time

Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, 96, has been forced to issue a statement confirming that he is still alive, following media reports that he has died, or was gravely ill. It's almost worth entering that last one in the DDP, just to give TMIB a hard time. On the question of titles I was reading in the paper this morning that Prince Edward got Earl of Wessex after he saw it on telly when there was a character in the film, Shakespeare in Love with that title. Edward thought it sounded cooler than the Duke of Cambridge, the one on offer at the time. The thing is that while the rest of us sit around our Christmas lunches pulling crackers, these arseholes are trying out titles on each other which are then "bestowed" and the rest of the lumpen numpties (otherwise know as subjects) just swallow the whole rigmarole and double their orders for Hello magazine. I'm with the mob. I like to think that the majority of the 'lumpen numpties' just ignore it all until one of them dies. That's what I do.

Would this have anything to do with their respective nationalities perchance? Irrelevant. Leslie Nielsen was much better known than a Madoff son. Then how do you account for the greater coverage?

Would this have anything to do with their respective nationalities perchance?

He isn't a candidate in 2011 he will be dead by X-Mas. This has the fingerprnts of Hamid Karzai all over it and will delay the Afghan withdrawl. Not necessarily. I refer you to one Gerard Houllier, similar problem in 2001, now happily managing Aston Villa in our fine city of Birmingham. Given that he felt ill and was able to walk to the medical centre (CNN), this seems remarkably similar to the circumstances of M. Houllier's case. Having said all that, he probably won't last the night now.

Chris Rea's father has died aged 88. He was Chris Rea is a singer I have heard of.

Following my dismal debut year, I'm working on a theme team to double my viewing pleasure (at least thats the theory). I was wondering how much of a connection does there need to be before a list of candidates is considered a theme. For example, "People who have featured in the Simpsons" is obviously a theme, but if we expand it to "People connected to the Simpsons in some way", be it guest appearance, writer or tea-lady, is that still a theme? (My proposed team has nothing to do with the Simpsons btw). PS. I've received my invite.

They don't... they only do it the once

Daily Mail report, for the 3,753 DDP teams interested.

Who's James Morrison (obviously not the one from Doors)? Having read a full page report on his father, said father is now more famous to me! A less successful Paolo Nutini. 5 out of 10?

Who's James Morrison (obviously not the one from Doors)? Having read a full page report on his father, said father is now more famous to me!

Come again? It's the jazz thread Time so improvising and losing sight of the original tune is in keeping with the whole thing. Ali is discussing the long-life chances of 90 year old and deffo obit-worthy Dave Brubeck. Lots of media coverage around his 90th birthday including interviews, allowing us to study form. Despite some health problems for Dave I'm with Ali, likely to see 2012 and maybe beyond that. I agree Brubeck will probably be around for years to come; I just didn't understand how he can look 10 years younger than he looks. Observations like that surely belong in the Dr. Who thread.

Come again?

Jokes from around the world. Some are familiar, some don't translate well, some raise a smile, but worth a look if you've a spare 10 minutes.

Reminded me of this: The Party (Still Game, Hogmanay 2006), particularly the interaction with the lads 7 minutes in!

Cubs Win!

Retired Cardinal Michele Giordano has died aged 80, of undisclosed causes. He was acquitted of financing a loan-sharking operation (to the tune of $800,000) linked to his family, then later acquitted of misappropriating $500K of church funds. If there is anyone/anything up there, he'd better have been telling the truth!

Now I understand - I was suffering from an over-indulgence of wine when I didn't get it yesterday!!

The only 'famous' person I can find born on my exact birthdate is Kate Robbins, singer, comedian, impressionist, actress, Eurovision Song Contest participant and distant relation of Paul McCartney. I have never been to her home city (and currently have no plans to - why bother when there's a scouser in every pub in every other city?).

ITV have devoted a good chunk of their early evening bulletin to this news - don't they realise its been snowing? What I found amusing was the way our 'bid ambassadors' and certain media commentators were pretty much saying it was all sewn up and it was just a matter of who was going to come second. I also think we made a couple of mistakes - Cameron and Johnson.

Yes, my initial reaction was that its a pity the A23 isn't big on tunnels. Local newspaper report. As you can tell from the comments, she isn't particularly liked locally (in fact, its hard to think of a local sleb who is).

I've had several celebrity encounters, the majority of which were all unimpressive. One of the earliest I can remember was August 1977 (the day Elvis died) when a mate and I went to the Ideal Home Exhibition at the NEC in August 1977 (we'd had a month of the summer holidays and were bored and the NEC was still new and shiny and we hadn't been before). After looking around for a while we stumbled on the local radio station outside broadcast booth. I found myself standing behind a rather petite trim figure who was being interviewed. When she'd finished and turned around I realised it was Susan Hanson (Miss Diane from Crossroads). More recently, I walked past a chap I thought I recognized but couldn't place the face. A little further down the road a poster was advertising the latest play gracing the stage at the Theatre Royal, starring the chap I'd failed to identify - Simon Callow. He's a lot shorter than he looks on TV. My most impressive (IMHO) was having a drink with Billy Martin (ex-NY Yankees manager) about 10 days before he died (I may, possibly, have mentioned that before).

As I haven't had a hit for 6 months, no objections here. Count me in for next year. I have no preference on the Dirty Dozen option (aren't most of them dead already? Ernest Borgnine might be worth a few points though) as I can't see what advantage that would give.

How about some Karaoke?