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Another actor of Germany's longest running soap opera "Lindenstraße" has died: Kostas Papanastasiou. He was 84 and suffered from dementia. He is actually Greek, but is closely associated with this German series where he played his role from 1985 to 1996 (guess what: as a Greek restaurant owner!). He also owned a restaurant in real life, long before his acting activity. https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/kostas-papanastasiou-ist-tot-der-griechische-wirt-aus-der-lindenstrasse-ist-gestorben/27826468.html

There are also many from Cars 2. As well as Dooley, Wallis, Marin, Waltrip and Ratzenberger, there is also: Michael Caine (age 88, voice of Finn McMissile) Sophia Loren (age 87, Italian dubbing of Mama Topolino) Vanessa Redgrave (age 84, voice of Mama Topolino and The Queen) Brent Musburger (age 82, voice of Brent Mustangburger) David Hobbs (age 82, voice of David Hobbscap) Franco Nero (age 80, voice of Uncle Topolino) Joe Mantegna (age 74, voice of Grem)

Bill Virdon is a unique for @RoverAndOut

Former college football player and coach Derek Sparks, dead after a pancreatic cancer fight: https://www.yahoo.com/now/former-washington-state-standout-derek-030100866.html

Are you back again after saying you were leaving for good, again?

Also why is it called FFBI only when it was a family of the famous case that was the final straw for @msc and arguably covers more picks as the family of the famous are more reliable Obit chances in many cases.

Would have been a popular pick in the Advent avalanche. And he actually IS a DDP pick for the always curious Theme Team "Not Gone Yet, but Still Forgotten". However, because of his illnesses, the forum actually didn't forget him.

1Dick McTaggart 2Baroness Sharples 3Anthony Sher 4Lynne Reid Banks 5June Brown 6June Spencer 7Anne Baker 8Herbie Flowers 9Jet Black 10Rosemary Squires 11Margaret Barton 12Sammy Chung 13Frank Williams(autosports) 14Frank Williams(comedy actor) 15Daniella Westbrook 16Terry Medwin 17Winnie Ewing 18Vilma Hollingbery 19Phyllis Dal ton 20Beryl Vertue

He's been added. Others will in time. Despite Wordpress crashing repeatedly, the LOTM is updated (who knew there was a Blue Peter theme team once?), the LOTL has more names on it, and we're up to date on the front page stuff like obits. (The theme team league update can wait though.) Last time we were all up to date on DDP obits, the Reaper started up like he was suffering a Gooseberry Crumble enema...

Peter Aykroyd, former cast member of Saturday Night Live, and writer for it, dead at 56: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/peter-aykroyd-dies-saturday-night-070340253.html

The Tories are very good at getting shot of leaders who become liabilities. The moment they realise that they COULD lose the next election, despite how utterly shit the opposition is, they will look to have a replacement in ASAP. The stink of corruption is in every pore of politics. The only difference is that the Tories are blatantly corrupt because they see themselves as invincible. I don't trust any of the bastards, red, blue, green, yellow, none of em!

I think, tbf, if it was put to a vote, we'd like you to shut the fuck up.

Current TOP 10 1) Kane Tanaka 118:316 2) Lucile Randon 117:276 3) Antonia da Santa Cruz 116:154 4) Tekla Juniewicz 115:157 5) Thelma Sutcilffe 115:044 6) Valentine Ligny 115:023 7) Yoshi Otsunari 114:332 8) Maria Branyas Morera 114:255 9) Casilda Benegas 114:220 10) Fusa Tatsumi 114:203

