Weebl

Or, to put it another way, look at all the people in this genre of music alone that the DeathList has missed over the years going right bank to the 90s: Frank Zappa Captain Beefheart Syd Barrett Rick Wright Edgar Froese David Allen Chris Squire Glenn Cornick Peter Banks John Mayhew Michael Karoli Kevin Ayers Hugh Hopper Elton Dean Richard Coughlan Lindsay Cooper Boz Burrell Ian Wallace Mark Craney Nic Potter Jim King Jim Capaldi Florian Fricke Dieter Moebius To be sure, not ALL of these names are highly prominent, and I am not suggesting that all of these would have been good DL picks. But some undoubtedly would have been. Many musicans of a similar age (like Jack Bruce, Lou Reed, Ray Manzarek, JJ Cale, and so on) have been dying in recent years, so the more time that passes, the more we'll see.

Never thought about it, but now that you say it...!!!

Went with Kirk Douglas again

I forgot about him. Definitely one to keep an eye on, no doubt - but probably not a strong enough DL candidate to make the list next year as he's not that old and no new information has come to light about his condition at the present time

Here's "Britain's oldest prostitute": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Vogel-Coupe http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-oldest-prostitute-85-years-old-still-3571324 http://www.timesofisrael.com/this-jewish-grandmother-knows-a-trick-or-two/ Apparently she was on a C4 show last year? I never saw it, but anyway she is pretty old. I don't think she'd be a strong DeathList candidate, but she's probably a person DLers should be aware of...

Only got a 1 in 38 chance of getting it right... Kirk Douglas is my guess

Discuss them as much as you want, but the world's oldest people are probably not suitable DeathList candidates. They'd probably be ineligible as their only fame comes from being old, which would seem to violate the rule "candidates cannot be famous solely for the fact they are likely to die in the near future". It's still fun to discuss them though. A lot of the more prominent supercentenarians seem to be dying off. Also, there are very few male supercentenarians left. There probably are more, but supercentenarians are notoriously difficult to verify. Verification becomes more difficult when it comes to those individuals living in less developed parts of the world, as reliable records are harder to come by. Chinese linguist Zhou Youguang will turn 110 in 2016, assuming he lives that long. That would make him one of the world's oldest men. But the official groups researching the world's oldest people have not been very friendly towards accepting claims from countries like China. In this case he has notability anyway, but doubtless that won't be enough for verification.

Which reminds me: Sir Brian Urquhart, (b. 28 February 1919) a bit of a hero in my part of the world, was born just half a year before his namesake and is still with us. Obit guaranteed and at 96 he can't be around long, can he? BTW, welcome on board, seaman Weebl. Never heard of him, but at that age you'd think he'd be a good pick. Again it comes back to the same old dilemma that I raised in my initial post: do you choose the people who are older or less healthy and more obscure, or those who are a bit younger and more famous but somewhat less likely to immediately die, to get the "big name" hits in? That seems to be the central dilemma when making DeathList picks.

Thanks for your analysis of my post. I appreciate your point about some of the more obscure names. However, I do feel Alistair Urquhart - "the Forgotten Highlander" and prisoner of war in Asia would still be a good pick. I'm not sure about how well known Clive Derby-Lewis actually is. He seems to be a significant figure in the resistance against the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa including assisting in the murder of a prominent anti-apartheid activist, but that's about as much as I know. I also wanted to start some discussion about John Wetton, having mentioned his name a few times as a lurker. On Twitter he's posting about his chemotherapy treatment. Wetton is not some obscure prog rocker - he was the lead singer of Asia in the early 1980s, although he's been in many different bands in his career including King Crimson. Asia's self-titled debut album was the best-selling music album in the USA in 1982, and the band were the subject of a joke in the 2005 film The Forty Year Old Virgin. I was told that there was a thread for progressive rockers a while back, but I can only see a thread about Genesis! Can anyone shed any light? Whatever the case, I think Wetton is probably at least as well known as say, Wilko Johnson, who was the star of the 2014 list. Although Jacque Fresco probably isn't that well known in the UK, he did have a prominent role in the documentary film Zeitgeist. And I'd consider Josef Fritzl to be more than "vaguely famous" - infamous, more like...

