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, first tenure), The Man in Black (2010-17), Spade Cooley (2018-19), msc (2020-21), Grim Up North (2020-22), Reptile (2020-23), and Death Impends (2022-2025). Now the Committee of Banana (2023), time (2024), the returning Octopus of Odstock (2026) and the deadpooling equivalent of a gap year temp Marlfox (2026) oversee the biggest deadpool going...
ARCHITECT OF HIS OWN DEMISE Architect Rafael Viñoly has died aged 78, or 20 in architect years. The Uruguayan-born Viñoly designed north of 600 edifices across the globe ranging from hotels to airports. He was perhaps best known for the cartoony-looking “Walkie-Talkie” skyscraper in London, which has been a point of controversy throughout the years […]
NO HARM NO FOWLER Detective novelist Christopher Fowler has cracked his last case aged 69. Fowler first worked as a film marketer and coined the “In space, no one can hear you scream” tagline for Alien. He embarked on a literary career in the 80s, penning many a thriller such as Roofworld and Rune. His […]
RICHARDS: BREAKFAST OF WORMS The DDP isn’t exactly replete with pole vaulter obits, yet this February has delivered a second. Bob Richards was the first to win two Olympic gold medals in the sport, becoming a 50s American hero in the process. “The Vaulting Vicar” took up the cloth while he was still pole vaulting, […]
TOM ENDRY Longtime Labour MP Tom Pendry has died aged 88. As MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, he became known for his distinctive bright shirts and a love of sport, particularly football and boxing. He had hoped this passion would secure him the sports ministry when Tony Blair swept Labour back into power, only for […]
AUGIE DOGGONE Businessman and longterm ALS bedblocker Augie Nieto has died aged 65. Nieto co-founded exercise equipment company Life Fitness in 1977, and after his 2005 diagnosis dedicated much of his efforts to ALS research. His near-two decades with the disease (plus the obit risk) made him one of the more forgotten names among the […]
FOR THOSE OF YOU WATCHING IN BLACK AND WHITE, MOTTY’S IN THE BROWN BOX The voice of football for the past half-century has gone silent. John Motson was recruited by the BBC as a sports presenter in 1968, but hit the big time four years later when commentating on what would prove one of the […]
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 […]
