The 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: 5th September 2014 by The Man in Black

Bald guy wins two bald guys for a film about a bald guy...

Dickie's as stiff as Brighton rock!

Sir Richard Attenborough, one of the great figures of British cinema, has died. Attenborough (whose brother David is the famed nature documentarist) first made his mark in 1947 as the psychotic Pinky in 'Brighton Rock'. After appearing in a series of films throughout the fifties and sixties (including 'The Great Escape', he broke into directing in 1969, with the acclaimed 'Oh! What A Lovely War', which took a decidedly less sentimental view of World War One than we do these days. His finest hour came in 1983, with multiple Oscars for 'Gandhi', the biopic of the Indian leader, a project which took 20 years to finance. "Dickie" was a key motivator for British film and televison, having a hand in the creation of Channel Four and the British Film Institute amongst others. This celebrated figure of public life died aged 90. Again a hit on the Drop Forty among the lower order.

(53 teams) = 5pts (3 teams) = 10pts

Rivers run for Joan

Acerbic comedienne Joan Rivers has made her last quip. Rivers emerged in the 1960s, getting her big break on Johnny Carson's 'Tonight Show', her barbed, gossipy put-downs a speciality. In the 1980s, she hosted her own, short-lived but fondly remembered chat show in the UK, 'Can We Talk?', alongside a plethora of TV and film cameos. In later years, she was notorious in her use of plastic surgery and despite her rather sudden death she was 81, after all. You can't fool the Grim Reaper, Joan. Ooh, Man In Black, you bitch...

(6 teams) = 6pts

August/September odds and sods...

Werner Franz was one of the last survivors of the surviving passengers from the Hindenburg airship disaster of 1937. Franz survived when a water tank burst above him, drenching him in water, giving him enough time and protection to escape. He died on August 13th aged 92.
Bill Kerr was another "survivor", this time of the classic BBC radio sitcom 'Hancock's Half Hour', playing the dim-witted Bill opposite "the Lad 'imself" Tony Hancock, although he didn't make the transfer to the TV series. The Australian actor later appeared in the 'Doctor Who' serial 'The Enemy of the World', which was missing until 2013 when all six episodes were discovered in Africa. He was also 92.
Andrew McLaglen, son of the actor Victor McLaglen, directed the legendary John Wayne in several films, as well as Richard Burton in 'The Wild Geese' in 1978, in a CV in which the emphasis on action/westerns.
He died aged 94 and was a unique hit for film theme team The Last Picture Show.
Now into September and possibly a key hit. Andrew Madoff was a businessman and son of the disgraced fraudster Bernie Madoff. He was been suffering from cancer for some time and died aged 48. Only four teams picked Madoff, all heavyweights, including the soon-to-be-retiring-from-competing-at-least Octopus of Odstock, who moves into third, behind two other DDP laureates. Drunkasaskunk is still in command however.
Our latest hit is the Argentinian rock star Gustavo Cerati. Cerati had been in a coma since May 2010. Such picks can often be forgotten. However, DDP regular Carne And Sarne, Plus Eighteen have their patience rewarded, as Cerati has died aged 55, thus ensuring a unique hit...

(Franz) (3 teams) = 5pts

(Kerr) (2 teams) = 5pts

(McLaglen) + = 8pts

(Madoff) (4 teams) = 10pts

(Cerati) + = 12pts

Latest Stiffs: 22nd August 2014 by The Man in Black

Albert's demise is no tea shock

Former Irish PM Albert Reynolds has died. Reynolds was a businessman at first, owning a chain of dance halls (at one of which The Man In Black's parents first met!). He was elected to the Irish Dail in 1977 and became Taoiseach in 1992, heading a Fianna Fall/Labour coalition. Reynolds' main achievement was the Downing Street Declaration, with British PM John Major in 1993, which ensured closer cooperation between the British and Irish governments regarding Northern Ireland. He resigned as PM the following year. Reynolds was 81 and had been ill for some time.

(20 teams) = 6pts (1 team) = 12pts

The classified death results...

Two familiar voices either side of the Atlantic died this week. James Alexander Gordon announced the football results on BBC Radio 2 (then Five Live) on Sports Report every Saturday during the season from 1974 until 2013. "Jag" would change the tone in his voice depending on the result. Sadly it's case of Gordon nil, Grim Reaper one after 78 years.
Don Pardo was an equally familiar voice for American TV auduences. He announced the death of President John F. Kennedy for NBC in 1963. Since 1975, he was the announcer for the long-runing sketch institution 'Saturday Live', introducing us to the klikes of John Belushi and Will Ferrell et al. Now it's a case of Saturday night dead for Pardo at the age of 96.
Soprano Licia Albanese was a mainstay at the New York Meteropolitan Opera from 1940 to 1966, performing as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata 90 times, a record for an operatic role at the company. She was 105.
Now a couple of catch ups. Anthony Smith was an explorer and television presenter, becoming one of the first presenters of 'Tomorrow's World' in the 1960s. Smith also wrote the best-selling science book 'The Body', which was later titled 'The Human Body' for television. Not one for retiring quietly, Smith continued to travel across the seas by raft well into his eighties. Smith was 88 and a unique hit for Life's Obituary. The final update is a death from way back in February. Alice Babs who died aged 90, was a Swedish jazz singer, who was the first from her country to perform in the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1958. Finding an appropriate UK obit proved a challenge, but one eventually surfaced of sorts, from a Radio Three programme broadcast in May. Under current rules it counts and provides a welcome 5 points for the pair of teams who picked her.

