A generally all round good guy...  Chris Rea, the Middlesbrough-born singer-songwriter best known for the timeless Christmas classic Driving Home for Christmas, has died aged 74 following a short illness. He passed away peacefully in hospital just days before Christmas, surrounded by his family. While Rea’s career was defined by his gravelly voice and distinctive slide guitar, those closest to him always said his greatest constant was his wife Joan. The couple met as teenagers and spent 57 years together — a partnership that quietly underpinned both his personal life and his music. One of Rea’s most enduring songs was born during one of their bleakest moments. In December 1978, Joan was driving him back to Middlesbrough after a discouraging recording session in London. His management deal had ended, money was scarce, and Rea believed his career might be over. As snow slowed traffic near Nottingham, he looked at the exhausted faces in nearby cars and jokingly sang the line that would later become famous. By the glow of passing streetlights, he began scribbling the lyrics to Driving Home for Christmas. The song did not find immediate success. First released years later as a B-side to Hello Friend, it gradually took on a life of its own. Over time it became a seasonal fixture, returning to the charts year after year and soundtracking Christmases across generations — including major festive advertising campaigns decades after it was written. Rea often said that Joan kept him grounded through both success and serious illness. His long battle with poor health brought them even closer, and at one point — believing he might not survive — he made a remarkable decision. He signed over the rights and royalties to his entire catalogue to his wife. Speaking later with characteristic humour, he joked that he’d given her “all the rights to all the songs” and that she “won’t give them back”. Beyond the Christmas hit, Rea left behind a formidable body of work. Over five decades he released 25 studio albums, with The Road to Hell and Auberge both reaching number one in the UK. Songs such as Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Let’s Dance and The Road to Hell (Part 2) secured his place as one of Britain’s most respected and distinctive musicians. Yet it is Driving Home for Christmas — written during a difficult journey with the woman he loved — that remains the most fitting symbol of his legacy. Simple, honest and rooted in shared experience, it reflects the relationship that sustained him from the age of 16 to the end of his life. Chris Rea is survived by his wife Joan and their daughters Josephine and Julia. His family said they are devastated by his loss, but take comfort in the music and memories he leaves behind — and in the love story that shaped them both.

That referee is a washout. should have splinters in his arse.

Couldn't find anything I wanted to watch on TV this evening so I watched the Christmas Gone Fishing 2020 with Mortimer and Whitehouse which I had recorded a couple of weeks ago and their guest was Chris Rea. Christ, he  talked about the health problems he had had. There could not have been much left inside him, but  he was quite amusing talking about it. A sad loss.