DERBY DEAD POOL 2010: INANE ANALYSIS
Teams:
- Stats
- Names
- Themes
Celebs:
There are 480 teams this year, the same as last year. As well as entries from the British Isles, there are entries from Czech Republic, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Canada and of course the USA. Let me know where else you are from...
The vast majority of entrants are male. There are at least two that were in their seventies when the competition began.
Jesus Jones maintains his 100% entry record. Other veterans include twice champion Drunkasaskunk, Mr C, former DDP co-host Rude Kid, The Vydolak with Finbarr Saunders, The Long Awaited Return Of The Dorset Jury and JoeRam notching up their 10th campaigns...
And with 139 new entrants there are plenty of amusing names including: A Taste Of Thursday Afternoon, And My Name Is Larry!, Bond, Elch Bond, Cremate Expectations, Don't Let The Pearly Gates Hit You Up The Arse On The Way In, I Can't Believe I Ate The Whole Thing, Kentucky Fried Genocide, Long Pig, Anyone?, Nil By Mouth, One Scythe Fits All, Stiff Little Fingers, Stop Coughin' Or I'll Put You In One!, Take The Last Rite To The Mortuary, The O'Shannon Wee J's Man, The Worst Acronym Team (think about it), Wall Street Massacre, You're Not Breathing Anymore and Zombie Nation amongst others. There was both See You In Heaven and See You In Hell. There were topical names, such as Dignitas Clinicians (referring to the infamous Swiss euthanasia clinic) and Rubinstein's Coffin Fit, which I suspect wont be used next year...
Quotations from various media seemed to be popular too. "18 Whiskies, I Think That's The Record." were reputed to be Dylan Thomas's last words, although that 'record' may well have been broken by John Bonham in 1980, with similarly terminal results! Fuck A 40oz, You'll Be Dumping Out Whole Kegs Of Brew, seems to have derived from a group called The Boss Hog Barbarians. Mere Flesh Wound is from the classic 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But the best quote, albeit slighty adapted, comes courtesy of the Simpsons - Can't Sleep, Clown Will Eat Them.
My best two of the year are What The Flip Was Grandma Doing At The Sand Dunes? and Heads St Peter Tails Lucifer.
Theme
teams are becoming
increasingly popular in the Derby Dead Pool. Over 30 were
entered
for 2010 - a record.
And here are the teams as far as I can make out:
M Is the Deadliest Letter (all celebs with the surname beginning with M), Coupled To Death (celebrity couples), Exnazis (ex-Nazis, including Al Gore, the former US Vice President!), Here Is The News...You're Dead! (newsreaders), I'm Ready For My Funeral Mr. DeMille (from the world of film), Just One More Death... Lt Columbo (from the Columbo TV series), Laughter Kills (comedians and comedy actors), Let's Drop An Atomic Bomb On Oceania!!! (notables from the aforementioned continent), Not Gone Yet, But Still Forgotten (obscure people), Ohio & Goodbye-O (all people from Ohio), On The Box/In The Box (television), One Less Bullet Come The Revolution (worldwide aristocracy), Pobol Y Fedd (all Welsh celebrities), Radio Ga Ga Gone (radio), She's A Goner (women), Team USA/Asia Alliance (from USA & Asia) Time's Up My Son (with 'son' in their names), Widows - Following Their Husbands (widows). There were a pair each of football based teams (Ball Kicking Bucket Kickers & The Terry Fenwick Benefit Select Second XI), political teams (Dead Commons & The Politigones), from the world of pop (Pop Goes The Pop Star & Two Hit Wonders) and sport (The Final Whistle & They Think It's All Over. It Is Now.....). There are his 'n hers Nobel Prize winners (Nobel Losers & Nobel Loserettes) and teams on opposite ends of the age scale (Gray Panthers with picks over 100 and Why Live To 50? going the other way). But my favourite theme team, for the name if nothing else, is Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy - devoted to the Star Wars phenomenon...
A total of 2,129 different celebs were picked this year, up 61 from 2009. You might think that the 3 points for a unique pick rule was encouraging entrants to come up with newer candidates. But ironically there were 1,217 unique picks, down 17 from last year.
