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Another day, another pointless individual thread because someone happens to be old and famous.

Sci-fi author David A. McIntee best known for his work on an assortment of Doctor Who novels and a few Big Finish plays is being reported dead aged 55 by Gary Russell on Twitter. Has also written novels for Star Trek, Space: 1999 and Final Destination.

16/12/24 27 Wham! — Last Christmas -1 22 Mykola Leontovych — Carol Of The Bells 22 Isaac Watts — Joy To The World 22 John Williams — O Holy Night +1 20 David Willcocks — God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen 19 Tom Jones — Green, Green Grass Of Home 18 Queen — Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives 18 Pet Shop Boys — Always On My Mind 16 The Beatles — I Feel Fine 15 The Human League — Don’t You Want Me +1 14 Charles Wesley — Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 12 Pink Floyd — Another Brick In the Wall  11 Greg Lake — I Believe In Father Christmas +2 07 The Pretenders — 2000 Miles 00 The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl — Fairytale Of New York -5 Travesty that the syrupy dross Last Christmas is everywhere for a month every year but you never hear the actually pretty good Bad Boys, Wham! Rap, etc these days Fairytale is all right but over-rated, smothering it now before it has the chance to prosper..

Lillian Disney died on this day 27 years ago, aged 98. - Lillian was born as 'Lillian Bounds', and she would study business in college for a year. She joined the then-Walt Disney Studios as a secretary for its ink and paint department- and her boss (2 years her junior) fell in love with her. - Lillian and Walt Disney married in 1925, and they had two children together. In 1928, Walt showed her concept of a new mascot for the studio which he named 'Mortimer Mouse', and Lillian suggested he rename it to 'Mickey' due to disliking how it sounded. The rest is history: (Mortimer Mouse would become an actual character later on, as a rival to Mickey) - Lillian would be credited with ink work on the 1929 Mickey short film Plane Crazy (incidentally, it will fully enter the public domain in a few weeks), and her legacy as a part of Disney lives on at the theme parks, where several vehicles were christened after her (Disney Land and Disney World both have trains called the 'Lily Belle', and the latter also has a steamboat called 'The Empress Lily'). - After Walt died in 1966, Lillian would remarry to a man named John Truyens- this marriage lasted for 12 years until his death. In later years, she would become a noted philanthropist, notably donating large sums to the CalArts animation school, and making the initial donation to build the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. - Lillian Disney died of a stroke, having suffered it on the 31st anniversary of her husband's death. Coincidentally, her nephew-in-law Roy E. Disney died on the same day 12 years later. The last Disney film within its animated canon to be released during her lifetime was Hercules, to put things in perspective.

15 December 2024: 28 Wham! — Last Christmas 24 Mykola Leontovych — Carol Of The Bells 24 John Williams — O Holy Night 20 The Human League — Don’t You Want Me 20 David Willcocks — God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen 20 Tom Jones — Green, Green Grass Of Home 20 Pet Shop Boys — Always On My Mind 20 Isaac Watts — Joy To The World 16 Queen — Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives -4 14 The Beatles — I Feel Fine 14 Charles Wesley — Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 13 The Pretenders — 2000 Miles +4 12 Pink Floyd — Another Brick In the Wall -2 9 Greg Lake — I Believe In Father Christmas 3 The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl — Fairytale Of New York  It's a travesty that hacks like John Williams and The Beatles made it to the finals over Bob the Builder

Hamad Ubayd died in a Damascus hospital back in 2005 according to this. Born 1924 instead of 1928, too. There's one seemingly shady site that says al-Hariri died in 2015. If that's true only Jaber is a "might be alive" case, but he was seemingly forcibly retired a few years after his tenure...

Time for this actor to have his own thread, he is 86 years old, and a class A actor. Also not looking long for the world in The Lincoln Lawyer recently.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kc6z1p Des Buckingham out at Oxford. Like Martin at Southampton, has been unable to perform miracles with a squad that did well to secure promotion via the playoffs last season but has insufficient quality to survive in the league in which it now finds itself.

Mirza Fakhrul hospitalised after collapsing , but has already improved.

And indeed, BBC obit : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2exzm9r043o

16/12/24 28 Wham! — Last Christmas 24 Mykola Leontovych — Carol Of The Bells 24 John Williams — O Holy Night 22 Tom Jones — Green, Green Grass Of Home +2 20 David Willcocks — God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen 20 Pet Shop Boys — Always On My Mind 20 Isaac Watts — Joy To The World 16 Queen — Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives 16 The Beatles — I Feel Fine +2 14 Charles Wesley — Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 14 The Human League — Don’t You Want Me -6 12 Pink Floyd — Another Brick In the Wall  9 Greg Lake — I Believe In Father Christmas 7 The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl — Fairytale Of New York 7 The Pretenders — 2000 Miles

@Paul Bearer

Zakir Hussain confirmed dead by his family. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/zakir-hussain-legendary-tabla-virtuoso-dies-at-73-confirms-family-101734308952371.html

Jamie Foxx injured in altercation at his birthday dinner - BBC News

Thanks for the entry Trome, and welcome to the pool. All good with the team.

Jill Jacobson -- a longtime actress in Hollywood with parts in "Falcon Crest" and 'Star Trek' -- has died at 70 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jill-jacobson-dead-falcon-crest-television-actress-1236087205/

Received a cake from his management team...while in hospital (possibly for his heart issues, as he reportedly had a heart failure last year). He may be living fast, but he's definitely not fasting.

Understatement of the century. There are minor names. Then there are the “who the fuck is that?” drol & arghton seal of approval minor names.

Alan Alda Antonia Fraser Bernadette Chirac David Souter Edith Bruck Ena Collymore-Woodstock Frankie Valli Herman van Praag Lisa Gastoni Luciano Benetton Ira "Ike" Schab Jean-Marie Le Pen (joker) Jean Ragnotti Jesse Jackson John McVie Judy Loe Marilyn Maye Maurice R. Greenberg Neil Leifer (photographer) Norman Tebbit Paul King (Mungo Jerry) Pete Bellotte Ruth Buzzi Tony Hatch Victoria Jackson Subs Harry Chandler (Pearl Harbor Survivor) Pope Francis Julie Goodyear Vytautas Landsbergis Tim Rice

If @wannamaker is happy to do the 4s & 5s, which is a splendid idea, it will be easy to adjust the other game. I would like to see the Champion of Champions game cover 1s - 5s, as it would make more sense if we are covering all the 4s & 5s. I'm considering calling the other game The Best of the Rest, does that sound good to you @Bibliogryphon?

First time playing this year, and this year has been so uneventful for me that I lost track of half of the deadpools I'm entered in and who I selected last year. Going to try again this year but it's harder than I expected.

Princess Alexandra I think deserves more consideration than all names but King Charles in your list.

Vojo Stanić, influential Montenegrin painter and sculptor dead at 100. First death from that list.

Who piggybacked on my discovery. They got that information as a result of me. @Ulitzer95 will testify that I informed him of this privately way before the ESO updated this, I was just waiting for OiB to recognise it before I mentioned the death.

Walter Orthmann dead at 102.