RIP Prince

A shock too to hear of the sudden death of Prince (1958-2016), aged 57 (American gossip sites have been speculating on a music superstar who has been ill recently ...). I loved Prince back in the day, he has been rather off the radar for us UK people in recent years. I loved his 1979 album PRINCE with "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and his original "I Feel For You" - even better than the 'Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan' cover version, which defines 1984 for me ....' Prince though was one of those Rock geniuses up there with Elvis, Bowie, Lennon, Michael Jackson and, er, mid-period Madonna - and like Stevie Wonder he had endless songs still to release. His androgynous looks and style were trailblazers too, just like Bowie - to lose them both in the same year barely four months in, is tough.. How we liked those hits and videos, esp. "Sexy MF", "When Doves Cry", "1999", "You Got The Look", Kiss", "Cream" and of course he also wrote "Nothing Compares to U". etc. Like all tortured geniuses he had peaks and troughs as he fought the music scene - rather like Joni Mitchell who retired from it all (He liked Joni too, they got on well). But 57 is far too young to go. Again like Bowie, he had to cope with being seriously ill in recent years .... Its a legacy that we will explore in more detail ... its a good job he did not die yesterday or the news here would be hard pressed to decide which would be the top story, the passing of Prince or British 'national treasure' Victoria Wood, while today is all about The Queen being 90 ....

• Guy Hamilton (1922-2016), aged 93. Another veteran British director, who helmed four Bonds including GOLDFINGER, boys own adventures like FORCE TEN FROM NAVARONE and BATTLE OF BRITAIN, as well as camp delights like EVIL UNDER THE SUN and THE MIRROR CRACK'D. Not a stylist like Losey or Schlesinger so the movie buffs won't be chiming in, but he certainly knew how to create popular entertainments.