Forum Topic

RIP Sir Captain Tom

My sympathy to the family of this truly inspirational man, people like Captain Tom are rare and we were lucky to live through and witness his selfless endeavours.

Loraine Pemberton ● 2094d28 Comments

Apologies for duplicating Tina's post, it wasnt there when I started writing.

Loraine Pemberton ● 2094d

He deserves 2 threads.

Janice Evans ● 2094d

What an inspiration.  I think they should play this at his funeral. Ground Control to Major TomGround Control to Major TomTake your protein pills and put your helmet onGround Control to Major Tom (ten, nine, eight, seven, six)Commencing countdown, engines on (five, four, three)Check ignition and may God's love be with you (two, one, liftoff)This is Ground Control to Major TomYou've really made the gradeAnd the papers want to know whose shirts you wearNow it's time to leave the capsule if you dare"This is Major Tom to Ground ControlI'm stepping through the doorAnd I'm floating in a most peculiar wayAnd the stars look very different todayFor hereAm I sitting in a tin canFar above the worldPlanet Earth is blueAnd there's nothing I can doThough I'm past one hundred thousand milesI'm feeling very stillAnd I…

Krysia Gdaniec ● 2094d

So sad. My hart goes out to his family. He was such an inspiration and I e of my hero’s. RIP xxx

Katja Urban ● 2093d

Maybe others can turn a blind eye to it, but given the amount of criticism that people dish out in the media and on website like this, about other people being covidiots etc., don't you think it's rather hypocritical to ignore the fact that him and all of his family went to Barbados before Christmas ?.Because if a random poster had come on here before Christmas and posted that themselves and their family were going to Barbados on holiday, then the thread would be full of vitriol about how selfish and inconsiderate that poster was, how they should stay at home and so forth.Of course it's sad that he's died and by all accounts he was a gentleman and his efforts last year were an inspiration, but that doesn't exempt anyone from criticism that you would direct at others.

Adam Beamish ● 2093d

It’s so sad he’s gone but what a life to celebrate. Imagine achieving all he did in his hundredth year. Krysia, spot on, there’s never a bad time for a bit of Bowie, and they’re Heroes, both of them.

Kerry Chandler ● 2093d

Not really, Adam. I don’t think anyone should be travelling for holidays but I don’t think it’s what we need to focus on today.

Kerry Chandler ● 2093d

Sorry, Adam, but if anyone deserved a trip to Barbados, it was him.

Richard Greenhough ● 2093d

But then when is it appropriate to talk about ? - like most people I hadn't got a clue about the Barbados trip until it was reported in the media over the weekend.  Or should we never talk about it whilst continuing to have a pop at Z list celebrities and 'influencers' who have been jetting off to Dubai and claiming it's work, or a professional footballer getting their haircut in a salon whilst the rest of us can't ?.Never got this notion that it's absolutely fine to criticise people when they're alive but when they die they're suddenly exempt.It was his/his family's choice to go to Barbados, and quite frankly had I been in his shoes I'd have thought "I'm 100, why the hell not ?", but that isn't the point.

Adam Beamish ● 2093d

When that holiday was booked, the family either had no sense of what was to come in late December or they were listening to our Prime Minister tell them that we could enjoy Christmas.Of course we can criticise people after they die, but not necessarily on the day of their death, when they’ve led otherwise exemplary lives.

Kerry Chandler ● 2093d

But my criticism isn't directed at him or his family Kerry, it's a criticism of the hypocrisy that exists both in the media and on websites like this.

Adam Beamish ● 2093d

What a wonderful final year he had - reaching a 100 is just wonderful anyway, and all that money raised is a lasting legacy. Condolences to his family.

Vanessa Smith ● 2093d

Personally, I don’t think it’s hypocrisy, I think it’s nuance. You or I may believe no-one should be travelling overseas for holidays. That wasn’t the situation in December though. Possibly should have been. None of this detracts from Sir Tom’s achievements.

Kerry Chandler ● 2093d

RIP indeed. Adam he did not break any rules and I think your post is distasteful. He was a true inspiration. He lifted the spirits of the country in a desperate time. He raised a lot of money for our wonderful NHS. He broke no rules. There was nothing to stop him travelling at the time. He did not catch Covid during his trip. He was 100 years old. He caught pneumonia after his return (sadly common at such a ripe age) . He was hospitalised as a result and sadly caught Covid. 1/4 people who are hospitalised with non COVID related symptoms catch Covid whilst in hospital. He deserved this last trip and may god bless him.

