2016 annus horribilis
Annus horribilis - Latin for a year of disaster or misfortune.
This would certainly seem to be the case as I can see it. I was going to make this blog about the high profile celebrity deaths we have seen but when I stopped to think about it I realised that there were other things that fit this category and are in need of a mention. I will come to the celebs last. I want to mention the other things first.
2016 has been described as annus horribilis in the press recently in regards to the high profile deaths but there are other events that have happened in recent months that contribute to that title. The most recent events have been the two massive earthquakes in Ecuador and the two massive ones in Japan. Both have happened over the last week and have brought wide spread destruction, death and injury to both locations. Japan had only recently marked the five years since the large earthquake and tsunami that struck in 2011 and caused death and destruction on an unprecedented scale and led to one of the biggest nuclear disasters in recent times at Fukushima Power Plant so for another natural disaster to take place on such a high level was a shock. The shocking thing about the earthquake in Ecuador was just the level of destruction and loss of life it brought.
Before these natural disaster events there had been the terrorist attacks in Belgium that have been the main focus of news outlets around Europe. Following from the attacks on Paris in November there were a series of coordinated attacks in Belgium at the airport and the Metro. Again there was loss of life, disruption, destruction and fear as the result - just what the terrorists wanted. A few days before, one of the organisers of the Paris attacks had been arrested in Belgium but these attacks were thought to be independent of this event.
Another big feature (although this should have been bigger in my view) is the fact that in the last fortnight over 500 people have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea as they have attempted to cross as refugees escaping violent war and terrorism in their own countries. The number includes very young children who just could not have survived it seems. I believe that at last count something like over 800 people have drowned in the Med so far this year. These are shocking numbers and cannot be allowed to continue. All the while there is terror at home this will keep happening as more and more refugees escape to find a safe place for them and their families.
Now I will mention the celebrities we have lost. One or two papers have counted something like 75 high profile deaths since the beginning of the year. I will mention only a few because I think this would take up more space and time than we can allow sadly. Certainly I will mention the deaths that had an effect on me. If you have any that have meant something to you then please do feel free to mention them in the comments.
Even before 2016 began I was shocked to hear that Motorhead frontman, Lemmy, had passed away only days after receiving a cancer diagnosis. That was a bad way to end 2015 and I hoped that was the worst news I would hear for a while. I was wrong. Within two weeks of the year beginning one of the most influential musicians of the 20th and 21st Centuries, David Bowie, had passed away, also from cancer. This left a gaping whole in my heart as his music was so timeless and brilliant and was something that I had in common with friends and family that meant so much to us all. The same week the actor Alan Rickman died, again from cancer and again this was a shock to many. Then Sir Terry Wogan, the much loved BBC broadcaster lost his battle with short illness to round off the first two months of 2016. Then, a couple of weeks ago, we lost much loved comedian Ronnie Corbett.
This week alone we have also lost comedian Victoria Wood to cancer (this really upset me as she was an absolute genius and always made me laugh - check out Acorn Antiques if you can, a play on the old soap Crossroads). We also lost another legend of music, Prince (yesterday at the time of writing) and there is an autopsy to find out what was the cause.
There are many, many more that I could name as well and as I say, if we have lost someone that means something to you then please do mention them in the comments and say what they meant to you.
Why is this happening though? Why do we seem to be losing so many high profile people? There have been several theories about this recently.
One is the baby boom factor. People that were born between 1946 - 1964 are considered the 'Baby Boomers'. In 2016 that is people aged between 52 -70 years old. The 'Baby Boom' was a product of coming out of WWII and the gradual improvement of many people's personal circumstances and wealth which encouraged a higher birth rate. Many people of my age will have parents born in that range and my own parents were born at the end of the 1950's and so fit right in the middle of that demographic. As more of the 'Baby Boomers' become older the likelihood is that we will hear more and more about them falling ill or worse. This means that any celebrities aged between 52 - 70 are likely to be next on the list of obituaries that we see in the papers and on the TV. A sad but true fact of life that all things must pass.
Another thing is the nature of fame today. More people are 'famous' today than they were back in the 1960's or 1970's for example. Back then, you were only considered famous if you were on TV or an actor in films. Before that it was only people in films that were considered famous and before that fame was something only found in the theatre industry. Today we have instant access to celebrity and anyone can be a celebrity really. Not only are you famous for being on TV or in film, you are also famous if you are popular on social media or YouTube. We are more aware of people and celebrity means something different today than it did even 20 years ago. As a result we become more aware of more people who have died that we would have before. There are no more people dying today than in the past, it is just we are more conscious of more people than we were before.
All in all 2016 appears to have generally been off to a bad start. With Trump doing stupidly well in the race to be the presidential candidate for the Republicans in America and places like North Korea making scary noises as well as the continuation of Daesh and their supporters we could be in for more rough times this year. Remember, at the time of writing it is only April and we have another eight months of the year to go.
There have always been disasters and high profile deaths so it is mere coincidence that all of these things have been happening at the same time so far in 2016, but it is still shocking and sad. We can probably expect more of the same in the near future so we should brace ourselves for this and perhaps start looking at celebrity and death in a different way, it may be time to accept this as a fact of life now and look not at the sad act of death but at the joy of the life we shared. In terms of natural disaster we must be ready to respond and help our fellow man when the time comes. Earthquakes, floods, etc will all continue and we must do what we can when they do. Terrorism is something that we cannot fully understand or control, but it is how we react to these acts that determine if they are successful and if they will continue.
