Day: January 14, 2016

RIP Alan Rickman

- Roshan

Alan Rickman, a much-loved star of stage, TV and films including Harry Potter and Die Hard – and owner of one of the most singular voices in acting ­– has died in London. He was 69 years old. A stage actor who made his name in the theatre world, Rickman gained wider notice for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. Rickman’s other film roles included the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply, Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Harry in Love Actually, P. L. O’Hara in An Awfully Big Adventure, Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest, and Judge Turpin in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The actor had been a big-screen staple since first shooting to global acclaim in 1988, when he starred as Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis’s sardonic, dastardly adversary in Die Hard – a part he was offered two days after arriving in Los Angeles, aged 41. In 1995, he was awarded a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Rasputin in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. He won a BAFTA Award for his role in Robin Hood. In 2013, he played Hilly Kristal, the founder of the famous East Village punk-rock club CBGB, in the CBGB film with Rupert Grint. In 1965, at the age of 19, Rickman met 18-year-old Rima Horton, who became his first girlfriend and would later be a Labour Party councillor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council (1986–2006) and an economics lecturer at the nearby Kingston University. They lived together from 1977 until his death. In 2015, Rickman confirmed that they had married in a private ceremony in New York City in 2012.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016)

Liverpool 3 Arsenal 3

- Roshan

Arsenal had their advantage at the top of the Premier League cut after Joe Allen’s late equaliser gave Liverpool a deserved point in an Anfield thriller. Olivier Giroud’s second-half strike – his second of the night and 18th of the season – looked to have put the Gunners on course for a crucial victory, but substitute Allen rewarded the hosts for a display bursting with energy and spirit with a low 90th-minute finish. Roberto Firmino twice gave Liverpool the lead in a breathless first half, the second a spectacular 20-yard drive, but Arsenal took advantage of poor defending from Jurgen Klopp’s side to level through Aaron Ramsey and Giroud.

Giroud also missed an open goal in the first half, while Firmino glanced a shot off the bar in a wide open game. With 10 minutes remaining, Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table was four points. Yet Robert Huth’s late winner for Leicester City at Tottenham and Allen’s late strike left Arsenal only ahead of the Foxes on goal difference. The visitors looked to have finally established supremacy in this topsy-turvy encounter when Giroud turned to put them ahead 10 minutes after the break – but then failed to press home the advantage and paid a heavy price. And it will be a matter of concern to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that on nights like this at places like Anfield, they did not show the necessary ruthlessness to close out a game that was within their grasp. The Reds deserve great credit for the way they responded to the disappointment of going behind after leading twice – but Arsenal showed no assurance or authority when the pressure mounted in the closing stages and there was an inevitability about Allen’s equaliser.

Arsenal, when they should have been pressuring a desperately poor and under-strength Liverpool defence, instead allowed themselves to be pushed back. This was two points lost and Klopp will be the much happier manager. For such a regular goalscorer, Giroud remains a maligned figure by some Arsenal fans who regard him as just short of the highest class – and yet his strike rate speaks eloquently on his behalf. He showed a poacher’s instinct to touch home his first from Ramsey’s corner then showed good awareness and movement to turn Kolo Toure and score his second.
And yet those who remain unconvinced by Giroud will point to his astonishing first-half miss when he somehow failed to convert Hector Bellerin’s pass from a matter of inches in front of the Kop. Here, though, he demonstrated again that he will get goals and that is the best answer he can give to those who still doubt the France striker’s pedigree. Giroud has scored in four times in his past four Premier League games against Liverpool and has scored 11 goals in his past 11 appearances away from home in all competitions.

Arsenal are in first place with 43 points the same as Leicester City.