Ideas and possibilities for 2025

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

Never mentioned on the forums before but a guaranteed obit: Athole Still. Turns 91 this year, started off as a British Olympic swimmer before becoming a leading agent to operatic performers, but probably best known as a "superagent" in peak Barclays-era football. Most recent appearance I can see is him giving some comments on the passing of his former client Gianluca Vialli last year.

[The Old Crem 3,581]

Considering his appearance as posted in the Royal Family thread maybe Julian Fellows should be considered- famous enough for the main list in my view. 

[alt obits guy 3,371]

On 08/01/2024 at 19:42, Yama said:

Sarah Sidner of CNN announces stage 3 breast cancer - one to watch. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-sara-sidner-chokes-up-while-sharing-stage-3-breast-cancer-diagnosis-in-gut-wrenching-announcement/

Sarah Sidner to undergo double mastectomy as part of her breast cancer treatment: https://tvline.com/news/sara-sidner-breast-cancer-announcement-cnn-video-1235110019/

[gcreptile 10,963]

Theoretical physician Lee Smolin has Parkinson's. He's "only 68 years old now, but watching this podcast with Slavoj Zizek, I briefly thought that he looks like Noam Chomsky.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Smolin

 

[Bentrovato 1,084]

How about the three left from the Guinness Four. Ernest Saunders (the man who knows the cure for alzheimers), Gerald Ronson and  Anthony Parnes. All of an age and would get obits for notoriety alone. 

[En Passant 3,740]

20 hours ago, gcreptile said:

Theoretical physician

 

"In theory Mr Jones if we remove all your organs, put them in a blender and then re-assemble them we could remove all those nasty cancer cells. There are unfortunately several practical problems currently"

 

Physicist surely?

And apologies, it's a cheap shot at a typo.

[Master Obit 828]

I think the committee should consider putting Ruth Langsford's mother on the list. Not only is she a fossil, but the strain of her daughter's marriage breaking down might take a toll on her. 

[arghton 6,694]

I was reading a bit on Jack Kevorkian who would've been 96 today, and found that Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphry is still alive, now 94. Last mentioned on the forums back in 2010, but he seems quite active on Facebook.

 

[Lafaucheuse 4,043]

Why not…

Maria Riva

Mamie Van Doren

Marla Gibbs

 

[DCI Frank Burnside 3,880]

Time to consider John Prescott surely. Turns 86 at the end of the week. 

[JonNgoat 138]

8 minutes ago, DCI Frank Burnside said:

Time to consider John Prescott surely. Turns 86 at the end of the week. 

Definitely. Was hardly a picture of health before his stroke, and has only been seen a handful of times since. 

[Sean 6,309]

44 minutes ago, DCI Frank Burnside said:

Time to consider John Prescott surely. Turns 86 at the end of the week. 

Careful he might lamp you one if he hears.

[ladyfiona 2,572]

Watch out for anyone in Mexico who is/was running for election because it seems they keep getting killed off. Most recent deaths include:

 

Alfredo Cabrera - Mayoral candidate that got shot and BBC News says more than 20 other candidates have been killed and hundreds more have been threatened.

[Master Obit 828]

On 26/05/2024 at 22:26, Lafaucheuse said:

Why not…

Maria Riva

Mamie Van Doren

Marla Gibbs

 

Because nobody has a clue who they are?*

 

Please don't encourage them to continue their strategy of "anyone over 90 who is even fractionally notable."

 

*Possibly I'm just out of touch, but looking them up didn't yield much that would suggest people would know them.

[Lewd_Squirrel 331]

1 hour ago, Master Obit said:

Because nobody has a clue who they are?*

 

Please don't encourage them to continue their strategy of "anyone over 90 who is even fractionally notable."

 

*Possibly I'm just out of touch, but looking them up didn't yield much that would suggest people would know them.

I know 2 of the three. and Marla Gibb was on the Jeffersons, amongst other shows.

[Master Obit 828]

21 minutes ago, Lewd_Squirrel said:

I know 2 of the three. and Marla Gibb was on the Jeffersons, amongst other shows.

So I'm just out of touch then?

 

Even so, I really struggle to believe that the average person would know anything about them. I'd prefer the list to contain very recognisable people, selected on the basis of health as opposed to just being 90+.

[Lewd_Squirrel 331]

8 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

So I'm just out of touch then?

 

Even so, I really struggle to believe that the average person would know anything about them. I'd prefer the list to contain very recognisable people, selected on the basis of health as opposed to just being 90+.

Good luck with that.

[Ulitzer95 12,576]

4 hours ago, Master Obit said:

Because nobody has a clue who they are?*

 

Please don't encourage them to continue their strategy of "anyone over 90 who is even fractionally notable."

 

*Possibly I'm just out of touch, but looking them up didn't yield much that would suggest people would know them.

All three are mid range notability. Not obscure but not prominent. I’d heard of them before joining here but only because I’m a huge movie fan and know more actors than the average person. 
 

