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Right, so let's get this clear, this is the watertight evidence we have for the DoE being dead: The sartorial darkness of BBC News presenters. The (retired) man not being at work for a while. 23-year-old Sam, unemployed, from Preston confirming on Twitter to her 141 followers that royal sources close to her say Buckingham Palace will be making a statement at 18:00 GMT. Brilliant.

It's always an interesting read when you type in 'Prince Philip' in the search bar on Twitter. The gist of it is that someone accidentally started the rumour yesterday, Chinese whispers made that an official thing and it'd be announced by Buckingham Palace at 1700 (yesterday), people who didn't read that bit carried the rumour on to today, fuelled further by the fact that a few news sites have re-pubished an article saying what will happen when he does die. The announcement of his death was then pushed from 5pm yesterday to 2pm today, which, unless I've got dementia at 22, didn't happen. The Twitterverse have ignored this, and now come up with several conspiracies as to how he's been dead for months. So all is normal and the DoE is alive and well. Probably.

Is a Twitter rumour a Tumour?

Not mysteriously, no; he's retired.

Charles (off of And Eddie), Bob Marley, George Michael, Erma Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Michael Hutchence (off of INXS), Roy Orbison, Freddie Mercury, Paul Hester (off of Crowded House) - that's quite a lot of deados on Now 23. How perfect, then, that 'Alive & Kicking' by Simple Minds features on it.

Also, Timothy Dudley-Smith, former Bishop of Thetford and author of (the dirge) Tell Out My Soul, still with us, and 92 in a few months. Brian Wren (b. 1936) is alive too, but he was URC.

With the loss of Tom Neil and Geoffrey Wellum, of the surviving Few of the Battle of Britain there seem to remain: Flt Lt William Terence Clark (b. 1919) Wg Cmdr John "Tim" Elkington (b. 1920) Wg Cmdr Paul Farnes (b. 1918) Sqn Ldr John Stewart Hart (b. 1916) Flt Lt William Robert Kent Hughes (b. ??) Flt Lt Maurice Mounsdon (b. c1918)

Oh tits. Right, back to it then

Yeah, they’re probably announcing the death of the BBC...

Now 55? I assumed Now 20 at the worst otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

To be fair, autocorrect is out to get you on this one:

I fucking know! Bloody Wiki took me to a place of pain...

You're thinking of Architects. They're a hardcore metallic band; Architechs are a UK garage band from the late 90s and they're still going.

Blimey. Well then Boyzone show up (plus folk like Aliyah, TLC and yer Georgie boy) so... Now 47? I haven't a clue who most of the people on that one are.

Some dead careers but that's about it, looking at it.

Listen to your Now That's What I Call Music albums, which apparently has hit #100. Listening time for me: Zero. Never owned one, never desired one.

Another one for this thread is Graham Kendrick (b.1950) writer of the wretched 'high on emotion, low on theology' Shine Jesus Shine.

See the first page - - lists and stats are posted and the first hit has been scored.

And so, here's some further Anglican composers worthy of future consideration: Malcolm Archer (b. 1952) John Barnard (b. 1948) Harry Bramma (b. 1936) David Briggs (b. 1962) James Douglas (b. 1932) Jonathan Dove (b. 1959) Martin How (b. 1931; d. 2022) Grayston Ives (b. 1948) Francis Jackson (b. 1917; d. 2022) Roger Jones (b. 1948) Peter Nardone (b. 1965) Barry Rose (b. 1934) John Rutter (b. 1945) Richard Shephard (b. 1949; d. 2021) Additionally, Wiki has only one living Scottish hymnwriter as far as I know: John L Bell (b. 1949)

EDIT - no I won't because I thought I had my data correct - he died 22 years ago - http://www.sambafoot.com/en/players/279_Cabecao.html

Apparently Father Thomas Keating is currently in hospice care. Should have a decent shot at a QO: he was one of the key proponents of the "centering prayer" movement, a kinda Christian take on meditation that is pretty controversial in some ecclesiastic circles. A 2014 documentary about him got reviews in most major American news outlets.

Catsitting today. I'm a dog person and know nothing about cats. This purrty cat looks like it's planning my 'accidental death', but the fact we're in the same room makes me feel like I've done something right... right?

Went to see The Breeders on Wednesday at the Institute inBirmngham. Excellent night and a rare opportunity to see them in this country. Well supported by a young Dutch quartet - their name escapes me at present.

Here’s something a happy thing for this thread for a change: My grandparents (the ones that I stay at on my vacation) owned a dog for six years. Neither of them really want him, so our family is now getting him. His name is Scamp, and he’s a very lovely dog. Here’s a picture of him (and yes, that is my hand petting him).