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...
HELEN FREEZES OVER Hey, Jerry. Hey, George. So I heard the news. Yeah. Your mother, and my mother, both dead in two weeks. Whoda thunk it? Life works in strange ways, George. *pause* You know, the last thing she said on her deathbed was “I’m coming, James”… Who’s this James? *pause* You think it was […]
BONY MAN, RONIE With the deaths in recent years of dynamic superstar Little Richard and hidden gem Lloyd Price, 50s music executive Art Rupe outlived virtually all of the pioneers whose careers he helped launch. One of the most integral white figures in propelling black music to mainstream popularity, his upbringing in a multiracial Pennsylvania […]
DIG NEWTON Golfer Jack Newton has died at 72 after suffering from Alzheimer’s. Born in Australia, he won several golf tournaments but winning one of the majors eluded him, being bridesmaided by Tom Watson in the 1975 Open and by Seve Ballesteros in the 1980 Masters. He was lucky to survive a career-ending freak accident […]
BOSSY ALL MOSSY A field hockey player was covered in this update batch, now it’s ice hockey’s turn with New York Islanders great Mike Bossy gone cold from lung cancer at 65. Playing with the Islanders for his entire NHL career, his impressive goalscoring was integral to their string of Stanley Cup wins in the […]
PLUMB BUYS THE FARM Former National Farmers’ Union leader Henry Plumb has died aged 97. His leadership was considered one of the most crucial in progressing the cause of farming rights. In 1987, he became the first and only Brit to preside as President of the European Parliament, and took seat in the House of […]
THE VULTURE HAS LANDED Bibliogryphon’s Bookworm Food has already penned up two uniques off stalwart children’s authors, now it’s time to up the ante into the thriller with Jack Higgins. The nom de plume of Henry Patterson, “Jack Higgins” became his go-to pen name thanks to using it for his breakout smash The Eagle Has […]
KNIGHTMARE OVER Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, has become the latest example of the Billy Joel mantra in dying at the age of 98. The Tory MP for Birmingham Edgbaston for 31 years, she was a staunch Thatcher ally and a fan of apartheid South Africa who detested gays and abortion. Her chief legacy […]
DRAWING A LEBLANC Canadian folkie Pastelle LeBlanc has died of breast cancer, aged 42. She formed the trio Vishtèn 20 years ago alongside twin sister Emmanuelle and Pascal Miousse (related to Salmon, perchance?), a group that based its sound off Acadian music and was nominated for a Juno in 2018 for the album Horizons. Few […]
WIDOW’S PEAKE Field hockey player John Peake has died aged 97. Though he also dabbled in squash and tennis, it was in hockey where he proved most adept, particularly as a participant of the British team during the 1948 London Olympics. His team scored silver, losing in the final to India’s team, which featured past […]
GONE BUT NOT FOR COTTON With a tip of the hat to TQR for that pun… The same day EastEnders stalwart June Brown died, I was listening to a Casey Kasem American Top 40 rerun where he played as an extra “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)”, a 40s swing novelty with an incongruent anti-smoking message. […]
