gcreptile

James McConnell, incendiary Northern Irish bishop, is 78 years old, has diabetes, prostate cancer, and had major heart surgery: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3385572/Preacher-called-Islam-satanic-not-guilty-offensive-remark.html

According to Radar Online (not the best source), she's undergoing tests for throat cancer: http://www.thespec.com/whatson-story/6218605-janet-jackson-in-cancer-scare/

Jason Mackenroth, drummer and saxophonist with the Henry Rollins Band and Mother Superior, is dead of prostate cancer: http://loudwire.com/rollins-band-mother-superior-drummer-jason-mackenroth-passes-away/

Andre Turcat, first test pilot of the Concorde who broke through the sound barrier, died at 94: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world/concorde-s-first-test-pilot-andre-turcat-passes-away/story-5giWyPlXfBt6OFalazrtiO.html

It'll get BBC obit no probs... And so it has. BBC obit. The weird thing is, there's no date mentioned in any of the reports. Usually they would mention things such as "died early Sunday morning", "passed away in his sleep sometimes Sunday night or Monday morning", but unless I've missed it, I don't see it anywhere. Very true, in fact, look at this australian article: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/robert-stigwood-music-goliath-was-a-creative-genius-20160105-glzu12.html Says "Robert Stigwood (1934-2015)" 2015 is the key... Edit: Telegraph obit says January 4th though, but that could just be a guess: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12082776/Robert-Stigwood-pop-impresario-obituary.html Double Edit: It doesn't kill the Deathrace points though, but might instead be worth 366 pts.

My guess is they are giving her fairly aggressive chemo and as a very communicative person, that's her way to deal with it. I've heard of that feeling by the name "chemo haze". As I said, I guess they can keep her alive for quite a while, but maybe she decides at one point that she's had enough and quits treatment. I think she's a solid pick, but I didn't want to spend a couple of months interpreting every tweet.

Pianist Paul Bley, who played with Charles Mingus and Charlie Parker, has died at 82: http://slippedisc.com/2016/01/mingus-pianist-has-died/

Richard Sapper, designer of IBM's Think Pad has died: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3055062/richard-sapper-designer-of-ibms-thinkpad-has-died Ok, that's number three that I was looking for in the Dennis Ritchie thread.

I'm a bit disappointed he isn't on the list. At least, he's combining entertainment with deadpooling and form-checking.

According to my own calculations, my main team gets 116,36 pts this year, which in an ordinary year would be enough to win. But I expect this year will be furious and absolutely record-breaking because of the more liberal distribution of names (of which I was probably guilty of). My B-Team gets 100.52+whatever Fast Eddie Fryer would get if I knew his age. My wish is a top 10-place in my second year. I probably need another year to fine-tune my obitability sense and medical knowledge.

Michel Galabru, french actor and comedian, best-known for playing the serious policeman next to goofy Louis De Funes, is dead at 93: http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/cinema/michel-galabru-est-mort-annonce-sa-famille_1750319.html(french link)

Peter Naur, the N of the BNF notation has also died, at 87: http://www.computerworld.dk/art/235905/den-verdensberoemte-it-dansker-peter-naur-er-doed(danish link) So who is going to be the third one?

