Derby Dead Pool

BUNKERED AND BALDERDASH Usually, conjoined twins die within hours of one another, but this one took a decade to follow his other half. Former Downing Street press secretary Bernard Ingham was long aligned with Labour causes (he was press secretary to Barbara Castle and Tony Benn early on) before switching sides with the changing political […]

AWAY FROM HIM Canuck acting veteran Gordon Pinsent is due south aged 92. He had been an ever-present face in Canadian (and the occasional US) media for the past fifty years, with roles of note including the lackadaisical lead in The Rowdyman, the ghost dad in comedy-drama Due South, the US president in cult sci-fi […]

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT Hollywood production great Walter Mirisch has died aged 101. He founded independent production company The Mirisch Company in 1957 alongside his elder brother and half-brother, and from there one can lose count of the classics one bumps into with the Mirisch name attached. Among them are Some Like It […]

IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING, HE’S A DEAD MAN Biographer Philip Ziegler has died aged 93. He published many a tome about British upper crust, mostly royalty such as Elizabeth II and Edward VIII and prime ministers ranging from 19th-century obscurities to Heath and Wilson. Aiming to bring out both the best and worst of his […]

DICKIE DAVIES DIES Longtime World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies has died aged 94. Recognisable by his dapper suits, mustachioed visage, and white-tufted bouffant, he helmed the ITV programme for 20 years and covered everything from the mainstream (Olympics, golf, horseracing) to quirkier material (cliff diving, barrel rolling – basically crumbs ITV had to rely […]

NO RESISTING THE INEVITABLE French Resistance fighter Simone Segouin has died aged 97. Taught how to use a submachine gun in her teens, she donned the nom de guerre Nicole Minet and stole a Nazi bike she used to relay messages. In collaboration with eventual lover Lieutenant Roland Boursier, her responsibilities increased to capturing German […]

GALAXY EXPRESS DESTINATION STARDUST Mangaka Leiji Matsumoto has died aged 85. Inspired by the works of Astro Boy maestro Osamu Tezuka, he married the creator of Japan’s Barbie equivalent before breaking into the industry proper. His first success was in the early 70s with a slice-of-life comic about a student preparing for university exams, but […]

WELCH GOES TITS UP! Iconic Hollywood sex symbol Raquel Welch has died aged 82, affirming a prewritten obituary from The Mary Tyler Moore Show that states she didn’t drown. Born Jo Raquel Tejada, she initially worked as a weather presenter before turning to entertainment. She married Patrick Curtis, a Hollywood producer whose own career began […]

THERE’S GOT TO BE A MOURNING AFTER… Actress and perennial Alzheimer’s pick Stella Stevens has died aged 84. Her film career started with promise, winning a Golden Globe for her role in Bing Crosby musical Say One for Me. She followed suit as leading lady to Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, by-the-numbers Elvis fare […]

LOBINGER WON’T LINGER Pole vaulting champ Tim Lobinger has died after a long bout with blood cancer, aged 50. He racked up multiple medals in the World Indoor Championships, European Championships, and European Indoor Championships, but underwhelmed at the Olympics. What could’ve been a canon cert with better Olympic fortunes instead left deadpoolers questioning if […]