Octopus of Odstock

Confirmed A great shame. Looks like Gretna next...

Is this the thread for discussing the health of the tallest women in the world too? Because I don't know who else watched "The Tallest Woman in the World And Me" on Channel 4 on Tuesday night but.. Sandy Allen - Wiki page - was constantly depressed, continually neglected her health, was in & out of hospital, is permamently in a wheelchair & has lived much longer than someone of her gigantism should've done. It was hard not to feel extremely sorry for her, but at the same time think "Yep, putting her on the CPDP was a good choice." (The show also featured the world's oldest woman, Edna Parker. The retirement home there is quite vast, far removed from the visions I had of a pokey old house with small rooms. Parker has a massive room - it's almost a hotel/hospital combined. They take good care of her, but at 115, you could go any time. I reckon she'll make it to 2009 at least as she was alert & seemed healthy) Anyway, Yao Defen, who is THE tallest in the world lives in shocking conditions. Only cared for by her elderly (and bad tempered) mum, she can't even stand up for longer than an hour. Her room is tiny & it looked dirty. She has a heart condition & is extremely frail. Part of her tumour remains and to quote Wiki: Again, it was hard not to have anything but sympathy & affection for Yao, especially as the documentary, well-meaning as it was was rather clumsy, due to poor research, but both would have to be a genuine DL contender, me thinks

An excellent article about the two sisters - I posted it in this thread as it is pretty well known amongst DP circles that de Havilland is doing brilliantly for her age, but less was known about Fontaine.. Sibling Rivalry Apparently she's in better health than her sister, is still out & about and "walking her dogs" and as long as her sister isn't there, still makes functions. I am convinced that, at the rate this feud is going, that both Fontaine & de Havilland will keep themselves alive until the other one has gone - they may end up being the oldest & 2nd oldest women in the world!

Well, this is the year where celebrities are dying relatively young, so.... Hope he'll be alright. Barmy as a fruitcake he is, but in the best possible way.

Bernandin Gantin, Benin's most famous person ever** has died. For aeons, he was Africa's (and indeed one of the world's) most influential & high-profile Roman Catholic cardinal. More here... (**I presume - can anyone name anyone else from Benin? Maybe we should have a thread devoted to Beninese celebrities. It's about time, after all....) DDP hit too - unique pick & 13th bonus. Not a bad lot.

10 days? That's generous. Knowing DDT's record, ALL of them will be dead within a week.

I'm surprised no-one has already posted it, but Irene Sendler (or Sendlerowa in Polish) has died, aged 98. Link I know FF mentioned her in dispatches here before (and picked her on the CPDP???) & she was certainly on my DDP "outer list", but surprisingly (I say surprisingly as Nicholas Winton was quite a popular pick) , no-one picked her for the DDP. An inspirational & very brave lady, that's for sure. RIP.

Bollocks. I was going to cheer Cardiff on anyway next week, but now I have an added reason for doing so. Pathetic bunch of sailor f***kers. Credit to Fulham though, that, as much as it pains me to say it, was a brilliant escape.

Controversial & outspoken former Chairman (and manager) of Lincoln City, John Reames has died, aged 66. With Peter Jackson also being ill with cancer, I wonder if he will be the only Lincoln City manager past or present to die this year.

Obviously the situation in Burma is pretty catastrophic for millions of people but it also can't do much for the blood pressure of the seriously ill Than Shwe, or for the health of jailed U Win Tin - who if this is accurate was pretty poorly before the cyclone - U Win Tin In Sin Bin. How people are going to get medical supplies or food to him right now, if his prison isn't flooded & the family members haven't already perished... it can't help, no? But Aung San Suu Kyi has come through okay, except for an errant tree.

You mean like the one on the DDP? She did look really nice, almost latino-looks. Now she looks as latin as a ginger tom.

Ditto. But I moved to there from Wales, so that makes me doubly thick. I am completely confused because all I can see is a star, which means it's their first year on the Deathlist. I can't see any symbols, cymbals, greeks or geeks. I can only see a star? Am I going blind? The only "mu" I ever heard of is the sound cows make. There's a lot of them in Wiltshire. I also have no idea what a millilitre is. I do hope this isn't one of those educational threads that makes us bumpkins even more bumpkiney (Checks OED, no such word, but can't be faffed to change it, so keeps it in), but I don't think it is. In fact, it's already one of the best all year.

