Octopus of Odstock

Just re-reading Windsor's first post from this thread - maybe not a miracle per se but certainly a combination of luck & wisdom that got rid of Gerry Ford & put Bernard Manning in. Shame a lot of the rest of us didn't take the advice.

Jimmy Stewart, surely?

Joseph Ratzinger is the current pope. Not sure of the surname's spelling but Pope JPII was Karol Wotjcha or something like that.

Oh yes, good one. And how many movies has he been in as Prof. Klump now - isn't it about 3 or 4? So does Murphy have a triliogy of triliogies (or does that not count as At Home With the Klumps is more a spin-off? Anyway, two more for thought here:- Christopher Lee (Hammer (probably a few within that), Sherlock Holmes (i think), Star Wars (I think, but I think he was only in 2 of the latest 3), Lord of the Rings (and maybe a few more??) Sir Ian McKellen (deffo LOTR, but has he been in all 3 X-Men?) AH!!! I know who the lady is. (But I have had to resort to Wiki to confirm so alas I will not take points & name her here) For everyone else, put it this way, I was looking at Cowboy Ronnie's avatar & thinking if that actor had been in another trilogy...

Now you see, this is the kind of sh*t from Iain that annoys the hell out of me and hopes that NAP etc can ban all the IP addresses this moron posts under. It nay be a futile task, but maybe not... Iain has not seen Vera Lynn any more in public than Sir Anthony Eden in the last year. (in fact, I doubt if Iain has seen anyone in public in the last year). So, well meaning people read this, think "oh no, near death" and keep her on the list, when there's nothing wrong or nearly nothing wrong with them. It's something that the DL committee has only just cottoned on to & is one of the main reasons DL has less hits than people - like Iain - demand! But Iain is so stupid, he can't equate that Crying Wolf over a healthy celebrity is destructive to the DL aims & can't understand that when he criticizes, he is mostly to blame. But that would involve rational thought. For the matter:- Vera Lynn still walks half-an-hour every morning, maybe longer. She's certainly not gaunt & looks positively healthy. If she has any help, it's only from well-meaning people who would help, say, a 22 year old girl from one place to the next - they're called gentleman - not that Iain would know. Whilst her singing voice isn't as good as it was in her heyday, she is still able to do frequent radio interviews & appearances. This comes from media reports, TV appearances & a few public sightings (ie my brother-in-law at a wartime festival meet) Whilst nothing is guaranteed in this World of Death, I would be most surprised if Dame Vera Lynn dies this year.

Patrick Stewart - X Men & Star Trek Frank Oz - Star Wars & The Muppets I suspect there are bucketloads, with trilogies long forgotten about.

Think it's about 4 - not really sure how much the surviving Germans were involved. Certainly Delfino Borroni was, probably two of the other Italians, but not in the trenches of France, but in Northern Italy. But a trench is a trench...

Giancarlo Ferre, a DDT suggestion in the I & P's thread, is dead, says the BBC. Link to come soon. Never heard of him myself

BBC is reporting he's dead.

Allingham was in the air force. He's also the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland. Although Patch isn't the last global trench veteran, it must be noted, but he is the one who has talked most (fascinatingly) about it.

4 die, 15 injured in US drag racing accident

Harry Patch celebrates his 109th birthday

Today Jane Tomlinson got a CBE. This is somewhat surprising as her husband said that all the publicity she gets is "not helpful in any way" and I thought that Jane would either refuse or return the CBE accordingly. But such is life. She was on telly this morning, looked very well, about the same weight she has been for some years. From The Herald newspaper: Cancer sufferer Jane Tomlinson was among the inspirational people recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours today. The 43-year-old mother-of-three, who already has an MBE, was awarded a CBE after raising around £1.5m for charity despite suffering from incurable metastatic breast cancer which has spread through her body. She said of her CBE: "It's not something you anticipate getting when you begin something like this. It is a huge honour. I was very surprised."

Billy Graham. With Tammy Faye Messner & George Melly perhaps not far behind.

