I will probably be using the term ‘late, great’ now and then, so, to clarify, if I say

1. ‘As the late, great, whoever said to me,’ I mean, whoever actually said it to me…personally.

2. ‘As I heard the late, great whoever say’ it means I was actually in the room.

3. You will never hear me say ‘As the late, great whoever wrote,’ because you could look that up yourself.