Great Uncle Bulgaria

Boybands (exemplified by the 5 pretty boys sat in a row type like Westlife and Boyzone, but the lot of 'em really, going back to the bay city rollers) Anybody connected to Simon Cowell or Louis Walsh Any music produced by girl pop stars whose principal/sole talent lies in pouting in their undies in videos - Cheryl, Ariana and dozens of others in between (The videos themselves can stay, albeit on mute) 95% of reggae music 99% of disco music 100% of house music spice girls anything elton john has done in the last 40 years anything cliff richard has done in the last 60 years ..and Mud's Lonely this Christmas, which kept our 'Wombling Merry Christmas' from being the seasonal no 1 in 1974, and which rankles to this day.

My MP, Layla Moran (LD). Usually wears unflatteringly thick specs but is an attractive woman (and a good MP)

Toni Basil - don't want no body

Better (17 months) late than never, here's my thirty to go... 1. Clive James dead 27/11/19 2. Bill Wyman 3. Susan Maughan 4. Roger Hunt dead 11/21 5. George Cohen dead 12/22 6. Buzz Aldrin 7. Sean Connery dead 8. Warren Buffett 9. John Leyton 10. Michael Caine 11. Petula Clark 12. Jim Dale 13. John Cleese 14. Little Richard dead 9/5/20 15. Dion DiMucci 16. Julie Andrews 17. Woody Allen 18. Donald Sutherland 19. Ian McKellen 20. Maggie Smith 21. Valerie Harper dead 30/8/19 22. Barry Briggs 23. Ove Fundin 24. Bjorn Knutsson 25. Little Richard replaced by Jerry Lee Lewis 11/8/20 having belatedly realised I picked LR twice! dead 28/10/22 26. Sophia Loren 27. Mikhail Gorbachev - dead 8/22 28. Andrew Parker Bowles 29. Richard Bonynge 30. Tommy Steele Thanks GUB

OK here goes. Went for people who I'd heard of before I came anywhere near this site, until I got to number 40 and remembered the object of the exercise. In case anyone looks unfamiliar, 1-7 are footballers, 8-18 are male pop/rock stars, 19-26 are fanciable women (sorry, singers and actresses) of the late 60s and early 70s, 27-30 are athletes, 31-33 are former international speedway riders, 34-36 are UK politicians. 1. Nobby Stiles - dead 29/10/20 2. Martin Peters - dead 21/12/19 3. Peter Lorimer - dead 3/21 4. Charlie Cooke 5. Alan Mullery 6. Tony Brown 7. Jimmy Greaves dead 19/9/21 8. Billy J Kramer 9. Don Powell 10. Colin Blunstone 11. Mike Batt 12. Brian Bennett 13, Roy Wood 14. Pete Budd 15. Cliff Richard 16. Andy Kim 17. Andy Scott 18. Gary Glitter 19. Julie Driscoll 20. Francesca Annis 21. Gabrielle Drake 22. Sandie Shaw 23. Judy Geeson 24. Sally Carr 25. Melanie Safka dead 23/1/24 26. Olivia Newton-John - dead 10/8/22 27. Ian McCafferty 28. Ian Stuart 29. Heide Rosendahl 30. David Bedford 31. Anders Michanek 32. Terry Betts 33. Ole Olsen 34. David Blunkett 35. Virginia Bottomley 36. David Mellor 37. Joni Mitchell 38. Prince Michael of Kent 39. Princess Michael of Kent 40. Kathleen Blanco. - dead 19/8/19 Thanks GUB

I wanted it to be one of those can join any time pools for those who missed out on the major dead pools, hence why I revealed my team now. You can join anytime if you want. This game looks fun. Does 'join at any time' run to '17 months after everyone else started' by any chance?

Took other half to see (ahem) Michael Buble the other night. Not really my thing but he's quite charismatic and does what he does pretty well, if you like that sort of thing. audience loved him although he lost them for a bit in the middle, told an anecdote about visiting Bournemouth and made a few mildly off colour remarks about old people which were received in silence - after all this time doesn't seem to have noticed that his fan base are not edgy teenagers but their parents (and in some ases grandparents). He got tham back on side well before the end though. Reasonable night out but given I had to pay Viagogo £350 for a pair of tickets won't be doing it again. In his 40s now and filling out a bit but obviously not going to be of interest to us professionally for decades.

Sorry yes, know who he is too, but none of the others...

Yes, well done Toast, you win. The other hit was indeed the Stones' Ruby Tuesday and the successful British MOR band with two number ones that also had a minor hot with one of her songs was the New Seekers with 'Look what they've done to my song, Ma'.

congrats Clorox. ~and thank you for saving me wasting half an hour of my life indulging my curiosity by looking up all those people I've never heard of (barring bracknell and Ricksen) who everyone else chose...

