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...
STABBERWOCKEN In what is sure to be the runaway leader for our annual “DDP hit whose name sounds most like a Pokémon” award, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies baseball player John Wockenfuss has died aged 73. He joins Tom Weiskopf as a US athlete in this update with a career marked by tempestuous behaviour, including […]
DUGGIE A HOLE Actor, comedian, and incumbent King Rat Duggie Brown has met his mousetrap aged 82. The younger brother of Corrie’s Lynne Perrie, his presence on rapid-fire gagfest The Comedians led to frequent appearances in 70s/80s light entertainment programmes such as 3-2-1. His acting career balanced his funnyman reputation with serious roles, including a […]
PHOTO FINISH Pioneering Japanese photojournalist Tsuneko Sasamoto has gone negative aged 107. Her homeland’s first female photojournalist, she was veered onto her career path after her father discouraged her from painting. She captured Japan’s rise from collapsing empire to economic superpower through her photos, which featured subjects ranging from the prominent (Douglas MacArthur) to the […]
THORNY END FOR JOHNROSE ALS-addled footballer Lenny Johnrose has died of his disease aged 52. A defensive midfielder, he played for various teams with his stint with Bury the most prolific. While playing with Swansea he notably saved the club from relegation when scoring a crucial goal in a comeback win against Hull City. ALS […]
HOPELESSLY DEMOTED TO BLUE Despite our clamping down on FFBIs in the DDP, a few slipped through the cracks. Case in point: A bunch of teams scored points with the granddaughter of Einstein’s bestie. Wait, she did a bit since then? Oh, tell me more… Yes, months after losing its namesake, one of Rydell High’s […]
THIS OLD HEART OF MINE (IS WEAK) Now that he’s gone, all that’s left are the two Hollands… Motown titan Lamont Dozier has died aged 81. Such is his CV that posting a raw list of every classic song he had a hand in would make a lengthy obit as is. While attending a jazz […]
IN THE PITS, MAN Not the missing link between Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman, guitarist Bill Pitman has strummed his last aged 102. Pitman was among the gang of versatile session musicians now known as the Wrecking Crew, the unsung heroes of 60s music who provided the backbone to countless classics. He was on the […]
SNOWMAN’S LAND In a scorching summer where we all feel like liquefying, it’s only fitting that the man behind the saddest instance of melting for many a tyke leaves us. Beloved illustrator Raymond Briggs was best known for softly-coloured children’s tearjerker The Snowman, depicting the magical friendship between a boy and a snowman that ends […]
ISSEY DEAD? YES Fashion designer Issey Miyake has died aged 84. Born in Hiroshima, he survived the atomic bombing 7 years later and the horrors he witnessed – including his mother eventually dying of radiation poisoning – inspired him to focus on a life dedicated to creation rather than destruction. He worked in Paris and […]
TOM K.O. Catholic Cardinal Jozef Tomko has died aged 98. Born in what is now Slovakia, he was the oldest living cardinal at the time of his death. Initially no obit was forthcoming but a Daily Mail AP photo gallery made reference to his funeral, leaving Perfect 10 a happy camper. Jozef Tomko11 March 1924 […]
