msc

A snippet in a Financial Times interview with Mark Gatiss from last month: Making a last minute bid for the Deathlist 50?

Hmm, found this: And a reference to him being seriously ill in the Express back in 2010, but he's written a book and been in public since then. Curious, however.

Aretha on Aretha:

Given she were diagnosed in April, here's a pic from 2016 for comparisons:

Hmm, I was thinking of 1st being their lifetime achivement (Deathlist wise) spot, but you're right, it tends to be a regular AND/OR likely to go. So Bush Sr then Kirk or Rev Billy imo. None of the new names, though I could see McCain maybe being in the top 5.

Bush Sr, Prince Philip, Kirk or Rev Billy - if 1st place isn't one of them, I will be shocked.

Be nice if Barnsley could actually win the odd game (1 win in 7 as it stands) to give Patrick Cryne more incentive to live another few weeks.

Recognise the face. He was in 2 episodes of Taggart but I can't mind the roles off the top of my head. He's apparently a Pat Cooper in Hostile Witness, the Taggart with the by-election, Bobby Carlyle and more murders than an Eric Saward penned episode of Doctor Who.

To abuse the late Peter Cook: I'd just check my diary, but alas, I appear to be watching TV that night...

Is this a trick question, and its John B. Anderson? I know, I suspect everything's a trick question, its my trusting Scottish nature.

re Pouya's girlfriend.

King Michael, Shashi Kapoor, Christine Keeler, Jenny MacGregor, Johnny Hallyday. Practically a DDP Christmas Carol this week, ghosts of the past, present and (would have been) yet to come...

Du Muoi if not chosen yet, since I have Scottish origins. Not sure that one works...

The subs have been added after the deaths of King Michael and Johnny Hallyday. There's about 30 names separated by 30 points in the 40th-70th position as it stands, so really anyone could yet make the list. As for that A lister I previously mentioned? Picked up 150 points since I said that. Sods law. But just goes to show, even someone with 0 or 1 point right now could still make the list. As Stefan Karl did last year, in fact.

He went to the house of Aleister Crowley and chatted to the Devil about his plans for next year, don't we all? Of course, the Devil is a liar, hence the guy dying in December.

And Scotland. Don't forget, she was once a villain in Taggart.

Sorry to hear about your cat. Pets often feel like part of the family, or more so than the actual humans.

Lauren Hill II was Dani Kemp and she died without an obit earlier this year.

Context clearly point to them being her doctors. When you compare her to former Deathlist picks like Tammy Faye Messner or Errol Christie who were her age with the same illness/prognosis, she's merely living to the outer edges of the statistical norm for it. Errol Christie's fight would last her to December 2018, after all.

People obsessed with trying to pick the latest suicide option (for some reason) could do worse than pro-wrestler Michael Elgin. He was once the can't miss prospect for the WWE to pick up, but screwed it up. Now he's had to sell his own promotion after news he tried to cover up an alleged rape and his own sexual quirks. Also, he's losing bookings because he tried to pull a political hit on his New Japan tag partner, only it got out in the open, and now said tag partner is replacing Elgin on shows. Also, he's been cheating on his wife, who being both a pro-wrestler (and iirc legit blackbelt) and genius level scientist (and superior to Elgin in every way), could probably deal with him and not get traced. He may present deadpool points to someone, but even not, it's always good to see that someone, somewhere, is fucking up more than you.

It's a homage. Remember Malcolm Hulke on writing: all you need to write is an original idea. It needn't be your own. Not a fan of her poetry, the little I've seen of it, mind you.

Do the Battersea Dogs Home one next, Wee Jum.

Times 2012 - breast cancer. Her poetry book, checks for cancer in the blood. This now? Guessing Stage III or IV breast cancer, prognosis unknown.

For all the flowery talk about death which seems to be everywhere now (see anything Leah Bracknell posts), my favourite such comment by a Drop 40-er in recent years has to be Jenny Diski's announcement of "Life cancelled/cancered."

For one thing, if it were recent, the current British weather would give her pneumonia long before we need rely on the end stage lung cancer.