Octopus of Odstock

Evelyn Keyes, Shirley Temple, Anne Rutherford to name just three. Sorry, scrub Temple, I've just realised she's not that old.

Well, yes, I do actually, sort of. It's not the obituaries like the one above I object to, it's the AP link that gives barely known (even in their own country) an obit - what Tempus pointed out a long time ago. There is a significant distinction between the two. Anyway, please note that the comment was made in jest, hence the winkie smilie.

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!

I had two dreams last night:- One was that Reading were sh*t away at Sunderland, but Kitson eventually scored after fluffing an earlier chance. I came on as subsitute. Dream becomes reality except the sub bit The other was an episode of Only Fools & Horses, where Del Boy, believing a particularly large, amorous lady is after him (Think Mrs Fox in Dad's Army, but it wasn't her) tries his best, with Uncle Albert's help, to stop her getting too friendly during dinner at Nelson Mandela House. I think both are quite easy to explain - the football 'cos I was thinking, nay worrying, resigning myself to misery about it, and the dinner & amorous lady from the tv episode of "The IT Crowd last night, which manifested itself into Del Boy. I've had many dreams that such & such has died - and a dream that I was at Ronnie Biggs funeral - but very rarely have any come true. About DL, or other DL'rs... nope.

Probably because she's been jailed for a year & hence this thread has probably shot up the google listings where the word "suicide" has made people think.. "hello.. jailed... topped herself straight after" - then realised it's an old thread. That's my theory anyhow. McCready in prison

Right, in order. No. Ferrari have felt justice was done already, as per their quotes to the media. Secondly, yes, but it would take gross stupidity for that to actually be the case. Thirdly, Hamilton will stay where he is. Alonso? May well go to Renault. I do think that de la Rosa, who, in the official report was castigated heavily for his role, will be pushed off to Prodrive and will no longer have any direct ties with McLaren. Cowboy Ronnie is spot on. Got it in one, young man. Atlas F1 was down because they foolishly listened to a blog rumour & went with the story that McLaren had been excluded in 2007 & 2008. Web traffic shut down their site, especially as they didn't separate the forum & the main site's traffic. They have printed a grovelling apology this morning. Grand Prix.com is now back & running. Might be worth putting Coughlan on the DL or DDP list. He's fat, stupid, prone to illness & now not only out of a job, but will never be employed in the industry again & may get jailed. de la Rosa may also not get employment if teams decide he can't be trusted with data.

Dead

For whom? American Samoa or England? I don't know.. seems a bit one-sided.... .. American Samoa's keeper won't have much to do.

Er.. Ta Well done to Godot & To Die For as well.

Blimey! Leeds United's fortunes really have turned around haven't they? What's even more ironic about 1973, is Porterfield was on Leeds United's books as a youngster, and they let him go. Then they let him go again at Wembley in 1973.

She's also on The Bill tonight on ITV1, between 8-9pm, so if anyone doesn't want to watch the football OR if the football gets too horrible to watch (quite possible) a bit of Wing-watching might be in order.

Read the above post for my opinion on CPDP points. He wasn't a Reading legend, but anyone who serves the club as player and as manager deserves rightful recognition. He wasn't, in truth, either the greatest player we ever had (he came to us at the end of his playing career) or the greatest manager (a drink-driving conviction saw him sacked). In fact, signing Craig Maskell from Southampton nearly sent the club bust! But he did sign Mick Gooding, a Reading legend, and although results were erratic, and communication with the board was non-existent(!)... believe it or not, he was a hard-working, hard-trying boss who didn't shirk responsibility & helped, after the Maskell fiasco, to keep the club afloat, until John Madejski arrived in town shortly after Porterfield was sacked. Let's not forget too, that he was an ex-Chelsea manager, had spells at Rotherham, Sheffield United & Aberdeen, was instrumental in Trindad & Tobago's rapid rise up the footballing ladder, and spent 4 years continuing to play football in the top-flight after getting a fractured skull in a car crash. On top of all that, he was the coach that was in charge of Zambia when they had that plane crash that wiped out the whole squad. He took them within an inch of qualifying for the 1994 World Cup despite it. So, without a doubt, he is, or was, I suppose now, a man I greatly respected, despite his tenure at Elm Park being.. rubbish.. and I do, genuially mourn his death. Couldn't give a sh*t about Fossett, Roddick, Wyman etc. but this one I am genuially upset about. Strange, too, as I knew it was coming. It's probably 'cos Porterfield was manager when I was really keen on football & growing up & the managers of that time - Brantfoot, Porterfield & McGhee were akin to Gods of sorts. Now I'm much more critical. Sorry... that was rather a long answer, wasn't it?

