The 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 , and since from 2010 to 2017 by The Man In Black...

Latest Stiffs: 5th August 2017 by The Man in Black

[Picture of Hywell Bennett with George Best]

"Hey George, is Sitcom Heaven over there?"

Shelley signs off for good...

Actor Hywell Bennett has died. Bennett emerged in the late 60s/early 70s, playing the young lead in such films as 'The Virgin Soldiers', 'Loot' and 'Percy', the latter a "sex comedy" about a man who has a penis transplant! When his heart-throb status faded, Bennett would occupy guest star status on TV shows such as 'The Sweeney', 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' and later 'EastEnders' (as well as that sci-fi curio 'Artemis 81'). But it's his role as the titular 'Shelley', the quick-witted but unemployable bedsit philosopher that Bennett will be best remembered for. One of ITV's finest sitcoms, it lasted from 1979 to 1992.
Bennett was 73 and despite the health rumours and early retirement, only two teams picked him. If the DWP offices have flags, they should be at half-mast...

(2 teams) = 7pts

Singh when you're winning

After a long spell without, we have a couple of entries into the The Obituary Vault, one with some impact on the competition, if only to keep reigning champ/future host David Quantick's Showbiz Pals in the hunt...

Jules et Fin

Acclaimed French film star Jeanne Moureau was the go-to actress for art house film directors from the 1950s onwards. Best known for her role as Catherine in Francois Truffault's Nouvelle Vague classic 'Jules et Jim' (1962), Moreau worked with the likes of Orson Welles, Louis Malle, Jean-Luc Godard, Joseph Losey etc, etc and won several awards, although never nominated for an Oscar. Moureau was 89 and a hit for two teams.
More woe for France in the form of Jerome Golmard. Golmard was a tennis player who reached a high of 22 in the World Rankings but didn't make too much of an impact in the grand slam tournaments. Golmard represented his country in the Davis Cup on six occasions. Golmard died of ALS aged 43. Two teams picked him: Chemo Sabee cliams the Player of the Month award while Golden Slumbers maintain their lead at the top, still able to rustle up a hit when needed...
Actress June Foray was the voice of Rocky the squirrel in the popular cartoon series 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show', which ran from 1959 to 1964. Foray reprised the character in a live action/animated film revival in 2000. She was also the voice of Witch Hazel and Granny for Warner Bros., alongside many other characters. Behind the scenes, Foray successfully lobbied the Academy Awards to add the Best Animated Feature award to its roster. Foray was 99, a hit for eight teams, with theme team I Hear Voices getting joker points.
Barbara Marx Sinatra was a model, socialite and philanthropist best known for her marriages to Zeppo Marx and then later Frank Sinatra, making her his 4th and final wife in 1976. She was 90 and a hit for two teams...

(Moreau) (2 teams) = 6pts

(Golmard) (2 teams) = 10pts

(Foray) (8 teams)= 5pts (1 team) = 10pts

(Marx Sinatra) (2 teams) = 5pts

Wraw deal for John

The Right Reverend John Wraw was the Anglican Bishop of Bradwell within the Chelmsford diocese from 2012 until death from cancer aged 58. Chemo Sabee get a unique hit.
Edward Allcard was an architect and yachtsman who in 1951 became the first man to sail the Atlantic single-handed in both directions. in 2016, Allcard released a book ('Solo around Cape Horn – and beyond') as a centenarian. Allcard was 102 and a hit for two teams.
Gretel Bergmann was a German track and field athlete who was excluded from competing in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin ostensibly for "under performance" but in reality for being of Jewish descent. Bergmann later relocated to the United States. Bergmann was 103 and was a hit for four teams...

