YoungWillz

And FUCK. Points for me and many many others (I hope) with Burt Bacharach.

Burt Bacharach for me here.

Off the mark with Burt Bacharach.

Burt Bacharach for me here. YW - 2; DL - 2.

Really sad news - one of the greats. RIP sir, a life well lived.

Jason Bowen, Swansea, Birmingham City, Cardiff and briefly Wales player, has had MND since 2021: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64584307

Both looked fine - Emerick some weight gain but hasn't really changed in 20 years. Sullivan seemed to have liver spots on his hands - might have circulatory problems maybe? Don't think either of them will trouble the obit writers for some time.

Some little talk on here about Benedict Cumberbatch, some more talk about his mother Wanda Ventham. But no mention of his father, Timothy Carlton, (IMDB) who I noticed in an old episode of Dad's Army last night. Loads of stuff he was in - Keeping Up Appearances, Don't Wait Up, Fresh Fields among his other comedy appearances, Poirot, Sherlock, even Coronation Street. Certain obit when he goes.

Putin doing his damnedest to get the band back together again though....

Barrie Corbett, aka Barry Corbett, British musician and songwriter whose main success was in Europe as part of the duo Barry And Eileen with If You Go, reportedly dead: https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/tribute-to-harrogate-music-legend-who-has-died-after-decades-of-hits-with-the-smurfs-and-appearing-with-the-beatles-4018649 Wrote choons for The Smurfs after Father Abraham went his own way to produce songs separately from the cartoon series. Warning - excess of cheese follows:

Le Pen is mightier than the scythe.

Chris Browne, who took over penning the Hagar The Horrible cartoon strip after the death of his father Dik Browne in 1989, reportedly dead: https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/02/08/chris-browne-rip/

His son Marcos Alonso Pena, who was in the squad for runners up Spain at Euro 1984, dead aged 63: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/21326956/marcos-alonso-pena-dead-at-63/

I'm a claimer, I'm afraid. Not here obvs, not playing this game. Hosted myself, always pleased to see a claim. Some hosts update sporadically, so always good to have a list to double check. We've all seen the updated leaderboards and then someone trots along and says "but you need to give me points for ...". Of course, I don't get many hits due to my innate ability to grant almost certain immunity from death by picking them. I can appreciate it might be annoying for some hosts though. Posters gonna post...what ya gonna do? "shrug"

DDP picks Louis Emerick and Dean Sullivan of Brookside fame are on Steph's Packed Lunch tomorrow. A chance to see how they are doing.

So, he's in the UK and about to address Parliament. Which probably means the perennially absent Boris Johnson might turn up to the Houses of Parliament. I hope foregoing the hundreds of thousands of pounds he's raking in for interviews and speeches is worth it - we know he is struggling by on his meagre income. Anyhoo, no doubt Zelenskyy will ask for all kinds of weaponry which the UK can't or won't provide. And where's his tie? Formal etiquette demands it.

DDP QO example for Blazevic: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/08/miroslav-ciro-blazevic-croatia-footballing-father-died-aged-87

Form spotters will be staying up for the State of the Union address shortly. We all know how Biden likes to keep things short and snappy, so an early night...wait a minute! Anyhoo, loads of one side clapping, one side remaining stony faced, guests in the balcony, Jill Biden with her arm round a small heroic child....usual. Unless he has a heart attack halfway through a story about Scranton.

Various reports that Tonya Knight, Ms International in 1991 and who portrayed the character Gold In American Gladiators, has died from cancer:

Hope you had a proud bloody mary!

Former World Junior Foil champion who competed for GB at the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics in fencing, Robert Bruniges, reportedly dead aged 66:

Janet Anderson, former Labour MP for Rossendale and Darwen (1992-2010), has reportedly died: Succeeded in her seat by the well known philanthropist and all round good guy Jake Berry (Conservative). (Spot the sarcasm). She was the MP who successfully introduced free TV licences for over-75s - remember them? However, tarnished yet again by the expenses scandals - voting to keep expenses claims secret, and it was discovered she was claiming taxpayers' money for all sorts, including 5 round trips a week to her constituency despite living in London - what a dedicated constituency MP! Or chancer!

Lillian Walker Moss of The Exciters, died 5 February from a rare cancer: https://www.soultracks.com/story-lillian-walker-moss-exciters-dies

Report of Phil Spalding's death: https://dmme.net/phil-spalding-passed-away/ On plenty of records. Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield I bought at the time.