Deathrace

Emmett must be delighted.

This appears to be a new interview. I've not listened to it but others may wish to.

Had forgotten Marion Roe was still alive. Her daughter who was a former Leader of Westminster City Council and a Member of the House of Lords predeceased her several years ago.

His voice still sounds strong and he appears to still have his mental faculties. His mobility appears to potentially be an issue as he always appears to be pictured sitting these days but he doesn't appear too breathless from the COPD. Overall appears to be in better shape than many others on the list.

Is it my imagination or are two of the top 50 doppelgangers for each other?

Douglas Hurd

He's a lot heavier looking than most people in their late 90s - that's not necessarily a bad thing as he doesn't look especially frail. I see he's also got the wine glasses out based on that photo.

Surprised King Charles wasn't included.

By my reckoning 41 out of 50 are 90 or over. Probably the oldest list ever.

Who?

Starmer-Smith

What about John Hemingway, the last of "the few"? Battle of Britain pilot who is 105.

Dyson Lovell who played Samson in the same film also died this year. Current survivors are: Leonard Whiting (Romeo) - born 1950 Bruce Robinson (Benvolio & more famous for writing and directing Withnail & I) - born 1946 Keith Skinner (Balthasar) - born 1949 Michael York (Tybalt) - born 1942 Paola Tedesco (Rosaline) - born 1952

Frank McLintock was just shown on Prime watching tonight's Arsenal v Ipswich game. According to the commentator he's 85 tomorrow. Clearly still well enough to attend night matches.

Based on the photos of the wreckage, it's pretty obvious that the survivors in this crash would have been sitting towards the back of the plane as that half remains relatively intact.

Agreed. The all or nothing thing strikes me as a relatively recent aviation phenomenon and there are quite a few historic examples of a more mixed outcome. Probably in most of these cases everyone would have survived today: 1965 - United Airlines 227 - 43 died, 48 survived 1967 - CSA Flight 523 - 35 died, 34 survived 1970 - ALM Flight 980 - 23 died, 40 survived 1975 - Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450 - 79 died, 41 survived 1976 - American Airlines Flight 625 - 37 died, 51 survived 1978 - Loftleiðir Flight 001 - 183 died, 79 survived 1985 - Manchester Airport disaster - 55 died, 82 survived 1989 - Kegworth Air Disaster - 47 died, 79 survived 1989 - Korean Air 803 - 75 died, 124 survived 1990 - Avianca Flight 052 - 73 died, 85 survived 2000 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 - 83 died, 96 survived Also worth remembering that 61 people survived the worst ever peacetime aviation disaster at Tenerife in 1977.

If we are raising Boycott, I'd also propose another coffin dodging cricketing Yorkshireman, Harold "Dickie" Bird.

A recent (from March 2024) photo of Connie Francis if anyone is interested

For ABBA, I think Anni-Frid is a possible. She's definitely the frailest of the four. Also I wonder about Bjorn's health, he has lost a lot of weight in recent photos and got married recently which I wondered about. I think Agnetha and Benny both look very well for their age though and I would be surprised if either went soon. Hopefully they have all got a good while left.

Mandelson was on the weekly Times Radio podcast "How to win an election" for most of the past year. His voice is a bit croaky sometimes but he's not obviously seriously unwell.

On that theme, I think Stuart Hall would also be worth a punt.

Worth noting that the other two people (neither of whom are South African) who are name-checked in I've never met a nice South African, are both still very much alive.

Former Labour and SDP MP John Cartwright has died aged 90 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/john-cartwright-obituary-mp-who-abandoned-the-loony-left-for-the-sdp-lrwg9q883

Better candidates to retain on the list for 2025. He needs to be dropped.

I saw Michael Howard walking down the street about two weeks ago with his wife who also still looks good for her age. He looked fine but he's at an age where he could go into decline fairly quickly.