This year is really taking the piss. I swear the death of Victoria Wood has upset me almost as much as Bowie did. She was one of the greatest comedy talents Britain has ever produced, but on a personal level she means a lot to me because my mother loved her and I have many happy memories of watching her TV shows with her. My mother could quote Victoria Wood lines the way I could with Monty Python in my teens, so I’m sad for more than just the loss of a great comedy writer and performer.
Though Wood made her name in the 1980s she existed outside of the London-centric, politically-edgy “Alternative” comedy crowd and created her own brilliant comedy universe. She was never as fashionable as them and, even though her humour could be cruelly accurate and cutting, she had a Northern working class warmth that made her less hip, but she was funnier and for longer.
She was also an influence on Morrissey, especially this song she wrote in 1978 which inspired parts of Rusholme Ruffians, and her “they didn’t know what drugs were” line in the intro may also sound familiar.
Download: Fourteen Again – Victoria Wood (mp3)
cryingallthewaytothechipshop.wordpress.com 
“This year is really taking the piss.” You’re damn right Lee. There was an article on the BBC website a few days ago about whether more celebrities really are dying this year. The answer was an unequivocal ‘Yes’. One of the theories (in fact the one I surmised before reading it) is that many of those passing away were of an age where they came through as celebrity culture was truly taking shape.
Before the 50s there was no TV, no rock & roll. There were famous people, but no what we would today call celebrities. The likes of Victoria, Bowie, Lemmy et al broke through a generation or so later during the 60s and 70s, when proper celebrities began to emerge. Even the likes of Sir George Martin didn’t become known to mainstream audiences until a few years into his work with a certain beat combo.
We have all become familiar with these people, we’ve grown up with them. Some can even claim to have followed them from the very beginning, therefore their deaths are more notable. But above all that – there are more celebrities, therefore it is inevitable there will be more celebrity deaths. Just a bit weird why they’re all going within three months of each other…
LikeLike
And now Prince – it just gets worse
LikeLike