M.Lawrenson

I believe I mentioned this clip on post 271 above. At the end of the clip, you can also see Tom Pryce's blood-soaked body being stretchered away. I was surprised to find this footage even existed, as South Africa only started its TV service in 1975. It certainly adds some context to the other, more famous, clip of the accident. Though many people have been bemused at the reactions of Renzo Zorzi and Bill (the marshal seen with the non-Pryce killing extinguisher) to what was Jansen van Vuuren flailing past right in front of them. I also scanned the pages detailing this accident from the recent 'The Lost Generation - The Brilliant But Tragic Lives Of Rising British F1 Stars Roger Williamson, Tony Brise And Tom Pryce' book, if anyone's interested in seeing them.

I believe I mentioned this clip on post 271 above. At the end of the clip, you can also see Tom Pryce's blood-soaked body being stretchered away. I was surprised to find this footage even existed, as South Africa only started its TV service in 1975. It certainly adds some context to the other, more famous, clip of the accident. Though many people have been bemused at the reactions of Renzo Zorzi and Bill (the marshal seen with the non-Pryce killing extinguisher) to what was Jansen van Vuuren flailing past right in front of them.

When Castro finally does die, will the Americans take the credit?

Can't you produce it in Newcastle Under Lyme? Local councils are all in favour of innovative commercial enterprises. A bit of googling tells me that the local economic regeneration service, will be happy to help point you in the right direction. Telephone 01782 742461 I'm sure I could produce it here. After all, I did A Level Chemistry at Newcastle Under Lyme College. Demand for Po-210 seems to be higher in Russia, though.

I don't have a job at the moment, but I've decided on a new career. I'm going to move to St. Petersburg and start up a Polonium-210 production lab.

Bedser's twin brother Eric died in May, aged 87. Apparently, Alec's friends were worried about him as he and Eric were very close (they were inseperable and neither married), but Alec seems to be doing ok. That's all I know.

That's 4 former Test cricketers in the last two weeks, along with Geoff Griffin, Tony Pithey, and Graham Roope. Will there be another this month?

Former England cricketer Graham Roope died yesterday aged 60. From what I recall, they always picked him as a squad player for overseas tours because he was good to have around, and usually made at least a 'promising' 30 when actually picked. Plus he played for Surrey, which always helps.

Good site, but some very grim pictures. I've only ever met one WW1 veteran, my great-grandmother's brother - I was 3 and he was something like 82. One of my great-grandfather's had his lungs thoroughly ruined in a gas attack and suffered ever-increasing ill health until he died in the 1950s. I'm sure most people know WW1 was an absolutely dreadful thing to experience, but they should see some of those pics to see just how bad it was.

A good toxicology experiment could be done with Mr Kilminster regarding the Thallium poisoned Russian. They could get Lemmy down to the lab and get him to inhale, drink or swallow every element in the periodic table in increasing order. Then on DeathList we could each pick a number from 1-94 (those elements which are available in large enough quantities for this experiment) and the winner would be the person with the number of the element which Lemmy, after taking, would exhibit the symptoms of lethal poisoning. I'm not sure he'd make it up to Thallium (number 81), though.

Well, these things are done more efficiently these days eg. no more slowly killing deposed Emperors with arsenic impregnated wallpaper.

It's not the first time this has happened. Remember Georgy Markov, the man killed by a 'poisoned umbrella'?

All the Habsburgs are, and pretty much all of Europe's royals are. Otto is a 12xgreat grandson of Joanna (or so my back-of-an-envelope calculations tell me). The UK's Queen Liz is a 13Xgreat granddaughter of Joanna.

I've got to say it - Happy Birthday Otto von Habsburg, 94 today. Just listened to the last part of the BBC Radio documentary on his family, and he still sounds bloody sharp to me.

As opposed to the UK monarchy, obviously Thankfully, Liz and Phil are only 3rd cousins (as great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria) and 2nd cousins-once-removed (via Christian IX of Denmark - Liz a great-great-grandaughter, Phil a great-grandson). Still, it just goes to prove that you don't need 150 years of inbreeding to produce a funny-looking and somewhat dim heir to the throne. Incidentally, the British royals are also direct descendants of Joanna the Mad.

It was trickier than it looks. Mainly because of Paint Shop Pro's vector graphics mode (for the lines), plus shifiting it all about to get it in as small a space as possible. Basically, the problem is that if you go back 6 generations into the ancestry of a typical person, they have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents and 32 great-great-great-grandparents. With royals, it's not that simple. And Charles II's tree especially needs a lot of planning. Taking his great-great-great grandmother, Joanna (The Mad) of Castile, he's descended from her in 14 different lines... And anyway, since I've been in therapy for 4.5 years, my head has already been looked at a lot. I may be insane - but not half as insane at some of those on the tree Well, you only need to see some of the distinctly scary portraits of him to know that...

I'd've thought they'd've been some South African cricket fan who'd've done it before me. After all, I'm really the person who looks after the Wikipedia articles on the Habsburg and the Spanish Bourbon royal houses - I have enough to do already The burden of self-expectation - three hours it took me to do that family tree of Charles II of Spain for Wikipedia on Monday...

Tony Pithey Not a good time for former South African cricketers Yeah. Still fell to me to edit the relevant Wikipedia pages on both of them, though.

Cricketer Geoff Griffin has died aged 67. Took a Test match hat-trick but had his career ended by being no-balled for chucking.

Much like the case of Steaua Bucharest. Contrary to what British commentators believe, "Steaua" is pronounced "stair-wa" not "shtoya". "Shtoya" in Romanian means "small penis", which made things awkward for one British journo when he told his Romanian in-laws that he was going to see "Shtoya" play.

Here's Merrick turning out for Birmingham City in the 50s :

Reading the BBC's Puskas tribute page, I found that former England goalkeeper (whom the "Golden Team" Hungarians put 13 goals past in 2 two games) Gil Merrick is still alive. 85 in January, apparently. Also, he's the second most famous person with his surname.

Hungary legend Puskas dies aged 79

I didn't know they made Bostik from dead horses. DL can be very educational at times. Well, at 27 Dessie would be a bit tough for a continental charcuterie.

Desert Orchid Not often you can say that dead 27-year-old has had a good life. Though spare a thought for all those other horses who end up at the Bostik or Pedigree Chum factories.