gcreptile

Utta Danella, one of Germany's most popular writers with over 70 million books sold, has died at 96: http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/utta-danella-ist-tot-a-1047609.html(link in German) Her books were light entertainment. She already died in July and she really should have been on my radar.

I wouldn't force anybody to retire unless the person wants to. But one should have a right to retire if one wishes after, say, 40 years of work.

Seriously though, if that photo in the story is really from 2-1/2 years ago, he looked damn good for 85. SC I guess the natural tan helps, see also Robert Mugabe.

For him, it's one illness after another: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/10/thai-king-treated-excess-fluid-brain Too much fluid in the brain and a chest infection.

Icelandic-french director Solveig Anspach is dead at 54: http://www.screendaily.com/news/solveig-anspach-dies-aged-54/5091464.article She made a couple of well-regarded european art films and had suffered from cancer for a long time.

I'm on the fence, because coming up with a list will mean that there will be people who I already want to choose for 2016, so I'd kind of want them to die AND survive them this year. I also have to protect possible unique picks, AND I am annoyed that Buddy Baker is already dead because I could have put him here. So let's see: 1. Emma Morano 2. Susannah Mushatt-Jones (joker) 3. Bob Ellis 4. Bhumibol Adulyadej 5. Martin Crowe 6. Christy Dignam 7. John Schlegel 8. Daniel Buechlein 9. Sumner Redstone 10. Zsa Zsa Gabor 11. Billy Graham 12. Joost Van Der Westhuizen 13. Suvra Mukherjee 14. Liliane Bettencourt 15. Phil Spector 16. Rev. Billy Graham (oops, double pick) 17. Helmut Kohl 18. Douglass North 19. Thomas Schelling 20. William Baumol 21. Oskar Groening 22. Ingvar Kamprad 23. Georg Ratzinger 24. George Zimmerman 25. Ilya Yashin 26. Olivia De Havilland 27. Joao Havelange 28. Peter Sallis 29. Cliff Michelmore 30. Jiang Zemin 31. Goran Hadzic 32. Gaston Glock 33. Ilya Ponomaryov 34. Ramzan Kadyrov 35. Mikheil Saakashwili 36. Sergej Pugachev 37. Tom Sinkovitz (US weatherman) 38. James R. Messenger (no points) Mercy replacement: Howard Marks 39. John Huntsman Sr. 40. G. Monty Brinson 41. Phyllis Tickle 42. Mel Stottlemyre Sr. 43. Holly Woodlawn 44. Jay Kallio 45. Louis Stokes 46. Maria Gaidar 47. Irwin Lipkin 48. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi 49. René Angelil 50. Sir Douglas Slocombe Some thoughts: The obits you allow will make this a relatively US-heavy pool, which is fine by me. 50 names plus coming up with the day of their death is a bit much, in my opinion. I mean, if doctors want to, they can probably always squeeze out a day or two from some comatose, braindead body. Maybe picking the right month is more attractive and already impressive enough? Edit: Just an idea... if the month of death has to be guessed, than a later month should give more bonus points than the early months. I mean, those who picked Little Jimmy Dickens knew he would die in January. It's harder to predict a death a couple of months before.

India's first lady Suvra Mukherjee has been hospitalised and "is not likely to be discharged anytime soon": http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/president-pranab-mukherjee-s-wife-hospitalised/article1-1377671.aspx She has a heart condition.

Fascinating story: "Britain's oldest bodybuilder", Charles Eugster, 96 years old: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/11784880/Meet-Charles-Eugster-Britains-fastest-nonagenarian.html

Essam Derbala, islamist leader imprisoned in Egypt has died "because he was denied proper medical care": http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/08/09/al-jamaa-al-islamiya-leader-essam-derbala-dies-in-prison/

Terrence Evans, bit player in tons of stuff, most prominently in the Star Trek Universe, Terminator II and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, has died at 81: http://www.hngn.com/articles/117623/20150810/terrence-evans-dies-star-trek-terminator-2-actor-passes-away.htm

Tyler Drumheller, the author of the Benghazi memos, which might or might not shed light on whether Hillary Clinton is somehow to blame for the death of 4 people in the US Embassy in Benghazi, has died of cancer, at least, that's what Hillary would say: http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/250602-ex-spy-critic-of-iraq-war-behind-benghazi-memos-dies

Very interesting. Both articles even descirbe him as gravelly voiced and "gruff". Same author?

