Octopus of Odstock

And, notably, level in scores with myself & Rotten Ali. How he must despair at doing all that number crunching & still being level with the likes of you & me, CP.

Surely the post on 'Near Misses' in the last week about the Queen can simply not be anyone else...

Ecevit Dead Well, at least that clears one place off my DDP top 20 to fit a soon-to-be-hanged Iraqi in.

One of the rules was you CAN'T choose one for Dunny. Dom Mintoff = "The lighter way to enjoy death" (as he's a Malteser) is my only humble offering.

I know what you mean. It feels too easy, almost wrong. I'm certainly having trouble with who I leave out as a result of adding these three, and Asahara and possibly Mirza Tahir Hussain too. But the thing is, whilst in a sense it does go against the spirit of the whole thing, you can't not include them as you'd miss out on points. On the other hand though, I'd sleep easier at night if I chose Barzan Al-Tikriti on my DDP then I would if I chose Steve Prescott (very ill 31 yr old rugby player) from a conscience point of view, at the very least.

Former Barcelona, Mallorca & Real Zaragoza footballer Sergi Lopez Segu has committed suicide, aged 39. Link For anyone who follows football, this is NOT the Sergi who played in two World Cup's, and two European championships for Spain, it's the other, less talented Sergi.

No, it's not quite 30 days from now. In Iraqi law, guilty verdicts on murder charges are automatically sent within 10 days to a nine-judge appellate chamber, no matter who the defendant is. It can take as little as 20 days for the appeal to be heard. If a death sentence is upheld, it must be carried out within 30 days, and Iraq's tripartite presidency must sign the execution papers. It is also unclear whether Saddam can be executed before the Anfal trial concludes. What with all the delays so far in this circus, I don't think anyone who's picked any of these guys in 2006, will get points, unless, of course, they do a Hermann Goering & cheat the gallows. If they don't, everyone has 3 candidates at the top of their DDP list for 2007.

Arguably Ecuador's greatest ever footballer, Alberto Spencer, is no more.

You didn't meet your appointment, MPFC, tut tut. Neither did Mr Ableman. Dead - before this thread was even started.......

And Wikipedia being Wikipedia, it is of course wrong. One, 1987 is 19 years ago, not 29. Two, Clive Dunn has certainly NOT been on every list since the start. That was proved quite comprehensively earlier this year. I s'pose I could change it but I've far better things to do then wank around changing Wikipedia articles.

Well, I've never heard of her, or rather I hadn't before DL. However, your rebuke is so magnificent, that (once again) I have no answer to it.

Final word from me for now: Of course, executions are a risk. I have a good record with executions, as Clarence Ray Allen proved. But Michael Morales' escaped the same fate in February, much to the despair, I imagine of Tim R who chose the latter, not the former, as his joker. Also, there were many of us who thought Norman Kember would be executed, but not a jot of it. Mirza Tahir Hussain could go both ways yet. Asahara, at least, WILL be executed, the only question is precisely WHEN. FWIW, he's going on my DDP list from now on as I think the risk of leaving him off is too great. The only way I might is if there is suddenly an influx of cast-iron 100% excellent DDP picks (ie Rawls, Fender), but at 51 ish, I think Asahara is a risk worth taking.

CP: The evidence: http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=mo...e&sid=66342 http://english.newslab.ru/news/201205/ http://nosanction.blogspot.com/2006/09/sho...e-executed.html and in more detail:- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2359733.html Note: He will be woken from his prison cell one morning and hanged in Japanese style - in secret, with no more than a few hours warning, and without any advance notice being given to his family or his lawyers. So one day we'll wake up to a nice surprise. The execution date could've been delayed by a further appeal/injuction straight after the decision in September. That hasn't happened, thus speeding up Shoko's shocker of a demise.

No Michael Mayne on The Last Word this week either and no BBC coverage of the funeral. Looks like MPFC's gamble failed:- Nuil Points?

Oh, whatever, RA, they're just my suggestions (hence I'm not demanding them in), and most of them do have news to suggest they won't last 6 months. There's no need to be so damn critical with your analysis. If that's not what you meant, apologies, but you have a habit of not explaining yourself very well so that others can take offence & that's how it looks in this case. Besides, Asahara is likely to be executed in the next 6 months and Lee Hazlewood is terminally ill - is that news enough?? So how you can call both a "long shot" is beyond me, not least when you pick the same man for your Rotten Dead Pool team. Talk about Pot Kettle Black. I really don't understand your numbers system. Helms, Shamir, Puskas & Felt all have the same disease, yet you've got radically different numbers. Added to that, the youngest two have higher numbers than the oldest two. Until you explain it properly, I don't think we can rely too much on this "system" alone. Not least as FF's system was to pick people he thought would die. Seems quite effective.

