Music
ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard is up first this week after dying in hospice care just a few weeks after falling ill mid-tour with the band. He was pretty much a member of the original line up, replacing Dan Mitchell on the drums after the band released their first single. The group went on to sell over 50 million records across the last sixty years, though Beard spent most of the proceeds he got from them on a range of highly expensive narcotics. Which perhaps goes some way to explaining his sudden departure at 77, there’s only so much that sobriety can do for you after such heavy living I guess. Despite his name, he’s also notable for being by far the least hairy of ZZ’s line-up and he becomes the MVP this week, scoring eleven points for veteran team ZZ Topped: Heaven, Hell or Houston, who are still searching for a Top 100 finish after seventeen years of competing!
Politics
Nancy Kassebaum was the first woman ever elected to represent Kansas in the US Senate, and departs just a couple of weeks after fellow Republican trailblazer Kay Granger. Fortunately she was also a far more liberal one. Kassebaum was a notable critic of apartheid and helped to overturn Reagan’s veto in 1986 to impose sanctions on South Africa. Perfectly happy to build consensus with Republicans and Democrats alike if the situation called for it, she also spearheaded a major health insurance reform for American workers in 1996. She continued to work on public bodies after retiring from the Senate and abhorred the direction Trump took the Republican party in 2016, frequently endorsing Democrat candidates in various elections after that. Pro-choice and pro-gay rights to boot, she’ll be unlikely to have received any funeral flowers from the President’s office but she was honoured with a joker nomination by the politically themed Baby Kissers Taking a Big Sleep for ten points.
Sport
O. J. Brigance was a linebacker who was most prominently associated with the CFL’s Baltimore Stallions and the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, being the only player in history to win both leagues for teams from the same city. He was named after his mother’s favourite player, O. J. Simpson, but does seem to have only followed his namesake into the sport and not the ensuing double murder side gig. Brigance was sadly diagnosed with ALS in 2007, and subsequently founded the Brigance Brigade Foundation to help raise funds into researching the disease. His charity work got him the 2016 NCAA Inspiration Award, winning it jointly with the already dead and highly controversial 2015 DDP hit Lauren Hill. No such qualms for Mr. Brigance by contrast, who’s death at 56 scores nine points for Grief Hijackers and the NFL themed Traded to the Saints.
On the other side of the pond, Wolverhampton Wanderers said goodbye to former club stalwart Mike Bailey. He won the 1974 League Cup while captaining the side and went into management after retiring as a player. He’s become the latest in a long line of former players to succumb to dementia and nets a unique ten points for the football themed Sudden Death, who creep towards the top ten on the theme board as a result.
Television and Radio
Scottish actress Phyllida Law gets the popularity award this week with six teams earning five points. She had an extensive career across all acting mediums but it’s television where she’ll likely be most familiar, with appearances in Kingdom, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders in recent years. She also had a long stint in the 1960’s as one of the presenters on kids show Play School, and was nearly one of the OG Tardis Crew, having auditioned for the role of inaugural Doctor Who companion Barbara Wright. Her two daughters, Emma and Sophie Thompson both followed her into acting and Law has appeared alongside both of them in various productions. Her age and declining health courtesy of Parkinson’s in recent years contribute to a real bloodbath of a summer. Her death makes for 33 confirmed hits in July, putting the month into the Top 10 of the most active in DDP history and as the only one not called January or February.
Law was joined in the graveyard by fellow actress Peggy Webber, who also worked all over film, stage and radio but was mostly associated with small screen appearances in Dragnet, M Squad and Kings Row. Her death at 100 scores eight points for the centenarian themed Big digits team.
Scores
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Teams and Scores |
| Phyllida Law | 94 | July 27 | 6 Teams πππππ = 5 Points |
| Peggy Webber | 100 | August 15 | Big digits team ππππ+π» = 8 Points |
| O. J. Brigance | 56 | August 17 | 2 Teamsπππππππππ = 9 Points |
| Mike Bailey | 84 | August 17 | Sudden Deathππππππ+π» = 10 Points |
| Frank Beard | 77 | August 17 | ZZ Topped: Heaven, Hell or Houston πππππππ+π» = 11 Points |
| Nancy Kassebaum | 94 | August 21 | Touch of Grey πππππ = 5 points Baby Kissers Taking a Big Sleep π = 10 Points |