mostly david ephgrave

I was sad to hear the news about Albert Finney's death today as he was a great actor, but also because he's long had a special significance to me. It was while watching the film Big Fish a number of years ago that I noticed how much Finney resembled my grandfather; something which took me surprise and knocked me for six. And it was during the scene where his character listens as his son beautifully narrates how his life story will end that I was so overtaken by how much he looked like my dad's dad (who had died five years previously) I was suddenly in an involuntary flood of tears. Watching that scene, it hit home that my grandfather had gone and I'd never see him again and that I never knew him as well as I would have liked. He'd been a strong presence in my family: an ex-sailor who'd joined the navy before the war and ended up serving throughout (and being involved in the D-Day Landings), who had a cutting sense of humour, but who had always been nice to ...