Demented Glaswegian

Figured this would happen sooner than later. The news of her ailment didn't come across that she had the cancer, the news broke when it spread, suggesting she'd be ill beforehand.

James Bree dead British (mostly tv) actor who was in everything from Doctor Who to James Bond (OHMSS), I Claudius to Rising Damp and everything in between. Quite liked him. He was wonderfully over the top in the Doctor Who story "The War Games".

It is a possibility, you know! Or a certainty even.

recent photo of Kirk in this page

Still ailing but keeping busy Keeping busy Votes for stimulus bill, complete with short video interview from the 10th February

Swayze's mum interviewed by News of the World: Swayze fights for cancer research (with most recent photo)

Sir Bobby Robson moans about the transfer windows And there's a book coming out on his time at Ipswich to raise money for the Bobby Robson Foundation So if anything, he's keeping busy.

Dead? As in dead-dead, like Marley? Or dead-dead, like Patrick Swayze? Marley as in a Christmas Carol, that is.

Are they connected to B.B. King in any way, shape or form, apart from their homonymous name? No that'll be his fast food loving cousin, with slightly different name.

Because Sepp Blatter's security is too tight.

You know, I'd never heard of Havel before going to this site (put that down to age related ignorance) and yet I put him down on the shortlist for a poll on Greatest World Leaders on the Outpost Gallifrey forums, and he finished 5th losing only to M.Gandhi, Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Alexander the Great. Should I assume he's actually quite a well known and respected writer and dissident turned statesman then?

Kovacevic had heart trouble now? Bloody hell, that's a shocker.

Well he was alive in 2006 - some of the DWFers saw him in a play then. And a few of them are members of Equity so if Cuthbertson died they'd hear about it in the monthly newsletter!

Ah, Iain Cuthbertson, a fine underrated tv actor. No news in the Glasgow press about him lately, so I'd assume that's good news. (They were quite vocal about Russel Hunter's ill health for example). Also, having been in Doctor Who fandom and in episodes of The Children of the Stones and Doctor Who itself, there's no major news stories on his health coming up there. So if there was any news or updates on his health we'd know about it - the Glasgow fandom would have found out, or the RCT, or the DWF. As it is, he seems to be doing ok.

I knew that'd be Fergie without having to look - he was a right laugh, and passionate as hell about his team. And, though foul mouthed, essentially harmless. And so far we've lost 3 good actors, 2 childhood icons, all the people CP mentioned, an infamous socialite (who made the list), several politicians and sportspeople too. And my uncle had four strokes on Christmas Day, and he's deteriorated to the point where had he been famous enough, he'd have been in the dead certs spots on the DL. So really, I don't think you can complain about there not being enough death so far. Unless you're moaning about not enough DL spots deaths yet, in which case I point the year is 365 days, and we are barely 22 days into that. Give it time.

Being an arty farty ex-film student type who tends to watch worthy 3-hour Iranian dramas about a peasant taking his donkey to market (oh, the mise-en-scène...) and having never seen a Rocky of any numeral, I approached The Wrestler with some trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised. A bit hokey naturally, but Mickey mumbled and huffed and puffed to good effect, while the wrestling scenes were kept to a minimum and looked pretty 'realistic'. Paul E Normous - that has to be the worst nickname in wrestling history, nay the history of sport. What? Worse than Hugh Morrus, the laughing man? Or his alter ego, General Hugh E. Rection?

I don't think she can witness it, hasn't her mind gone?

I met some Thatcherites last week. They told me I should hurry up and die, because I'm a slightly lower class writer who promotes social welfare, and therefore a great burden on their lives. Then they started singing songs about wishing the Poll Tax would return, and that the death penalty could be reintroduced alongside the removal of the NHS and all state welfare and pensions. It was awfie nice of them. And the sad thing is - I didn't make up the meeting above.

You're right, but in the wrong way! so we all agree.....no more mention of " ...... "The Great One EVER on this site ever again ??? Oh I'm sure Tony Benn will be nominated one day The thing is though...Tony Benn could pass away , and no-one will notice . M**** The Great One " may well pass away in ...say....30 years time , and such an event will be off the scale in terms of grief. Tony Benn can silence crowds at Glastonbury who want to hear him talk, he's one of the great British political icons of the 20th Century, and he's still on form in his 80s. His death - and one hopes it wont be anytime soon - will be big news.

That was McGonagellesque in its brilliance. There was an ill actor called Swayze Whose health was increasingly hazy He went into decline Said the DL, t'is a good sign Since the poetrys getting quite lazy. Nah, I'm still rubbish at poetry. So how come Vaclav Havel hasn't had any? There was a statesman called Vaclav A very good name to have First Pres of the Czechs, Was no train wrecks, Now shortly to go to the grave. Ok, I think I can see why.

I'll go for Havel. Sounds like he could go quicker than the likes of Sir Norm.

Thankfully I didn't put any money on that wager then!

I'd warn caution - everyone expected Warren Zevon to be the first hit of 2003, he could go any day, and he hung till September! If anything, I'd wager the First of the year is one no one really expects.

Why would having cancer make someone hate humankind? I don't know to be honest - I'm only responding to the post above me! I think he meant anger at the world or something like that?

Exactly what makes Patrick Swayze so brave? That he is holding on? Well, what else can he do? Lying down, feeling miserable and crying his eyes out until he dies? No, really. Being terminally ill and facing it like a man might be considered an act of bravery, but how do we know Swayze actually does that? When his agent is dropping a statement, the odds of it being the truth are very slim, when Swayze himself is appearing in front of the camera all he has to do is to put on his happy yellow face for a split second and afterwards he can return to his own misanthropic self without us ever noticing. I would even take this one step further: if you were dying and you would find it very difficult to accept your fate, would that make you weak or a coward? I'd say it would make you typically human. It's not just that he is holding on, but how he is doing so. It really doesn't matter if Swayze is woeful anytime the cameras aren't on him: when he's out there, he's full of confidence, that he's a survivor, and there will be a cure one day, etc, and that passes on to others in the same condition. If he was misanthropic about his disease, I'm willing to suggest he'd have died a long time ago. That he continues to speak about it, fight and continue to be is brave, because I've seen far too many people go "Oh I've got cancer and give up." My best friend's dad did that and died within weeks. Swayze's diagnosis at the outset would have been much more bleak than his dad, my grandfather, or any of the others we know. And yet he's outlived them all. And, despite knowing he's dying, and that there's very little he can do to prevent that, he's still speaking out and reaching out to fellow sufferers and their families. That, I would say, goes far beyond what the average human is capable of when faced with such insurmountable odds.