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...
LISBON ANTIQUE Prolific Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego has died aged 87. An associate of the London Group, she initially worked in abstract collages before turning to representational pastel works. Folk tales were a frequent inspiration behind her striking paintings, as were feminism and support of abortion/criticism of the pro-foetus movement. She was a unique pick […]
NEIN HEART MAN Darts player Shaun Greatbatch is busted aged 52. Best remembered for being the first player to perform a perfect nine-dart finish while on live TV, he garnered the nickname “Nine Dart Man” for the feat. More pertinent to the deadpooling world was a long, long-term battle against multiple myeloma that made him […]
CURB HER, BABY! Ann Turner Cook, who has died aged 95, was up there with Queen Libby as one of the very few alive to be famous for 90+ years. In 1928, the fledging Gerber Products Company conducted a contest for an image of an infant to use as their logo, and the winning entry […]
DERBY DEAD! Iconic jockey Lester Piggott has reached his final furlong, aged 86. The lanky (by jockey standards), partially deaf Piggott cut an atypical horseracing star, but his talent and feisty personality made him a dominant figure of the scene for decades. His ability was already evident as a prepubescent, winning his first race aged […]
DOWNWARD TILT Irish travel cyclist and writer Dervla Murphy has made her final journey aged 90. Her love of cycling was apparent from a young age, and an early fantasy was to travel on bike from Ireland to India. She fulfilled her childhood dream in the early 60s, weaving through Europe and the Middle East […]
PAHOR ENTERS THE NECROPOLIS Boris Pahor could have died at any point in the past half-century and it would have been a remarkable feat in light of what he survived to get there, let alone making it to a grand old 108. Born in Italy to a Slovene community, his experiences as a minority amidst […]
SOUL-DAMN-O Credit to Evil Grimace for the pun, and you can’t spell “Sodano” without “sod”… 26 May was a sad triple whammy in celebrity death, with Ray Liotta, Andy Fletcher, and Alan White all having sound pop cultural legacies in Goodfellas, Depeche Mode, and Yes, respectively. A day later, balance has already been restored with […]
JIM PARKED Cricketer Jim Parks has died aged 90. Considered one of Sussex’s greatest players, his father also played for the club. Initially a batsman, he switched ably to wicketkeeping by chance after his team’s regular wicketkeeper was injured and unable to play. He retired in the 70s and was England’s oldest surviving male test […]
FROM SWINGING HANDBAG TO IN A BODYBAG Peer Pamela Sharples has died aged 99. The widow of Governor of Bermuda Richard Sharples, she ascended to his peerage following his assassination by militants. She remarried twice and outlived both husbands (the second to pancan and the third to heart issues), but she forged through her tragedies […]
CHARIOTS OF PYRE Greek electronic composer Vangelis has slooowly ran into the great beyond, presumably with an inspirational piano melody in the background, aged 79. Musically curious from childhood, he eschewed proper musical education as he felt it would impede his identity as an artist. He formed his first band, which largely performed covers, in […]
