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Showing content with the highest reputation on 26/07/23 in all areas
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10 points
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7 pointsEARLY MOURNING NEWS WITH GEORGE ALAGIAH 10/50 24th July 2023 Easily one of the most popular British news presenters of the last 30 years, BBC broadcaster George Alagiah has lost his long and public battle with bowel cancer to give the Crowdsourced Deathlist another success. Born in what is now modern day Sri Lanka, Alagiah’s family moved to Portsmouth when he was in secondary school, and after a degree with Durham University, he moved into local journalism, before being snapped up by the BBC in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, George Alagiah was a familiar face on BBC news as a foreign correspondent, being their man on the ground during the Rwanda genocide and being stuck in the middle of civil wars in Somalia and Afghanistan, and his coverage of the Kosovo crisis won a BAFTA. By the late 90s, he had swapped the danger of war zones to the dangers of live TV, as a regular news anchor for the BBC news, a role he continued in until close to the end. In 2007, he graduated to the most plum position in British news broadcasting, solo anchor of the BBC Six O’Clock evening news. With his contacts from a decade as a correspondent, Alagiah managed to nab prize interviews for the BBC, such as Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe. In 2014, George Alagiah was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and would become the public face of male awareness in getting checked for the disease. Like the late Bill Turnbull, Alagiah was credited with encouraging thousands to get checked, saving countless lives in the process. His own cancer went into remission for three years, but returned as Stage IV in 2018, and, despite stoic treatment, eventually spread to all his major organs. The widespread tributes since his untimely death this week befit a man well respected for his integrity, his knowledge and his bravery in the face of insurmountable odds, be they from the bullets of genocidal soldiers, or the march of incurable cancer. The Daily Express even referred to him as “fearless and kind” and the Telegraph, no friend of the BBC, said George Alagiah was the “gold standard for newsreaders”. Because he was. George Alagiah had been picked every year since his cancer relapsed, and this year was in 5th position.
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7 pointsSTRANGER NOW IN PARADISE 9/50 21st July 2023 In news about as surprising as its possible for be for a ninety-six year old with dementia, legendary singer Tony Bennett has provided The Crowdsourced Deathlist with another success. In an eighty-five year career (longer than some TCD successes entire lifespan) he worked with Frank Sinatra and Lady Gaga. A New York Italian-American, Bennett had the choice to go into music, or go into the Mafia. (Or be Frank Sinatra and do both.) Tony was singing publicly by the age of ten, and earning money for it by a teenager. He also studied art, and worked as a copy runner for the AP, before winding up as infantryman in France during the latter stages of World War Two. His experiences crossing the Rhine, and later in liberating concentration camps, turned the young Tony Bennett into a lifelong pacifist. Post-war he quickly developed a reputation as a crooner, and his cover of Because of You sold over a million copies in America in 1951. He’d recorded several number one hits by the mid-1950s, and already showed a capacity for moving with the times, which was to prove crucial to his longevity as rock n roll became in vogue. Whilst crooners fell out of fashion unless they had seven horcruxes hidden at Fort Knox (hi Pat Boone), Bennett expanded his output, involving himself in the successful American jazz industry, and working with the legendary Count Basie. Basie Swings, Bennett Sings was the result, and following that, Tony Bennett became, in 1962, the first male pop singer to perform at Carnegie Hall. A TV regular, he popularised the likes of The Best is Yet to Come, and I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Grammy's came his way, followed by a tsunami of likewise awards. In 1966, he appeared in the film The Oscar, which didn’t win the Oscar. In the 1970s, even time seemed to pass Bennett by, like the other crooners, and he wound up an impoverished drug addict. In 1979, he nearly killed himself with an overdose of cocaine. He survived that, and went on a health kick, and with the help of his sons he made a comeback with The Art of Excellence album. His sons also got him roles alongside The Muppets and Bart Simpson, which introduced him to a much younger audience. (“There’s a swinging town I know called Capital City” – yes this was my introduction to Bennett!) This gave him new fans who would go onto work with him in his elder statesman part of his career. He would work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kd Lang and found the new generations receptive to his Gershwin and Cole Porter classics. By the late 1990s he had his own MTV Unplugged Special, had headlined Glastonbury, and was a multi-millionaire once more. Outside the arts, Bennett participated in the Selma march, was an outspoken critic of apartheid South Africa. Even as his health declined in his nineties, Tony Bennett stated that the only thing that could retire him from music was death itself. True to form, reports stated Bennett kept his own spirits up on his deathbed, singing the Great American Songbook, until the final curtain call. This was only his second appearance on The Crowdsourced Deathlist.
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6 pointsMick Jagger is 80. (Presenting the best British number-1 of the '60s according to this site)
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5 pointsTed Kacyzinski 7/50 10th June 2023 The Unabomber died, by his own hand, decades after several other people died by his own hand. This gave the Crowdsourced Deathlist another success.
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5 pointsNo. If he's the son of Jimmy's first cousin, he's his first cousin once removed. He's second cousin to Jimmy's children. The "removed" bit shows how many generations apart they are. If there's no "removed", it means the individuals are of the same generation.