The American singer song-writer is a woman

kathleen blanco

And Emma Watson is indeed sufficiently drop dead gorgeous to play any role she chooses. She's in my 5 permissible infidelities (see 'Friends' episodes passim) along with Jenna Coleman, Madame Cholet, Anna Friel and Katharina Johnson-Thompson (scouse accent notwithstanding).

Saw Rocket Man (Elton John biog) today. Self-indulgent film about self-confessed drama queen, redeemed by the quality of his (1970s) musical output. His mother, father and long time manager/boyfriend all come out of it badly, presumably all are dead now so they can't sue.. Executive co-producer (and husband) David Furnish stopped the film in the early-mid 90s, just before his own entry onto the scene. This also conveniently saved him having to court controversy by including anything about Princess Diana.

the singer songwriter is American

BBC website has nothing about the death of prize-winning author, however it does have stories on the deaths of 'Internet sensation' grumpy cat and a blonde former WWE wrestler and playboy cover girl with large breasts. Skewed priorities?

This singer-songwriter only had 2 UK top ten hits - one of which was ironically a cover version (of an album track by one of the top 3 most successful bands ever). This act's biggest hit made the top 5, but was subsequently an even bigger hit in a parody version by someone else. Another of their compositions was a minor hit for a UK MOR group that had a couple of number ones during a chart career lasting several years. Name the singer-songwriter and their biggest UK hit.

National Enquirer True. Oggi Oggi Oggi, burn burn burn!

Saw Tolkien film this afternoon. Very little in it for LOTR geeks to get excited about. Mainly a coming of age drama about JRRT and three of his oxbridge chums growing up in the run up to the first world war. Only uncertainty was guessing which of them were going to get killed in the trenches. Rather like chariots of fire, personally had little connection with any of these upper class oxbridge types so didn't get too upset at the outcome. Lead actor (can't be bothered to look up who) looked disconcertingly like a young John Redwood. Lily Collins as his love interest was rather cute - if not quite up there with Jenna Coleman (or Madame Cholet, obviously).

Saw Red Joan today (about spy Melita Norwood). Quite enjoyed it, although it wasn't not entirely sure whether it was a cold war drama or a comedy at times. Tom Hughes had exactly the same haircut, accent and vocal mannerisms as he does as Prince Albert in Victoria. Shame the scrumptious Jenna Coleman (only reason I watch Victoria) wasn't in it, got pictures of her all over the burrow.

Olivia De Havilland

rideric Handel Georg Frederic could no longer handel life, so went to meet his Messiah this day in 1759, aged 74.

1. J-l Trintignant 2. Ruth Bader Ginsburg 3. Kathleen Blanco 4. Herman Wouk 5.Nobby Stiles 6. Leslie phillips 7. Stirling Moss 8.Bernard Cribbins 9. Jackie stallone 12.Michael Schumacher 13. Jimmy Greaves 14.Frank Williams (Vicar) 15. Kirk Douglas 16. Rosalind Carter 17. Jimmy Tarbuck 18Tommy Banner 19.Mike Batt 20. Roberta McCain 21. Des O'Connor Subs Richard Bonynge Vera Lynn Martin Peters Thanks for running, GUB

Saw Garfunkel live last night. Was on stage for about hour and a quarter, with a 15 minute break in the middle. His son (!) had a solo in each half and there were anecdotes or poetry (!!) between most songs. Lost his thread with the talking a couple of times and looked a bit frail. However when he started singing most of the voice was still there and there were enough magical moments to make it a worthwhile and moving evening. We only got 2 verses of bridge over troubled waters but sounds of silence and bright eyes were both great. Anyone who can still sing like that isn't about to keel over but would guess he won't be touring much longer. Not one for 2020 but I saw contemporaries the Stones last year and he was much frailer than any of them. 2022-3 would be my guess.

Saw Garfunkel live last night. Was on stage for about hour and a quarter, with a 15 minute break in the middle. His son (!) had a solo in each half and there were anecdotes or poetry (!!) between most songs. Lost his thread with the talking a couple of times and looked a bit frail. However when he started singing most of the voice was still there and there were enough magical moments to make it a worthwhile and moving evening. We only got 2 verses of bridge over troubled waters but sounds of silence and bright eyes were both great. Anyone who can still sing like that isn't about to keel over but would guess he won't be touring much longer. Not one for 2020 but I saw contemporaries the Stones last year and he was much frailer than any of them. 2022-3 would be my guess.