msc

Nobody wants a long list, so tough. Thoughts on the surviving 2015 class. - Zsa Zsa: immortal? Well, she'll go one day, probably when we least expect it. - Joao Havelange: hospitalised last year, probably doing a Pinochet, but is very old, and has gone quite quiet since resigning from all jobs due to corruption in 2013. Will be dead by December 2016 at the latest. - Herman Wouk: Have a gut feeling he'll go before Christmas, based solely on the recent trend for notable centenarians dropping off within 7 months of their century! He did seem in fairly good nick when interviewed for his birthday, but again, he wont have many of those left. - Rev Billy Graham: allegedly very ill. Allegedly a bit of a publicity whore too, mind you. - Oliva de Havilland: Not going anywhere just yet. She seems in better nick than Luise Rainer did at her age, she still replies to fan mail, gives interviews, and does meet and greet type things. - Javier Perez de Cuellar: Haven't a clue. - Denis Healey: looked notably weaker when interviewed this Summer, admittedly it was by that Casual Politics guy. He's in injury time. George Bush Sr: At this rate, he's going to a do a Adams/Jefferson with Jimmy. Prince Philip: Still got another few years in him yet, I think. He's got the fight in him and the best care money can buy. Helmut Schmidt: Looking precarious the now. Fidel Castro: No clue. He was able to speak to Francis though. Kirk Douglas: alleged evil never dies. He's still pottering along though. Clive James: Will be here in 5 years time. Al Molinaro: Haven't a clue. Could die tommorow, could be dead already. Valerie Harper: Will be here in 2017. Her terminal cancer was slow in 2014, and hadn't progressed by this Summer. Seems like a slow burner... Maureen O'Hara: Fairly chatty this year after the Honorary Oscar, "enjoying retirement", though wheelchair bound and cared for by a grandson. Will she go in the next 10 weeks? Doubt it. Martin Crowe: Will go in the next 12 months at some point. Oct 2014, given 12 months to live (so for all the talk of lingering, he's not outdone his doctors prognosis yet). Feb 2015, still looking healthy. April 2015, significantly weaker. July 2015, momentarily in a hospice for care while family away. Frequently in the media until April time. An expert could probably tell us exactly how long he has left based on that deterioration scale. He was sleeping 15 hour a day in March... Bhumibol Adulyadej: He's very ill, but then, so is Zsa Zsa. Helmut Kohl: Well, they did seem to be preparing the news when he had surgery. And he had a few strokes recently too. Taking the Ruth Rendell longevity into account, 4 months after critical stroke, he might go next week for all we know. [While he's had to cancel a few public engagements, his office continue to claim he's making "encouraging progress".] Leslie Phillip: Very quiet. Very, very quiet. Was acting up to 2012, doing stage two years ago, did some things after his last big health scare. Then, his stroke this year and... quiet. Ominous. Ken Kercheval: Haven't a clue why he's on the list. Maybe they regret missing out on Hagman. Harper Lee: Not going anytime soon. Bob Dole: Able to make jokes, in September 2015, about running for the Presidency again. Not going anywhere. Joost van der Westhuizen: Seems a long time ago he was cheating on his wife with the neurologist. Only 2012. Compare video of him a year ago (when he was frail but still looked fairly like an ex-player) to footage from this week (where he looks like a cancer patient). I think he'll linger on, but we can count the number of Hogmanays he'll see left on one finger. Doris Day: No return to acting, alas. Peter Sallis: recently his family asked fans not to send him any more fanmail, as he is unable to respond to it. Has macular degeneration and other problems. He'll be gone within 18 months, and it will be a sad day. Denis Norden: Still does interviews, and shows up on the radio now and again. No longer on the TV as he's entirely blind these days due to macular degeneration, but that's not fatal in itself. Henry Kissinger: Mephistopheles hasn't arrived for his debt, yet. Looks much like he did 10 years ago in interviews. Jake La Motta: Still doing appearances. Cliff Michelmore: Went into splendid retirement nearly 25 years ago, and is very private. Rarely gives interviews. Showed up for a few documentaries on the BBC around 2009 and looked much the same as ever. Short of an illness - which we wont hear of in advance - he'll be around for a while yet. Nancy Reagan - I think we'll get plenty of advance warning on her going. Hosni Mubarak: As long as he has health issues, he remains in hospital and not in jail. As a result, I think he's "doing a Pinochet". Liz Smith: Quiet, but she is 94. Robert Mugabe: Possibly going doolally. How tragic. He's not going this year. Chuck Berry: Nah. Richard Adams: Tends to give interviews, though his last big one was in January. Jake the Snake: Maybe next year, try Superfly? Jake is the list's cockroach, he'll survive anything. Vera Lynn: Reports she's getting quite frail, actually, so possible. Eddie Large, Bill Maynard: Haven't a clue. So that was a long diversion from "Leslie Philips has been a bit quiet" but these things happen. Actually, knowing how its gone this year, all the old names assumed to be doing alright will now die. Apologies in advance to all Cliff Michelmore fans then.

