22 February 2017

Goodbye to "Arbroath"


I started TYWKIWDBI in 2007, and within a couple months I had found my way to Nothing To Do With Arbroath, one of the best-known and best-loved blogs on the internet.  Kevin Norman Gray harvested the news sites of the world to collect oddities and ephemera.  In the last ten years I've used Kevin's blog as a "via" for over 200 posts, because his material was very much "things you wouldn't know."

Readers of "Arbroath" were startled this past November to see a personal post from a blogger who was always very private; he reported having an illness which would hamper his blogging.  Sadly, he wrote a final post in January detailing a terminal illness, and shortly thereafter a blog reader found and posted a link to a death notice, which was later confirmed by the family.

Bloggers and blog-readers everywhere will miss Kevin's eclectic approach.  Nothing To Do With Arbroath is still up, and since the blogspot host is free, it will probably remain available for the near future; I invite you to visit and browse.  I note that I still have a couple dozen of his posts in my bookmarks folders, so I may do a compilation post in the future.

Rest in peace, Kevin.

17 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 22, 2017 at 12:46 PM

    I read his blog every day. He will be missed.

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  2. bobbieFebruary 22, 2017 at 12:47 PM

    So sad ~ I found him through you; he will be greatly missed.

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  3. ZhoenFebruary 22, 2017 at 12:52 PM

    I read him every morning. Knew when he wrote that last post, though. Thank you for letting us know.

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  4. UnknownFebruary 22, 2017 at 1:41 PM

    Oh my, this is sad news indeed. Thank you for letting us know. I hadn't visited Arbroath in quite a while but it always brought joy to my day.

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  5. bogsidebunnyFebruary 22, 2017 at 1:49 PM

    Sad, Sad, Sad. I use to visit his great site daily. it was fabulous.

    May He Rest In Peace

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  6. doomedFebruary 22, 2017 at 3:43 PM

    Thanks, I follow Arbroath and health issue, but death was a unknown surprise. Also The Presurfer I follow and things health wise are happening there. I'm sure I got both from TYWKIWDBI.

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  7. Nursery Road Bridge BlogFebruary 22, 2017 at 8:17 PM

    Sad...and it doesn't sound good for Gerard Vlemmings at The Presurfer, either - http://presurfer.blogspot.com/

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  8. JohanFebruary 23, 2017 at 4:08 AM

    Thank you for posting this tribute. It was very sad to hear of his passing and regret being a relative late-comer to his work. RIP

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  9. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2017 at 7:48 AM

    Damn.

    Lurker111

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  10. gailFebruary 23, 2017 at 9:55 AM

    I too read his blog daily and enjoyed it very much. RIP.

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  11. Bad NewspaperFebruary 23, 2017 at 4:19 PM

    Hate to see this happen. Rest in Peace.

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  12. andiscandisFebruary 23, 2017 at 5:08 PM

    I keep going to his page looking for new posts before I remember. :-(

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  13. MuzzmanFebruary 23, 2017 at 6:19 PM

    When you go to a site every day you never envision it ending and so it's such a shock when it does. RIP Kevin, your amazing contribution to the internet will be very much missed.

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  14. BarbwireFebruary 23, 2017 at 8:07 PM

    This is such a sad loss for so many people. Kev had a posts. real knack for finding odd but interesting posts. I go there every day and read old posts. Thank you for posting this for those who didn't know, and as a tribute to his creativity.

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  15. RichardFebruary 24, 2017 at 4:46 AM

    And Gerard at Presurfer too. He is very sick at the moment.

    It feels like the anchors of the online are coming adrift, all at he same time :-(

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  16. DavidFebruary 24, 2017 at 6:31 AM

    Kev's site was a daily read for me (along with Stan's page). RIP, Kev, and best wishes, thoughts, and prayers to Gerald.

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  17. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2017 at 8:30 PM

    I feel as though I lost a friend today. Thank you for letting us know.

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