The Life and Times of Lester Haines "So what are going to say about him now that he’s gone? Are you going to say he was a good man? Will you be saying he was a happy man?... Fuck no." Legendary Vulture Lester Haines Lester Haines: 1960-2016 Lester Haines was born in London in September 1960, and was the eldest of five: he had three brothers and a sister. …
John thanks for the obit, my dealings with Lester were on Lohan, and it doesn't surprise me his mischievous nature goes back to his earliest school years. Like some of us we never quite out grew that disdain for authority.
It does go to show, the most precious thing we own is time, and Lester did so very well touching many in his journey..
One day, maybe Lohan can slip the surly bonds of earth and slap Lester in the face. ;-)
Bubba Von Braun
Reading back over a few select articles by Lester, I noticed from the comment sections that Lester never got a gold badge. Now I know that gold badges are conferred by El Reg, not earned by votes, but can I suggest that we all visit Lesters Last Post (pun INtended) and up vote it one last time until El Reg confers the coveted Gold Badge.
He probably empathised with the rather barbed nature of many Reg readers who have little time for pomposity or ignorance
Surely not. I come here for the general tolerance and consideration for others.
Lester Haines, Douglas Adams, Alan Turing*...ὃν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν, ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.
*Three people I happen particularly to have admired, that's all.
"What a crap year with a lot of losses."
Absolutely.
In all seriousness, can we please just try switching 2016 off and on again. It doesn't seem to be doing what it should have been doing, in so many different ways.
Please raise a glass to Absent Friends, and in hope of a better 2017.
A fuller account of Lester's life and times, he was so much more than just a Reg reporter ( without wishing to demean the rest of you) I wish I had known him personally. You have to admire his drive a willingness to tackle anything that came up in front of him that he found interesting.
I shall raise a glas of Rioca to his memory along with that of a friend of mine who died a year ago today.
"Lester Haines was born the eldest of four brothers and a sister in London in September 1960."
I hope he's up somewhere shouting down at that!
In all seriousness though, he's sorely missed and this full obit was excellent reading . Is there a word for happy/sad at the same time? Lester would know.
My claim to fame is that he once replied to one of my commentardisms in a complimentary way :-)
That has to be the most honest, and therefore best, obituary that I have ever read. Thank you. I still miss his articles and LOHAN updates, they were guaranteed to brighten my day. I hope someone has taken over the mantle of trying to get LOHAN into space in honour of his memory. I still have the T-shirt from the kickstarter and wear it regulalry. Please could we have a project update, penned in a suitably 'Hainesian' style ?
I knew him beyond the comments pages only once he roped me into the LOHAN project; he was kind enough not to sneer too much at my designs for high-altitude altimeter tests and we followed a few balloons up and down...
And then there was the whole 'quid a day' thing. Triggered, I think, by his adventures in Darien, it was a cause that he really pushed - and persuaded me and a handful of others to join in, raising significant funds to the benefit of Malaria No More over the years. I trust that El Reg will be running the event when it returns next year, perhaps as Lester's memorial?
Sadly I never met his family other than Matt and Katerina; several attempts to meet at his house in Spain came to naught on synchronisation errors. Aye well.
ad astra tabernamque, Lester, and here's one from me.
Neil,
Good point that man! We didn't do the quid-a-day nosh posse last year and so I think we should do a Lester memorial one in 2017.
I guess we could call it the Lester Eat More to Give nosh posse? I should probably apologise for my awful pun, but stuff it. I like puns, and I'm sure he'd forgive me.
Anyway I didn't get to partake fully in the last one, as I was so busy at the time that I actually bought my week's food on the way home from work on the first day. Hence I didn't have time to email in my menu/plan. I was pleased, doing the spreadsheet afterwards, that I spent £5.08. Not bad for budgeting in my head as I went along. Anyway I'd like to do it again properly, and this time no chickpeas!
I always enjoyed Lester's articles, and I also found it particularly pleasing that he'd come and join the fun-and-games in the comments. Thus making the comments more fun, and adding to the games.
Thanks to El Reg for the great article.
Thank you, El Reg, for this wonderful obit. I have been waiting for it - at the time of his demise it was promised, and now that promise has been fulfilled.
Never met him, but I feel like I knew him (even before this) better than any of the celebrities who have gotten much press this year by shuffling off this mortal coil.
I don't drink, but I understand the sentiment of a raised glass. Goodbye, Lester.
There you go - my interactions with Lester in 2000 over a damn El Reg Vulture pin contest were venomous and it took John Lettice to smooth things over - but it IS a nice pin.
That being said, that was a nice obit - quite a bit of information about Lester's life. Seems he led a pretty interesting life and got around quite a bit - which is how it should be, I think. I wonder what made him essentially say 'Fuck it'? Had to have been huge - that's not the guy I had a flame war with.
In the end here though, I'm feeling my mortality - Cheers, Lester! You get to live forever in the Wayback Machine! You fuck!
Dennis 'Yeehaw' before the fuckup, now '404' Price
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