The Deathlist Christmas Special!

[Slave to the Grave 26]

Cliff is not bothering you ........

 

 

Actually he bothers me quite a lot .

[TLC 9]

Cliff might wish you would drop dead. That is a horrible thing to say about someone that you wish they were dead. Cliff is not bothering you so why do you wish he were dead? I hope he lives to be REAL OLD. hei is 66 now and looks and acts better than those younger than him.

What a horrible thing to suggest our Cliff might wish that on someone.

[themaninblack 2,112]

Yes folks, it's that time of the year, where we put up the decorations way too early, buy the presents no-one needs and put on weight!

 

But of course, death doesn't take a holiday, so here's a guide to yuletide's past which some esteemed people might forget, although by dying, they wouldn't have anything to remember...

 

Since the Deathlist started, there have been 11 deathlist graduates at this time of year, with by far the most successful year being the most recent.

 

Here's the roll call of the ghosts of Christmas past....

 

Ray Moore (1st December 1989)

Dan Maskell (10th December 1992)

Dean Martin (25th December 1995)

Helen Wills Moody (1st January 1997 - according to Wikipedia anyway!)

Lord Lew Grade (13th December 1997)

 

Then a massive 7 year gap....

 

Lord Scarman (8th December 2004)

Artie Shaw (30th December 2004 - One most celebrated by the Deathlist as it clinched the Derby Dead pool for 2004!)

Richard Pryor (10th December 2005 - according to Wikipedia)

 

And then last year's Christmas trilogy:

General Pinochet (10th December)

Joseph Barbera (18th December)

Gerald Ford (27th December)

 

I had a very good Christmas deadpool-wise, with Pinochet, Ford and of course Saddam propelling my team to 5th place in my rookie season (don't mention this year though....).

 

So, will we be hearing the rattling of death's chains amongst the jingle bells this year?

 

[Banshees Scream 110]

The Christmas season 'Or Holiday Season) is officially now underway 'outside' of the super markets... and I'm just getting started thinking up gift ideas for people and I might be just narrowing it down to books and DVD's because I mean 'what can you buy people these days?' I have a cousin who is in college so I'm thinking about getting him a 'median priced' miniature refrigerator to keep all the drinks cold. Anyway I think we have one more surprise left waiting right around the corner and lets just hope everybody can raise their eye brows and move like their somebody and most of all enjoy the season!

[themaninblack 2,112]

I'm disappointed by the lack of Christmas spirit in this thread...

 

However I continue with a look at DDP deaths at Yuletide....

 

1996 strangely has Tom Finney croaking, even though to my knowledge he's still alive!

 

It was another two years before there was a festive hit. Lord Soper died although didn't get an obit according to DDP. I don't know when DDP accepted obits from the BBC website, but here is one...Lord Soper dies. Norman Fell was the other...

 

(As a side point, with Finney the phantom death and the points-scored-after-all Soper, maybe its time for a retroactive reassessment of the early years. OoO as you are now the custodian, you have the power...

 

With the gradual increase of competitors, the hits start trickling in. 1999 saw three: Desmond Llewlyn's Bond stuntman impersonation, Curtis Mayfield and Sarah Knaiss (I don't know who she is either) bringing the Millennium to an end in style.

 

The new century saw more obscure picks popping off at Christmas. George Cross winner JT Baker and Werner Klemperer (AKA Hogan's Heroes Colonel Klink) joining in in the Christmas spirit, literally.

 

Another three year gap (DDP has Anton Malloth dying on December 13th, but he actually died on October 31st) before Sir Bob of Monkhouse died (one of those 'Ah' deaths).

 

2004 saw the most dramatic finish in DDP history, with Artie Shaw propelling Deathlist itself into top spot quite literally at the death, with hours to go of the year and the competition...

 

With the cult popularity of the DDP increasing exponentially, the death count grows and Christmas is a popular time.

2005 saw the only topping and tailing of deaths so far: Cyril Fletcher obliging on New Year's Day, Sir John Peel doing the honours 364 days later...

