French-born British filmmaker, who worked with Carol Reed on 'The Third Man', before having a successful career as a director, particularly of the James Bond films.
Born 19 December 1969 (Sollihull, West Midlands, England)
Middling TV presenter who hit the headlines when he crashed a jet-powered car & sustained brain injuries. Made a rapid recovery and is back co-presenting Top Gear & testing more cars out.
Seminal jazz pianist and bandleader who was instrumental in mixing other genres such as soul and funk as well as crossing over in to mainstream pop with the hit single 'Rockit' in 1983.
Drug-dealing, lowlife, violent scum of a Granny, whose brood have subsequently followed her lead and turned to crime. Has terminal lung cancer. Born 1943.
The first King of Norway to be born in the country since 1370. Acceded to the throne on the death of his father, Olav V, in 1991. Was a member of several of Norway's Olympic sailing teams. In September 2003 it was announced that he has bladder cancer.
Born 29 October 1925 (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England)
Veteran actor, best known as the vet Siegfried Farnon in 1970s TV drama 'All Creatures Great and Small', as well as playing Winston Churchill on many occasions.
Born 30 March 1930 (Perth, Western Australia, Australia)
Cartoonist, TV presenter, singer, wobble-board player and general cult hero. Absolutely incredible to think he's in his 80s, as he still looks and sounds the same as ever. Dragged into the Operation Yewtree police investigation into sexual abuse by celebrities in 2013.
Born 15 September 1984 (Paddington, London, England)
Member of the Royal Family, third in line to the throne. In 2008, he served on active frontline duty in Afghanistan. If he's on the frontline again, he'll be insurgent target number 1. His party antics at home might get him first, however...
Stop-motion animation genius, best known for the months of work that produced the swordfight with an army of skeletons in his 1963 masterpiece, 'Jason and the Argonauts'.
Self-fancying star of 'Knight Rider' and 'Baywatch', whose move into anodyne pop ballads made him so ludicrously popular in Germany, of all places, that he even claims they played an important part in the reunification of the country.
Wife of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Announced in November 2003 that she has Alzheimer's, and then, 5 minutes later, announced that she has Alzheimer's.
Born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death. Whilst studying at Oxford, was diagnosed with a rare and progressive neuromotor disease, which has left him in a wheelchair, talking like a Dalek. Now a world-famous theoretical physicist who specialises in studying black holes, and wrote the incomprehensible 'A Brief History of Time'. Recent allegations suggest that he has been regularly assaulted by his carers over a lengthy period of time.
Born 21 November 1945 (Washington, District of Columbia, USA)
Actress who got her first break as a regular performer on 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In', but had to wait a further decade before really making it big when she took the title role in 'Private Benjamin' (1980). Knocking on a bit now to play her trademark role as a dizzy blonde, she has only made a dozen films in the last 15 years, most of them minor hits.
Born 30 August 1917 (Bradford, Yorkshire, England)
Bushy-eye browed Labour MP who rose to join Harold Wilson's Cabinet, then became Chancellor of the Exchequer, before taking his seat in the House of Lords in 1992 as Baron Healey of Riddlesden.
Astronomer, who along with a colleague, discovered the Herbig-Haro objects; bright patches of nebulosity excited by bipolar outflow from a star being born. Or summat. Anyway he died in October 2013 but the obit has fallen into a black hole…
Big Band singer. According to his website, he is "instantly recognised as one of Britain's best-known and most successful singing stars", but frankly we wouldn't know him if we fell over him.
Attempted to kill Ronald Reagan in 1981 in a wacky attempt to win Jodie Foster's love. Suffice to say, it didn't work (on both counts), and Hinckley is now a long-term resident in a mental hospital.
Mad Mike Hoare was a Irish mercenary who was involved in a number of military activities in Africa and launched a failed coup in the Seychelles. Born 1920.
Diminutive actor with a reputation for being difficult to work with. Has played a wide range of roles in his 80 or so movie and TV appearances, including a crippled street hustler in 'Midnight Cowboy', a cross-dressing actor in 'Tootsie' and an autistic bloke in 'Rain Man'.
Born Terry Gene Bollea. Professional wrestler since 1978. A part in 'Rocky III' and a move to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) made him a star, and he proceeded to be at the centre of wrestling's transition from slightly suspect minority sport to multi-billion dollar camp pantomime spectacle.
One half of the camp spectacle that is Siegfried & Roy. Was mauled on stage by one of their trademark white tigers in October 2003, allegedly after it mistook a big-haired woman in the front row for a lion and tried to drag him away from her. He suffered multiple injuries, serious blood loss and a stroke, and spent 3 months in hospital; the show has been cancelled indefinitely.
An undistinguished football player who has nevertheless become a successful manager, running the French national side, taking Paris St Germain (and later Olympique Lyonnais) to the French league title, and leading Liverpool to various trophies in the early Noughties.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1979 & 1983. One of Margaret Thatcher's closest allies, his resignation from her cabinet in 1990 not only brought her downfall a few weeks later, but was one of the finest resignation speeches of all time.
Born 18 January 1937 (Londonderry, Northern Ireland)
Former leader of the SDLP and joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. In 2010 was voted 'Ireland's Greatest' person, despite being born in Northern Ireland.
Born 31 January 1974 (Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England)
School caretaker who murdered two 10-year-old girls in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002. Was sentenced in December 2003 to two terms of life imprisonment, and it was revealed after his trial that he had previously been accused of a string of sex crimes. Some DDPers feel that his chances of survival in prison aren't looking too good...
Born 8 March 1930 (Marlborough, Wiltshire, England)
Former diplomat, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary under the Thatcher and Major governments, but all that most people know (or care) about him is that his name is rhyming slang for a third-class university degree.
Born 10 June 1965 (Basingstoke, Hampshire, England)
Model and actress, ex-girlfriend of Hugh Grant, now wife to Shane Warne, who has turned him from slobbering overweight Aussie to trim metro-sexual doll-like TV presenter. They always want to change you, don't they?