John S

Heather Couper, author, broadcaster and astronomer who was a popular and frequent guest on The Sky at Night, aged 70.

It's been that windy outside I nearly put my t-shirt on!

Ah I remember Andy MacFarlane, mainly because he shared his last name with one of my favourite Scottish characters, Peter MacFarlane (aka Para Handy). Yep, he knew his mind and stuck to his guns no matter what. But then, Scottish

Definitely!

You're right Ant, 20 years young! I was one of the first to join, on February 19th, and almost immediately became a moderator. Technically I was 'involved' with AN before it even started. At the time Elton, myself, and many others were on the rec.fishing.coarse.uk chat group (ethernet?) where I'd be replying to requests on where to fish. Then Elton contacted me to ask if I'd like to manage the fisheries database on a website he's hoping to make. I agreed, and the rest is history.

Thanks Ant, but already ordered it from Amazon

Might buy that Ant, I love a good spooky book

Li Wenliang. Chinese doctor who tried to warn others about a new strain of Coronavirus in December 2019 and was told to shut up by the police. Age not reported by the BBC.

RIP Spartacus

DOH!

Gives a whole new meaning to baby food

Andy Gill, founding member and guitarist of post-punk band Gang Of Four, aged 64.

After several consultations between astronomers and Elon Musk, at least one of the latest batch of satellites will be darker, in the hope that it will not be so easily seen. If that one works out, all future satellites from SpaceX will be similarly coloured. Thing is, a few other companies are also going to be sending up thousands of satellites in the near future. Whether they'll also be darkened or not, we will just have to wait and see.

And now it ends.....

The problem with those things is, they could totally screw up ground-based astro-photography and radio astronomy.

There, started it for you. Enjoy Oh Christ, what have I done?

As per the OP's request, on Saturday I'll be closing this thread. Four years is long enough to be going around in circles again and again and again etc etc etc..... Feel free to start another thread, but it's time this one died.

If he was the real thing, I want him to contact me from beyond the grave. During the daytime though

Nicholas Parsons, host of BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute amongst many other things, aged 96

I agree with H_V, Tom Clancy is a must read! The first novel I read of his was The Hunt for Red October, the second was Red Storm Rising. Since then I've read all his novels and enjoyed every bloody one of them. RIP Tom, taken from us too early.

For sci-fi, The Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor are very good, with a 4th and 5th book (actually a large 2-parter) coming out sometime. Well recommended. Also Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but in the very first sentence the Moon breaks apart..... The Martian by Andy Weir is one of the few books I've read then immediately started reading again and enjoyed it just as much the second time! Any book by Terry Pratchett.

Derek Fowlds, best known for playing Bernard Woolley in Yes Minister, aged 82.

Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist in the Canadian rock group Rush, aged 67.

Alleged medium Derek Acorah. Best known for Most Haunted, where he was twice possessed by anagrams. Firstly by Kreed Kafer, and secondly by Rik Eedles. (Derek Faker and Derek Lies). Stopped conning people out of their money aged 69.

Let us hope this thread is shorter than the previous ones....