The older I get, the more I check the Funeral Notices section of the Bristol Post (Live) website. I do so primarily to check I am still alive (you never know) and to see if anyone of note, usually somebody I used to know, has died. It’s weird because that’s what my grandparents used to do, pretty well the only reason they bought the Bristol Evening Post (deceased). Now that mindset is mine. Sadly, sometimes I do come across dead former school friends and acquaintances or people I used to see when I lived in Briz, the easterly outpost of Bristol where I spent the first half of my life. Today, carrying out my grim and morbid duty, I came across news of the death of someone many of us of a certain age group (old) will be familiar with: David Soul.
When announcing the passing of Bristolians, the deceased usually do well to attract the attention of a couple of readers who do their usual “much missed” and “see you on the other side” (Spoiler alert: you won’t.) routine and that’s fair enough. Technology has evolved so we can do the same thing on social media, sending love to dead people and often that’s very touching and sweet. Hearts break when loved ones die and sometimes they can never be repaired, but an American actor and occasional singer? Really?
David Soul’s passing seems to have devastated plenty of people in Bristol, no less than 79 people have so far acknowledged his death and sent messages. “David Soul will be forever in our hearts. He will be sorely missed….” says one person. Then there’s, “David soul (sic) you will always be in our hearts, deepest sympathy” and my favourite, “Thank you David, deepest condolences to David family and Paul Michael Glaser, enjoyed your partnership with Paul on Starsky & Hutch happy memories when I was young watching the show with my twin sister and seeing you in concert twice when you came to the UK.”
I felt like doing one, too, along the lines of “RIP Hutch. I preferred Starsky (better hair), Huggy Bear and Captain Dobey (funnier), really, but Starsky and Hutch probably wouldn’t have worked quite so well without Hutch and anyway you were far better than Owen Wilson when he played Hutch in the crap film version. Rest easy and see you on the other side. Oh, wait…”
I doubt that it’s really 79 people from Bristol issuing heartfelt tributes to an actor turned singer whose last successful show was Starsky and Hutch that ended nearly 45 years ago. The Post AKA Bristol Live is part of the Retch group, a national media company whose titles are enjoyed/endured by a diminishing group of elderly Brits, like me. So perhaps 79 gushing tributes to David Soul is not quite the extravagant number it first appears.
Having said all that, with tongue firmly in cheek, it is actually quite wonderful that we are touched in life by people we have never met and because of their death we shall now never meet. I have had the good fortune to meet many of my heroes and none of them, except Ian Botham, ever let me down (that’s another story). And when they die, I know I shall feel as said as I was when John Lennon, who of course I never met, because of the profound effect and influence his music had in my life. And doubtless when the next hero dies, I’ll be preparing an obituary, either physically on here or just in my mind, for what and who I have lost. It’s not like when we lose a close relative, I know, but people, especially talented people we are drawn to, evoke empathy and, dare I say it, love.
So for those 79 people who sent their love to David ‘Hutch’ Soul – I can’t believe Hutch’s name in the show was Ken: So unhip then as now – I know what you mean and why you did it. Sure it’s a bit bonkers, but I like and do bonkers, but why not by the box set of Starsky and Hutch and so keep the flame burning? After all, I still watch ancient repeats of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and that’s completely and utterly bonkers.
RIP dead people. The fact we noticed shows you did something good. None of us can ask for more than that, can we?
