Phantom

Windsor, Many foreign students that come over to this country are often given a dictionary which is labelled American-English as part of their basic tuition. All is does really is contain Americanised versions of standard English words. The biggest joke going on at the moment is the attempt to make English the official language of the US. Which reminds me of a lively debate I had with one American who loudly stated to me "If it wasn't for us Americans, you'd be speaking German" to which I replied "If it wasn't for us English, you'd be speaking French". He later apologised.

Don Lusher trombonist for The Ted Heath Band, has died aged 82

Not sure if he's been mentioned already, but B. B. King is currently on his farewell European tour. At 80 and with diabetes and considering his gruelling tour schedule over the years he could be one for consideration.

Willie Denson who co-wrote The Shirelles' hit, "Mama Said" has died aged 69

Iain, You seem to be regarding this as some personal triumph rather than in the fun that it's intended

Fiery Fred Trueman has lost his battle against lung cancer at the age of 75 Sorry, only just noticed he had his own thread. This can be either moved or deleted [Done -- MH]

FF, what happened during the punch-up at the end of the game? I'm stuck at work so missed the entire match. I'm also going to miss Italy V Ukraine

Might be just a flash in the pan, but Pavarotti has cancelled his UK tour due to ill health. It's just an "infection" and lower back problems, but he has had some health worries in the past

I've given up on making a list for 2007 for a few months anyway, so far 8 that I had pencilled in for next year have died. I've got several lists all over the place with the majority of names crossed out. The latest casulty to my 2007 list has been Robert Carrier. Anyone else having the same sort of bad luck with their lists?

TV chef, Robert Carrier has died at the age of 82 Strangely enough I mentioned him here in this posting

Ditto. The ones that really annoy me are those that buy SUVs jsut because they have two children and the only thing they use them for are to go grocery shopping. Also people who buy pick-up trucks and never use them for their intended purpose

What's a "spiky" start? Dunno, not sure in what context it is meant.

Godot, Since I'm stuck at work and having to resort to watching the reports on the BBC site for the Italy Vs Australia match. I thought this snippet from the BBC site would make your day 5 mins: A spiky start by Australia and it's bubbling up quite nicely. The Italians too seem to have committed themselves to a more up-tempo approach, but are being out-hustled in midfield.

I have a problem with the commentators on ESPN at the moment. At one point it would be one-nil to Germany, a few minutes later it would be described one-nothing and in some cases one-zip. One of the commentators keeps on yelling "It's a P.K!!!" and my biggest pet peeve at the moment is when either or both goalies keep a clean sheet, they constantly refer to it as a shutout. Oh and on several occasions I've heard the linesmen being called referees

I voted for Charles Lane, as there have been quite a few veteran actors dying this year.

Which particular Monday have you in mind for this momentous event, iain? I've got her down as dying either on a monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday or sunday I still haven't narrowed down the year either

It also looks like we've got his age listed down as 78, he was actually 83 when he died

I thought there was just one penalty from which Australia scored. There was one clear foul that should have been a penalty in the first half. Some very dodgy decisions by the ref.

I like how they fail to disclose the celebrities' ages. For the much older celebs, they just have "mature"

Doherty to publish diaries

How much longer will this PC nonsense go on for? It's no wonder how children fall out of touch with details from history when they teach this crap in schools

De Klerk out of intensive care

Unless he played a big role during the Battle for Midway in the pacific, I doubt he would have been able to claim that many. Hmmmm 352 I really doubt he took out that many aircraft.

Mary had a little lamb The doctors were astounded Everywhere she went gynecologists surrounded

Oh well, it just would have been one of those little quirks that makes life interesting if Poland happened to beat Germany and Waldheim had died on the same day Alas, Waldheim still lives and Poland were eliminated