So long and thanks for all the fish! - a tribute to the world legends that died when I wasn't looking...

Time froze for me after 2011; sight loss happened and everyone I saw last were encrypted in my memory as I last saw or remembered seeing them. During this time many legends that I followed, admired and grew up with were dyeing and their memories were being revived in my head as I heard about their passing. This stupid post is a mediocre attempt to pay tribute to such world legends. I might not have got them all listed but I wanted to get at least a few of them documented on this post for it to have some meat/ content. Before I start listing each individual; world legend; please understand that this list is not comprehensive nor is it chronological in order. I am just writing about them from memory; have used online resources to get the facts about them so that I am not misquoted on any of the events. Honestly, this isn't even a list!

 

His name is, was and always will be associated with "Bond, James Bond!" make no mistakes the character of James Bond written by Ian Fleming, was bought to life on the big screen by none other than this Scottish actor; Sean Connery who we lost on 31 October 2020. Having 7 Bond films under his belt; Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunder ball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again. Here are 5 facts you didn't know about Sir Sean Connery:

1. Despite being known as Sean, the actor’s first name is Thomas, and he was referred to as Tommy in his youth.

2. His first job was as a milkman with the St Cuthbert’s Co-Operative Society in Edinburgh.

3. Sir Sean worked as a coffin polisher before going into acting.

4. He reportedly placed third in the Mr. Universe contest in 1953 although there is some dispute over whether he finished third in the Junior class, or failed to place in the ‘Tall Man’ classification.

5. Connery attended dancing lessons for 11 years under the tutelage of Swedish dance Yat Malmgren.

Football AKA Soccer as known in the Americas; the game and excitement around the game was like a wave of believers chanting the name of these 2 legends when they were on the field; the Argentine football player Diego Maradona, who we lost on 25 November 2020 and Pelé from Brazil; the most successful league goal scorer in the world, who we lost on 29 December 2022. There is much to write about these 2 legends and it would take a whole post to cover it all. But I will leave you with some notable facts:

Maradona displayed football talent early, and at age eight he joined Las Cebollitas (“The Little Onions”), a boys’ team that went on to win 136 consecutive games and a national championship. He signed with Argentinos Juniors at age 14 and made his first-division debut in 1976, 10 days before his 16th birthday. Only four months later he made his debut with the national team, becoming the youngest Argentine ever to do so. Although he was excluded from the 1978 World Cup-winning squad because it was felt that he was still too young, the next year he led the national under-20 team to a Junior World Cup championship.

FYI: I met him in person in Italy; I got a signed football from him; I gave it to my friend from South Africa; Sammy; when I had to leave Kuwait because of the invasion.

Pelé got his nickname after his mispronunciation of the name of the Brazilian goalkeeper, Bilé, as Pelé. One of his classmates started to call him “Pelé” to tease him and the name stuck. We’re pretty sure his classmate hasn’t won three World Cups so it’s safe to say that Pelé had the last laugh.

When Brazil lost the World Cup final to Uruguay in 1950, Pelé saw his father crying. “Don’t worry,” he told him. “One day I’ll win it.” Now that’s confidence! He scored four goals on his debut.

He scored 92 hat tricks, four goals on 31 occasions, five goals on six occasions and he once scored eight in a single match.

Pelé is the only footballer to have been on three World Cup winning teams.

They say don't count on your apples before they hatch; but because of this legend of technology, I despite of my visual impairment; can use the most advanced device that can fit in my pocket; well almost; like everyone else! I am talking about the iPhone and none other than Steve Jobs who we lost on 5 October 2011. As the above legends there are a lot of interesting facts about him; one needs a book; which I am sure is already published and available to the reader. Here are my top 5:

1. Steve Jobs was adopted.

2. Jobs almost became a Buddhist monk.

3. He has over 300 patents to his name.

4. He had a net worth of $10.2 billion the year of his death.

5. Steve Jobs has his own statue in Budapest, Hungary.

One of the greatest comedians of all time; known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedies alike; this American born actor Robin Williams was an all-round entertainer; we lost him on August 11, 2014. Here are 5 surprising facts about this legend:

1. Robin Williams got his start in comedy at a church.

2. He spent some time working as a mime in Central Park.

3. Williams and Billy Crystal used to talk on the phone for hours.

4. He forgot to thank his mother during his 1998 Oscar speech.

5. He Began the Trend of Celebrity Voice Actors

Other notable deaths:

The writer, journalist and contrarian Christopher Hitchens died on December 16, 2011. He was 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in June 2010. He had been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry. He became a media fellow at the Hoover Institution in September 2008. He was a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 was voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll. He shot to fame with his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

Maqbool Fida Husain; Popularly known as MF and regarded as “Picasso of India”, the artist breathed his last at the Royal Brompton Hospital on June 9, 2011. Husain was associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. A dashing, highly eccentric figure who dressed in impeccably tailored suits, he went barefoot and brandished an extra-long paintbrush as a slim cane. He never maintained a studio but he spread his canvases out on the floor of whatever hotel room he happened to be staying in and paying for damages when he checked out. He created four museums to showcase his work and had a collection of classic sports cars. Enormously prolific, a gifted self-promoter and hard bargainer, he claimed to have produced some 60,000 paintings. Three of Husain paintings recently topped an auction going under the hammer for Rs2.32 crore with an untitled oil work in which the legendary artist combined his iconic subject matters — horse and woman — fetching Rs1.23 crore alone.

Dear readers; I set out to write this post to try and get as many legends listed, however, while recalling them and searching for online resources to talk about them I realized that there are so many I wish to write about and if I did you as a reader would be bored to death. So, I have restricted the number of people in this post. I would appreciate if you as a reader commented about the legends you miss and who we have lost during 2011 till date; let the memories of those legends be celebrated here!

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