Derby Dead Pool


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 to 2007 by Siegfried Baboon and Rude Kid. From 2008 to 2009, it was run by Octopus of Odstock, and from 2010 to 2014, The Man in Black. From 2015, who knows? It could be a team effort...

Latest Stiffs: 3rd August 2014

Sally buys the Farmiloe

South African-born actress Sally Farmiloe has died. Farmiloe's best known role on television was as barmaid Dawn in the BBC's oh-so-eighties soap operea 'Howard's Way'. However it was in the tabloids where she gained notoriety when an affair with the upsanding, honest Jeffrey Archer came to light in the 1990s. She died after a long battle with breast cancer aged 60. Farmiloe is the 9th member of the Drop Forty to cop it, an impressive mumber considering that the top ten reamins untouched. She was a key hit as well, with many of the contenders having her in their teams, including defending champion David Quantick's Showbiz Pals. Not enough to take the lead though, with Millennial champion Drunkasaskunk also shrewdly picking Farmiloe to maintain the lead by a single point.
DQSP's other hit was somewhat more obscure. Kristina Fetters murdered her aunt in Iowa in 1994 and was jailed the following year aged just 15. She was allowed out of prison for compassionate reasons late in 2013 and died of breast cancer aged 34. The reaffirmation (some might say relaxation) of the rules regarding UK obits means that this is considered enough for the reigning champion and two other teams (including former champ Octopus of Odstock) to claim the points.
King Robbo was a Graffiti artist who had a long-standing feud with the rather more famous Banksy. In 2011, King Robbo had a fall and then fell into a persistent vegetative state. He died at the age (roughly) of 45. Diana Rots get their first hit of the year.
Time has finally run out for childrens author and illustrator Val Biro. Biro was born in Hungary but came to Britain on the eve of war in 1939 and joined the Central School of Art in London. Biro created the character of Gumdrop, a vintage car, in a series of books for children from the 1960s onwards. He also illustrated other authors books and for the Radio Times. He was 92 Bibliogryphon's Bookworm Food gain another hit...

[Scorecard] (Farmiloe) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (47 teams) = 8pts [Joker] (2 teams) = 16pts
[Scorecard] (Fetters) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (3 teams) = 10pts
[Scorecard] (King Robbo) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 12pts
[Scorecard] (Biro) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 8pts
Latest Stiffs: 27th July 2014

Dora's last taste of honey...

Character actress Dora Bryan has died. Bryan came to the fore in 1961, winning a BAFTA film award for her role as the alcholic mother of Rita Tushingham in Tony Richardson's classic "kitchen sink" drama 'A Taste of Honey'. Bryan went on to play in a host of films and TV shows, often as comic relief, working with the likes of Victoria Wood and Jennifer Saunders. She had been ill for some time and passed away aged 90. A popular hit, just making the Drop Forty...
Lettice Curtis was a woman pilot, who flew numerous missions during World War II and was the first to pilot a four engine bomber plane. She continued to fly in later years, even gaining a helicopter licence aged 77! She died aged 99. Pedro's Catacomb Ensemble get a unique hit.
Tommy Mundon was a comedian hailing from the Black Country (or the West Midlands for those outside of the UK) and was considered the king of Black Country comedy, which leaned towards observational humour. He died after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease aged 80. This obit counts, so should please those yam yams who picked him...
Louis "Red" Klotz was a basketball coach, best known as the head of the various teams that came a cropper to the legendary Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, although he did enjoy a rare moment of glory in 1971, slotting in the game-winner. He was 92 and a slam-dunkin' hit for two teams.
Drunkasaskunk still maintains the lead as the hit rate races past 150. Now, nobody has come forward to potentially replace me as the host of the Derby Dead Pool but despair not. A suggestion by a leading team has made me decide to put absolute retirement plans on hold while I think about a long-term solution to securing this venerable competition's future as DDP XX approaches, so watch this space...

[Scorecard] (Bryan) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (44 teams) = 5pts [Joker] (2 teams) = 10pts
[Scorecard] (Curtis) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 8pts
[Scorecard] (Mundon) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (2 teams) = 6pts [Joker] (1 team) = 12pts
[Scorecard] (Klotz) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (2 teams) = 5pts
Latest Stiffs: 21st July 2014
[Picture of James Garner]

Death's a bummer for Bumgarner

Support your local funeral director

(Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Click) This is Jim Rockford. Please leave a message after the tone (Beep) Hi Jim, it's Angel here. Sorry to hear about your friend James Garner. Gee, he was a good actor wasn't he? Didn't quite reach the very top in Hollywood, it looked good for him after TV success as that cowboy 'Maverick' in the 60s. He was in 'The Great Escape' though. Still, he'll always be remembered as your good self in the TV series that ran from 1974-1980. The Man In Black sends his respects, was one of his ol' pa's favourite shows apparently. In the end, he was ill for a while, still 86 is a decent age I suppose....(click)

[Scorecard] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (16 teams) = 6pts

'Albrect Macht Frei' and other bargain hits

Supermarket mogul Karl Albrecht founded the low cost supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Theo in 1946. The chain became a success first in West Germany before spreading across Europe, notably in Britain. Albrecht was notoriously reclusive, last speaking to the media in 1953. His brother Theo died in 2010. Albrecht was 94 and a unique hit for Compost Corner at a knockdown price.
Elaine Stritch was an American-Irish actress and musical performer best seen on Broadway, where she won a number of awards. Noted for her brash style and loose shirt/tights fashion combo, she found late acclaim as Alec Baldwin's mother in '30 Rock'. She was 89.
Alice Coachman became the first African-American woman to win Olympic Gold for the USA, succeeding in the high jump in the London Olympics of 1948. She was inducted into the US Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975. Coachman died aged 90
South African author Nadine Gordimer was one of a few high profile South African whites to speak out against apartheid, editing Nelson Mandela's famous closing speech at his trial in 1962. Gordimer wrote over 30 books and was both a Booker and Nobel Prize winner. She was 90 with a trio of theme teams picking up the points.
Finally, a hit from June. Philip Hollman was an ornithologist who died on June 20th aged 102. The Guardian swooped in with the appropriate obit for theme team Centenarians.

