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...
DISMEMBERED Punk musician Nicky Tesco has died aged 66. A founding member and longtime frontman of the Members, their biggest hit “The Sound of the Suburbs” captured youth frustrations with stifled lifestyles and was seen as a new wave anthem. After leaving the band in the early 80s, he took up music journalism and acting […]
AL-QURASHI QUASHED ISIS’s heyday of their grisly killings dominating the news feels a distant memory, with most of us barely remembering they exist nowadays. Look no further than the contrast between Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his successor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. al-Baghdadi had perhaps the highest name recognition of a terrorist since the days of […]
EASY VEASEY SHE’S DECEASEDSY The fat lady sings for mezzo-soprano Josephine Veasey. A familiar presence at the Royal Opera House for several decades, she gained acclaim for her vocal technique and her interpretations of Wagner and Berlioz roles. Her solo career ended the way it began – in Salome at Covent Garden (as the Page […]
THE RIGHT STIFF In an alternate universe far far away, Star Wars would have never been a thing if Alan Ladd Jr. didn’t have faith in the project. The then-president of 20th Century Fox didn’t even understand the movie, but he liked George Lucas’ prior effort on American Graffiti and stood firm when greenlighting it […]
BOOKMAN CLOSED US sitcom regular Johnny Brown’s career was inspired by a meeting with Sammy Davis Jr., who inspired Brown to pursue a multifaceted path (he sang in addition to acting). Davis repaid in kind by recommending Brown for a spot in sketch comedy juggernaut Laugh-In, where he ended up a routine presence in its […]
JPP MORGUE IN French newsreader Jean-Pierre Pernault has signed off aged 71 following a lung cancer diagnosis. As host of lunchtime news programme the 13 Heures, his kindly-yet-confident presentation style and frequent emphasis on trivia drew a peak audience of 7-8 million. You can never fully discount a national treasure getting some sort of “nation […]
UP AND UP Prolific children’s author and illustrator Shirley Hughes has died aged 94. Her primary focus was stories about preschoolers its audience could relate to, with her two most successful works being the Alfie series, which featured a young boy and occasionally his younger sister, and Dogger, a story about a child losing and […]
RALPH CRAMMED IN Character actor Ralph Ahn hailed from a family venerated in Korean American culture. His father Ahn Changho was the early 20th century’s preeminent voice of Korean independence, elder brother Philip Ahn was the first Korean American of note in Hollywood and one of the most familiar Asian faces of his era, and […]
GLUM END FOR BLUM Investment banker Richard Blum has died aged 86. He was better known as the husband of US Senate fossil Dianne Feinstein. According to the aide deciphering the waves from the jar containing Feinstein’s brain, it’s the saddest she’s been since losing her old beau in the Battle of the Alamo. Blum […]
BLIGHTED FADE OF AILED Gary Brooker, the voice behind one of the most enduring 60s tunes, has died aged 76. He first figured his health was awry after skipping the light fandango, with concerns furthered after feeling kind of seasick. And so it waaaas cancer, which has now led to him… hmm, how the fuck […]
