Derby Dead Pool


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, then was run from 2003 to 2007 by Siegfried Baboon and Rude Kid. From 2008 to 2009, it was run by Octopus of Odstock, but from 2010 onwards it's the turn of The Man in Black to run the DDP.

Latest Stiffs: 5th July 2014

Ball goes "in the hole!"

Centenarian golfer Samuel "Errie" Ball has taken his last trip to the clubhouse. The Welsh-born player was the youngest ever competitor in the Open Golf championship, aged 15 in 1926. Eight years later he competed in the first Masters at Augusta, Georgia. He died aged 103. Two teams have their cards marked.
Another 103 year old bit the dust back in May. Pauline Wagner was a bit part actress who stood in for Fay Wray at the last moment to reshoot scenes opposite King Kong in the famous 1933 movie. The Daily Mail ride in with the obit.
Bobby Womack enjoyed a mercurial career in R&B as a singer-songwriter and was much respected despite a wayward personal life. A friend and collaborator with the late Sam Cooke, Womack wrote 'It's All Over Now', which later became a hit for the Rolling Stones. His 1984 "country soul" album 'The Poet II' was voted NME's album of the year. He returned to prominence in 2012 with the much acclaimed 'The Bravest Man in the Universe'. He had multiple health issues and died aged 70.
Louis Zamperini competed in the 1936 Olympic Games in the same USA team as the legendary Jesse Owens but Zamperini's fame came later. During World War II, Zamperini spent two years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. He was even declared dead. But he returned and released two memoirs, but it was a biography written by 'Seabiscuit' author Laura Hillenbrand which brought him to prominence. He died aged 97 just as a film based on Hillenbrand's book is being produced.
No change at the top, but stand by for a special announcement...

[Scorecard] (Ball) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (2 teams) = 4pts
[Scorecard] (Wagner) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 7pts
[Scorecard] (Womack) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (6 teams) = 7pts
[Scorecard] (Zamperini) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 8pts
Latest Stiffs: 27th June 2014

Aiyee Aiyee Aahh, Waah Waah Waah

Actor Eli Wallach has died. Wallach was one of the first actors to use the "method" style, i.e. to totally immerse oneself in the character they are playing through intense preparation. Wallach is best known for his roles in notable westerns, 'The Magnificent Seven' and the spaghetti classic 'The Good, the bad and the Ugly' from 1966. He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2001. Wallach was 98. Wallach was a popular choice, another member of the Drop Forty to fall in 2014. Drunkasaskunk retains the lead though...

[Scorecard] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (76 teams) = 5pts [Joker](3 teams) = 10pts

No return to Oz for Felix (plus hits)

Publisher Felix Dennis gained notoriety in 1971 when he went on trial for obscenity along with two colleagues, Richard Neville and Jim Anderson for the notorious "schoolkids" edition of the counter-cultural magazine Oz. They were eventually aquitted and Dennis enjoyed a successful career in magazine publishing, owning the likes of The Fortean Times, Viz and Maxim among others. He also developed a crack habit, which reduced his life chances somewhat, before dropping the pipe and writing poetry instead. It all caught up with him in the end though, with Dennis dying at 67.
Ramon Jose Velasquez was Veneszuela's interim president between 1993-94. Not much to reccommend an obit, but one has (sort of) popped up here. Very similar circumstances to a few months ago.
Josephine Pullein-Thompson along with sisters Christine and Diana, wrote a series of children's books centred around ponies, which were very popular among young girls in the 1950s and 60s. Maybe a few boys had a sneaky look too! She was 90.
Daniel Keyes was a sci-fi author, best known for his 1959 short story (later expanded to a novel) 'Flowers for Algernon' which concerned a man of low intellect who through a scientific experiment becomes a genius. It was later made into a film, 'Charley' in 1968. Keyes was 86. The final update is a hit from 11th June. Glenn Britt who died aged 65, was CEO of Time Warners cable subsidiary until his retirement with illness earlier this year.
This obit from Reuters is enough for Very Ill Turned Very Dead to claim an excellent unique hit.

[Scorecard] (Dennis) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (5 teams) = 8pts
[Scorecard] (Velasquez) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (3 teams) = 5pts
[Scorecard] (Pullein-Thompson) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 8pts
[Scorecard] (Keyes) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Britt) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 11pts
Latest Stiffs: 16th June 2014

June part three: I thought Captain Scarlet was indestructable?

Two memorable voices for kid's cult classics have gone in two days.
Actor Francis Matthews was the voice of Captain Scarlet in 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons', Gerry Anderson's darker follow-up to 'Thunderbirds' in 1967. He was also known for the title role of 'Paul Temple' and for his appearances with Morecambe and Wise. He was 86.
Casey Kasem is best known as the voice of the hippy-ish cartoon character Shaggy in 'Scooby-Doo, Where are you?' and its various spin-offs. But he was primarily a disc jockey, presenting 'American Top 40' on radio and 'America's Top 10' on TV in the 1980s, often shown late at night in Britain, where the Man in Black wasted many an hour deep into the night. Coming up next on Central, the Hitman and Her... Kasem was 82 and a popular pick, with Drunkasaskunk maintaining his lead with a 6th hit.
Chuck Noll was one of the most successful Amrican Football coaches of all time, leading the Pittsburgh Stealers to 4 Superbowl truimphs in the 1970s. He was 82. The Guardian come up with the obit goods.
Approriately enough we finish this triple-prongled mega update (which I wont repeat again) with a World Cup-related death, that of Gyula Grosics. Grosics was goalkeeper for the Hungarian national team in the 1950s, one of the greatest of all time. He was in goal when the "Magical Magyars" famously tonked England at Wembley in 1953. They reached the final of the 1954 World Cup, playing brilliant, innovative football before being beaten by West Germany 3-2 in the final in Berne, Switzerland. Ah well, it's only a game! He was 88. Two football-based theme teams take the points, with Kicking Buckets Instead Of Balls leading the way in the Theme team League as well as sitting in the top ten overall, a remarkable performance for a theme team...

