The name Tony Hart has not reverberated around the social media echo chamber for years. Certainly not since the popular children’s television presenter died in 2009.
His name, however, became one of the most heavily discussed topics on Sunday and Monday as a wave of people spread the news of his demise in the mistaken belief that it was news. That was followed by a second wave mocking the first one.
Among those apparently caught out were the musician Frank Turner, the journalist Giles Dilnot and two Conservative politicians - among many others.
Over the past 24 hrs, many people on Twitter have reported that Tony Hart has recently died. Tony sadly died in 2009. pic.twitter.com/PLHkjraxdw
— Morph (@AmazingMorph) February 16, 2015
Some users were taken in.
RIP Tony Hart. An icon of my childhood passes away. pic.twitter.com/0iSuqTUE0o
— James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) February 16, 2015
The above tweet from the Conservative London assembly member and prospective parliamentary candidate for Braintree was retweeted by the Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi.
Apparently plans for a remake of Bond movie You Only Live Twice have been quietly shelved after numpties like me realise Tony Hart didn't
— Giles Dilnot (@reporterboy) February 16, 2015
Tony Hart probably had an influence on your creativity if you grew up in the 70's. RIP #tonyhart pic.twitter.com/EOQoHN9n8p
— Jon Carter (@MonkeymafiaJC) February 15, 2015
Some quickly posted tweets suggesting they had belatedly realised their mistake.
So it turns out I'm the dickhead. Tony Hart died in 2009. Fuck the internet. Ha.
— Frank Turner (@frankturner) February 16, 2015
Cleverly later tweeted the realisation he had made an error, but the mockery continued.
RIP Zombie Tony Hart
— Stuart Heritage (@stuheritage) February 15, 2015
Farewell Tony Hart. I'll always remember you dying that first time in 2009. RIP.
— Dan Rebellato (@DanRebellato) February 15, 2015
I can't believe Tony Hart died and then came back to life and then died again. :(
— Gary Bainbridge (@Gary_Bainbridge) February 15, 2015
It is not known for sure how the issue first arose, but this graph from the Guardian’s analytics tool shows that the vast bulk of the traffic was organic referral from Facebook starting around 7pm on Sunday, very likely the result of an individual finding this piece in search, missing the date and then sharing it on the social network.
The first tweet mentioning the death of Tony Hart came later on Sunday and included a link to the 2009 article via Facebook.
