The 2011 guest list in Heaven is shorter than its predecessor but consisted of perhaps some of the more predictable individuals to cross to the other side. Most high profile among these was Steve Jobs. The creative genius behind Apple was gravely ill for some time but succumbed to his pancreatic cancer in early October. The web was awash with iHeaven and iSad, Apple references but one of the more startling was from those at Westboro Baptist Church. Always relied upon for impartial social commentary they tweeted, "Westboro will picket his funeral. He gave God no glory & taught sin." Now, PC fans may agree with this but the irony is that they tweeted this - from an iPhone. Steve Jobs, 'winning' from beyond the grave.
Other notables to feel the swing of the scythe were screen legend Elizabeth Taylor. An early hell raiser herself, the goddess of the golden age of cinema could have taught a thing or two to a certain young Londoner about burning the candle at both ends but still coming out the other end and with a considerable back catalogue of work...
Unfortunately, one of the most sadly predictable deaths happened in July. I heard about this while on Summer holliers, but thanks to Sky News (probably the only channel ever utilised in hotels) who reported on the demise of Amy Winehouse. Saddest of all was how her friend described her passing into the sadly styled '27 Club' almost as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Other Notables from the world of celebrity that turned out to be on on God's Guestlist:
Ryan Dunn, star of Jackass who died in an alcohol related car crash in June; Christopher Hitchens; Ken Russell; Heavy D; Joe Frazier; Gary Speed; Jimmy Saville; Betty Driver; Bubba Smith (of Police Academy fame); Peter Falk (Columbo); Jeff Conway (Grease); Macho Man Randy Savage; Gil Scott-Heron; Gerry Rafter; Pete Postlethwaite; Elisabeth Sladen; and many, many more.
There were a couple of 'Deaths' of a different kind...The self-styled 'world's greatest newspaper' the News of the World was killed off after the full details of the hugely controversial phone hacking scandal emerged.
And, finally the only person to appear perhaps 'metaphorically' in both 'Births' and 'Deaths' is the wailing, tanned, toothed 'Boob-board' (it's like a billboard, but with boobs) Amanda Brunker, whose Oxegen singing performance died a horrible death on stage and in turn any snatched chance she had at a career in the charts thankfully nipped in the bud. In fact, she's probably directly to blame for the festival's 2012 hiatus.
