DevonDeathTrip

One of WWII's most decorated servicewomen, Australian Nancy Wake, also known as The White Mouse, has died at the age of 98.

I haven't got a link, but I'm reliably informed that the wildlife filmmaker David Cobham is suffering from bowel cancer. I'm not really sure how famous he is, but he did direct and produce "Tarka the Otter", so that'll probably get him an obituary. I don't know if anyone else remembers the children's TV programme "Woof!", but he directed that as well.

More health news on Brendan Lillils....

Sonia Gandhi has been diagnosed with cancer and is now in America for surgery.

And now David Toler's brother Dan Toler, who also played in the Allman Brothers Band, has announced he is suffering from ALS disease.

Anything the wrong side of Taunton is Up North to me. Can I suggest Hannah Hauxwell? My late father was a fan. I can't quite remember why.

Jeremy Clarkson says a tumour has been found on his bowel. The Sunday Express aren't sure if he's joking or not.

Not really health news as such, but, according to his daughter, Professor Hawking is gradually losing his ability to communicate.

Danny Bobbis, drummer for the hardcore punk band Cipher has been killed in a surfing accident in Indonesia. Wipeout

The Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth, The Right Rev Crispian Hollis, has announced in a letter to the clergy of his Diocese that he has been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Yitzhak Shamir's wife Shulamit Shamir, has died at the age of 88.

Stick to your guns, TMIB. Dissent in the ranks should be dealt with using an iron fist and demonstrators demanding change in the regime's policy should be machine gunned if they fail to desist. Mubarak would do exactly the same if he were running the DDP.

IRA man Brendan Lillis, "gravely ill with just days to live", according to his partner. However the parole board won't release him as they believe he still poses a threat to society. The truth is probably somewhere between these two points of view, but his long term prospects really don't look too good.

Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen. A trippy account of an unconventional ménage à trois. Nothing is quite as it seems. One of the lead characters - "F" - transpires possibly not to actually exist at all, other than in the imagination of the other two (one of whom turns out to have been dead all along). A Mohawk god/spirit/thing features prominently, for no reason at all as far as I could fathom. Cohen also finds the time to regale his readers with rambling accounts of bisexual shenanigans. I'd always wondered if the great man's novel writing matched up to his music. Now I know. 3/10 and that's giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Kenny Richey, who has a serious heart condition to contend with as well as his suicidal impulses, has been dabbling in cocaine and leading a generally unhealthy lifestyle since his release. Apart from his suicidal impulses, heart problems and drug abuse issues, Kenny now has another problem to contend with - mouth cancer. I bet he wished he stayed inside now! Kenny Richey has entered a rehabilitation facility, having been told he will be dead within three years if he doesn't stop drinking.

Sir Paul Reeves ONZ, GCMG, GCVO, CF, QSO , the former Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand, who later also became New Zealand's Governor General, has withdrawn from public life following the diagnosis of an unspecified type of cancer.

Saw Jimmy Barnes live just a couple of weeks ago at the Hop Farm festival and he seemed in fine form then, so hope it turns out to be nothing. It'll be massive news in Oz if he goes - biggest music death since Hutchence I would have thought. Yes, definitely. In fact, it is probably fair to say Cold Chisel would still be regarded as bigger at home than INXS ever were. Australians didn't really realise how huge Hutchence's band had become internationally until towards the end of his life. Chisel were in their heyday a generation before INXS but I read somewhere that Barnes took Hutchence and co out on the road as his opening act when they were just starting out. Barnes regarded them as a bunch of new wave synth-pop wimps until Hutchence kept up with him in an all-night drinking game. After that, he regarded them as his equals... Anyway, having said that, reports this morning are that Barnes' condition isn't so bad after all: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-26/barn...ospital/2811360 I know they're not exactly regarded as cool, but Midnight Oil would be my all time favourite Aussie rock band. I hope Peter Garrett and his former bandmates are all still in good health, DJL?

Is there no limit to DDT's awesomeness? You're too kind. I must admit that I was thinking more along the lines of some pimply goth mowing down half a dozen of his maths class and then blowing his own brains out, rather than the events which took place on Friday. Handrejka was also on the money with her prediction.

Two years later, another 'Brave Last Days' story, this time from the unlinkable National Enquirer:

Clent Holmes, another Drifting Cowboy. Not dead, but now aged 94 and suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, located by police in a befuddled state over 90 miles from home, having gone out for a drive to who knows where.

I couldn't help chortling when I watched this video of a River Plate fan reacting badly to watching his team getting relegated on TV.

There is a case currently going before the Court of Protection about removing the feeding tubes from a woman who has been in a "minimally conscious state" since 2003. If the Court find in her family's favour, then there's bound to be at least one appeal, so this could well run in to 2012. Thing is, could someone only known as M be picked for the DDP?

Juan Maria Bordaberry has died. He'll go on the DDP's list of the missed.