Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Obit du jour: The Earl of Onslow

Let's start with a quote, shall we?

"Two years later he moved into insurance, signalling his arrival in the City by losing his pet monkey by the Underground line at Aldersgate, from which a policeman retrieved it."

Piqued your interest, haven't I? "Character" is the word that comes to mind upon reading his obituary.

Another satisfying paragraph:

"Onslow brought hip hop, acid house and thrash metal to Radio 3, in a series of programmes explaining them. Twice – in 1999 and 2007 – he appeared on Have I Got News for You, holding his own against the resident satirists. But he never fulfilled his ambition of declaiming Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in instalments on Radio 1."

We should all have such ambitions. Enjoy!

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