DevonDeathTrip

Meanwhile, in Texas: Man rams church, chases down pastor, beats him to death with electric guitar That really is no way to treat an expensive musical instrument.

Frenchman Bruno Metsu, 58, who guided Senegal to the last sixteen of the 2002 World Cup, has been diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Lord McAlpine, former Tory Treasurer, could be in the headlines soon... I don't know if it's already common knowledge, but Private Eye say that Jimmy Savile was a Christmas guest at Chequers for the eleven years that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.

Jesus Christ and Joseph of Arimathea may both have been laid to rest in Devon, according to exciting new research....

I knew this post would happen, Devon. For several months now I've been anticipating a mention of his decline. I think of him as somewhat of a replacement for Pavle but less popular. As majestic and ancient as he may be, I predict that he will maxout this year. It could be close. Patriarch Maxim to withdraw from public life.

Dave Swarbrick was hospitalised last week in Cork due to a stomach ailment which was hard to treat, due to most remedies having an adverse affect on the anti-rejection drugs he has relied on since his lung transplant. He is now back home recovering. Here's a very recent photo....

Good tip. Felix Dennis was on Radio 4's Loose Ends show tonight and spoke about his health. He is undergoing treatment for throat cancer (he admitted on the programme that he has no one but himself to blame after smoking forty cigarettes a day for nearly fifty years.) The Sunday Times did a feature on him a couple of weeks ago, which can't be viewed online because of their paywall. However, Felix has bypassed this by scanning the article and uploading it to his own website. I think he'd be a good pick for the DL next year. He sounded pretty rough, but came across as a likeable character - very anti establishment still and increasingly pro trees, two admirable characteristics IMO.

Patience Jonathan, Nigeria's first lady, has been in hospital in Germany for over a month. She is variously reported to be suffering from severe food poisoning, Parkinson's disease and uterine cancer. I guess you could surmise that she is unwell and I would have thought she'd stand a decent chance of a UK obit.

American author and "gender theorist" Kate Bornstein has announced she has been diagnosed with early stage lung cancer. She is already suffering from a mild form of leukemia and her blog post alludes to other health problems. I quite like Bornstein's choice of titles for a couple of her books :

Ruth Klein, the last surviving member of The Pancea Society, died in August. The Pancea Society were a wonderfully eccentric religious group, who believed that Christ's second coming would happen in Bedford. One of the properties they purchased in the town remains empty, ready in waiting for Jesus to take up the tenancy upon his return.

I've managed to convince myself that someone in my DDP squad is going to die imminently, so I'm not that worried.

American TV actress Bonnie Franklin, 68, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer... I don't recognise the names of any of the programmes she's starred in, so I couldn't honestly say if she'd get a UK obit. However, I don't watch a lot of TV, so I'm probably not best placed to advise on this.

Occasional Def Leppard keyboardist Dick Decent.

I saw Ranulph Fiennes in the Okehampton branch of Waitrose a few months ago, with a huge amount of sugar in his trolley . Perhaps he was planning to make a job lot of jam to sustain him through his epic trek in to the cold and the dark.

Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, who will be 98 in October, has been hospitalised due to his "advanced age"...

"Data Artist and TED fellow" Salvatore Iaconesi, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Unusually, he has chosen to publish his medical records online, so anybody can check on his progress.. I don't think he's exactly A list, but the BBC did report on one of his inventions a couple of months ago. I felt a little out of touch with modern society after reading that article and am still a little unclear as to what a "TED fellow" actually is.

Canadian statesman Peter Lougheed, 84, possibly about to die in the hospital which was named after him.

I'm not so sure about the t-shirt, but I do think the already recorded Chumbawamba EP, In Memoriam, Margaret Thatcher, which will be released on the day she dies, has a certain je ne sais quoi...

Bryce Courtenay has updated his Facebook page to announce that he only has a few months left to live.

Renowned classical pianist Van Cliburn, 78, has been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer.

Neil Young, not only a great musician, but, according to NBC, the first man to walk on the moon.

More mischief-making from the National Enquirer.

A mere six years later, it appears that Cardinal George's cancer has spread to his liver and kidneys.

His Holiness Abuna Paulos, Fifth Patriarch of Ethiopia, 76, has died of a heart attack.

Xolile Mngeni, whose health could be crucial in influencing the result of this year's DDP, was in court today. He doesn't appear to be very well but I'm not at all sure he won't stagger in to 2013. Lots of UK press interest in his case, though.