Infanta Pilar de Borbon

QUEEN OF SPAIN’S BEARD? Infanta Pilar was the older sister of King Juan Carlos I of Spain. She was the older daughter of the Count of Barcelona. She was the Duchess of Badajoz. She was President of the International Equestrian Federation from 1994 to 2006, which was apt as later in life there was some […]

Elizabeth Wurtzel

FINAL HARVEST OF THE WURTZEL “Sylvia Plath with the ego of Madonna” as The New York Times once called her, Elizabeth Wurtzel was an infuriatingly egotistical writer, the sort she had to be to write a memoir in her 20s. She also, to be fair, revolutionised the entire concept of mental health writing, and if […]

Tom Long

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE DISH   When Tom Long announced that his cancer was under control and he was making a miraculous recovery, he disappeared from the shortlists of pretty much every DDP regular.   Well done, all of us. Not much of a thanks for that vote of confidence. Many regulars […]

Christopher Beeny

… DOWNSTAIRS Christopher Beeny was a familiar face on TV. He had a recurring role in Last of the Summer Wine, as well as In Loving Memory and The Grove Family. It was, however, as footman Edward Barnes in the much loved Upstairs Downstairs for which he was perhaps best known. He was a unique […]

Don Larsen

DON HEARSE-N   We move from basketball to baseball. This is going to be a theme, isn’t it? Well, TMIB knew feck all about pro-wrestlers, but if any of them die this year you can get jokes, anecdotes and funny stories about them. So, take the jokes, anecdotes and funny stories as read here. New […]

David Stern

STERN SLAM DUNK START TO 2020 David Stern was once a promising lawyer, before he moved to the career in which he made his name: basketball administration. In 1984, he replaced Larry O’Brien as Commissioner of the NBA, an office he held until 2014. Stern managed to take office directly as Michael Jordan become a […]

DDP 2019 In Review: Jefferson Starship

Sorry about this year-end summary being a little late, I had some business to attend to over in the Middle East. Should widen the list of possible candidates for 2021… So that was 2019. Ole took the wheel and drove his team straight into mid-table, Jezza took the wheel and drove his party straight into […]