? I assume he's just added them to his DDP. In that case, the Reverend can sacrifice himself so that others may live on...

Nailed on, but - serious question - UK obit chances with regard to the exacting standards of the DDP? I'll say here and now he's bound to get qualifying coverage for Deathrace purposes. Dragging the bowels of the DDP obits, but UTV will cover it when he goes, I'd assume (they cover his fund raising stuff), and The Scotsman or The Record. Which wouldn't be needed, as The Express have covered his health. Or to put it another, I doubt a mid 50s lead singer of a fairly known Irish band has much to worry about in terms of obits!

'With the deepest regrets, and tears that are soaked I'm sorry to hear that your dad finally croaked He lived a full life on his own terms Soon he'll be buried and eaten by worms But if I could have a son as stupid as you I'd have wished for cancer so I would die too So be brave, and be strong, get your life on track 'Cause the old bastard's DEAD and he ain't never comin' back!' Never fails to raise a laugh.

Good actor. "Dickens of London" is recommended, though no longer on YouTube. I'd mention he was a villain in Murder She Wrote, but that seems to come free with the SAG card.

He appeared in Worzel Gummidge as the Crowman. He is now 91. Last TV appearence before retirement was 2010. Oh shit, my bad re accusing him of being 83, bet he wishes he was 83. So, in conclusion, a good 2016 pick if he makes the start line, but unlikely to have a Gudrun as our new Dunny! Fate may be sneaking up and stabbing PB's pick in the back, or summat. He was on my shortlist at one point, but he's currently been subbed for a terminally ill writer. The trouble with these old folk in (presumed age related) poor health is you never know exactly how much fight they have in. Look at Bill Speakman. Or when I picked Derek Martinus, and swiftly dropped him the year he died. Then you have Francis Matthews, whom a friend told me was in very poor health, so I noted it down, and he died three weeks later!

He appeared in Worzel Gummidge as the Crowman. He is now 91. Last TV appearence before retirement was 2010. I have heard he is in poor health (no specifics though) these days, though that's from the old Lord Hennessey "private information" trick rather than the press.

The great thing is that the Black Mirror episode was called "The National Anthem". In retrospect, should have picked the Honourable Member for Witney.

And of course, if you come from up here, there's the phrase "pan breed", which I believe was forever immortalized by Taggart (and the DDP of course).

This is quite a common occurrence. In 2011, Joe Frasier, Philip Gould and Christopher Hitchens (admittedly he was well advertised but still went within three weeks of a new DDP) among several all went that route. My 2014 list at one point had Phil Chevron, Bruno Metsu, Peter O'Toole, Ray Price, Bill Foulkes, Steve Prescott, and Araucaria on it. If only I had premonitions, it'd have been a hell of a 2013 DDP team!

I have awarded her Brian Close's vacated spot on my long list. She's on my list, for now. She originally had a 3 year outlook so even with setbacks, I think she should hang on January 1st. Famous last words.

I am not against the prospect of including Gudrun Ure next year but I think it would be helpful if we can establish some information about her current activity, location and health. Possibility of this being ignored by all media outside of Scotland. The Scotsman, Herald and Daily Record, which would all cover her death, count for the DDP. She was known to be alive around 2011/2012, but is quite a private person. It was quite a big show here though, it'd get covered.

