28 Years Of The Deathlist!

[themaninblack 2,112]

Congratulations to the Deathlist of making 20 years of predictions.

 

Who'd have thought that a conversation in a student bar on the death of Cary Grant

could have led to all this....

 

(probably) Britain's longst running 'Dead Pool'.

 

How did it keep going?

How many of the originators are still bothered?

And did happen to Deathlist 1988?

 

[Windsor 2,233]

Happy Anniversary deathlist.

20 years since the death ofCary Grant today.

 

 

[themaninblack 2,112]

Happy Anniversary deathlist.

20 years since the death ofCary Grant today.

 

 

 

Funnily enough, I can remember it well about Cary Grant's death - didn't Jimmy Cagney

die in the same year?

[Handrejka 1,904]

Happy Anniversary deathlist.

20 years since the death ofCary Grant today.

 

 

 

Funnily enough, I can remember it well about Cary Grant's death - didn't Jimmy Cagney

die in the same year?

 

 

Yes he did. I remember Cary Grant's death really well too. They showed a lot of his films as tribute and I remember sulking behind the sofa when "Father Goose" came on because I didn't want to watch another of his films.

 

1986 must have been the year I starting taken notice of "celebrity" deaths as I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Ted Moult had blown his brains out.

[themaninblack 2,112]

Happy Anniversary deathlist.

20 years since the death ofCary Grant today.

 

 

 

Funnily enough, I can remember it well about Cary Grant's death - didn't Jimmy Cagney

die in the same year?

 

 

Yes he did. I remember Cary Grant's death really well too. They should a lot of his films as tribute and I remember sulking behind the sofa when "Father Goose" came because I din't want to watch another of his films.

 

 

1986 must have been the year I starting taken notice of "celebrity" deaths as I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Ted Moult had blown his brains out.

 

Yeah, me too. And when Rock Hudson died (or was that 1985?).

[Octopus of Odstock 2,197]

Yes he did. I remember Cary Grant's death really well too. They showed a lot of his films as tribute and I remember sulking behind the sofa when "Father Goose" came on because I didn't want to watch another of his films.

1986 must have been the year I starting taken notice of "celebrity" deaths as I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Ted Moult had blown his brains out.

 

I don't remember Cagney or Grant's deaths, but I do remember distinctly Danny Kaye's & Fred Astaire's a year later in 1987. Danny Kaye's was the first celebrity death that saddened me, I used to love him in Hans Christian Andersen when I was a little boy.

[themaninblack 2,112]

Yes he did. I remember Cary Grant's death really well too. They showed a lot of his films as tribute and I remember sulking behind the sofa when "Father Goose" came on because I didn't want to watch another of his films.

1986 must have been the year I starting taken notice of "celebrity" deaths as I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Ted Moult had blown his brains out.

 

I don't remember Cagney or Grant's deaths, but I do remember distinctly Danny Kaye's & Fred Astaire's a year later in 1987. Danny Kaye's was the first celebrity death that saddened me, I used to love him in Hans Christian Andersen when I was a little boy.

 

The first celebrity death I can remember clearly (Lennon's shooting is hazy- I was under the impression for some years afterwards that he survived!) was Arthur Lowe in 1982....

[Handrejka 1,904]

The first I remember clearly was Violet Carson's in December 83. I have hazy memories of Hitchcock going and I remember a time in early 83 when "Close to You" kept playing on the radio when I was getting ready for school, which must have been around the time Karen Carpenter died, but I don't remember the death itself.

 

It's odd that my other earliest momeries are from before that. I remember the Reagan/Carter election in 1980 and I remember number one records from the end of 1980 too, so I don't understand why I don't remember big deaths from that time too.

 

1984 and I remember loads, Moorecambe, Diana Doors, Bernard Youens, the guy who played Albert Tatlock.

[Lard Bazaar 3,799]

I think the first one I remember was John Lennon. I distinctly remember a few weeks later it being the topic of conversation when we arrived up north at my grandparents for Christmas. We moved to Australia a few months later though, and I can't remember any further notable passings until we returned to this country in '83 and then Tommy Cooper popped it. My sister saw it on the telly and was quite disturbed.

