DevonDeathTrip

The former world record holder and Olympic medalist in the decathlon, C K Yang, has died of a massive stroke.

I thought I did, but I don't. But I do have him in my CPDP team.

Louis Farrakhan has been released from hospital following his operation. He was able to walk unaided to a waiting car. His own news website has released a very long winded press statement, which doesn't tell us much we didn't already know about his health. However the article does let slip that he will be speaking at a conference on Feb 22nd: "...Min. Farrakhan will deliver what could be his last major public address entitled, “One Nation Under God: The Confusion, The Guidance, The Warning.”

This ones a bit dubious, but I'm afraid I have been seduced by the name again. Tony Dye, who is (or was) a big name on the stock exchange (it says here) has had to wind up the $70million hedge fund he runs because of ill health. I don't know what a hedge fund is (or does) but I do know a hard nosed business man wouldn't throw his money away unless he was bloody ill. Anyway, onwards, his nickname, which he gained in the 1990s when he correctly prognosticated that the internet bubble would burst, was "Doctor Doom". With a surname like Dye and a nickname like Doom, this chap could go a long way...

Molly Ivins, columnist, political commentator, best-selling author and alleged plagiarist is very ill with stage three breast cancer. The Guardian sees fit to give her illness a mention, so no doubt will provide her with the required obit. Her column is syndicated in over 400 American newspapers.

The Jazz bassist Kermit Driscoll, is described as gravely ill with late stage Lyme Disease. He is a bit obscure, but he's got a fine name and an interesting disease which is very hard to treat, so I thought he was worth a mention.

The amusingly named and internationally renowned animal psychologist, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, has died at the age of 91.

John Hewer aka Captain Birdseye. 85 years old not been seen since he retired in 1998 after 30 years of serving Fish Fingers. He's going on my 'men with beards' theme team.

The strike continues. There have been scenes of subversion and turpitude in Conakry over the last couple of days. The police have become rather overexcitable in their crowd control measures and twenty people have been killed during rioting. As ever, Conte's health is mentioned, this time he is described as the "Chain-smoking, diabetic, and gravely ill president.."

Brent Liles, who played bass with American hardcore punk bands Social Distortion and Agent Orange, has died after been run over by a truck.

Duck survives gunshot wounds and two days in a fridge.

Cha Burns, guitarist for Scottish band The Silencers and a former member of Adam Ant's group, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Farrah Fawcett is worried she might lose her sight as a result of a condition caused by chemotherapy. Despite all of the happy headlines last year, the linked article paints a less rosy picture, her cancer fight seems to be ongoing rather than over.

The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Zeljko Sturanovic has been diagnosed with lung cancer. It obviously isn't healthy running a former Yugoslav republic - Slobodan Milosevic died of heart problems, Rugova died of cancer and now the leaders of Slovenia and Monetenegro are also fighting the disease.

Rather spookily Bam Bam Bigelow has his own thread. His death was falsely reported nearly two years ago.

The Canadian blues guitarist and singer Jeff Healey ,aged 40, has just had major surgery to remove cancerous cells in both of his lungs. He was born suffering from eye cancer and lost his sight by the age of one, he also had two sarcomas removed from his leg last year. Fate has been unkind to him. Maybe that's why he sings the blues.

Michael Jackson's brother, Randy, has had a heart attack.

I think it's likely that I'll just ignore the age limit, particularly for the reason that there's not a whole lot of animals that are reasonable picks. Also, as you mentioned, the obit requirements are tough for a normal team, so you may be restricted to picks like Koko the Gorilla et al. For the Theme Team, they need only be mentioned in an online news source, and since there are plenty of racing journals and whatnot, I'm sure a Theme Team could be well pulled off. I like the idea of a "preserved after death" bonus - taxidermied animals, people who are mummified, cryogenically frozen, even stuffed like that one fellow who wanted to attend university board meetings after his death - could all be worth an extra point. Anyhow, site updated to reflect the death of Art Buchwald. Sorry to be difficult CP, but Art wasn't a unique pick for Handrejka..... Don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I picked him as well.

Harvard economist Richard Musgrave, who advised governments ranging from Chile to Japan on public finance and taxation, has died at the age of 96.

For selfish reasons, I hope you have been disqualified. That would probably make my joker a unique pick.

He should have a chat with the Archbishop Of Chicago, he seems to be getting on fine with his artificial bladder. Without wishing to be too graphic, I'd rather have a reconstructed back passage than run the risk of fecal matter leaking in to my bloodstream.

What? Don't you mean fortune favours the bleedin' obvious. Had I been in NAP's shoes I would have null and voided the Saddam henchmen but we were told they were fair game. The contest starts for real now although I will never recognise the tainted entries that included Josie Grove. Godot, just because you were told they were fair game didn't mean you HAD to pick them. You seem to have changed your tune since you posted this With regard to Jo5ie Grove, you are entitled to your opinion (and I agree that she is a pretty sick choice), but I doubt many deadpoolers will cry themselves to sleep because they haven't got your seal of approval.

Veteran Chinese leader Bo Yibo dies at 98. I'm sure he has been mentioned on DL before. He was the last of the "Eight Immortals"

I believe Grim Rita was referring to the cancer stricken rugby league player (who was mentioned in the ideas thread last year) No date of birth, but he turned 33 fairly recently. He is supposed to be starting a course of chemotherapy in June.

In Iceland women convicted of adultry or incest were sentenced to death by drowning. This practise ceased several centuries ago. What about the men? Beheading or trampling to death by horses. Icelandic judges had an interesting take on suspended sentences: "In 1605, Dýrfinna Halldórsdóttir was condemned to death for incest with her sister's husband, but was not to be executed until the child was seven years old. If the child died before that time, however, she was to be taken and drowned."