Octopus of Odstock

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.

and here's the proof: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/...2023500,00.html About a week ago his wife (now widow) says he "was fine & doing well." Hmmm... Anyway, well done Deathlist & all the others who chose him. I'd imagine a fair few people had him on next year's lists. EDIT Oh good, I've just realised he's on my CPDP list! 2 hits already. Fantastic stuff, far more than I expected.

It was. "I'm C" is a joke from here about his illness.

He has. See the link. I can't recall you providing too many authorative links in the past. I'm sure most sci-fi fans will get over it. He was old, overweight and ill. Sad as it is, I'm not shocked.

Shame, but I can't say I'm too surprised, he didn't look well when I saw him in a documentary last year. However, he was only on my outside possibilities for next year so no gnashing of teeth for DDP missed points. Came across as a nice fellow in the documentary.

The same doctor friend who said I was a fool as I didn't believe Sharon was going to die back in June/July? "if you knew anything about medicine, you would know his days are numbered." I think I recall you quoting, Iain.... Make your mind up, you stupid boy.

I didn't even know what sport he was in. I thought NBA stood for baseball, until I read the obit on BBC. Seeing how the Guardian wanks itself silly with the deaths of US sporting figures (but not UK, strangely.. ) maybe it is time for me to shake off my ignorance of all things American Sport & choose some worthy candidates...

More evidence for NOT including Michael Foot in your lists:- he's still going to football games! He also reveals he no longer drinks & "refuses to conk out" until Pymouth are in the top-flight! Having said that, they're doing quite well this year... Interview with Michael Foot about Plymouth Argyle Hopefully, now all the Iain hysteria over this man has gone, we can have a better debate about this man's health & future DL candiate ranking. As far as I can see, he's frailer, and certainly is blinder than before, but otherwise seems to be doing well for his age. As such, I don't think I'm going to consider him for DDP 2007.

Well, I'm sure this all doesn't help AP but I found this comment telling: (by the same judge) Pinochet has been diagnosed with mild dementia caused by frequent mini-strokes and he has avoided trial in other human rights cases on the basis he was too ill to stand trial. "I don't think it has been proven that he is mentally ill," said Solis, who last met the former dictator on October 18, and remarked on how healthy Pinochet was looking. full article

Red Auerbach is dead, and this BBC article gets the points. We Spin Terror gets 4, Crazy Carl 8 & it puts the former in equal 5th. and according to this history of dead pools it's been going on in Europe since 1591.

Former heavyweight champion of the World, Trevor Berbick has been murdered. He was the last man to fight (and beat) Muhammad Ali, and lost his heavyweight crown to a very young Mike Tyson. Also went to jail for rape, and theft. He was also quoted as saying "Legally, I’m a spirit,” he once said. “I have no age.”. Well, sunshine, you're right about that now.

What a farcial FA Cup draw - one team drawn twice, other ties seemed messed up in the middle, Sir Trevor Brooking clearly didn't have a clue what was going on and the two nobodies (rugby players I think, for a football draw??) who drew the balls seemed to think they were bingo calling. Seeing as the draw STILL hasn't come up, some half-an-hour later on any news site, makes me think they've had to redo it. The FA.. a joke.. and not a funny one at that too....

Nonetheless, he got an instant Guardian obit. There does seem no level of obscurity this turd of a paper will shake its head at & say "no, they don't get an obituary due to not being famous".

You know, I'm still to be convinced that Obiang is as ill as is rumoured. He's recently flown to the US & Morocco & looks to be more than seven stone & robust in these pictures: Obiang visits Morocco and does not look significantly worse for wear, than say a few years ago. If he wanted to stand down, surely he would've done it by now, and if his son is as power-crazy as previously alluded, surely ol' Teodoro wouldn't leave the country? I'm not saying he's not ill, per se, but whether he is as ill as to be considered as top 20 DDP or top 50 DL candidiate material or just "one to keep an eye on" bracket?

The "other" Michelangelo

This could come back to bite me in the ass, so I've edited it. I vented my spleen & that is enough.

Well, the ex-Pakistani President has gone today, so that's one slot filled for next week at least and there's still 6 days to go. Still, we must allow MPFC some hope, for without hope, what are we?

Ghulam Ishaq Khan, as VSBfH as noted, as has the Guardian, BBC etc, has died. He gets some points for Impaled on the Antlers of Doom but it doesn't change much in the way of the leaderboard. Good choice that, actually.