msc

Mike Graham is dead, aged 61, possible suicide. Like father, like son if so.

That always happens from October on. Look at last year with Philip Gould, Hitchens, Heesters, Socrates, Ken Russell and Joe Frazier all popping their clogs just too early.

I used to think they were the same person, actually, when I was a kid.

I see very little beyond the usual rumours on Castro on Twitter, but I do see that Arlen Spector has died according to the AP Breaking news twitter. He's been mentioned here before.

I'm sure he's been mentioned here recently - though search doesn't bring up anything - but Chadli BenJadid, President of Algeria from 1979 to 92, has died. Possibly of his unconfirmed cancer.

But...but...he was Lord Sitar, a total legend, v.sad news indeed. Leaves a hell of a CV though.

Sellers had a history of heart ailments and self-destructive behaviour though. Martin merely has a history of rubbish films. He shouldn't be on this list though, as his films were a travesty to the original ones.

The mighty Oscar the Grump. Random choice - probably a bit wasted though, hes starting to give the signs of being immortal.

Sad news. A Shot in the Dark is one of my favourite comedies, and Lom is wonderful in that as Peter Sellers increasingly neurotic boss. He's also quite good as Armstrong in the 70s adaption of And Then There Was None.

Would Buell even get an obit? If he makes it to 2013.

Hmm, I'm guessing your Joker. Williams was on my list, but I can't say I'm particular cheered about this: this year has been particularly bad for the passing of folk I like, I far prefer it when its folk like Mugabe and co.

A rather random threadcromancy too, but it did introduce me to the story of a woman I had never heard of before. Suspect I was a bit too young to remember the hooha in 99.

I've done far better in this compared to last year. Though I've now just cursed Gazza probably.

Maybe the best way to answer that is to reverse this question somewhat. Which leader of Estonia was a right bastard? In your opinion... Knowing Estonians, all of them between 1940 and 1991 when Russia were in charge.

She was a forceful demagogue who didn't like consensus or listening to people with differing opinions, who saw the world purely in economic wallcharts, with a habit of guinea pigging potentially unpopular policies on areas she felt disposable like Liverpool or Scotland. Her actions made a few thousand odd folk much richer, but destroyed entire towns worth of jobs for working class people, some of those areas have never recovered to this day. Her inability to talk in anything but partisan politics also badly damaged the British political system. She was a charismatic force of nature with a political philosophy which encourages market forces but leaves vast majorities of working people worse off. I think that's a start.

Wiki is often wrong: it had Andre Marranne (of Pink Panther fame) listed as died in 1992 earlier this year. This came as a great shock to the folk I knew who had spoken to him in March! Dunbobbin had roles in both Doctor Who and Porridge, both of which have fans rather good at tracking down former guest cast if they die*, so I assume he is still with us. *Except poor old Alan Judd. No one knows what happened to him. Probably long gone by now, he was quite old in the 70s when he was acting.

Jacques Antoine, creator of Fort Boyard, The Crystal Maze and Interceptor has died aged 88. Crystal Maze was always good fun.

Hmm, I wonder if certain obit writers read this forum. Then Oddstocks post would have been his own downfall. Nah, but the timing is quite amusing.

I hadn't even heard of him. RIP none the less, nice long life, 102 is. Here is the Stage's obit (not a proper one to ruin the bet above) to ward off any "Who was that? Why didn't he get picked by the DL?" style questions with this threadcromancy.

This might be a wee bit obscure, but given there's a load of music lovers on here, someone might wish to know that George Gallacher of Glasgow blues band The Poets died on the 28th, age 68.

Well, his name will be immortal. Only one man can be the first to walk on the moon.

When someone who is against the European Union is turned into a fan of it. EU fan-ised. I'm sorry, that was a bit of a reach.

I always read it as John Demjamjuk'd, which sounds like slang for dead.

I myself am quite a pacifistic type, but I suspect I would do the same if stuck in a room with someone who had done the same. There's a Clarence Darrow quote I like to refer to, which I'll have to paraphrase here: "I don't wish death on people, but I've read many an obituary with satisfaction." I admit this is a flawed reaction, but I am a flawed human being, much like most of us. I wasn't alive during the Moors Murders, but I have been alive to see Brady's machinations in the press, and the way he toyed with the surviving family of his victims. It's still a living memory event in the way older crimes aren't. (See also the nation's fascination with Ronnie Biggs!) Even if it wasn't, I'd say it was horrible enough to have to be remembered as part of history. I tend to see the world in fairly extensive shades of grey rather than black and white, so someone like Brady who seems to do what he did (and does) for fun... well, it's as close to a definition of evil as I'm willing to tread, and is rather disturbing. Even so, it's cases like this that harden my views against the death penalty. That in theory is a punishment that if we dish it out, we must be rational in a case, and this is one that makes even the most rational tempestuous. Beyond the cost issues, the chances of innocence in cases in generals (not here), I retain the strong belief, possibly naively, that if the State kills people, then we as a people are falling to their level. Re- afterlife, that's very much a personal thing to the individual.

RA, going off your question has the Andrew Walker of the murderer variety popped his clogs then? I've not seen anything on him lately.