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...
CANNED Krautrock innovator Damo Suzuki has died aged 74. He scraped by as a busker when his performances on the streets of Munich piqued Can’s Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit. In need of a new frontman, Suzuki fit their bill of a boundary pusher and he shaped influential albums like Tago Mago and Future Days […]
HUNG OUT TO DRIES Former Dutch PM Dries van Agt has died aged 93. He served for five years from 1977 to 1982, where he was noted for his penchant for archaic vocabulary. He largely governed from the centre as PM, though post-office he veered leftward. In his later years he was notably outspoken against […]
WOWIE OZOWIE Popular conductor Seiji Ozawa has passed the baton aged 88. He was notably the only Japanese conductor to become a superstar in the Western world. His flashy outfits and lightning-struck hairdo cut a recognisable figure as he helmed the Boston Sympathy Orchestra for almost thirty years. Some critics debated whether his style came […]
LIFE ABOLISHED French Justice Minister Robert Badinter has died aged 95. A lawyer who was repulsed by witnessing his clients’ executions firsthand, he made abolition of the death penalty his mission. The guillotine was still intermittently used, increasingly divisively, during the Giscard d’Estaing administration. After Mitterand was elected in 1981 on a platform that was […]
EPSTEIN DIDN’T KILL HIMSELF I mean he was 102 FFS. Pathologist Anthony Epstein had speculated that Burkitt’s lymphoma was caused by a virus. He and his assistant, Yvonne Barr, worked futilely for months to cultivate the cancer and uncover the virus. Working from London, a sample of the cancer from Uganda had to be flown […]
MOULDY OLDIE Edie Ceccarelli was born on the exact same 1908 day as Peg Entwistle, the actress who jumped to her death from the Hollywood Sign over ninety years ago. Ceccarelli fared a little better than that, thanking her 116 years to a lifelong passion for dancing. No wonder we’re still waiting on Linda Nolan […]
THE WEE PAST HIS PRIME MINISTER Scottish footballer Ian McMillan has died aged 92. Nicknamed “the Wee Prime Minister” as his playing career coincided with Harold MacMillan’s prime ministry, he was a popular player with both Airdrie and the Gers. He was picked by two teams. Ian McMillan18 March 1931 – 16 February 2024, aged […]
LAST RITES FOR PRIEST Author Christopher Priest has died aged 80. Most closely associated with sci-fi, he was heavily influenced by H. G. Wells and his The Prestige was adapted into film by Christopher Nolan. He now brings some prestige to Bibliogryphon’s Bookworm Food with a unique hit. Christopher Priest14 July 1943 – 2 February […]
HARRY GONEWAY Former MP Harry Greenway has died aged 89. The longtime Tory MP for Ealing North, he was a staunch Thatcher ally and big on famlee valyooz. He was long ill with dementia and a unique pick for Ben-Hur and Messala Were Lovers. Harry Greenway4 October 1934 – 18 January 2024, aged 89💀💀💀💀💀💀 + […]
DOUG A HOLE Cricketer Doug Padgett seemed a prime BBC year-end sports roundup QO, but the Telegraph backlog has hastened the wait time considerably. He was a key figure to Yorkshire and according to cricket writer Colin Bateman, he was “nimble, happy anywhere in the order, he was a great technician and one of the […]
