Tiptoeing through the fields of unknowing

There is a fine line between the pleasant surprise when you learn something new and the less pleasant surprise when you learn something you didn't know and feel you should have.  

I came across an allusion to Tiny Tim this morning.  Hmmm.  Haven't heard anything about him in quite a while.  When I click over to the Wikipedia article for Tiny Tim there are two less pleasant surprises; things I probably should have known and did not.  

The first is that, unbeknownst to me, he has been dead these twenty-six years having died in 1996.  I was not a significant Tiny Tim fan, but he was a major name in my youth and I would have thought I would have noticed his passing.

The second discovery was that he's not English.  He's a New Yorker.  I first became aware of Tiny Tim when I lived in England in the 1960s so there is at least a plausible basis for my confusion.  Apparently, though, I was not alone in this ignorance.

When Tiny Tim first became well known to the American public, many people erroneously believed that he was British. 

He was an exotic character who brought some color and cheer to the world.  I am sorry to belatedly discover he is no longer with us.