It's a sad day today for anyone who grew up in the 80's: two icons of the era have both died; Patrick Swayze and Keith Floyd; and sadly both of them from cancer.

I can't say I was influenced by Patrick Swayze too much - the two movies he was famous for - Dirty Dancing and Ghost - are both "chick flicks" and whilst I've watched both, neither have made it only my list of must watch again movies.

Keith Floyd on the other hand is an institution in my life. I've watched his flamboyant cooking programs ever since I was a little boy and sometimes even employ his "one for the pot and one for me" method of cooking with wine - every meal cooked by Keith Floyd was cooked with wine, maybe not in the dish itself, but certainly in his hand. That said, he comes to my mind regularly for a completely different reason; everytime I cook pasta, I always remember as spaghetti advert he did with the catch phrase "Two minutes have passed and look at this..." at which point he throws a piece of spaghetti onto the ceiling and it sticks. I don't throw the spaghetti but I certainly almost always say or think this.

Of course neither man will completely die. The sales of Dirty Dancing and Ghost are likely to see a revival and Keith Floyd is already continually repeated on the golden-oldy TV channels.