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 since from 2010 to 2017 by The Man In Black...

Latest Stiffs: 24th October 2017 by The Man in Black

Berkowitz pushing up daisy

There has to be a "slow" month and October is that month it seems...
Musician Scott Putesky AKA Daisy Berkowitz co-founded the goth-metal band Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with Brian Warner (AKA Manson) in 1989. Berkowitz left the band mid-way through the production of their breakthrough 'Antichrist Superstar' album in 1996, reverting to the name SMP. In 2013, Berkowitz was diagnosed with cancer and was an initial favourite among deadpoolers (#20 in the Drop 40 in 2015) but then dropped out of favour when other candidates emerged (see below). Berkowitz died aged 49 and was still a substantial hit for 36 teams. With many of the major contenders looking elsewhere this was a hit mainly for the second tier contenders...
In contrast, Gord Downie was a biggie! The Canadian musician was the lead singer of alternative rock band The Tragically Hip, who were formed in 1984. The band released several albums, most of them reaching number 1 in Canada although they were a cult curiosity elsewhere. In 2016, Downie was diagosed with terminal cancer and came immediately into the DDP's crosshairs. Downie was 53 and a hit for 92 teams, making him equal 10th in the Drop 40, and that's a record 14th hit in a year. There's another record broken with joint leaders David Quantick's Showbiz Pals and Golden Slumbers (natch) both picking Downie and reaching 160 points, breaking last year's record haul of 155 - no doubt helped by the Drop 40 bonus points accrued during the year. So it's change and no change, with the top two locked in battle and only 5 picks left each...
We've had two musicians, now two actresses. Rosemary Leach was a veteran stage and screen actor, best known for her roles as David Essex's mother in 'That'll Be The Day', Queen Elizabeth II (on three occasions) and 'A Room With A View' (1985), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA. Leach was 81 and was a unique hit for Brown Bananas. Danielle Darrieux was a French actress and singer who had an eight decade long career and she probably didn't even have to sleep with Harvey Weinstein! In 1955 she starred in a French adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' (obviously without the really rude bits!) and dipped her toes in Hollywood and UK films. She continued to act well into her 90s, with a prominent part in the acclaimed animated film 'Persepolis' in 2007. Darrieux died aged 100 but there's the added bonus of Unnatural death points for the 9 teams who picked her.

(Berkowitz) (36 teams)= 10pts (2 teams) = 20pts

(Downie) + (92 teams) = 12pts (19 teams) = 24pts

(Leach) + = 9pts

(Darrieux) + (9 teams) = 7pts

A Cosgrave matter

Irish politician Liam Cosgrave led Fine Gael for 12 years between 1965-77, winning the 1973 General election and formimg a Fine Gael-Labour coalition government. As Taoiseach, Cosgrave faced a struggling economy and the continuing troubles in the North. He lost the 1977 election to man he beat in '73, Jack Lynch. Cosgrave retired from frontline politics in 1981. Cosgrave was 97 and was a hit for seven teams.
Actor Roy Dotrice had an extensive career on stage and screen. He is credited as holding the World Record for solo performances mainly as John Aubrey, 17th Century man of letters in 'Brief Lives'. Notable roles in Hollywood included Mozart's father Leopold in Milos Foreman's Oscar-winning 'Amadeus' and as "Father" in the TV series 'Beauty and the Beast'. One of that series' writers, George R. R. Martin, would later work with Dotrice on 'Game of Thrones'. Dotrice was 94 and a hit for five teams.
A few weeks after John Ashbery, US, award-winning poet has passed away. Richard Wilbur was however a rather different kettle of fish to the freewheeling Ashbery. A proponent of formalism, Wilbur was a throwback to lyrical styles of of W. H Auden or Robert Frost. Wilbur won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on two occasions (1957, 1989) and was US Poet Laureate from 1987-88. Wilbur was 96 and a unique hit for theme team The Bedsoring '20s.
Jalal Talabani was a Kurdish-Iraqi politician who led the Kurdish political party the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan from 1975. In 2005, two years after Saddam Hussein's regime was "changed", Talabani became Iraq's first non-Arab president, serving until 2014. Talabani died aged 83 and was a hit for two teams.

(Cosgrave) (7 teams) = 5pts

(Dotrice) (5 teams) = 5pts

(Wilbur) + = 8pts

(Talabani) (2 teams) = 6pts

List of the Lost - Latest Entrants

Jason Busby, Jozef Toth, Julian May

List of the Missed - Latest Entrants

Albert Zafy, Walter Lassally

Player of the Month - September

Here's Who You Could Have Won - 18 points

Latest News

Robert Mugabe is briefly anounced as being a World Health Organization ambassador. You couldn't make it up!
The Theme Team League is updated for October.

Further Information

Rules & Scoring

E-mail The Man In Black with any questions/comments about the DDP: ddp2017@derbydeadpool.co.uk

Links

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

December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012