msc

Well, here's a bunch of really old people then. 1. Ruth Newman (1901), San Francisco Earthquake Survivor 2. Irving Kahn (1905), economist 3. Zhou Youguang (1906), Father of Pinyin 4. Zoltan Sarosy (1906), chess master 5. Bill Del Monte (1906), San Francisco Earthquake Survivor 6. Roy Douglas (1907), British Composer (JOKER) 7. Sree Sree Shivakumara Swamiji (1907), Indian educationalist 8. Carl Falck (1907) – Norwegian businessman 9. Isabel Rosado (1907) – Puerto Rican activist 10. Gunter Fronius (1907) – Austrian enterepreneur 11. Abdul Rashid Khan (1908) – singer 12. Manoel de Oliviera (1908) – film director 13. Hans Erni (1909) – Swiss painter 14.. Yutaka Katayama (1909) – Nissan president 15.. Bobbie Heine Miller (1909) – tennis player 16. Arthur Gardner (1910) – actor 17. Gery Leuliet (1910) – bishop 18. Barys Kit (1910) – rocket scientist 19. Gillo Dorfles (1910) – art critic 20. Margaret Dunning (1910) - philanthropist Basically I just went for the 20 oldest people in my database, bar Sir Nicholas and Luise Rainer (the former as I decided long ago not to deadpool him, the latter as he's in another one and I am OCD about picking the same person twice!). Putting this here for now - i'll check it again nearer the deadline in case any of the above die. Obits probably tricky, but then, it's not like I do well in this thing anyhow!

Yeah, I know - I fell for an "in the know" source claiming he was in remission. On James, while I believe he's more of a fighter than he lets on (given he'd probably be dead by now otherwise), his health issues are still of the type for which a sudden complication (heart attack, stroke) could finalize them.

I think he'll see 2016. I also thought Reg Presley would see 2014. That's probably more of a reason for keeping him then.

I have met Terry. He was an arse. Of all this years list, I'd most like to meet PD James. Not read her books, but meeting a ghost would be cool.

I know, fucking disgraceful, it is.

Thoughts? 1. The Deathlist is a private thing between a bunch of friends who share it with us, and being based in Britain, is likely to be a product of British culture. 2. Joost van der Weisthuzen is actually South African, discussed by a British based website, picked by international DDPers, and who was a major part of a sporting event turned into an Oscar nominated film by Clint Eastwood in the US. If thats not relatively internationally well known... 3. I don't like ideas which limit the range of the Deathlist. 4. John Craven is awesome. I believe, anecdotally, Newsround was seen in the US. It certainly is now (but hes retired from it, presents Countryfile which is...surprisingly popular elsewhere). But people like him and the late Tony Hart and the even later Jeffrey Bernard are the soul of the list. Lose them because some people hadn't heard of them and we lose a bit of us all.

Vincent Schiavelli. Which sort of makes sense, he was in everything, then suddenly died in his 50s. Every so often I keep thinking "What's he up to these days?" only to remember he's dead again.

People I've heard of.... Barry Humphries. That is all. Admittedly, my knowledge of Australia culture sucks beyond a few PMs and the stars known here (Kylie, Clive James, that disgraced formers kid tv guy, etc)

The fucker's looked like shit for ages. I didn't know he was "ill" though....... are we sure about this? To me he just seems like the rough-faced-looking sort. Maybe someone, y'know Cheney'd him on a hunting trip in the 80s and we never heard about it? Who would do such a thing? My money's on Denis. .....Well anyway........ whatever. There are rumours from indiscreet chatty journo/politico types offline that he has cancer of some sort. Should have added a "meant to be" to the above post, but there's a lot of smoke there. I'm paying more attention to it, as when I heard Simon Hoggart was seriously ill, I forgot about it, and the next thing you know, he's bloody dead. And worse, no one picked him on the DDP.

These two statements don't seem to tally. I did have to look up JvdW but I presumed my total lack of interest in Rugby made that understandable. Even if you didn't know Wilko Johnson's name you would have heard of Dr Hook therefore I think his inclusion was more than justified combined with his high profile battle with cancer. Chris Woodhead is an odd one there have even been some UK comments on is he famous enough to be on here but we would happily inlcude Union Leaders and Churchmen so appointed high powered public officials should be fair game. To extend the Wilko analogy you may not know his name but you understand what Ofsted is right? If Steve of Canada ever does I have a little quiz for him. Ten thoroughly British types how many of them would you consider worthy of going on the list (ie you have heard of them) Sylvester McCoy David Steel Bill Morris John Craven Andy Partridge Deninis Skinner Patricia Routledge Tanni Grey-Thompson Nigel Lawson Kevin Kennedy Note even if you are not Steve of Canada you can comment on this list of Britishness. Re Woodhead, he probably has the same level of fame as Baroness Butler-Sloss (ie, the former boss of the child abuse scandal investigation who had to resign because her brother was one of the alleged suspects). As for that list, the main issue is almost none of them will die next year, except maybe Lawson, who is seriously ill. But then again, he has been for a year or two now, he's taken the Clive James route! Is Kevin Kennedy unwell, bar lifestyle?