Agree they’re not notable enough for the main DL (maybe Marla is at a push). Also agree with your assessment about the list being lazily packed with 90+ year olds, especially healthy ones like DvD. Every year the same strategy is used, which is why they occasionally end up with these dud years of less than 15 hits which is shit poor when you consider there are 50 places.

[Master Obit 828]

1 hour ago, Ulitzer95 said:

All three are mid range notability. Not obscure but not prominent. I’d heard of them before joining here but only because I’m a huge movie fan and know more actors than the average person. 
 

Agree they’re not notable enough for the main DL (maybe Marla is at a push). Also agree with your assessment about the list being lazily packed with 90+ year olds, especially healthy ones like DvD. Every year the same strategy is used, which is why they occasionally end up with these dud years of less than 15 hits which is shit poor when you consider there are 50 places.

 

I run a very small death prediction group chat with a few friends where we pick 10 names, and the stipulations are:

- Every name must be very notable (they have a very strong claim to fame, not just "obscure commentator" or "appeared in a few movies in the 1960s")

- At most half of your list can be aged 90+

- At least one name on your list must be under 70

 

I can't help feeling like deathlist would do well to consider implementing similar policies. I'm fine with a bit of flexibility with regards to what constitutes notability, but I think they should at least have a firm policy regarding maximum number of nonagenarians and above.

[Toast 16,129]

My notability meter is whether there would be somebody in the pub on a Friday night who has heard of the candidate.

This allows for gaps in my own knowledge, especially with regard to specialised subjects.

 

Allowances are made for actors who may not be well known by name, but are instantly recognisable ("Oh, that guy")

And musicians who have been in the line-up of notable bands.  I mean, I couldn't name any members of Slade apart from Noddy Holder.

[DoorSlammer 561]

If Hal Linden is considered notable enough to make a UK-based DL, then Marla Gibbs surely must be too. And who knows, maybe one of them happens to have binged The Jeffersons around the same time the DL2025 names are selected. But if you'd ask me, I'd rather instead see someone more notable on it too.

 

That said, this thread isn't just about posting names for the DL, is it? It can also be used for other pools.

 

34 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

I run a very small death prediction group chat with a few friends where we pick 10 names, and the stipulations are:

- Every name must be very notable (they have a very strong claim to fame, not just "obscure commentator" or "appeared in a few movies in the 1960s") 

- At most half of your list can be aged 90+

- At least one name on your list must be under 70

Asking out of genuine curiosity, who did you play in that pool?

[Master Obit 828]

5 minutes ago, DoorSlammer said:

If Hal Linden is considered notable enough to make a UK-based DL, then Marla Gibbs surely must be too. And who knows, maybe one of them happens to have binged The Jeffersons around the same time the DL2025 names are selected. But if you'd ask me, I'd rather instead see someone more notable on it too.

 

That said, this thread isn't just about posting names for the DL, is it? It could also be used for other pools.

 

Asking out of genuine curiosity, who did you play in that pool?

Jimmy Carter (obviously)

Frank Field

Rob Burrow

Vanessa Redgrave

Jonnie Irwin

Noam Chomsky

Glynis Johns

Yoko Ono

Shannen Doherty

Esther Rantzen

 

I'd be surprised if I end the year on fewer than seven hits, and the bonus points for under-70s should also help me in the scoring.

[tracy 2,392]

40 minutes ago, DoorSlammer said:

If Hal Linden is considered notable enough to make a UK-based DL, then Marla Gibbs surely must be too.

 

I'm just musing here, but I think Linden is probably on their radar because Barney Miller was also Abe Vigoda's most prominent role, and obviously anyone with any knowledge of celebrity deaths knows who he is. And Linden was the titular character, and had a Tony Award for Best Actor even before that, so even if you've never heard of him or the show before, it should be pretty obvious he was genuinely famous.

 

Marla Gibbs on the other hand was a supporting character on a sitcom I doubt any Brit cares about at all for any reason. (Maybe some people know George Jefferson from parodies or general osmosis, but surely not his maid. Especially given her own spinoff was a huge bomb that lasted a whopping four weeks on the air.)

[DoorSlammer 561]

4 minutes ago, tracy said:

 

I'm just musing here, but I think Linden is probably on their radar because Barney Miller was also Abe Vigoda's most prominent role, and obviously anyone with any knowledge of celebrity deaths knows who he is. And Linden was the titular character, and had a Tony Award for Best Actor even before that, so even if you've never heard of him or the show before, it should be pretty obvious he was genuinely famous. 

 

Marla Gibbs on the other hand was a supporting character on a sitcom I doubt any Brit cares about at all for any reason. (Maybe some people know George Jefferson from parodies or general osmosis, but surely not his maid. Especially given her own spinoff was a huge bomb that lasted a whopping four weeks on the air.) 

Thanks. Then it was just me being ignorant.

[Toast 16,129]

Like I said, with actors it's often a case of "Oh, that guy" or "Oh, her".