We have all been shocked by the number of celebrity deaths this year. And not just any old celebrities, but hugely popular, highly influential celebrities, many with unique and stellar talents. David Bowie, Prince, Victoria Wood, Keith Emerson, Alan Rickman to name but a very few. 2016 has been a horrible year, but this is the new norm. Every year from now on will be very similar. Here is why.
I knew there had to be a reason and probably a very simple reason. After extensive research – well, I had a muck about on Google – I think I have found the answers and they seem to make sense.
The Daily Telegraph has a gallery of celebrities who die and so far in 2016 the figure is 75, up from 30 at the same time last year. The BBC has published more obituaries than ever before and the trend is relentlessly upwards. Allow me to quote the BBC’s obituary editor Nick Serpell:
“People who started becoming famous in the 1960s are now entering their 70s and are starting to die. There are also more famous people than there used to be. In my father or grandfather’s generation, the only famous people really were from cinema – there was no television. Then, if anybody wasn’t on TV, they weren’t famous.”
Now, there is much more music, there are many more films and of course scores of extra TV channels, not to mention the internet. It is all beginning to make sense.
The baby boomer generation, from 1946 to 1964, saw huge increases in population and in the USA some 23% of the population are baby boomers. Many of those departing now fit into the baby boomer category.
I do not recommend checking out the website deathlist.net which predicts the 50 most likely deaths this year, although I have to admit I did and now feel slightly dirty for so doing. But I was very surprised to see the sheer numbers of very famous people who are either old or very old. Some of them we know are getting increasingly old, frail and some cases sick. I looked down the list and understood why some names were on there. To be honest, I was slightly relieved to find I wasn’t on it, although that’s more likely to be because hardly anyone knows who I am.
So, when you next read a comment on social networks saying “Sod off, 2016” (this is a family website: people are saying much worse), just remember that this is how it is always going to be from now on. Every future year will be an annus horribilis. We’d best enjoy the rest of our lives while we can.
