28 Years Of The Deathlist!

[Joey Russ 7,207]

The first deathlist hit I can visibly remember was Robin Gibb, though my parents are one of those types who don’t give you a cellphone till you were close to your teenage years. As I stated in the past, I became increasingly aware and interested in death due to the carnage of a year 2016 was, but it was sometime after the death of Prince that I discovered this site, and I joined right after Muhammad Ali’s death...

As for first celebrity death in general, I definitely remember the carnage everyone was on about with Michael Jackson, though I’m not his biggest fan by any means...

[YoungWillz 20,890]

Happy anniversary to the Deathlist! I think that's 32 years!

 

Anyone feeling old?

[runebomme 377]

36 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Happy anniversary to the Deathlist! I think that's 32 years!

 

Anyone feeling old?

 

[Dr_T 254]

I must have been visiting this site for maybe 13-14 years.  Didn't start taking any notice of the forums till much later.  I found deathlist when I was in my previous job.  I was driving back from a field trip with a superior and we were talking about Ronnie Biggs and he thought he was dead.  I thought he was still alive so when I got back to my office I googled it and there it was.  The government filters wouldn't let me access the site though because it was considered "poor taste" or some similar term.  Considering I have been in my current job 10 years and it was a few years before I left the old one it must be that long.  So to answer your question, yes it does make me feel old.

[markb4 878]

I think I found this site in 2016 or so, but just looked at the main page from then until joining the forums this year. I guess I'm one of the newer members, but I'm glad for the site and the fellow people who have interest in celebrities and celebrity deaths.

 

Just to add: I had always been interested in celebrity deaths for as long as I can remember, checking the "Famous Deaths" page in Wikipedia daily for probably over a decade.

[msc 18,375]

19 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Happy anniversary to the Deathlist! I think that's 32 years!

 

Anyone feeling old?

 

Over 10 years since I found the site iirc due to going "Randy Pausch? Who the hell was that? Googles..."

 

Actually, a few days ago was the 10th anniversary of Mrs Msc's only forum post. We'd just moved into our first flat together at the time.

[time 8,548]

Happy 33rd birthday Deathlist!

 

I've been here for 10 of those years (or longer if you count the lurking).

[msc 18,375]

On 30/11/2018 at 10:54, msc said:

Actually, a few days ago was the 10th anniversary of Mrs Msc's only forum post. We'd just moved into our first flat together at the time.

 

11 years since Mrs msc's one and only DL forum post as Guest anthro student:

 

 

[Sir Creep 7,068]

Happy 33rd, DL!

OK I had some fun reading the past few years of posts.
HOWEVER....
I see a fair number of folks a couple of which are my age, suggesting that Elvis Presley (16-8-1977) was the first major death they remember.  If you are 53+ yrs old there's no way that is your first major death realised or remembered.  You'd have to intentionally avoid the news growing up.

It's impossible to re-create the wheel.  But as I go into the recesses of my tiny wee little mind, I can recall knowing quite well a feeling of sadness and loss when news of Roberto Clemente's plane crash hit the news (31-12-1972).  It was sad of many fronts (he was bringing aid to earthquake victims, not something sports stars do nowadays), but he was a baseball hero of mine just as I was beginning to have heroes.  Anyway.... so I would have been 9 1/2 yrs old.  I'm trying to think of anyone local (politics, sports, celebs) who died suddenly and I guess none come to mind for certain.  Maybe if someone suggested a name 1969-72 range it may ring a bell.  I doubt anyone is of much impact to any of us before age 6 or 7, short of watching a kids' show on telly and the actor dies and show cancelled, that would stick with you.

I was always told about my father's friendship with Eddie Sachs, who was killed in a horrific crash at the Indianapolis 500 (May 1964) when I was 11 months old.  I peed in Eddie's lap (when I was a wean, for clarification).  There is a photo of Eddie holding Baby Creep somewhere and I will post if I dig it up.  So as far as knowing/being aware of a celeb's death, I was always aware of that one all my life.
SC

 

[Sir Creep 7,068]

. 

