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Joe Mercer, the man, the myth, the legend, dead at 86: https://www.racingpost.com/news/latest/riding-legend-and-brigadier-gerards-jockey-joe-mercer-dies-at-the-age-of-86/490348 DDP Pick, QOs guaranteed.

Same top 4 since August 2019 (Matsushita's death). Tanaka-Randon-Dos Santos-Bot

OK.

I suspect when the grim reaper arrives at her door to inform her that she has "kicked the bucket", no doubt she will grimace and inform him it's, "kicked the bouquet" and shut the door in his face.

Thread for Microsoft founder and general IT guru Bill Gates, also notable for being the son of former DeathList star William H. Gates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates He famously started Microsoft in a garage, has been known for working for 90 hours without sleep, and has become one of the world's biggest philantropists. However, now it turns out that his marriage was a mess, he's been having affairs for many years, and he's been frequently meeting with disgraced "investor" Jeffrey Epstein. Until quite recently, I would have said that it's 20 years too early to start a thread for him, but what if his post-career "clean nice-guy" image was just a facade? Could he be a heart attack waiting to happen?

Joe Mercer QO as the BBC romp home: https://www.bbc.com/sport/horse-racing/57148338

Kathleen Blanco in 2019 (governor 2004-2008), Mike Foster in 2020 (governor 1996-2004), and Buddy Roemer in 2021 (governor 1988-1992) Edwin Edwards (b. 1927) is both earliest the oldest Governor of Louisiana alive. The other two were born in 1966 and 1971.

Former Governor of Louisiana Buddy Roemer

Paul Allen died at 65, Gates still has time until October to die at the same age as Allen. Could still live quite long but he won't get near the age daddy got to, though

Ten Entries Received Two weeks left Still waiting on Eleven former players but happy to welcome anyone new to the party

It's been 50 years since Charles Colson (1931-2012) compiled the Master list of Nixon's political opponents. John Dean (b. 1938) provided the list to the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973. Well, who's still alive from the list? Organizations are not listed. Senators (12 in total): Fred R. Harris (b. 1930) Members of the House of Representatives (9 in total): Pete McCloskey (1927-2024) Elizabeth Holtzman (b. 1941) Black Congressmen and Congresswomen (12 in total): Charles Rangel (b. 1930) Bill Clay (b. 1931) Other politicians: None alive Labor: None alive Media (61 in total): Carl Bernstein (b. 1944) Bob Woodward (b. 1943) James S. Doyle (b. 1935) Martin F. Nolan (b. 1940) Morton Kondracke (b. 1939) Ted Knap (1920-2023) Milton Viorst (1930-2022) Garry Wills (b. 1934) Dan Rather (b. 1931) Marvin Kalb (b. 1930) Unknown if alive: James H. Laird Celebrities (13 in total): Bill Cosby (b. 1937) Jane Fonda (b. 1937) Joe Namath (b. 1943) Barbra Streisand (b. 1942) Business people (24 in total): Unknown if alive: George Hillman Business additions: None alive Business (24 in total): Clifford Alexander (1933-2022) Victor Palmieri (b. 1930) Academics (22 in total): Derek Bok (b. 1930) Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023) Matthew Meselson (b. 1930) George Drennen Fischer (1925-2021) "Nixon's Enemies List" memo, 1971 (20 in total): Morton Halperin (b. 1938) Sidney Davidoff (b. 1939)

Obituary for Toni Dalli, Italian born but brought up in Sheffield, only to become an international singing sensation in the late 1950s/early 1960s, died back on 28 April: https://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/people/singing-star-and-proud-sheffield-lad-who-became-a-household-name-dies-at-home-in-spain-3239388 IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0198081/ Here's Alma Cogan, trying to keep up:

Lars-Gunnar Bodin (1935-2021) died on May 10, at his home in Gnesta, Sweden. He was the most well-known Swedish composer of electronic (electro-acoustic) music and also a poet and visual artist. https://www.facebook.com/jon.appleton.12/posts/2238192476312121

Your name really was well-chosen, wasn't it.

The Queen is a woman of duty, and unlike Prince Albert's her husbands death was relatively expected. She knows the line between duty and personal, and she did a grand job of the state opening under difficult circumstances.

It's rare that I'm anything other than cynically depressed by a footballer's interview, but Allison's post-match talk was really quite moving, and articulate for a non-English speaker (except the bit about God). Also, he nodded home the first goal by a Liverpool keeper in their/its storied history to keep the CL flame flickering. A few minutes later, I was moved to laughter at the whining of mealy-mouthed Fat Sam bemoaning officials and VAR and probably God too (yes, I know WBA got slightly gypped on the night, but still). Never mind, I'm sure a nice chunky brown envelope will put a smile back on his enormous face.

Felicia Elizondo, transgender activist has died aged 74. https://www.ebar.com/news/latest_news/304996

Really annoying "buyer" on Ebay. Pester pester pester. It started with them asking how much to post to France. I'd only listed UK postage. I wish I had just said No. After that it was question after unnecessary question, then they wanted me to stop the auction and sell it to them. I said no, just leave a bid. They kept on. For days. Eventually I enabled the "Best Offer". No offer came. Then they said Ebay wouldn't let them make an offer from France And demanded that I stop the auction and sell it to them privately. I said No, it was against the rules, and blocked them. This didn't prevent them messaging me again with the same demand, upon which I told them I would report them to Ebay if they tried to contact me again. All this for a postcard sized item priced at a fiver.

Sorted

Just lurking. Had Covid, recovered. Couldn't get into old account so set up new one with old name plus1

Arranger, educator, and beloved pianist Norman Simmons, who collaborated with such luminaries as Helen Humes, Sarah Vazghan and Anita O'Day, died at 91 years: https://www.wbgo.org/music/2021-05-13/norman-simmons-pianist-who-made-an-elegant-art-out-of-accompaniment-dies-at-91 He arranged Ramsey Lewis' "Wade in the Water" in 1966. It became a huge commercial hit for the two. And he also worked with the legendary Joe Williams.

Lester Wolff, the oldest living member of the United States Congress has died aged 102. Apparently the guy was quite active into his 100's and was still active in politics as recently as January 2021 much like George Shultz, who also actively involved in politics until his death. Lester also seems to have a Twitter account https://twitter.com/RepWolff but I cannot tell if this is a satirical account or actually his.

Q. What would you be if you weren't a pro footballer? Peter Crouch: A virgin

Unfortunately there have been a least 5 deaths in the UK today according to Worldometer. Let us hope that GUN`s prediction of 18/08/2021 comes true even earlier, even tomorrow!

On the plus side, it seems a few call centres are shut - I'm not getting so many idiot telesales calls from people pretending to do a 'survey.' Every cloud and all that ...