Johnny Harris

Johnny Harris has died aged 87. The Scottish born composer could play piano and synthesizer, and worked on classical pieces and TV. The Johnny Harris Orchestra led performances from all the top stars of the 1960s on the BBC, before he moved to the US to lead Elvis Presley’s band in Las Vegas. He is […]

Howard Finkel

THE LOSER OF THE FALL AND NEWWWW DDP HIT… Wrestling ring announcer Howard Finkel has died aged 69. Finkel was the first ever employee signed to his father’s company by Vince McMahon, and he went onto work for the WWF/E for over 40 years. It was he who came up with the name WrestleMania when […]

Gene Deitch

NOT SO ANIMATE Animator Gene Deitch has died aged 95. He won an Oscar in 1961 for Munro, a short animated film which preceeded Breakfast at Tiffanys in the cinemas. He also made 13 Tom and Jerry episodes, in which he disapproved of the violence and wanted to show more of the inner Biblical struggle. […]

Ron Wylie

TON UP EQUALS WYLIE PICK Aston Villa legend Ron Wylie has died aged 86, to produce the 100th hit for DDP this year. Although he started at Notts County, he was best remembered for his 200 games at Aston Villa in the 1950s and 1960s. He was in the rare list of people who played […]

Tim Brooke-Taylor

GONIES The much loved comedian and performer Tim Brooke-Taylor has died aged 79 after a run in with the dreaded coronavirus. Brooke-Taylor was one third of the Goodies, an anarchic trio of surrealist comics who were a massive part of childrens TV in the early 1970s. Their show, part sitcom part sketches, could make you […]

Peter “The Cat” Bonetti

THE CAT RUNS OUT OF LIVES Peter “The Cat” Bonetti has died after a long period of ill health. Nicknamed The Cat for his stunning reflexes, Bonetti was a stand out goalkeeper for Chelsea in the 1960s, winning the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Cup Winners Cup with them in a period before […]

Stirling Moss

OUT OF THE HEARSE, STIRLING 1961’s Sports Personality of the Year, Stirling Moss, has died aged 90 after a long illness. Moss was universally regarded as the greatest Formula One driver never to win the World Championship, and a pioneer racing driver who pathed the way for the multi-millionaires of today. He lost out on […]

Sir Lenox Hewitt

HE’S DEAD Y’KNOW Sir Lennox Hewitt has died aged 102. A prominent civil servant in Australia, he worked closely with Prime Minister’s Gorton and Whitlam. He also served as the chairman of Quantas Airlines. He was the father of Blair and Brown era Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt. He was also the last standing survivor of […]

Nobuhiko Obayashi

WELCOME TO DEAD’S HOUSE Nobuhiko Obayashi has died aged 82, after a long battle with cancer. The Japanese director was best known for cult horror film House, where school girls are killed by a malevolent house. He continued to make films while suffering from terminal cancer, with Labyrinth of Cinema coming out last year. He […]

Doug Sanders

SANDERS FINALLY MAKES THE HOLE Golfer Doug Sanders has died aged 86. A four time runner up at major championships, he was perhaps best known for losing the 1970 British Open at St Andrews, when he had a single shot to win the title and missed it. Known as the Peacock of the Fairways for […]