[Sir Creep 7,068]

On 29/11/2006 at 15:42, CarolAnn said:

I remember when Mama Cass Elliot died (1974)  
Me: vaguely.... 

I remember Munich (1972) - one of my first clear memories of a current event that I could process enough of to understand what was going on (I would have been six, and we were living in Germany and my father was in Munich at the time). 

Me: Munich (Sept 1972) OK now THAT I clearly remember as well, as it was an ongoing event.  It's not celeb deaths per se, but definitely an event I processed, as you say @CarolAnn.  Unlike something like Kent State when I was just too young (and I grew up in a household probably cheering the police )  Munich I would have been 9.  So it seems between that and Roberto Clemente, I began to think about news and celebrity and life/death at about age 9.
 

 

Twenty years ago - November 1986 - ...The Challenger exploded as I watched it take off on television.....one of the first US Postal Service shootings took place...
Me: I mentioned Challenger in my first post in this thread a couple years ago.  
As for the post office shooting, the first one was in Royal Oak, Michigan, about 20 miles from Sir Creep's home and a city he would end up living in a couple years not long after the shooting.  In fact he had gone by that post office a few times, as it was in the heart of a cool/alt downtown scene where many 20-somethings hung out, went to concerts etc.  

 

 

[The Old Crem 3,533]

First celebrity death I can remember is Princess Margaret then the Queen Mother. The next one I remember is Bob Hope.

[Toast 16,026]

37 minutes ago, The Old Crem said:

First celebrity death I can remember is Princess Margaret then the Queen Mother. The next one I remember is Bob Hope.

 

I shall be thinking of you as The Young Crem in future, then.

[msc 18,375]

Who could forget Princess Margaret dying. Watching Smackdown on Sky1 when the breaking news flashed on the bottom of the screen during this segment.

 

 

Quote

 

IN THE RING: Kurt Angle + Triple H.

Wheeling a baby carriage in front of him, Kurt Angle headed to the ring.

Angle said that he wasn't a pathetic suck-up; he had just told Vince McMahon that Triple H cheated at the Rumble, so Vince had rewarded him with the match at No Way Out and a chance to regain the WrestleMania title shot, which he said was a gimme.

He said that should have been the biggest news item of the week, but it was overshadowed by another big announcement -- that Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is having a baby.

Kurt said he never felt sorry for a baby before -- not until last Monday night.

He said he thought Stephanie would make a great mom.

But Kurt couldn't imagine having to go through life with Triple H as a father.

Kurt said even as a fetus, the kid was smarter than his dad.

Angle said he was no scientist, but looking at Triple H with his sloping forehead and his mean angry face and his bare knuckles dragging on the ground, it was clear that Triple H was not a man.

Kurt said to forget about the picture the doctor showed him, because he could show The Game exactly what the baby would look like -- and he pulled a stuffed gorrilla out of the baby carriage, complete with a prosthetic nose!

Kurt even mockingly did his impression of the baby -- "I am the Baby Game!"

Kurt said he had a gift for Baby Game -- and gave him baby bananas!

Baby Game said the bananas were that damn good!

Suddenly, Triple H walked towards the ring, and Angle continued to mock The Game with the stuffed animal.

The Game just cooly walked up to Angle, knocked him down, and threw the baby carriage at him!

Triple H continued to pound on Angle until the Olympic hero ran away!

 

 

Yup, forever linked to one of the crappest wrestling storylines ever in my mind. And yes, all of the above happened with a Breaking News: Princess Margaret Has Died banner on screen.

[msc 18,375]

Technically the first celeb death I knew of was John Smith, as mum heard it on the car radio coming back from a day out and burst into tears. But I hadn't a clue who he was until years later.

 

Anyhow, the first celeb death I remember properly is Mark McManus who played Taggart on the TV. He lived down the road from us, and one day he went into hospital and never came out. I think he had severe anxiety issues he self-medicated with booze, and in the year before his death his wife, mum and sister all died and the grief was just too much for him. Shame, nice guy.