Well, some folk on the 2015 Deathlist had threads started on here by others, so if you believe that reminds passing Committee members that the person exists, Ure now having a thread increases her chances for selection on the 2016 list from "sod all" to "slightly more than sod all".

He has looked a bit frail in recent years, but he does look more frail there. Mind you, he's having to listen to that Casual Politics idiot ramble on for hours, that's enough to make anyone look like death warmed up.

Ok I think we are all basically learned as the the habits of cancer at this point. If u think he will obit he sounds 2016 shoe-in. SC Multiple league title wins for Liverpool (and considered a legend for them), and a TV host: obit guaranteed. The US equivalent would be someone who played in multiple Superbowls, say for the Dallas Cowboys in the 70s, and then became a sports pundit. [Knowing little about NFL, I just picked the 2nd most successful side historically from the Wiki list for comparison.]

Ian St John updates us on his cancer. Crib notes - 3 year battle so far - bladder cancer which spread despite removal of bladder and prostate. - now hoping chemo has helped, after cancer spread into the bone marrow.

I did say to my wife during his speech that I wondered if Watson's heart would cope with the stresses of the job. Corbyn, on the other hand, looks like hes start to revel in the task.

If Jeremy Corbyn wins tomorrow we could get a few dozen hits. A sort of SDLP is potentially going to emerge in the next few months, and a new convention of the last parliament is that crossing the floor will require a by-election. Convention but not law. I'd personally expect the folk likely to do such a thing to "do a Shaun Woodward" more than anything. And his actions let David Cameron into parliament.

Yeah, that legacy guest book thing is the only thing to come up to date for him. Sad if he really was the "Father of the Information Age", only for the Information Age to forget him.

Ebby Halliday closes out her spot on the list of Really Old People Folk Put on Deadpools for Being Vaguely Famous, aged 104. [The sidebar for that story currently has "Texas woman killed by tainted cucumber" and "Woman warns police about loaded gun in her vagina" incidentally. Must be something in the Dallas water.]

According to the Telegraph, Jihadi John is Nr. 1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11852303/Jihadi-John-tops-secret-kill-list-of-five-Isil-extremists.html They should do it on January 1st, as a bonus to all Deathrace runners.

Rooney is rubbish. 8th best choice for England up front at the moment if even that, and a total of 2 tournament goals in 12 games since 2004. Naturally, as a Scot, I hope he continues to be picked then.

I think we should allow Blogger and Wordpress. I can't see any possible way that would be abused by honest DDPers. Honestly, I wouldn't removed any of the Obituary sources. If someone appears on the local news but not the BBC local news, well, that's too bad. There's a nice crossbreed of them, from the Scottish dailys, to the US chasing Mail, to the proper broadsheets. But at the end of the day (and at the risk of being accused of being a suck up), it should be whatever the person in charge wants it to be. If they want to pour over the Dartmoor Chronicle for references to a cancer bride, so be it.

A Brian E Walker was born in Chipping Sodbury (great name) on the outskirts of Bristol, September 1926 (mums maiden name, Vines). No record of death up to the free search (which ends at 2007). There was a Brian Walker born March 1926, but he was born in Guildford, and who mistakes Guildford for Bristol? As Viz mentioned him on Twitter in 2012, you'd think they'd note if he was gone. However, his 1960s sketch work for The Guardian has copyright owned by a Mary Andrews. Though, while that would usually suggest deceased, her being the Content Sales Manager suggests an artist who never paid attention to what rights he was giving away. So, what you want is either someone with the dosh to check the English death records to see if he's snuffed it since 2007. Or find someone brave to email that copyright holder... My money's on alive, purely because Lambiek, the UK Comics Wiki, etc etc all don't have a date of death, and surely comic book fans are just as compulsively obsessive as Dr Who fans and would find this out...

Hmmm What are the film rights worth? I'll have "someone attributes it to ghosts before October" for ten, thanks.