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...
THE DICK SAVITT NO-SHOW Tennis player Dick Savitt has died aged 95. His first love was basketball, but his aspirations for the hoops were quashed by a knee injury and rerouted him to the racket. He won Wimbledon in 1951 and made history as the first Jewish player to do so. Other trophies include three […]
HEAVENS TO BESSIE November 1907: The first free flight of a helicopter occurred, Oklahoma was admitted as a state, Louis B. Mayer opened up his first theatre, and one Bessie Hendricks came into this world. The oldest living American until her death, our geriatric Iowan was the latest in a long line of 110 Clubbers […]
MIRREN PLAYER JOINS SAINTS For the third year in a row, a canon competitive pick checks out hours after the New Year rings in. While Floyd Little and Gary Burgess were both in full “will he or won’t he” deathwatch mode, Scottish footballer Frank McGarvey instead was a classic case of “he was going to […]
So that was 2022. Putin shot to the top of many a wishful thinking list, BoJo was succeeded by a fuckwit who couldn’t outlast a lettuce, and Musk flushed 44 billion buckaroos down the toilet so Twitter would stop laughing at him. They didn’t. Above all else, it will be remembered as the year Queen […]
COHEN DOWN And so the Boys of ‘66 finalists tally falls down to two with the death of George Cohen. A right-backer, his playstyle was noted for its power and defensive prowess. He had been a stalwart at the club level with Fulham, but his international career was off to an inconspicuous start that might’ve […]
FALLEN The musical voice of David Lynch’s worlds, Julee Cruise, died earlier this year, now it’s time for his soundtrack to follow suit with the death of Angelo Badalamenti, aged 85. On this form, apologies in advance to any Bobby Vinton fans. Badalamenti had been active in the music business for years, working with reputed […]
GET ROTTER Director Mike Hodges has died aged 90. After several years of directing TV, his first turn at directing a feature film proved his finest, helming gritty gangster classic Get Carter. Along the way he also directed cult favourite Flash Gordon, and concluded his career with I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead. Well, he’s sleeping […]
THE BUTLER BIT IT It’s not the end of a DDP year without a LotL athlete being salvaged by that last-chance saloon we call the Sports Personality of the Year In Memoriam. The lucky customer this time is golfer Peter Butler, who died in October aged 90. He was one of the preeminent British golfers […]
BRITISH FILM OUT-OF-COMMISSIONER Inaugural British Film Commissioner Sydney Samuelson has had his last cut aged 97. The son of a silent film veteran, Samuelson had been active in the industry since the late 30s and throughout the 50s he filmed the Queen’s coronation and established a reputed film equipment rental company. He was a pillar […]
GIRL SCOUT COOKIE CRUMBLES The Girl Scouts of the USA was founded in 1912. Its former CEO Frances Hesselbein was born a mere three years later. She stewarded the cookie-proffering youth organisation for thirteen years, receiving 22 honorary doctorate degrees and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her efforts. In her centennial year, she was […]
