Archive for January 5th, 2021

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 280

Tuesday, January 5th, 2021

Regular readers of this blog have probably figured out that I love a good spy story.

Have you ever heard of Lionel Crabb? I had, because the story was in a collection of great spy stories I have floating around somewhere.

Lt. Commander Crabb was a British frogman. On April 19, 1956, LTC Crabb disappeared while on a mission for MI6: he was exploring Ordzhonikidze, a Soviet cruiser that was visiting Britain on a diplomatic mission (with Nikita Khrushchev on board.)

His body turned up 14 months later. Maybe.

Bonus, combining spy stories with another of my loves: “The Secret Listeners”, a 1979 BBC documentary about radio intelligence during WWI and WWII.

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Obit watch: January 5, 2021.

Tuesday, January 5th, 2021

THR is now reporting the same thing TMZ was reporting yesterday: Tanya Roberts is not dead, in spite of a statement from her rep stating that she was.

Mike Pingel told THR on Monday, “I did get confirmation [of her death], but that was from a very distraught person [Roberts’ boyfriend, Lance O’Brien],” Pingel said.
Pingel added, “And so yes, this morning at 10 a.m. … the hospital did call to say that she was still alive but it’s not looking good. We will hopefully have information [soon]. It’s upsetting.”

If it ain’t a mess, it’ll do until the mess gets here.

Edited to add: The NYT is now officially reporting Ms. Roberts’s death.

Her death, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, was confirmed on Tuesday by her companion, Lance O’Brien. Her publicist, who was given erroneous information, had announced her death to the news media early Monday, and some news organizations published obituaries about her prematurely.

Gerry Marsden, of Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Posted in Media, Music, Obits | Comments Closed