Vinegar Tits

An interesting little piece of trivia - 1982 is now the oldest Eurovision year with no dead singers.

Four-times Wimbledon champion Louise Brough dead at 90. Sad news as Brough was one of the greats of her time. She did look very frail when visiting Wimbledon in the last couple of years for various anniversaries however so this news isn't all that surprising.

Terrible news. I've liked him since Boogie Nights and I've never seen him put in a bad or even merely average performance. I'd rate him as one of the best actors of his generation.

My sister does! She remembers it about a bloke dying when a champagne cork hits him between the eyes and then living some sort of strange afterlife... Kenny Ireland is currently in 'Benidorm'... I remember it too. Sachs played a Pools winner who died celebrating his win in, IIRC, a Hotel. It was that bad it got annihilated by the critics and the series got pulled after the first episode, the rest of them canned and thrown into the vaults of Thames Television or summat. I liked it. The slightly morbid premise appealed to my sense of humour.

Today is the 10 year anniversary of Harold Shipman's death

Actress Alexandra Bastedo, best known as Sharon Macready in The Champions, and latterly had a hilarious turn as Penny Caspar-Morse in Ab Fab, has died of cancer according to a tweet from Peter Egan to the the animal sanctuary she helped to run.

Again, he has his reasons. I've not been in the position where a close personal friend's death has been discussed on an anonymous forum. Were I in that position I would possibly feel the same as him, or perhaps not. I also know quite a few people who think only real names should be allowed when posting on forums. I can understand the logic of how people hiding behind usernames is cowardly, even if it's not an opinion I share personally, so I'm kind of sitting on the fence on this matter.

Just bumping this to let you all know Mr Quantick is now aware that his namesake team won the DDP. He still thinks most deadpoolers are scum. He has his reasons for that, many of which are probably quite fair - I personally dislike the 'hurry up and die' type comments and actively celebrating people's deaths I find extremely distasteful too, which is why I don't post such things (though probably will break my rule on that when Ken Bates shuffles off this mortal coil downwards). But I also find this place a mine of information on long-forgotten celebs and most posts are affectionate even when mickytaking. So, hey ho...

Richard Briers Lou Reed Mel Smith are probably the ones who've made the biggest impact on my life in a non-political sense. James Gandolfini was probably the most surprising death of the year. Ray Manzarek and Peter O'Toole will be missed, though I wasn't a major fan of either. Chrissy Amphlett, Jeff Hannemann. Bernie Nolan was one of the few Nolan sisters I've not seen in the flesh. And Kevin Ayers joins an ever-increasing list of people I've got into just before they died... he was so beautiful when he was young.

Comedy writer and actor John Fortune dead, according to Sky News ticker

And not before time, too!

The next 24 hours are crucial. It took Natasha Richardson two days to die so we'll see. I haven't entered our team yet, and there's just one spare place...

Someone send Keef a t-shirt...

Confirmed now. As we all know, deaths come in threes and there we have it with Eleanor Parker, Peter O'Toole and Joan Fontaine departing.

I voted Olivia de Havilland - she can die now she's outlasted her sister.

The Spice Girls lose another fan. Not wanting to sound insensitive, but due to where I live (about 100 yards from the sea) and it being widely expected that my area would take an absolute battering I was slightly more concerned about the very distinct prospect of being six feet under water than a 95-year-old man being six feet under ground yesterday. But, yeah, RIP. A man of truly great dignity.

Another person I've worked with. His accent really was that thick, he wasn't putting it on for effect.

Possessed by the spirit of Adrian Mole, in case anyone missed it on Twitter and Facebook, here's my Ode To Lou Reed Lou Boo Lou, boo hoo! Seriously though, sad if not surprising news following his liver transplant earlier in the year, especially as it seemed before it he really was not long for this world. His Manchester Palace Theatre gig (well, more a recital really) in 1992 is still the best sound I've ever witnessed at a concert and, following hushed reverence as the lights went down following the intermission, him walking onto stage to giggles after someone shouted out very loudly in a thick, Northern accent "oh, ey oop, it's Lou!" will remain one of my favourite gig memories. RIP you grumpy old bugger.

Lys Assia definitely will. As for the others still with us Freddy Quinn and Corry Brokken should get obits, Mathé Altéry and Tonina Torrielli probably won't other than own country / ESC sites and Mony Marc seems to have disappeared so won't other than a mention on ESC sites.

Poor poor pitiful her. Actually, really sad news. I loved Linda, and as long as she hasn't airbrushed her excesses, her autobiography should be a cracking read.

I watched them all a few years ago - 1961 was the worst one in my opinion. Other than the UK entry (Allisons - Are You Sure) it was dire. Anyway, to drag it back on topic - Bernie Nolan's death is another strike for Eurovision. The Nolans entered A Song For Europe in 1979 with 'Harry My Honolulu Lover' and came fourth (Black Lace won...)

Silvi Vrait dying is a massive death for Estonia; she was kind of a matriarch of music there. Sad news - I liked her Eurovision song a lot, and her death will leave a large hole in any future Eesti Lauls. And as for 1994 being the worst Eurovision ever - admittedly it wasn't one of the better years but any Eurovision featuring Elisabeth Andreassen and a former member of Family Four can't be all bad. How the hell Rock N Sodding Roll Kids won I'll never know - Germany were ROBBED

He's ill again. Has spent the last three weeks in hospital fighting his cancer.

Sad news. The BBC showed a series of her films in the mid Eighties and I loved watching them. I can't even console myself with some much-needed points as, of course, she was on my list last year and not this year... RIP

Really sad news about Chrissy Amphlett. I knew she was ill but my sister, who lives in Australia, said she seemed to be doing all right.