msc

When co-host I was asked to put a lower limit on followers for net presenters and called it at half a million which DQ'd a number of intelligent thoughtful channels I frequently check out. Mr scary snake dude here has nearly 5 MILLION followers (and a 114 million likes)on tiktok. He absolutely smashes the fame bar I was asked to set.

Speaking as another out of touch middle aged guy... you're right, you are yelling at clouds here.

Excellent work young @Clorox Bleachman

You don't bring a knife to a gunfight, you don't challenge Haku to a bar fight and you don't challenge Odstocks knowledge of racing drivers!

True story. The BBC did a live broadcast of The Quatermass Experiment with modern actors in 2005. David Tennant was in it right before he became mega famous. And because it was live all errors were broadcast to the world. Which is why the BBC announcement that Pope John Paul II died always comes to mind as showing up on screen the exact moment David Tennant tripped and fell on his arse on live TV.

My dad's favourite band as a kid, and he says they were great if you were about 10 at the time.

Oi no slagging off Joan Plowright, she's a legend. And was an acclaimed stage actress before she hooked up with Larry. Not seen her in much stuff in ages due to age and macular degeneration of course.

Great idea, only I've gone to the date me and mrs msc hooked up and the only notable deaths are some Governor of Massachusetts and a general manager for some baseball team. That's no help!

Matter of hours between the two. You could say it was Right Down the Line.

You think that's bad. Apparently I typo'd Derek Draper on my DDP team. DI, Banana, everyone calls that guy Christoph Daum round these parts...

Couldn't breath properly, couldn't eat or communicate properly, mass organ failure issues, heart issues and allegedly was showing signs of early on set vascular dementia. Yeah, his quality of life was going to be fucked if he'd lived.

She tried to do a Martin Bell and got gubbed. You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh.

Equals the late great Gerry Rafferty in 2011. He'd been on life support so we all had advanced warning he was going.

Reminds me of some relatives. One was carer for dementia partner. The carer then died suddenly from a stroke (likely stress related) and the dementia victim went downhill rapidly, died about three weeks later. Even that far gone they knew they'd lost something vital, just not what.

Good work @Death Impends witty and informative in equal measure. And a tip of the hat to @gcreptile. I will be blunt, the Committee would never have got off the ground without Reptiles unbreakable faith in the rest of us. Not only was he great at his role, he was great at keeping everyone else zen. An absolute inspiration to work with. Enjoy your impending rest!

You are there next to Gooseberry and Liz Lemon, worry not.

1. Paul Auster (author) 2. Julia Baird (Australian TV presenter and writer) 3. Bajrakitiyabha (Thai Princess) 4. Charlie Bird (broadcaster and news presenter) 5. Kat Bjelland (musician, Babes in Toyland) 6. Black Bart (former pro-wrestler) 7. Rob Bolland (singer/songwriter, In The Army) 8. Kathy Brown (American singer, US dance charts number one) 9. Joe Bugner (boxer) 10. Rob Burrow (British rugby player) 11. Jimmy Carter (President) 12. Simon Cowell MBE (Wildlife presenter, not the music guy) 13. Christoph Daum (controversial German football manager) 14. Shannen Doherty (Prue/Heathers/90210 actress) 15. Derek Draper (former British political advisor, “Lobbygate” perpetrator) 16. Fedez (rapper) 17. Frank Field (British Labour statesman, ex-veteran MP) 18. Roberta Flack (music legend) 19. Andrea Gibson (American poet) 20. Eleonora Giorgi (Italian film actress) 21. David Graham (British TV legend – Thunderbirds/Dr Who/Peppa Pig etc etc) 22. Stuart Gray (Former Celtic player) 23. Jonnie Irwin (British TV presenter) 24. Erik Jensen (US TV actor, Leverage/Walking Dead/lots) 25. Toby Keith (country singer) 26. Nadine Koutcher (Belarussian opera singer) 27. Tony Lloyd (current UK Labour MP, former party chairman) 28. Malachy McCourt (actor, writer, political candidate) 29. Steve McMichael (NFL and wrestling star) 30. Patrick Murray (British TV star, Only Fools’ Mickey) 31. Dikembe Mutombo (former NBA player, Denver Nuggets) 32. Linda Nolan (singer and TV star) 33. Esther Rantzen (UK TV presenter) 34. Adrian Sutton (War Horse composer) 35. Nigel Starmer Smith (British sports commentator) 36. Sly Stone (music legend) 37. Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor) 38. Paul Vachon (80s WWF wrestler) 39. James Whale (British radio presenter) 40. Bridgette Wilson (US film actress, Last Action Hero)

