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King Bhumibol Adulyadej died on this day 6 years ago, aged 88. Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as his father, prince Mahidol Adulyadej, was enrolled in the public health program at Harvard. He is the only Thai monarch so far to have been born in the US. In 1946, Bhumibol became king after his brother Ananda Mahidol was found shot dead in his bed under suspicious circumstances. At this time, Bhumibol was a student at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, so his uncle was appointed as regent until he graduated. Bhumibol married his first cousin once removed Sirikit in 1950, and was coronated on May 5 of that year. His regnal name is also known as "Rama IX", as he is the ninth monarch of the Chakri dynasty. Bhumibol had little power in his early reign, as Thailand was under military rule at the time. It wasn't until 1992 that Thailand would begin to undergo a transition towards democracy- fearing a civil war after the military killed pro-democracy protesters, Bhumibol appeared on TV with the leaders of both factions kneeling before him, leading to unity amongst the population and a peaceful general election that year. In 2011, WikiLeaks leaked information that Bhumibol was suffering from Parkinson's disease, and the monarch was hospitalized with a colon infection that year- he debuted on the 2012 DeathList at spot 11. Bhumibol would intermittently travel to and from the hospital in the following years, earning him two more appearances on the list in 2015 and 2016. In September of 2016, Bhumibol developed a fever from inflammation of the lung. The infection later spread to his blood, eventually causing acute hepatitis and sepsis. Bhumibol was placed on a ventilator on October 9, and died four days later. He had reigned for 70 years.

Sacha Baron Cohen is 51.

Considering three people who were on my original hypothetical list have already died, here's Hypothetical DeathList 2023 v2: 1. Rolf Harris (93- Four Little Girls; NEW) 2. June Spencer (104- Peggy Woolley; NEW) 3. Henry Kissinger (100- Diplomat; 2) 4. Glynis Johns (100- Actress; NEW) 5. Bob Barker (100- The Price is Right; 4) 6. Jimmy Carter (99- Ex US President; 9) 7. Leslie Phillips (99 - Comedy Actor; 19) 8. Nigel Starmer-Smith (79- Rugby Commentator; 6) 9. Eva Marie Saint (99- Actress; NEW) 10. Alan Greenspan (97- Economist; 5) 11. Tony Bennett (97- Crooner; 10) 12. Harry Belafonte (96- Singer; 13) 13. Dick Van Dyke (98- Actor; 1) 14. Mel Brooks (97- Comedian / Director; 14) 15. Joanne Woodward (93- Actress; -) 16. Pope Benedict XVI (96- Former Pope; -) 17. Rob Burrow (41- Rugby player; NEW) 18. Stanley Baxter (97- Comedian; 35) 19. David Graham (98- Voice Actor; NEW) 20. Jacques Delors (98- French Politician; 30) 21. Rosalynn Carter (96- Ex-FLOTUS; 20) 22. George Alagiah (68- Newscaster; NEW) 23. David Attenborough (97- Broadcaster and Natural Historian; 17) 24. Gudrun Ure (97- Super Gran; NEW) 25. Barbara Walters (94- Broadcast Journalist; -) 26. Noam Chomsky (95- Intellectual; 37) 27. Sandy Gall (96- TV news reporter; 21) 28. Burt Bacharach (95- Singer songwriter; 34) 29. James Watson (95- Casually racist geneticist; NEW) 30. Cleo Laine (96- Jazz Singer; 27) 31. Pele (83- Footballer; 41) 32. James Whale (72- Broadcaster; 26) 33. Bobby Charlton (86- Footballer; 16) 34. Tom Lehrer (95- Comedic Singer; NEW) 35. Jerry Lee Lewis (88- Rocker; 29) 36. Winnie Ewing (94- Scottish Politician; NEW) 37. James Earl Jones (92- Vader's Voice; NEW) 38. Bob Newhart (94- Comedian; -) 39. Shannen Doherty (52- 90210 Actor; -) 40. Milan Kundera (94- Author; 46) 41. Linda Nolan (64- Nolan Sister; -) 42. Norman Tebbit (92- Politician; 39) 43. Thelma Barlow (94- Corrie's Mavis Wilton; NEW) 44. Ted Kaczynski (81- Unabomber; 23) 45. Ted Turner (85- CNN Founder/Captain Planet; NEW) 46. Buzz Aldrin (93- Moonwalker; NEW) 47. Nigel Lawson (91- UK Politician; -) 48. Rex Williams (90- Snooker player; -) 49. Yoko Ono (90- Mrs Lennon; -) 50. Vladimir Putin (71- Khuylo; NEW) If 2022 holdover dies- Jean-Marie Le Pen joins If potential debuter dies- either Constantine II of Greece, Doddie Weir, or William Russell joins

Dick Cheney: The Hunting Song (2006)

