BBC. IT's funny how they have.....

Bruce Forsythe...?

Our lovely Sir David?

Would they bother with Brucie? And they could cobble one up quite quickly for DC.

I guess Nelson Mandela. And definitely the Queen.

Ana

Stephen Hawking. How on earth is he still with us?

Remember all the false alarms with the Queen Mother?

Morgan Freeman dies all the time. When he does actually pop his clogs no one will believe it.

I've just googled Fidel Castro and Ariel Sharon to double check if they're still with us; and they are.

They must have an obit ready for the Duke of Edinburgh.

Of course the BBC, other television companies and newspapers have obits for all major figures ready and update them regularly. Lots of publishers also have books almost ready to go to the printers barring the last page. I was asked to write one about the Queen Mother – in the past tense – several years before she died. All it needed was a couple of paragraphs about her final few months and the date. Of course, people were caught on the hop with the late Princess of Wales unlike all the guff coming out now about Baroness Thatcher. That's probably been lined up and regularly updated since the 1980s.

I didn't see anything from TB. Probably couldn't afford his fees.

petra He's probably biding his time. I'm sure we shan't be spared the fruits of his wisdom.

Blair? Says MT was 'towering international figure'.

I wonder what he means...

Sorry - 'towering GLOBAL figure'