arghton

Queen Mother Sirikit of Thailand will be 90 tomorrow. Never thought she'd make it this far, considering she's been a living corpse for the last 4+ years...Remember the 86th birthday pictures? I wonder if they'll wheel her out this time.

Sister claims Kim was "seriously ill" with "high fever" at an unknown point during NK's covid outbreak, but "could not lie down for a moment thinking about the people he had to take care of until the end in the face of the anti-epidemic war": https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62501152

Updated for the death of Loiri.

Media magnate, Viacom founder, CBS boss, billionaire (and coffin tease) Sumner Redstone died on this day two years ago at 97, likely from complications of heart disease and dementia.

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani President/military dictator 2001-2008, on the DL in 2004 and 2020 (and last survivor of the 2004 DL) is 79 today.

General Elly Tumwine, (former?) Ugandan Museveni ally, major leader in the Ugandan Bush War (Commander of the National Resistance Army 1984-1987) and former Security Minister who has been involved in kidnapping opposition politicians reportedly rushed to hospital in critical condition: https://pearltimes.co.ug/ex-minister-gen-elly-tumwine-reportedly-hospitalized/

Börje Salming, Hockey Hall of Famer, Centennial All-Star Team player, named in the NHL's 100 Greatest NHL Players list has ALS. https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/a/475ARV/borje-salming-har-sjukdomen-als English source:

Vesa-Matti Loiri performing at the 60th birthday concert of schlager, country singer Kari Tapio (1945-2010) in 2005. Very creative and charismatic in this one. And probably drunk, too.

Vesa-Matti Loiri is a hit for me.

Massive name in Finland, genuinely suprised he's dead. Even though he was quite a hellraisrr and had been very slowly dying for ages, as I once mentioned in the Immortals thread: Rest in Peace. Raymond Briggs who made the story, characters for my favourite animated film and Vesa-Matti Loiri, one of my favourite actors, horrible day this far

Mary Ellin Barrett, author (wrote three novels and Irving Berlin: a Daughter's Memoir), daughter of Irving Berlin, died last month at 95: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/arts/music/mary-ellin-barrett-dead.html

Sir Miles Warren, NZ architect (Warren and Mahoney, Christchurch Town Hall) and gardener (Ohinetahi) mentioned here before, dead at 93. Also a Member of the Order of New Zealand and one of the Twelve Local Heroes of Christchurch (2004-2009). Only three are still alive, 7 have died since the project started in 2004. Living ones: Frank Dickson (ca. 1932) former Canterbury Savings Bank chief executive Sir Tipene O'Regan (1939) Maori leader, academic Sir Richard Hadlee (1951) Cricketer.

So the leaders of Soviet-era Belarus, the Byelorussian SSR, are now all dead. Two former national leaders of Belarus alive. Vyacheslav Kuznetsov and Myechyslaw Hryb. Kuznetsov is a mere 75, acting leader between Shushkevich and Hryb in 1994, couldn't find much about him. Hryb is 84 next month, still active in politics, probably going to be here for a long time and I would not be suprised if he outlived Lukashenko. (Arguably there's also Syamyon Sharetski, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet for a few months in 1996, 86 next month, now a political refugee in the US. Never really had any power, though, and not even included in Wikipedia's lists.)

Indian Bengali actor Saibal Bhattacharya critical after suicide attempt: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/bengali/bengali-actor-saibal-bhattacharya-critical-after-an-alleged-suicide-attempt/articleshow/93454604.cms

Arnold Rüütel recently hospitalised but now doing better and recovering, moving, working: https://kroonika.delfi.ee/artikkel/120047252/arnold-ruutel-oma-tervisest-mis-see-95-nii-vaga-ara-ei-ole

Akintola Williams, Nigeria's first chartered accountant, now 103: Arguably doesn't look so great here

Another interesting name I've stumbled upon: George Ali Murad Khan, last Mir of Khairpur 1947-1954. When he was 9 months old he was accidentally shot by his father (who was later declared mentally unfit), the bullet passed through his right lung and stomach, but he survived. The Friday Times article from 1947 here with a picture taken by Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971). Recent picture: There's a few similar ancients still alive, for example Mukarram Jah and Gaj Singh.

