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In terms of the DDP I respect that everyone should be able to choose within the rules and take the risk on the obit. I just won't be joining them. I would not want to see the likes of terminally ill bloggers on the main list. Other people in public life such as campaigners, journalists etc are fair game. As a starter for 10 I would ask what the opinion of picking someone like Sara Payne?

I've only just seen this, and I DEMAND that you remove this picture of me immediately. If that is not possible, I will accept 50 pence per view.

Not sure if this is the right place to post but ill-conceived brand names sometimes bother me. Superdry - great if it is for outdoor clothing but when it ends up on the waistband of your pants my first thought is of incontinence products. Seriously guys?

Malcolm Young update: http://www.theguardi...e-brian-johnson "‘He's in hospital but he's a fighter. We've got our fingers crossed that he'll get strong again,’ Johnson says". - That doesn't sound like he's exactly brimming with confidence. ""We're done. I'm very excited and we've got some great songs. I wanted to call the album Man Down. But it's a bit negative and it was probably just straight from the heart. I like that," Johnson said." - About as cheerful as Back in Black....

Blackie, Thank you for taking over at much shorter notice than you are giving your sucessor. I was sorry to give it up, but circumstances went against me to have the time to diedicate to it and keep it going, and circumstances will still stop me from running it again. I hope you've enjoyed it. I've always felt that I kept it going so that it still existed, but I didn't really advance anything with the site using a "it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude. I like the fact that you've advanced it in so many years - the Theme Team league, the Drop 40 and also if you go into previous years, you can see who is still alive and dead from those lists - I like that. I know - in fact apart from you, I'm the only person on DL who does know, as much as it's good fun and interesting, what an absolute pain in the arse it is at times- and yes, people do constantly email "is this an obit?" "did you know this person is dead (someone obvious like Mandela)" and so on, similiar to what Predictor keeps mentioning, minor quibbles in the scheme of things. You deserve the rest. I knew Blackie was stopping last year, and that's part of the reason I announced my retirement early, rather than towards the end of the year or at the start of 2015. I didn't want it to look like I'd only do it if Blackie ran it and I didn't want to look like I wasn't supporting the new host - as mentioned before, I very nearly didn't enter a team for this year (Wags will say I still haven't...) Whoever takes it on - it's long, it's tiring - Christmas and New Year will have to be cancelled.... but overall, it's immense fun and very rewarding. I wish all potential candidates well. Please, even though I'm not entering any more.. keep it free.

Agreed with Spade on this, I don't necessarily care for having iffy-fame picks but being someone who partakes competitively I accept that one will likely have to pick a few of them to have a serious shot at doing well. However I do try to limit my iffy picks each year (this time Evans, Crowe, Granger, and Ritchii Kara... perhaps Andrew Madoff too since he's only famous for his notorious father but he doesn't go under "famous for being ill" as his obitworthyness comes from the scandal rather than his cancer) and I tend to consider those who are only newsworthy because they got married on their deathbed off limits.

Yeah, well there's always the Slimmer of the Year trophy to console him.

Horse racing thread?

Winnie Johnson was not "famous for being ill", she was famous, or shall we say in the public eye, because she was the mother of a Moors murder victim. Is Anne Williams the Hillsborough campaigner? I'm not sure to what extent she was in the public eye. I don't know who Steve Evans is or was. When you say "All of these people would have obitted if they'd have been hit by a car rather than having cancer" I think you hit the nail on the head. If that's the case, then they're not just "famous for being ill",

OK Lets talk numbers. Today is worth 175 points. Since one week ago our leader Death Impends needs 3 deaths to make the total. That will go up to 4 at the end of September. He has Sam Simon, he has Billy Graham and he has the oldest woman in the world. Come on he can do this. I however need nine deaths or eight and Liz Dawn.

Bob will be disappointed, Thelma will probably be secretly delighted though.