[Scorecard] (Matthews) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (2 teams) = 6pts
[Scorecard] (Kasem) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (45 teams) = 6pts [Joker](3 teams) = 12pts
[Scorecard] (Noll) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Grosics) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (2 teams) = 6pts
Latest Stiffs: 16th June 2014

June part two: Jimmy Jimmy, oh!

The slaughter continues...
Little Jimmy Scott made the most of a condition that effected his voice to become a cult figure in jazz circles, with his high-pitched but powerful singing. He was 88.
One of the last actors for the Silent era in Hollywood has passed way. Carla Laemmle was the niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle and found herself appearing in silent films during the tensition to "talkies", with small roles in 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Dracula'. She died aged 104.
Just a couple of weeks after the death of Maya Angelou comes the passing of another prominent African-American personality. Ruby Dee and her husband Ossie Davis were closely associated with the civil rights movement and their leaders, such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Dee was best recognised as an actress, appearing in films such as 'A Raisin in the Sun' and Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing'. Dee was 91.
Alexander Imich was a parapsychologist and chemist whoi lived in New York most of his life, although he was born in Poland. He became the oldest man in the World earlier this year, but he didn't hang on to the title for long, passing away at 111.
When Eric Hill, who has died aged 86, came up with the idea of a children's book about the adventures of a dog called Spot, even he probably couldn't comprehend how much of a success it would be, with over 60 million copies sold since first appearing in 1980. I bet he didn't anticipate appearing on some team's death list either, but he has. A unique hit for Buried by HHH.

[Scorecard] (Scott) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Laemmle) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (20 teams) = 4pts [Joker](2 teams) = 8pts
[Scorecard] (Dee) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (3 teams) = 5pts
[Scorecard] (Imich) [Points] [Points] [Points] (7 teams) = 3pts [Joker](1 team) = 6pts
[Scorecard] (Hill) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
Latest Stiffs: 16th June 2014

June part one (and a bit of May too): Top marks for picking Spencer

Here's the first of three updates which take us up to mid-June...
And we start with a couple of obits from May. Eli Woods was a northern comedian whose role on stage on on television was usually the simple-minded stooge to the likes of Jimmy James and Roy Castle. Very much t' old school, weren't thou Eli?. He died on May 1st aged 91. The obit came 2 weeks later via The Guardian but was lost amongst the problems your host has had in the last month or so. The Funky Faz alerted me to the obit and from that gets the points.
The next from May came at the other end of the month. Martha Hyer was a Hollywood actress who tried to defy being typecast as the "cool blonde". She was nominated for a Oscar in 1959 for 'Some Came Running', opposite Frank Sinatra. She was 89.
Another actress, this time in TV was Ann B. Davis. Davis is best known for her role as Alice Nelson, housekeeper for the wholesome 'Brady Bunch' in the 1970s. Davis was 88 and died after a fall, which means bonus points.
Sir Eldon Griffiths was a Conservative MP and minister in the Heath government but whose career ambitions were blighted by his outre right-wing opinions ranging from support for South Africa to the retention of the death penalty. He was 89.
Susan Spencer-Wendel was a journalist who chronicled her battle with ALS (or Lou Gehrig's Disease) which became a best-seller in the USA. She died aged 47. Some might say that was a risky pick for getting a British obit, but the Independent proves otherwise...

[Scorecard] (Woods) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 8pts
[Scorecard] (Hyer) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Davis) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (5 teams) + [Unnatural] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Griffiths) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Spencer-Wendel) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (2 teams) = 10pts


List of the Lost - Latest Entrants

Elisabeth Bomhoff, Epainette Mbeki, Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Carmelo Flores Laura, Jim Bamber


List of the Missed - Latest Entrants

Alexander Shulgin, Rik Mayall :( , Gary Gilmour, Sam Kelly, Stephanie Kwolek, Horace Silver, Norman Willis, Walter Kieber, Julius Rudel, Zeljko Sturanovic


Player of the Month - May

Drunkasaskunk - 25 points (and for taking 1st place, as 8 other teams had the same amount of points!)


Latest News

Rolf Harris is jailed for nearly six years for indecent assault. This kangeroo has been tied down at Her Majesty's Pleasure. Former Home Secretary Leon Brittan is in the soup as questions arise as to the fate of a file alledging a paedofile ring given to him in the 1980s. But this isn't Nonce Monthly, here's some other news. DDP key pick Sam Simon is back in hospital...
The Theme Team League is updated for June.

Message to all current competitors: There will be no more regular emails except in certain circumstances, such as rules and invitation to next year's competition.

Further Information
Derby Dead Pool is hosted by The Man In Black with contributions from Big-Iain, Rude Kid, Siegfried Baboon, Octopus of Odstock, WEP 2.0 - World's Eternity Prophet Reloaded and The Grey Horde

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