Banging out

December 29, 2018 3:33 PM

Guardian journalist and all-round awesome Twitter egg, Simon Ricketts, has died from cancer, less than a month after announcing in a typically beautiful and unself-pitying article that he would soon be gone.

His passing was announced by his partner, screenwriter Andrea Gibb, on Twitter.

He had been for many years a voice of sanity, humanity and humour on Twitter, often first with breaking news (but mostly when it was genuinely heartening or hilarious). His tweets were even responsible for bringing together a couple who met chatting in response to a tweet of his, and ended up getting married.

Sadly, on his passing, his Twitter account seems to have been deactivated, but his Tumblr still stands, including not only the above final post but also thoughtful articles on many topics, including:

Chemotherapy
His diagnosis
His lifelong passion for journalism
Politics
The death of his beloved cat, Betty
How responsible journalists use (or choose not to use) Twitter in the newsroom.

And many more.

“Lastly, I’ll say this just for now. I consider myself lucky. I always have. I think of my life as a privilege. I was born into a family who surround me with love and support me in whatever I do. I am wrapped in the consuming love of a beautiful, talented, hilarious, woman, who has made me the happiest I have ever been. I have friends so true, so clever, so talented, so committed, so funny, so uplifting to know, that I’m almost embarrassed to have been given such gifts.” - Simon Ricketts

posted by penguin pie (35 comments total)

In the light of his final article, linked above, (in which he hoped that people might, at some point after his passing, follow the newspaper tradition of seeing a retiring journalist off the premises by banging things loudly, even if just in their heads in his case), it seems fitting that maybe instead of leaving ‘.’s in this thread, we instead bang him out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!
posted by penguin pie at 3:37 PM on December 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

BANG! BANG! BANG!
posted by kimberussell at 3:48 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

💥💥💥
posted by potch at 3:49 PM on December 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

!!!

.
posted by bilabial at 4:06 PM on December 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

💥💥💥
posted by galaxy rise at 4:17 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

BANG!
posted by chavenet at 4:17 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 4:23 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

!!!
posted by janell at 4:30 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

! ! !
posted by ottereroticist at 4:38 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

BANG! BANG! BANG!
posted by speug at 5:10 PM on December 29, 2018

💥💥💥
💥💥💥
💥💥💥
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:14 PM on December 29, 2018

! ! !
posted by allthinky at 5:21 PM on December 29, 2018

I was not familiar with his writing. Its exactly the very British, snarky, witty writing that I love, with a fair amount of insight. What a sad thing, what a loss of a person with such a voice. Fuck cancer.

💥💥💥
posted by theora55 at 5:24 PM on December 29, 2018 [6 favorites]

💥💥💥
posted by lalochezia at 5:45 PM on December 29, 2018

!!!
posted by ottergrrl at 6:49 PM on December 29, 2018

! ! !
posted by Lyn Never at 6:54 PM on December 29, 2018

!!!!
posted by grimjeer at 7:03 PM on December 29, 2018

* * *
posted by dragonian at 7:11 PM on December 29, 2018

!!!
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:37 PM on December 29, 2018

!!!
posted by eirias at 8:18 PM on December 29, 2018

That was lovely and sad.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
posted by greermahoney at 8:46 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by seasparrow at 9:40 PM on December 29, 2018

🥁🥁🥁
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 11:24 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

💥💥💥!!!
posted by bwerdmuller at 11:54 PM on December 29, 2018

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Pendragon at 1:59 AM on December 30, 2018

!!!!!
posted by amusebuche at 2:25 AM on December 30, 2018

!!!!!!
posted by howfar at 3:38 AM on December 30, 2018

!!!!!
posted by Jubey at 4:23 AM on December 30, 2018

!!!!!
posted by sockermom at 5:07 AM on December 30, 2018

💥💥💥 !!!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:33 AM on December 30, 2018

!!!
posted by limeonaire at 8:02 AM on December 30, 2018

!!!
posted by camyram at 8:29 AM on December 30, 2018

💥💥💥
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:44 AM on December 30, 2018

💥
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 PM on December 30, 2018

I scrolled through my contacts and immediately prepared a text message. To. "DAD MOBILE.”

“Hi Dad. I got the job at the Guardian. I start in a month’s time. I’m delighted. I know you will be. Simon x”
I sent the text and put the phone down.

Dad had died four years earlier. But I still wanted him to be the first to know.

jfc
posted by hototogisu at 3:58 PM on December 30, 2018 [2 favorites]