VSBfromH

Sir James Black The Scottish pharmacologist, credited with inventing beta-blockers, has died aged 85. He won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1988.

What a stupid tw@t! 'Murderer Who Wrote Boasting Letter Executed ... In his letter Powell wrote: "Since I have already been indicted on first degree murder and the Va. Supreme Court said that I can't be charged with capital murder again, I figured I would tell you the rest of what happened on Jan. 29, 1999, to show you how stupid all of y'all ... are." He then went on to give more details about his crimes before concluding: "I guess I forgot to mention these events when I was being questioned. Ha Ha! Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid ... and saving me?" ' Touchée, and good riddance!

Architects of their own downfall? 3 renowned skyscraper architects, Frank Williams, Bruce Graham and Der Scutt have all died this month.

WTF?!!! "Mooing cattle rustler dies" My favourite part of the article: "Nzube was arrested in Ngoma Village, under chief Marupi, in a police operation code-named Inkomo Wazithatha Ngaphi (Where Did You Get The Cattle?)". Bonkers! Another reason why Zimbabwe doesn't feature on my list of planned holiday destinations.

She actually composed the song "Love Song" on which she duetted with Sir Reg. "The version on Tumbleweed Connection remains one of the few songs to appear on a formal Elton John studio album composed solely by someone other than John and Bernie Taupin, one of their collaborators or a member of the band" (according to Wikipedia).

Mission Oveur!

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 81 is reportedly recovering well following heart surgery in Germany. Or maybe not.

Micky Jones, guitarist with Welsh progressive rockers Man has died aged 63, look you!

Whatever happened to Corey Haim? At last we have the answer!

Ah, he was competing in the High Peak Marathon. I heard the news of his prang on the radio and was wondering what the hell he would be doing on the A6 in Stockport! Funnily enough, Iraq veteran Phil Packer was being interviewed on Radio 5 on Saturday morning about the Sport Relief 3 Peaks challenge he was undertaking with Sirs Steve Redgrave and Clive Woodward. He mentioned that he had wanted a third "Sir" which would have been Fiennes, but he had replied that he would not be able to take part due to it being his birthday on Sunday and he would have to be at home with his family. Maybe that's why he was in such a hurry (or maybe he didn't like the look of Stockport!)? Latest report is that he may have "dozed off" at the wheel.

Rumours are about that Westergaard has been killed in a fire, but nothing to back this up other than this report from a Pakistani newspaper quoting an Arabic one.

Who will inherit the title of "oldest swinger in town" now that Fred Wedlock has died?

This link from The Times rather unfortunately shows the following quote as a "comment" on the same page: "He's everything we are supposed to dislike. He’s a squatter, a gypsy, a drug-pusher and a wastrel" I thought that seemed a bit harsh until I realised it was a link to a completely different story!

Winston Churchill Not quite as famous as his granddad! ... apologies for the repeat post. Didn't see the original amongst all the Kristian Digby banter!

Chilly B Obviously a distant cousin of Derek (see above), the former member of Newcleus has died aged 47 following a stroke. The fruit-preserve obsessed group had hits in the 80s with the extremely irritating "Jam On Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song)" and "Jam On It".

BBC obit Damn! He was on my DDP shortlist!

Rosa Rein is no more. She was No.13 on the "world's oldest" list, Switzerland's oldest person AND could claim to be the oldest person born in Germany AND Poland, having been born in Dzietzkowitz/Dziećkowice which was at that time part of Germany but is now in Poland. Stay awake at the back!

Doug Fieger The lead singer of one hit wonders "The Knack" has died of cancer at the age of 57. Points for 6 teams on the DDP when the appropriate obits arrive! That brings to mind one of Mark Lamarr's better quips on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" when discussing said band. He referred to an article which had been put out around the time of their big hit "My Sharona" which said something like "The Knack - are they the next Beatles?". "I don't see any bands around called 'The Bootleg Knack'! ".

Former Chelsea and Yugoslavia keeper Petar Borota has died aged 56. Also a tribute here. Borota was famed for his eccentricity, often dribbling the ball out of his penalty area and taking on opposing players. Despite, or because of, this, he was a huge hit with the Chelsea fans and was voted their player of the year in 1981. He joined Chelsea from Partizan Belgrade and clocked up 114 matches for the London club.

Celebrated Russian diva Irina Arkhipova, a regular in productions at the Bolshoi for decades, has died aged 85.

Albert Booth has died aged 81. MP for Barrow in Furness from 1966 to 1983, and served Secretary of State for Employment from 1976 to 1979 under Sunny Jim.

Are they 100%, absolutely, categorically, unswervingly sure? I'll swear that chap in the pic is the guy in Eastenders who used to be a Postman...

Leonard Cohen postpones European tour by six months However, before you all get too excited, apparently he's done his back in.

Franco Ballerini "Italy cycling coach Franco Ballerini has died after an accident in a rally car ... The 45-year-old, who picked the Italy teams for the Olympics and cycling's annual world championships, was a successful rider himself winning the Paris-Roubaix classic twice"