Dead famous

It's the last day of a year that will be remembered for dead celebrities, Brexit and Trump. Let's gloss over those last two shall we (for now).

In 2016, celebs were dropping like flies, yes? Nobody was safe as one treasured household name after another trended on Twitter for the saddest of reasons. 

Except famous people weren't really all suddenly dying in one year - it's just that there were a whole load of people born after the Second World War, so right now there are more people aged 50-70 and therefore more famous people in that age bracket and therefore it seems like there are more famous people dying.

Plus, as the babies were booming, telly was invented and became popular which served to beam presenters and musicians and entertainers into everyone's living rooms. Those people who were young then became very famous very quickly and now - mostly because they're old - they are starting to die. (Either that or the David Bowie alternative race theory is spot on.) Since the Baby Boomer era, the price of an entry ticket to "fame" has dropped like post-Brexit sterling. So, if you thought 2016 was bad for celebrity deaths, it'll be nothing compared to 2046.

Of course, we don't actually know these famous people, but sometimes they and what they produce form the soundtrack or the lyrics or the laughter to our lives and that means something to us. It's a reminder of shared connections or conversations or places or moments of joy or sorrow. It's something that's become part of the story of who we are and is so much more than fame. 

So goodbye 2016 with something from a famous person who was and is part of my story.