themaninblack

That's a real shame. He was a terrific actor. By coincidence just prior to logging on to these pages, I was seeing whether they had all the episodes of 'Nightingales' on YouTube. They only have a few but one of the episodes of the series featured Vaughan as a tyrannical boss. RIP...

As as it's before 01/01/17, I don't mind what order you send it in...

I'd go with Isao Tomita one of the Pioneers of Electronic Music not getting a UK Obit, particularly as in the Us anyway he got mentioned in most mainstream music sites and got full writes in the 2 biggest papers(NT and LA Times). The closure of the Independent probably cost him and a few other's mentions. Spade may yet rue the lack of Michel Depech's UK obit although time is running out for everyone else...

I'm surprised you have even heard of Britain...

He was dead earnest...

Sherwin and Campion were names of two of the forms (classes) at my secondary school. I was in Clitheroe. There was also Fisher, Ward and More. Dunno if the school has them now...

So that's why she allowed the BBC to have a gander at her late husbands odds and ends...

Latest update...

Whilst doing some background database updating in readiness for next year, I went all Wisden and compiled a list of teams with the best hit rate (i.e. most hits per year of competing). Here's the top 50 1996-2015: No doubt there'll be some changes once 2016 has finished...

Well, the main change is that the unlucky 13 bonus is ditched in favour of the Drop 40 bonus. Any obit death which features in the top 40 picks of 2017 will get a 3 point bonus. Other bits and pieces: The Independent is dropped as a source as it is online with no print version (apart from the "I" of course) - very few obits come from there anyway. MIAs: Anyone that is declared missing at the time of the nomination period/beginning of DDP 2017 are excluded from the competition. That's to avoid a repeat of the Strickler controversy... It should all kick off sometime next week (7th-10th most likely). The (minor) problem is that it sits awkwardly time-wise with the regular updates. The "new" month of blog updates tends to start mid-month (when I also update the TTL and declare the Player of the Month). What I'm going to do is to let it run into December without archiving so we get two months worth of updates on the index page by the end of the year. I shall retrospectively make a division in January when consigning 2016 to the history books...

I'm thinking this might be a gag...

This thread is 10 years old. Blimey...

He walked passed me once when I was at UEA sometime in the 1990s. That's all that I have to say...

I was a kid when it was a hit. I called him Colonel Abrahams. RIP...

Ken Grieve, who directed 'Destiny of the Daleks' in 1979, one of the first Doctor Who stories I remember watching, has died aged 74.

We'll see. One thing is for for sure, in deadpooling and general celebrity death terms, 2016 will be a tough act to follow...

If we could ask Michael Winner...

Received a birthday present from my brother the other day. It was a Blu-Ray of the film 'Deadpool'. Does he know?

Funnily enough, news came this morning that Monbeg Dude, with whom I won a packet in 2015 when he finished 3rd in the GN at 50/1, has retired...

That's three Grand National winners' deaths inside a year...

Having successfully experimented with adding the "Drop 40" option, it may be possible to subdivide the unnatural deaths to a lesser scoring "fall" and then the rest (murder, suicide, drones etc). I shall make the preliminary investigation sometime this week...

The Stately Homo of England himself, Quentin Crisp died today in 1999...

Saw PiL at the O2 Academy in Leicester on Saturday. Johnny was in great form, despite the after effects of a cold...

Hmmm. The whole "fall" as unnatural death has started to become a sticky subject in recent years...

Always struck me as a bit of a snidey prick.