Death happens. Why not make it interesting?
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. Other hosts: Siegfried Baboon and Rude Kid (2003-7), Octopus of Odstock (2008-9), The Man in Black (2010-17), Spade Cooley (2018-19), msc (2020-21), Grim Up North (2020-22), and Reptile (2020-23). Now the Committee of DI (2022), time (2024), and Banana (2023) oversee the biggest deadpool going...
IAN FESTERS TONNES One of the grand elder statesmen of Doctor Who, William Russell was a debut companion who helped get the ball rolling for the pop culture juggernaut. In first-ever episode An Unearthly Child, his science teacher Ian Chesterton, alongside history teacher Barbara Wright, were perplexed by the idiosyncrasies of their pupil Susan Foreman. […]
JANIS TOPPLIN’ Scene-stealing actress Janis Paige has died aged 101. She kicked off her career in the 40s as a Hollywood ingenue in Bob Hope and Doris Day comedies, and hoofed with Fred Astaire. After Warner Bros. panickily ditched her contract during the rise of television, she found a second venue in Broadway including the […]
THE DDP REMEMBERS HIM! Knock knock. Who’s there? Little old lady. Little old lady who? Get the fuck out of my house, Frank Ifield. Yep, Frank Field the centenarian weatherman died last year, Frank Field the Labour contrarian died weeks ago, but for there to be a third Frank Field death we had to […]
PLOUGH A BURROW The average lifespan of the rhinoceros is from 40 to 45 years. Alas, former Leeds Rhino Rob Burrow landed right in that ballpark, dying aged 41. If only there were a rugby team named after quahog clams he could’ve played for instead. A scrum-half and hooker, he was one of the smallest […]
EARTHRISE, PLANEFALL This time a year ago, the Apollo 8 crew was all still alive, a statistic no other Apollo mission could boast. The death of Frank Borman last November put an end to that. Among the remaining two, Jim Lovell is 96 and frail, while William Anders was still capable of flying a plane, […]
ROYAL FLUSH A great example of turning lemons into lemonade, Jeannette Charles struggled to gain roles as a fledgling actress as she looked too much like Queen Elizabeth II. After she commissioned a portrait of herself for her husband’s birthday, the resemblance attracted media attention, and a light bulb went off – she could still […]
KEEPING UP DISAPPEARANCES UK sitcom veteran Harold Snoad has died aged 88. Active in the industry since the late 50s, he cut his teeth with Dad’s Army, selecting the Norfolk filming location, directing multiple episodes, and helming a radio adaptation. Along the way he worked on Ever Decreasing Circles and Don’t Wait Up, and his […]
IT’S A SMALL COFFIN AFTER ALL Disney songwriting engine Richard M. Sherman has chim chim cher-eed out of here aged 95, coincidentally the same amount of time “It’s a Small World After All” lasts. He and his elder brother Robert were encouraged by their father, Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al Sherman (not the Hello Mudduh […]
TIN CANNED Tin Oo could easily have settled on a cozy life as part of Myanmar’s top military brass, but became one of the country’s leading voices for democracy. He co-founded the National League for Democracy alongside Aung San Suu Kyi and experienced multiple house arrests at the hands of the junta. The 2010s flickers […]
FAREWELL TO YOU MRS ROBINSON The second mother of a US First Lady to die this year, Marian Shields Robinson was Michelle Obama’s mum. She was resident of the White House during all eight years of the O administration, mostly keeping low key and raising Malia and Sasha. She was 86 and picked by MAGA […]
