Thank you, all my friends, for your kind thoughts and wishes. Yes, Judy, both being writers did bring us closer together. We actually collaborated on a 4-part TV script; and I dramatised several of his novels for BBC radio (A Raging Calm, Joby, A Kind of Loving). I'm going to do more of them. Being writers, we each understood the process that the other was going through - 'Don't talk, I'm working in my head' was frequently heard, and neither of us would disturb the other. Result was, we spent our days separate and in companionable silence but came together for an early-evening drink in the pub, supper and a chat or catching up on TV. In recent years, when he got older, Stan used to spend afternoons listening to his beloved classical music, the other side of the house, while I was working. Diana

It's very sad. He was a very special guy - a rare and true hero, his entire life.

I have climbing roses that are going on their 4th year and they are scrawny things, halfway up the arbor at best....whereas John Davis stands tall and wide with no support and looks for all the world like a climbing rose...of course it is older than the ones I have on the arbor, so time will tell, but I will only give them so long. Perhaps the hardiness of John Davis is making the difference

I spent my childhood in LA and was a Dodgers fan, of course. I listened to Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett whenever I could. I can still hear their voices. I'm not 100% certain but I think they used to split the announcing duties 50-50. One would call the action and the other would do the color commentary from the start until the bottom of the fourth inning, then they'd trade places. Scully was one of those "there will never be another" people. Same is true for Bill Russell, who was active during those same years. I was a staunch Laker fan (Jerry West and Elgin Baylor) but Russell was a big, big man whose presence and impact on the league was admired by all. When I say "big man", I'm not referring to his height. I saw that Magic Johnson suggested the NBA retire Russell's number for all teams. Hard to disagree with that but maybe it should have been done years ago so that he could have enjoyed the honor.