 

Anyhow, many hearty congratulations on your milestone.

[Slave to the Grave 26]

Happy Anniversary DL. I'm having real problems accepting that 1986 was 20 years ago .

 

My first memories of celebrity deaths were Peter Sellers and John Lennon both in 1980. For some reason I was disproportionately upset about Peter Sellers.

[Canadian Paul 97]

The first one that I remember was Jim Varney, back in 2000. Before that, I had never really cared about celebrity deaths.

 

I'm a young 'un I guess. I didn't even have my first hit until 2004, with Ronald Reagan!

[Windsor 2,233]

The first one that I remember was Jim Varney, back in 2000. Before that, I had never really cared about celebrity deaths.

 

I'm a young 'un I guess. I didn't even have my first hit until 2004, with Ronald Reagan!

 

Probably Princess Diana in 1997. I was 10.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,197]

Then Tommy Cooper popped it. My sister saw it on the telly and was quite disturbed.

 

I remember people talking about it the day afterwards & I remember watching the show, but I can't remember the death as it were. Probably, because at 5, I was too young to really understand what was going on.

I remember loads, generally, from way before 1987 (I remember the 1982 World Cup, even though I was 4, for example) but bar example the Challenger disaster, I can't remember anything death related at all before Kaye/Astaire went.

[Phantom 2,533]

I remember when Elvis died and my mum was sat in front of the tv crying.

I asked her what was wrong, she said that Elvis was dead. I started crying until I realised it was Presley and not Costello that she was referring to

[Tempus Fugit 214]

.

[CarolAnn 926]

I remember when Mama Cass Elliot died (1974) - no, it was not from choking on a chicken bone or any other such crap. I remember Nixon resigning (1974), the Birmingham Six bombings (1974), Charles Lindbergh dying (1974), Secreteriat winning the Triple Crown (1973) as well as Affirmed a few years later (1978 - I had a huge crush on Affirmed's jockey). 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). John Lennon died when I was in the 10th grade (1980 - 12 days before my 15th birthday), Elvis just before I started seventh grade (1977). 1977 was also the second summer of the Son of Sam in New York City as well as of massive power outages on the Eastern seaboard.

 

Twenty years ago - November 1986 - I was pregnant with my oldest child. During that year the Challenger exploded as I watched it take off on television, Mir was launched, Kurt Waldheim was accused of WWII atrocities, Geraldo Rivera opened Capone's vault on national television and after a huge buildup found a bottle of moonshine (that was hilarious), Chernobyl exploded, one of the first US Postal Service shootings took place, and Cliff Burton (Metallica) was killed in a bus crash.

 

Donna Reed, L.Ron Hubbard (who died never knowing what Tom Cruise would do for him), Frank Herbert, Georgia O'Keefe, James Cagney, Ray Milland, Simone de Beauvoir, Otto Preminger, Benny Goodman, Kate Smith, Jorge Luis Borges, Vincente Minnelli, Scatman Crothers, Desi Arnaz, Leonid Kantorovich - it could have been a banner year for the Deathlist if it had existed in full flower in 1986.

[Captain Oates 21]

 

Congratulations!

 

Vive DeathList!

[Lady Grendel 139]

The first celebrity death I remember was Elvis in 1977, I didn't know who he was but I can remember our teacher talking about it. I remember Steve McQueen & John Lennons deaths in 1980 very clearly and I did know who they were!

[TLC 9]

John Lennon is the first one I remember, more from just remembering the news stories rather than any down to any significance I attached to it at the time. I was aware of the Beatles and very soon became aware of Lennon's stuff as a load of it got re-released that very xmas, but without really putting the two together.

 

Although we had to sing the St Winifred's School Choir bollocks at school in the midst of all the Lennon stuff, I hated the whiny snotty lead girl's voice even aged 6. It surprises me that I manage to hate it more with every passing year, I thought pain was supposed to fade over time?

