Death By Numbers 2024

[Sod's Law 223]

On 16/02/2024 at 12:13, BuffaloPhil said:

Looks like Alexei Navalny is a nice little hit for me here, picking up the "Most Surprising Death by Natural Causes" award (sponsored by Vladimir Putin.)

I think he is my only hit so far, and also the youngest on my list. 

[Captain Hemlock 644]

Oops wrong thread.

[Captain Hemlock 644]

Probably the most obscure person on my list, Bill Jorgensen has died and got a yahoo obit!

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/bill-jorgensen-dies-tv-anchor-182234790.html

[The Immortal 536]

Tom Stafford is a hit here.

[MariNisia 3,554]

Louis Gossett, Jr. is a hit for a few of us:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/29/louis-gossett-jr-actor-dies

[Torva Messor 253]

Postmodernist novelist John Barth is a hit for me.

Obit from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/03/john-barth-death-american-novelist-dies-dead-aged-93

[Captain Hemlock 644]

Akebono Taro is a hit here for at least one team.

[Captain Hemlock 644]

Robert MacNeil is a hit for me.

 

Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS... | Daily Mail Online

[Torva Messor 253]

Robert MacNeil and Josip Manolič are my second and third hits to date this month.

This pool seems to be the only place I am gaining points this month.

[Captain Hemlock 644]

Whitey Herzog is a hit for me.

 

 

[gcreptile 10,287]

It is time, don't you think?

However, I think this will be one of two updates, as it's getting late, but I should get something done.

 

Let us begin with.... ah yes, Iris Apfel. The fashion designer proved, much like Baddie Winkle, that if you're old, colourful clothing makes you famous. It is something I aspire to follow. The colours shall not match and the eyes shall hurt. She was a hit for two people, including Torva Messor who also scored with Don Murray, the Oscar-nominated Hollywood actor with an extremely long career.

Next one is Cpt. Hemlock's unique hit of Bill Jorgensen. Who was that.... a longtime local New York anchorman. He got a New York Times obit  which might soon, i.e. next year,  be the only local obit source left standing. But you know, there's an exploit for any rule. And I love New York....

Next one is astronaut Tom Stafford - popular pick because of his hospitalization in late 2023. I've written a few words on him in the Cup thread.

Next up is Louis Gossett Jr., a hit for three teams. He'd been suffering from prostate cancer for a while. That, and his death, didn't keep him from appearing in four yet-to-be-released projects. He was a prolific actor, up until and seemingly even after his death.

Now we get to Torva Messor's third hit in this update, postmodernist novelist John Barth. I have never read him, and he seems to write books that can be appreciated but not really liked - because they're more an experience than a story.

Oh, and why not go ahead with Torva's hit number four as written above, Robert MacNeil. He was an esteemed Canadian journalist whose career really began with a bang when he accompanied John F. Kennedy during the ill-fated motorcade ride. He also worked for the BBC later on.

Now, the fifth name Torva mentioned, Josip Manolic, does not seem to have received an obit yet. He got the Washington Post yesterday, but not yet the New York Times.

Okay, and now that we've gone through Torva's unique hits, lets go back to Cpt. Hemlock's unique hits, specifically baseball coach and player Whitey Herzog. He was a World series champion as coach, not as player, seems to have done better there.

Akebono Taro is a unique hit for ThereWillBeDeaths7. The star sumo wrestler had been suffering from ill health for many years, and it was simply a question of time when his early death would arrive. Now, in spite of their immense body weight sumo ringers don't seem to be THAT susceptible to ill health. He was quite exceptional though in his stature and his health problems.

Banana scores a unique hit with college baseball trainer Pete Wilk. He had been suffering from glioblastoma and got a yahoo obit.

Next we come to Joe Kinnear, hit for two teams. I read that he was an Irishman who cursed a lot - a bit redundant. The defender spent most of his career at Tottenham where he won a couple of European trophies. A managerial career followed.

Then we get to Clarence "Frogman" Henry, a unique hit for Death Impends. One of those black musical pioneers you think they died in the 70s or something. Not many people are still alive who had hits in the 1950s....

Yorkshire Banker scores with Lynne Reid Banks. The childrens' and young adult author had two massive hits with "The Indian in the Cupboard" and "The L-shaped Room".

Two teams score with Philippe De Gaulle, Diego and The Daredevil. The french admiral was the son of Charles De Gaulle and "keeper of the flame", because he looked so much like his father, that people thought he had to be kind of the same person - or something like that. 

