It seems a little distasteful that FIFA should decree that the whole globe should pay tribute to a cheat: Diego Maradona's portentous "Hand of God" scored an illegal goal against England, not spotted by the officials at the time, and certainly disallowed in this more modern era of VAR. (Admittedly, the incident rankles for England fans as much as for West German fans in 1966 when Geoff Hurst's "goal" bounced on the goalline in 1966.) Maybe I'm not such a fan of football to be commemorating Maradona's other achievements.
That infamous handball was followed minutes later by a flash of brilliance minutes later to win the game 2-1 for Argentina. That was Maradona in essence: the light and the dark.
By contrast, one of the most evil of film villains was actually the most gentle of giants, who also sadly passed away as 2020 continues its cull: like most Star Wars followers, David Prowse was the first of those closely involved with the saga that I first met. He was always generous and outgoing with fans at the many conventions and SW celebrations he attended. The Prowse I saw was a diminished shadow of his former 6 foot 4 self (arthritis took hold of him from the early 1990s), and he liked to spin a yarn or two about the origin of Darth's distinctive rasping voice (an "on-set" artificial respirator), and was also reluctant to disclose that his own quaint Bristol voice had been replaced by another actor (James Earl Jones of course). His physique and his sense of agile menace were key to the success of Darth Vader, however, and like his fellow Star Wars (and Hammer) actors, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, Prowse was the most meek and delightful of persons, belying the rogue characters they were famous for playing.