 

I also remember watching the Tommy Cooper death 'Live' From Her Majesty's (the TV show of that name, not actually from Liz's house) but like OoO I can't recall thinking at the time that I'd just seen a man dying in front of me live, so to speak.

 

I was on my way in the car to play football when we heard Diana died, we all just couldn't work out why there was classical music on all the radio stations until we caught an announcement. In our heavily hungover car we were more concerned about the terrible music, and found that was the general consensus from the other carloads of hungover team-mates upon arrival at the ground. Can't say the feeling's really changed over the years; I have no beef with the royals but I didn't know her, what was I supposed to feel past the fact that a stranger died who hadn't done much personally to make me feel one way or the other? I'm sure her family won't grieve over any deaths in my family, and I wouldn't expect them to. I still have trouble understanding how people who didn't know her sobbed themselves into a stupor about her funeral, or made pilgrimages to lay flowers at her memorial (whatever they might have found admirable about her life or tragic about her death) and then show a tenth of the emotion when a real life loved one passes away, whether a friend or family member. I think I'm glad I don't understand, empathy is one thing but this is way more than that.

 

Wow, who'd have thought I had any sort of opinion on that? Certainly not me. A bit less surprising I conveyed it in such a long-winded and long-sentenced manner though.

[Rotten Ali 600]

In our first year of secondary school we all got the jist of Elvis's death, but the first death that cut me up was Ronnie Peterson's. Till that point, he had had a very good year backing up the championship win of Mario Andretti and it was really cruel that his life ended just when most people were under the impression that he had been pulled out of the fire just in time.

[themaninblack 2,112]

In terms of 'shock' news, the biggest for me was John Smith in 1994...

It was during morning register and my form tutor finished off by saying 'And bye the way,

the Labour Party leader John Smith has died of a heart attack'. You could have knocked

me down with a feather. A moment which changed British politics forever....

[Vinegar Tits 606]

First celeb death I remember is probably Marc Bolan, yet I don't remember Elvis carking it and that was only a month earlier. I've got a feeling I vaguely recall Sid James dying but that could very easily have come from my dad mentioning it a few years later while we were watching a Carry On film rather than at the time.

[Windsor 2,233]

In terms of 'shock' news, the biggest for me was John Smith in 1994...

It was during morning register and my form tutor finished off by saying 'And bye the way,

the Labour Party leader John Smith has died of a heart attack'. You could have knocked

me down with a feather. A moment which changed British politics forever....

What about Robin Cook. That was a bit of a surprise.

[Godot 149]

I was on a school trip in Derbyshire when the news came through that Robert Kennedy had been shot. I was a bit young to remember the moment his brother was killed but there was so much on the news I remember the general hullabaloo. The other death that grabbed me was that of Donald Campbell, probably because it was accompanied by amazing TV footage of the crash. Jim Clark must have died around the same time and that too left an impression as did the deaths of Jochen Rindt and Ayerton Senna.

 

Sometimes I think it's a shame the Deathlist wasn't running in those days. I would have loved the threads discussing John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and artists like Picasso and Dali.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

Congratulations to the Deathlist of making 20 years of predictions.

 

Who'd have thought that a conversation in a student bar on the death of Cary Grant

could have led to all this....

 

(probably) Britain's longst running 'Dead Pool'.

 

How did it keep going?

How many of the originators are still bothered?

And did happen to Deathlist 1988?

 

 

Although GR is better placed to respond knowledgably to TMIB's queries, he's currently busy with upper senior management executive chairman of the very important board of directors type issues, leaving the plebs to carry out the day-to-day operations of the Death List.

 

The DL has been kept alive by a small but loyal group of adherents who meet once a year, between Christmas and New Year's, and vote on the following year's DL. I believe GR is the only founder still involved, although maybe one other was there at U of Warwick in December '86. The bit of paper on which DL '88 was written was lost in a move or something, before we had things like cyberspace on which to save it.