Ulitzer95

Not so Goodie news... ... ... ... I'll get my coat.

BBC Radio 2 just announced the death of comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE at the age of 79. Apparently he had tested positive for COVID-19.

@Yvonne Vera Lynn was born in 1917, not 1920. Hector Duff was born in 1919, not 1920. You also don't need to provide names for 1930.

Edem Kodjo, PM of Togo (1994–1996, 2005–2006), has died in Paris aged 82. He was also the Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) between 1978 and 1983.

Aaaah okay, I didn't grasp the rules correctly. I thought you had to pick from the list! I may submit a list of unique names later then.

I lost mine when I had it. In fact it was still gone a whole week after recovering from it. It will come back though, just be patient.

Yup, which should be a reliable source, but a pedantic editor would say no blogs whatsoever, even if they're compiled by a news agency. They're in a state over this on Wiki. I can't see what people think they're achieving by even making an argument of this. He's dead, and the site needs to revise its guidelines on sourcing.

Louis Nirenberg was not just an average mathematician either, and still the wait for a proper obit was lengthy. The only high profile mathematician in the last few years I remember getting a very quick obit was John Nash.

Usual problem – not getting any coverage because, to be brutally frank, nobody gives a toss about mathematicians. His death is causing quite a dispute on Wikipedia, with registered users in disagreement on whether to list him as dead on the Recent Deaths page or not due to lack of sources. This is is where Wiki sadly becomes counterproductive in its usefulness. There can be thousands of tweets and multiple blog sources referring to his death, including from Twitter handles of official institutions or people prominent in his field, and yet pedantic Wiki editors will still revert the death info. The site needs to be brought into 2020 as far as sourcing is concerned.

I understand all that but you're missing the point – the article suggests he isn't seriously ill with it. He doesn't have complications like pneumonia etc. so it is an oddity that there is a combination of his body not getting rid of it, whilst being in reasonable physical condition at the same time. He should have developed complications by now that are symptomatic of his body fighting back. Whilst I realise that some people are asymptomatic, a virus doesn't really "just sit there" for an entire month and nothing happens. That's why I'm calling b/s on his story. I think it's the same as the Paul O'Grady one the other day. Something else was up and they're purely seeking a little press attention. I'm not just having a pop at celebs here – hearing this all the time right now from people everywhere. A minority of folk get little to no symptoms but rest assured in the vast majority of cases, when you've got it you bloody well know you've got it because it stuns you for several days.

I think this is a great idea for a deadpool. It will work a lot better if the names on page one are increased to about 300 centenarians as it will encourage the people playing to be a little more diverse with who they're picking. I may join in eventually. In the meantime, a few names worth adding: Betty Brodel, Don Marion Davis and Caren Marsh Doll from the acting world, Dame Frances Campbell-Preston and Sir Lloyd Geering, and bishops Gerard Dionne and Laurent Noel.

Using his real name of Robert Martin, I had a look through the Scottish records. Nobody of that name born in 1929 has died anywhere near Largs since 2011 so it's almost certain he is still alive. If you have any queries about other Scottish players, throw them my way as I have paid access to Scotland's People.

You're quite right. Apologies. Confusing. Their article from tonight says nothing of the sort and none of the other papers have picked up on it. I wonder if they got the scoop or if they're exaggerating?

Corrected.

Sounds like total b/s to me. Surely he'd be in critical care if the virus had persisted in his system for that length of time?!

Here is an article from them published in the last hour. Says nothing about him being "seriously ill" or "fighting for his life". In fact, it sounds like he's okay. Where did you see this @The Old Crem??

Faith Dane, actress, artist, LGBT rights activist, musician and serial political candidate in the States, has died aged 96. Most notably a cast member of BOTH the original Broadway production of Gypsy and the 1962 film (which now only has child actors alive from the notable credited cast).

Bassist Jymie Merritt dead from liver cancer at the age of 93.

Facebook post mentioning the death of British educationalist Phyllis Wallbank MBE at 101.

"J" is up on page one. That was incredibly painful. So many blanks sadly.

Yeah, I was just saying to maryportfuncity, Evans of Zager and Evans and Les Chadwick of Gerry and the Pacemakers are prime examples. To this date, still no mention in the UK press (discounting the Liverpool Echo for the latter). I sent news of Diana Decker's death (UK #2) to two publications, probably the Guardian and the Telegraph. I think the Guardian responded saying her death was "too long ago now for us to cover", and the Telegraph just ignored me completely [note, this is why I don't really take part in the DDP, I would just end up cheating]. She got a mention on the Oscars In Memoriam website later in the year too. I'm still grumpy about the whole thing.

Yeah exactly. I've come to assume that a lot of members of obscure chart bands have probably died off radar. If the long time drummer of Gerry and the Pacemakers and Evans of Zager and Evans can die without it hardly going noticed, it's not all that surprising to think many are just not reported at all.

Just added him to "D" on the UK Hit Singles thread. Turns out I missed him, d'oh! His section was so small in the book I'm using I must have skimmed over it accidentally. Now I wonder if he'll obit...

Well thank goodness we don't live in a society where everyone has your level of compassion. You don't need to feel sorry for the man, you don't even need to wish him well but no human being "deserves" to be inflicted with a deadly virus, IMO. The NHS is built on that principle. If we "rated" humans and treated them accordingly we'd be in Josef Mengele territory.

Depends how easily offended you are I suppose. I think the two separate incidents of Labour representatives – one a mayor, the other a councillor – were defining examples of totally "tasteless". Rose West's moniker saying that he deserves coronavirus and the councillor suggesting the ICU trip was a publicity stunt. I worked at a central London NHS hospital for 5 years – rest assured, we would never (and I mean NEVER) have put anyone in ICU unless it was deemed necessary, and he wouldn't have been given that ICU care as a "precaution" if there was a shortage of beds in the unit. To suggest otherwise isn't insulting Boris Johnson – it's insulting the integrity of all frontline workers on our NHS. Also Twitter is not the UK. It's where nutters go to screech. The general election in December proved that.