Sir Henrys passing

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  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Shocking news and quite unexpected. Although we hadn't corresponded in a while we were very much on the same wavelength and he even called me 'a brother from another mother' in one of his PMs. A great Bond fan and it seems a great human being who touched a lot of lives, and made them richer for it. Will be sorely missed and will be thinking of him come Bond 24.
    Thanks to Alex for posting this news and I'm sure all our thoughts and wishes go with him.
    All the things one wanted to say to one's brother…
  • SuperheroSithSuperheroSith SE London
    Posts: 578
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHhqkiYvEk

    How this news probably makes us all feel...
  • Kerim wrote:
    Live and Let Die and not the Guns and Roses version.

    Disagree totally, G&R's version is brilliant and quite faithful with a little of their style thrown in. Of course, unless you don't like G&R to begin with...

    I love the Guns n Roses version. Maybe I'm biased because I love them as a band but I think it might be even better than the original.

    Well, I don't know I'd go that far, but past the fact that G&R covered the original, I love both versions equally and love hearing them both, even if I am very down on Axl and the HOF debacle. Of course, if you ever spent any time with the guy like I have, you'd know he's a schizoid wackjob with a lot of personal demons I don't think he's yet to have conquered, but then I haven't hung with him for about 20 years now so...
    Name just about any hard rock/heavy metal act from the late 70's throughout the 80's and I probably either knew them or had at least met them.

    @SirHenryLeeChaChing Have you met Alice Cooper or Ozzy Osbourne? That would be badass.

    Yes, I have. Alice after a free outdoor summer show in Philly during the "Hey Stoopid" tour. Very nice fellow. We both love music and golf so he was quite pleasant and chatty. His daughter was engaged to a local musician (Still Standing) whose parents my wife and I knew from the metal days and we met her a few years back. My wife didn't introduce me to her, all I knew was she was some girl I gave a light for her cigarette and later on my wife told me who she was.

    Ozzy I met backstage at the Tower Theater during Zakk Wylde's first tour with him, pretty sure it was the "No Rest For The Wicked". BonJovi's best friend Obie O'Brien knew Ozzy's tour manager and arranged for 5 tickets and all access passes for us. It was me, my wife, my mother, my best friend and best man Ed, and his girlfriend at the time. Ozzy really took a liking to my mother for some reason that Ed and I still laugh about to this day. He shook everyone's hand but gave my Mom a kiss on the cheek (saying "Ello Mum") in greeting and then again when we left (saying G'bye Mum). Other than Blackie Lawless, Ozzy was Ed's hero and he was so starstruck that you could see the wheels turning but he was barely able to stammer a few words. We still laugh about that one too. Sharon was with him and seemed rather busy with other matters but still took a minute or two to chat and was both funny and nice to us. Later on we went drinking across the street and Zakk was completely blasted drunk and entertained everyone in the bar with his antics.

    I should also mention I know a ton of pro wrestlers as well. Some like various musicians I've mentioned are still friends and stay in touch. My personal phone book features quite a few famous people. I'd like to think it speaks favorably for me as a fun guy to hang out with.

    I stand by what I said then
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing I know we don't always agree, but you're a f*cking legend.

    I think the fact that this has all affected us even though most of us never met the bloke speaks volumes about what a great person he was. RIP.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Samuel001 wrote:
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing often spoke of his own son, recently turned 13, joining the forum at some stage. Does anyone know if this happened, will happen, or is that person Alex?

    Yes, Alex is his son. His own username is Silvaslaptop (may be spelling that wrong).

    I am waking up now and find myself immediately with a heavy heart. Still in shock. This was too sudden and far too soon.

    Thanks for replying to me. I hope, in time, he is able to join us here.
  • Dragonpol2Dragonpol2 The Crazy World of Daniel Dragonpol
    edited January 2014 Posts: 145
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Samuel001 wrote:
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing often spoke of his own son, recently turned 13, joining the forum at some stage. Does anyone know if this happened, will happen, or is that person Alex?

    Yes, Alex is his son. His own username is Silvaslaptop (may be spelling that wrong).

    I am waking up now and find myself immediately with a heavy heart. Still in shock. This was too sudden and far too soon.

    Thanks for replying to me. I hope, in time, he is able to join us here.

    I second that. He's more than welcome when he feels up to it.
  • So sorry to see this news.