This year's top 25 most popular picks are as follows:
|
Position this year |
Position last year |
Name |
Number of teams |
Number of jokers |
| 1st | 1st | Margaret Thatcher | 240 | 11 |
| 2nd | New Entry | Abdelbaset Al Megrahi | 232 | 118 |
| 3rd | 5th= | Ronnie Biggs | 227 | 24 |
| 4th | 4th | Fidel Castro | 180 | 7 |
| 5th | 5th= | Sir Norman Wisdom | 166 | 7 |
| 6th | 8th | Kirk Douglas | 145 | 4 |
| 7th | 9th | Ariel Sharon | 117 | 3 |
| 8th | 10th | Rev Billy Graham | 108 | 2 |
| 9th | 19th= | Elizabeth Taylor | 107 | 7 |
| 10th | 14th | Zsa Zsa Gabor | 103 | 2 |
| 11th | 19th= | Michael Foot | 99 | 1 |
| 12th | 24th= | Nelson Mandela | 98 | 3 |
| 13th | 16th | Seve Ballesteros | 90 | 7 |
| 14th | 17th= | Muhammad Ali | 88 | 3 |
| 15th | 17th= | Patrick Moore | 83 | 2 |
| 16th= | 21st | Prince Philip | 81 | 2 |
| 16th= | 24th= | Betty Ford | 81 | 1 |
| 18th | New Entry | Zelda Rubinstein | 76 | 20 |
| 19th | New Entry | Kim Jong-Il | 74 | 1 |
| 20th= | New Entry | Peter Falk | 68 | 3 |
| 20th= | New Entry | Stephen Hawking | 68 | 0 |
| 22nd= | New Entry | Simon MacCorkindale | 64 | 12 |
| 22nd= | 11th | Amy Winehouse | 64 | 2 |
| 24th= | New Entry | John Hartson | 59 | 6 |
| 25th | New Entry | Dennis Hopper | 55 | 3 |
Margaret Thatcher remains 'top dog' with newcomer Abdelbaset Al Megrahi having by the far the most jokers with 118. Indeed he's the only new entry into the top 5, with Ronnie Biggs, Norman Wisdom and Fidel Castro remaining favourites. Indeed Castro and Wisdom are the exact same position as last year (4th & 5th respectively). Zelda Rubinstein went from 1 team picking her in 2009 to 76. Stephen Hawking has the highest number of nominations but without anyone risking a joker on him - 68.
Amy Winehouse continues her descent down the list - from 8th in 2008, to 11th in 2009 to 22nd this year. Elizabeth Taylor and Nelson Mandela were the highest movers within the top 25. The ambulance-chasing nature of DDP enables Simon McCorkindale, Dennis Hooper, John Hartson and the aforementioned Rubinstien to enter the top 25. Peter Falk has Alzheimer's Disease.
7 of last year's top 25 met their end in 2009, up from 2 in 2008 but some of the more popular picks, such as Biggs and Thatcher are still hanging in there...
484 females out of 2,129 picks at 23.9% is again an improvement on the year before, up 3% on 2009.
Breakdown
by profession
The choices by profession remains
fairly static. The only major switch is Other moving up to 6th at the
expense of Literature. Now this may be because the new organiser of the
Derby Dead Pool (i.e. yours truly) maybe judging what is considered
'other' somewhat differently than his predecessor. Television/radio
personalities and industry people have a slight improvement on last
year, and make up over a fifth of this year's contingent. The most
notable rise among the minor considerations is the partners of family
members of existing celebrities, even if some are dubiously judged as
such. A theory for this might be that they are seen as a source of
possible unique pickings, but there's an element of risk as any hits
are dependent on the appropriate obituary...
|
Profession |
Number of celebs |
Percentage |
| Television/radio | 412 | 20.3% |
| Music | 302 | 14.9% |
| Films | 281 | 13.8% |
| Sport | 268 | 13.2% |
| Politics | 244 | 12.0% |
| Other | 74 | 3.6% |
| Science/academia | 67 | 3.3% |
| Literature | 63 | 3.1% |
| Celeb family/partner | 62 | 3.1% |
| Military | 54 | 2.6% |
| Royalty/nobility | 50 | 2.5% |
| Crime | 48 | 2.4% |
| Theatre/stage | 35 | 1.7% |
| Business | 34 | 1.7% |
| Media | 32 | 1.6% |
| Religion | 31 | 1.6% |
| Art | 23 | 1.1% |
| Fashion | 13 | 0.6% |
| Exploration/travel | 13 | 0.6% |
| Law | 11 | 0.5% |
| Terrorism | 7 | 0.3% |
| Philanthropy | 5 | 0.2% |
Breakdown
by nationality
This year's picks come from (or at least were born in) a total of 128
different countries or independent territories, up 12
from last year and the most ever. Once again, the US and
England
are
predominant,
accounting between them for 64%, once more down 1% on last year as the
game gets more global.
(NB: The modern names/boundaries of countries have been used where these have since changed.)