(Gordon) (6 teams) = 7pts

(Pardo) (4 teams) = 5pts

(Albanese) (2 teams) = 4pts

(Smith) + = 9pts

(Babs) (2 teams) = 5pts

Latest Stiffs: 15th August 2014

Grim's mirror has two faces...

Nanu Nanoose for Robin

A dark week for Hollywood, as two of it's most illuminating stars have passed away...
Robin Williams burst onto the scene in 1978 as the alien Mork in the hit US sitcom 'Mork and Mindy', dazzling audiences with his zany, improvised comedy. After an initial flop in Robert Altman's 'Popeye', Williams carved out a fine career in Hollywood, with critical success in films such as 'Good Morning, Vietnam', 'The Fisher King' and 'Good Will Hunting' which earned the actor a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1998. He also had a massive box office hit with 'Mrs Doubtfire' in 1993. But Williams had a troubled personal life, with a constant battle with drink and drugs. Sadly, Williams was found dead of an apparent suicide at the age of 63. The Honey Trap wont be complaining though, with an impressive haul of points...

+ + = 15pts

The big sleep beckons for Bacall

Just over 24 hours later, another Hollywood legend died, but from a different era. Lauren Bacall was just 19 when she landed the role of the "femme fatale" opposite the legendary Humphrey Bogart in the 1944 classic 'To Have and to Have Not'. The chemistry between the two stars was apparent and confirmed in 'The Big Sleep'. Bacall was married to 'Bogey' until his death from cancer in 1956. Bacall, with her smouldering looks and husky voice, was one of the big stars of the Golden age of Hollywood. Although her fame faded somewhat in the 1960s, she always kept her hand in, appearing in films such as 'Murder on the Orient Express' and 'The Mirror has two Faces' for which she was nominiated for an Oscar. She died aged 89.

(27 teams) = 6pts (2 teams) = 12pts

There is nothing like a dead dame

A couple of centenarians to round off...
Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw was a mathematician, educationalist and later a politician, serving on Manchester City Council from 1956-81, which included a spell as Lord Mayor. She later advised Margaret Thatcher's government. All this depite being death from the age of eight. She died aged 101.
Yvette Lebon was France's oldest surviving film actress until her death at the age of 103. This obit from the Independent ensures a unique hit for Obituarynotice, aptly enough...

(Ollerenshaw) (3 teams) = 4pts

(Lebon) + = 7pts

Latest Stiffs: 9th August 2014

Brady gets the bullet and other odds and sods

Some bits and pieces covering several months this week...
30th March 1981: President Ronald Reagan was leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel with his entourage when he was shot at several times by Jodie Foster-obsessed John Hinckley Jr., wounding the President. Ronnie survived but the most affected was his press secretary James Brady, who was shot in the head. Brady became paralysed for the rest of his life and has now died aged 73. He became not surprisingly an advocate for gun control ever since. Washington Police has declared his death a homicide, despite the incident taking place 33 years ago, so an extra bonus for the two teams that picked him and more trouble for Hinckley, who wasn't convicted but was instead sent to the looney bin. After all, Foster was a lesbian anyway, the eejit!
Another who was linked with the highest levels of government, albeit from a distance was journalist Chapman Pincher. Pincher delved into the murky world of Cold War espionage, securing several scoops, much to the irritation of successive Prime Ministers. He's filed his last case at 100.
Alex Forbes was a Scottish footballer (in the days when they were quite good at it) who played for Arsenal, winning an FA Cup winner's medal in 1950 and a league championship three years later. He was later a manager abroad, notably in South Africa. He was 89.
Edward Clancy was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia from 1983-2001. He died aged 91. This obit means that The Pope finally gets a hit after being so unlucky last year, with several dead cardinals not getting the required obit, so a well deserved hit.
Edith Ritchie was one half of Britain's oldest set of twins, alongside her sister Evelyn Middleton. Well that record's been pissed up aganst the wall with Ritchie passing away at 104.
May squeezes out another hit in the form of Rear-Admiral Roger Dimmock who has died aged 78. Dimmmock survived a near fatal crash at the Farnborough Air show in 1958 and ended up a Air Naval Commander, serving in the Falklands War. Bloody hell, time is certainly passing when falklands veterans are carking it! He died on May 6th but here Telegraph fly to his rescue and becomes a unique hit for theme team Roger and Out.

(Brady) + (2 teams) = 10pts

(Pincher) (18 teams) = 4pts (2 teams) = 8pts

(Forbes) (3 teams) = 6pts

(Clancy) + = 9pts

(Ritchie) (3 teams) = 4pts

(Dimmock) + = 10pts

List of the Lost - Latest Entrants

Marina Filipovna Khordorkovsky, Mario Oriani-Ambrosini

List of the Missed - Latest Entrants

Arlene Martell, Leonid Stadnyk, Norman Gordon, Donatas Banionis

Player(s) of the Month - July

David Quantick's Showbiz Pals & Octopus of Odstock - 18 points

Latest News

It's all getting a bit tense, with Barack Obama and David Cameron making threatening noises towards Vladimir Putin and Islamic State, with their leaders no doubt ready to make the list for DDP 2015!
Many thanks to those teams who have offered their services for next year's DDP. Seems The Man In Black may not be letting go just yet...
The Theme Team League is updated for August.

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

Archive

August