Dr. Death Will See You Now

Three hits notched in the first week of April, though they’re all from the dying days of March:

Politics

We start this week with Father Dougal’s dad, Rory O’Hanlon. He started out in medicine before moving in to politics in 1977. Having descended from anti-treaty participants of the Irish Civil War he joined Fianna Fáil, though his habit of picking the wrong side every time there was a leadership change limited his front bench opportunities. His most notable spell in government was serving as the Health Minister from 1987 to 1991. It was a tenure that saw brutal cuts in public spending right at the height of the AIDS pandemic, earning him the moniker of “Dr. Death”. He later won the election to deputy chair of Ireland’s lower parliamentary house, Dáil Éirean, from 1997 before winning the chairman job in 2002. 

Retirement from politics came in 2011 and retirement from life came this week, as an eighteen pointer unique joker for last years theme team runner-up, The Sick-Bed of Cuchulainn. 

Sport

Bulgarian goalkeeper, captain and governing body executive Borislav Mihaylov died in hospital this week after lingering for several months following a stroke in November. His club career outside of Bulgaria was utterly unremarkable but his captaincy of Bulgaria’s fourth place finish in the USA ’94 world cup made him a hero to many, and he became the second most capped player of all time for the national team. Even his hysterically obvious wigs couldn’t damage his public persona.

If he’d died twenty years ago there’d probably be at least one statue of him in his homeland, but his tenure as the head of the Bulgarian Football Union likely ended much chance of that. His leadership was dogged with racism and corruption scandals, and his heavy drinking only made it worse.

As for deadpooling, well, it’s never easy to judge the potential for a unique hit, especially when health news breaks well before the end of the year. But spare a thought for my co-host Octopus of Odstock tonight, who’s managed to scupper four bonus points by picking Mihaylov for both their teams. Here’s hoping that doesn’t prove costly come Hogmanay…

Television

We finish with Laurie Webb, a Welsh actor active from the 50’s to 80’s. He never went further than bit-part tier, but he gave a memorable performance as Mr. Ollis, the gamekeeper randomly caught up in events in Doctor Who’s 10th anniversary The Three Doctors. I like to think I’d be equally capable of shrugging off an adventure to the center of a black hole with as much apathy as shotgun-wielding Mr. Ollis did! He was the oldest living actor to have appeared in Doctor Who at the time of his death, and it leads to four points for both the centenarian and Doctor Who teams Big Digits Team and Ncuti Bang Bang.

Scores