msc

It's getting bad when people are dying twice.

I did dreadfully at this last year, so a rethink is on the cards... 1 Lindsay Lohan 2 Pete Doherty 3 Paul Gascoigne 4 Charlie Sheen 5 George Michael 6 Aretha Franklin 7 Michael Douglas 8 Margaret Thatcher 9 Prince Philip 10 Fidel Castro 11 Bruce Forsyth 12 Christopher Lee 13 Ian Brady 14 Ariel Sharon 15 Clive Dunn 16 Hugo Chavez 17 Stephen Hawking 18 Al Megrahi 19 Ronnie Biggs 20 Bashar AL Assad 21 George HW Bush 22 Patrick Moore 23 Nelson Mandela 24 Yitzhak Shamir 25 Ernest Borgnine

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Childrens SF author John Christopher has died aged 89. Big favourite of mine as a kid. Best known for The Tripods series.

Yes, Lou Rawls. And Deng Xiaoping in 1997. regards, Hein Lou went in 6 days in 2006, so he'll now see us when we get there. Deng waited till February to ping out. The 97 list picked up some big names hits though.

Yes, Lou Rawls.

This is a good omen for people who believe in omens. The five times since 2003 that the Number 1 pick has been a hit has produced 12/50 at worst. There's a lot of low hanging fruit on this years list looking nervously over their shoulder, and that's not counting the random old folk like Michael Gough who just decided to snuff it randomly each year.

They probably shouldn't have told her Johnny Otis had died. Or should have, depending on your point of view.

Hey... Oh yeah. Nice joker.

I think DDT (who else?) just went in the lead there. Chorizo not picking Etta James though, with 8 others by the looks of it having her as a joker, DOES put the cat amongst the pigeons as MPFC predicted!

Number is Number 1 And the joker of presumably about a gazillion DDP teams.

Its not coming up on the search engine, and no obits at all yet, but former Emmerdale producer Kathleen Beedles and a former writer on that show appear to have confirmed the death of Jenny Tomasin last week. The actress, who would be c75 (depending on your source) was in Upstairs Downstairs, Crossroads and the aforementioned Emmerdale.

Oh, I wont: a race isn't over till its over, and an Etta/Clerides/Wilson triple header this week would turn it all. Coase was someone I thought was long gone, then was reminded he was alive in the build up to his birthday last month. On recent form, as soon as I realise someone is alive I thought dead, they swiftly die anyway. So his omens aren't too hot! (Plus, you know, the whole being 102 in 2012) A bit annoyed four people I crossed OFF my DDP/Deathrace list as being too tricky for obits/expecting them to live have all popped their clogs and all look to be getting obits!

There was a kid in my class at Primary. Fastest runner in our year, boasted a lot. Come Sports Day he was the favourite for the 100m and he let everyone know it. Seconds into the race, he tripped on his shoelace and fell flat on his face. Finished dead last. Minus the boasting, I'm suddenly feeling a lot like that kid.

Not sure if there's any confirmation yet. Anyone have any news? With the ability to look really callous in a few hours, its nowhere else, off Wiki already, and the person who edited it in also edited in the death of some American sportscaster who seems to be alive too - Bryant Gumble - so I'll assume its one of those Wiki-hoaxes. Though Wiki is the 2nd last place you should take as an acknowledgement of death, behind notaguest when he posted.

Penalty Horror for England Cameron: "Something Said Rashly" Gains Minor Poll Boost Insert Immigration Story Here Three Battered in Chip Shop Murdoch Sells Sun (Buys Planet) Philip Makes Amusing Gaffe; Dies GOP Defend Sense of Humour; Nominate Roemer. Body Found in Graveyard He's No Stayin' Alive! Olympic Tragedy for British Hopeful; Crocodile Interviewed. "Dont Let Stress Kill You!" Osborne will help.

Sorry to hear of your loss, Windsor. It's been a bad time for these things lately.

Was unsure of mentioning this, but the wife's gran passed away very suddenly last week of respiratory failure. Only 71, went in the hospital a bit unwell, was doing well, then gone. Taken the family by surprise. She was a lovely woman. Best remember her chasing off a bunch of hecklers at our wedding single handedly with one evil stare, and that was when she was getting frail too! She'll be missed.

Sanha was the last man cut from my DDP (and by extension, Deathrace) team as I was unsure of his obit chances. Sagor Maas isn't getting a UK obit by looks of it, and I put too little faith in the severity of Holness's illness - in fairness, if a man survives 80 odd strokes, you assume they'll be more of a fighter. Ahem. Nine days in and hindsight is already killing me. Joy.

Might as well. (From the list below the DDP picks) 1 Billy Graham 2 Leonard Nimoy 3 Frederick Sanger 4 Robert Mugabe 5 Chris Woodhead 6 Y Shamir 7 George McGovern 8 Tom Finney 9 Ernie Terrell 10 MB Sanha

Having seen DDT's team above, half of it seems pretty good picks to cark it this year, and some of the rest I don't know the current health of - Bert Sugar and Jon Lord for example. He'll be right up there. Though, its hard to say much beyond "they look good on paper" right now. I'm sure absolutely brilliant DDP teams on paper have been utterly bollocks in practice.

In 2010 when the BBC did the 50th anniversary doc on Mockingbird, Lee's sister told us that Lee was still active and out and about. Less than a year later, she is in assisted living, and going blind/suffering from memory loss. Short of the sister fibbing, sounds like a dramatic downturn in health, which suggests a good pick for 2012.

Goodness, 11 unique picks? That leaves more chance of one in the DDP. Some tough opposition though - deadsoxs team looks inspired on paper for example - but all of them look like they could spring several hits. Lots of low hanging fruit in terms of severe illness. Should be a cracker - good luck to all involved!

She gave an interview to the Guardian in November. Now she could just being practical, but that bit certainly suggests she doesn't expect to be around long enough to finish another book, however long that may be. Going off the science of a Wikipedia page, it takes about three years for her to write a book, and she was fixing this one up instead... There's a lot of lines to read between there.

I am not surprised Penny Marshall misses out as she didn't feel like a DL pick. I am surprised Clive James did, as he does, though the Committee may well suspect he shall see 2013. A quick count of the folk I suspect they've 100% hit their mark on (famous last words) makes 14/50, which would equal the record I believe. Though I am wary of Tariq Aziz. He is a frail old man, but there is every chance they'll get away with this executing lark. Executions don't equal hits do they?