 

Later that summer, Peter Cushing died. I had seen some of his milder films and asked dad if Cushing were still alive, to which point he said the great actor had died 100 years earlier. And I believed him!

 

Then a few weeks later Roy Castle died. This was HUGE. He was a major childrens TV entertainer at the time with Record Breakers, and they had to do special shows to break the news to his young fans. iirc (I haven't seen them in 25 years!) Newsround and Record Breakers dealt very well with it.

 

1995: remembering Fred West topping himself, long TV news for Peter Cook (though I didn't know who he was), the no memories of anything till Gene Kelly and Jon Pertwee a year later. By 1997 I was taking notes of when famous folk died!

[Great Uncle Bulgaria 1,268]

First death I became aware of was Picasso (1973), but only because of the joke 'who painted 'Brown Fingers'?' going around school. On repeating this at home I was surprised to learn that Picasso was in fact a real person who had recently died and not just a 'silly foreigner' name name up for a punchline. This joke was the height of hilarity for a 10 year old.

The first death I recall  of someone famous who vaguely meant something to me personally was Sid James (1976).

[Toast 16,026]

I particularly remember the Picasso death because they said he left £25 million, which was an unimaginably large sum at the time (and indeed not to be sniffed at today).  My mother and I were fascinated by this, as we figured that he could generate himself some more pocket money any time he wanted to, simply by scrawling something on a spare bit of paper.

[dean1991 116]

6 hours ago, msc said:

Who could forget Princess Margaret dying. Watching Smackdown on Sky1 when the breaking news flashed on the bottom of the screen during this segment.

 

 

 

Yup, forever linked to one of the crappest wrestling storylines ever in my mind. And yes, all of the above happened with a Breaking News: Princess Margaret Has Died banner on screen.

 

Could have been during the castration of Val Venis

[ThePrematureBurial 224]

I remember 1982 vividly. So many celebrities died this year, some of them totally unexpected: Romy Schneider, Curd Jürgens, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Princess Grace of Monaco, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Fonda, John Belushi, Leonid Brezhnev, Ngaio Marsh...

Many people thought at the time that this year was jinxed for some reason.

And the year before was the one with all those assassination attempts: Ronald Reagan, Pope Paul II. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and even an Austrian politician were shot to death. There were other assassinations during the following years: Indira Ghandi, Olof Palme, Yitzhak Rabin...   

 

[philheybrookbay 439]

Like someone before I do remember Violet Carson dying and the tributes at the time. 

 

Watched Challenger vaperised like most kids on BBC Newsround with Roger Finn.

 

The first big one was the Liberace and I remember it being talk of the playground and betting on the day he'd go. It died on my 13th birthday but I lost the bet I waged. 

 

 

[YoungWillz 20,890]

Was it Deathlist's 35th anniversary yesterday?

 

Congrats for going so long. 

 

[YoungWillz 20,890]

36 years of the Deathlist.

 

Happy anniversary!

 

[msc 18,375]

8 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

36 years of the Deathlist.

 

Happy anniversary!

 

 

That's funny because when I first found this forum, it was Googling who the fuck Randy Pausch (who had just died on Wikipedia) was, and this forum had a 20 years of DL thread!

 

And this is the same thread, and oh feck, we're getting old!

[YoungWillz 20,890]

10 minutes ago, msc said:

 

That's funny because when I first found this forum, it was Googling who the fuck Randy Pausch (who had just died on Wikipedia) was, and this forum had a 20 years of DL thread!

 

And this is the same thread, and oh feck, we're getting old!

Yeah, the title was changed some years ago.

 

Even the DL is lying about its age now, but nowhere near the menopause. 

[Clarence 58]

I'm planning to stay here in Death list until I turn 60 years old in 2060. When I turn 60 years old, I will retire from this site. Don't worry, everything is in my control.I taking care of myself well. Doing everything I can to stay healthy. Maybe, I was still here until 2070s haha.