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 The Man in Black...
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Latest Stiffs: 5th September 2015 by The Man in Black |
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The (old) Queen is dead
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With summer brought to a seemingly premature end, here's a neat end to the last month's hits... Edward Douglas-Scott-Montague was the 3rd Baron of Beaulieu who caused a massive stir in 1954 when he was convicted for homosexual acts (AKA Gross Indecency) and sentenced to 12 months in prison. Homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967. However he was also known for being one of the pioneers of the heritage industry, when his stately home (steady now) was made open to the public in 1952. He later opened the National Motor Museum which was full of old bangers.
Montagu was 88 and a unique hit for Stone Dead Cert.
And now a late obit. Ruth Newman was only 4 years old when the famous earthquake in San Francisco struck in April 1906. She was the oldest known survivor and died on July 29th. For a while the news looked to have been quietly forgotten, but eventually the
Daily Mail came up trumps with a UK obit. Two teams shake with delight at the news.
Bart Cummings was one of Australia's greatest horse trainers, winning over 7000 races including the premier flat race The Melbourne Cup on 12 occasions, first winning in 1965 and winning his twelfth in 2008.
Cummings was 87 and is a 4th hit for debutant Pity da Foolz. Another successful sportsman was Canadian Ice Hockey player and coach
Al Arbour. Arbour won 3 Stanley Cups as player but is better known for leading the New York Islanders to 4 consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1980s.
Arbour was 82 and a 5th hit for theme team 20 Names 20 Sports.
The final hit of this update is decisive. Denise Marshall was feminist campaigner who set up the Poppy Project which campaigned against sex traffiking and was the Chief Executive of the Eaves Foundation which campaigned against violence against women, etc. Marshall died on August 21st aged 53 and true to form the feminist-inclined Guardian wing in with the required obit. Half a dozen teams win points and this means that DDP legend The Living End take the lead for the first time since April 2013. There's still time for all this to change though but for the time being TLE are on course for a record 4th title...
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(Montagu)
+
= 9pts |
(Newman)
(2 teams)
= 3pts |
(Cummings)
+
= 9pts |
(Arbour)
+
= 9pts |
(Marshall)
(6 teams)
= 9pts (1 team) = 18pts |
Latest Stiffs: 28th August 2015 by The Man in Black |
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August odds and sods
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As it seems to be the case these days, August is proving the shallow month for DDP stiffs (perhaps it's the summer weather?). Nonetheless here's a top up...
Amelia Boynton Robinson was a veteran civil rights leader in the Deep South. She led the march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama in 1965, a demonstration that ended in violence with police in which she was almost killed. 50 years on she's passed away aged 104. Two teams pick up the points.
Guy Ligier's Formula 1 team was a familiar name in motor sport in the 1980s, winning 9 races. Ligier himself both a racing driver and a rugby player before running his own team, which were eventually sold to the great Alain Prost.
Ligier was 85 and a unique hit for racing team Red-Flagged who have notched an impressive 6 hits so far in their quest to win the TTL and this hit puts them in pole position...
If the Australian cricket team's summer can't get any worse. First they lose the Ashes and now they've lost one of their "invincibles" in the form of Arthur Morris. Morris opened with the legendary Don Bradman and was witness to the great man's last ever test innings, a duck (that's dismissed without scoring, non-cricket fans!) on the opposite side of the wicket in the Aussie's victorious 1948 series. Morris scored 196 in the same innings. Morris was 93 and was a unique hit for The Dead Certs.
Ieng Thirith was the highest-ranked female in the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s. She was sister-in-law to the notorious Pol Pot and married to foreign minister (and previous DDP graduate) Ieng Sary.
Thirith was 83 and another unique hit, this time for DDP old-stager Dave's Dead, Aye Dead Drunk.
In 1936, Welshman Sam Ledward was involved in a serious motorcycle accident and slipped into a coma so deep, he was confirmed dead. But he wasn't and he subsequently woke up in the mortuary! Well, he certainly made the best of it and lived another 79 years, finally carking it
at the age of 104. And it's another hit for Dave's Dead, Aye Dead Drunk along with fellow DDP veteran Biologically Dead.