The terminal illness celebrities I didn't pick, some of them might be 2017 targets, depending on obitability: Larry Rees (pancreatic cancer activist, friend of Nick Hewer) (died in Feb 2017, no obit) Terrence Reeves (dodged a bullet, he died on NYE) Todd McCaffery (cancer guy who got a visit from Arnold Schwarzenegger) - who knows???? Heidi Loughlin (for 2017) - still alive!!! Channan Petrides (pulmonary fibrosis) died in Oct 2016 - no obit Hazel Birnie (had weeks to live after booze destroyed her liver, but no news for a long time) (died in 2016, but hard to find, no obit) Alisha Barnett (cancer bride who never smoked, yet has lung cancer, universal press coverage - and I probably should have picked her, though she still wants to run a marathon) (died Feb 2016, no obit) Julia Watson (turned author, "Breakfast, School Run, Chemo") (died Dec 2016, Daily Mail QO) Milly Simmie (2017) - healed with the power of horses! Valeri Spiridonov (the head transplant guy) - still alive and with head! Dorothy Crosby (classic cancer bride) - died Dec 2015 already, but my research wasn't as good back then Trevor Barlow (campaigner against asbestos that gave him mesothelioma) died in June 2017 - no obit Amber Guzman (one of those human barbies) - still alive! Andrew Culliford (not obitable anymore without regional BBC obits) - still alive, incredibly! Paul Chippington (also pulmonary fibrosis) - last sign of live is an Amazon review from March 2016 Andrea Finlay (Taylor Swift's mom) - alive, of course. Ben King (a chef with cancer, probably already forgotten) - died Feb 2016 - no obit Jade Pateman (2017) now dead with qualifying obit Lizzie Velasquez (who knows... definitely obitable though, as "the ugliest woman of the world") - alive, and doing well Rebecca Griffiths (ran a half-marathon to defy cancer, won "Pride of Britain" of ITV Anglia West) died in Juli 2016 Penny Edwards (got cancer from too much tanning) I think she died a while ago. Aimee Willett/Bond (total silence, but was picked last year) - alive as of July 2017, but since then Twitter silence! Garth Callaghan (a.k.a. Napkin Dad) - cancer under control Greg Hudgens (Vanessa Hudgens' Dad) now dead with qualifying obit Orla Tinsley (prominent pulmonary fibrosis campaigner, had a health improvement) - still alive! Ashley Harris Moore (she got the lung transplant she needed) - alive and healed Georgia Davis - the overweight one - alive and doing better, I think Jennifer Walker (some medical malpractice background story) - no idea Sonny Lang (has cystic fibrosis) now dead with Mirror Obit Sophie Sabbage (turned author, "The Cancer Whisperer") - still alive! David Smith (the paralympian who has to decide: cancer treatment or Olympic games) - alive! Tom Cooper (I just realized, he died on Christmas with mirror/ITV obit, possibly because of his support from ManUtd)

Rob Kardashian's health supposedly deteriorating, but then, you never know with those... http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/rob-kardashians-doctors-warn-deteriorating-health-entrepreneur-ex-reality-tv-star-1535808

Classic arcade game musical composer Brad Fuller has died of cancer: http://twinfinite.net/2016/01/atari-legend-brad-fuller-passes-away-from-pancreatic-cancer/

The only must-meet for me is Stephen Hawking. Maybe Carter. Just out of curiosity Kissinger.

Alright, I expected drama, and now it begins: First hit for my terminal illness theme team, and as expected, it's Sarah Jones, the Joker, on New Year's Day: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brave-mum-three-dies-cancer-7112276

Congratulations, Sir Creep! Stellar performance for your first entry on this board.

Ah, now when I had read about a fifth of book 4 I discovered that someone had created a way of rearranging books 4 and 5 so that they could be read as a single book. And it could be downloaded to an e-reader. So that's what I did. I have got the books anyway, so felt entitled to do that. Ah yes, I've heard of that. At least, I got to read the books so late I didn't have to wait for 6 years between book 4 and 5 like the fans, but instead read them one after the other last fall. But it's essentially true, book 4 and 5 are one book, plot-wise.

Now he has already been mentioned here elsewhere, but... Andrea Camilleri, italian crime author. He turned 90 last year and the interviews in german media never failed to mention his chain-smoking (he had a heart attack before). After Helmut Schmidt's death, he almost entered my teams, but he looked just well enough not to. 2017 sounds good.

Ah, too bad, this sports.yahoo.uk obit in french doesn't count anymore, hehe... https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/video/hommages-%C3%A0-michel-delpech-115600534.html

When his wife said "He survived December" on Dec, 30th, one could know that it was the end. A little french/google translate was necessary though. There was a lot of drama around his case, with people blabbering about his health without permission and so on... The obit ...shouldn't... be a problem, in these quiet early days of the year. He already got prominent ones in Germany. But then we might, culturally, be more francophile than the UK.

Maybe... I mean, Tyrion's trip to Meereen with that other dwarf didn't really make sense... The show simply cut it out, just like the whole Jon Connington arc, of which I can't imagine what Martin intended with it. Plot-wise, I like book 4 probably more than book 5. Though, I can see why people complain about it.

Hmm, apart from the bad health history of jockey in general, I can't see why they picked him. Because O'Sullevan's death opened a slot for horse racing?

Interesting choice, though maybe there are too many names of the "authors famous for one" book variety. I mean, why wasn't there Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for example? That said, Wikipedia says he was already frail in 2012. So really not bad.