 

Okay, let us remain at that. These are the publicly posted hits, and the DDP hits from now on back to 1st of April - which means, yes, the whole of March is still in need of updating.

The 2nd half of this update will come later! Some patience please, it'll happen soon.

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Perhaps	611
2	Banana	594
3	Cpt. Chorizo	564
4	RadGuy	497
5	Funeralopolis	493
6	Book	483
7	wannamaker	473
8	gcreptile	466
9	Toast	449
10	msc	422
11	tracy	390
12	The Immortal	386
13	Summer in Transilvania	380
14	Pedro67	376
15	Baby Blue	375
16	Mr. Wonderful	372
17	Etushipushingupdaisies	356
18	DeathBecomesThem	345
19	Caleb H	338
20	Death Impends	335
21	MariNisia	331
22	ThereWillBeDeaths7	316
23	Salmon Mousse	309
24	The Unknown Man	293
25	Buffalo Phil	277
26	Cpt. Hemlock	276
27	The old lady	268
28	Liz Lemon	230
29	Lady Fiona	224
30	Yorkshire Banker	217
31	Charles De Gaulle	215
32	Thatcher	213
33	Bibliogryphon	203
33	An Fear Beag	203
35	The Old Crem	202
36	John Key	201
37	The Daredevil	198
38	Imelda	185
39	Diego	161
40	TQR	153
41	Wormfarmer	140
42	Predictor	134
43	Sean	128
44	Annami	120
45	Torva Messor	111
46	Sod's Law	76
47	Great Uncle Bulgaria	73
47	Young Willz	73
49	arghton	67
50	Gooseberry Crumble	31
51	Hell	23
51	chileanway	23

[Toast 14,942]

1 hour ago, gcreptile said:

.... if you're old, colourful clothing makes you famous. It is something I aspire to follow. The colours shall not match and the eyes shall hurt.

Ugh, for some reason your formatting won't delete

 

This reminded me of the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph:

 

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin candles, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.

 

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickles for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

 

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

 

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

 

[gcreptile 10,287]

Thanks Toast, I like it.

[gcreptile 10,287]

Update, 2nd part:

 

So, I am continuing to work my way back into the past, next one is Frederic Mitterrand, nephew of Francois, and so, the 2nd french "relative of a president" who was also a little notable on their own. Frederic was a former minister of culture and is a hit for therewillbedeaths7.

Next one is M. Emmet Walsh, a unique hit for Tracy. Walsh was a reliable side actor on the big and small screen. Probably one of the biggest "I know the face" guys around.

Malachy McCourt is a hit for two players, Etushipushingupdaisies and SalmonMousse. Also a relative of a maybe more famous person, McCourt was a well-known but not super-famous writer, but also a well-known but not super-famous actor. He was also the Green Party candidate for New York Governor, so you see, he was a little bit of everything. While initially,  he entered hospice for ill health, he recovered and was thrown out again. But then, his recovery couldn't last forever.

Next up is Charlie Bird, the significant British reporter with the direct IRA connections. He was willing to go where nobody else went - including several jobs in war areas - and thus, his battle with ALS was widely covered, and exploited in this game.

 

Okay, that's for the DDP hits, as far as I can tell. Do we have any other hits?

Well, I see CalebH had KM Peyton - who however died in 2023 and has to be replaced with 1st sub Jimmy Carter.

Joe Shannon was a pick for several players, but did not receive a QO - so yes, this does seem to be it.

Quite a few names were missed, like OJ Simpson, for example, or Walid Daqqa.

 

The new scoreboard shows Perhaps losing the lead to Banana and Cpt. Chorizo because of missing out on Charlie Bird. Perhaps still has his joker back in hand though, but.. ahem... it's only Jimmy Carter, who isn't dying anyway....

