Spade_Cooley

Please send any thanks and congrats to @themaninblack, his patience as I stumbled through the process like the lad from Pitfall was saintly.

You can check yourself, because we've just had our soft opening - picks and teams are now live. Front page update to come tomorrow, when I've settled on a 2018 logo.

Chiraq rapper and Chief Keef's bezzy Fredo Santana dead at 27 from liver failure.

I may acquiesce and bring BBC Local obits back next year. I do feel it doesn't do anything to discourage the "wrong" kind of DDP picks (FFBI, cancer mums), but does stop a potentially interesting seam (non top-flight footballers, local politicians, regionally famous entertainers). We'll see. Also, if the Mirror don't have an obit for Tooty by the time they clock off over there I'd be stunned.

Just a heads up, we should be seeing the first update this weekend. Teams, drop 40 and the first 12 deaths of the year.

Got no reason to live?

For anyone who's ever seen Total Divas, the man appears to be in the middle of a permanent heart attack. More red skin than a John Wayne film:

Turbo B: he will attack, and you don't want that.

If you've never heard his album from the 1970s, you've missed out. Here's the toe-tapping smash hit "Rape"

I can confirm someone has picked France Gall this time out. The name of the team will have to wait for the grand unveiling.

How do you have 211 posts yet you've started six threads?

Johnny Otis took the final beat of his heart today in 2002. This book is probably not how he'd want to be remembered:

In keeping with last year's overly-wordy title, my team this year will be called Great Railway Journeys with Hughie Gallacher and Robert Enke

I made my first dead pool team and lost my virginity in the same year, fwiw. WHAT A 30TH BIRTHDAY PARTY THAT WAS etc etc etc

Great sources, quoting the legendary "London police department".

Martin Foran apparently still alive. Think he may have been over-stating the severity of his terminal cancer in 2013.

Turns out he was murdered by a fellow model... https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/16/two-men-charged-with-london-of-model-harry-uzoka http://imgmodels.com/model/london/men/327436

There's a great story from the guy who wrote the definitive Golden Girls biography about when he went to interview Bea Arthur, and she was massively ornery with him because the chat meant she couldn't watch Judge Judy that day. She kept muttering under her breath "I'm missing Judge Judy for this?"

Not picked this year, shame as she would have been a nice lead name for my first ever update.

Salvation, salvation, salvation is here.

Bea Arthur > Betty White, let's not even pretend otherwise. Ranking the Golden Girls by comic ability: Arthur McClanahan Getty White

Would have thought the "Kayleigh" royalties would keep them solvent for another decade.

Some brief Facebook searching reveals that Ron was still alive as of the 10th, and almost certainly still alive today (his sister and care giver hasn't said anything), but I think he's fell off the radar now in terms of possible obits anywhere other than the local-est of local news.