They should've been, but in this case it was actually dodgy lines at Carmarthen.

Andy Dibble. He's a mate of mine - damn good chap. Still has physical scars from those burns suffered during a match & mental scars from not being paid when he played for Wrexham. Kevin Drinkell was a forward for Grimsby, Norwich & Rangers, and had nothing to do with Luton or Arsenal, hence my confusion.

I am confused??

No, no. When we were really sh*t at the old Elm Park. Playing Villa & Man City that one season was like royalty - it had the same awe as playing Chelsea or Man United does now. I remember those two games coming around & the town was gripped with excitement. The likes of David Platt, Tony Daley, Paul Stewart, Allan Evans, Tony Coton - at Elm Park?! WOW! Hard to believe now, I know.

He'll get a suitable obit too. Played about 6 or 7 seasons in the top-flight & won the European Super Cup in 1982 for Villa. I well remember him running rings around our defence (not difficult ) in 1986/1987 when we & Villa were briefly in the same league, if only by name rather than on the pitch. This news, and Mark Kendall's recent death makes me feel a lot older than my years. I struggle to fathom the fact that three of Luton Town's squad & one of Arsenal's are already dead when they meet again to mark Luton's 1988 Littlewoods Cup triumph....

Although, I quite liked this one too for ahem... "visual" reasons:-

Both Mamo & Archard have obituaries in The Independent today. Link

and Portsmouth & Cardiff City, surely?

Wait til you see what he's got planned for Derby........ I could not believe what I was seeing. No right winger for the whole game as Doyle gave up after one move & wanted to go up front. So Kitson went right then got bored. So Rosenior pushed up, but then no-one covered him. Then Bikey, who should be central midfield dropped back & Harper just ran around like he always does, yapping but doing nothing. Same goes for Hunt. Shorey has already left the club in his mind & why should Oster, who can cross the ball & go wide, actually bother when Coppell treats him absymally. The list of errors this season goes on & on & on. We had FOUR fit right-wingers to play on Saturday - Little, Convey, Kebe, Henry & Oster could do if need be. Yet he chose Doyle, a striker, who is pants on the right wing. Playing attacking midfielders in defence. Persisting with players who underperform (Hahnemann, Sonko, Murty, Long, Doyle). Leaving out those that do simply because they're not fashionable or high-paid (Henry, de la Cruz, Golbourne, Federici) Bringing back a completely useless tosser and putting him back in the team (Lita). Not playing any youngsters but always "Praising the work of the Academy". I cannot believe this is the same tactical genius from last season. I can believe that the higher wages have gone to most of our players heads. Disgrace. We deserve to go down, but, obviously, I hope we don't. I still think Coppell is the right man but both he & Wally Downes in particular have to have a long, long, long look at their performances this season & learn from it & move on. I expect a clear-out too. If we DO go down, then good bloody riddance to most of the overpaid tossers who will leave. They've grown too old, too predictable & too staid together to be of any more use. And then these overpaid tossers (especially Murty, who has been especially sh*t this year) keep saying make some noise, keep the faith up. We would if you could play football you bloody idiots. That's my RFC rant for the year. I hope I only have to do it once.

Well your lot didn't help on Saturday by playing a decent goalkeeper & a decent team. You were supposed to ignore our lack of defending, poor passing & woeful shooting and STILL give us a point (or three) like you did to everyone else in the relegation zone. Damn you Radek Cerny & Robbie Keane, damn you.

85 today! I'm surprised this thread is so quiet. I mean, he's out & about enough... or maybe that's why....

On that note, why is C L-S not in the Belgian Academy, considering he is one of them? Is it because he wasn't good enough for them or because there isn't one? Answers on a postcard please... (I mean Monoclinic, there must be some academy for Belgians? Surely Belgium's finest minds are not being nicked by the French as their own all the time? Scandalous if so.....) Oh, I just re-read the whole thread. Our emiment guest said C L-S death was "very close" in November 2005. About as close as Belgium will get to being a world superpower.... Actually this makes the thread a bit more interesting because the man himself is even more boring than Ingmar Bergman. He looks like he could do with a good night out on the pull. Sorry, I'm being silly now. Demob happy.