My annual look at the new top 50. · Jimmy Carter – Hospice care for nearly a year, recently lost his wife and looked like a corpse, probably on most of our DDP teams. · Dick Van Dyke – Super healthy 98 year old. Will go one day, not convinced this year. · Pete Murray – Looked frail as hell during lockdown. Didn’t do his usual shows in 2023, but is also ancient. · Alan Greenspan – Boring economist bedblocker. · Pope Francis – In increasing frail health, lots of little things adding up, only has one working lung, and is the most famous man on the planet. Great pick. · Ethel Kennedy – Frail and little seen these days. Biden spoke to her on her birthday. · Cleo Laine – Reclusive and retired for years. · Sandy Gall – Recently published a 400+ page book on Afghanistan, but has recently slimmed down his schedule. Finally retiring or feeling his age? · Noam Chomsky – If I can count on Rent a Cynic Chomsky for anything, its to speak out on any given event. Nothing on his birthday? Strange. Nothing for half a year? Worrisome. Nothing about Henry Kissinger dying? This guy must be on his deathbed. · Robert Wagner – Seems one of the healthier old guys on the list. · Mel Brooks – 98 this year and still working! · Dennis Skinner – Quiet since retirement, recent rumours of dementia, though he is seen out and about in his local area. · Nigel Starmer Smith – Bedridden since 2022. No life at all, really. · James Whale – Is absolutely going to die in a few months, he assures us, just lack in the last four years. Can only keep going for so long though. · Glynis Johns – Super frail, super legend, great pick. · Stanley Baxter – Significantly quietened down of late, as he is ancient. Feels close to the end, and is 500 years old in Scottish years. · Joanne Woodward – Has had end-stage dementia for decade. Recent documentary confirms she sees her family weekly but takes in very little. Can’t have long left. · Patricia Routledge – TV legend who is now in a care home and lost her close friend Betty last year. Very DLy. · Clint Eastwood – Had to make the list. · Derek Draper – Recently suffered a massive HA so could be an absolute gimme for the list. · Vanessa Redgrave – Severe lung problems in 2021 have diminished her health and she looked hellish in recent appearances. · Desmond Morris – Now lives in Ireland and seemed quite alert for his age in an interview last year. · Gene Hackman – Retired A lister, very DLy. · Jean Marie Le Pen – Was ill last year and for a moment we thought we could get rid of the guy. But no, he recovered. · Denis Law – Was keeping a public profile even with his vascular dementia, but recently, nothing, even when close friends die. Suggests he’s gone downhill quickly. · Hans Blix – Just released his memoirs, still gives interviews but is retired in Sweden. · Julie Walters – Rumours she is gravely ill seem to just be rumours to my mind? · Tom Brokaw – Apparently he’s still got the same cancer from 2014, and looks ghastly of late. · Linda Nolan – Her cancer is now in her brain. Surely even she can’t romance away this… · Bob Newhart – Looked frail for years and recently lost his wife, a dangerous combo. · Louis Farrakhan – Not someone I am very familiar with, but Ulitzer said they should have died years ago. Am assuming that’s a frail health comment! · Norman Tebbit – Sean’s cuddly uncle secretly takes in the life essence of everyone else so cannot die. Tebbit’s quietness of late is so unlike Norman Tebbit, however. · Willie Nelson – Survived full on covid and lung issues in 2022, because he’s Willie fn Nelson. Will probably die on stage one day. · Daniel Barenboim – A classical pianist, this is a classy pick I don’t know much about, but apparently he’s been diagnosed with a severe neurological health issue, had to retire abruptly, and recent news that he had to take life “day by day” didn’t sound promising. · Esther Rantzen – That bloody woman. She now has terminal lung cancer, which we’ll hear all about until it ends. Great pick. · Roberta Flack – Going into her 2nd year of ALS in her eighties, sadly a top pick. · Dick Cheney – Well he has to die one of these days. And he is at the upper limit of life expectancy for a heart transplant. Clutching at straws? · Prunella Scales – Physically well, mentally gone, think her longevity is linked to Timothy West. One goes, the other follows rapidly. · Robert Duvall – Is still acting, though he is starting to slow down his work load now. · Josef Fritzl – Cunt. · Brigitte Bardot – Frail French legend with reported health issues in recent times. · Raul Castro – Fake Death news recently, last Castro sibling left standing. · Imelda Marcos – Had emergency heart surgery last year, could be a shoe in. · Ted Turner – Has been suffering from one of the shorter term dementias for five years. Under the radar top pick. · Buzz Aldrin – LEG. END. Don’t care if he’s on the DL for ten minutes or ten years, this is where he belongs. · Sonny Rollins – How is he still alive? · Sly Stone – How is HE still alive? And with his failing lungs, he wont be for much longer. · Tom Baker – Sentimental favourite for me, in frail health nowadays. · Franz Beckenbauer – One of the GOAT footballers, has a variety of health issues now and also has gone very quiet. Something is up. · Joe Bugner – A heavyweight boxer in a care home is DL Cmme manna. Gut feeling? Great list. Lots of inspired new picks, and frail longtimers. The DL went 17 picks in 2017, and 20 in 2020, I'm calling it now, this year they'll go 24 for 24.