Germany continues its ascent and moves into 4th. France has spiked up to joint 5th with 41. Italy has notably gone down from 38 last year to 24. Thanks to a theme team devoted to the area, there is a number of countries from the Oceania continent represented, most notably Tonga with 5 picks.
| Country | Number of celebs | Percentage |
| USA | 730 | 34.29% |
| England | 631 | 29.64% |
| Scotland | 62 | 2.91% |
| Germany | 55 | 2.58% |
| Wales | 42 |
1.97% |
| France | 41 |
1.93% |
| Canada | 40 | 1.88% |
| Australia | 33 | 1.55% |
| Republic of Ireland | 26 | 1.22% |
| Italy | 24 | 1.13% |
| Northern Ireland | 22 | 1.03% |
| India | 19 | 0.89% |
| Japan | 14 | 0.66% |
| Netherlands | 13 | 0.61% |
| Austria, PR of China, South Africa | 12 | 0.56% |
| Brazil, New Zealand, Poland | 10 | 0.47% |
| Egypt, Russia, Spain | 9 | 0.42% |
| Argentina, Iran, Pakistan, Sweden, Switzerland | 7 | 0.33% |
| Hungary | 6 | 0.28% |
| Greece, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Tonga | 5 | 0.23% |
| Afghanistan, Belgium, Fiji, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago | 4 | 0.19% |
| Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia/Bohemia, Denmark, DR of Congo, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Romania, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia | 3 | 0.14% |
| Bulgaria, Grenada, Guernsey, Indonesia, Isle of Man, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Nauru, North Korea, Palestine, Panama, Philippines, Samoa, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela, Zimbabwe | 2 | 0.09% |
| Algeria, American Samoa, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belarus, Bermuda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chechnya, Chile, Colombia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Finland, Georgia, Ghana, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Kashmir, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Palau, Paupa New Guinea, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of North Ossetia-Ala, Slovenia, South Korea, Suriname, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, US Virgin Isles, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Yemen | 1 | 0.05% |
| Unassigned | 46 | 2.16% |
Breakdown
by age
The breakdown by age (as at 1st January 2010) looks as follows.
| Age bracket | Points value | Number of celebs | Percentage |
| 18-29 | 12 | 44 | 2.1% |
| 30-49 | 10 | 244 | 11.5% |
| 50-59 | 9 | 194 | 9.1% |
| 60-69 | 8 | 322 | 15.1% |
| 70-79 | 7 | 411 | 19.3% |
| 80-89 | 6 | 516 | 24.2% |
| 90-99 | 5 | 234 | 11.0% |
| 100-109 | 4 | 40 | 1.9% |
| 110+ | 3 | 11 | 0.5% |
| Uncertain | (n/a) | 113 | 5.0% |
Once again there seems to be a shift towards the younger age brackets of the 30s, 40s and 50s, although the youngest is slightly down. With few WWI veterans left, there is a notable drop in the oldest band of over 110. There's also a drop in the 70-79 bracket, possibly a particular generation of celebrities now of that age have either died or not as well known as the older or younger generations. Of the 113 uncertain ages, 96 are approximate with only the year of birth, but they are not calculated in the table above.
2nd February has been usurped as the most popular birthday by 8th November and by quite a comfortable margin too (17 times).
The most common year of birth is 1926, slightly older than last year's 1928 which was just into the 80s but now heading toward the mid 80s. The 'typical' birth would therefore be 8th November 1926 of which the nearest born to that date is none other than Sir Jimmy Savile who was born 9 days earlier.
Actors Tempest Storm and Alex Rocco join Joss Ackland in the DDP leap day club by dint of being born on the 29th February. Indeed Storm and Ackland were born on the very same day in 1928....
The convicted Lockerbie bomber, released last year for compassionate and not at all political reasons no-siree-Bob, was the bain of The Man Black's life last December. Not only was he entered by over 200 teams, he had the curse of being possibly being the most mis-spelt pick in the history of the DDP. I have to confess even I'm not sure whether the 'official' DDP spelling of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi is the right one. I've had: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, Abdelbaset al-magrahi, Abdelbaset Al-megrahi, Abdel Bassett Al-Megrahi, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, Abdel Baset Ali Al Meghrabi, abdelbaset al megrahis, abdel baset ai megrahi - you get the picture. Of course there were variable spellings for all sorts of celebrities, but Al Megrahi not surprisingly stood out. If he was to kop it this year, it will make my job a hell of a lot easier come Christmas time...
The Name's the
game...
John & all its variants lead by a long away, ahead of Robert, William, David & James. Elisabeth and its variations remains the top female name.
Just the 4 Davises this year as opposed to 18 in 2009. That leaves the surnames, predictably as a bit of a mixture. Williams tops the table with 12 entries, followed by Smith and Wilson with 9. Johnson, King, Gray, and Taylor are also popular.Only the six Joneses this year so no-one's keeping up with them anymore...
It seems my esteemed predecessor's name and shame tactic has worked to a degree as there seemed to be a few less candidates nominated which had the misfortune of already being dead. Nonetheless, a few still slipped through the net. Here's a selection:
1986: Prince George Valdemar of Denmark
2001: Muriel Young
2005: Peter Jennings
2009: Raymond Hewlett (although this was only established in 2010), Milvina Dean, Paul Samuelson, Joanne Evans, Frank Deasy
There was one that was disallowed for being under age (Backstreet Boy baby Baylee Littrel), but perhaps the strangest pick was Mandy Hobbler, notable for not being a real person at all, merely a satirical creation on a website.