msc

Ah, a Drop 40 A list kingmaker in potential. Reminds me of Bruce Forsyth in 2017. And Brucie went in August.

Theme team, Gooseberry, not the main team - Curtain - it's 20 people who played the murderer in Agatha Christie adaptations! I thought that was a great idea if I dare say so myself! Hah. (The main team - Pan Breed - has finished 5th twice. Its currently in 25th place. I have a knack of what Spade once called trying to go for interesting or exciting picks where a duller but safer 70 year old would be better suited! ) I'll take "highly skilled veteran... gold standard" any day though. Surprisingly good at sussing out long term trends, rubbish at 12 month ones!

imo 1940s music stars is going to be the next big source of deadpool picks alongside aging footballers. Survival wise, I have a similar view of Grace Slick, who is somehow 81 these days despite her well documented vices. It's like that recent Scorsese film The Irishman says - sometimes those who assume they'll live fast get old and arthritic!

2 hits from 60 so far? That's got to be at least 10 feet up the mountain. (Hey, my Christie theme team has given the gift of life to folk. Nul points. I do like most of the folk on it, mind you!)

Motorhead style dominos to come, imo. The DL will pick one of Keith or Jagger in 2023 when they are 80 (probably Keith) only to see the other die, knowing sods law too.

With most of the picks in recent months coming for Gooseberry, you can (or I can) forget how close it is at the top. 3 points lead now, with Spade in 4th place only 8 points behind the Captain.

Jimmy Maxton's nephew John is now Lord Maxton of Blackwaterfoot iirc! He used to look the spitting image of his uncle but now he's considerably older than Jimmy ever got to that ended long ago.

Ralph Watson died of cancer on 20th June aged 85 according to his son on Twitter. Another ""you'd recognise the face" actor - long TV career.

Naturally it occurs to me that neither Sean or someone like that has done up the annual "list of contenders" for the second half of the year. And we all know the Reaper is more keen on list names in the second half of the year. Except 2011, but frankly, fuck 2011. So anyhow, with the aide of whisky, here are the runners and riders after we get rid of the bloody health picks who are now going to drop dead before Hogmanay out of spite, no doubt. 1. Bob Dole - frail for a decade plus and now has Stage IV fucking cancer at 98 years old. How is he still alive? 2. Angela Lansbury - was my tip for centenarian status until Ulitzer recently pointed out she's given up on autographs and fan mail after being big on them for decades. Usually the first sign something is amiss imo. 3. June Brown - She was falling apart before she "retired" from Eastenders. 4. Jimmy Carter - is clearly a frail old man in the last months of his life - but how many months? 5. Leslie Philips - "is frail, ill and wont have long left" we got told in 2011 when his wife topped herself. Surely one for Drol's immortals list (if not already there...). Meant to be a bad sneeze away from death and yet still alive somehow. 6. Jacques Delors - "in bad health" according to our European posters 7. David Crosby - he's recording music and chatty but that heart is meant to be a ticking timebomb nearing expiry date. 8. Prunella Scales - pretty much off screen now due to advanced dementia but was physically OK in 2020. Basically could go tomorrow or in 2025... 9. Bob Newhart - looking skeletal of late, doesn't seem long for the world tbh. 10. Jimmy Greaves - "gravely ill" last year, lost his mate Saint, spent time in hospital and the updates have slowed down. I think he's a goner (but no a Gooner of course) tbh... 11. Barbara Walters - has been in very poor ,dire health for bloody years according to Americans. 12. Pope Benny - Looked like shit for years and now he's praying for the current guy! Needs to go so we can get Francis (who I don't see being alive in 5 years time) on the list instead. An outsider chance here though. 13. Yoko Ono - Very frail now. Her death wouldn't surprise me. 14. Bob Barker - in and out of hospital in recent years, now ancient, somehow still here. 15. Linda Nolan - terminal cancer and now cancelling appearances on health grounds. Despite continual announcements of big plans, circling the drain. 16. Joanne Woodward - end-stage dementia and housebound before that became the norm, for years. No idea how she is still alive. 17. Burt Bacharach - all the concert reviews pre pandemic said same thing - very frail, seemed on last legs, revved up to perform. 18. Shannen Doherty - Her court case documents in January 2020 said she had terminal cancer since the previous year. And according to court docs from her recent lawsuit, she now has COPD as well. She is fucked and clearly someone I should have kept better tabs on for my DDP team too. Out of the 43 survivors, this list of doddery 18 seem like the best tips to add to the paltry score. I think at least 5 of these will be gone by New Year...

Its been a while, I forgot the age limit on digital birth certificates is different (100 years compared to 50) than with death certificates!

Its a bit of circular evidence (ie the Who sites which usually cite sources are citing the Dr Who cast and crew project which didn't cite sources annoyingly!) but the date given is 29 October 2019, which is last quarter. I've no idea if it was a stage name, not having tracked down his birth date of 16/4/1931 in the records - which make you appreciate the quality of Scotlands People tbh.

Yes, that gave me the inspiration to look up the cast list, old chap.

One for @Ulitzer95 when bored - allegedly Godfrey James actually died in 2019, and Equity only found out this year? This happens a lot to actors who'd get bloody good obits if I were in charge of one of the main newspapers...

I am a host of my word! Biz Markie - Derby Dead Pool

Richard Franklin being a bit vague on twitter, but is apparently having another op soon which may or may not be serious and may or may not permanently retire him. https://twitter.com/PlanetFranklin/status/1421902886871654400

Congratulations Reptile. The best man won! Thanks for running my baby, Joey. You did very well. I'd offer to take it back but understandably I'd quite like a deadpool hosting rest in 2022!

Well, tbf I predicted that because people, cooped up together, long nights... But it turns out younger folk on the whole prefer to have 1 or 2 kids tops now and are really good at taking precautions. Either that, or they just wank each other off for all I know. Right, that's my work in stunning Gooseberry done for the day.

Look, what more do you want, he fucked up responding to a major pandemic, he tried his best for population control! (Although iirc despite this thread's evidence, the birth rate in the West has started to level off...)

Hah couldn't resist! (Chris Bidmead's "Doctor, I shall defeat you with hard mathematical formula" era was a bit insomnia curing for me as a kid though.) I think Chibnall has been focusing on the story, because he can't write characters. Alas, he can't write story either.

Spot the Adric era fan!

Nope, apart from the two you noted already, I'm giving Msc's gift of life to all on my team so far! (As mentioned elsewhere, there are now 6 Gooseberry Crumble DDP hits since I last scored in the DDP, which is a run now weeks off being my worst ever! Hah)

I know social media goes nuts about gender/race/etc of characters but as long as the actor/actress is right for the role I don't care if they are male, female, 20, 70, white, black, etc... Although I would add that the showrunner is more important. Much as I could point flaws in Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat's writing (or things not to my own taste), they know how to write engaging characters and plots. Chris Chibnall has been responsible for some of the worst written TV I've seen in the last decade, and some of it won awards and praise too. ie Broadchurch: "You need to do your job properly." "I can't, I'm too emotional!" "That's OK. You are a woman after all." Fuck off Chibnall. A hack who politicked his way into a job and then proved completely inept at even the basics. He wont be missed.

tbh with the Cmme of a certain age he felt like the type of person they'd be pick at some point?

One of JP2's favoured sons, he was on my shortlist a few years ago due to frail health but I suspect its "frail health" in inverted commas.

Chris Chibnall leaving Doctor Who at the end of the next run. I'd list TV writers who'd do a better job but it'd be longer than Lewd Squirrels annual list tbh...