Great Uncle Bulgaria

I would have complained about non- famous people being on the list :-). Gary Burgess was not famous, even in death. Deborah James only got the saturation coverage because she was a BBC staffer and the BBC always thinks news about itself and its people is the most important thing in the world (look at the site today, a war in Europe, a new PM being chosen, the economy tanking and it leads with Vanessa Feltz leaving her job!). The fact that she was relatively young and pretty probably helped. I'd never heard of George Perez until 7m ago but I appreciate he may have been famous in America. The main list should have genuinely famous people, even if not many of them die.

Tom Lehrer

I'll play again too.

Interesting criterion for determining a new prime minister. I can think of a lot of people whose bosoms need examining (by me), but none of them are Tory politicians.

Just realised I had Frank Williams here, obit https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/26/frank-williams-obituary

Surely Sunak and Truss are the two with the most name awareness and have to be the early favourites. Think the fact that both Sunak and his wife are filthy rich will make it hard to sell him as a man of the people in red wall seats. Voted Truss but it will probably be whoever Murdoch wants.

Interesting that most of this list's differential over the main list is made up of people who are common picks but (I suspect) failed the fame criteria for the latter Susie Steiner is so famous she doesn't even have a wikipedia page Elford had a GP career lasting 13 races, accruing 8 points, about 55 years ago (thanks wikipedia) Trintignant may have been part of the furniture here for 2-3 years but is hardly a household name (outside France and DL forums) Perez might be famous if you read Marvel comics, but would bet if you asked 100 people in the Uk who he was at least 99 would have no idea Vitti I had heard of before I came on here but how many could name more than one of her films without looking it up?

So as it seems Susie Steiner has also died without my noticing until now, I shall practice what I preach and replace her with Jane Morgan.

I need to replace George Perez too. Someone called Mike Davis who I had never heard of until 5 minutes ago seems to be a sure thing (at least, 3 people who know far more about deadpooling than I do seem to think so) so I'd better have him please. The opportunity for people like me to do this seems to be a bit of a design flaw in this pool. (Un?)fortunately it seems to have ground to a halt anyway so it doesn't really matter. Having made my point I shall return to my normal practice of picking old pop stars, opera singers and people from Tv programmes I used to watch in the 1970s (and not picking people I've never heard of).

Cannan in for Trintignant please

I had Frank Williams here https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/frank-williams-death-cause-dads-army-b2109798.html

Frank Williams (TV vicar) obit https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/frank-williams-death-cause-dads-army-b2109798.html

Out Christian Eriken Jenna Jameson Lajos Miller In John Cannan Andy Goram David Jason And I had Frank Williams (actor) here..... https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/frank-williams-death-cause-dads-army-b2109798.html

Leading the Cheers by Justin Cartwright Continuing my series of random Costa prize winners purchased with a Christmas book token. Enjoyed this. It's mildly comic with a lot of perceptive insights into the human condition. Centred around a Brit's school reunion in America (where he went to school for 2-3 years while growing up), not that much happens - and some of what does is rather far fetched - but I enjoyed the ride nevertheless. Surprised it won prizes but it;s a massive improvement upon 'How ot be Both' (which I hated, see above). Worth acquiring for your 'to read' pile, if not necessarily fast-tracking to the top of it.

Cha cha real smooth. A rom com of sorts. Had never heard of lead man (Cooper something) before but he looks like a young David Tennant so may appeal to certain of you for differing reasons. At one time the plot threatens to go in a Graduate-type direction but ultimately doesn't really end up going anywhere. The cougar mother is Dakota Johnson, whom I had only previously encountered when being dragged to see two of the 50 shades films at the cinema by GAB. The good news is she's still gorgeous (unfeasibly so for someone who has spent the last 17 years bringing up an autistic daughter solo) and has also learned to act a bit. The bad news - for people like me at least - is that she is now sufficiently well known not to have to take her clothes off at regular intervals (or indeed at all in this case). Not awful but probably one for couples only.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/05/13/teresa-berganza-sultry-voiced-mezzo-soprano-revered-portrayal/ Forgot I had Teresa Berganza here, posted obit in DDP thread at the time but not here.

Well done Drol.

Yes, but that was the right thing to do, he was dead man walking in the polls for the last 2-3 years of his premiership and with hindsight you can see why he held on in the hope of good news coming from somewhere. He was also facing a young and charismatic labour leader. The tories despite everything still aren't buried. Starmer is seen as dull, uncharismatic and not obvious PM material. The next 12m is going to be bad economically but if inflation starts to slip back in a year's time I think they'll look to cut and run, maybe as early as autumn 2023. The Ukraine war still has some spanners to throw into the works as well, economically and politically. The Russians are slowly but surely winning on the ground. The hawkish posturing has played well so far, but soon Boris or his successor is going to have to weigh up the options of getting more heavily involved or pressurising Zelensky into accepting a settlement in which Russia takes the Donbas and most of Ukraine'ss southern coast. Whichever option he chooses might not play well with the public (or, more politically importantly, Rupert Murdoch, who as ever will tell the public what to think).

Just finished 'How to be Both' by Ali Smith. Not a good book. Can't believe how this nonsense won several prizes in 2015, unless they wanted to tick a box or two and a couple of stories about lesbians fitted the virtue-signalling criteria. Actually, 'stories' is putting it a bit strongly. The two stories are tenuously connected (one concerns a 16yo girl who spends much time looking at a painting done by the subject of the other story several hundred years previously). The two tales can apparently be read either way round, I read the 21st century one first and it worked OK that way. The first story (a 21st century girl grieving for her recently departed mother) is remarkably uneventful, a schoolfriend comes round and they have a series of conversations that might conceivably be had by pretentious drama students but certainly not by 99% of 16 year old girls in the UK. The schoolfriend makes a couple of passes at her, to which she doesn't respond. The second story involves a girl dressing up as a man to pursue a career as a painter, while having lots of lesbian sex whenever the opportunity arises - pausing only for a brief encounter with an infidel who she passes on the road, pausing only to administer a blow job (as you do) and goes on her way after 10 minutes. At least I think she does, these stories (particularly the second one) use such verbose and obscure prose that it's never 100% clear exactly what's going on. There are also a lot of very long and tedious descriptions of paintings. There is a lack of punctuation throughout, both stories are written in a stream of consciousness style rather than in any structured format and the first - and last - few pages of the second story are not laid out conventionally on the page but in the shape of forked lightning. How achingly clever. I'm not averse to a spot of literary pretension - I possess books of Wilde poetry, for example - but this farrago is just a step too far.

welcome.

Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok

Was it a porn film?

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166014/ Does imdb count as a QO? (Still hunting one for the 'dead in Feb' Rene Clemencic)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/05/13/teresa-berganza-sultry-voiced-mezzo-soprano-revered-portrayal/ Spanish mezzo Teresa Berganza dead, sadly. Still, every cloud has a silver lining - in this case points for The Fat Lady's Singing.

Congrats Joey. Personally v happy with top of the 4th quartile (the FGR of the forum).