RIP Mick Aston

[Antie Em]

So sad to hear that Time Team's Mick Aston has passed away, aged 66.

Mick Aston.png (179.26 KiB) Viewed 1782 times

[dudleytaylor]

I am very sorry to hear of his death ,and my thoughts are with his family . He was a Oldbury lad ,and studied at Birmingham University

[sparkstopper]

What a shock!...thoroughly nice dedicated man.
Met him a couple of years ago at a dig in Sussex.

[Northern Lass]

I am very sorry to hear of his death ,and my thoughts are with his family . He was a Oldbury lad ,and studied at Birmingham University

Studied With our Dennis I think at B'ham.

[MarkCDodd]

Yeah Prof Woods is a bit cut up. They did some digs together I think.

[BC Wench]

Oh my goodness. That was quite a shock on reading the subject line Antie Em.

[MarkCDodd]

Prof Woods has put up some pictures on Facebook of him and Mick doing a dig in 1964.

[SRD]

I met him once - at a meeting arranged by Somerset County Council to discuss 'best practice' for the 'leisure amenities' funding (actually how the budget might be cut). There were representatives there from all the groups that received funding; theatres, arts groups, libraries, sports facilities, museums etc. etc.

For each group there was a council administrative representative and several councillors were there too. During the discussions the one taboo subject was "Put the Council Tax up" any discussion of such was firmly quashed by the admin reps and not allowed to be presented as an option (later, in the official report, it was stated that no-one called for an increase in Council Tax ). It was held at Somerset County Cricket Ground and included a nice lunch and representatives got travel expenses.

The meeting was led by a senior member of the administration; a very smooth young man obviously used to getting his own way (later we discovered he was one of Tony Blair's personal advisors). He opened with a talk about the objects of the meeting and what contributions we might make. He ended the spiel with something along the lines of "Well that seems pretty straightforward I don't think there's anything anyone can ask so can we go straight on?" Mick stuck his hand up. "How much is all this costing and wouldn't the money be better spent on the budget than on a nice day out for all of us?" This triggered "Hear, hears" from the various representatives, stony silence from the admin reps and consternation from the Councillors. Head Honcho replied something along the lines of "Ah, Mick, I wondered how long it would be before we heard from you. The government has required us to have this meeting and has provided some funding."
Mick "I think it would be more suitable for the purposes of this meeting if you refer to me as Professor Aston. And the question still stands."
Head Honcho apologised, spluttered a bit and carried on, much deflated.

[Northern Lass]

SRD that is priceless!

[MarkCDodd]

Mick and our Prof Wood at a dig near Lichfield in Summer 1964. It was a Roman Wall.

[dudleytaylor]

Thanks for putting photos on Mark . Time team came to Throckmorton , not far from where i live to the old RAF bomber base ,where they found Iron Age or Bronze Age settlement,and in Wyre Piddle where I live ,while building the bypass , work was stopped because they found another settlement . I very much enjoyed watching and listening to Mick Aston who explained so well what was going on at the digs , It is all the more poignant that he came from Oldbury ,where nearly all my family came from . So although I did not know him personally you feel a great sorrow for the loss .