[Scorecard] (Albrecht) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 10pts
[Scorecard] (Stritch) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (3 teams) = 6pts
[Scorecard] (Coachman) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 8pts
[Scorecard] (Gordimer) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (3 teams) + [Unlucky Thirteen] = 7pts
[Scorecard] (Hollom) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 7pts
Latest Stiffs: 13th July 2014
[Picture of the Ramones]

Last of the Ramones leave home...

Hey ho! Let's go...

Tommy Ramone, last survivor of the Ramones, has died. Born in Hungary, Erdelyi Tamas formed the band in 1974 with Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee and were first spotted playing at the legendary CBGB club in New York. Their fast, relentless style led to their first album, released in 1976, one of the select LPs to have changed music forever as the harbinger of punk rock. Tommy was 62 and an appropriate unique hit for theme team Punks, Not Dead. Plenty more to get through so....1,2,3,4..

[Scorecard] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 11pts

The mark of Zohra (and some others)

Veteran Indian actress Zohra Sehgal has died. Sehgal had a career lasting seven decades, taking in the golden age of Indian cinema as well as roles in British TV and film, including 'Doctor Who' and 'Bend It Like Beckham'. Sehgal was 102 and a hit for 4 teams, who will celebrate with a bhaji on the beach, perhaps...
Now for a run of 4 deaths on the same day, 7th July, a notorious date in recent British history... Footballer Alfredo Di Stefano was born in Argentina, but when he came to Spain, via Colombia in 1953, he was to change the face of European club football. Di Stefano was the shining jewel of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, who won the first five European Cups, with Di Stefano scoring in each of those finals. His and his teams exploits established the competition as perhaps the foremost in World football. Ironically, his death at 88 comes right in the midst of the World Cup of which he never played in, which perhaps unfairly has him put a rung below the greats that did shine in that tournament, such as Johan Cruyff and Zinedine Zidane.
Dickie Jones was a voice actor best known as the voice of the wooden boy 'Pinocchio' in the film of the same name. He was 87. Theme team I Hear Voices pick up the points.
Eduard Shevardnadze was Soviet Union Minister for Foreign Affairs and close ally of President Gorbachev during the final days of the Cold War. The Georgia-born politician later became president of his country following independence in 1992. He was 86 and a unique hit for john_thomas_alerdice.
Michael Scudamore was a jockey and trainer and the patriarch of the Scudamore horse racing dynasty. Both his son and grandsons have gone on to have careers in the saddle but Scudamore the elder is the only one of the family to have won the Grand National, winning on Oxo in 1959. Scudamore was 81 and a unique hir fot Toast of the Turf.
Finally we have photographer Elsbeth Juda who has died aged 103. Juda escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s. In 1945, Juda and her husband Hans joined the British export magazine 'The Ambassador' and coined the phrase "Export or die" as the magazine's motto. She was an accomplished portrait photographer and in 1954 was asked to provide reference shots for artist Graham Sutherland's portrait of Winston Churchill for his 80th birthday. Unfortunately, Churchill hated the resultant painting and it was later destroyed. Juda was a hit for 4 teams.

[Scorecard] (Sehgal) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (4 teams) = 4pts
[Scorecard] (Di Stefano) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (5 teams) = 6pts
[Scorecard] (Jones) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Shevardnadze) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Scudamore) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] + [Unique] = 9pts
[Scorecard] (Juda) [Points] [Points] [Points] [Points] (4 teams) = 4pts
Breaking News: 7th July 2014

The Man in Black to turn it in (his grave)

Five years after being offered the chance to host Britain's best dead pool, I have decided that 2014 will be my final year. I feel that five years is enough and I have taken the site as far as possible and the time is ripe someone else to come up with all those puns. More details will follow as to the search for the new host and what it entails, but now I'm giving notice and plan to bow out towards the end of 2014 to give the new person time to settle in with the regular updating before the real work comes in December and January...


List of the Lost - Latest Entrants

Ken Thorne, Natty Brooker, Ingeborg Lapsien


List of the Missed - Latest Entrants

Tony Gwynn, Eileen Ford, Johnny Winter, Carlo Bergonzi, Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, Mike Smith


Player of the Month - June

Time's Up Team - 15 points


Latest News

The DDP needs YOU! I am looking for a team of contributors for next year's Derby Dead Pool. Researchers for biographies and pictures, obituary writers and hit/UK obit spotters are required. If interested reply here: ddp2014@derbydeadpool.co.uk
The Theme Team League is updated for July.

Message to all current competitors: There will be no more regular emails except in certain circumstances, such as rules and invitation to next year's competition.

Further Information
Derby Dead Pool is hosted by The Man In Black with contributions from Big-Iain, Rude Kid, Siegfried Baboon, Octopus of Odstock, WEP 2.0 - World's Eternity Prophet Reloaded and The Grey Horde

[DDP 2014]
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