 

2006 has been arguably been the best DDP Christmas yet with 9 Deaths in December, 6 in the last two weeks of the year.

The most dramatic of which of course, was Saddam Hussein. But let's not forget Augusto Pinochet, Joseph Barbera, Gerald Ford, Charlie Drake and James Brown, who went on the big day itself, who made Christmas a memorable one for the DDP...

 

All of which leads us to this year and with the new points rule of an extra 5 points for a death on Christmas Day, DDP players will be hoping for an extra present in their stocking...

[football_fan 42]

The Christmas rush at the malls seems to begin earlier every year. My wife and I decided to get an early start on the shopping this morning and the crowds were just overwhelming. A shopping trip that usually takes us about 1 1/2 hours took us about 4 hours to complete.

[Godot 149]

We have kid trouble precisely because we decided we couldn't face the shops. We suggested to our teenage son that perhaps he could handle just one or two modest presents this year; well one - a book. Anyway he hasn't taken it well. I've discussed the "giving is better than receiving" philosophy with him and he doesn't think much to that. Does anyone any ideas what would make a decent present for a mid-teens boy?

 

Before you say it, if he wants a mid-teens girl he'll have to find one himself.

[Banshees Scream 110]

Before you say it, if he wans a mid-teens girl he'll have to find one himself.

 

I was going to say buy him a blow job but now that's out. Godot you could always buy him one of those modern electronic devices that have music\radio\video\camera - basically the cheap version of the I - Phone without the phone. They are a great gift for anybody especially if you travel and if you are cheap and wait for I Phone prices to lower like Banshees Scream. Surprise him. Get him one of those flat screen plasma TV's or you could get him a Dawkins book but 'I would probably even be disappointed' if I opened up 'The Selfish Gene"

 

Go for something different. Or if you still can't figure it out just tell him you left it up to his mother. Tell him it's her fault.

[CarolAnn 926]

We have kid trouble precisely because we decided we couldn't face the shops. We suggested to our teenage son that perhaps he could handle just one or two modest presents this year; well one - a book. Anyway he hasn't taken it well. I've discussed the "giving is better than receiving" philosophy with him and he doesn't think much to that. Does anyone any ideas what would make a decent present for a mid-teens boy?

 

Before you say it, if he wants a mid-teens girl he'll have to find one himself.

 

At about 13 or so I started giving them money. After I pointed out how much could be obtained at the after holiday sales they decided that was a terrific idea.

 

No shopping - just a quick midday trip to the bank and a card. It's a beautiful thing.

[Tuber Mirum 125]

I just can't wait for the summer christmases to come around.

 

[Madame Defarge 21]

Does anyone any ideas what would make a decent present for a mid-teens boy?

 

Before you say it, if he wants a mid-teens girl he'll have to find one himself.

 

I'll take a wild guess here and wager that he has not yet exhibited any signs of the rugged individual/curmudgeon genes he's inherited from his father just yet, because thirteen year old people are rarely nonconformists. Just take a peek out the window and observe what his mates are wearing and get him one.

[Banshees Scream 110]

Just take a peek out the window and observe what his mates are wearing and get him one.

That's a reasonable observation Madame but let's take into perspective that Godot's son might not be interested in wearing anything Desiree has on.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

Can the mathematicians out there tell us if it's any more likely that people would die in December because it's 330 days later in the year (and therefore 330 days closer to the natural end of their lives) than e.g. Jan 1st, or are people just as likely to die on any other day during the year? I could see the cold weather which most famous people live through in December (if we assume most of the famous people in the world live in the N. Hemisphere) being a slight factor in contributing to more deaths. Let's hope so.

[Monoclinic 39]

Can the mathematicians out there tell us if it's any more likely that people would die in December because it's 330 days later in the year (and therefore 330 days closer to the natural end of their lives) than e.g. Jan 1st, or are people just as likely to die on any other day during the year? I could see the cold weather which most famous people live through in December (if we assume most of the famous people in the world live in the N. Hemisphere) being a slight factor in contributing to more deaths. Let's hope so.

