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. 2016 marks the Twentieth Anniversary!
| Latest Stiffs: 9th May 2016 by The Man in Black |
Every grave needs good neighbours... |
| A big update now, with a rash of unique hits...
First up is Australian TV producer Reg Grundy.
Grundy made a splash in television and movies, co-producing the concert
film-cum drama of 'Abba: The Movie" in 1977, which established Oz's
eternal love of the Swedish pop giants. Grundy went on to produce the
international hits of 'Prisoner' (with the edition of "Cell Block H"
for UK viewers who would have been confused with seeing a load of
Shelia's in denim rather than Patrick Magoohan!), 'Sons and Daughters'
and the biggest of all, 'Neighbours', which gave the world Kylie
Minogue. Grundy died aged 92 and was a hit for IBetYouWon'tPrintCunt, which we have... Well they say that behind every great man is a great woman, so perhaps it's logical to suggest that behind every awful man is an awful woman. Margot Honecker was the widow of the much-despised East German leader Erich Honecker, serving under his government as Minister's People of Education until she and hubby were both kicked out in the wake of the fall of Communism in 1989. Honecker was 89 and a hit for Deutch theme team Deutschland Verabschiedet Sich! Bob Bennett was a US Republican politician, serving as senator from Utah from 1993-2011. He died aged 82. Once more, the Daily Mail provide the obit and brings The Deadest Of The Dead a unique hit. |
![[Scorecard]](/images/score.png) (Grundy)
![[Points]](/images/death.gif)
+
![[Unique]](/images/unique.gif)
= 8pts |
|
(Honecker)
+
= 9pts |
|
(Bennett)
+
= 9pts |
You ain't just whistlin' Diski |
| Now a key hit, to go along with all the other key hits... Jenny Diski
was a writer who was a protégé of the late Doris Lessing whom the
latter took under her wing when Diski was a teenager. Diski's own
writings often defied categorization. Diski was 68
with many of the big teams picking her. The Living End retains the lead
and now has 114 points, which is a DDP all-time record and there's
still months and months to go! There are also now SIX teams over the
100 point mark, an unprecedented situation, one which may not happen
for some time... Marisol Escobar was part of the "pop art" movement in the 1960s alongside Andy Warhol et al with her striking, box-shaped sculptures. But in the 1970s, Escobar effectively jacked it all in and drifted into obscurity. She died aged 85, a unique hit for art theme team All Death Is Consolation. Frank Levingston Served with the US Army during World War II, fighitng in Italy in 1943. He was known to be the oldest living WWII vet. Well, not anymore as he has died aged 110. making him a unique hit for Old As Dirt. |
|
(Diski)
(28 teams)
= 8pts |
|
(Escobar)
+
= 9pts |
|
(Levingston)
+
= 6pts |
The Reaper makes eyes at Emile |
| Emile Ford was a St Lucia-born singer whose band The Checkmates enjoyed the first UK number 1 hit single of the 1960s with 'What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?', a song later covered by Shakin' Stevens and er.. Terry Venables! Ford later moved into sound engineering, developing a precursor to the karaoke machine. Ford died on Aptil 11th aged 78, but eventually a Guardian obit turned up, awarding Time's-Up Team with a unique hit. Another late obit was for an an unfortunate young man who has died aged only 19. Shameless continue their controversial assault on the Theme Team League title with this hit. Finally we have Sir Edward Ashmore. Born in Ireland, Ashmore served in World War II and rose through the ranks during the Cold War era, eventually becoming First Sea Lord in 1974, retiring in 1977 after becoming Admiral of the Fleet and briefly, Chief of the Defence Staff. Ashmore was 96 and a hit for four teams with They All End Up Smelling The Same, Anyway getting the only joker of this update... |
|
(Ford)
+
= 10pts |
|
(L0tt3r)
+
= 15pts |
(Ashmore)
(4 teams)
= 5pts ![[Joker]](/images/joker2.gif) (1 team) = 10pts |
| Latest Stiffs: 27th April 2016 by The Man in Black |
The Flying numb |
