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...
| Latest Stiffs: 9th November 2015 by The Man in Black |
For Fuchs' sake |
| Ernst Fuchs was an Austrian artist who specialised in "Fantastic Realism" - brightly coloured works with a religious symbolism, influenced by fellow Austrian Gustav Klimt. Fuchs was 85 and a unique hit for art-based theme team All Death Is Consolation. Yitshak Navon was an Israeli author and politician who served as his country's president from 1978 to 1983, a relatively (and I say this advisedly) stable period for the region in the aftermath of the peace settlement between Israel and Egypt, signed in 1979. However this period was shattered by events in Lebanon which had the heavy involvement of Ariel Sharon. Navon left office in 1983 but he remained in politics, joining the Labour Party and later served as Deputy Prime Minister. Navon was 94 and was a hit for three teams. Tom Graveney was a mercurial international cricketer, playing for England in their famous Ashes triumph over the Aussies in 1953, winning back the urn. He was indeed the last survivor of that famous series. He captained England briefly in 1968, played 79 times and scored over 100 test tons in a lengthy first class career. He later joined the BBC's famous Test Match Special team as a broadcaster. He died aged 88 and was a unique hit for Coffin Fit. With his burly frame, shaggy hair and broad Yorkshire delivery, actor Colin Welland was a familiar face on British TV for several decades, appearing in the likes of 'Z-Cars' and the classic 1979 Dennis Potter play 'Blue Remembered Hills', acting incongrously as a child (as did the rest of the cast). But he was also a scriptwriter and had his biggest success with the hit film 'Chariots of Fire' in 1982, earning a Best Original Screenplay Oscar and famously declared "The British are Coming" in accepting the award. Welland died aged 81 after a long battle with Alzheimers and is a unique hit for Trojan Hearse who stuck with exactly the same team as 12 months ago and has been rewarded for their patience with a third hit, so it'll will definitely be all change for 2016! Now back to October. Al Molinaro first caught the eye in the TV sitcom version of the classic Neil Simon film 'The Odd Couple' as Murray, the rather dim policeman friend of Oscar and Felix. But he was best known as "Big Al" Delvecchio in the classic TV series 'Happy Days', a part he played from 1976-82. Molinaro was 96 and a hit for 22 teams with a joker points bonus for US-TV theme team Turn Off That Telly and Go to Bed! A Couple of weeks ago, I was asked to remove a pick that was chosen for DDP 2015. Politely by the pick themself and rather less polite by their friends. I have decided to do that although that does not remove said pick (who will not be named) for the actual game itself. This comes as a result of certain, shall we say "sensitive" picks and there is always a danger of such real-life nominees getting wind of their inclusion. I'm now pondering a way of possibly masking some of the more contentious (but going by the rules of the game entirely legitimate) picks for next year to avoid undue controversy as well as a tightening of the rules in terms of what counts as a legitimate obit and what type of picks are allowed in time for the opening of the nomination period in a month's time, so stay tuned... |
![[Scorecard]](/images/score.png) (Fuchs)
![[Points]](/images/death.gif)
+
![[Unique]](/images/unique.gif)
= 9pts |
|
(Navon)
= 5pts |
|
(Graveney)
+
= 9pts |
|
(Welland)
+
= 9pts |
(Molinaro)
(22 teams)
= 5pts ![[Joker]](/images/joker2.gif) (1 team) = 10pts |
| Latest Stiffs: 25th October 2015 by The Man in Black |
![[Picture of Maureen O'Hara]](/images/celebs/2015/ohara.jpg) Blimey O'Reilly, O'Hara's snuffed it! |
The Quietened woman |
| Red-headed Hollywood beauty Maureen O'Hara becomes the latest actor from the Golden Age to bite the dust. Dublin-born O'Hara got her break as a teenager, starring opposite Charles Laughton in the RKO film 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' in 1939. She followed that up with hit movies 'How Green Was My Valley' and 'Miracle on 34th Street'. But it was her legendary chemistry with Western icon John Wayne that she'll be best remebered for. They starred in five films together including the Galway-based classic 'The Quiet Man', directed by the legendary John Ford. O'Hara was 95 and a hit for over 30 teams, including the theme team O'Dead which would have been Oh so ironic if they hadn't picked her. |
|
(31 teams)
= 5pts |
Baldwin heads for cremation street |
| Actor Peter Baldwin has passed away aged 82. Baldwin played the rather bumptious salesman Derek Wilton in the TV classic 'Coronation Street', enduring a famously on-off relationship with the dithering Mavis Reilly, played by Thelma Barlow. Baldwin's character was killed off in 1997 as part of an infamous 'cull' of major characters, which so often happens in long-running soaps. He was a unique hit for "Corrie" theme team The Cobbles To A Coffin... |
|
+
+
= 9pts |
Please sir, I want some more hits... |
