Just heard the really sad news that BOB HOLNESS, renowned and genial host of BLOCKBUSTERS, has died at the age of 83. Nothing to do with comics, but from a nostalgic point of view, worthy of mention on this humble blog. I have fond memories of occasionally watching Blockbusters back in the early 1980s, and I loved the theme tune and colourful set design, to say nothing of Bob's humorous banter with those snotty-nosed, spotty students, who are probably all doctors and lawyers nowadays and earning an absolute fortune.
Bob was also a respected theatre actor in his day, and was the first radio actor to play JAMES BOND (in a dramatisation of MOONRAKER) in 1956. (In fact, only one other actor before him had played Bond, that being BARRY NELSON in a live TV broadcast of CASINO ROYALE in 1954.) Now Bob's gone to that great 'Gold Run' in the sky, so let's all raise a glass to the epitome of 'cool' - Mr. Bob ("I'll have a 'P' please") Holness. He was a blockbuster.
4 comments:
I don't know when it was on but it passed me by. There were a number of times when I didn't have a tv in the 80s.
Regarding Kull, the collection I read last year was a softcover from Dark Horse, similar to their Chromicles of Conan series. There has been at least one further edition, collecting Kull the Destroyer. I never read any of that series until it was revived in '76- so that's about 7 issues. I'm waiting til the summer to buy it because that's when I like a bit of Marvel Sword and Sorcery.
Spooky thing is, Dougie, it only seems like yesterday to me although it was nearly 30 years ago. (Or 28 and a half to be a bit more precise.) That means Bob Holness was only about a year or so older than I am now. I can therefore only hope that the next 30 years don't go by as quickly as the last 30, but as we all know, the present usually goes by twice as fast as the past seemed to, and we're in the future before we know it.
I got Dark Horse's Conan books, but although I liked the colouring, I was disappointed that they left off the 'Conan the Barbarian' boxes at the top of quite a few splash pages. In the later volumes, they also started replacing the original lettering with computer fonts and rendering loads of spelling mistakes which ruined my enjoyment. I think I bought the first 5 volumes, but took 5 back because of all the mistakes. They sure as hell need a proofreader, that's for sure. I'll keep an eye out for the Kull volumes to see if they're any better.
Bob Holness just seemed such a nice man and like yourself it's hard to believe that it was 28 years ago and that I am around his age now when I first watched him - re Kull Dark Horse have published 2 Savage Sword of Kull books (covering the Marvel Black and White period) and 5 volumes of Chronicles of Kull (well the 5th is soon to be released) I got the first 2 "Chronicles" with the excellent Severin artwork very nice but not the colouring to me was a bit garish - McScotty
Thanks McScotty. I've got the original issues of the Andru/Wood/Severin Kull the Conqueror comics from the '70s (and the first Ploog Destroyer), but a nice handy book collection of them appeals to me.
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