 

If Ĥ(t) | Ψ(t) > = i ħ | Ψ(t) >

 

Then f(Ψ) = Σ (x! + δ³) + (x² + ln x )

 

In terms of special relativity if there is a r in the month the formula is seen to obey the second law of bullshit quantum mechanics which states that Schrödinger was a cat murderer and always secretly wished that the cat possessed the "half-dead" state.

 

The sad thing is Ronnie, there are probably articles on this very subject. I did have a quick squiz at the Web of Shite Science but couldn't target my search very well in the timeframe I allocated to constructive pissing about. Even if I did find anything to copy up here owing to publishing rights it would only get removed by a mod à tout de suite

 

I hope someone can furnish you with the answer you require.

[Youth in Asia 1,087]

Can the mathematicians out there tell us if it's any more likely that people would die in December because it's 330 days later in the year (and therefore 330 days closer to the natural end of their lives) than e.g. Jan 1st, or are people just as likely to die on any other day during the year? I could see the cold weather which most famous people live through in December (if we assume most of the famous people in the world live in the N. Hemisphere) being a slight factor in contributing to more deaths. Let's hope so.

 

If Ĥ(t) | Ψ(t) > = i ħ | Ψ(t) >

 

Then f(Ψ) = Σ (x! + δ³) + (x² + ln x )

 

In terms of special relativity if there is a r in the month the formula is seen to obey the second law of bullshit quantum mechanics which states that Schrödinger was a cat murderer and always secretly wished that the cat possessed the "half-dead" state.

 

The sad thing is Ronnie, there are probably articles on this very subject. I did have a quick squiz at the Web of Shite Science but couldn't target my search very well in the timeframe I allocated to constructive pissing about. Even if I did find anything to copy up here owing to publishing rights it would only get removed by a mod à tout de suite

 

I hope someone can furnish you with the answer you require.

 

The answer is no.

[Dave to the Grave 11]

Can the mathematicians out there tell us if it's any more likely that people would die in December because it's 330 days later in the year (and therefore 330 days closer to the natural end of their lives) than e.g. Jan 1st, or are people just as likely to die on any other day during the year? I could see the cold weather which most famous people live through in December (if we assume most of the famous people in the world live in the N. Hemisphere) being a slight factor in contributing to more deaths. Let's hope so.

I am no mathematician, but as to the month you are going to die in, I would imagine that it is more likely to be the month of December than February, April, June, September, or November.

[Tuber Mirum 125]

Can anyone be bothered looking to see if deathlist has had more hits in leap years than in common years?

 

I know I can't.

[Banshees Scream 110]

Since 2004 the month of December has provided six quality hits with a high of three last year. The total amount of December deaths is ten with six occurring in just a three year span. The most active month is March with a total of twenty four hits in a twenty one year span. At flash back Deathlist was only one death better at this point then last year with the demise Augusto Pinochet. Now 2007 is an odd number and I like 11 with 2007 rather then 10. If anybody has a chance of fulfilling this number and on impulse I say it's either Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Claude Levi-Strauss - Yitzhak Shamir - or which I doubt Michael Foot or of course Ariel Sharon who I don't think will be on any of my lists next year.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,197]

(As a side point, with Finney the phantom death and the points-scored-after-all Soper, maybe its time for a retroactive reassessment of the early years. OoO as you are now the custodian, you have the power...

 

I cannot rewrite history, no matter how controversial.

 

From a completely selfish point of view with my DDP running hat on, I hope no-one famous dies between now & the 5th January.

 

Failing that, then Jimmy Langley would do well to pass away in the next few weeks as that would put me in the top 10 this year & as no-one's picked him (or is likely to) for next year.

 

Here's wishing a healthy Christmas & New Year to about 2,000 famous/semi-famous people!

[themaninblack 2,112]

(As a side point, with Finney the phantom death and the points-scored-after-all Soper, maybe its time for a retroactive reassessment of the early years. OoO as you are now the custodian, you have the power...

 

I cannot rewrite history, no matter how controversial.