The wife of DDP-pick, ex-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, is dead: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wife-of-former-supreme-court-justice-john-paul-stevens-passes-away/ Her name was Maryan Mulholland Stevens and she was 84 years old.

...cough... 350 pts not 250, otherwise, thanks!

Well, that suggs...

True but nevertheless it is a huge tarnish to his party and to the British establishment. Maybe they will be able to follow some leads to track down living ones (maybe I am living in naive hope here.) There was a lot of speculation earlier in the week that a living, currently-serving MP and former cabinet minister was about to be named. I'm wondering if the only reason Heath has been named at last, is to protect whoever this living MP and abuser is. Norman Tebbitt? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11788129/I-didnt-like-Sir-Edward-Heath-but-these-wild-claims-are-a-travesty-of-justice.html#disqus_thread Edit: Ah, no currently-serving MP...

Sudden need for an operation a couple of days ago, and can only find translated pages , but I think it was performed by a dentist?? He burns another Croatian flag... http://inserbia.info/today/2015/08/seselj-ignites-croatian-flag-again/

Slightly funny article about Grace Mugabe's health troubles: http://www.zimeye.com/grace-hit-by-pneumonia-then-deadly-cancer/ She says her life has been full of illness. In 1986, she had her tonsils taken out, in 1996 she had her gall bladder taken out, in 2006 she had pneunomia and the doctors thought it was malaria, in 2016....??? Edit: Hmm, in 2015, she had her appendix taken out. While she said that it happened because of an appendix infection, the rumour is that it was colon cancer. And a "related article" says she's probably HIV+.

Javier Perez de Cuellar - dies

Jonathan Demme, director of "Philadelphia" and "Silence of the Lambs" might have a mystery cancer: http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/jonathan-demme-cancer-diagnosis-friends/

French songwriter Frank Gérald, whose songs were interpreted mainly by continental singers like Nana Mouskourri, Mirelle Mathieu or Brigitte Bardot has died at 87: http://www.ouest-france.fr/musique-deces-de-frank-gerald-auteur-de-nombreux-succes-des-annees-60-3607997(link in french)

I can see us getting to 13 and then a couple going in early January just to spite us. Everyone keeps marvelling at Crowe's longevity so who knows, he might die tomorrow or he might be here this time next year with everyone scratching their heads. Likewise Kohl. And don't even get me started on Zsa Zsa. But there are, in total, 14 deathlisters aged 95 and over still alive, so surely at least another 1 or 2 of those might go (although gcreptile seems to have thrown a spanner into those works using poxy things like maths to tell us we've reached peak-age related death). The statistics show that this could all we would expect in a normal year but remember most events are distributed on a bell curve around a mean and for every poor year there should be a really good year so any we get now are pushing us into the region where probability says this would be a rare event (but not an impossible one). I think there are five that are serious contenders to go and every left field death will not diminish that number. I think the record is in sight but we might end up with a very thin Autumn. Exciting times. Indeed, just because the current number of age-related deaths is the most likely one, it doesn't mean that it is the most likely result by a huge margin. But IF the Deathlist remains in its current format for many, many decades, and IF the average age of the candidates remains the same and IF the Deathlist continues to pick old people simply for their universal fame, then we can expect that a number of 6 or 7 age-related deaths per year is the most frequent outcome. But in a single year, many other things can happen. But it was a nice coincidence that the death of John Nash, a total freebie so to say, happened in an already promising year. Not making the record now would be a bit of a shame.

Greek songwriter and member of WWII resistance, Kostas Virvos, is dead at 89: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/08/07/famous-folk-songwriter-kostas-virvos-passes-away/

Yeah right, investigate it ten years after his death, so you can say you did something...

Just yesterday, I thought that Cole would make a good pick because of that series of age-related deaths this summer. I had already picked Bhumibol though. However, I'd like to make another age-related pick this time and go with Olivia De Havilland.