msc

Not only did he present the evening news when Alastair Burnet let anyone get a word in, Sandy Gall was also a frontline war correspondent for 50 years, covering everything from Vietnam to Iraq, and was one of the few Western journalists at various warzones like the Six Day war, for example. As a roving reporter earlier in his life, he covered the Mau Mau Rising (ie helped expose the British atrocities, and Suez, among many others. He also got arrested in Uganda for trying to uncover Idi Amin's crimes, is one of the foremost living authorities on Afghanistan (saying he respects the countries ability to repel any invasion), and made a number of interesting documentaries, not only on his exploits and charity work but also figures like the guy from Born Free. He also did a lot of charity work to raise money for people disabled in Afghanistan by bombs (all of them, be they Russian, Taliban or Western sent...), is a extensive whisky drinking Scot, and claims that live TV is actually scarier than facing live bullets on the ground. Also you know what he did after escaping a secret police camp in Uganda, after 3 days of being threatened with death? Reported on it immediately to the outside world, while still in Uganda. Dude's about as amazing as a war correspondent can be. That people on here don't know about him is their own fault and not his.

Sorry to hear that, old chap. Take care.

Coveney's obits do bring up roles which might have been forgotten by the casual reader (though not as many, I find, as Toby Hadoke's Guardian obits), but you have to get past his editorialising and critic's opinion imo. Which does grate. Still, it's not the Guardian obit on... Bob Conquest (a friend of my mums too, obit apparently toned down since, but even now rather spiteful) or poor old Peter Shore. "He wasn't that interesting" is surely worse than saying he was a Grade A prick! I'm sure the Telegraph has had similar lapses in their usual fine obituary standard (for I have cursed them in the past), but my mind fails to recall them at 10.30 on a Saturday morning.

OH FUCK!!!!! I mean, hey, cool!

Got a Mail obit, too.

Harry's Game and A Dog's Ransom, here. Fine actor. A shame.

Thought...or hoped? Hang on...who wins if Bob goes?

Henry Bolton is the new leader of UKIP. I haven't a fucking clue who that is.

Marty Jannetty wastes oxygen into his 50s and Owen Hart's been dead nearly 20 years. Clearly, there is no God.

There's no rule allowing them to be so. I suggest you just ignore them.

Jannetty now claiming his account was hacked and has now deleted the post. You know as you do, over a month after something got posted to your Facebook.

There really needs to be a ration put on the . Playing out faster than Falk Jokes, imo.

Think he made a joke about not wanting to be Valerie Harper.

Oh no, not the Martin Biles... Whoever he was.

I give Sean credit for the Tony Booth hit. His tactic of dealing with the Cmme worked wonders.

Some golden oldies could easily return: Aretha, Frank Bough, Connery... About time Angela Lansbury came back, in case she does a number on us and dies in her sleep one day.

Recorded in January 2016 and February 2017. It tells us nothing about September 2017...

Can't mind what it was on, years ago, but some TV thing was showing footage of Tommy Sheridan's wifes police interrogation for the whole perjury thing. There she sat, staring ahead, saying nothing at all. Police chap bellows: "that's standard IRA technique you're using, very disturbing, where'd you learn that?" Standard "being a sensible sod" technique, if you ask me..

Resigns as MP with immediate effect, word elsewhere is multiple brain tumours now.

Sandy Gall fulfills my Number One criteria for someone being "famous enough". My old mum had heard of him.

As an actual Cardinal once told me: "ever notice the really loud God botherers get really old? As if no one wants them on the other side."

Those desperate for a broken record can blame RadGuy on January 1st, 2018.

Looking back at that "good analysis": 1. Peter Sallis: I thought he was a goner in 2016, I certainly do in 2017. One year I might be right... 2. Tony Booth: Falling to pieces, if he makes 2018, give him a medal. 3. Jake Lamotta – Not sure how he made his 96th year. 4. Hugh Hefner – Old. 5. Joost van der Westhuizen – Frail at Christmas, lasted 6 years with ALS now. 6. Mary Tyler Moore – Her again! 7. Errol Christie – “Year to live” sometime pre-May 2016. A cert. 8. Ian Brady – Says he is terminally ill. I say he’s a scumbag liar, but a hit here would be lovely. 9. Glen Campbell – A must for 2017, surely. 10. Liz Dawn – First time on the Deathlist, despite many years of folk asking for her. The Ali gambit once more? 11. John Noakes – Said to be very poorly with dementia when he disappeared in Summer 2015. He was found, and survived 2016, but it suggests 2017 might be a tough one for him. 12. Bruce Forsyth – Probably a banker, imo. 13. Jerry Lewis – Oh, he’s back. 14. David Rockefeller – Very old. About 9/14 there. On those numbers, a look back at those still living I suggested were in trouble: Kirk Douglas: A decent shot on age. Vera Lynn: Reportedly in frail health and unable to attend things now. A solid pick. Herman Wouk: Quite old. Leah Bracknell: Stage IV cancer and reliant on shamans. Fucked. Gord Downie: terminal glioblastoma. A cert. Leslie Phillips – Not only quiet since those strokes, but pics of him in the Mail were hideous last year. On the road out. King Michael – leukaemia in a 95 year old is probably trouble. Nobby Stiles – Said to be “gravely ill”. Jill Gascoine – Husband said she was in the final stages of dementia. Difficult to judge these things in time. Ian St John – bladder cancer spreading after surgery. Fecked. Pope Benedict XVI – Said to be in very frail health. Fats Domino – Still no idea how he’s outlived most of his contemporaries. His healthier contemporaries. Akihito – General view? If the Japanese government committee are suggesting he can abdicate, in Japan, then he’s fucked. Valerie Harper – Well she is still terminal, just how slowly terminal? Not quite the Sean list of the dead, but if there are further hits, I still expect them to come from that list above.

Err... much as I agree with your general point, that one really depends on who you talk to.

He got the Whipple surgery.