Alina Dansord ● 2093d

The point of my posts isn't to criticise him as an individual, I've made that explicitly clear.I am commenting upon the hypocrisy of many elements of the media and Joe Public, who have been and continue to be so 'holier than thou' in criticising people for doing things that, whilst perhaps not advisable, at the time weren't in breach of the regulations, but not applying that criticism equally.Simple as that.  And given the amount of media coverage that is now being given to his death, it shouldn't be seen as 'distasteful' to make that comment now, when it is directly relevant.Sure it isn't very nice, but too often nowadays I feel that people are too afraid to say other than what they think others expect everyone to say.

Adam Beamish ● 2093d

Just because folk are 100 years old do we overlook and allow the circumventing of advised Covid safety holidaying protocols which is known to seriously impact younger folk's life or death pathologies?

Bobbie Carnegie ● 2093d

Can we just give condolence today please......

Janice Evans ● 2093d

Lot's have...

Bobbie Carnegie ● 2093d

But, Adam, there was a ‘travel corridor’ in place between the UK and Barbados in December. Dubai too. That ended in mid-January and the criticism against travellers, in the media and possibly on here, has come since then. I don’t even understand why we’re discussing this, in this context.

Kerry Chandler ● 2093d

Because you're seemingly choosing to miss the point Kerry.  There has been so much lambasting in the media and on forums like these, since March 2020 onwards, of people who have done things which, which not in breach of any regulations, go against the thrust of government advice.  There are hundreds of examples on this forum alone of the 'holier than thou' brigade on here calling people selfish and covidiots for doing things which they were perfectly entitled to do.Yet it's the same media and the same public (speaking generally) who are so gushing in their tributes to this individual.It's just like Princess Diana all over again, vilified by much of the media in the months up until her death and then feted as some kind of goddess afterwards.

Adam Beamish ● 2093d

Consensus in December was that foreign travel was likely to increase risk of Covid. Tom took a chance and died soon after. The Covid came after the pneumonia but before hospital. At his age there was little future expectations, so maybe the holiday was worth it for him. Let's hope his elderly offspring have not been put at risk

John Connelly ● 2093d

There was consensus in December in some nations that foreign travel was an unreasonable risk but in UK we had travel corridors open with Barbados etc, specifically to facilitate tourism. Yes, people travelled at their own risk but not against advice.

Kerry Chandler ● 2093d

Sir Capt Tom did more to boost the morale for pretty much everyone in this country during an extremely and extraordinary time. Even my 33 yr old son was moved sufficiently to tell me he’d died.I hope sir Capt Tom has the nearest possible to a state funeral, if, for nothing else, the positivity and huge boost he gave to us as a nation. What he did to raise funds for the NHS could possibly justify such an event in itself. He was a remarkable man.... he made no claim of struggle or discomfort in his efforts-just got on with it. We were united in his achievement.... let’s jointly be allowed to give him the most wonderfully united send off.

Joy Griffiths ● 2093d

The most amazing/amusing fact I picked up from tonight's news about him was that he'd been on Blankety Blank! When Terry Wogan was hosting it.I throw that piece of info in the pot to make what you will of it!

David Halliday ● 2093d

Adam please be so kind and have some respect. This guy was one of a kind. PLEASE STOP and think again.

Katja Urban ● 2093d

I don’t agree he should have something close to a state funeral. His family most probably wont want that. He certainly was a national treasure and greatly boosted our morale in a difficult time. He won’t be forgotten.

Alina Dansord ● 2093d

He certainly deserves a send off as befits what he gave to both the nation and the NHS

Loraine Pemberton ● 2093d

In a sense he was targeted and then lured to his Covid death by the media hype and celebrity status and all that subsequently was thrust upon the old soldier in gadding about where risk of contagion was all around his media facilitated gadding. Apparently, he relished it. RIP to him and all others who have quietly and anonymously 'done their bit' and yet, in being those with no name, have also succumbed.

Bobbie Carnegie ● 2093d