Memento Mori

[poliphilo]

When a famous person dies I nearly always make a point of comparing their age with mine. (David Frost was 12 years older than me.) It gives me an idea of where I stand.  

Comments

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

No it doesn't. My girlfriend in high school's brother died of a massive heart attack at 26, and I'm still kickin'. :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never had anyone that close to me die young. My grandfather died in his 40s (of a bungled operation) and my uncle in his 20s (killed in the war )but both were before my time.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I really don't think we can calculate our own demise by when anyone else dies. Life is too unpredictable.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

It's easy for me - Madonna and I are the same age.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

I've also lost 3 friends to murder... all young... but that doesn't count here.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Also, one of my ex's brother died of brain cancer several years back, and we were exactly the same age.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

I've got a cheek comparing myself to Angelina Jolie, but we *are* almost exact contemporaries...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's not so much about calculating the date of one's own demise as surveying the landscape to see who's still standing. It's about putting oneself in context.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've no idea who my famous contemporaries are. I guess I should google "Born in 1951".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A cat may look at a king. :)

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

You are the same age as my husband. I'm one year younger.

It was a bit of a shock to hear that David Frost was only 74. I thought he was much older than me, not just 13 years older.

I enjoyed That Was The Week That Was in the mid-60s, but I hadn't realised he was only 23 when he first became famous. I remember his as looking older. Perhaps it was the short hair, suit, collar and tie at a time when the younger generation were growing their hair and wearing casual clothes?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, he was straight out of university when he got the TW3 gig.

I can't say I'd given it any thought, but if you'd asked me I'd have guessed he was in his 80s.