time

Not a great advertisment for the safety and stability of his invention, is it.. All the reports I've read speak of his family making an emotional visit to the scene etc. I mean, it smacks of suicide, but there's no suggestion along those lines........so far. Has there been a more ironic departure since the bloated carcass of Mr Atkins - of Atkins Diet fame - expired on a New York pavement? Suicide..? I don't think so. He was most likely practicing some complicated death defying stunt, with a view to replacing Ben Collins as The Stig on the next series of Top Gear! I heard he was testing the new amphibious version, the Segway Seaway.

Author Harlan Ellison is dying. He doesn't detail what his illness is, or whether or not he expects to see this year out, but maybe one to bear in mind for next year if he does.

I haven't read it, and suspect its more pictures than words, but this gave me a chuckle when spotted it in a local bookshop...

This man was a genius. If you type in anal, you get cock, and if you type in smirnoff, you get poisoned. You might, I get coal.

Or 'Dead'

You couldn't make it up... Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, he'd have called it something else. Founder of Pope & Young Club dies at 98.

Martin King, co-inventor of T9 text input (that's predictive to you and me), has died aged 60, from camber cancer.

Can I play too? How about "Shades of Grey-ve".

"King of the buskers" Don Partridge has died of a suspected heart attack, aged 68. , probably what he is most remembered for.

I don't actually remember any programmes specifically from the 80's with any sense of dewy-eyed nostalgia. I spent the second half of the decade in the USA, so I particularly remember M*A*S*H, The Cosby Show, LA Law, Hill St Blues, Night Court, Family Ties, Growing Pains, Saturday Night Live, Cheers, WKRP in Cincinatti as programmes I watched regularly over there. Some I would watch again, others not a chance. Anything featuring big shoulder pads was generally avoided. [edit] Oh yes, on PBS, the 'top' British shows were (at various times) Dr Who, Blake's 7, Are You Being Served, After Henry, Upstairs, Downstairs, Three Up Two Down (or something - starred Michael Elphick anyway) and To Serve Them All My Days (On Masterpiece Theatre, introduced by Alastair Cooke).

Frank's son Andy was a 'phone a friend' on last night's Who Wants To be A Millionaire (I wasn't really watching it, just on in the background, honest). Chris Tarrant asked how his dad was, to which he replied 'very well' or summat similar. Mind you, it could well have been recorded in March and he could have taken a turn for the worse since. Its on ITV player if anyone is sufficiently interested.

Makes you wonder...exactly how would you stumble across this remedy? I'm sure the shock of him approaching would cure my hiccups without any need for digital manipulation.

Probably not the right thread (Fringes of Fame perhaps, mods, feel free to move it), but its football related... The man who broke the crossbar after Scotland's 2-1 victory over England at Wembley in 1977 has died. Alex Torrance has died aged 54 after a long battle with alcoholism.

Makes you wonder...exactly how would you stumble across this remedy?

I bet the Pope is devestated that he didn't make the list. The Queen is somewhere on the list - down in the hundreds. Actually, he did make the list, he's ranked 215. Just above Kim Jong-Il. Mari Kiviniemi deserves hihger than 46 though.

Sure, bring one for me too.

Put this ditty to the Football anthem "Your not singing anymore" "You are Yvonne, you are Yvonne, you are Yvonne in disguise" "You are Yvonne in disguise....." Appologies for any spelling mistakes, its the Bacardi wot did it guv. PS; Can we not just copy and paste all of Ted Hughes old chod on here? At school, we all thought his poetry was utter shite. Football anthem? Welshman will be spinning in his grave! If we're nominating established poetry rather than our original works (the heading is a little ambiguous ), William McGonagall gets my vote.

Spurs legend Bobby Smith, aged 77. 176 goals in 271 appearances. 15 England caps, 9 goals, then went to Brighton.

While I knew I couldn't make the 13th, I will have to check the diary for the 20th. What time do the festivities commence/terminate?

Yes but are they Crap poetry threads? Aren't we about due for another poetry competition?

I was having a sort out earlier today, as you do ("Trash in the Attic" if you will), and discovered a few pages of a copy of the Sheffield Star dated December 30th 1982. I knew you'd be interested... It seems that Prince Andrew was shagging some bird named Koo Stark, the government wanted us all to be paid by cheque not cash and Jack "the dandy" Parisi, one of America's most feared hitmen had died aged 83. A government survey revealed that 97% of families in Britain had a television and almost 76% a telephone; average before-tax income was £167.60. The cinemas were showing E.T. and Mary Poppins; on TV you could watch Top of the Pops with Jimmy Savile, or highlights of the fourth Ashes test from Melbourne (on the BBC ). England won by three runs. Commercial TV offered a celebrity special Krypton Factor (strange, I though celeb special were a more recent development) while Channel 4 had a proper reality show called Citizen 2000, a long-term study of 15 children from differing backgrounds who will come of age in 2000. All 4 stations finshed with 'Closedown' (at 12, 1215, 1230 and 1245 respecytively). Radio 1 included such luminaries as Simon Bates and DLT, while Radio2 had David Hamilton, Cliff Michelmore and Gloria Hunniford What particularly caught my eye was this advert for Lasky's (a Hi-Fi store for those not old enough to remember, or those old enough to be having memory problems) New Year Sale, which boasted such bargains as Hitachi CPT 1624 16" Portable colour TV for £229 (thats £20 off) ATARI 800 Microcomputer 16K (expandable to 48K) full size keyboard high res colour graphic display & sound generator , save £120, now £379. (monitor not includeed) Sony SLC6 VCR, Betamax format, seven-day timer, freeze-frame facility, optional remote control, £30 off at only £369. Some fings were the same back then though, there was a recession, drug abuse, drink problems, school truancy, threats of industrial action ... Plus ça change...

I'm sure you can - in much the same way as I am "brilliant" or "fucking brilliant"!

Did you ever see both of them at the same time and in the same room? No, funnily enough I don't reckon that snooker is GM's thing - wrestling would be more to his taste, I'd imagine.. He's fine on the brown, not so good on the pink...

I heard that he's planning on releasing ''Freedom 2010'' from his prison cell. Not "I'm Your Man"?