| Server problems meant a delay in the last couple of updates, which are produced as they would have been, plus a couple of latest stiffs... Madeleine Sherwood was a Canadian actress who starred in both the Braodway and film versions of Tenessee Williams' 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Sherwood also starred in the TV series 'The Flying Nun' which ran from 1967-70. Sherwood was 93 and a hit for two teams, including Canadian theme team Rushing to Tim Horton's for Maple Donuts. Guy Hamilton was Fraench-born British film director who cut his teeth with the legendary Carol Reed on films such as 'The Third Man' (where he even doubled for Orson Welles in some shots) before directing the films 'The Colditz Story' and 'An Inspector Calls' in the 1950s. But he's best known as the director of 4 James Bond films, the first, 'Goldfinger' in 1964 is still considered one of the very best in the series. Hamilton was 93 and a hit for several teams with theme team 16 Is The Number still getting good value from his theme... |
|
(Sherwood)
(2 teams)
= 5pts |
|
(Hamilton)
(5 teams)
= 5pts |
| Latest Stiffs: 19th April 2016 by The Man in Black |
![[Picture of Blake's 7]](/images/celebs/2016/thomas.jpg) Set a course for infinity, standard by six... |
Blake's Heaven |
| Welsh actor Gareth Thomas has passed away from heart failure. Thomas primarily saw himself as a stage actor but in 1978 he gained considerable fame on British TV as the titular character in Terry Nation's pessimistic space opera 'Blake's 7'. As Roj Blake, Thomas played the idealistic revolutionary, Hell bent on ridding the galaxy of the fascistic Federation and put together his infamous team on the spaceship Liberator. Thomas left the show in 1980, only popping up again in the final episode in 1981, when the crew all got killed off. Thomas was 71 and a unique hit for Unusual Suspects. Servalan will be pleased... |
+
+
![[Unlucky Thirteen]](/images/thirteen.gif)
= 12pts |
Aylwin a day's work for Death... |
| Veteran Chilean politician Patricio Aylwin has died. Aylwin was a Christian Democrat who unwittingly helped the military to seize control from President Allende in 1973. Throughout the junta's rule. Aylwin pushed for the restoration of the constitution which would return democracy to Chile, which finally happened when General Pinochet was ousted in 1989, the same year Aylwin became elected President. He lead Chile until 1994. Aylwin was 97 and a hit for two teams. Aylwin's persuasive powers might haved struggled against the antics of Marie Barone, the tyrannical matriarch of the Barone family in the US sitcom 'Everybody Loves Raymond'. Mrs Barone was played by Doris Roberts, who won four Emmy awards for the role. Roberts was 90 and a hit for another couple of teams... |
|
(Aylwin)
(2 teams)
= 5pts |
|
(Roberts)
(2 teams)
= 5pts |
Drop the Dead Donkey actor |
| David Swift followed his younger brother Clive into the acting business after initially being a business manager. He used this experience to set up Tempest Films, an early independent television production company. On the acting side, Swift was mainly in character parts but found fame in 1990 with Channel 4's 'Drop the Dead Donkey' a topical comedy following the fortunes of the fictional GlobeLink News corporation. Swift played the vain and sarcastic news anchor Henry Davenport. Swift was 85 and a unique hit for acting theme team Final Curtain. Jock Scot was a performance poet who hung out with both the punks and well-heeled ladies, getting by with his charm and charisma. Scot died aged 63, with several teams scoring, including Golden Slumbers, who move into third and becomes the fourth team to score over 100 points, the first time this has happened in DDP history. Arthur Anderson was an American actor who collaborated with Orson Welles on stage but is best known as the Oirish voice of the 'Lucky Charms' cereal adverts for thirty years. He died aged 93 and is a unique hit for trash food theme team Drive-Thru Shooting. Mildred Gordon was a left-wing Labour MP for Bow and Poplar, replacing the retiring veteran Ian Mikado in 1987. She held the seat for ten years before making way for New Labour apparatchik Jim Fitzpatrick. Gordon was 93 and a unique hit for theme team The Honourable Member for DDP North, who look certain to save their deposit... |
|
(Swift)
+
= 9pts |
|
(Scot)
+
(5 teams)
= 8pts |
|
(Anderson)
+
= 8pts |
|
(Gordon)
+
= 8pts |
| Latest Stiffs: 12th April 2016 by The Man in Black |
![[Picture of the Fuzzy Logic album]](/images/celebs/2016/marks.jpg) The Reaper's hangin' with Howard Marks... |
No more Mr Nice guy |
