Another seven souls departing as we open the books for May and reach 100 hits for the year much later than usual.
Business
We start with product designer Roger Sweet who’s most well known work is on the Masters of the Universe toy line. In 1976, Mattel was offered the chance to design a line of toys based on some upcoming space opera film that they believed wasn’t worth the license fee. When Star Wars went on to become a multimedia juggernaut they spent years trying to rectify the missed opportunity. Most of their efforts failed miserably, but they managed to hit gold in the 80’s with Masters of the Universe. Sweet either came up with the concept for He-Man as a part of this, or was inspired by/stole it from Mark Taylor depending on who you ask. MotU fell out of fashion towards the end of the decade and he retired not long after. His death from dementia comes after years of health problems and scores nine points for 20 Random Guys Part 3.
Music
Three more musicians down and the first was Kathy Dooley, of 60’s and 70’s pop group The Dooleys fame. They never made it much above venue gigs but did enjoy some chart success in the late 70’s, with the annoyingly catchy Wanted reaching No. 3 in the UK charts. It’s 1980’s Love Patrol that brought her to the notice of theme team Hits Of 1980 And Hits Today however, and her death from dementia on April 22nd scores eleven points and makes the date the joint second most deadly in DDP history with five confirmed hits.
Next to go was Nedra Talley, who’s death leaves none of 1960’s pop group The Ronettes still standing. Their biggest hit was Be My Baby, which went on to be played over countless 1960’s montages in future media. Talley left the group in 1967 and became a born-again Christian, devoting the rest of her musical career to Christian pop. She gets ten points for God, It’s Brutal Out Here.
David Allan Coe was a blues and country singer who was a major figure in the 1970’s Nashville outlaw country scene. He found more mainstream success in the 80’s however, charting high with Mona Lisa Lost her Smile, The Ride and She Used to Love Me a Lot. He was also in many ways a complete delinquent, having a background for petty crime and a reputation for problematic lyrics, drug and alcohol abuse and owing hundreds of thousands in child maintenance and unpaid taxes. All the typical hallmarks of a man who then makes it to 86 before dying of natural causes. It’s a third, potentially crucial hit for theme team LW’s Latest Hit, moving them to just three points off the top.
Politics
Elizabeth Kirkby could be under basically any category such was the variety of life she led in her hundred and four years. She started out in theatre productions before moving into television and radio after emigrating from her native UK. Kirkby eventually settled in Australia and continued working as an actress, her biggest role being Lucy Sutcliffe on Number 96. It was politics where she finished her career however, serving as the Democrats leader in the upper house of New South Wales for seventeen years. She even went on to get a PhD at the age of 93! Four points for three teams.
Science
The sheer horrors that Edith Eger somehow managed to survive as a Hungarian Jew during the holocaust would have been enough to completely break most people, but not so for Edith. After being liberated by the Allied forces, she also managed to flee the Soviets with her husband before eventually settling in Texas. She would go on to specialize in clinical psychology, focusing on PTSD and releasing two highly acclaimed books on the subject. The world loses a truly remarkable woman, but at least it gets to take solace in nine points for What’s the Story, Mourning Glory?!
Sport
I’m not normally one to believe in curses but one does have to wonder what Alex Zanardi did in a past life to deserve such a tragic run of misfortune in this one. He started out as a racing driver in the 90’s, competing in Formula 1 and CART. The first of many mishaps occured in 2001, where a crash severed the front of his car and both of his legs. He returned to racing within two years and won multiple races in the WTCC, competing with prosthetic legs that he’d personally designed. Zanardi also took up handcycling and went on to win four gold and two silver Paralympic medals as well as a bucketload of World Championship titles.
Despite this inspiring comeback, fate took another turn for the worse in 2020 with mishap number two. Zanardi lost control of his cycle on downward gradient and veered straight into an oncoming truck. This isn’t generally a good thing for the human cranium and the rehabilitation was even more grueling than his previous one, involving medically induced comas and facial reconstruction. While he also survived mishap number three in 2022 when the solar panels on his house malfunctioned and caught fire, he has now sadly passed away at the age of 59, netting a week high 13 points for sports-themed Thanks for being a Sport.
Scores
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Teams and Scores |
| Elizabeth Kirkby | 104 | April 20 | 3 Teams 💀💀💀💀 = 4 Points |
| Kathy Dooley | 70 | April 22 | Hits Of 1980 And Hits Today 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 11 Points |
| Nedra Talley | 80 | April 26 | God, It’s Brutal Out Here 💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 10 Points |
| Edith Eger | 97 | April 27 | What’s the Story, Mourning Glory? 💀💀💀💀💀+👻 = 9 Points |
| Roger Sweet | 91 | April 28 | 20 Random Guys Part 3 💀💀💀💀💀+👻 = 9 Points |
| David Allan Coe | 86 | April 29 | LW’s Latest Hit 💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 10 Points |
| Alex Zanardi | 59 | May 1 | Thanks for being a Sport 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 13 Points |