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Vale: ‘Killer Karl Kox’
Former TV wrestler “Killer Karl Kox”, who appeared on Nine’s World Championship Wrestling during the 1960s and ’70s, died on the weekend.

US-born Kox, whose real name was Herb Gerwig, had already suffered a massive heart attack on October 22nd, then had a stroke a few days later.

“My dad didn’t want a funeral, but we might have some sort of memorial for him within a few weeks. Once that is decided, I will let everyone know,” said his son, Cody Gerwig.

As Slam notes, when he was at his peak in the 1960s and 1970s, nobody messed around with Karl Kox. A lot of villains would try to get a rise of out a crowd, then tone down things just a tad to keep fans from rioting. Not Kox. “Nah, I toned it up. It’s just the way I was,” he said.

“There was nobody tougher than Killer Karl Kox,” marveled Don “Lawman” Slatton, who wrestled him regularly. “The son of a gun could go. To get a crowd roused up, there was nobody in his class. He just looked like he didn’t like you. He was something else.”

His most famous wrestling hold was the ‘brainbuster’ and on one notable occasion gave it to host Jack Little at the end of a match at Melbourne’s Festival Hall, with Little having to host the show in a neck brace for many weeks.

“He had the greatest gimmick ever. KKK — he didn’t have to say a word,” wrestler Ernie Ladd recounted.

Kox once said, “I didn’t have the background and the knowledge to be a babyface. I played semi-pro football and ice hockey as a heel. It was easy for me. It just came natural.”

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/11/val ... l-kox.html

Vale: Basil D'Oliveira - so much more than 'just' a cricketing legend

ALTHOUGH he became an adopted son of England, the true significance of the life of Basil D'Oliveira, who died at the weekend aged 80, lay in its impact on South African sport and society.

His rise from a cricketing ghetto in Cape Town _ where on mud-heap pitches he played until he was 28 _ to become a Test performer of the first rank represents one of the greatest journeys any sportsman has taken.

It not only gave the lie to the apartheid regime's presumption that only white men could excel, but lit the way forward for southern Africans of all hues, Cape Coloureds _ like D'Oliveira _ blacks and Asians . . . .

The story goes on, and it's a story of extraordinary courage and determination in the face of immense adversity. It's well worth a Google to find out more about his roles outside of cricket. He was a favourite player of mine as a young member of the Warwickshire Cricket Club - and he will always remain a man to be truly admired.

V8 Supercar driver Jason Richards has died after a 14-month battle with cancer.

New Zealander Richards was 35.

V8 Supercar officials and Holden confirmed Richards died on Thursday night at his home in Melbourne.



He had been fighting a rare and aggressive form of cancer called adrenocortical carcinoma.

Richards was a three-time Bathurst 1000 runner-up, and won three New Zealand touring car championships prior to moving into the Australian V8 series in 2001.

He drove successfully for a variety of Holden teams in the V8 series - most recently Brad Jones Racing.

Richards is survived by his wife Charlotte and children Sienna and Olivia.

"Jason's family is appreciative of the many thousands of people who have offered their love and support during his battle with illness over the past 14 months," Richards' family said in a statement issued on Friday.

V8 Supercars said a memorial service to honour Richards and his career would be held at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne in the next few weeks.

Christopher Hitchens dead



Source: The Age

I am not normally a person that cheers on pugnacious people, and Hitchens, like Richard Dawkins, could be very pugnacious indeed, but I have to say I respected his intellect, knowledge, and integrity.
I still remember that after he said that waterboarding was not torture, he was "called out" to try it; he did so, on TV, and lasted only a few seconds.

Immediately, he recanted his position, and admitted he was wrong.

For such a belligerent person, very much in the media spotlight, to publicly admit he was wrong made me look at him in a different light. He didn't just concede that waterboarding was torture, he said there was no way you call it "anything BUT torture". That took real courage.

RIP, Christopher Hitchens, our future becomes that little bit darker with every one like you that we lose.

Cancer is a bitch.

so ronery

A new national anthem for the North Korean munchkins:
"Kim Jong the Witch is Dead"

WHITNEY Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and image were ravaged by drug use, has died, aged 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said on Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unclear.

At her peak in the 1980s and 1990s, Houston the golden girl of the music industry and one of the world's best-selling artists.

Among her hits were How Will I Know, "Saving All My Love for You and I Will Always Love You.

She won multiple Grammy awards, including album and record of the year.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies like The Bodyguard, in which she starred opposite Kevin Costner.

But by the end of her career, drug use took its toll as her record sales plummeted and her voice became raspy and hoarse

Yeah, I just heard on the radio myself. She's not much older than me...

When those pictures of her came out a few years back, I didn't think she'd make it this long. I don't think any of us did...