| Cult figure and drug-smuggler Howard Marks has died. Despite an Oxford education, Wales-born Marks embarked on a career in smuggling dope in the 1970s, using various aliases (including Mr Nice). He was jailed for 25 years in 1990 but five years later was released. In 1996 Marks published his autobiography 'Mr Nice' which became a surprise hit. Immortalised on film and by Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals, Marks became a cult figure and not surprisingly an advocate for the legalisation of cannabis. Who said drugs leads you nowhere? Marks died of colon cancer (I wonder how he got that?) aged 70. Marks was a very popular hit, number 21 in the Drop Forty. Reigning champion David Quantick's Showbiz Pals gets to 11 hits and 101 points but is still only 3rd, testimony to the high quality of this year's competition... |
|
(59 teams)
= 7pts (2 teams) = 14pts |
Grim says "Be my Gest" |
| Another cult figure (of sorts) was David Gest. A childhood friend of Michael Jackson, Gest was a producer and television personality. In 2002 he married Liza Minnelli, drawing much comment for his surgery-enhanced features. The marriage ended in 2007 but by then Gest won British TV audiences over with his idiosyncratic personality on reality show 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!', which prompted a number of spin-offs. However, ill-health dogged him in later years and Gest was found dead in London aged 62. Last Train To Palookaville pick up a surprise unique hit. |
|
+
= 11pts |
Not so okey-dokey for the Okie from Muskogee |
| Country singer Merle Haggard has died. Haggard was one of the famed 'Outlaw' country singers along with the likes of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and was a purveyor of the "Bakersfield" sound which anticipated country-rock with its use of electric guitars. Haggard caused notoriety with his baiting of the 1960s American counter-culture, most notably with the 1969 hit single 'Okie from Muskogee', with its celebration of patriotic middle America in the face of the hippie movement. His overt support for Ronald Reagan enabled his pardon for his previous pre-fame criminal activities. Haggard died on his 79th birthday, ensuring a welcome party pooper bonus for the 8 teams that picked him, the good ol' boy! |
+
![[Party Pooper]](/images/partypooper.gif) (8 teams)
= 12pts |
Blackjack in the box |
| Blackjack Mulligan was a hulking WWE Hall of Fame wrestler who formed a successful tag team pairing with Ric Flair, amongst others in the 1970s, with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan as his manager. The former Robert Windham had been in poor health in recent years and died aged 73. You Gotta Risk It For The Biscuit get their debut hit. Julien Hoferlin was a Belgian tennis coach who helped guide the national tennis team to runners-up to Great Britain in the Davis Cup in 2015. Hoferlin was 49 and a unique hit for veteran A Pelican In The Wilderness. And now a hit from what was a remarkable month of March. John Brooks was a Welsh politician who was James Callaghan's election agent in the Cardiff South-East constituency and was staunch opposer of the hard left faction in the Labour Party. Made a peer in 1979, Brooks later served as President of the British Boxing Board of Control. Brooks was 88 and a unique hit for Finbarr Returns From The Dead. Yes, March was indeed a remarkable month in the history of the Derby Dead Pool. No less than FIVE teams socred SIX hits! The roll of honour is Golden Slumbers, Buckets O Blood, Cancerous Hatred, Crossing The Styx and The Living End with the latter two sharing the all-time points in a month record of 64. A further 8 teams got 5 hits! Surely this heavy-duty scoring cannot last, with over 100 hits in total so far with months and months to go, but you can only have 20 celebs in a team... |
|
(Mulligan)
+
= 10pts |
|
(Hoferlin)
+
= 13pts |
|
(Brooks)
+
= 9pts |
|
|
| List of the Lost - Latest Entrants |
| |
| List of the Missed - Latest Entrants |
|
Dennis Davis, John Vane, 11th Baron Barnard, Arnold Wesker, Victoria Wood, (wrestler) Chyna, (musician) Prince :(, Billy Paul, Barry Howard, Roger Millward, Maurice Siné, Candye Kane |
| |
| Player of the Month - March |
|
Crossing The Styx and The Living End - 64 points & 6 hits! (RECORD) |
| Latest News |
|
Looks like the famed Osbourne marriage has hit a rocky patch as Ozzy is said to be cheating on Sharon. Shame the cameras aren't showing the fallout form this little episode! The Theme Team League is updated for April with Shameless pegged back a tad.. |
| 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 2016]](/images/ddp2016_logo.png){kind=logo} |
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