Death happens. Why not make it interesting?
The online competition to guess which famous people won't make it to the end of the current year. If they're elderly, ill, or just live a high-risk lifestyle, stick 'em in your team, and for each one whose death you correctly predict, you'll score points. DDP was dreamt up in Derby, England (hence the name...) by Big Iain back in 1996. Other hosts: Siegfried Baboon and Rude Kid (2003-7), Octopus of Odstock (2008-9), The Man in Black (2010-17), Spade Cooley (2018-19), msc (2020-21), Grim Up North (2020-22), and Reptile (2020-23). Now the Committee of DI (2022), time (2024), and Banana (2023) oversee the biggest deadpool going...
I DON’T KNOW WHY HE CROAKED, BUT HE DID Unquestionably the most important death of recent weeks was one Clarence “Frogman” Henry. He might not have done any groundbreaking physics work, nor did he kill two people. But he could do a good frog impression. And launched a music career off that frog impression. That’s […]
SOD PARTICLE Forget “a science Nobel laureate who still QOed”, Peter Higgs was that very rare science Nobel laureate to have mainstream name recognition. He theorised in the 60s that there was a particle which allowed atoms to have mass. The humble Higgs didn’t like either name scientific circles affixed to this particle – he […]
IF I BIT IT Cue the crabs and Windsor Davies, murderer O. J. Simpson has finally run out of juice, aged 76 . One of the NFL’s biggest superstars of the 70s, he truly transcended the sport to fit like a glove in other fields, like acting in all three The Naked Guns and killing […]
UPROOTED Pioneering actor Louis Gossett Jr. has died aged 87. Active from his teens and known for his commanding roles, he won early Broadway acclaim for A Raisin in the Sun and bagged an Emmy for the groundbreaking Roots. For his performance as no-nonsense Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in romdram An Office and a Gentleman, […]
RUSH DOUR Barbara Rush first came to notice as an astronomer’s fiancée in sci-fi horror It Came From Outer Space, and remains a sci-fi cult hero for roles like that and When Worlds Collide. For the next couple of decades she was primarily known for classy upper-crust characters, adding a touch of prestige to films […]
THE L-SHAPED TOMB One of the first two women to present news on British TV, Lynne Reid Banks felt pigeonholed by only being given “the rubbish” to do and turned to writing her own book. The result, The L-Shaped Room, addressed a clandestine pregnancy in the early 60s and its forward-thinking approach struck enough a […]
WINDWARD HEIGHTS Deemed the “grand dame” of Caribbean literature, Maryse Condé was largely sheltered by her Francophile parents during her upbringing in Guadeloupe. While studying in Paris aged 16, she had her first brushes with racism and learned of colonial oppression through the novel La Rue Cases-Nègres. Politically galvanised, she moved to Africa, soaked in […]
FOX HOLE Former Controller of BBC1 Paul Fox has died aged 98. Bridging the grayscale and colour eras of the network, a CV of all his accomplishments speaks for itself: Covering the JFK assassination and the Moon landings, creating the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, commissioning Dad’s Army, The Two Ronnies, Parkinson, and The […]
CROSSED OUT Not to be mixed up with the yacht rocker, Chris Cross was a longtime anchor of Ultravox. He rode with the new wavers from their humble Tiger Lily beginnings to their Midge Ure-helmed “Vienna” zenith that presaged the growth of synths in chart music. After Ultravox’s dissolution in the late 80s, he worked […]
COME UP AND SEE GOD 2023, Steve Harwell dies. 2024, Steve Harley dies. Come 2025, we asked 100 men, name something that’s stiff. Anyway, back to Steve Harley. The frontman of popular 70s rockers Cockney Rebel, his group landed several top ten hits including “Judy Teen” and “Mr. Soft” before shooting to the top with […]
