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, then was run from 2003-2007 by Siegfried Baboon and Rude Kid. From 2008-2009, it was run by Octopus of Odstock, but from 2010 onwards it's the turn of The Man in Black to run the DDP.
| Latest Stiffs: 30th April 2012 |
Sir Fred gets the needle |
| Former New Zeland rugby international player and coach Sir Fred Allen has backward passed away aged 92. Allen had a 100% record as coach of the All Blacks in the 1960s. He's the second notable Kiwi rugger bugger to go in 2012, after Jock Hobbs.
This obit will do though I suspect better ones will be forthcoming. Suitably rugby-themed Try And Die score a try and penalty worth of points - 8.
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They Spinks it's all over |
| Terry Spinks, one of the youngest ever winners of an Olympic gold medal for Great Britain has died aged 74. Spinks was a boxer and won in the flyweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics aged just 18. He had a decent professional career but later had problems with alcoholism. He died after a long illness. Sports theme team The Final Whistle win 10 points... |
Achy Brocquy heart |
| Irish portrait painter Louis le Brocquy has died at the age of 95. Le Brocquy painted some of the leading lights of Irish culture, including W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. He was entirely self taught. He was a unique hit for Moribold Krakatoa’s Playhour, who get their 3rd hit of the year and 8 points into the bargain. |
Peat in the ground |
| Scottish filmmaker David Peat has died of cancer. Peat specialised in documenataries of ordinary people but also was a photographer, taking many pictures of his home city of Glasgow and its people during a period of rapid deindustrialisation. In 1975 he filmed 'Big Banana Feet', which traced comedian Billy Connolly's tour of Northern Ireland at he height of the troubles. Peat was 65 and a unique hit for 2-time DDP champion Drunkasaskunk who get 11 points. So we've had an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman. Pity Frank Carson isn't around anymore to finish the joke... |
Olney the right obit will do |
| Dr. Richard Olney, who spent his entire career researching into the causes and possible cure for Lou Gehrig's disease has died aged 64...of Lou Gehrig's disease! Olney died in January but it's only now that a suitable obit has been found although it was published 4 days after he died. Bloody pesky Guardian newsfeed articles! Still we got there in the end and teams George Lass and the Gravelings and Toasted Brown Bread can breath more easily and grab 8 points each. |
| Latest Stiffs: 23rd April 2012 |
Decay in a day with Bert Weedon |
| Pioneering guitarist Bert Weedon has strummed his last chord. Through his manual Play in a Day, Weedon influenced a generation of British guitarists including Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney.
He even topped the album charts in 1976 shortly before punk rock redefined British guitar music. Weedon was 91 and a hit for 4 teams including pop music themed Clog Poppers. Five points go their way...
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Ashley cops a death 'un |
| Former Labour MP Jack Ashley has died. Ashley was MP for Stoke-on-Trent from 1966-1992 but is best known as Britain's first acknowledged deaf MP. His deafness occurred after a botched operation shortly after becoming an MP. Ashley went on to campaign for disabled people's rights amongst many other issues. and the good of the day. His son-in-law Andrew Marr was amongst those paying tribute. He was 89. A pair of theme teams, A To Dead and Dead Commons pick up 6 points each. |
Dick's funeral bandstand |
| Veteran TV presenter Dick Clark has rocked his last roll. Clark presented the pop music show 'American Bandstand' from 1957-1987, introducing the likes of The Beach Boys, Ike & Tina Turner, Talking Heads and Madonna to a mass audience. Clark also had an annual New Year's Eve show from 1972 until last year. Clark was 82 and a hit for 18 teams. All but one get the standard 6 points, with 2 Sick Not 2 Quit doubling up with their joker. |
Put a lid on Frid |
| TV actor Jonathan Frid has died aged 87. Canadian-born Frid starred as vampire Barnabas Collins in the cult daytime gothic soap opera 'Dark Shadows', which has been recently made into a major film starring Johnny Depp. Frid's portrayal anticipated the more sensitive, nuanced vampire now all the rage in the Twilight film series and such by several decades. A BBC obit, no less suffices and dream theme team Gray Afternoons In Vain With Ms. Clandestine The Limo Driver grab a handy 11 points as Frid died on the 13th. |
| Latest Stiffs: 17th April 2012 |
Cimino longer |
| Italian-American character actor, Leonardo Cimino died on March 3rd but only gets his obit now from the Independent. Cimino build up steady career on stage, screen and TV, inevitably playing the Italian, although he's probably best recognised as Holocaust survivor
Bernstein in the popular sci-fi mini-series V in 1983. Cimino was 94 and a unique hit for the theme team of obscurities Not Gone Yet, But Still Forgotten. A handy 16 points are awarded as he was the team's joker.
The Living End still have a comfortable lead with Easter now out of the way...
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Wallace's 60 minutes are up |
| Veteran US television journalist Mike Wallace has died. Wallace was one of the first hosts of CBS's pioneering news programme 60 minutes in 1968 and was known for his interrogation of the great and the good of the day. He was 93 and had been ill for some time. Seven teams each win 5 points including my own theme team. Which is nice... | Latest Stiffs: 8th April 2012 |
Bingu gets his wings |
| The President of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika has died. Mutharika started off as an economist, rising to power when he was chosen as Elson Bakili Muluzi's
successor in 2004. This caused ructions in the ruling United Democratic Front party, so Mutharika went off and formed his own. He was re-elected in 2009 after a relatively successful
period as president before heading down the familar route of power-hungry despotism. There was initial confusion as to whether he actually died or was still ailing but this obit from the BBC suggests that he has indeed kicked the bucket. Mutharika was 78 and a unique hit for Funeral Holmes who get 10 points.
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Miguel's de la soul |
| Former Mexico president Miguel de la Madrid has died aged 77. De la Madrid was elected president in 1982, presiding over the transition of a normally state-dominated economy to one run on free market lines, very much in keeping with those times. He also oversaw the consequences of the devasting earthquake in the capital in 1985 and the country's hosting of the 1986 football World Cup (some might recognise him as the chap who handed the trophy to Diego Maradona). Three teams gain 7 points, with Blacksox doubling up with their joker. The Living End now stretch their lead to 17 points. The rest have got a bit of catching up to do... |
The wince of Denmark |
| Paediatrician Leila Denmark had died. Denmark had a practice in Athens, Georgia for some 70 odd years, retiring in 2002 aged 103. She also won awards for her research into whooping cough. Denmark was 114 and a hit for four teams who all get 3 points. |
| List of the Lost - Latest Entrants |
| List of the Missed - Latest Entrants |
| Player of the Month - March |
The Living End - 29 points |
| Latest News |
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is found guilty of war crimes. Egomaniac Chelsea captain John Terry misses the Champions League Final after getting sent off against Barcelona. Ex-PM of Ukraine turned jailbird Yulia Tymoshenko faces more time in prison for tax evasion. War criminals, egotists, fraudsters - they all bow down to the star turn of the week, Rupert Murdoch as he takes the stand at the Leveson inquiry and proceeds to slur an ex-PM, deny any direct involvement in the hacking scandal and implicate the current government in collusion for his benefit. The others on this news roundup are just amateurs at bastardness... |
| Message to all current competitors: If you haven't been receiving the notification mails that we send out whenever a celeb carks it, please check that we have your current email address (re-send it to us if unsure), your inbox is not full, and our address is not blocked by your mail system. The following teams are currently uncontactable; Jesus Jones, Juicy Janny, Mad Maureen. Getting spammed by Lived So Let's Die, Shorter Of Breath, One Day Closer To Death and SeasideEssexXile... |
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