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It helps if you remember the DL is made by a bunch of Brits in their mid-50s who clearly had a love for US TV imports of the 70s/80s. Btw, Francoise Hardy had 3 UK top 40 hits in the 1960s here. I know of her because she's a music name but she's considerably less famous here than in France. Tom Smith? I suspect at least one 90s rugby fan on the Cmme tbh! Either that, or they saw he was ill on an internet forum.

Ha... well, the band has a different name, but it's blocked by the filter. It's the blue erectile dysfunction pills.

An occasion where its wise to include first name as well as surname in the headline.

Pelé: 100% guaranteed to go on DL. Colon cancer, self-declaredly dying, the best footballer ever. George Alagiah: I would not like this pick. He may be ill, but his fame outside UK is nil and he's not a household name even in the UK. FW De Klerk: meshothelioma, Nobel Prize, last SA apartheid president. A lock, 100% guaranteed. Nichelle Nichols: Definitely meets fame criteria (first TV interracial kiss and so on) and is frail, but dementia sufferers could linger for years. Think it is too early. Noam Chomsky: household name who is generically old and frail. Might give him a try. Jiang Zemin: in a relatively short time there will be a flurry of deaths from the 20s generation of Chinese politics, as most names have been frail for years and only alive thanks to advanced medical care. In particular Jiang's (and Zhu Rongji's) death has been expected for years. Definitely meets fame criteria and it would be nice to score with another paramount leader after Deng Xiaoping. Giorgio Napolitano: old and frail, suffered aortic dissection some time ago and nowadays mostly retired. Might be a good pick indeed. Desmond Tutu: 100% guaranteed. Cancer for 20+ years, looked he was about to explode at his 90th birthday. Easy easy score.

Also means all four co-inventors of IMAX are now dead. William C. Shaw (1928–2002) Robert Kerr (1929–2010) Roman Kroitor (1926–2012) Graeme Ferguson (1929–2021)

Eileen Ash is now in the equivalent of the 'nervous nineties' as a batter approaches his/her century. She is only 2 days away from becoming a supercentenarian (110) & as reported before was exactly a week short of her 4th birthday when W G Grace died in 1915. In his time Grace was reportedly the 3rd most famous person in the British Empire after Queen Victoria & Gladstone.

Zemin, Chomsky, Nichols and F.W. de Klerk are definitely famous enough for the list and especially Zemin and Nichols are very frail. Pele and Alagiah feel like names that will almost certainly be on the list next year unless they die before 2022 Napolitano is also quite deathlisty IMO, longest-serving President of Italy (2006-2015, over 8 years), only President of Italy to be reelected and a political kingmaker. And he's 96. Tutu looked frail during his 90th birthday party.

In addition to this, Jansen went to see the doctor after reading the biography of fellow two times World Cup runner-up Piet Schrijvers (turns 75 in December), who has Alzheimer's since at least two years ago, because he recognized some of the symptoms from the biography.

Looks like we had a "List 2021' death fly completely under the radar. IMAX co-founder Graeme Ferguson died May 8th at age 91. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/graeme-ferguson-imax-co-founder-dies-at-91-1234950777/

Milton da Silva, the father of racing legend Ayrton Senna, has died. He was 94. https://playcrazygame.com/2021/10/28/ayrton-sennas-father-milton-da-silva-dies-at-94-years-old-in-sao-paulo-formula-1/

Everything you expected, of course, but still one of the glorious kids TV moments.

I can guess the gist of the punchline; alas, Wenner isn't remembered by me at all. Looking at the list of presenters on wikipedia, I remember about half of them (Val, John & Pete were my presenters, in much the same way as Jon Pertwee was my Doctor).

Frank Williams and Linda Nolan would probably receive a section on a front page tabloid. Tom Smith, I agree, is a weak pick. I had never heard of him before he was first mentioned on here.