(Wraw) + = 12pts

(Allcard) (2 teams) = 4pts

(Bergmann) (4 teams) = 4pts

golon's gone

Anne Golon, known professionally as Sergeanne Golon, was a French novelist who with her husband Serge wrote a series of historical novels centred around the female protagonist Angelique. These novels were later the basis of several film adaptations in France. Golon was 95 and a unique hit for French theme team Vive la France... et la mort.
John Kundla was a US Basketball coach. As coach of the Minneapolis Lakers, Kundla won 4 NBA titles (and it's predecessor BAA) between 1948-54. In 1996, Kundla was included in a list of the top ten NBA coaches of all time. Kundla was 101 unique hit for YOUREOUT.
We round of this monster update with a hit from May. Sonny West was part of Elvis Presley's phalanx of hangers-on, the so-called "Memphis Mafia". He died in May aged 78 and it looked that no obit would come. However, this one line mention on his cousin's obit in the Mail was enough for Going Underground to snaffle the points Fangyoowerrimurr...

(Golon) + = 8pts

(Kundla) + = 7pts

(West) + = 10pts

Latest Stiffs: 18th July 2017 by The Man in Black

Rollin in the deep grave...

(the bloke who played) Bela Lugosi's dead

Actor Martin Landau has died. After an early career on stage and film, it was television which brought Landau fame via the 1960s espionage thriller series 'Mission: Impossible'. He played "Master of Disguise" Rollin Hand until a dispute over pay forced his departure in 1969. He later pitched up in Gerry Anderson's live action sci-fi series 'Space: 1999' after which his career hit the buffers. However, in 1988 Landau was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream' (it's a wonder he didn't die of colon cancer!). In 1994 he won the same award for his touching portrayal of the has-been horror star Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood'. Landau continued to act until his death aged 89. A hit for seven teams, several of them theme teams but it'll be mission impossible for them to overtake Shameless...

(7 teams) = 6pts

chucked in a blaze of fire

Football administrator Chuck Blazer took advantage of the growth of soccer in the USA, being a key person in the staging of the 1994 World Cup there. With literal partner in crime Jack Warner, Blazer carved out a nice little earner as part of FIFA's hierarchy until the law caught up with him and he tunred informant in 2011, which eventually led to the downfall of FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Blazer died aged 72 and was a hit for six teams.
Denis Mack Smith was a British historian who specialised in Italian history, taking on the historical reputations of the likes of Garibaldi and Mussolini. Mack Smith was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1996. He was 97 and Grobler's Stiff Ones says "Grazie Mille" for the unique points bonus!.

(Blazer) (6 teams) = 7pts

(Mack Smith) + = 8pts

musique concrète overcoat for henry

Avant Garde composer Pierre Henry was considered one of the pioneers of electronic "musique concrète" in the 1950s, alongside Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage et al. Indeed Henry was labelled the "Grandfather of Techno", a term he wasn't partcularly comfortable with. Henry was 89 and a unique hit for theme team Don't Stop the Music.
Smith Hart was the eldest member of the Hart family of professional wrestlers. He had a 40 year association with the WWE and even made an appearance on UK television's 'World of Sport' in the 1980s. Hart died of cancer aged 68 a hit for 7 teams, with whipper-snapper Still Life now just three points behind long-time leader Golden Slumbers. It's getting tighter...

(Henry) + = 9pts

(Hart (7 teams) = 8pts

List of the Lost - Latest Entrants

Skip Homeier, Sam Glanzman, Sister Cecilia Gaudette, Francesca Nato, Luigi Baldan, Fritz Hellwig

List of the Missed - Latest Entrants

Maurice Xiberras, Agnes Giebel, Carol Lee Scott, Paolo Villagio, Mercy Rimell, Abdul-Rahman bin Abdul-Aziz, Trevor Baxter, George A. Romero, Clive Bossom, Deborah Watling

Player of the Month - June

Thomas Jefferson Survives - 43 points

Latest News

After over 22,000 engagements, Phil the Greek retires...
The Theme Team League is updated for August with defending champion Shameless still puffing away on that cigar...

Further Information

Rules & Scoring

E-mail The Man In Black with any questions/comments about the DDP: ddp2017@derbydeadpool.co.uk

Links

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, The Grey Horde, Thomas Jefferson Survives, Bibliogryphon, David Quantick's Showbiz Pals, Dickie's Gone the Way of the Dinosaurs & The End Of The World As We Know It

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