Aaron Ramsey has just scored. Someone is doomed.

Given the WWE gave a tribute video on RAW to Angelo Savoldi (!), that would really open the net wide. Some of them would get Sun obits no bother, but I don't foresee going any time soon - its just the oldest names to come to mind.

So you'd love a provisional DDP team of: 1. Cora Combs 2. Verne Gagne 3. Bill Mercer 4. Lance Russell 5. Lord Littlebrook (joker) 6. Jacques Rougeau Sr 7. Don Leo Jonathan 8. Dave Kidney 9. Dick Beyer 10. Dominic De Nucci 11. Rene Goulet 12. Danny Hodge 13. Gene La Bell 14. Gypsy Joe 15. Nick Bockwinkel 16.Jose Lothario 17. Mr Wrestling II 18. Les Thornton 19. Mr Fuji 20. Jack Lanza Heh. Mind you, most of them wouldn't obit. Except perhaps Nick Bockwinkel and Verne Gagne, both have severe dementia.

Agreed. I mean, when I started lurking on here a long time ago, I'd never heard of George Melly (a generational thing) or Anne Feeney (an obscure folky thing) yet now love both. I'm still not really sure who Shaw Taylor was, but still, its cool to be introduced to new things. On the flipside, people I assumed were widely known (Timothy West, for example) drew blank faces from others. In other words to the guest, its a small world, aye, but no need to be small minded in it.

If in doubt, use the You're So Vain defence.

Harvey got his obit in the end? He was getting ignored long enough for the Guardian to get some complaints about it.

We're in very marginal 2014/15 territory too. He's a complete banker if he's breating on 1 Jan. He's one of four I'm now watching the countdown to 2015 on. The Ray Price/Philip Gould countdown, as its pessimistically known.

I'd forgotten about that one, and see he's gone from a fairly regular Tweeter to nothing in six months. Also, the "in the know" folk who tend to blab on the popular forums are keeping quiet.

I'll be dropping Valerie Harper - Like Clive James, I don't think she'll die in the next thirteen months. The cancer, though terminal, is progressing quite slowly. On the Sandy Jardine Sods Law principle, both are nailed on obits in 2015 now I've said that.

Is Norman Scott still alive? Was as of 2009 and living in Dartmoor (after all, as one judge - or was it Peter Cook ? - said, Andrew Newton was incapable of carrying out a simple murder plot without buggering the whole thing up). He was involved in such a juicy scandal of the 70s, you would assume one of the papers would note his death. As an add on to the previous discussion, The Telegraph nicely point out Scott is certainly alive, 74, and now living in Ireland.

1. Terror is quite fun. Its got a lot of really daft lines which I shan't spoil, but yeah, Pip and Jane are actually quite fun if you are in the right mood. It's also got a surprisingly strong cast for that era - Honor Blackman, Denys Hawthorne, Malcolm Tierney and Bellingham/Michael Jayston too. 2. Unfortunately, she gets worse. 1. I have seen Time and the Rani. 2. I have seen Time and the Rani. 1. A good point, well made! 2. A good point, well made! Carrot juice, carrot juice, carrot juice. I finished Trial last night. I can honestly say that Lynda Bellingham is probably the best person in it. So the Doctor really did commit genocide against the Vervoids and got away with it! I am now watching the "Trials and Tribulations" feature and it is more gripping than the story itself. Whilst all that politics was going on at the BBC, with Saward lashing out, Baker being fired, Grade trying to wrap the show up and so on, Jimmy Savile was fiddling kids down the corridor. What a screwed up organisation. And... "So, this big 14 part story. Surely we've worked out how we're going to tie it all up?" "Don't worry, I've set acclaimed writer Bob Holmes on it." "Thank god." (a day later) "Err, about acclaimed writer Bob Holmes?" "Yeah?" "He's dead." "Bugger."

Already? Blimey, you become a parent and the whole year just seems to melt away!

1. Terror is quite fun. Its got a lot of really daft lines which I shan't spoil, but yeah, Pip and Jane are actually quite fun if you are in the right mood. It's also got a surprisingly strong cast for that era - Honor Blackman, Denys Hawthorne, Malcolm Tierney and Bellingham/Michael Jayston too. 2. Unfortunately, she gets worse. 1. I have seen Time and the Rani. 2. I have seen Time and the Rani. 1. A good point, well made! 2. A good point, well made!

1. Terror is quite fun. Its got a lot of really daft lines which I shan't spoil, but yeah, Pip and Jane are actually quite fun if you are in the right mood. It's also got a surprisingly strong cast for that era - Honor Blackman, Denys Hawthorne, Malcolm Tierney and Bellingham/Michael Jayston too. 2. Unfortunately, she gets worse.

That's a shame. He was very good in The Invasion as Gregory, a rather panicky scientist who realizes he's been working for both a James Bond style super villain AND the Cybermen. That goes about as well as you can imagine for him. The other roles were more small extra parts iirc.