Long time lurker here, finally decided to create an account! How sad am I? Anyway... I've taken some time to compile my idea of what the ideal DeathList 2016 would look like. I've looked through threads, searching for ideas, and have also used many of my own ideas to create this list. I was initially going to wait until December before posting this, but I thought I'd just post it now. I'm assuming that those making up the final list will be looking at this thread for ideas - obviously! I'm also aware that some of these names will probably die in the next two and a half months. That's why I've included many backup names, other ideas and possibilities. When making up this list, one dilemma that I've encountered is this: is it better to have someone on the list who is relatively less likely to die, but is more of a famous person? Do 'big name' or 'household name' people get priority over those who are not as prominent, but are perhaps older or more likely to die soon? Is this because it increases the likelihood of a UK obituary? It's a difficult question, and I've never seen that much discussion of it on here. Maybe I'm thinking too much about it and taking it a bit TOO seriously - or have others had similar thoughts? Is Ronnie Corbett more worthy of the list than Jacque Fresco? Is Gorbachev more worthy than Zhou Youguang? These are very difficult questions to answer. In most cases, it seems like the DeathList has tended (but not always) to go for the bigger names. Whilst the majority of people of any particular widespread significance do get an obituary, it can't always be guaranteed in lesser cases. I may be shooting myself in the foot by saying this, as I've included a few relatively more obscure picks on my version of the list. If a Wikipedia article exists for a person, that does not necessarily mean that they are going to get a UK obituary. However if a person is both very old AND presumed to be UK-obitable, they should be on the list without question - IMHO, Sir Nicholas Winton was the stupidest DeathList miss of all time. He should have been #1 on the 2015 list, ahead of even Zsa Zsa. A good rule of thumb that I use is that the more languages that a person's Wikipedia article is available in (look at the bottom left hand corner of the page) the greater their international fame and relevance is likely to be, and that would make them more readily UK-obitable. However if the person is actually from the UK, having few or no versions of their Wikipedia article in other languages does not imply the person would not be UK-obitable as it probably would for a non-UK person. For example, Jeremy Kyle is a very famous person within the UK but his Wikipedia article appears in only two truly foreign languages. Keep: Gabor Havelange Wouk Graham de Haviland de Cuellar Bush Sr Prince Philip Schmidt Castro Douglas James Molinaro Crowe Adulyadej Kohl van der Westhuizen Day Kissinger Lamotta Reagan Mubarak Mugabe Berry Lynn Add: Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) - US President - cancer - but he'll be picked anyway for sure Howard Marks (b. 1945) - author and drug activist - cancer - but he'll be picked anyway for sure John Wetton (b. 1949) - progressive rock musician - metastatic cancer, with a history of alcoholism, heart surgery, diabetes, etc Jimmy Hill (b. 1928) - football manager - age, Alzheimer's, in a nursing home Alistair Urquhart (b. 1919) - author and war veteran - highly advanced age - 97 in 2016 Greville Janner (b. 1928) - politician - age, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stress of being put on trial Clive Derby-Lewis (b. 1936) - South African political figure - has what looks like terminal cancer, also advancing age - not 100% sure about UK obit on this one though King Michael of Romania (b. 1921) - pretender to the Romanian throne and one of the last heads of state from WWII - age - 95 in 2016 Jacque Fresco (b. 1916) - futurist and social engineer - highly advanced age - 100 in 2016 George Gaynes (b. 1917) - actor - highly advanced age - 99 in 2016 David Rockefeller (b. 1915) - banker - highly advanced age - 101 in 2016 Muhammad Ali (b. 1942) - boxer - Parkinson's Dick Van Dyke (b. 1925) - actor - age Fats Domino (b. 1928) - musician - age Hugh Hefner (b. 1926) - Playboy founder - age Jean Raspail (b. 1925) - French author - age Gudrun Ure (b. 1926) - actress - age Abe Vigoda (b. 1921) - actor - age Charles Aznavour (b. 1924) - singer - age Stephen Hawking (b. 1942) - scientist - should be obvious Boutros Boutros-Ghali (b. 1922) - UN secretary general - age Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) - last Soviet leader - age Stan Lee (b. 1922) - comics artist - age Pierre Cardin (b. 1922) - fashion designer - age Benedict XVI (b. 1928) - Pope - age, health Other ideas and possibilities: Raymond Smullyan (b. 1919) - mathematician, UK obit questionable Oscar Brand (b. 1920) - singer, UK obit questionable Rolf Harris (b. 1930) - maybe not at death's door just yet, but one to watch, can't last forever in prison Bruce Forsyth (b. 1928) - health scares this year, maybe not as immortal as people think he is Josef Fritzl (b. 1935) - can't last forever in prison and the world despises him Dennis Nilsen (b. 1945) - can't last forever