Jay Ward died on this day 33 years ago, aged 69. In 1950, Ward and his friend Alex Anderson made their first show, Crusader Rabbit. Starring Lucille Bliss as the voice of the title character, it was the first cartoon developed exclusively for television, and ran until 1952. Ward and Anderson would end up losing the rights to the character after Jerry Fairbanks, Inc. went bankrupt and was bought out. In 1959, Ward made his most enduring creation- moose and squirrel show called Rocky and Bullwinkle. It was a segmented show that featured two other notable Ward cartoons- Dudley Do-Right, about an incompetent Canadian mountie trying to save a damsel in distress, and Peabody's Improbable History, about a dog and his adopted human son travelling back in time to meet historical figures. It ran until 1964, and all three segments had film adaptations made later on (in 2000, 1999, and 2014 respectively). In 1962, Ward leased an island in Minnesota, and dubbed it "Moosylvania", after Bullwinkle's home. He travelled around the country petitioning for Moosylvania's statehood, and went to Washington, DC to get president Kennedy's support- unfortunately, they went there the day the Cuban Missile Crisis began, and were forced away from the White House at gunpoint. Ward would continue to make shows in the 1960s, with Hoppity Hooper first airing in 1964, and the more-remembered George of the Jungle in 1967. In addition, Ward designed the mascot for Cap'n Crunch cereal. Ward died from kidney cancer.

Josh Hutcherson, known for his roles as Peeta in The Hunger Games and Walter in Zathura, is 30.

RIP. I'll always remember her as the voice of Mrs. Potts. I'm going to assume that the headline is going to be "Death, We Write", or something like that.

Murderer and war criminal Erich Priebke died on this day 9 years ago, aged 100. In 1944, Priebke was the commander of the unit responsible for the Ardeatine massacre, in which 335 Italian civilians were murdered. Like a lot of Nazis, Priebke fled to Argentina when World War II ended to escape the consequences of his actions. Fifty years later in 1994, an investigative team from ABC News tracked him down after reading about the massacre, from a locally-written book about the event stating that stated he lived in the city of Bariloche. The team found him at the school he was then employed at, and he confessed to his actions with no remorse- saying that "he was just following orders". Following this, Priebke was placed under house arrest, and was extradited to Italy in 1996. In 1998, Priebke was sentenced to life imprisonment- given his age and health, he remained under house arrest. Priebke debuted on the DeathList in 2010, making four consecutive appearances until his death, and his death ended a three-month drought period (one of the instances of a death worth celebrating). Priebke's body was buried in a secret location to prevent his grave from becoming a Neo-Nazi pilgrimage site.

Comedian and radio personality Artie Lange is 55. In terms of acting, he's best known as the fake Santa from Elf.

Orson Welles died on this day 37 years ago, aged 70. On Halloween Eve in 1938, Welles broadcast an episode of his show The Mercury Theatre on the Air- that week was a play-by-play adaptation of HG Wells' The War of the Worlds. Although Welles repeatedly stated during the broadcast that the events taking place were fictional, many listeners either did not tune in when Welles made said announcements, or believed that the "alien" invaders were Nazi Germans, and not extraterrestrials. This led to mass panic. In 1941, Welles directed, produced, co-wrote, and starred in the film Citizen Kane. The film was nominated for nine Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, and is nowadays considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. Welles would continue to make films until 1974. During the 1940s, Welles was also known for his marriage to Rita Hayworth (they married in 1943, and divorced in 1947, having a daughter together). Welles recorded his lines as the voice of Unicron (one of the main villains of the film) for Transformers: The Movie five days before his death, and it was reported that his "voice was apparently so weak by the time he made his recording that technicians needed to run it through a synthesizer to salvage it". Welles died of a heart attack.

David Lee Roth, "the other guy who's singing in Van Halen", is 68. (For those who don't get the reference)

Alec Douglas-Home died on this day 27 years ago, aged 92. Douglas-Home would first be elected to Parliament in 1931. He was defeated by Tom Steele in the 1945 election, but beat him in a rematch election in 1950. He inherited his father's seat in the House of Lords upon his death in 1951, and would be its leader from 1957 to 1960. In 1963, Harold Macmillan resigned as prime minister due to health concerns, and Douglas-Home was elected as the leader of the conservative party (defeating Macmillan's wanted successor Lord Hailsham). Four days into his ministry, he renounced his peerage to be elected to the House of Commons. He attended the funeral of John F. Kennedy during his ministry, and in 1964, foiled the plans of some university-aged attempted kidnappers by giving them beer. Douglas-Home and the Conservatives narrowly lost to the Labour Party in 1964, and Harold Wilson succeeded him as PM. He would step down from parliament in 1974, but was awarded a life peerage later that year, reclaiming his earldom. Douglas-Home would make two consecutive appearances on the DeathList, both at number 46, and was the sixth hit of 1995.

Brian Blessed is 86.

