Octopus of Odstock

When our least favourite poster goes on about "most sig-nif-icant death" next time, I'm going to through Shifty Powers' name in the ring. I'm very saddened by his passing. Times have changed, but in the 1940's, marksmen were admired & what is undeniable is the fact that because Shifty was such a good shootist, he not only saved the lives of pretty much all of his colleagues, but helped his company win the battles which helped the Allies win the war. He wasn't alone in doing that, but we owe the likes of Shifty a huge debt. Powers was also such a thoughtful & interesting speaker - he utters some of the more philosophical remembrances on the Band of Brothers DVD's. A brave, talented & interesting man. RIP Shifty. He certainly contributed more in his life than some crap actor who did a few Kung Fu movies....

Pukka obit and that will be OoO catapulted back into the top ten! I'm working on the obituary chances whilst we speak..... A DDP & CPDP hit for me.. he did bloody well to get as far as he did... bizarrely, it's a year to the day that I first heard he was very ill. It's been a long year, but hopefully the points will eventually come to me. Might have to wait a week or two I fear, but he has just died before the British GP & that helps.... Shame though, damn good driver.

At the rate he's going by this parachuting effort, GHWB is likely to live for a fair while longer... ..unless someone tampers with the equipment....

Lord Carrington's wife, Lady Iona Carrington has died. The local paper had quite a large obituary to her... Carrington himself seems to live a VERY quiet life & now the love of his life has died.... well, I wouldn't be surprised if he is not alive come June 2010 as a result.

Yes, indeed - Omar, Edith & Ali. Will Um be next?

Sam Butera, saxophonist, is dead, aged 81. Another for the DDP Missed List.

Maggs died of pulmonary fibrosis & now Bob Christie has died, as predicted above of the same disease. It's been a rather brutal few months for old racing drivers. No doubt Christie's death will also be removed by Wikipedia editors but obscure Indonesian banjo players will be kept on as [[no citation]] for ages...

When the death is reported by his former mechanic at Lotus, Cedric Selzer, it is true. Also, I & Cedric am not in the habit of making false death reports thank you very much. Believe you me, if I say they are dead, they are dead. Lawro, CP & MPFC will vouch for that. Anyway - as numerous idiots on Wikipedia beg for proof: http://forums.autosport.com/lofiversion/in...hp/t110198.html http://continental-circus.blogspot.com/200...-1937-2009.html Full press to come in next few days.

I do, but it doesn't surprise me in the least that you don't. You are now among my favourite members, mainly because of posting that smiley. I have to agree & propose that someone is hereby allowed to use that smiley in response after every time BC Alum posts.

Tony Maggs, one of Grand Prix's most under-rated drivers of the 1960's has died. I hadn't mentioned him here before as I was hoping he would last long enough to be my secret DDP candidate for 2010, suffering as he did from the same lung disease as Peter Arundell & Evel Knievel. No press yet, but when the news comes from his former mechanic, I think we can take it as genuine. I'm amazed Arundell carries on actually - he would help my rather dismal DDP performance...

Ludovic Kennedy

Larry Rice has died.

Thinner, weaker, wheelchair bound but out & about again. I think he'll be a useful DL pick, but I don't think he'll be a DDP hit for me this year.

Rice hangs on for now, but carrying on the recent cull is Swiss driver Heini Walter - link - who has been ill for some years. Also non-F1 but British F3 team boss & former driver Joe Tandy was killed in a car crash in Bedfordshire - link. Tandy was 26 years of age.

Apologies for not having updated the site for Cundy & Kirkup - time has just run away from me lately. I'll do it tomorrow - because I have to as I will be off to Norway for a week due to work & want to get a fair bit done before I go away. Also want to try & get the inane analysis done, but I think that'll be done when I'm back.

As far as I understand, he's retired & still alive. But it's not easy to get a lot of detail about him, but I would imagine if he passes away, there would be a reasonable amount of news or at least an obituary somewhere.

I'm musing, if the list of ill racing drivers continues, to put in a theme team for the DDP, and leave my main team clear of racing drivers - or even make my main team full of racing drivers. Mind you, I haven't had a motor racing hit yet - Hill, Trintignant, Rolt - all picked by myself - all dead, but in the wrong year! This may be a futile posting, but it may be useful to someone, especially US wise, Larry Rice, former Indy 500 rookie of the year, a sprint & midget car ace, and latterly a TV commentator for ESPN on the sport is in the last stages of terminal cancer. It is unlikely he will make the end of the month, and possibly not the end of the week. I have no link or source for this bit of information, but it comes from a reliable source, who is a good friend of a former racing colleague (and ex-Indy 500 driver) himself. The next few days will probably determine if it is as true as stated.

Not my fault these damn Americans have two names when one will do nicely... I'm surprised you missed him - Dom diMaggio is under "B"...

Hillclimbing legend & occasional Grand Prix starter Tony Marsh has died, aged 77. No online link yet, bar a bulletin board message - here, but there will be a message on the BRDC & most other motorsport websites soon. A real, real shame & a surprise too. Not been a good few weeks for the sport....

Seve's 90% there now - 10% notwithstanding, I think he'll be okay for a while yet.

Having just returned from Silverstone for the Silverstone Classic, I can confirm that putting Sir Stirling Moss & Murray Walker on any deadpool for 2010 would be a complete waste of time. Sir Stirling is 79 in age, but 39 in spirit.. bounding around everywhere & beating youngsters in the queue for food! Murray is still as sharp as a tack (well, for him, anyway ) & although he gave us all a worrying moment when he lost his footing temporarily when he left the media centre - again, he looked the picture of health & still sounds extremely well. There weren't many old drivers here for this event as it was only the media day - I'll report if there's anything DL wise of interest from the main event. Jackie Oliver was the only other driver I recognised & he also looks perfectly well.

Former Scotland international, Bristol Rovers manager & most importantly, legend for Reading FC , Bobby Campbell, has died, aged 86. Link This follows on from the death of John Elsworthy, who played all his career with Ipswich, and despite being part of the Welsh 1958 World Cup squad (but didn't travel to Sweden), never actually was capped by Wales.

Forget about it. She died in January 2006, aged 97. Link of sorts Ulitzer... Robert Carr was doing quite well the last I heard.. not so sure about some of the others though - Freeman's not been mentioned much lately.

Real, real shame about DeLuise. I have many, many happy memories of his roles in the Cannonball Run, Fievel Goes West & his Mel Brooks films as both a kid, and a young adult. Although I had heard he was getting better, positive news on him had been very short on the ground. As for Phair, I remember that story.. from what.. 3 or 4 years ago?

No, it's more, surprisingly, I make it 49. Most of them are one-off drives, but a lot of top-line drivers have gone.