    Thoughts and prayers for his family and all who care for him, including other forum members.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I hope these posts can be some consolation for his family if they read it. When my wife was terminally ill she had a blog on the net that was followed by many. When she passed away, hundreds of condolences were posted there, most from people we had never even met. I read those over and over until the blog was removed. Those words touched my heart as much as the words of my beloved wife had touched the hearts of all those people apparently.

    Happy I got to meet your father, Alex. Even though it was only here for a few months.
  • Always thought his posts reflected a man of good humour and a sharp mind. He will be missed by a great deal of Bond fans, myself included.

    May Sir Henry rest in peace.

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited January 2014 Posts: 24,179
    Greg Ferrell was a member of Keeping The Britisch End Up, also known as ‘the old forum’. He stuck with us during the transition to our current community and was very active here too.
    He always had an outspoken opinion about things, but he was never disrespectful towards those who disagreed with him in a polite and civil manner. Thus, SirHenryLeeChaChing became a valued member of this community very quickly. He was a father to some, a brother to others.
    On multiple occasions, Greg approached me with a variety of thoughts and suggestions through PMs. We ended up having lots of warm and often funny but always respectful PM conversations. I shall miss these very much.
    Greg was a family man. He shared many positive feelings about the people close to him with me. I recognized the beauty of his heart; a loving father and husband, Greg was a great guy.
    When things got darker on the forums, mostly because of many troll inspired disagreements, Greg would support me. He would be like a brother to me. He called me his brother-from-another-mother.
    Greg, 52, was taken from this life by health complications.

    Greg,
    My Brother,
    Words don’t often say as much as the sound of a voice or the look on a face.
    But your words never failed to get the message through.
    You made me smile, you made me laugh, you made me feel stronger when I felt weak, you made me feel wiser when I felt clueless.
    You showed me how powerful love can be, how it can beat death.
    You had so much to look forward to, and you allowed me to share in your happiness. It felt good knowing that you had found luck again; how cruel a fate you suffered, how ironical life can be. It hurts.
    Greg, wherever you are, I hope you can read this. Please know that you will never be forgotten. We never met in person, we never spoke on the phone. But I treasure the memories to our conversations over the Internet, to our warm exchanges of happy thoughts.
    I will remember you as a friend, I will miss you as a brother, I will honour you as a beautiful person and I will look for you among the stars.
    Farewell SirHenry.
    D.


    Chrysant-8-geel.jpg
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    Posts: 2,044
    @DarthDimi
    That post made me tear up. Wonderfully written, i'm sure Greg would've been proud of it!
  • Posts: 6,396
    An incredible tribute @DarthDimi. Thank you for sharing with us all.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited January 2014 Posts: 28,694
    It's no secret around here that I'm not good at mourning, and find death to be a confusing and quite difficult thing to comprehend, so while still dealing with this news I chose to do something I am good at, and made a tribute to our fallen comrade:

    12142100586_a4aa12caed_o.jpg

    His favorite Bond from his favorite Bond film.

    And now I'll say many words about the man we all knew as SirHenry. As our planet has progressed further technologically, death has became tougher and tougher to deal with. Our lost friends and family are still "alive" in digital videos shot of them on special occasions, their voices recorded on phones messages and their words readable through social networking long after their death. Our technological present almost defies death, where those we have lost are still with us long after they have passed on, through text on Facebook, videos on YouTube or in recordings on a voicemail. This makes it difficult to grasp just what "death" means, and if people can truly "die" at all when parts of them are still left behind.

    Greg Ferrell's passing (or as I shall always refer to him, Sir Henry) has brought these questions to my mind recently, as they frequently do when death inevitably enters my life in intervals of time. After hearing the news I was stone-faced, confused and rather unexpressive. I didn't know what to feel, what to say, or what to do; I was just frozen. I was affected by the passing of a man I had only known over conversations across computer screens, and never met him in person even once. But that was the thing about SirHenry. His charm, wit and overall warm personality was so powerful that he made you feel like you'd known him forever. His knowledge on Bond was a pinnacle of this site, as he grew up directly with Bond as a child and had some of the greatest stories to relate to youngsters like me. He was a storyteller of the finest order, capturing you in a moment and taking you on an unforgettable ride, though you never questioned whether what you were hearing was true or not because if things that incredible happened to any man, it had to be SirHenry.

