Six more departees to round off May, mostly of the low hanging fruit variety:
Centenarians
Ilie Ciocan was, until this week, the second oldest verified living man in the world, and the oldest living WW 2 veteran, having served as a conscript on the Eastern Front for the Axis powers. He was so old that he was born under the Julian calendar and lived under the full gauntlet of Romanian monarchy, communism and democracy. It’s also the last time I state with any confidence on the forums that a reported death has no chance of a QO. To be made a fool of by the Daily Star is no experience I care to repeat. Three points to Green Records and the veteran theme team Gray Panthers.
Law
The Civil Rights Movement has lost another prominent figure in Clarence B. Jones, one of their principle lawyers and close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. He was part of the team to successfully defend King in his 1960 tax fraud trial and also helped to pen the famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
Music
Canadian one-hit wonder J. J. Barrie may have reached #1 with 1977’s No Charge, but it’s another case of almost no chance where his QO likelihood was concerned. PressReader to the rescue, then, for the two theme teams who took a punt on him. #1 Hits and the Canuck-themed Rushing to Tim Horton’s for Maple Donuts take five points each.
Sonny Rollins has also saxed his last, after years of respiratory health problems. One of the most influential jazz artists in the genre, he started out in the 1940’s and juggled playing his music alongside spells as an armed robber and heroin addict. Wisely deciding to focus on just the saxophone as time went on, his career breakthrough came in 1954 where he composed three quarters of the Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins LP. Managing to kick the heroin dependency for good soon after, his career hit the stratosphere with Saxophone Colossus and he continued to perform for decades, finally retiring on health grounds in 2014. Jazz team Nice! benefit the most with their joker for ten points, with Couldn’t Think of a Team Name getting a combo of fourteen thanks to Rollins and Clarence B. Jones.
Sport
Racing driver Hermano da Silva Ramos speeds off into the afterlife after a century of life and a belated QO from the Daily Express. He was the oldest living Formula 1 driver in the world at the time of his death, and had been the only surviving 1950’s points scorer following the death of Hans Herrmann back in January. A unique hit for Overtime scores eight points.
Australian Football’s Neale Daniher finished us of for the month, having finally succumbed to a decade long battle with MND at the age of 65. He spent his entire playing career with Essendon before going on to coach Melbourne for ten years. He became a very public campaigner for MND treatment research and funding, getting a bucketload of honours and recognition for it. Something I’m sure the two teams who get eight points for him will lose a lot of sleep over as penance. This website’s sick I tell you.
Scores
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Teams and Scores |
| Hermano da Silva Ramos | 100 | May 4 | Overtime 💀💀💀💀+👻= 8 Points |
| J. J. Barrie | 92 | May 10 | 2 Teams 💀💀💀💀💀 = 5 Points |
| Clarence B. Jones | 95 | May 22 | Couldn’t Think of a Team Name 💀💀💀💀💀+👻 = 9 Points |
| Sonny Rollins | 95 | May 25 | 20 Teams 💀💀💀💀💀 = 5 Points Nice! 🃏 = 10 Points |
| Neale Daniher | 65 | May 25 | 2 Teams 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀= 8 Points |
| Ilie Ciocan | 112 | May 27 | 2 Teams 💀💀💀= 3 Points |
Absolutely no change on the podium positions this month, with Pretty Noose maintaining their lead for now. DDP Tofoa, Shaun of the Dead 69 and The Sound of the Underground are still the heel-snappers tied in second place, with all four only scoring on Jason Collins.
Over on the theme team league however, the German oriented Deutschland verabschiedet sich! are dethroned and pushed down to third. 2024 theme champion and erstwhile co-host Octopus of Odstock’s Elton Welsby’s Sporting Triangles replace them, with second now occupied by LW’s Latest Hit. Yay for brain cancer and pulmonary fibrosis!