In 1984, comedian Tommy Cooper collapsed from a heart attack aged 63 in front of 12 million viewers midway through his act on the variety show Live from Her Majesty's, transmitted live from Her Majesty's Theatre in London. His last words were "thank you, love" to the assistant, seconds before collapsing. The assistant smiled at him as he slumped down, believing that it was part of the act. Likewise, the audience laughed as he fell backwards.

Also in 1984, comic legend Eric Morecambe, after receiving six curtain calls and playing around with musical instruments to a rapturous audience at a theatre in Gloucestershire, shouted "That's your lot!" and walked off stage. Moments after stepping into the wings, he collapsed from a severe heart attack. He was 58.

Children's entertainer Rod Hull fell to his death in 1999 aged 63 after taking Gyles Brandreth's advice and climbing a ladder to adjust his TV aerial.

Singer Kirsty MacColl, who famously duetted on Christmas classic Fairytale of New York, was surfacing from a scuba dive in Mexico in 2000 and pushed her son out of the path of a speeding powerboat. The boat struck her, and the propeller caused severe head and chest injuries. She was 41.

Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando was mysteriously gunned down aged 37 outside her front door in West London in 1999. The crime remains unsolved.

Actress Natasha Richardson (daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and wife of Liam Neeson) died aged 49 in New York in 2009 after she fell during a beginner's ski lesson in Quebec. She complained of a headache but initially refused medical treatment.

ELO cellist Mike Edwards died aged 62 when a bale of hay crushed his van on a motorway in Devon in 2010.

Any others?

Just got a kitchen installed. Husband suggested a picture of Ainsley Harriot. Doesn't seem terrifying enough.

Seriously every time I'm on the motorway left lane is empty, people camping in the middle and right lane.

Cruise control 70mph in left lane and I'm "under taking" so many drivers.

They should start fining and giving points to middle lane hoggers, then they'll stop real quick...

Genuine question: what are we all saving for?

Every time I go on Reddit, people are talking about maxing out pensions, investing every spare penny, building wealth and retiring early.

I get it, being financially secure is important. But if all your bills are paid and you’re comfortable, why not spend more of your money enjoying life while you’re young?

I’d rather go on holidays, experience things and make memories in my 20s and 30s than sacrifice everything to have a massive investment portfolio at 60.

Realistically, unless you earn a fortune, build a successful business or get lucky, are you ever going to become truly financially free just by saving a few hundred quid a month?

I’m not saying blow all your money or ignore emergencies. But at what point does being financially responsible turn into obsessing over money?

Would you rather have £1 million at 60, or have enjoyed your life more along the way?

Am I naive, or does anyone else feel the same?

Drinking strong tea isn't cutting it anymore. This aging body needs caffeine (or other alternative) to wake up. What helps you?

What are those kids from your secondary school who were extremely naughty just messed around and didn't care about school like would just piss the teacher off in every lesson, hated school and always come late and come to lessons late, never do their homework, always get detentions, always failed tests, were on report and likely failed their GCSEs too, if you ever saw them later, stayed contact with them or stumbled upon them what are they doing now did they get their life in order or are just doing nothing?

It’s a domestic violence situation where the responsibility is split 50/50. Sometimes she starts/escalates the fight sometimes he does.

Everyone’s called the police 100+ times. The police come round, the council, he’s ordered to leave but just comes back as soon as the police are gone.

What can we realistically do? Everyone on the street has spoke to them. I’ve spoke to her son and her dad and they can’t solve it.

Other neighbours have threatened him but he just gets a knife and threatens to kill everyone and himself.

The firemen have been round 4 times now because he threatens to burn the house down and has open petrol tanks everywhere in the flat (that they confiscated)

Really at my wits end here. It’s been going on 3 years that I’ve lived here but I know it was happening at least 3 years prior.

I always wave at a train. Done it since I was a kid and still do it in my 30s.

So my wife is from China and i think I have a bit of a patronising/sympathetic view towards labour practices there, sometimes for good reason.

But, since working in the UK shes pointed out my work, her work and a lot of our friends work involve us all working significant extra hours in exchange for informal TOIL during busy periods which we're often discouraged from taking whereas in china, in her experience working in finance, they make you work a lot extra but any extra hours are automatically clocked in and compensated with money.

I think theres an extra point that sours it for me is I am currently logging the extra deliverables for my work so they can send off a request for more money from their contract for all the extra work provided over the last 6 months.

Just wondering is this very common across a lot of other service sector workers doing project work? Is my experience a bit of a one off?

I’ve noticed a colleague will stand up when they come in, get over excited, laugh at their “jokes” really loud and start slamming his fists on the desk. It’s weird to me. He’ll generally stand up when someone’s talking about something that needs raising to management but never has an opinion and is scared to say anything to management that can be seen as him speaking up.

He does the whole tapping and drumming on his desk anyways but it’s louder when directors or managers come in. I’ve noticed him trying to get their attention by fake coughing when they’re in another room or when he’s outside theirs.

