Goodbye Dale

I had been wondering what to write in returning to my blog. I rarely, if ever, have pearls of wisdom to share. After much contemplation I came to the realization that, given the likely size of my audience, I should write about things of interest to said audience and when I say audience I mean me. I had never been a big fan of Dale Winton the celebrity presenter from the 1990s and Noughties. I would watch him on the National Lottery draws and when he made celebrity appearances but I never sought him out. My opinion changed after recently watching a travel show he made of a visit to Florida. The friendly approach and self deprecating humour made the show. Without being obtrusive the show was as much about Dale as it was Florida. As I read about his battle with depression I can see that this show was something of a milestone for him, marking a return to television after a 5 year hiatus due to depression. After watching the show on the UK's Channel 5 I did a scout around to see if he had done any more but not yet. Ahh, I thought, I'll just google occasionally to see if he is making any more. The news today of his passing came as a shock. 62 years old isn't old in the general scale of things these days, especially from my position of a man in his 50s. I actually caught myself usually a phrase of my parent's generation "62, that's no age at all!" Thank you for the entertainment Dale, you were always a professional.

BBC Dale Winton a life in pictures

Podcast interview with Dale Winton

Dale Winton on Wikipedia