Spade_Cooley

Keith Welch

He was 28 stone 3lbs when he died. The more you know...

Anibal Ruiz, Paraguay's manager at the 2006 World Cup including that coma-inducing opener against England, dead at 74. He had a heart attack on the touchline just moments after it was announced the Puebla game was postponed due to a referee strike.

She's in "palliative sedation" at the moment.

John Surtees dead on the wires. First news reference to it.

Burmese economist Hla Myint's death clearly sparking last minute cancellations and rewrites at the Last Word studio as we speak.

Ernie Ladd, my pick for greatest promo of all-time, died ten years ago today.

*deletes the "nobody has discussed his illness on the forums yet" tag from Mondonico on the DQSP database*

"Brave inspiring person battles illness" has been a news staple ever since the corantos, it's nothing new.

Best I can find.

Terry Nation and Biggie gotta be up there with the weirdest combo of celebs to stand in line at the Pearly Gates together.

Robbie Savage just described that as "the greatest victory ever", one in the eye for the Battle of Yehuling.

Last page's discussion about the Queen's sense of humour sent me searching for info about her favourite TV shows, which are pretty well-covered in this appallingly subbed Mail piece from last year: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3553908/What-Queen-watches-royal-box-John-McEntee-reveals-monarch-favours-EastEnders-Coronation-Street-big-Downton-Fan.html She misses The Bill, apparently.

Yes

On a more-lighthearted note, Marty Jannetty is apparently going to do porn before he finally fucking dies in the next three years

Don Leo Jonathan could well get the Reuters obit you know, 60s/70s territory superstars tend to luck out there. Also Bret Hart says he's the second best wrestler of all-time. No prizes for who Bret thinks is #1.

Long-form Guardian piece on Stan Bowles' health issues here, seems like he's a shell of a human these days. Also included is an aside that Frank Sibley, his one-time teammate and former QPR boss, is also not doing too well healthwise.

Death wishlist 2018: whichever spad told Philip Hammond he should tell some jokes

Will Romanian trance DJ Snatt Dragos, who passed away aged 36 from a stroke on February 22nd, get his due recognition this week?

Four years since Stompin' Tom Connors died. Fascinating character, effectively retired from music aged 38 in protest at the Canadian government not investing enough in its own country's artists and was particularly scathing of "turncoat" musicians who left Canada to perform in the US. Was ranked #13 in the 2004 The Greatest Canadian public ballot. Refused to take off his trademark stetson hat when meeting the Queen, and I quote Wikipedia "Buckingham Palace smoothed the way by likening Mr. Connors's hat to a religious headdress such as a nun's habit or a Sikh's turban".

Ah, one day I'll write a bit more in-depth about them on here (funeral director's commentary, if you will). But let me see.... 2013 was an amazing one, especially as I'd given up the ghost early on thanks to my scepticism over Chavez. But the slow clawing back, Millwall and Andreotti being two quintessentially DQSP picks and dying within 24 hours, the Bruno Metsu punt paying off and then the endless wait for Ray Price which was made all the more intense thanks to the two fake announcements of his death. And then the alley-oop with Klashnikov to round things up. 2014 was a workmanlike win, but it turned into a proper streetfight with Drunkasaskunk towards the end as we effectively traded some big blows with uniques and low-pick hits around October/November. Only three years ago but it's impossible to imagine a Marlise Munoz or a Yosra El-Essawy being a unique hit these days. Was proud of spotting Chen Ziming based off one solitary tweet about his cancer being pretty bad though. 2015 was a robbery, there's no doubt about it. But those are the rules so.... 2016 was absolute carnage but perhaps the one I was most confident about as the year ticked on, and was also the earliest a decisive hit wrapped things up for me. Abdul Sattar Edhi and Mother Angelica both playing in to my maxim that the elderly are underrated as DDP picks if you're guaranteed them going and obitting. So yeah, I'd take 2013 just for 1) it being my first 2) how unexpected it was considering the opening month 3) beating an old-school icon like OoO for it and 4) how crazy that final fortnight of Ray Price's life was.

Bradley is currently a bad pick but he could easily Ray Price/Bonnie Brown his way back to the treatment room. I thought that for me to win this year I need two of Singh, Clark and Brokenshire to die and obit... I still stand by that belief. Although Brokenshire was apparently swimming in Scotland last weekend, so I don't think we need to prep his eulogy just yet.

Has been in hospital for the past two weeks, "serious concerns" for him.