Kubica out, Vettel in So a 19 year old youngster in his first race at the fearsome Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Many, including BMW, rate him highly. We shall see how he gets on. A 19 year old... gawd I feel old, most of my heroes are in their mid 50's...

Yeah. Here.

That was my point - he didn't get an obit when he died, as otherwise AtJ wouldn't have picked him in the first place. In fact, most of the world seemed to miss the fact he'd snuffed it, which never helps obit chances. Being dead for three years certainly doesn't....

Guy de Rothschild, banker, aristocrat & horse racing breeder, is dead at the age of 98.

Well, Bobby Hamilton didn't. If he will get an obit, it'll be as CP says - it solely how many other famous people die around then. Pierro would have got a UK obit if he hadn't died at the same time Anna Nicole Smith did. The only hope for FF is an AP feed in the Guardian - anything else can be forgotten about. For the rest of us in the DDP, lets hope it's a busy news day

Just noticed this - well he didn't get an obit as Godot confidently thought, cos he died a few years previously. Still worth the gamble. Anyway, thread reignited cos of Erich Priebke getting out & about. Sounds like he still has some fire & reason to go on.

F1 drivers are not normal human beings like you & me, but i - he'll be fine by the end of the week. ii - Hard to say - each driver is different. I suspect so, yes. It certainly woke Jarno Trulli up, judging by his comments, and waking up Jarno Trulli to do anything is some achievement!

Essentially, yes. Pedro Diniz had the same kind of accident about 5years ago & survived without a single scratch. What saved Kubica was the HANS device first. This is the head & neck support. Secondly, the monocoque stayed rigid & virtually undamaged. Thirdly, the main head support in the car was intact. Fourthly, he had a bit of luck (as did others) that he didn't (1) hit the wall straight on (2) carbon fibre didn't hit him in a particular area (3) that he didn't collide into another car as his car disitengrated (4) that he didn't go over the armco in the monocoque. Any of those incidents would've either killed him or left his injuries to be far more serious than they actually are. The impact that crash had in terms of g-force was similiar to Martin Donnelly's in 1990. But in those days there was no head support, no monocoque (in fact it disintegrated). That's the reason Donnelly now walks with a permanent limp and Kubica, bar a little gingerly steps today, is fine.

Well done CO - fine spy work. But he looks awful - I only think it's the inside strength keeping him going because in the last picture especially he looks nothing like the George Melly we've come to know & love. But give him credit, still smoking, drinking & jazzing away. I'd be suprised if he's alive in a couple of years myself, perhaps much less, MIB....

I must admit I thought he was in serious trouble. That head was moving around too much. But the monocoque stayed together, the HANS device stayed intact - had either failed, he'd be dead now. It just shows that as safe as Formula 1 can be, it's still a dangerous sport if the luck should run out or the situation veer slightly. Shame he's been ruled out for some while - a damn good driver. It'll be interesting to see who BMW bring in. Vettel? Glock? Or someone else like de la Rosa as it's a top drive available? To MPFC - now THAT was a good old-fashioned GP. Incident everywhere, black flags, yellow flags galore, plenty of passing etc & a new winner, who I must admit drove brilliantly. Wurz on the podium!!! And my new highlight of the season... no make that decade.... Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri passing Fernando Alonso in the McLaren for 6th. Wonderful stuff and that's the reason I stay in the mix - every so often there's a GP like this that rekindles the old flame. Let's hope it stays like that.

I doubt any of you would ever of heard of him, but I have been greatly saddened to hear the death of my friend and journalistic colleague, Earl Ma, today, who died of cancer at just 35 years of age. I think the best tribute so far comes from his good friend and racing driver, Memo Gidley, which can be found here. I mourn his early loss, a double blow after recently losing one of those men who got me interested in motor racing in the first place with his tales of seeing Fangio & Moss as a young man at Silverstone, Geoff Andrews. Neither were household names, but greatly respected & I will miss Earl's inputs & advice. Forgive the personal tribute, but I feel he deserves as much a mention as 3rd rate actors from the Far East etc.