"Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you." ~ Mike Tyson
One month before turning 95, Patricia Routledge wrote this, she died today aged 96.
“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. When I was younger, I often worried I wasn’t good enough—that I’d never be cast again, that I’d disappoint my mother. But these days begin in peace and end in gratitude.”
In my forties, my life finally began to make sense. Before that, I’d performed steadily—provincial stages, radio plays, West End productions—but felt somewhat lost. I was searching for something within myself, a home I hadn’t yet found.
At 50, I took a television role that many of you would later know me by—Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would just be a minor role, a brief moment. I never expected it to become beloved across the globe. That character taught me to embrace my quirks and quietly healed something deep within me.
At 60, I started learning Italian—not for my career, but simply so I could sing opera in its native tongue. I learned the gentle art of living alone without loneliness, reading poetry aloud each night—not to perfect diction, but to soothe my spirit.
At 70, I returned to Shakespearean theatre, a place I once thought I’d aged out of. This time, there was nothing to prove. I stepped onto those legendary boards with calmness. The audience felt that serenity. I had stopped performing; I was simply being.
At 80, I discovered watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, nostalgic hats from my youth, and faces glimpsed on the London Underground—each painting was a silent memory made tangible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning the simple joy of baking rye bread. I still breathe deeply each morning. Laughter remains precious, though I no longer feel the need to make others laugh. Quietness is sweeter than ever.
I’m writing this today to share something simple and true:
Growing older isn’t a final act—it can be life’s most exquisite chapter if you allow yourself to bloom once more.
Let the years ahead be your treasure years.
You don’t have to be perfect, famous, or adored.
You only need to be present—fully—for the life that’s yours.
With warmth and gentle love,
— Patricia Routledge
RIP
For those celebrating the apparent end to Howard Stern’s remarkable and unparalleled run in both radio and on @SIRIUSXM , I will not be joining you!
While I felt personally hurt when Howard called people like me, “Idiots” and “F#CK your freedoms” to those of us who chose to not participate in the myocarditis/clot shots, I am not going to, in the least, let that erase the incredible fun I had being on Stern’s show and even more so listening and laughing my balls off more times than I can count.
Howard single-handedly changed radio from a dying and boring format to what Stern turned it into: A daring uproarious, and unmatched hilariously unpredictable-must-listen-to daily event!
And his loyalty to his friends/co-workers was just as inspirational.
Howard Stern is by far the best interviewer in the history of show business. No one has ever gotten more out of the mouths of celebrities, politicians and every day normal people. Howard said (and did) the things WE only wish we could do. His interviews gave us gripping and fascinating glimpses into the most interesting people of our times.
Howard was our voice, asking the questions that we wanted to ask if only we were as daring and courageous as him. Stern’s questions were always coming from a place where was either a huge fan or just hugely curious about even the most banal or crazy of subjects. His interviews of David Crosby, Paul McCartney, Donovan and Jeff Bridges still flash across my mind to this day.
So no. I won’t participate in the conservative’s impersonation of leftwing cancel culture.
Now that the conservatives have control of the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court, it is past time to differentiate from the previous administration’s censorious and divisive agenda and the part of our culture that followed suit with canceling and shaming and demonizing.
I am grateful that conservatives have the opportunity to be the voice of the people and concentrate on improving the quality of lives and health of the American people. So I want to concentrate on that. And I hope you will as well.
I wish Howard Stern, Robin et al, all the best and will remain a huge fan who is grateful for the decades of laughter!
Love,
Don Imus
It’s amazing that our government will tell you with a straight face that they can’t stop a regional fire, but if you just pay more in taxes, they can change the entire global climate.
It’s even more amazing that anyone believes them.