    Above his obvious Bond credentials, he was simply a wonderful human being. He stood up for what he believed in, challenged what he stood against, shared a word with a saddened comrade in need of support, and was a dedicated husband and father till the very end. He was a reason to come onto this forum every day because his debates were always intelligent and knowledgable, his posts containing equal measures of earnest love and mad entertainment, and he was simply a comforting figure to cling to on a forum made by Bond fans for Bond fans. He was the embodiment of this forum's mission to keep Bond's memory alive, because he was a lifelong supporter of Bond through all his ups and downs, all his re-castings and all the law suits that sought to end his cinematic reign for good. SirHenry was very much a Bond-like figure himself, the very image of a dutiful, tough, and determined man. He was a lover of women and adventure, an explorer of the new and exotic, and a reveler in the joys of life. His passion was easily transmittable, his warmness contagious and his respect easily reciprocated. I meant every single word I said about him in the Salute thread here on the forum, and I am so glad we all chose to salute him so soon in light on these events.

    In times of great sorrow, I cling to a quote I love of Dr. Seuss's that states "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." While it is easy to feel saddened and frozen over this news, we should all smile and feel honored to have known SirHenry for however a brief time, because he wouldn't want us to be melancholic. No matter the pain we all feel now, we got to know and form a friendship with a special man who made such an impact on this forum that it is startling. SirHenry's life may have been short, but in it he lived every moment to the fullest, sucked every drop from its well and climbed its every mountain without regret. They say that legends only have their place in fiction, but Greg Ferrell was real, and like all great legends he shall never die, because he is with us all forever, in the hearts and minds that he so utterly affected with his every word and gesture.

    My fellow agents, the only thing we can do now is mourn our larger than life member, and share in the celebration of his life with the family and friends he also touched with his presence. While we are no doubt saddened, they were the lucky ones because they got to know him beyond an avatar and a username. They were fortunate enough to personally know Greg Ferrell the man, to see him frequently in all his glory, to share a dinner with him or exchange an embrace or simple handshake, a true prize for which there is no equal. Greg Ferrell was so many things during his lifetime, and I feel honored that one of those such things was being a grand friend to me. Here's to you, SirHenry. Lost, but never forgotten.

    @};- @};- @};-
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited January 2014 Posts: 28,694
    Sorry for the double post, it glitched on me...
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    An amazing post, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7!
    Thank you.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited January 2014 Posts: 9,117
    ‘What do you say about a man like that?’

    I’ve just been reading through some of the PMs I shared with Sir Henry. Some hilarious stuff in there (sadly most of it not fit for public consumption) reminding me of the occasions we fought the good fight together. Not that we didn’t have our own fallings out – he could never see the brilliance of Laz – but he had the rare combination of impeccable Bond knowledge, intelligence and wit that made his posts always worth paying attention to.

    He was one of the half dozen or so people on here that I regard as the spine of the forum. His loss has left that spine broken, but we owe it to him to rise up and walk tall again, even though his continued absence means we may never walk as upright or as carefree as we once did.

    Upon reading through Sir Henry’s personal messages to me (and when you read about the latest Twitter abuse case consider that your contact with this man is what the internet was invented for – bringing people together. Thanks to the miracle of the internet we were all able to know Sir Henry, however fleetingly) I am overcome by the essence of life that springs forth from them. Its hard to comprehend that the hand that penned them has been stilled but I don’t think we should weep for him.
    His strikes me as a life lived to the full so if the Iron Crab did catch up with him at least he went of that most noble of ailments – living too much. Far better to leave the stage early after cramming a multitude of adventures in than trudging on to your statutory three score years and ten.

    Sir Henry truly lived - we should rejoice in that and all of us can only hope that when our time comes we can say the same.

    Farewell Old Chap.