Not dead yet unfortunately, but seemingly never mentioned here before: Vera Oredsson. Swedish neonazi politician and former member of the female wing of Hitlerjugend, now 94. Massive POS, she's been active in neonazi groups since 1960, was the leader of the "Nordic Realm Party" in the 70s and has slept almost her whole life with a picture of Hitler in her room. A holocaust denialist, antisemite, antifeminist and everything else. She appeared in a documentary by NRK, the public broadcasting company of Norway, titled "Rasekrigerne" ("The Race Warriors"). The documentary was a collection of footage of demonstrations, activism and interviews from the Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi organization that Oredsson is currently a member of. In the documentary, she mourns her deceased husband Göran, who died in 2010, and says "May the führer take care of him. And if the Führer's not there, then may God take care of him." Recent article.

Shamsodin Mujtahidi Najafi (Persian wiki) died at 98 in February/March. Seems to have been a DDP pick last year.

Omar Khalid Khorasani, founding member of Pakistani Taliban and founder-leader of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (2014-2020) that later merged back into the Pakistani Taliban, dead, his car hit a roadside mine: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/08/pakistan-taliban-leader-strike-afghanistan-shiite/ He's previously "died" in 2017 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41685674) but this time his death has been confirmed by a spokesman of his group.

Discharged. Needed IV antibiotics. Now "doing fine"

Few (mostly for low-requirement pools) possibilities more... Kaikala Satyanarayana (1935-2022) Permanent tracheotomy since fall+covid+multiple organ failure+septic shock in November 2021, being kept alive with machines. Powerstar Srinivasan (1962) and Superstar Rajinikanth (1950) both hospitalised billions of times and now seemingly slightly more quiet. Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi (1945) Fat and in and out of hospital in recent years. Jayanta Mahapatra (1928-2023) Hospitalised earlier this year, ancient and ill for years. No idea how he's doing now. Ginette Reno (1946) Canadian singer, author etc, suffers from atleast two serious heart diseases. HD Deve Gowda (1933) former India Prime Minister, gone downhill fast recently. Now very ill and wheeled around with bloated legs. Bao Xishun (1951) Former World's Tallest Man, now 70. Winifred or Winnie Ann Kelley/Kelly (1923) At 3'8/111cm the "oldest little person", no 99th birthday coverage but she was still alive in December. FOTF ancients Maurice McGowan (ca. 1930) Shane's dad, obese and was battling serious health problems in 2018. Adele Ann Springsteen (1925) Bruce's mother, suffering from dementia for atleast a decade and now unable to speak. Heeraben Modi (1923-2022) Narendra's fucking ancient mother. Never mentioned here before as far as I know, but she's now 99. Sita Dahal (19xx-2023) Wife of Nepal's former Prime Minister. Human corpse who suffers from progressive supranuclear palsy and is fed through tubes. Few more Arif Sağ (1945) Turkish politician and folk musician. Obese, lung cancer in 2016, brain tumor in 2017. William Labov (1927) "Father of sociolinguistics", old age, retired in 2015. Iskandar Jalil (1940) Singapore ceramist, stage 4 prostate cancer in 2014. Alan Jones (1941/1943) Australian radio presenter and asshole. Has survived skin cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, blood clots and pulmonary embolisms, operations, near-fatal e coli infection, septic shock, swollen knee, everything. Olu Jacobs (1942) Nigerian actor and "elder statesman of Nollywood", rumored dead in 2021, lewy body dementia. And tossing Rafiq Nishonov (Uzbek SSR leader, predecessor of Islam Karimov, 96) and Nizoramo Zaripova (Tajik SSR leader, 98) here again. Here are pictures of both from last year:

Only three living from drol's original list posted in April 2021: Nascimento, Karlic and Wamala. Nascimento is now the oldest cardinal, but for how long? (And the last cardinal who was too old to vote in the 2005 conclave)

Ezekiel Alebua Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands 1986-1989 dead at 74/75 after long battle with difficult health issues. Sir Francis Billy Hilly* is now the oldest and earliest living former Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands. *Not Francis Hilly Billy. But Michael Hardie Boys is still Hardie Boys, not Boys Hardie.

Vesa-Matti Loiri hospitalised four days ago "after months of deteriorating health". Sounds serious.