Annus horribilis indeed.
This would certainly seem to be the case as I can see it. I was going to make this blog about the high profile celebrity deaths we have seen but when I stopped to think about it I realised that there were other things that fit this category and are in need of a mention. I will come to the celebs last. I want to mention the other things first.
2016 has been described as annus horribilis in the press recently in regards to the high profile deaths but there are other events that have happened in recent months that contribute to that title. The most recent events have been the two massive earthquakes in Ecuador and the two massive ones in Japan. Both have happened over the last week and have brought wide spread destruction, death and injury to both locations. Japan had only recently marked the five years since the large earthquake and tsunami that struck in 2011 and caused death and destruction on an unprecedented scale and led to one of the biggest nuclear disasters in recent times at Fukushima Power Plant so for another natural disaster to take place on such a high level was a shock. The shocking thing about the earthquake in Ecuador was just the level of destruction and loss of life it brought.
Before these natural disaster events there had been the terrorist attacks in Belgium that have been the main focus of news outlets around Europe. Following from the attacks on Paris in November there were a series of coordinated attacks in Belgium at the airport and the Metro. Again there was loss of life, disruption, destruction and fear as the result - just what the terrorists wanted. A few days before, one of the organisers of the Paris attacks had been arrested in Belgium but these attacks were thought to be independent of this event.
Another big feature (although this should have been bigger in my view) is the fact that in the last fortnight over 500 people have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea as they have attempted to cross as refugees escaping violent war and terrorism in their own countries. The number includes very young children who just could not have survived it seems. I believe that at last count something like over 800 people have drowned in the Med so far this year. These are shocking numbers and cannot be allowed to continue. All the while there is terror at home this will keep happening as more and more refugees escape to find a safe place for them and their families.
Now I will mention the celebrities we have lost. One or two papers have counted something like 75 high profile deaths since the beginning of the year. I will mention only a few because I think this would take up more space and time than we can allow sadly. Certainly I will mention the deaths that had an effect on me. If you have any that have meant something to you then please do feel free to mention them in the comments.
Even before 2016 began I was shocked to hear that Motorhead frontman, Lemmy, had passed away only days after receiving a cancer diagnosis. That was a bad way to end 2015 and I hoped that was the worst news I would hear for a while. I was wrong. Within two weeks of the year beginning one of the most influential musicians of the 20th and 21st Centuries, David Bowie, had passed away, also from cancer. This left a gaping whole in my heart as his music was so timeless and brilliant and was something that I had in common with friends and family that meant so much to us all. The same week the actor Alan Rickman died, again from cancer and again this was a shock to many. Then Sir Terry Wogan, the much loved BBC broadcaster lost his battle with short illness to round off the first two months of 2016. Then, a couple of weeks ago, we lost much loved comedian Ronnie Corbett.
This week alone we have also lost comedian Victoria Wood to cancer (this really upset me as she was an absolute genius and always made me laugh - check out Acorn Antiques if you can, a play on the old soap Crossroads). We also lost another legend of music, Prince (yesterday at the time of writing) and there is an autopsy to find out what was the cause.
There are many, many more that I could name as well and as I say, if we have lost someone that means something to you then please do mention them in the comments and say what they meant to you.
Why is this happening though? Why do we seem to be losing so many high profile people? There have been several theories about this recently.
One is the baby boom factor. People that were born between 1946 - 1964 are considered the 'Baby Boomers'. In 2016 that is people aged between 52 -70 years old. The 'Baby Boom' was a product of coming out of WWII and the gradual improvement of many people's personal circumstances and wealth which encouraged a higher birth rate. Many people of my age will have parents born in that range and my own parents were born at the end of the 1950's and so fit right in the middle of that demographic. As more of the 'Baby Boomers' become older the likelihood is that we will hear more and more about them falling ill or worse. This means that any celebrities aged between 52 - 70 are likely to be next on the list of obituaries that we see in the papers and on the TV. A sad but true fact of life that all things must pass.
Another thing is the nature of fame today. More people are 'famous' today than they were back in the 1960's or 1970's for example. Back then, you were only considered famous if you were on TV or an actor in films. Before that it was only people in films that were considered famous and before that fame was something only found in the theatre industry. Today we have instant access to celebrity and anyone can be a celebrity really. Not only are you famous for being on TV or in film, you are also famous if you are popular on social media or YouTube. We are more aware of people and celebrity means something different today than it did even 20 years ago. As a result we become more aware of more people who have died that we would have before. There are no more people dying today than in the past, it is just we are more conscious of more people than we were before.
All in all 2016 appears to have generally been off to a bad start. With Trump doing stupidly well in the race to be the presidential candidate for the Republicans in America and places like North Korea making scary noises as well as the continuation of Daesh and their supporters we could be in for more rough times this year. Remember, at the time of writing it is only April and we have another eight months of the year to go.
There have always been disasters and high profile deaths so it is mere coincidence that all of these things have been happening at the same time so far in 2016, but it is still shocking and sad. We can probably expect more of the same in the near future so we should brace ourselves for this and perhaps start looking at celebrity and death in a different way, it may be time to accept this as a fact of life now and look not at the sad act of death but at the joy of the life we shared. In terms of natural disaster we must be ready to respond and help our fellow man when the time comes. Earthquakes, floods, etc will all continue and we must do what we can when they do. Terrorism is something that we cannot fully understand or control, but it is how we react to these acts that determine if they are successful and if they will continue.
Annus horribilis indeed.
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