GOODBYE STRANGERS, ZOD OFF, IT KENT ME BABE
Only a few months to go until we hand out another DDP trophy, but it won’t be Katharine, Duchess of Kent doing the honours. The oldest living royal family member was best known for routinely presenting the trophy at Wimbledon. She had married Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, the Duke of Kent, in 1961, and made further history in the 90s as the first Catholic convert in the royal family in centuries.
Terence Stamp was part of the “angry young man” movement of 60s British cinema, winning an Oscar nomination as the seafaring star of Billy Budd and a Cannes award as a creepy kidnapper in The Collector. After being passed over for James Bond, he retreated to India for a spiritual retreat before coming back as the menacing Zod in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies.
Mark Volman co-founded 60s rockers the Turtles who were chart regulars in the later half of the decade with zeitgeist-matching feelgood fare including “She’d Rather Be With Me”, “Elonore”, and most enduringly “Happy Together”. After the Turtles split up, he and fellow Turtle Howard Kaylan frequently collaborated with Frank Zappa, and reformed as a touring act for decades even as Volman dealt with dementia in recent years. No matter how they tossed the dice, points had to be for two teams, and keeping in mind the current state of US politics, wrong fucking Turtle.
Rick Davies gave a little bit and then some to the music world as co-founder of prog rockers Supertramp. The band’s main creative force alongside Roger Hogdson, a multiple myeloma diagnosis stymied a 2015 tour. It seemed only logical to pick him then but he ultimately took the long way home, knocking the disease into remission and lasting a decade more. Other deaths from the music realm were Jazz singer Sheila Jordan and conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi.
Joe Bugner was one of the top heavyweight boxers of the 70s, becoming a British, British Commonwealth, and European champion in a close bout against Henry Cooper. He also twice faced Muhammad Ali, and had a film career to the side in several Bud Spencer films and the live action Street Fighter. Other sportspeople who perished were snooker player Geoff Foulds, basketballer Tiana Mangakahia, and tennis champ Angela Mortimer who indeed got a Wimbledon from the Duchess of Kent.
Polly Holliday was the last surviving original Alice cast member, whose waitress Flo had a memorable “Kiss my grits!” catchphrase. She remained a fixture in the decades since, including as the nosy neighbour in Mrs. Doubtfire and crabby miser in Gremlins. Biddy Baxter was key to the early development of Blue Peter, conceptualising much of the format and the Blue Peter badge, and Judy Bailey was pianist on Play School.
Gerry Spence was one of the most renowned lawyers of the 20th century with multiple high-profile cases to his name and almost all of them won. Steve Shirley was a pioneering computer scientist whose self-founded company broke ceilings, John Cruickshank was the last surviving WWII VC recipient, and Robert Worcester was one of Britain’s leading pollsters. Things went rocky for Instagram geriatric Baddie Winkle. Also dead are judge Frank Caprio, cunt James C. Dobson, CERN director Herwig Schopper, Doctor Who scriptwriter Christopher H. Bidmead, and orthodonist John Mew.
Reptile’s narrow lead remains. Day In The Death, who had been hoodwinked by a Rick Davies Lee Evans gambit in 2017, brought Davies back in homage this year – an inspired decision that takes him to the top ten.