CLOSED GATES
2020 has been a hell of a year. So many big names we never got a chance to pick in the DDP, and so their hilarious obits never made the front page. Who could forget Derek Acorah’s “Mary loves Dick” scene as one notorious example? We could have spoken about Roy Horn’s near miss with the smartest tiger who came to tea, Michael Angelis’s pained shooting of his pet chickens in Boys from the Blackstuff, or how James Garbutt immediately signed up for Genesis of the Daleks on hearing he would be exterminated by the Daleks! We didn’t get a chance to talk about Forest Fenn’s treasure, Shere Hite’s feminist ideals, Maurice Roeves underrated acting skills, or 2021 Pan Breed shortlister Logie Bruce Lockhart, until last week the oldest living Scottish international rugby player. Alan Parker’s brilliant career remained uneulogised, Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down remains unpraised, and Radi Antic’s managerial career was full of interesting anecdotes untold. None of them nominated, so no DDP obits for them.
But worry not, you don’t need any of those A listers, because someone got a unique with Bill Gates’s dad. Celebrate good times (sorry Mr Bell, no obit for you either…)
Bill Gates Sr was born in Washington state and served in the army during World War Two. In early 1955, he got laid, and nine months later became father to Bill Gates. The son became the co-founder of Microsoft, ushered in the age of ubiquitous home computing, and completely changed the world, mostly for the better. Gates Jr is known for his philanthropy, of which recent examples include funding covid research and being so famous his dad got a qualifying obit.
Bill Gates Sr
30 November 1925 – 14 September 2020
unique