And now a bit of glamour to finish things off. Yvonne Craig appeared as Batgirl in the classic camp 1960s 'Batman' series opposite adam West and Burt Ward. Craig also appeared in two films with the King of Rock 'n Roll Elvis Presley as well as that other 1960s cult 'Star Trek'.
Craig was 78 with two teams scoring including Batman theme team Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. Holy burial!
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(Boynton Robinson)
(2 teams)
= 4pts |
(Ligier)
+
= 9pts |
(Morris)
+
= 8pts |
(Thirith)
+
= 9pts |
(Ledward)
(2 teams)
= 4pts |
(Craig)
(2 teams)
= 7pts |
Latest Stiffs: 14th August 2015 by The Man in Black |
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The World is no longer George's lobster... |
Arthur Daley, a little dodgy maybe but underneath, he'll be alright!
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Actor George Cole has died after a short illness. A protege of the great Alistair Sim, Cole already had a long career as a character actor on film and TV (most notably as "Flash" Harry in the St Trinians films alongside Sim) before landing the role of a lifetime in 1979 as Arthur Daley in 'Minder', one of ITV's greatest ever TV series. Originally envisaged as a vehicle for Dennis Waterman, Cole stole the show as the dodgy car dealer, forever reeling his minder Terry in one scheme or another in search of a "nice little earner." The series ran from 1979 to 1994 and remains an evergreen classic, with it's memorable cockney dialogue and shaggy dog stories. Cole was 90 and a hit for a sov short of a score of teams. A VAT on the slate please, Dave...
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(19 teams)
= 5pts |
No waking for Blakey
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Another small screen comic icon has bitten the dust in the form of Stephen Lewis. Lewis hit the big time in 1969 as the uptight bus inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake in LWT's bawdy sitcom hit of the 1970s 'On the Buses'. Blakey was the long-suffering boss of cheeky scamps Reg Varney and Bob Grant who always seemd to get the upper hand on the man they called "Hitler". Lewis appeared in all 74 episodes and three spin-off films between 1969 and 1973. Lewis also had a long-running role in the more genteel 'Last of the Summer Wine' from 1988-2007.
Lewis was 88 and a hit for 8 teams. That's made their day that has...
Louise Suggs was a founder of the Ladies Professional Golf Association in 1950 and one of the games finest female golfers, winning 61 titles including a career Grand Slam.
She was 91 and a hit for theme team In The Hole! who get a third hit into the cup.
Just weeks after Omar Sharif, another noted Egyptian actor has died.
Nour El-Sherif was one of Egypt's biggest actors in the 1970s although in recent years he had courted controversy with his theories regarding the Holocaust and 9/11 amongst others. So the likes of David Icke and co will be in mourning as he has died aged 69. Theme team Obscura Camera get a unique hit, their first.
Now an addendum. For some reason, I keep forgetting to add Czech pianist
Ivan Moravec from the list despite him getting the
right obit for what seems like ages! Dead and Dusted 3 get a 4th hit and enter the top 10 of the Theme Team League, still headed by ...and Its Goodnight From Him.
|
(Lewis)
(8 teams)
= 6pts |
(Suggs)
+
= 8pts |
(El-Sherif)
+
= 11pts |
(Moravec)
+
= 9pts |
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List of
the Lost - Latest Entrants |
James
Varda
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List of
the Missed - Latest Entrants |
Frank
Gifford,
Antonia Gerena
Rivera,
Gušrķšur
Gušbrandsdóttir,
Egon
Bahr,
Wang
Dongxing,
Joy
Beverley,
Chandra Bahadur
Dangi
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Player
of the Month - July |
Chelski Pensioners, Dead Wait,
Death: A Fate Worse Than Life., Red-Flagged and The Good, The Bad And Cliff Richard - 24 points
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Latest
News |
The Queen is just days away from overtaking Queen Victoria as Britain's longest serving monarch, showing no signs of slowing down. Meanwhile Sue Perkins announces that she has a brain tumour. Could be a pick that simmers in the oven next year...
The Theme Team League is updated for August.
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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.
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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, The Grey Horde, Thomas Jefferson Survives, Bibliogryphon, David Quantick's Showbiz Pals, Dickie's Gone the Way of the Dinosaurs & The End Of The World As We Know It
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