VSBfromH

Sir Jackie Stewart's older brother Jimmy, also a former F1 driver, has died aged 76

George McDonald Fraser, author of the "Flashman" novels, has died aged 82.

Journalist and broadcaster Shelley Rohde has died aged 74

Motherwell's captain Phil O'Donnell has collapsed and died during their match against Dundee United. Early link here. More details to come no doubt.

Producer Frank Capra Jr, son of the famous director of the same name, has died aged 73

"... at Scrabble", "... at dancing sideways like a crab", maybe the quote was edited?

Ike Turner has died

One of Manchester United's "Busby Babes", John Doherty, who "made 26 appearances for the club, scoring seven goals, before retiring at the age of just 23 with a chronic knee injury" has died aged 72.

Ira Levin, author whose works included " A Kiss Before Dying", "Rosemary's Baby," "The Boys From Brazil" and "The Stepford Wives," has died aged 78.

Within a month, her husband of 47 years has followed her: Hollywood scriptwriter Peter Viertel has died aged 86. "Among his most famed screenplays were that of African Queen and his adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Viertel adapted his own novel White Hunter Black Heart for the screen in 1990"

Washoe the signing chimp has died aged 42 Please note: that's "signing", not "singing"! She was "one of the first [chimps] to learn American Sign Language when, in 1966, University of Nevada researchers Allen and Beatrix Gardner began teaching Washoe to sign. Washoe ... would eventually acquire a vocabulary purported to consist of more than 200 words" God, that takes me back to my Linguistics classes!

Ray Gravell Yes, I know it's been posted in the Andy Ripley thread, but this guy was a legend and deserves better than to be consigned to the "extra-curricular" area!

Nobel laureate and DNA pioneer Arthur Kornberg has died aged 89

Great shame! I was just getting back into Killing Joke, most of the stuff I had was on cassette, so consigned to the outer reaches of the loft. I suppose they should play this at his funeral: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9jJ17tpHjc Some interesting facts (from Wiki) about former Joke frontman Jaz Coleman: "He was involved in adding a verse in the Māori language to the New Zealand national anthem" and "In October 2006 it was announced that Coleman had been chosen as Composer in Residence for the European Union. As Composer in Residence he will be given a grant to write and perform music for the EU on special occasions"

Should we stick Dida on the critical list for 2008? Anyone who needs to be carried off on a stretcher after having his chin tickled is obviously in constant peril of death!

Here's a link

Sorry to be 10 months late, but is what you're after? Even Mark King would be impressed with that slaptastic bass solo. PS I was led to the Herbs via a search for puppeteer creator of Trumpton/Pugwash, Gordon Murray, who's now 86 and an outside possibility. Not very famous to non-30/40something Brits, I'll grant you. Harry, you are hereby promoted to God! Nice to see Chris de Burgh doing a decent song for a change!

Lady Jeanne Campbell, the Evening Standard's New York correspondent, "former wife of Norman Mailer, the daughter of the reprobate 11th Duke of Argyll and the favourite granddaughter of Lord Beaverbrook" has died aged 78. "So numerous were her love affairs that James C Humes (a speechwriter for many American presidents) claimed in his memoirs, Confessions of a White House Ghostwriter, that she was the only woman to have known "Biblically" Presidents Khrushchev, Kennedy and Castro — and all, he claimed, within the space of a year" Other lovers appartently included Sir Oswald Mosley and Henry Luce II (founder and owner of Time-Life Inc).

Major General Sir Jeremy Moore KCB, OBE, MC and Bar, commander of the British land forces during the Falklands war and the man who accepted the Argentinian surrender, has died aged 79. Times obit here

Game addict dies after three-day session in Chinese cybercafe 3 days non-stop gaming! Fer chrissake!

Rally boss in helicopter escape From today's news: Dave Richards, "The Subaru rally team chief and his wife survived unhurt when their helicopter crash-landed in Essex ... Mr Richards, is chief executive of Prodrive, which runs the Subaru World Rally Team. He was in charge when Colin McRae, who has died in a helicopter crash in Lanarkshire, won his world rally title" Spooky!

John Kelly, "Provisional IRA founding member and former Sinn Féin assemblyman" has died.

Hedley Thurtle aged 102 has "ploughed his last furrow". OK, I know he's probably way down the list in terms of "world's oldest", but he was "Britain's oldest farmer", and WHAT A GREAT NAME!!!

Fritz Fryer guitarist with "The Four Pennies" has died aged 63. "They found their greatest success with ballads like "Juliet," which Fritz co-wrote with Mike Wilsh, and knocked the Searchers from the top of the charts in the spring of 1964"

When is the next annual DL chara trip to the seaside? Can we make sure Banshees and Windsor aren't sitting together.