| Character actor Richard Davies was often cast as the irritable Welshman, a career highlight as the cynical teacher Mr Price in LWT's hit comedy series 'Please Sir!' in which the cast of students all looked about 35! Another big role was in the hit film 'Zulu' and indeed there can't be that many cast members left after Michael Caine in that production. He also had a memorable cameo as trade union leader Clive Jenkins in the cult smash 'Not the Nine O'clock News'. He died aged 89 and was a hit for 2 teams, a Welsh rarebit of a hit... Daničle Delorme was a delicate French actress who hit the big time in 1949 in the original film version of 'Gigi', which was curiously given an X certificate. Sacre bleu! She later branched into film production and stagework, such as George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan'. Delorme was 89 and a unique hit for DDP debutant Down In Devil Gate Drive. It's a case of same again for Diana Pullein-Thompson, author of several books centred around ponies alongside her sister Josephine, who died last year. Like her sister Diana was 90 when she died and is a unique hit for theme team The Bedsoring 20s. |
|
(Davies)
(2 teams)
= 6pts |
|
(Delorme)
+
= 9pts |
|
(Pullein-Thompson)
+
= 8pts |
| Latest Stiffs: 13th October 2015 by The Man in Black |
![[Picture of Geoffrey Howe and Margaret Thatcher]](/images/celebs/2015/howe.jpg) Will Maggie and Geoff make it up in the afterlife? |
DDP hit rate salvaged by a dead sheep |
| Just six days after one ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer passed away, his successor Geoffrey Howe has also swapped the red box for a pine one. Despite his gentle, Eeyoresque demeanor, Sir Geoffrey Howe was one of the more controversial residers at number 11 Downing Street. He introduced the concept of monetarism into the mainstream political economy in an attempt to force down inflation (although it did initially rise to 20% before falling significantly). His notorious 1981 budget attempted to cut public spending and raise taxes and came at the nadir of a major recession which eventually racked up unemployment to well over 3 million. The knock on effect was to pave the way for "free enterprise" and a less state-driven growth in the struggling British economy. Whether it truly worked or not is open to endless debate. After Thatcher's landslide election win in 1983, Howe was moved to the Foreign office and this was when tensions developed between himself and the PM, particularly over Europe. This came to head in 1990 when Howe resigned and signed off in the commons with one of the most devastating resignation speeches of all time. His attack on Thatcher directly led to the Iron Lady being challenged for the leadership and leaving office in dramatic circumstances in November 1990. Howe died of a heart attack aged 88. 7 teams get the points and Nigel Lawson is left looking nervously over his shoulder... |
(7 teams)
= 6pts |
Mankell well ended |
| Swedish author Henning Mankell hit fame as the the writer of the 'Wallander' series of crime novels, with it's self-absorbed anti-hero detective Kurt Wallander. The books were made into a hit TV series in Sweden and in the UK (starring Sir Kenneth Branagh), the formers reruns on BBC Four arguably kick-staring the 2010s trend of "Nordic Noir" TV hits. Mankell died of cancer aged 67, with 8 teams shrewdly snatching the booty... |
|
(8 teams)
= 8pts |
Grace Lee Boggs off |
| Grace Lee Boggs was a social and political activist for over seven decades, focusing on Black Power as as other left-wing causes, such as feminism. Lee Boggs was 100 and a hit for 5 teams including regning champ David Quantick's Showbiz Pals who remain in third but nudge just a little closer to leader The Living End as a likely clash of dead pool titans will ensue this Autumn... |
|
(5 teams)
= 4pts |
Three good, handy, hommes... |
| Coleridge Goode was a veteran jazz double bass player. Born in Jamaica, Goode came to Britain in the 1930s and played with the likes of violinist Stephane Grappeli and Tito Burns, He was still playing London clubs into his 90s. Goode was 100 and a unique hit for DDP old-stager Carker's Convention. At the other end of the age scale is cage fighter Wil Handford. Handford was diagnosed with bowel cancer despite claiming he was in the best shape of his life! So it goes. Handford was just 24 and a unique hit for P@F Deathlist. Paul Prudhomme was a chef who brought Louisiana's spicy "Cajun cuisine" unique to the state, into the American mainstream during the 1980s and from it became one of America's most famous chefs. Prudhomme was 75 and is a second unique hit in as many weeks for Louisiana theme team Die You On The Bayou. |
|
(Goode)
+
= 7pts |
|
(Handford)
+
= 15pts |
|
(Prudhomme)
+
= 10pts |
|
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| List of the Lost - Latest Entrants |
| |
| List of the Missed - Latest Entrants |
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Árpád Göncz, Hugh Scully, Gordon Honeycombe, Joan Leslie, Howard Kendall, Kirsty Howard, Ján Chryzostom Korec, Günter Schabowski, Fred Thompson, Nora Brockstedt |
| |
| Player of the Month - September |
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The Final Whistle - 13 points |
| Latest News |
|
Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt is in a critical condition. Meanwhile newsreader George Alagiah is reputedly "clear" of his cancer... The Theme Team League is updated for September with Red-Flagged still in the lead. |
| 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, 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
|
![[DDP 2015]](/images/ddp2015.jpg) |
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