I would remind @drol and @Lafaucheuse that this is a UK centric forum. If someone is a household name in the UK, their international notability isn’t particularly relevant. Stanley Baxter may not be too familiar to younger people in the UK, but he was once a huge name here. There has always been a precedence to consider UK household names ahead of others. US names like Bob Newhart (who isn’t a UK household name) are also more likely than international personalities like Fontaine or Kundera because the entertainment industry transcends notability to a greater extent than literature and football. Far more ppl here are likely to be familiar with US film and television than French football or Czech literature…

I know who all of those are, so they must be notable!

My Auntie was told by her Doctor that he had detected a potential cancer when she was 88. She already had a number of health issues. She asked him straight out "Is that what is going to kill me?" he replied that other health concerns were more pressing so she said lets not worry about it then.

95 year old woman experiencing strange symptoms of feeling uncomfortable on a horse and tiredness at carrying out public duties every day. Health experts are baffled 'I've never known anything like it' one Harley Street doctor was reported to say. ' It's very hard to find a history of 95 year olds experiencing discomfort from horse riding; in fact this is the first instance I've come across'. Another expert added 'At 95 the survival rate from cancer for more than 10 years is very low and I think there is a good chance The Queen will not be alive in 10 years'.

I see Chris Wenner is listed on the Wikipedia deaths page for yesterday. He wasn't well liked as a Noakes replacement if I remember correctly.

That conjures up an interesting image.

Oh ok, if needed I'll send you a rugby one instead of Doctor Who... (This is a lie.)

Why cancer ? It could be her age

Small comfort to those of us perturbed by the seemingly random deletion of lists of former cabinet ministers and old world leaders etc, but at least the list of animal sounds has escaped the cut.

Russell Hardy "Other Lives" obit, by Humphrey Ocean.

for next year, I'd drop : • David Crosby (not even that old) • Ayatollah (see Crosby) • Willie Nelson (does tour, frail and old but sings again, does interview and everything) • Linda Nolan (too quiet, maybe she could see 2023) • Betty Boothroyd (old but doesn't seem THAT frail compared to others on the list) • Frank Williams (ill and wheelchair bound but could see him going further in his 80's) • Shannen Doherty (same as Nolan) • Stanley Baxter (old but… also no-one knows who he is outside of UK) • Redgrave (ill but not that old, could have a bit of time left) • Yoko Ono (see Redgrave) • Dick Cheney (heart attacks is not enough to kill him apparently) • Akihito (active, probably has a great medicine team who take care of him even if he's ill, he's better than he used to) • Rosalynn Carter (can't see her dying before her husband and as he's still here and probably will be through a part of 2022, I think she has a year or two left) • Loretta Lynn • Prunella Scales • Mel Brooks/Dick van Dyke the three lasts were hard to choose but I went with their recent picture and they all looked really good for their age, even Scales ! New people I'd like to see next year : • Giorgio Napolitano • Jiang Zemin • Iris Apfel • Tippi Hedren • Buzz Aldrin • Monica Vitti • Jean Louis Trintignant • Gina Lollobrigida • Robert Solow • Arlene Dahl • Milan Kundera • Noam Chomsky • Frank Gehry • Nichelle Nichols • Georges Soros • Francoise Hardy (has, at the best, 6 months to live, mark my world) • Isabel Peron • F.W. de Klerk • Gorbachev • Pelé • Just Fontaine • Bill Turnbull • Georges Alagiah people I'd like to see back : • Gorbachev • David Attenborough • Demons Tutu

Hugo Broch still responding to letters from admirers. Letter below dated 19 Oct 2021. Photo is from circa May 2020. Very lucid for his age. As you said, Neumayr is possibly living. Wieselhuber is rumoured to have died on 19.07.2007. As such, Broch, Rafoth, and Trummer are the only three confirmed as alive in 2021. There were 7384 Knight's Cross recipients altogether. When I joined DL 13 years ago there were a couple of hundred still around. Broch is likely to be the last survivor, and he is the only one who will receive a QO, owing to his contribution to the Dan Snow documentary in 2017 when he flew in a Spitfire aged 95. He turns 100 on January 6th.