in prison Gary Glitter (b. 1944) - can't last forever in prison and the world despises him Anders Breivik (b. 1979) - yes, he is a young man, but the world despises him and he has been on hunger strike in prison Ian Watkins (b. 1977) - yes, he is a young man, but the world despises him and suicide in prison is a possibility Ian Huntley (b. 1974) - yes, relatively young, but the world despises him, suicide in prison is a possibility Leonard Cohen (b. 1934) - not at death's door just yet, released new album in 2014, but age is surely creeping up on him Billy Connolly (b. 1942) - had prostate cancer a few years ago, and also has Parkinson's - worth watching Ron Jeremy (b. 1953) - health Manuel Noriega (b. 1934) - age, health Prunella Scales (b. 1932) - age, Alzheimer's Robbie Coltrane (b. 1950) - overweight, Scottish and in his mid-60s - heart attack or stroke waiting to happen Desmond Tutu (b. 1931) - age Burt Kwouk (b. 1930) - age Burt Bacharach (b. 1928) - age Sidney Poitier (b. 1927) - age Paul Gascoigne (b. 1967) - alcoholism, mental illness, in a grim situation Gene Wilder (b. 1933) - age Buzz Aldrin (b. 1930) - age Jean-Marie Le Pen (b. 1928) - age Egidius Braun (b. 1925) - age, UK obit questionable George Martin (b. 1926) - age Brian Blessed (b. 1936) - age, big and burly build Joe Jackson (b. 1954) - health issues, strokes and heart attacks, smoker, had pacemaker fitted Louis Farrakhan (b. 1933) - age, health Zhou Youguang (b. 1906) - EXTREMELY advanced age, one of the world's oldest men AND notable for other reasons - only problem is UK obit is questionable, although certainly possible - one to include for sure if there's a consensus that a UK obit would be likely E. O. Wilson (b. 1929) - age Richard Lynn (b. 1930) - age, but not a highly prominent figure except in the field of promoting scientific racism Udo Walendy (b. 1927) - age, UK obit questionable Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) - age Douglas Slocombe (b. 1913) - highly advanced age, but not a highly prominent figure Mikis Theodorakis (b. 1925) - age Mary Tyler Moore (b. 1936) - health, advancing age Glen Campbell (b. 1936) - health, advancing age Sean Connery (b. 1930) - age, not at death's door just yet but definitely worth watching Timothy-Dudley Smith (b. 1926) age, but not a highly prominent figure William Shatner (b. 1931) - age Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926) - will be around for a while yet, and she won't die before her husband, but age is definitely catching up with her Charles Manson (b. 1934) - age, can't last forever in prison Ronnie Corbett (b. 1930) - age Peter Tobin (b. 1946) - health, can't last forever in prison, the world despises him Ian Brady (b. 1938) - health, can't last forever in prison, the world despises him Harry Rabinowitz (b. 1916) - very old, but not a highly prominent figure Joni Mitchell (b. 1943) - health Michael Schumacher (b. 1969) - health following his accident Burt Reynolds (b. 1936) - health Nicholas Parsons (b. 1923) - age Jerry Lewis (b. 1926) - age Dalai Lama (b. 1935) - advancing age Damo Suzuki (b. 1950) - was ill recently, not sure exactly what was wrong with him, but worth watching Morrissey (b. 1959) - supposedly had cancer, but exact details are unclear, and has collapsed on stage a few times and been hospitalized in recent years Bill Wyman (b. 1936) - smoker for most of his life, advancing age Keith Richards (b. 1943) - lived the rock and roll lifestyle his whole life and still standing Ennio Morricone (b. 1928) - age Tony Bennett (b. 1926) - age Rupert Murdoch (b. 1931) - age Bob Dylan (b. 1941) - not quite knocking on heaven's door yet, but worth watching Mohamed Morsi (b. 1951) - sentenced to death, also appears to be overweight Leslie Ash (b. 1960) - health Ed Asner (b. 1929) - age Ozzy Osbourne (b. 1948) - not dying yet, but worth watching Roman Polanski (b. 1933) - age, criminal trial a few years ago Phil Spector (b. 1939) - getting older, also in jail Jacques Chirac (b. 1932) - age Macaulay Culkin (b. 1980) - rumours of drug addiction Clint Eastwood (b. 1930) - age Kurt Westergaard (b. 1935) - age, hate figure for Islamists Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) - age Mohammed Enwazi (b. 1988) - one of the world's most wanted men due to his beheading videos with ISIS John Cantlie (b. 1970) - high risk of being killed similar to previous ISIS hostages Bernie Madoff (b. 1938) - getting older, imprisoned, health problems David Attenborough (b. 1926) - age Irwin Corey (b. 1914) - extremely advanced age, UK obit questionable Mel Brooks (b. 1926) - age Desmond Morris (b. 1928) - age Roger Moore (b. 1927) - age Additional 2015 names that can't be used for 2016 due to limit of 25 names from previous list: Harper O'Hara Philips Kercheval Lee Dole Sallis Norden Michelmore Smith Adams Roberts Large Maynard Final note: If you only include a few of my suggestions, I think John Wetton, Alistair Urquhart, Jacque Fresco, Greville Janner and Michael of Romania would be five of the best picks If you want to include more, Jimmy Hill, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, George Gaynes, Clive Derby-Lewis and Stan Lee would take it up to ten I hope these ideas will be taken into consideration. Thanks