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Karl Offmann, short-term president of Mauritius now off, man: https://www.lexpress.mu/article/405958/karl-offmann-ancien-president-republique-est-decede

This deserves an emoji, I just don't know which one.

Sensible. If I had a nuclear bunker I'd no be keen to leave the house either...just in case.

Inspired by a conversation I had in the PMs with another poster I was thinking about who those deaths were that were important to me from a cultural perspective. Those people whose work has shaped me into the person I am today. I wanted to keep this separate from the National Treasures posts because that is more about a cultural collective consciousness whereas these will be individual. I have kept it to 20 as my first list contained almost double the number and I have kept it to the living but there are many people who have gone already who could have gone on the list in particular Terry Pratchett and Terrance Dicks Please post your own lists I have added mini explanations as to why they are there. 1. Rowen Atkinson (First comedy gig) 2. Tom Baker (You know why) 3. Johnny Ball (Stimulated my interest in science and maths) 4. Floella Benjamin (Televisual Joy) 5. Kate Bush (My favourite music artist) 6. Phil Collins (Genesis was the first concert I attended) 7. John Craven (Important part of growing up) 8. Harrison Ford (Brilliant actor whose popular status is deserved) 9. Stephen Fry (Comedian and actor who is brilliant) 10. Derek Griffiths (Children’s TV later saw at the RSC) 11. Bernard Hill (Macbeth on my first Theatre date with my now wife) 12. Michael Keating (B7 is almost as important to me as DW) 13. Stephen Lawhead (The living author I have read most book by) 14. Hazel O’Connor (First single I bought) 15. B A Robertson (First album I owned) 16. Michael Rodd (Made me pay attention to TV) 17. Patricia Routledge (Was in the first RSC production I saw) 18. J Michael Strazynski (B5 sits with DW & B7) 19. David Thacker (Theatre director who stunned with several RSC productions) 20. Julie Walters (Lady Macbeth on my first theatre date)

@Bibliogryphon... According to The American Historical Association: https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/october-2021/irwin-unger-(1927–2021) And Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Unger Irwin Unger, who won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1965, passed away on May 21, 2021, at age 94. It's a hit here for three players. But the Starting Date of this pool was 01 June 2021. What they have to do now is find a substitute for Irwin Unger. Right?

Fucking hell she might not make it now!!!

I've just finished Windswept & Interesting, Billy Connolly's autobiography. While a good read, not as funny as I expected, though I imagine if he were to read it audiobook-style, it would be! The last 6 books I've read have all been autobiography/memoirs, as is the one I'm currently on, and about 20 more in my "to read" pile, which is still growing and includes the one I bought today.

The only reason Putin wants foreign fighters to join in on the invasion is to reduce the amount of fatalities within the Russian armed forces. They may be cannon fodder to him but more and more are dead and will not be going home and the implications for any support for the invasion back in Russia is obvious.

Indeed, hit for @Doulton, @John Key and yourself @Hell CONGRATULATIONS!!!

American educator Leo Marx (wiki) dead at 102. NY Times obit Picked by several teams in the Centenarian pool.

Reality is messing with my reading schedule. In Decembre, during a trip to Naples, I started Mary Beard's SPQR book. But before finishing it, I really got into the Witcher series and read the first 1,5 books. I had to interrupt the second book for Catherine Belton's "Putin's People". Very insightful, and if I had read it before the war, I would have been certain that Putin wants the whole Ukraine.

Glynis Johns continually being ignored by the Cmme does surprise, as a big name actress who happens to have been in one of the biggest films of all time. Some of the others frankly died too soon. Roger Bannister for example I was sure would be a DL regular but he was dead within a month of that post of the flu. In the post Bill Gates Sr world the ceiling for Deathlist picks is considerably lower too. Still, not a bad batting average.

"Passed away suddenly while on holiday in Barbados". Well his last tweet is from January 5th moaning that he "spent a small fortune" on root canal treatment. Poor dental health in the roots is linked to cardiac issues so there's that. Turned out to be a bit of a waste of money, eh?

Couple of biggish wrestling updates for deadpoolers, one positive one negative. Necro Butcher is back wrestling death matches again, which is not something you'd expect a man with terminal cancer to be doing. Looks a lot better than he did 18 months ago as well: However, there's a line from the new Observer about William Regal that jumped out at me: So... see you back here after Talk Is Jericho?

Jost Vacano, Oscar-nominated cinematographer for "Das Boot", also worked on Total Recall and other Paul Verhoeven projects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jost_Vacano Turns 88 next week and is currently suing the production company for not having received enough pay for his work (it's complicated): https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/das-boot-kameramann-jost-vacano-von-einigung-kann-keine-rede-sein-a-80f58158-4772-497a-80fd-072e48d7853e

Oh Bolukhs.

German WC champion of 1974, Jürgen Grabowski, has died at 77: https://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/fussball-weltmeister-von-1974-juergen-grabowski-ist-tot-a-e50500ee-daa8-4bf6-94c4-323f39a173d7 Unknown reason so far, but he was on dialysis in recent years. He also was a long-time member of Eintracht Frankfurt and won the UEFA Cup in 1980 with them.

Reading his wiki profile he doesn't exactly sound like a nice person but he had honour in fighting for his country which is commendable.

Yevhen Deidei (wiki), Ukrainian former deputy and paramilitary leader, killed at 34. First person with an existing Wiki page to be killed in this conflict.

Got to feel bad for him, it's truly awful going through that at such a young age. Sadly doesn't seem like he has long left. Loads of us didn't buy the "improving" stories at the end of last year and it seems we were correct to be sceptical.

Zelensky's just refused a US offer to fly him out of the country - the States say he's Russia's #1 target, so it does seem like: * Putin's willing to make a martyr out of him * he's planning on staying to the bloody end Whatever happens, he'll go down as a hero in the history books at this point.

Could've easily fled to safety even before Russia invaded. The vast majority of world leaders would abandon their countries for their own safety. Yet, Zelenskyy is willing to die for his own country. You have my respect. Godspeed!

No, it's only The Old Crem who has claimed this, on no grounds whatsoever as far as can be ascertained.. Periodically we take the piss out of him.