Lord Lichfield Dies

I've just seen the six o'clock news report the death of Lord Patrick Lichfield, the infamous photographer. He was 66 years old and suffered a major stroke.

I have to say my jaw certainly dropped when I heard the news. I don't know when the news was first announced today. He was a truly remarkable photographer who took many royal pictures, and had an excellent talent at picking lovely scenes. His latest picture was that of Margaret Thatcher on her 80th birthday.

He made me smile a few months ago, when it was announced that Dixons was removing analogue cameras from its shelves, and he said he was determined not to go digital. He was adamant that film photography was by far the best. This was of course a big debate.

Once again, I'm totally shocked by his death. Yet another legend passes away in 2005. This year we've lost Ronnie Barker, Ted Heath, Richard Whiteley and James Callaghan to mention a few.

perhaps thats why the news readers have been wearing black for the past few das and the lack of banter on n24

Has been a sombre year in the world of fame.

I didn't manage to catch any announcement or piece on BBC World, Joe, but Sky certainly gave good coverage over here to the news.

Despite all his royalty and poshness, the classic encounter with Lord Lichfield that I will never forget was his appearance on the Mrs. Merton Show back in 97-ish. It was hilarious in the extreme, and he played along well, even taking her photograph with one of those throw-away cameras.

He was one of those quiet celebrities, who kinda did his own thing and didn't care about the others.

I am guessing, though, that he wasn't particularly well known outside the UK, hence the lack of news about his death on channels like BBC World.

James