Two men from two different worlds remembered.

One of the inevitable things in life is getting old. As you get older the people you watched and listened to in both the world of entertainment and politics start to pass away.  Some people you admired, some not so much or had mixed views on and of course there are those who you thought little of.

In the past week I've put up little tributes to Joan Rivers and Richard Kiel, people who brought joy into the world. Today I was saddened to learn the death of Sir Donald Sinden who I had only recently seen in an episode of Midsummer Murders.  A great actor with a distinctive voice.

There have been numerous tributes to the actor so I thought something a little different from Pathe News in 1959 would be an appropriate tribute.

The other death reported in the news this afternoon was that of Ian Paisley, the self appointed Reverend and best known leader of the loyalists in Northern Ireland. I've always found politics in Ulster an uncomfortable subject with its religious sectarianism sometimes difficult to fathom. Add to that nationalism and terrorism and you had a dangerous mix.

Fortunately the peace process has brought dividends for the people who live in Ulster and except for a few hotheads and an end to the cycle of violence in the province.

Ian Paisley was apparently quite a decent man in his private life and despite his rhetoric had been known to intervene to assist ordinary catholic families when they needed help in his constituency. However it is as a unionist firebrand that most people including myself will remember him.



Two men from two worlds who impacted on our world one way or another.