  • I'm in almost disbelief over this sad news. There was no bigger Bond enthusiast than
    Sir Henry. We have not just lost a MI6 forum member, but a friend. My condolences go out to his family and may Sir Henry live long in all of our memories.
  • Posts: 6,396
    Wonderful tributes from both @TheWiz and @0Brady.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    I find it most heartening to read some of your most deserved eulogies of our beloved SirHenry. It's a measure of the man that he touched so many lives, without actually interacting with the vast majority of us.
  • Even though it is a sad occasion, I feel uplifted in seeing how forum members are posting so many heartfelt messages. It is a beautiful thing to see so many people supporting Sir Henry's family, and one another. This is one more reason I am happy to have found this forum. Thank you, Sir Henry, for helping to bring out the very best in people, and for all you have done in this community. May you have eternal peace and joy, and strength and comfort to your family and friends.
  • Dragonpol2Dragonpol2 The Crazy World of Daniel Dragonpol
    edited January 2014 Posts: 145
    That is a very beautiful tribute to our dear departed comrade, Sir Henry, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 and @DarthDimi.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited January 2014 Posts: 28,694
    Dragonpol2 wrote:
    That is a very beautiful tribute to our dear depated comrade, Sir Henry, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7.
    Wonderful tributes from both @TheWiz and @0Brady.

    Thank you very much, my friends. I hope I never have to write such words to a fallen comrade again. What a tender world that would be.
    DarthDimi wrote:
    An amazing post, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7!
    Thank you.

    Yours was equally amazing, my Bond brother.
  • I used to post here very often but stopped coming here quite some time ago. I check the site periodically to see if anything has changed, and was shocked and saddened to read about Sir Henry. I couldn't pass up the chance to log in and express my condolences to his friends here and especially to his family.

    One of the things that I loved about this site was the feeling of camaraderie and family, and Sir Henry was a big part of that. Always contributing in a thoughtful and encouraging way, his posts showed the youthful enthusiasm that he kept for Bond and for other interests as well. I am deeply saddened to think of those who experienced it first-hand and often in the real world, although I'm grateful for them that they did indeed get to experience it - a joy that many of us wish we could have shared.

    "They say that you're measured by the strength of your enemies" and other similar lines may sound cool in a film, but that's just make-believe. The true measure of a man is the awful hole he leaves by his absence, and I can think of no greater tribute to Sir Henry than the posts expressing how much his presence will be missed.

    My respect.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Oh, @thelordflasheart, I am glad you posted this heartfelt comment. So well said.

    I think many members have written so beautifully, and it is good to read all of those words.

    I do hope that you can stay with us and participate more here again, @thelordflasheart.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    I had some PM's with Sir Henry, and he was funny, serious, and heartfelt. As virtual friends and acquaintances go, he was the best. I'm still so shocked by his passing that I find it hard to fully engage... sh*t, he was just a year younger than I. =((
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited January 2014 Posts: 12,480
    All right, everyone, here is news from Greg's (SirHenryLeeChaChing) family ~

    I have heard back from Greg's family via Greg's longtime best friend, Ed, with whom I have been emailing. Ed passed on our message to Greg's brother and family about how we wanted to honor Greg, show our respect, in whichever way they preferred (flowers, donations, fund for Greg's children, etc.). Here is their message to us at this time:
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Thank you. Any condolences, or donations to help with expenses, would be greatly appreciated.

    Here is the address of Greg's brother:
    Brian Ferrell
    100 Morton Ave
    Apt. B-103
    Ridley Park, PA 19078

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    So we can start sending our condolences, cards, letters, and whatever way we want to send funds, to this address. Whatever we send will go to Greg's immediate family.

    Ed asked me to post this on the forum for everyone to know.

    I also let Ed know, to let the family know, that they can read our tributes to Greg here easily, without having to become a forum member themselves. So when they feel up to that (and that may take a while), they can come here and read what we are saying about our sorely missed member, SirHenry (Greg). I hope they will, at some point in time; I think it may be of real comfort to them.



  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited January 2014 Posts: 17,795
    I pray for his kids. I pray they will be okay in time. We all lose parents, not all of us so young or in such quick succession...
  • Dragonpol2Dragonpol2 The Crazy World of Daniel Dragonpol
    Posts: 145
    Oh, @thelordflasheart, I am glad you posted this heartfelt comment. So well said.

    I think many members have written so beautifully, and it is good to read all of those words.

    I do hope that you can stay with us and participate more here again, @thelordflasheart.

    I second that. Don't b e a stranger to the site @thelordflasheart. You are more than welcome here.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    It was very touching to read all of your heartfelt tributes. @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, I was especially moved by your amazing picture. You did a wonderful job with that.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    pachazo wrote:
    It was very touching to read all of your heartfelt tributes. @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, I was especially moved by your amazing picture. You did a wonderful job with that.

    That means a lot to me, @pachazo. Thank you.
  • Posts: 9,846
    My condolences
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