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	Banana	643
2	Cpt. Chorizo	613
3	Perhaps	611
4	gcreptile	564
5	RadGuy	546
6	Funeralopolis	542
7	wannamaker	522
8	Book	483
9	msc	471
10	Toast	449
11	tracy	425
12	The Immortal	386
13	Summer in Transilvania	380
14	Pedro67	376
15	Baby Blue	375
16	Mr. Wonderful	372
17	ThereWillBeDeaths7	363
18	Salmon Mousse	358
19	Etushipushingupdaisies	356
20	DeathBecomesThem	345
21	Caleb H	338
22	Death Impends	335
23	MariNisia	331
24	The Unknown Man	293
25	Buffalo Phil	277
26	Cpt. Hemlock	276
27	The old lady	268
28	An Fear Beag	252
29	Imelda	234
30	Liz Lemon	230
31	Lady Fiona	224
32	Yorkshire Banker	217
33	Charles De Gaulle	215
34	Thatcher	213
35	Bibliogryphon	203
36	The Old Crem	202
37	John Key	201
38	The Daredevil	198
39	Predictor	183
40	Diego	161
41	TQR	153
42	Wormfarmer	140
43	Sean	128
44	Annami	120
45	Torva Messor	111
46	Sod's Law	76
47	Great Uncle Bulgaria	73
47	Young Willz	73
49	arghton	67
50	Gooseberry Crumble	31
51	Hell	23
51	chileanway	23

 

[Torva Messor 253]

Postupdate drop: Terry Carter.

So many drops i should name my team april shower.

[YoungWillz 19,257]

Frank Field a hit here - for me as well: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68887629

[gcreptile 10,287]

So, before I'll be gone for a week, have an update.

The biggest name in this update, especially in terms of who many players picked him, was Labour politician Frank Field. Because he survived so long, he might not have been a favourite DDP pick, but he definitely was someone for your top 50 lists.

Another name, as mentioned above, was american actor Terry Carter, mostly remembered for his Battlestar Galactica appearance. Coincidentally, I now realize that I watched him about a month ago in blaxploitation classic Foxy Brown as Pam Grier's sidekick. TorvaMessor gets another fascinating unique hit.

Next hit, as I can recall by memory, is cancer awareness raiser Kris Hallenga. Yes, her cancer made her famous, but she eclipsed the narrow definition of cancer celebrity with tons of TV appearances, her own blog in The Sun, and the charity she founded. When the British overlords hand out MBEs and OBEs, I can be sure in accepting that the person has had a "wider impact on society". And the DDP committee thinks the same. Two players picked her, Cpt. Chorizo and me, making her my joker. 

Fourth hit in this update is Welsh football legend Terry Medwin. A player in the 1958 World Cup, he also won a few english trophies with Tottenham. He was a unique hit for Yorkshire Banker.

Next one is prominent author Paul Auster, a hit for three players. He had quite the distinguished career that only missed out on the Nobel Prize. But the highlights stretch from the New York Trilogy in the mid 80s to monumental 4 3 2 1 in 2017.

Another dead author, and another hit, is British crime writer CJ Sansom. A somewhat bigger deadpooling name two years ago, he was now a unique hit for Toast, congratulations!

 

That seems to conclude the update. Kris Hallenga pushes the two teams she was on to the top. And while I am at 1st now, Cpt. Chorizo still has an unused joker in Rob Burrow.

Edit: I now realize that msc and Cpt. Chorizo also have a non-obit in Amy Ettinger. She has received a Washington Post obit but that doesn't count here. I need a QO for her in the ABC pool, but it doesn't seem to be happening.

 

Rank	Team	Score
1	gcreptile	776
2	Cpt. Chorizo	740
3	Banana	685
4	Perhaps	653
5	RadGuy	588
6	Funeralopolis	584
7	wannamaker	569
8	msc	560
9	Book	525
10	Toast	501
11	tracy	467
12	The Immortal	428
13	Summer in Transilvania	422
14	Pedro67	418
15	Mr. Wonderful	414
16	Salmon Mousse	400
17	Etushipushingupdaisies	398
18	DeathBecomesThem	387
19	Caleb H	380
20	Death Impends	377
21	Baby Blue	375
22	MariNisia	373
23	ThereWillBeDeaths7	363
24	The Unknown Man	335
25	Buffalo Phil	319
26	Cpt. Hemlock	318
27	The old lady	310
28	An Fear Beag	294
29	Yorkshire Banker	291
30	Imelda	276
31	Liz Lemon	272
31	Predictor	272
33	Lady Fiona	266
34	Charles De Gaulle	257
35	Thatcher	255
36	Bibliogryphon	245
37	The Old Crem	244
38	John Key	243
39	The Daredevil	240
40	Diego	203
41	TQR	195
42	Wormfarmer	182
43	Sean	170
44	Annami	162
45	Torva Messor	139
46	Great Uncle Bulgaria	115
46	Young Willz	115
48	arghton	109
49	Sod's Law	76
50	Hell	65
50	chileanway	65
52	Gooseberry Crumble	31