DevonDeathTrip

Chapman Pincher. Empires and nations unlikely to quake or tremble as a result.

Here's as good as any place to post that sitcom writer Vince Powell, who wrote "Never The Twain", "Bless This House" and lots of other programmes that I've never heard of, has expired at the age of 80.

Gordon Waller, half of the duo, Peter and Gordon, has ruled himself out of all upcoming tour dates by dying of a heart attack. Meanwhile, ancient actress Beverly Roberts, who co-starred with Humphrey Bogart in the 1936 film "Two Around the World," has died aged 96.

I'm very tempted to treat myself to a slice of mail order toast. http://www.badgehabit.com/product_info.php...products_id=321

It does look very serious for Hartson, but it is worth remembering that Lance Armstrong managed to survive testicular cancer with secondaries to the lungs and brain. If he survives the surgery, he might just stand a chance of beating the disease.

The actress Zena Marshall, who played Miss Taro in the first James Bond film "Dr No", has died at the age of 84.

Lots of rumours on the Aerosmith forum about bassist Tom Hamilton, who came to the attention of DL a few years ago when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He's suffered some sort of relapse and will not be preforming with the band on an upcoming tour.

Frank McCourt has gone in to a hospice and is reported to have only weeks left to live.

Pepe, an escaped hippopotamus who once belonged to the late drug baron Pablo Escobar, has been hunted down and shot dead by the Colombian army after he was deemed to be a public menace, a bit like his former owner. Efforts are ongoing to hunt down (and presumably kill) Pepe's mate and his calf, the only hippo ever to have been born in the wild outside Africa.

Sir Edward Downes, the conductor, and his wife Lady Joan, have ended their lives together at the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas. They are survived by their children, the finely named Caractacus and Boudicca.

Jian Xianlin has died.

Frail Kim Jong-il 'may only have months to live'

Nice effort from Brad 'Britpop' Wiggins today. Probably a flash in the pan though. I loathe Lance Armstrong, by the way - cancer, please come back, baby. Wiggins was superb today, but I think the Alps might get the better of him. I agree with you that this could be Andy Schleck's year, but I must admit I'm finding studying the form for last position just as interesting.

I'm hugely enjoying this years Tour, I think it's going to turn out to have been one of the best for years. Television highlights never really show what's happening behind the peloton, which is a shame as we miss out on seeing the specialist sprinters and the injured floundering up mountains, falling further and further down the leaderboard. You can keep up with the race for last place on the excellent Lanterne Rouge blog. http://tdflr.blogspot.com/ Wim Vansevenant, who finished last overall in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (an unprecedented feat) has retired from cycling to become a farmer.

Cancer riddled Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar, who underwent a seventeen hour operation earlier this year, has gone under the knife again. This time eighteen tumours were removed from his abdomen.

Johnny Almond: I'm not sure that makes him famous enough for a UK obit, but anyway he's suffering from terminal lung cancer. I like it how the article describes him as an "Unknown Legend".

Thanks Ize, I've just signed up for an e-mail alert whenever the good Baron speaks, the deal is they don't alert you more than once a day. Given his track record, I'm not expecting to be spammed. I will - however - share any activity with the DL. Good spot. The Houses Of Parliament have a "Leave Of Absence Register", which lists peers who do not attend the House of Lords. A few of them are quite young and are possibly off on secondment doing other things, but the rest of them are all pretty ancient and are probably not doing their job for health reasons. Strangely Baron Glenamara is not on the list.

Mary Travers has cancelled an upcoming preformance because of "ongoing struggles to overcome the lingering effects of treatment for cancer".

Sad, sad news. I've met this guy, he's a true freethinker and someone who's written work genuinely has opened minds. The Mothman Prophecies is intelligent and enlightening, in sea of paranormal dross. Go well John. Well, he struggled on for a while, but he died last Friday. John Keels Over.

Record label mogul Allen Klein, who handled the affairs of both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, has died at the age of 77.

Larry Hagman's wife of 54 years, Maj Axelsson, is suffering from Peter Falk's Alzheimer's disease.

Deemed fit to stand trial.

Canadian author Paul Quarrington is suffering from incurable stage four lung cancer.

Ferlin Husky returned to the stage a couple of weeks ago and seemed to be recovering well. Now he's in hospital again, this time in a critical condition with lung and heart problems.

La Parkita and Espectrito II, two fixtures on the Mexican midget wrestling scene, have been found dead in a hotel room. They arrived at the hotel with two prostitutes, who later left the building without them. There is speculation that the two men were drugged so that they could be robbed of their possessions, but the dose, intended just to knock them out, proved too much for their small statures to cope with.