Obit: Ludovic Kennedy (18 Oct 2009)

Subject: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: alanabit
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 12:09 PM

Ludovic Kennedy has died. Now that both he and Paul Foot have gone, I wonder who will defend justice as fearlessly in the press as they did?

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 02:05 PM

An erudite man, not only did his book 10 Rillington Place expose a monstrous injustice, but it spawned a wonderful film too.
He was a true polymath, and a great loss to journalism.
In passing it is worth noting, that he married one of the most beautiful women of her time, the ballerina Moira Shearer.

RIP Ludo'

John

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: goatfell
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 02:08 PM

rip what a good man he was

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 05:44 PM

I knew of him mainly because I read a fine book he wrote about the sinking of the Bismark in WWII.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: Peace
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:07 PM

Makes one wonder who's left to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 07:43 AM

All of the above. RIP Mr. Kennedy

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: Les from Hull
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 07:55 AM

LH - Kennedy was on HMS Tartar chasing the Bismark. His father died commanding HMS Rawalpindi.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 02:38 AM

And he was a pretty nifty Jazz drummer too...(Just to keep the thread above the line!)
And agree with all the other sentiments expressed above. One of the good guys.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy (18 Oct 2009)
From: bubblyrat
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 06:32 AM

His mellifluous voice can still be heard on You-tube,narrating some film-clips from a BBC documentary about the carrier HMS Eagle during the time of the infamous "Beira Patrol" in 1966 (I joined the ship just afterwards,in Sept 1966).
    There's a short clip of a Sea Vixen mk 2 and a Buccaneer Mk 1 launching,and two longer items about replenishing at sea,and the crew having a break.Well worth watching------we don't have ships like that any more !! Just Google "HMS Eagle".

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy (18 Oct 2009)
From: alanabit
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 08:31 AM

My Dad also had to do the Beira patrol in the sixties. First he was on HMS Albion and later on HMS Daring. It meant he was away for a year at a time on both occasions. It later emerged that certain bastards in British companies had been sanction busting running and running their oil in to Smith through pipelines via South Africa. I was well pleased about that.
Thanks for the tip though bubblyrat.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ludovic Kennedy (18 Oct 2009)
From: bubblyrat
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 11:26 AM

Yeah Alanabit ! I remember both those ships ! Albion was with us at Steamer Point in Aden in 1967 ; conditions on board were a bit rough,so Eagle arranged for parties of men to be helicoptered over for day trips--we gave them a film show,Marine band concert,let them buy crates of lemonade etc from our NAAFI,gave them a whole day's experience of fully air-conditioned living;they loved it (but the bastards bought all our soft drinks !).
            HMS Daring (if not,then a sister-ship) had a berth astern of us in Devonport.One day,while I was idly watching her,she lifted her main safety-valve...there was an ENORMOUS bang you could hear for miles,and a great column of steam shot hundreds of feet in the air--very impressive ! ( the "Daring" class ran on VERY high pressure steam !).