People

Bryce Coutenay dies

John Silby

The Age reports that Bryce Courtenay died yesterday at his home in Canberra. Courtenay was probably best known for his first novel The Power of One, a very powerful story dealing with apartheid in South Africa. It was made into a movie, but, while the movie also made a powerful statement, it differed significantly from the book.

Author Bryce Courtenay

We claimed the author as Australian, although he was born and spent his early years in South Africa, and didn’t settle here until the 1950s. He took up writing after retiring from a career in advertising and he was 56 when The Power of One was published in 1989.

Courtenay announced in September that he had been diagnosed with terminal gastric cancer.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Courtenay accessed 22 Nov 2012.

Tribute to a funny man

John Silby

SBS reports:

Clive Dunn, who played Corporal Jones in the hit sitcom Dad’s Army, has died in Portugal aged 92.

The actor, who played Corporal Jones in the hit sitcom, is believed to have been ill for a few weeks.

His agent Peter Charlesworth said the star will be “sorely missed”.

He said: “He will be a real loss to the acting profession.”

Dunn, who leaves his wife, children and grandchildren, was born in London into a show business family and started out with a number of small film roles in the 1930s before the war.

He served in Greece before being captured and spent four years as a prisoner of war.

After the war he resumed his career and in 1968 landed the role of Corporal Jones in the much-loved sitcom about life on the home front.

The character, a World War One veteran-turned butcher, was notorious for his often rambling recollections of his time in the army and his much-used catchphrase “Don’t panic”.

Dunn also had a number one hit in 1970 with Grandad and went on to play the title character in a children’s show of the same name.

He’ll be best remembered, however, as Corporal Jones, seen in this video telling one of his rambling stories and (as usual) getting up Colonel Mainwaring’s nose:

A secret treehouse hiding in the woods of Whistler

John Silby

When Canadian Joel Allen’s career as a software developer came to a sudden halt in 2006 he decided to retire. Without sufficient funding that idea fell flat and so, at 26 years of age, he decided to change direction.

But… where to? A timely meeting with an old man inspired Joel and gave him a new and exciting vision for the future. With no practical experience he became a carpenter. His first project was a shed for his parents – built solely for the experience gained. His second project was The Hemloft, an egg-shaped treehouse clinging to a tree on a steep slope in Whistler, British Columbia. He built it on Crown (public) land, in his spare time, and with as many free materials as he could lay his hands on. At first he worked alone, but for the last few months of the project he and his new love toiled on it together.

The result was a beautiful building in an amazing setting with wonderful views.

When asked – much later, when the project was complete – “Why?” Joel eventually responded, “I guess… I just wanted to build something cool”.

He writes,

It seemed too simple, but it was true. The driving force behind the whole thing was a simple, yet inexorable desire to build something cool. There were no practical motives or profound meanings. The fact that it was hiding below some of the richest properties in Western Canada wasn’t a political statement, it just happened to be where I found the perfect tree. And building with free materials wasn’t out of some principled ideal, it was just the only avenue I could afford. In the end, I was mysteriously compelled to build something cool, something beautiful… and apparently, I was willing to go to maniacal lengths to make it happen.

Joel’s website chronicles the whole story and includes great photos of the loft’s construction and of it complete. The video provides a good introduction to The Hemloft.

A very funny man

John Silby

English comedian Eric Sykes has died at the age of 89.

He has a long list of film and TV roles and appearances, but I loved him best for The Plank, in which he not only played the lead role, but which he also wrote and directed. He made three versions of the film I think; I much prefer the 1979 version which co-stars Arthur Lowe of Dad’s Army fame and includes a cast of other greats of British comedy, including Charlie Drake, Jimmy Edwards, Harry H Corbett and Frankie Howerd.

Eric and Arthur play two builders who find that local kids have purloined a board they need to complete the floor of the house they’re building. Rather than disrupt the kids’ game they set off to the timber yard to get a new one. The journey there and back turns into a cross between a comedy of errors and a slapstick movie, and they leave a wake of mayhem and confusion wherever they go. Here’s a clip:

The Sykes/Lowe version of The Plank is available on a DVD called The Likes of Sykes which includes four other Sykes shows.

SBS includes a video tribute to Eric Sykes in their report of his death.

Michael Palin, in paying tribute to Eric, said he “was one of the nicest, most decent men in the business and one of a kind. No-one else could do what Eric could do. To me, he was a great inspiration, both as a writer and performer.”

Great praise, indeed.

Hot air or fresh air?

John Silby

I’m pretty cynical when it comes to politicians. There was a time when I followed a party line (although I’ve never been a member of a political party) but these days I’m a swinging voter. On election day I vote for the candidate I think has the best interests of all of us at heart. Usually it’s a case of “which one will do the least damage?” since those who genuinely put the welfare of the nation first are few, and far between.

Hence, I’m not particularly hopeful that anything positive will follow the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development which took place last week. The odd name came about because this conference came twenty years after the first Earth Summit, also held in Rio de Janeiro. At that one world leaders vowed to roll back climate change, desertification and species loss. So, what has changed since then? Very little that I can see.

I’m a bit nonplussed about Rio+20. UN chief Ban Ki-moon opened the summit, which saw 191 UN members (including 86 presidents and heads of government) get together. SBS reported that, beginning on Wednesday, “Some 191 speakers are expected to take the floor until Friday when the summit leaders are to give their seal of approval to a 53-page draft document agreed by negotiators on Tuesday.” If “negotiators” produced an agreement on Tuesday – before the conference even began – what was the point of the three days of speeches? Our worthy leaders trying to impress each other, or perhaps even more likely, to impress the voters back home. Bah, humbug to all of ’em!

There was one bright star there, though. Brittany Trilford, a 17-year-old student from New Zealand, challenged leaders to lay the foundation for a more sustainable world. “I stand here with fire in my heart. I’m confused and angry at the state of the world. We are here to solve the problems that we have caused as a collective, to ensure that we have a future,” she said. “I am here to fight for my future…I would like to end by asking you to consider why you are here and what you can do here. I would like you to ask yourselves: Are you here to save face? Or are you here to save us?”

Good question, Brittany.