
          cymbal                echo
                                     snare
                    rever b

Read about Bunny Lee here