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As suggested... Baroness Meacher today announced to the House of Lords that Frank Field, now known as Lord Field of Birkenhead (wiki), 79, is dying (BBC link). She revealed that he had recently spent time in a hospice and a very reliable Labour friend of mine (same source who told me Sir Gerald Kaufman was dying) says he has aggressive stage 4 cancer (though doesn't know what type of cancer). Field started life out as a member of the Conservative Party, before defecting to Labour in 1960. He was elected as a councillor in Hounslow in 1964 and served for 4 years. He was first elected as an MP (for the constituency of Birkenhead) in 1979. He lost his seat in 2019, owing to the fact that he fell out with the Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party over anti-semitism (the "final straw" according to the man himself, though he had tensions with the party for years). He was forced to stand as an independent, but only captured over 7000 votes. He served as the Minister of Welfare Reform under Tony Blair from 1997 to 1998, his only ministerial position. In 2010, Field became the only Labour MP with a role in David Cameron's government, after being appointed "poverty tsar". He later served as Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee from 2015 to 2019, succeeding Dame Anne Begg. He was elevated to the House of Lords in October 2020, and he chose to sit as a non-affiliated member. Somewhat of a legend in the world of politics, and respected on all sides of the political spectrum. Field is from a generation of Old Labour types where it was never deemed acceptable to come out as gay. He's also a firm believer in Brexit, and was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to share this view in the 2017–2019 Parliament (along with Dennis Skinner, Kate Hoey, maybe a couple of others). In my opinion, a must for DL 2022.

I know that last time there was an Alex Higgins thread it turned into a rant fest. So this is more general question, which I suspect will get very few answers-Aren't there a ton of sick and dying snooker players Joe O'Boye, the Francisco's, etc . Suspect this will prove to be a thread to nothing but.......?

Unless you've been living in a cave where you had no access to any sort of media, you probably heard that good old OJ Simpson has been found GUILTY of armed robbery and kidnapping. What say you, OJ? Will OJ finally drop the soap?

I'm surprised Osama bin Laden wasn't on this year's deathlist. While he's proven pretty resilient since getting more than he bargained for post-911, I'd say with a US election in November, there's a good chance the Americans will manage to blow up whatever mountain hole Osama is squirreled away in. And in the end, that's probably good news for him, what with all those virgins waiting for him in the afterlife . . .

This thread is the place to discuss Kirk Douglas.

Sir Harold Wilson, the Labour politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976 is 96. How many people think he'll live until 100? Can we get a health update because I haven't heard what he's doing in a while? He's had Alzheimers since the late 1980's so he can't be that well off.

According to this story, professional voice of reason Pat Robertson is calling for the Venezuelan President Hugo Sanchez to be assassinated. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9047102/ Judging by how the vote went in the last election there's a lot of Robertson's supporters in the red states that Bush won, so maybe W will bow to the demands of his constituents. Although given the CIA couldn't plant, I mean find, any WMD in Iraq I very much doubt their ability to carry out something as simple as offing a Latin American president. Or, maybe we should just nominate Robertson for '06.

Felt it was time that arguably one of the legendary Queens of Country and Western music singer Loretta Lynn who recently turned aged 85 had her own thread. Definitely one of the big name figures from this genre of music and she's still touring to this very day! Some random facts about Loretta She was a big supporter and friend of George Bush and his wife Barbara. Campaigned and sang for them when he stood for US President. But she apparently loathed Ronald Reagan and could not bring herself to like him. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Lynn Has been in the music business for nearly sixty years

The King died on his throne exactly 28 years ago. Bookmakers have revealed that wagers have all but dried up from fans betting that Elvis Presley is still alive. Over the years bookmakers William Hill have taken thousands of bets that Elvis will be found alive, but in the last year fans have stopped placing bets. Bookmakers have now lengthened the odds of Elvis being found alive from 100/1 to 1000/1. "The biggest odds we have ever given was a Elvis related bet, we offered 14 million to one that Elvis will crash land a UFO into Loch Ness hitting the monster," said bookmaker Rupert Adams. "It is perhaps the end of an era, where even his most ardent fans no longer believe that Elvis could have remained hidden for so long."

Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott of heavy metal band Damageplan, and formerly of Pantera, was gunned down last night at a show in Columbus, Ohio. The gig was part of the band's perhaps unfortunately titled "Devastation Across The Nation" tour. At least four other less famous people were also killed. http://www.antimusic.com/news/04/dec/item07.shtml

Always a good sign that your time is nearly up is winning a 'Lifetime Achievement Award'. Dave Swarbrick, former violinist with Fairport Convention, received one this week at the BBC Folk Awards. Unfortunately Dave was too ill to receive his award in person! Swarb, rather surprisingly, has already passed the famousness test, by having an obituary written in the Daily Telegraph a couple of years ago. (Oops). His poor health (mainly self-inflicted it has to be said) has included 2 tracheotomies in the last few years, and he is now confined to a wheelchair with oxygen mask (see also Marlon Brando). Keep an eye on him. DWB

The Derek Draper thread.

Following on from the Ideas and Possibilities thread, Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel fame has a 'nasty' cancer. https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100058063000040 All tour dates cancelled. Famous enough in my opinion without being lumped into a generic music thread.

This is the Ian St John thread.

The captain is walking round his garden in aid of the NHS. Originally to raise a thousand £££'s now stands at over £8m. Only famous in in his own backyard, but will no doubt get a QO when he snuffs it. Will he make it to the ton?

Saw the latest season of Curb and he only appeared in a few scenes sitting down due to him becoming increasingly frail. Since he has had a massive array of health problems in the past too, I'd thought I'd add him to DL.

I am aware of the British Character Actors thread but I thought it was time to set Ackland up with his own thread. He was born in 1928, so he may be one to keep an eye on. Possibly one for the 2021 DL.

Nikolai Ryzhkov must be on the list for next year

Following the shocking news that Alexey Navalny got poisoned and is on ventilator, I've decided to create a thread dedicated to this brave man and my fellow Russian. In late 2017-early 2018 I've been a Putinist and I've been spreading lies about Navalny being a corrupt racist. However I've been a bit liberal in 2014, than became a tankie just jn order to appease my commie friend in 2015, but than I've become a full-on Putinist in mid 2017, because of... James Woods and Ben Garrison. But a few things have changed my views, and they include retirement age reform and Putin's cr***py handling of COVID-19 situation. I hope this thoroughly good guy whom I've been trying to smear in the past (But I've never worked for Prigozhin/Olgino Troll Farm, I swear to god. I've only turned 20 this July.) recovers, takes over as our President and make our country finally free, democratic and economically prosperous, despite me disagreeing with him on foreign policy andd immigration views (He wants to end visa-free travel agreeements between Russia and post-Soviet Central Asian and Transcaucasian (Armenia, Azerbaijan) countries and he's not opposed to neocons). From what I've heard someone slipped some barbiturates into his tea , while he was in an airport cafe. He started feeling ill while on plane, started screaming and then collapsed. Thank god, the pilots have landed in Omsk, where he was hospitalised and put on a ventilator. He's in ICU and in a coma right now. Thankfully, the Germans have sent in the plane to fly him to a Berlin clinic and rescue him, but the head doctor of the hospital won't allow Lyokha out. https://twitter.com/Kira_Yarmysh?s=09. Please follow his press secretary (this is her account) for updates. She's staying in his room. God help us. Cheers.

King of Tonga This old king was born in 1918. At 87 therefore, a sodomite and considerably overweight, must soon be a goner. Any thoughts?

61 year old country star Toby Keith has had stomach cancer for a nearly a year now. And now he is too weak to travel https://countrynow.com/breaking-toby-keith-will-no-longer-appear-at-cancer-benefit-amid-tough-week/ According to Wikipedia he has sold over 40 million records which is quite a lot. Enough for me to say that despite his us centric fame he would very likely still get an obit over here. A good name for next year's deathlist.

Looks like Jonnie's going down the "speaking to the tabloid press" every few days path when it comings to dealing with his terminal cancer diagnosis. Use this thread to detail all his appearances on Loose Women and the like.

85 - well past average life expectancy - and could pop his clogs soon.

Would there be a call to put Saddam on the list for next year? He may be executed for his past actions?

Today in "The Daily Mail writes about someone being suicidal based on their Twitter account": Sinead O'Connor