Firstly, Football Fan, I don't think Messner meets DL criteria. She's not very famous in the UK. That's the only reason I left her off the list. But DDP candidate, certainly. Secondly, MPFC, the Lindsey Hughes thread will be so boring it will make the Ingmar Bergman thread look manic. Thirdly, Rotten Ali, I am stunned that you have never heard of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, especially if you ever hope to win deadpools. Fourthly, Anubis - if only we could put Iain Smith of DL fame as a DL candidate. For once, Iain could post about himself & it would be relevant.

Happy (very) belated birthday, Handreijka & Vinegar Tits. Sadly, I have been very busy over the last month & not checked the birthday thread often. I do apologise. I hope you both had a good day.

See my comments on the other thread. Thanks.

I notice you don't include Eli Wallach on this list? He'll live for yonks. Well, I was originally going to wait until the official thread for suggestions came up in December, but I might as well post it now> OOO's musings on the DL: DEFINITELY KEEP Brooke Astor, Harold Pinter, Suharto, Lady Bird Johnson, Gerald Ford, Michael Foot, Kurt Waldheim, Billy Graham, Muhammad Ali, Charlton Heston, Augusto Pinochet, Nelson Mandella, George Melly, Clive Dunn, Charles Lane, Claude Levi-Strauss, Jane Wyman, Oscar Niemeyer MAYBE KEEP Albert Hofman, Patrick Moore, Joseph Barbera, Milton Friedman, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Oscar Niemeyer MAYBE REMOVE Ronnie Biggs, Ernest Gallo, Norman Wisdom, Dom Mintoff, Vera Lynn, Margaret Thatcher, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Ingmar Bergman, Jake la Motta, Mickey Rooney, Tony Curtis DEFINITELY REMOVE Alfredo di Stefano, Eli Wallach, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Dino de Laurentiis, Claire Rayner BRING IN Shoko Asahara, Allen Carr, Fidel Castro, Lansana Conte, Charlie Drake, Mark Felt, Alan Freeman, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Estelle Getty, Lee Hazlewood, Jesse Helms, Jack Kevorkian, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Maurice Papon, Ferenc Puskas, Bobby Robson, Yitzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon, Sir Cyril Smith, Ian Smith, Jeremy Thorpe, Jack Vance, Richard Widmark I'd be interested to see what people think. Rayner has to be dropped. She's not even ill any more.

You're not the only one. I prefer it far far more than an American or Australian accent. In fact, it's one of my favourite accents, and certainly near the top of those non-British accents. I'm not going to get into this debate too much, although I am well qualified to. I have a cousin who lives in Johannesburg, a friend/work colleague from Cape Town & I know quite a few South Africans through my motorsport work, and I was at the GPM meeting at Kyalami last year. However, I did not visit South Africa during Botha's time, and my cousin did not live there at that time either. My work colleague was just 6 when Botha stepped down, so their whole experience is not as complete as others here. I've seen for myself, and heard myself that South Africa has major problems now, but like all problems in a country, it's not always down to just one thing. However, when I went there, and going by all those South Africans I've met, their hospitality is second to none and I wish them well in resolving the problems their country faces. Whether that will be helped or hindered by the death of Botha, I do not know, but I personally was not sorry to see him go.

No. I know nothing about rugby league either, along with US sports. Secret candidates are from a different sport, DDT, please try harder.

Good lad, 2nd time's a charm. George Melly. It's all gone very quiet for such an active man. Otherwise, there's only about 4 or 5 maximum who could go in the next 2 months. If not Melly, Niemayer.

PW Botha, the old bastard is dead. Rotten Ali has already mentioned the teams who pick up points, surprisingly not much change in the top scores, apart from our very own Slave To The Grave, now in the top 15. Congrats!

Er... why does it have to be a mod to set up a new poll? You can do one yourself, seeing as you're so desperate for a new thread to come up. Just click on new topic and go through the poll options. I'll do it myself, but I couldn't give a sh*t about when a new poll comes up & I'm watching the footy anyway.

PW Botha is dead, points to me & Tempus. Tempus running away with it at the moment. Also with this, Franklyn, Berbick, Auerbach, Ishaq Khan & Kneale dying, I think it's safe to say Michael Mayne's hopes of an obit are very, very, very slim indeed. Slimmer than an Olsen twin, in fact.