Here's the half I'd say are most likely to stay on the list: Age (96+ in 2023): 1. Dick Van Dyke (98 in December) 2. Henry Kissinger (100 in May) 3. Angela Lansbury (98 in October) 4. Bob Barker (100 in December) 5. Alan Greenspan (97 in March) 6. Jimmy Carter (99 in October) 7. Tony Bennett (97 in August) 8. Harry Belafonte (96 in March) 9. Mel Brooks (97 in June) 10. David Attenborough (97 in April) 11. Leslie Phillips (99 in April) 12. Rosalynn Carter (96 in August) 13. Sandy Gall (96 in October) 14. Cleo Laine (96 in October) 15. Jacques Delors (98 in July) 16. Stanley Baxter (97 in May) Terminal Disease 17. Nigel Starmer-Smith (Alzheimer's) 18. Ted Kaczynski (Unspecified cancer) 19. James Whale (Stage 4 kidney cancer) 20. Pele (Colon cancer) 21. Milan Kundera (Reported heart failure) Frail and/or Nonagenarian Fodder 22. Jerry Lee Lewis 23. Burt Bacharach 24. Noam Chomsky 25. Norman Tebbit

Franklin Pierce died on this day 153 years ago, aged 64. Pierce was the son of future New Hampshire governor Benjamin Pierce. The younger Pierce was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1828, and to the US House in 1832. Pierce would later be elected as a senator in 1836, resigning in 1842. Pierce would later serve in the Mexican-American War, and was notably injured when his horse fell into a ditch after being startled, falling on him. Pierce was nominated as a "dark horse" candidate when James C. Dobbin endorsed him during the 1852 Democratic National Convention, winning 254-42 in the electoral vote count. The 1852 election was the final election in which a Whig Party candidate would run. Despite being a northerner, Pierce was against the abolitionist movement, passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 in which the newly-created Kansas and Nebraska Territories could decide whether slavery would be legal or not. This led to a period of violence within the territories, in which up to 200 were killed- now known as "Bleeding Kansas". This disenfranchised northern Democrats, and in 1856, they nominated James Buchanan for president instead of the incumbent Pierce. During his post-presidency, Pierce took a pacifist stance during the Civil War, but also criticized Abraham Lincoln for the suspension of habeas corpus. Pierce was an avid drinker and died of cirrhosis of the liver. During his college years, Pierce befriended The Scarlet Letter author Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was present when he died while they were visiting the White Mountains in New Hampshire in 1864.

R L Stine, author of the Goosebumps childrens' horror series, is 79.

Emperor Juntoku of Japan died on this day 780 years ago, aged 44. Born as Prince Morinari, Juntoku was the son of emperor Go-Toba. In 1198, his father abdicated in favor of his big brother Tsuchimikado, and he did the same in favor of Juntoku in 1210. In 1221, Juntoku's father invited several warriors from Kyoto to a festival searching for allies, and one was killed when they revealed their loyalty to the shogunate over the empire. Eastern Japan then began to rebel, and Go-Toba went to fight against the Hojo clan- he failed, and he and his sons were exiled. Juntoku was forced to abdicate the throne, and his child son Chukyo became emperor- his reign lasted only two months. Juntoku would live on Sado Island (west of the city of Niigata) for the remaining 21 years of his life, and is interred in a mausoleum there.

Adolf Hitler Vladimir Putin is 70. Hoping that his cake tastes like the one he gave to Alexander Litvinenko.

Bette Davis died on this day 33 years ago, aged 81. Davis started off on Broadway, and began acting in Hollywood films beginning in 1931. She was chosen for her film debut, Bad Sister, due to a cinematographer finding her eyes "lovely". From there, Davis would receive ten Oscar nominations for Best Actress, winning two with Dangerous and Jezebel. Davis would act until shortly before her death. In 1981, Kim Carnes released the song "Bette Davis Eyes". The song stayed at the number 1 spot on the Billboard chart for nine weeks, and won the Record of the Year award. Upon hearing the song, Davis wrote Carnes and the songwriters, thanking them for "bringing her into modern times", stating that her grandson also enjoyed it. Davis would also send them roses after the song won several Grammy awards. In 1983, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the resulting surgery caused several strokes that left the left side of her face (and her left arm) paralyzed- but she persisted. The cancer returned in 1989, this time fatally. Davis appeared on the inaugural DeathList 1987 at the number 27 spot... however, she made two posthumous appearances in 1992 and 1994. No idea how it took five years to notice she was dead (even in early Internet days).

Melvyn Bragg, broadcaster, documentarian, and screenwriter for the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, is 83.

Byzantine emperor Justin II died on this day 1444 years ago, aged 58. Justin became emperor in 565 following the death of his uncle, Justinian I (the Great). The empire was nearly bankrupt due to Justinian's policy of paying off enemies, so Justin ended the truce settled with the Avars to the north that was made in 558. The ending of payments to the Sassanian Persian Empire led to war in 572, in which their king, Khosrow I, captured the Byzantine fort of Dara. Shortly after this, Justin began to go slightly mad. He reportedly "behaved like a wild animal", bit people near him (there is a rumor that he ATE two people) required to be wheeled around on a mobile throne, and wished for loud organ music to be played 24/7. By 574, Justin realized his insanity, and acceded his adoptive son Tiberius II as his regent. Justin would promote Tiberius to emperor nine days before his death.

Steve Miller is 79.

Decided to use Chrome's "Inspect" tool in an attempt to write an obit before anyone complains. You too, can do this if you know HTML (it'll only appear on that one tab and revert to normal when you refresh the page).

I've previously suggested "Coal Miner's Rotter".