Next year will be my 10th and final year in the DDP. I began deathpooling because I like competitions in general, and because I enjoy reading about/discussing celebrities. However, the researching illnesses side of it was ironically never really my cup of tea. For example, finding out whether someone's cancer is at stage 1, 42, or whatever. Or maintaining a long/shortlist in any other month than December. And all of that is reflected in my poor DDP track record over the years. I guess part of it is also because I ended up not wanting my teams to look like everyone else's. You know the deja vu feeling you get when you read every team's entries. I think you can liken it to a meal with ingredients: The better the ingredients are, the better the meal will become. But if you start experimenting with too many strange foods , what comes out of the oven might turn out a complete disaster, even if original. Did you know that 2/180 of my total main DDP team picks have been unique hits (plus 3 LoTLs and 2 already dead)?* Lol. All of this to say that maybe I will go more mainstream in DDP 2022. Just like my debut DDP 2013, although that lot had a super high average age. Perhaps I will still find a few interesting under-the-radar picks in late December, but I will only select them if I feel that it's worth the risk. Rest can be dumped to the bunny pool or Deathrace. The latter one, I only entered once because it usually ends before you've even started sobering up from New Year's Eve... As for theme teams, I won't be using the Disney one anymore. Perhaps an inventor team, though those are tricky because you rarely have those Gyro Gearloose type of inventors who single-handedly come up with something brand new. It's mostly engineers who have patents for improving something that only those in that field can comprehend. Anyway, best of luck to you all in the future DDPs. To be more specific, I mean the DDP 2023 and beyond, not the coming year. *My unique hits were Lennart Johansson & Princess Christina of Netherlands (both DDP 2019 coincidentally). The ones who got Eleanor Rigbied were Magnus Härenstam (DDP 2015), Robert Raiford (DDP 2017) & Christie Blatchford (DDP 2020). The ones who were already dead when picked are Algimantas Dailide & Leo Sharp (both DDP 2017 coincidentally). The curious thing about Sharp is that Clint fucking Eastwood directed and starred in movie based on his life the year after.

Former Senator of Georgia, Max Cleland, dead at 79: https://www.wokv.com/news/politics/max-cleland-dies/JNOK5B3KTW4DAJSWR3JOKXBMGY/ He lost several limbs in the Vietnam war and was accused of insufficient commitment to national security in his losing campaign to Republican Saxby Chambliss.

He's a bellend

Norman Macfarlane, Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden, Scottish Development Agency Board member and patron of the arts and Queens Park Football Club, dead: https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19697394.scottish-business-doyen-lord-macfarlane-bearsden-dies/ Retired from the House of Lords in 2016.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10136539/The-serviceman-spent-34-years-Queens-Britannia.html The Royal yacht Britannias warrant officer who the Queen nicknamed Norrie has died aged 87.

Doreen Lofthouse disinherits her son: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10113989/Doreen-Lofthouse-mastermind-Fishermans-Friends-lozenges-leaves-41m-fortune-will.html Now he is running the Fisherman's Friend brand, so I guess he is all right. This is an interesting ploy by people which I will never understand, Daniel Craig also announcing his kids will get nothing when he goes. Of course, all these people are doing in the main is enriching the lives of strangers rather than their families. I guess if there is no incentive to care for your folks in their old age rather than just love (a commodity least valued in this society), they can let their money get them out of bed in the middle of the night, pick them up off the floor when they fall, yadayada. So lots of people working for charities will now be able not only to do a lot of good, but also live in a big house themselves, with a lovely increase in salary, etc etc.

In light of other news today I would like to remind our younger and non-British members that Bill Rodgers is a British Politician and not a summary of the Clinton Presidency

I just watched this clip from 60 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNrvXw9juNs&ab_channel=60Minutes Really quite emotional viewing. It is incredible to watch him turn into the performer he used to be as soon as the music starts or the curtain is raised. It is also touching to see him remember Lady Gaga's name when she walks on stage, and how much it means to her. But the bottom line for us is: although he is physically quite fit for a 95 year-old and his voice is incredible for someone that old, his Alzheimer's is more advanced than I thought.

Neither does Peter Falk

A commonly forgotten face of the 1950s and 1960s, Austrian film and stage actress Herta Staal, has died aged 91. https://www.t-online.de/unterhaltung/stars/id_90907454/herta-staal-91-schauspielerin-und-filmstar-der-1950er-und-1960er-ist-tot.html She was one of the last living actresses of the "technically silver but unprofessionally postcoloured" screen-era. She appeared in various shallow, kitschy, romantic Heimat-movies of the post-war period.

Watching an old episode of Give Us A Clue, I had no idea that Libby Morris was still with us and never seemingly mentioned on the forum before. She's going on 91. If A Talent For Loving and The Plank don't instantly get her a UK obit never mind her seemingly endless panel game shows, she might be a cracking choice for the Hartlepool DP (Celebrity Squares). IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0606736/