Franco, the Queen Mum and Nancy.

[Spiky Bugger]

So...Nancy Reagan died. That preempted a perfectly good Kevin Spacey interview, which pissed me off. And caused flashbacks.

We were roaming around Europe on trains. The (British) Queen Mum had died and there had not yet been a funeral. So all European news...in any language we could figure out, was focused on that. For over a week.

Which reminded me of when Chevy Chase did Weekend Update on SNL, during which time the dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco died. Week after week we had this:



So, on the train, I got to explain the Franco reference to a compartment with a German, two Brits and two Italians.

We traveled through Italy, Austria and then arrived at our destination in Germany with all our travel companions announcing that the Queen Mum was still dead.


PSA:
For the rest of the week, at least, Nancy Reagan will still be dead.

 

[k9ophile]

*Celebrity* deaths can be amusing. Not that they're dead, just the way they are treated. When I was employed, there was a temp who announced that Waylon Jennings had died. No biggie except that it was several years after his actual death. I said, "Again?" To which he tried to start a war of knowledge. I'm sure he thought he won, but it was only because I refused to play. Others tried to correct him to no avail. As Lucy Van Pelt would say, "If you can't be right, at least be wrong at the top of your voice."

By the way, I loved the bit you posted. It's still funny after all these years.

And Waylon is still dead. Again.

 

[Kate]

What about Elvis? Cause I am pretty sure I just saw him at one of my local Starbucks.

 

[DianaCox]

Just like some celebrities keep getting punked with premature news of their deaths, there are a few who somehow get resurrected on Facebook as new news, except it isn't. Kind of the opposite of hearing about some old/forgotten person's death and you say "I thought s/he was already dead" - only in this case, the person IS already dead, but the old story gets reposted as if it were new. Seems to have happened to Shirley Temple several times.

 

[kirmy]

Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.