Octopus of Odstock

Now Recovering & out of ICU Right, that means my DDP team is finally decided. Haller stays out - I think he'll do a di Stefano and hang around a little while longer. Anyway, I have to name my final team tonight as I'm out most of the day tomorrow.

That dead pool is a crock of sh*t anyway. You couldn't pick people like Drake, Carr, Hill, Puskas etc. I won't be entering again come September time when "my year" is up.

Interview & Current Photo I think with the fire in his belly, he may well make it to 2008, but I won't be surprised if he doesn't as he looks awful.

That Top 10 place was woefully short lived. Nonetheless, I should still hopefully finish in my best position yet.. (17th last year was my previous best)

No, in all the hullabaloo, this has been largely overlooked. They will be executed, according to the BBC, at the end of the Eid Festival there next week, ie 2007. So, now I only have to find one name to submit. Surely, never before has there been such drama towards the end, even taking Artie Shaw's demise into account.

Saddam will be executed before 3 am on the morning of the 30th December Breaking News The only thing that can stop it is lawyers delaying tactics & so on. or also here Execution at 6am Iraqi time and for DDP listees: Barzan & Bandar will also be executed at that time So, down to 11th in the DDP, and 3 new names now have to be found.....

Fallwell admits he was "seriously ill" but is now recovered.

Update - the response from the news has "given her life purpose". Link and also Tony Blair is supporting her. Blair backs Josie If Bliar is backing her, she's done for.

Somebody asked earlier about Barzan and Bandar. Barzan is due to be hanged around the same time as Saddam. They've already taken his personal effects at the same time as Saddams.Link No word on Bandar yet.

He looked as well as can be expected for a man with his scars & age at Regga's funeral last week. Going nowhere just yet, that's for sure.

Yeah, he's in fine health. But he is a little bit overweight for someone his age so maybe a good outside bet for a DP, but not for the DL. I maintain Phil Hill should be chosen if there's going to be any motor racing world champion on the DL.

The one I've picked hasn't got terminal cancer, sorry CP. Otherwise I think your sentiments are spot on. How famous someone is, is entirely subjective to each person, I guess.

Ernest Gallo, on New Year's Eve

Well, one has to wonder. Only yesterday, I posted here that I needed one of my 2006 lot who was also on my 2007 list to die so I could put Bandar in - that's only, after the rule changes et al, two of them - Papon & Ford. Lo & behold, Fordy goes. It may not rank with the loaves & fishes, but it's a pretty decent minor miracle by my book.

My goodness, what a Christmas stocking filler. Well, considering he was on my 2006 & 2007 DDP (amongst others), I am professionally (of sorts) pleased he's gone, but personally, I find it a shame. I suppose all the focus on DL will now be on his widow.

YEAHHHHH!!!! Back in the Top 10 (just)!

Well, indeed he hasn't, but Gerald Ford will do instead. So Bandar pencilled in as 2nd replacement, but now I have to find 3 names to submit just in case the trio are executed....

If they can kill Bandar and Barzan before 2007 and Saddam on the 1st January, that'll do me just fine. Or, failing that, Bandar. He MUST go before Jan 1 2007, unless Maurice Papon decides to pop off instead. RA, I believe you can have as many substitutes as possible if submitted candidates die before 1 Jan. Wilma Dykeman died, so Basil d'Oliviera is in, and now I'm desperately hoping Papon will go so I can put Bandar in, but no such luck, I fear.

I read it in the Times online. The other two are doomed.

Bollocks. This & Wilma Dykeman will teach me to name my DDP team early. I thought Bandar's sentence would be commuted to life. Ah well, at least that's two early hits on the DDP UNLESS they are hanged in the next 5 days. Now that would be most annoying.

If you read the Ruth Bernhard e-mail, they'll be sending confirmation off en-masse in the next few days. I know mine has gone in as when I emailed them about removing Wilma Dykeman, they knew who my reserve was.

and the above, who will finally be glad to be off the bottom to avoid Rude Kid's taunts! Does this mean our very own Handreijka is at the bottom?

There's a blog mention somewhere, that he will be visiting two literary events in Sri Lanka in the first few months of 2007. Ah here we are:- http://nazreen.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/pr...galle-lit-fest/

A personal near miss, this one. Last week I entered my DDP team and Wilma Dykeman was one of my entries. Despite being seriously ill and taken to a hospice, I had hopes she would at least make it to 2007, and then we'd see about an obit. But not so, Wilma Dykeman dies This is all so annoying. It will be interesting to see if she does get a UK obit, actually.

He's dead - BBC news ticker is reporting his death. Link soon. EDIT: Link