Rob Holdstock passed away

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:03 pm

Twitter is awash with praise for the great man and somebody has already updated the wikipedia page...

drew · Post by **drew** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:19 pm

I didn't realise he grew up so close to me - literally down the road!

Wikipedia wrote:
Robert Holdstock, the oldest of five children, was born in Hythe, Kent, near Romney Marsh. His father, Robert Frank Holdstock, was a police officer and his mother, Kathleen Madeline Holdstock, was a nurse. At the age of seven years, Robert started attending the Gillingham Grammar School in the Medway Towns. As a young adult he had jobs including banana boatman, construction worker, and slate miner.

Left a comment on his website and made an entry for him on my blog. It's a real sign of getting older when your 'inspirations' start to pass on. I remember when Deforest Kelly died - I remember thinking, "But he can't! He's Dr. McCoy!"

Cheers,

Drew.

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:03 pm

I'm blogging in my other browser window - I'm I'm heading off to leave a comment after that...

He was almost exactly the same age as my dad is...

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 8:58 am

Sadness.

I'll be raising a glass of Reidquatian Ale to Mr Holdstock tonight.

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:11 am

If Aegidian is still around could I suggest that he changes the title of the thread - it is, sadly, somewhat untrue...

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:17 pm

An odd thought occurred whilst I was reading the comments on Mr Holdstock's website.

Although Bell and Braben created the game, it was Rob Holdstock who created the entire background universe for Elite. Galcop and all that jazz weren't even mentioned in the game, only in the manual and so on.

Maybe Elite gave us a good open-ended space trading game, but Rob Holdstock fired our imaginations, which probably contributed a great deal towards Elite's longevity...