Congrates @Banana a fine win.

Theo Burrell - Seemed too early at her age/diagnosis Nadine Koutcher - Briefly a lock but seems to be bouncing back well. Richard Scolyer - Recently finished immunotherapy course and is about to start a new bout of treatment so clearly they think he'll make 2025. Sudarshan Maharaj - Seemed far too optimistic, felt chance it was an early catch of pancreatic cancer and he'll live. My least confident axe. Patrick Murray - Just no room. Paul Auster - Not knowing what cancer it is, though I have the feeling he's a goner. Duncan Campbell - Edinburgh Fringe comic/author, @Death Impends specifically convinced me it was a bad pick when I was checking for FFBI. ("A bit like that artist you picked the other year!" Harsh but true!) Andy Saperstein - Never told us what cancer he had. Sean Wallace - Jaguars coach. Couldn't convince myself of a Yahoo obit. That'll do.

Pan Breed 2024 Jonnie Irwin (JOKER) Rob Burrow Jason Smith - councillor Christoph Daum - controversial German football manager Graham Caveney Kathy Brown - singer Steve “Mongo” McMichael Simon Cowell (SOS Wildlife) Charlie Bird Michael Tilson Thomas Jimmy Carter Craig Maxwell - former Welsh Rugby CEO Stuart Gray Brian Barczyk Black Bart - a pro-wrestler on the wrestling fans team, wonders will never cease. Lizzy Musi - an 100% stats based pick George Beattie Erik Jensen - punt pick James Whale PJ Hammond - Sapphire and Steel creator Beattie is my attempt at a @Gooseberry Crumble type pick. He was wrongfully accused (and stitched up by the police) of a brutal murder as a teenager and there has been a decades long campaign to exonerate him. The Scottish Parliament got involved last summer as Beattie himself is now "gravely ill". Hopefully no one else saw that, its my only likely unique!

Just in general, this feels like it could be your most successful Charts Team to date. 1988 is the first year I have memories of the charts, though it was more Fairground Attraction (whom I have hated ever since)! The usual great teams, Gooseberry, and a few names I have to look up. Parry a blast from the past! Oakley the one I came closest to picking (but didn't) and Bell is of course a legend. My prediction is over 55 uniques by looks of it. Incidentally, you helped shape the Dr Who team. Last place was between keeping Mary Peach or debuting Hannah Gordon, and a few months ago you told me how you thought Peach was a good DDP pick, so she stayed! I remember first hearing that song on TOTP. I thought "man, he sounds a bit like Ozzy" then he appeared and I thought "man, he looks NOTHING like Ozzy"!

Can confirm tenterhooks!

To be blunt, I think him being forceably retired is the reason he's still alive. If he'd won that election he'd have died within eighteen months imo.

Pan Breed will go up later when the deadlines gone. But as @YoungWillz @Gooseberry Crumble and @Bibliogryphon seem to like my wacky Theme Teams, here are the 2024 versions: Here’s Who You Could Have Won Lawrence Gordon Clark (JOKER) Mary Danby - horror anthologist Dick Taverne Candace Hilligoss Diane Hoh Jim Sillars Giles Havergal - acclaimed Scottish theatre director David Irving Christopher Timothy Harold Snoad - Keeping up Appearances producer Frank Bowling Nadim Sawalha - Actor, Julia and Nadia's dad, Fekkesh from The Spy Who Loved Me Michael Billington - Guardian obit writer, picked to amuse DI Peter Sasdy - TV director, The Stone Tapes Martha Bartlett - Socialite who introduce JFK and Jackie. Jim Rafferty - Songwriter and Gerry's big brother Alvin Rakoff Moira Armstrong - TV director, Quiet as a Nun Andrew Davies - screenwriter Stacy Keach Gallifrey Regeneration Game Anneke Wills (JOKER) Christopher Benjamin Cy Town Barbara Clegg Donald Douglas David Garfield Janet Henfrey Warris Hussein Milton Johns Edward de Souza Tristan de Vere Cole Gabriel Woolf Roy Evans Anne Reid Mary Peach Martin Jarvis - surprisingly never picked in the DDP before Christopher H Bidmead Philip Hinchcliffe Eric Saward Dave Anderson