msc

Reptile got to 260. Since then: Madoc, Johnson (Dambuster), Jet Black = 263? 16 needed for the record, 21 days.

There's three weeks left, Jinxy McJinxington!

Did strike me earlier that 2023 is a perfect opportunity for the Cmme to utterly smash their record if they wanted to. The likely holdovers from 2022 are either notoriously old (Kissinger, Carter), ill (Charlton, Starmer-Smith, Pele, Whale), or known frail people (Tebbit). The potential returnees include Joanne Woodward (very ill for a decade), Linda Nolan (Stage IV cancer), Pope Benedict (looks like a corpse), Willie Nelson (seriously ill earlier this year, and 90 next year), Nigel Lawson (last legs for ages now), and Liza Minelli (very badly il at the Oscars) Gravely ill people who feel very DLy include George Alagiah, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Frank Field, Rolf Harris, Roberta Flack, and Johnnie Irwin. Not been so many "yeah they're obviously DL" dying names to my mind since 2009. Ill folk they could easily go for include Andy Taylor, Frank McGarvey, Steve McMichael. (I dont care about your fame thoughts, they picked Bill Gate's dad, case closed.) Then there's your frail/sick/just old names who feel DLy: Fay Weldon, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, David Graham, William Russell, Pat Robertson, Sandra Day O'Connor, Dennis Skinner, Topol, Ruth Buzzi, Sonny Rollins, etc etc. Def feel like over 20 is possible with a great, well chosen, list.

Well, she's not survived it, just survived with it. For now. But to answer Crem, John Hartson had quite late stage Stage IV testicular cancer in 2009-2010 and was able to make a full recovery. Depends where it is, when it is diagnosed, and pot luck tbh.

It could be suspect but I'm afraid being unwell, stressed out and in a tense situation (Qatar, and also that Quarterfinal was quite dramatic) are the perfect storm for an unexpected heart attack too.

Died after an accident at a theatre? WTF?

Jimmy Carr brought this up on The Last Leg last night. Gilbert is too ill to promote his own book, but that his friends are "hopeful" he'll recover soon. Which wasn't very promising.

Asked DI about two picks being allowed earlier this week. Neither have seen Sunday let alone 2023. (Mel "keeping an eye on her for years and now in hospice care" Dzelde the other.)

Morocco 0-2 Portugal England 0-1 France Yellows - 10

Not a huge Cliff fan, and I like that song. (As a person I feel a bit sorry for him, though that would obviously vanish if any YewTree-ry were proved one day, rather gay panic inspired rumours. But you can take that as read for any celebrity, really...)

48 Althea & Donna – Up Town Top Ranking 43 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights 36 Blondie – Heart of glass 32 Bee Gees - Night Fever 31 Gary Numan - Cars +4 29 Ian Dury & the Blockheads – Hit me with your rhythm stick 29 10CC – Dreadlock Holiday 27 Police – Message in a bottle 25 Bee Gees – Tragedy 24 Tubeway Army – Are “friends” electric  23 Gloria Gaynor – I will survive 23 Art Garfunkel – Bright eyes 22 The Boomtown Rats – Rat Trap 22 The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star -6 21 ABBA – Take a chance on me 18 Blondie – Sunday Girl 16 Pink Floyd – Another brick in the wall 11 Police – Walking on the moon 9 Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta – You´re the one that I want  9 Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta – Summer Nights 9 Boney M. – Mary´s boy child / Oh my Lord

To be fair, took me a moment to twig time meant the Thatcher Minister, as I was confusing him with Lord Hughes, the frail guy. Who apparently died in January. It's been a long year.

Yeah, just three teams. I did suggest ex-hosts with long shortlists should get an extra theme team and you wouldn't believe the Paddington Bear type stares I got in response!

Banks was the best actor in the entire show, imo.

Most PPA cases we've seen tap out on a 4-5 year time frame. They've never said Bruce had PPA tbf.

We've got the Backstreet Boys, Doop and a certain fucking 80s Bunny to kill off first. Regretting this idea yet, @Book?

Wolf Muser was US TV's go to German guy for a while. The name rang a bell, he was a recurring Big Bad in Alias (very popular the time, but utterly batshit crime/fantasy series). Was still doing TV recently so surprised that one fell off the radar. Also he had a 2-3 minute cameo in Breaking Bad once, so surprised there's no "Breaking Bad Star Dies" coverage like that other guy last week! Bryan Clark looks familiar. Might be because he was the recurring Reagan impersonator of the 90s, but also appeared in stuff I used to watch like Eerie Indiana. Andy Romano had quite a long career so it's probably unfair that the only thing I can recall him for was as a cop in one of the worst Columbo episodes!

At least 2012-2013 has Diamonds by Rihanna. So that's one good song out of 40. (I'm exaggerating, the Avicii song is decent too, so that's 2 out of 40 odd...)

He did well to last so long after that stroke. RIP.

Took CSKA Sofia into the old UEFA Cup group stages. Took Liverpool close in the CL Qualifiers, KO'd Leverkusen in the UEFA Cup, and only narrowly lost to Monaco when a draw would have taken them into the next round.