 

From a completely selfish point of view with my DDP running hat on, I hope no-one famous dies between now & the 5th January.

 

Failing that, then Jimmy Langley would do well to pass away in the next few weeks as that would put me in the top 10 this year & as no-one's picked him (or is likely to) for next year.

 

Here's wishing a healthy Christmas & New Year to about 2,000 famous/semi-famous people!

 

Why the 5th?

 

Oh yeah, of course....

[Alphonsin 1]

Can the mathematicians out there tell us if it's any more likely that people would die in December because it's 330 days later in the year (and therefore 330 days closer to the natural end of their lives) than e.g. Jan 1st, or are people just as likely to die on any other day during the year? I could see the cold weather which most famous people live through in December (if we assume most of the famous people in the world live in the N. Hemisphere) being a slight factor in contributing to more deaths. Let's hope so.

 

The most popular month for dying is January. The rate then falls gradually until September, which is the month in which least people die, before steadily rising again from October.

At least that's what happens in the UK. You'll find the information somewhere on the Office for National Statistics website but I'm afraid I don't have the energy just now to look for it.

The UK has a counter-intuitively high number of "excess winter deaths". Here's why

[Godot 149]

So it's killer bus shelters then, not something you see in the headlines every day. Has anyone told the Daily Mail?

 

From my reading of this, draughty bus-shelters have probably accounted for more people innocent victims than Al-Qaeda. So why aren't B52s bombing our bus-shelter factories? Perhaps that was what Osama Bin Laden had established at the Tora Bora caves, preparing to unleash a bus-shelter campaign on Britain by making shelters with brittle glass. Oh yes, we do that anyway.

 

So that means orders must have gone out to his people shadowy cells in the UK for a series of bus-shelter attacks after studying tactics perfected over the past 30 years by British teenage youths. Is no one safe?

 

Rich Americans are. They can hide in their Bush-shelters - specially designated offshore tax havens - whereas the poor must settle for cardboard as always.

 

In the meantime it has been discovered, through an etymological oversight, that Richard Reid was actually a loo bomber.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

I suppose that for DL purposes it makes sense that more people on the list die earlier in the year, because as each one goes that means there's less of the 50 left. After 20 years we should have a decent body of evidence to see whether the theory holds, but the hefty March total suggests it does.

[Alphonsin 1]

I suppose that for DL purposes it makes sense that more people on the list die earlier in the year, because as each one goes that means there's less of the 50 left. After 20 years we should have a decent body of evidence to see whether the theory holds, but the hefty March total suggests it does.

 

 

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the first sentence, but if I'm not then it certainly isn't true.

The sample size referred to in the second sentence is way, way too small to draw any significant conclusion from.

From another angle, though, it makes sense that there should be a disproportionate number of deadpool hits earlyish in the year for the reason that we have the opportunity in December to put down the names of people who have conditions likely to knock them off very quickly indeed, such as lung cancer etc. It would make sense that these hits would bunch in the first few months. [Just as if you were in a pub and somebody asked you to point to people who would go to the bar within the next 20 minutes, you'd point to the people with nearly empty glasses first -- and these people would be more likely to go in the next five to ten minutes than ten to twenty minutes. Unless they're Scottish ].

[Godot 149]

I suppose that for DL purposes it makes sense that more people on the list die earlier in the year, because as each one goes that means there's less of the 50 left. After 20 years we should have a decent body of evidence to see whether the theory holds, but the hefty March total suggests it does.

 

Just as if you were in a pub and somebody asked you to point to people who would go to the bar within the next 20 minutes, you'd point to the people with nearly empty glasses first -- and these people would be more likely to go in the next five to ten minutes than ten to twenty minutes. Unless they're Scottish ].

Not just in Scotland. Where I come from I know people who would sit there all night with empty glasses before they'd buy a round. In fact the empty glass is a sign of staying power and longevity. There are a few deathlist examples too in Ariel Sharon and Harold Pinter. Yet some people, like John Inman, are gone in a puff, so to speak.