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...

Tim Lobinger

LOBINGER WON’T LINGER Pole vaulting champ Tim Lobinger has died after a long bout with blood cancer, aged 50. He racked up multiple medals in the World Indoor Championships, European Championships, and European Indoor Championships, but underwhelmed at the Olympics. What could’ve been a canon cert with better Olympic fortunes instead left deadpoolers questioning if […]

Shoichiro Toyoda

TOYODA FACES DISASSEMBLY LINE Former Toyota boss Shoichiro Toyoda has died aged 97. The son of founder Kiichiro, he presided over the company’s expansion into North America and promoted the Lexus and Prius brands. In case you’re wondering why the family surname is “Toyoda” rather than “Toyota”, the brand was originally marketed as “Toyoda”. The […]

Billy Two Rivers

TWO RIVERS DRIED UP Pro wrestler and Native American activist Billy Two Rivers has entered the happy hunting ground aged 87. Trained by (and an occasional tag team partner to) Heavyweight Champion Chief Don Eagle, he became a recognisable figure in the 50s-70s wrestling scene with his unrelenting playstyle and his distinct Mohawk. After retiring […]

Hans Modrow

HANS MORT-ROW Latter-day East German communist leader Hans Modrow has died aged 95. His tenure began days after the Berlin Wall fell, and he saw where the winds were blowing with a conciliatory premiership that shared power with the opposition and paved the way for reunification. He oversaw the only free elections in East Germany […]

Dennis Lotis

LOTIS POSITION NOW SUPINE Yesteryear crooner Dennis Lotis has hit his last note aged 97. One of the last pre-rock crooners still standing, he prospered under the tutelage of bandleader Ted Heath before going solo in the mid-50s. He rounded off the decade as a variety circuit regular with the occasional film appearance, but his […]

Burt Bacharach

TEARDROPS KEEP FALLIN’ ON HIS HEADSTONE One more bell to toll with the death of esteemed composer and Austin Powers star Burt Bacharach, aged 94. Typically working in tandem with Hal David, he was known for creating some of the classiest, most prestigious slices of pop around, such as the theme song to The Blob. […]

Pervez Musharraf

PERVEZION OF JUSTICE Former Pakistani despot/patriot hero (delete as applicable) Pervez Musharraf has died, rather uncharacteristically of natural causes, aged 79. A longtime general, his promotion to four-star general by then-PM Nawaz Sharif saw him lead the charge in the Kargil offensive against India that soon blossomed into a months-long war. Relations grew frosty between […]

Hazel McCallion

HURRICANE HAZEL DOWNGRADED And there I was thinking Canadian mayors needed to love nose candy to make a cracking obit… Longtime Canuck political force “Hurricane” Hazel McCallion has died aged 101. Her first go for political office was in 1964, unsuccessfully running as a deputy reeve in Mississagua. It would be the only time she […]

Charlie Thomas

THIS OLD WORLD STARTS GETTING HIM DOWN… Doo-wop legends the Drifters lived up to their name with their frequent rotation of personnel – members kept drifting in and out. Their two best-known incarnations were completely different bands – the “first Drifters” were initially helmed by Clyde McPhatter, then cycled through several frontmen before manager George […]

Hugh Hudson

ROCK HUDSON We at the DDP salute character development. Diana Rots carved out deadpooling notoriety in the mid-2010s by plucking their twenty from the previous year’s top teams – assembling a team through this manner is now seen in deadpooler’s parlance as “Diana Rotsing”. Their 2023 return tacked towards originality, and this shift in approach […]