Cutting down my shortlist for the notable Oldies team, here's some folk I can't find room for, who could make a good team filler for others. They're punt/gut feeling rather than Absolute Certs otherwise you know, I'd be keeping them to myself. But I think a few of them could be good differentials for some DDP sides in 2023 tbh. Rodney Marsh (1944) - Drink loving eccentric footballer of the 60s/70s, became an outspoken pundit fired by both Sky and Talksport for his jokes. One of those names that don't feel like they'd see advanced old age. Not to be mistaken for the dead cricketer. Fred Housego (1944) - Taxi driving Mastermind champion. Writes books, wins quizzes, drove his taxi till 2007. Overweight and diabetic for much of his life. Bob Marshall-Andrews (1944) - One time notable backbench Labour MP. Who doesn't like Bob Marshall-Andrews? OK, lots of people but if you can't find a spot on a theme team somewhere for a man who once reverse psychology gained a bunch of votes by ordering people not to vote for him, and once went on live TV to blame Tony Blair for him losing his seat, only for it turn out later he'd actually kept it, then who can you keep a spot for? Adam Hart-Davis (1943) - TV presenter, used to never be off the box. Combination of aging, grumpiness and rumbings about some Dave Lee Travis tendencies on set cut down his appearances. Looked a lot older and frailer when seen a year or two ago, and hasn't updated his website or once busy Facebook in years now. Dennis Canavan (1942) - Politician who was once in the Labour party but later got elected as an independent MSP. Has had to bury all four of his kids. Sean S Cunningham (1941)/Brian De Palma (1940)/Dario Argento (1940) - Rarely mentioned (on here) big name directors in their 80s now. Derry Irvine (1940) - Trained Blair, got a spot in the Cabinet, had a scandal. Used to vote all the time in the Lords, hasn't for three years now. Anne Perry (1938) - Best selling crime novelist who was also a notorious killer. Hey, write what you know! Still quite active (at the writing, not the murdering!) but one to keep an eye on, and you know DI wants to write about that story one day. Lance Henriksen (1940) - Looked quite frail in his last big TV thing, I thought, but never had enough room for the Aliens star. Charles Cyphers (1939) - Regular in John Carpenter movies, he's the police chief in Hallowe'en, the weatherman in The Fog, and so on. Paul Vachon (1938) - Legendary pro-wrestler, looked and sounded like every breath could be his last in interviews earlier this year. I would pick him for Pan Breed if I had the space. Tom Oliver (1938) - Lou from Neighbours, allegedly very ill now. Andrew Davies (1936) - Possibly the most famous living screenwriter: House of Cards, Pride and Prejudice, A Very Peculiar Practice etc etc. Had cancer a few years ago, looked ghastly when I saw him interviewed before the pandemic, but said work kept him going. He's working on Sanditon at the moment but even he's had to reduce his workload now. David Winnick (1933) - Of course. The Ghost of the House of Commons could see 90 next June. How? Other than relaxing in his (forced) retirement, I've no idea... (Wiki crashed mid-way through this. Also they've updated how imdb works and it sucks.)

35 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights 34 Althea & Donna – Up Town Top Ranking 30 Blondie – Sunday Girl 28 Tubeway Army – Are “friends” electric 28 Police – Message in a bottle 25 Bee Gees – Night Fever 25 ABBA – Take a chance on me 25 The Buggles – Video killed the radio star 25 Gary Numan – Cars +1 24 Police – Walking on the moon 24 Boney M. – Mary´s boy child / Oh my Lord 23 Ian Dury & the Blockheads – Hit me with your rhythm stick 22 Bee Gees – Tragedy 21 Blondie – Heart of glass 21 The Boomtown Rats – Rat Trap 20 10CC – Dreadlock Holiday 20 The Boomtown Rats – I don´t like Mondays +4 19 Art Garfunkel – Bright eyes 19 Gloria Gaynor – I will survive 18 Cliff Richard – We don´t talk anymore 17 Pink Floyd – Another brick in the wall 17 Rod Stewart – Da ya think I´m sexy 15 Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta – You´re the one that I want 14 Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta – Summer Nights 14 Anita Ward - Ring my Bell -6 8 Village People – Y.M.C.A. 5 Brotherhood of Man - Figaro Never thought 5 years ago I'd be vote in something like this to boost Bob fucking Geldof's score.

Hadn't been paying attention to the table recently, surprised to find myself only 7 points off my most successful DDP year (and in 5th place, also my best placing ever). Tall ask this late on to surpass either of these "personal records" but the sort of navel gazing stat our @Gooseberry Crumble loves!

Also, shame that those two Boney M songs got to number 1, while Ra Ra Rasputin (lover of the Russian queen) didn't. Oh, and word of warning - if you don't know the Brotherhood of Man song, don't listen to it, it will stick in your head forever.

Kate Bush probably wont last long because she has a number of non-fans (people with no taste, clearly ) on the forum, I recall from over the years. Gary Numan's two number 1s are great. Ian Dury is great. Blondie are great. The Bee Gees are great. That is a good ABBA song, though Erasure's version was better. Sting is annoying but those songs are good. Bob Geldof is fucking annoying but that's a great song. Both of them, actually, forgot I Dont Like Mondays made the top of the pops. Cliff Richard is fucking Cliff Richard but that's still easily his best song. The rabbit dying song has nostalgia to it. The Village People and Gloria Gaynor are proper drunk nightclub floor fillers. Get rid of the chaff and this is actually a really difficult round imo.