DevonDeathTrip

Not really a cleric, but American Christian philosopher Dallas Willard, has been diagnosed with stage IV cancer, according to his twitter page.

Were you drinking beer? Feeling physically lethargic, rather than experiencing head pains, could be indicative of a gluten allergy.

Dead. I'll be interested to see if Sue Draheim gets a UK obit, because she'd have been number one in my DDP entry next year. I think I may have seen Draheim preform with Fairport at a Cropredy Festival...although all of my festival memories are a bit of a blur.

Guitarist Braxton Schuffert, another of Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys, dead at the age of 97. He once released a solo album under the cunning nom de plume of Braxton Schooford, which hopefully convinced his redneck listeners that he was in no way German.

Time to show off my extensive knowledge of rap: Is Kross the chap who used to shave lines out of his eyebrows?

Paul Shurey, who was an organiser of huge illegal raves, before going on to found the Tribal Gathering Fesitval, has died after an unfortunate accident involving cobblestones in Goa.

Steve Messham, the man who wrongly accused Lord McAlpine of child sexual abuse, is apparently: IF you are prepared to believe, ahem, a poster on the David Icke forum. Messham last updated his Twitter page in December. His posts would suggest that he is suffering from mental, rather than physical, distress.

It's all gone horribly wrong for stuntman Sailen Nath Roy.

Baba Amte also got a Times obituary.

Woodstock opener and folk legend, Richie Havens.

Animals on National flags. FFS! I made it too easy, didn't I?

There are only twenty eight shared between all the countries in the world. Only Mexico, Croatia and Moldova have two of them. Some of the twenty eight include a llama, a bird of paradise, a dragon, a frigatebird and a parrot. What am I talking about?

Dick Van Dyke has cancelled an appearance due to "fatigue and lack of sleep resulting from symptoms of a yet-to-be diagnosed neurological disorder."

Actress Jeanne Cooper, star of 'The Young and the Restless', is in very poor health, according to the ramblings of her son on Twitter: I always thought 'The Young and the Wreckless' was a Clint Eastwood film, but it appears not. I think she will get a UK obituary anyway, based on my new, highly scientific, theory that if the contents of a British or American actor/musician's Wikipedia entry can fill the entire screen without showing the beginning or end of the article, then they're famous enough to qualify.

Hmm, that could mean anything, from a touch of gout to near death. He's certainly on my 2014 radar. regards, Hein There is a bit more detail in The Telegraph regarding Gorbachev's health. Perhaps he'd be a good DL2014 candidate?

I wonder what the chances are of Mark Thatcher being ambushed at the funeral by secret service agents from Equatorial Guinea, who spirit him out of the country to face trial for sponsoring the failed coup of 2004, whereupon he is found guilty and immediately hanged in public?

Helmut Schmidt, to be killed and eaten by a pack of rabid daschunds.

The search for Joseph Kony has been suspended, following last month's rebel takeover in the Central African Republic. Kony is believed to be hiding there and the rebel army would prefer it if the foreign troops searching for him left the country.

When I was at university in Glasgow, I worked in a residential home on the Crow Road. I believe that former DDP favourite Edwin Morgan ended his days there. I just thought I'd share that useless piece of trivia with you all.

Please excuse me, I'm about to have a rant. The hideous Vanessa Whitburn, outgoing Archers editor, has claimed that she has been the victim of cyber-bullying, during the latter years of her tenure on the programme. Frankly, if that's the worst that happened to her, then she's got off lightly. Her years of constant attempts to introduce big storylines to a programme that just doesn't need livening up or modernising have tested the faith of even the most diehard listeners. The last couple of years, since the completely unnecessary killing off of Nigel Pargetter have been particularly bleak. The programme has almost reached the stage that it seems to have stopped being based on the characters and is now plot driven instead. Long-time, well-known characters become Jekyll and Hyde, or undergo a complete schizophrenic personality change to illustrate whatever issue of the day is on Whitburn's mind. New characters are parachuted in for the same reason and then written out never (or rarely) to be mentioned again. Even the references to good old agriculture - the rock on which The Archers was built - have diminshed almost to the point of extinction. Whitburn has all but throttled the golden goose she inherited and I was relieved to see that she's finally cottoned on to the fact that most Archers listeners despise her and retired (but not before taking six months off on full pay - licence fee payers' money - as a perk for long service). That woman deserves to burn in hell for the damage she has done to what was once the jewel in BBC Radio's crown and, even if her replacement were a one eyed, three legged, winky, wonky donkey, it would be hard pushed to do a more awful job than her in running the show. Anyone with half a brain is calling for the new regime to make some changes. Hopefully the Beeb won't choose someone with any intention of carrying on Whitburn's "Eastenderfication" of this iconic programme. I'll keep you informed, as I'm sure you're all as worried as me about what will happen...

Fishmonger finds live bomb in squid.

Not really. Obscure picks tend to undermine the point of a celebrity dead pool because they're not 'proper famous' like Pat Butcher. For the record, Jo Bryant was betrayed by the media... I suppose I might have derived more enjoyment than you this year because I took the right risk

Yes I've been musing on this. It could be that in the future the only "free" resource for obits would be the BBC. I may decide that the Beeb will be the "only" source for obits should the others shut up shop. Of course that narrows things down a bit in terms of picks/hits but it may focus the minds a bit, although it might force entry numbers down as some of the more obscure pickers may give up the ghost... Let me assure you all that nothing has been decided...yet. I don't like the sound of that at all. Even if you can't read the whole article, surely an obituary from, say, The Sun, would show up online? The Times have been hidden behind a paywall for a while, but you can still see who has got an obituary and who hasn't - e.g 2012 DDP hit Faustino Sainz Munoz, whose death wasn't mentioned anywhere else. Taking risks with obscure picks is part of the fun of deadpooling. The BBC are very hit and miss with their obituaries, loads of deserving candidates might miss out. Don't do it, TMIB

Hi Eesti. Denis Healey (1917 - ) Michael Foot 1913-2010 Merlyn Rees (1920-2006) James Callaghan (1912-2005) Tony Benn (1925- ) Margaret Thatcher (1925- ) I hope that helps.

I like Robert Loggia, just because of from Lost Highway (a forgotten masterpiece, imho).