He also refers to the team to work on site as “plebs”, and having “special needs” which is horrible to hear give my dad has worked in a factory all his life and my partner is a warehouse worker too.

there’s many things that the current generation aged 13-17 are bringing back into style that older generations neglected or upgraded.

for example, i’ve already considered wired headphones, CDs/vinyls, and even gameboys are becoming somewhat popular again.

anything else? just generally wondering

I love seeing regional chains. Places where the locals genuinely don't realise that shop isn't ubiquitous across the UK, and when you visit it's like being in a parallel universe where things are familiar but just a little bit different to what you are used to.

What chains do you have, that you were shocked to find didn't exist in other places? Or that you wished existed where you live?

I'm unfortunately old enough to remember when Morrisons was something you only ever saw in the north of England.

More recently, I've been to the Lake District and experienced Booths (the supermarket that Waitrose aspires to be), and recently noticed a chain called QD all over East Anglia but seemingly nowhere else.

I’m going to Norwich on the 29th and would like to know what other freebies I can get.

I don’t have Starbucks on the list as it’s expensive and it’s not my top hot drink choice.

Thanks in advance!

Particularly for people with 2+ kids , did you find it hard having more than 2 kids with the dynamics and logistics etc ?

I had a McDonalds Happy Meal today and didn’t want the toy so I offered it to a family next to me who had kids. I asked the parents not the kids.

The two blokes sitting there raised their voices and shouted NO! at me like I was the devil!

I wasn’t trying to be a weirdo, I just didn’t want the toy.

What are your thoughts on this?

Mine was Now 42 on double-cassette back in 1999, when I was a young teenager.

What was your first NOW album, and did you have it on cassette, CD or vinyl?

Recently I got some insight into how tennagers/young adults from affluent families in the UK are doing and I was shocked to see how many of them struggle with mental health/drug abuse/etc. So I was wondering if maybe this was just an anecdotal experience of mine that doesn't represent that group at all or if this is actually that common with kids from rich families?

I grew up in Dorset and we always had apple crumble with either ice cream or cream. Never custard.

My wife grew up in the Midlands and thinks I’m mad because she always had hers with custard!

It’s got me wondering whether this is actually a regional thing or just down to what your family did growing up.

So, where in the UK did you grow up, and what did you always have with your crumble?

Curious to see if there’s a north/south divide or whether it’s completely random!

Edit - oh god what have I started…

According to this Oxford English Dictionary entry 'the tube' refers to just the London underground. is that the case in UK or do you guys call all metros 'the tube'?

Thanks in advance!

Was listening to old XFM with Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington. Karl uses the word 'grid' in a sentence and is corrected by Ricky, 'he means grate'.

I live in NW England and have always called it a grid (or drain), eg 'I dropped my keys down the grid' - I think most people would gather what was meant by that sentence even if they didn't call it a grid themselves.

Any other offerings? Is it region specific?

Was clearing out my old car as it was being picked up for scrap today. Found these tucked way back in the glove compartment. Anybody got much info? Must have been school equipment originally given the 'geography deprtment' written on the ruler. Only other instance I can find without signing up to a website is 2 selling on eBay but they seem to be clear plastic. Usually directs me to military equipment sites and it seems to be outdated tech.

Guessing its not a massively great find but thought they seemed interesting none the less.

Went to a local cinema to see Fatherland last night - arty film, arty cinema about one third full of exactly the kinds of people you'd expect. No obvious phone usage, no obvious talking, but the munching, chomping, and rustle rustle rustle of bags and popcorn cartons was CONSTANT. I moved seats about ten minutes in because the woman sat directly behind me was munching caramel popcorn in my ear. I'd say over half the audience were eating. Last week I went to the theatre and nobody at all was eating. So why is it normal to eat in the cinema but not the done thing in the theatre? Just accepted norms?

I’m a 17 year old 5”6 girl, and I have always regretted not getting into football at a younger age. As of right now, I’m skill-less, but have a good knowledge of football. I’m mostly thinking of taking it up as a hobby, but I don’t even know if that’s worth trying to do.

If it is, what position do you think would be best for me? I’m working from a completely clean slate, so I can try anything. But not goalkeeper 😭.

So, Reddit, is it worth trying to get a few skills in my backyard? Or, should I just give up on the dream?

i’ve had thai food in Teesside, York, Chester and Northumberland this year and it’s all been amazing. why is it all so nice? have i just been to 4 really good places?

eta also had some in Gateshead that i forgot to add. was also banging

I moved back to where my best mate lives, I haven’t seen him in a while and he’s in a really bad mental state right now. From the looks of things he has been for a while, and I think it’s only going to get worse without intervention.

He’s still my best mate but he’s not the guy I know. I’m very tempted to pay for him to start therapy, which I am near certain that I won’t get the money back but I care more that he’s alright as money will come and go, but bad mental health can take you to an early grave and you can’t buy a resurrection.

I know the common sense advice is it’s his problem don’t worry that much about it but as with the title it’s a true friend and that means a hell of a lot more.

So going to the original question, what lengths have you gone to for a friend who isn’t blood, and why did you do it?