Octopus of Odstock

Bernard Lacoste, head of the Lacoste clothing firm for 40 years & son of founder & tennis player Rene, has died aged 74.

I like the touch of putting that weird face on the front CP, I couldn't find anywhere else to put this: James Van Allen wins award Not much on his health

Chess player Ratmir Kholmov. No idea how famous he is in the world of chess but I am sure some of the chess fans here can put matters straight.

Aah, you're welcome. I just wish my lot would do something to justify picking them. Even a sneeze would be a start.... Getty sounds in the same state as my grandmother was. Gran was tough but when she did pick an illness up (pneumonia in her case) she went quickly. I would hazard a guess & say the same might happen to Getty. Good days, bad days, tough but weak resistence to illness.....

News about his latest condition here and here.

Tomlinson around for another year yet... at least....

Well, to make up for any mis-understanding: How about this? Estelle Getty Condition Update

Ailing Biggs' family seek his release or with a bit more information & a picture: Biggs' son bleating on again

Not only not dead but still very much alive Living Dallas Cast Reunited

I wouldn't retire to there, but I'd happily live in Albir or Altea nearby, pop on the bus for next to nothing & get my bits & pieces & see my friends there. But this is a good while off yet.... I gave up after a while & learnt Castellan Spanish. As I had to work with one chap from Betis, one lady from Valencia & another chap from near Barcelona, it was easier. I also used to work in both Catalonia & Mallorca, which meant, in theory, I should've learnt three different regional dialects etc. But the locals are sometimes so surprised & so appreciative that an extranjero should speak Spanish in the first place, that they don't worry too much.

Thatcher attends Profumo funeral She seems to me not on 100% form but tough enough right now. Re. Humphrey - If anything I think it was Major's cat more than Thatcher's personally.

I'll admit at the start, I couldn't stand the place. I was living near, but not in, the Finestrat end. Then I moved into the centre, and found a little community within a community, as many do when you actually live there, as opposed to visiting there. That had a lot to do with it, but the reason I mention Senor Devesa is because he was either directly or indirectly responsible for all the improvements in the town for the inhabitants, like cheap, clean, reliable public transport, two excellent hospitals, increasing of proper, quality shops & shopping malls, better conservation projects & links etc., and balanced the tourism industry within that, so it sometimes would make no detriment to people's lives if they lived in one particular area. (and of course if you had enough, jump onto the N332 & get away to somewhere else!) Gandia is a nice area to live in - how long have you been living around there?

Realmente? Você fala o português? Eu nunca soube aquele. Você necessitaria falar o português para ser um admirador de seu trabalho. Onde você aprendeu o português? I used to live in Portugal, near old Clive Dunn as it happens, but my Portuguese is a little rusty nowadays....

Wikipedia is reporting Muhammad Ali's death. Sadly, for those who picked him in any death pool & for the Death List, it is a different Muhammad Ali. sorry to raise anybody's hopes

The edit page says (removed ernest gallo; cannot verify, no source given, suspicious poster) Some people have no sense of humour.

Godot, go to members at the top and find their profile (either by search or just click on the profile on the left if they posted in a thread recently. <----------------------- At the top right of the profile it will give you some options, which includes view member's posts. After that, you may do what you wish with their collective wit & wisdom. Wow, I've only ever started one thread! (You can check that too...)

I told you, stop calling me Surely! Lame but oh so good from Leslie Nielsen. I think whether you've ever heard of him depends entirely on age & region. General Hospital isn't shown much here, never has been, if at all? From his IMDB entry, GH would be the only way anyone would remember him. I, for one, never have.

Happy Birthday Grim Reaper. Never mind sexy ladies on your birthday as you share your birthday with well-known, cuddly & lovable quartet: Sirhan Sirhan Egon Krenz Adolf Eichmann Albert Speer But to make up for it (or not, depending on your point of view), it was also this man's birthday (below): Enjoy!

G. William Miller, ex-Chairman of the US Federal Reserve & US Secretary of the Treasury during the Carter Administration has died aged 81. As a Chairman of the USFR, his signature appeared (indeed, I presume still does) on many bank notes. Can't say I've heard of him but I suppose he was the US version of the Governor of the Bank of England, which would make him notable enough, I presume? Anyway, Obituary

Whilst reading about Milosevic's funeral in the paper, it mentioned President Tito and also the fate of his widow compared to Milosevic's. Not only was I surprised she was still alive, but also that she lives in a one-room flat in Belgrade with no heating & has to cope on £11 a month (or equivalent). Somehow I thought she'd be in a better situation. She's 82 by the way & her name is Jovanka Broz. Apparently, after searching about her, a Wiki article reports they are trying to help her situation.

I can actually give you a sensible, helpful & non-critical answer to that if you'd really like but as you'll probably be either a) belligerent of the response b. ignorant of the response c) abusive of the response d) all of the above I don't see why I should help.

Mr Higgins is 57 today, by the way.

The man whose healthy kidney was removed is my best friend's (Dee) great-uncle. She was talking about it a week ago before it hit the news headlines. Needless to say, she & the rest of the family are not best pleased as they're going through enough problems right now without the medical profession acting like something out of a Carry On film.

Another more personal one than anything: Vicente Perez Devesa, Mayor of Benidorm I lived in Benidorm for 3 years until quite recently. Whilst I didn't know Senor Devesa personally, I often read about him in the local press. He helped do a lot for the resort & made it a much better place to live, as opposed to being just simply a tourist resort & nothing else.

Not to mention that, in effect, the horse is in one way non-existent, so that just increases its chances, non-existent, non-dead & non-famous. I don't want to shoot the horse, CP, just slap it round the head until it has learnt both to drink the water AND how to drink it.