If the Bali Bombers are executed, it's a three way race, and Anubis can't be ruled out either as he has some good and different picks to the top two. Certainly makes it a bit more lively up front than someone just running away with it. I'll be happy with a place in the Top 20 by year's end, but I'm aiming for the Top 10.

And for everything else, there is Barclaycard. Or don't you have that commercial in the States? We don't have that commercial here, either, MPFC. I think you'll find it's Mastercard, not Barclaycard.....

Oh yes you will. C'mon, chop chop...!

This is dreadfully sad, but hardly unexpected news, as the report from the UEFA.com site I posted on here on the weekend didn't bode well, as it took a lot to stop Porterfield working. He did look dreadful in the last photo I saw of him. What a shame he should die whilst the country he was coaching, Armenia, were making real steps forward. It's a CPDP hit for me (and others), but I take no satisfaction for this. He was a decent man and served Reading FC with great effort & passion as a player & manager, and will of course be remembered as one of Sunderland's greats - we play each other on Saturday, so I suspect there will be a raptorous one minute's applause in his memory. Ian.

The Sun, first? Hardly. I read exactly the same thing on the online edition of the Daily Telegraph early yesterday evening.

Remember, if you will, a while back, there was major unrest in Guinea, and this heaped much mental pain on Lansana Conte, as well as physical pain. Well, his main rival & architect of the unrest & protests against Conte was General Kerfalla Camara. Conte will be a bit happier in his bed tonight knowing that Camara has lost his flash.

Dead, and even uglier, now LFN....

Goodness me.. it's just death-a-rama this month. Still Al-Majid to come soon... At first, I thought it was something to do with her hepatitis, but no, it's something else altogether - though obviously her strength would've been much lower than normal perhaps.

Excellent! I got all 5 wrong - either I've got dementia, or, more likely, I'm just stupid...

Nicole Kidman and James McAvoy. Kidman in particular does the "holier than thou" and "happy, then instantly sad" act Kate McCann puts on, very well. Dunno if they murdered her but three things:- 1) They are complete and utter idiots for leaving her alone & with the window open. There are no excuses for that.. none. 2) Their rebuttal to the fact that sniffer dogs could smell death is apparently as they are doctors, they have the smell of death on them anyway. Utter rubbish. Unless they don't wash. Ever. 3) They irritate the hell out of me. I hope they find the little mite as I'm sick of seeing & hearing them. I never thought I'd said this, but I actually prefer Heather Mills to these two.

One thing I did notice now the scores are updated, is that Go Fish has made the top 10, without picking Josie Grove OR the two Iraqis. Good to see that, but I'm not taking a sanctiminous view as, after all, I picked the two Iraqis anyway. I need that bloody Ruesch obit to get back in the top 10, cos even though DDT & Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill, Kill will go above when all their people get executed, I still make it I would be tenth.... if it comes soon. All I can do is wait & hope, as I'm not going to e-mail all round like some candidates have done. Oh.. I'm now behind Canadian Paul on the scoreboard. What a disaster, a black, black day. And well done to the person who picked Sir Tasker Watkins. Suprisingly, the all Welsh DDP team didn't pick him....

Regarding Watkins' death, first of all, it's a huge shame as this was a man of unspeakable bravery, and who served his country in so many other roles. He was doing very well, health wise, but like many other elderly people succumbed after a fall. I would have thought Tul Bahahdur Pun or ECT Wilson would've died before Watkins. Secondly, another footballing death to report, Helmut Senekowitsch, first a long-time international player, including at World Cups, then a top coach for Austria, has died, at the age of 73. Again, it just goes to show how difficult footballers can be for death pools. The likes of Gil Merrick, Francisco Varallo, Phil Taylor & Nat Lofthouse carry on fine, then the likes of Deeley & Senekowitsch drop at the age of 73. Ah well.

I must admit I am guilty of missing a lot of birthdays over the last month or two as time & holiday has digged into my time, so a very belated Happy Birthday to all in August, and Happy 30th Birthday to Monoclinic today!