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4 pointsRocky Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, dead at 70. https://chicago.suntimes.com/blackhawks/2023/7/25/23807793/rocky-wirtz-dies-blackhawks-chairman-bill-danny-wirtz-breakthru-beverage
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4 points
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3 pointsJohnny Lujack was picked last year, so he's one for LOTM: https://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool2022/celebs_L.html#lujackj022
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3 pointsCZECH MATE 8/50 11th July 2023 The Czech novelist Milan Kundera has died, only five years after we were first told he would imminently die. Next to Zsa Zsa Gabor, a rank amateur in the Grim Reaper avoidance dance, of course. Born in Brno in 1929, Kundera was captivated by music and then Communism, but he couldn’t afford piano lessons and in 1950, the Communist part of Czechoslovakia expelled him, so he turned to writing satirical novels ridiculing the Communist set up. He remained somewhat connected to the Communist party (which un-expelled him, before banning him for life finally in 1970) and actively thought Vaclav Havel’s protests after the Prague Spring were alarmist, up to the point where the new regime banned the books of Milan Kundera! Kundera swiftly emigrated to Paris, via Rennes, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1984, he published the book he is best known for, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a philosophy heavy book somehow transformed into a Hollywood film starring Daniel Day Lewis. He was a critic of nostalgia, and while his tragi-comedic look at the authoritarianism of the Czech regime was akin to Solzhenitsyn, Kundera himself claimed his books had no political message, in much the same way a speech by Jeremy Corbyn is apolitical. He married his own secretary, had an asteroid named after himself, and in 2020, won the Kafka Prize, having metamorphosed into a lifespan over twice the length of The Trial author. Kundera’s death leaves a clutch of successes for the Crowdsourced Deathlist in the 24-26 spot, which presumably leaves Mel Brooks and Yoko Ono feeling worried.
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3 pointsScientist and inventor of the microwave oven James Lovelock died on this day, his 103rd birthday, 1 year ago.
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3 pointsHappens more than you’d think. Usually an undiagnosed heart condition combined with strenuous exercise.
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2 pointsHmm. Honest people who are economically right-wing for non-nefarious reasons who haven’t been taken in by a cult, would criticise him. Just as “decent Tories” would fucking despise the last 13 years of government in the UK.
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2 points
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2 pointsRaphick Jumadeen, West Indies Test cricketer, reportedly dead: https://103fm.tt/news/former-wi-spinner-raphick-jumadeen-has-passed-away/
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2 pointsAs per this April 2009 interview with his granddaughter, Krastyu Trichkov (wiki) "died forgotten" some time before then. Another one to take off of your list @arghton.
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2 points72 Stevie Wonder — Sir Duke 57 Boney M — Ma Baker 49 Queen — Somebody To Love 46 Candi Staton — Young Hearts Run Free 26 Barry White — You See The Trouble With Me +4 6 Queen — We Are The Champions -6 Sorry, Rover, its one of my favourite Barry White songs. And while I love Queen, I sort of agree with Toast here, in that WatC wouldn't make my top 30 favourite Queen tracks.
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2 points26th July 72 Stevie Wonder — Sir Duke 57 Boney M — Ma Baker 49 Queen — Somebody To Love 46 Candi Staton — Young Hearts Run Free 28 Barry White — You See The Trouble With Me +4 08 Queen — We Are The Champions -6
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2 pointsDead Body and No Soul ! Bennett is a hit for Khthonia, Toast and Captain Hemlock. @Charles De Gaulle you could have won a point but I asked for 3 subs and you never provided it so I'll be forced to remove you from the game… @Khthonia : James Whale in and Nolan on the sub bench @Toast : Linda Nolan in and Patrick Murray as sub 3 @Captain Hemlock : Ruth Buzzi in and Shannen Doherty on sub bench ---------------------------------------------- George Al-ARGH-gia! George Alagiah is a hit for a bunch here including Captain Hemlock, Yorkshire Banker, theoldlady, wannamaker, WEP, gcreptile, Handrejka, Toast, Torva Messor and Book (pfiou…). Not a single miss, one point each ! @Captain Hemlock : Roberta Flack in and Yevgeny Prigozhin as sub 3 @YorkshireBanker : Bobb Seith in and you still have another sub to choose @theoldlady : James Whale in and another Nolan sub here @wannamaker : Michael Tilson Thomas in and Julie Goodyear on the waiting list @WEP : Tore Aleksandersen in and Jimmy Carter as sub 3 (never too late ?) @gcreptile : Pope Francis in (already ? Think you just chose him one month ago, good job !) and still a sub to choose @Handrejka : Jonnie Irwin in and Rantzen as sub 3 @Toast : Carter in (it really is never too late with him !) and Attenborough as sub 3 @Torva Messor : Doherty in and Hemingway as sub 3 @Book : Carter in (as for Toast, good job !) and Doherty on the waiting list I think I didn't forget anyone Book takes the lead again with one point more than perhaps. Wannamaker just behind with 14 points.
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2 points
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2 pointsGiven everyone who was going to change manager has done so by now and several leagues kick off in just over a week's time, think the time to be submitting teams for the next round is nearly upon us. Does the offer still hold RAO? I don't mind doing it if neither you nor BP want to.
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2 pointsNearly all Iran's Ayatollahs...on the top of the list excluding Khamenei - Ali Jannati, Hossein Noori Hamedani, Naser Makarem Shirazi, Mohammad Emami-Kashani, Mohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani, Yousef Tabatabai Nejad, Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi and Mahmoud Alavi. Most of those listed are nonagenarians, youngest is 69, but all still very powerful and using their remaining time to oppress and cause the deaths of people of religious and sexual minorities, women (especially women who don't wear a hijab) and protestors/dissidents. Jannati might be the worst one of them all. "Political leaders" has already been mentioned, but current despots and everyone who's helping keep them in power: The Equatorial Guinea despot and his son, Paul Biya and his wife, KJU and the North Korean elite, Ilham Aliyev, the Sultan of Brunei, Yoweri Museveni and his govt, Hun Sen of Cambodia, the King of Eswatini, Assad and his henchmen... Johan Bäckman. Propagandist bastard.
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