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...

Tom Weiskopf

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THE COWERING INFERNO Golf champ Tom Weiskopf has died aged 79. Inspired to take up the sport after watching Sam Snead play, Ohio State University considered their promising upstart the next Nicklaus. This premonition was hampered by his playing career largely overlapping with that of the Golden Bear. Weiskopf nevertheless proved to be a strong […]

Jerry Allison

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ALLISON FADES AWAY As “would Buddy Holly still be alive today had he taken the damn bus?” remains one of the great what-ifs of music deaths, one of his few remaining collaborators dies some 63 years later. Jerry Allison was the last surviving founding member of the Crickets, typically playing drums on their iconic records […]

Josephine Tewson

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LIZ WARDED OFF Britcom regular Josephine Tewson has spilled her last coffee aged 91. A regular in sketches featuring the Two Ronnies during the late 60s, she was a routine sidekick to Ronnie Barker in the decades since and co-starred with him in his final sitcom, Clarence. Other recurring sitcom roles were in Shelley and […]

Helen Grayco

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DIE FRAULEIN’S FATE Big band-era singer and actress Helen Grayco has died aged 97. Active as a singer from the age of four, a radio performance aged eight caught the eye (well, ear) of Bing Crosby and Der Bingle secured her Hollywood work that included a bit part in Marx Brothers classic A Night at […]

John Wockenfuss

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STABBERWOCKEN In what is sure to be the runaway leader for our annual “DDP hit whose name sounds most like a Pokémon” award, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies baseball player John Wockenfuss has died aged 73. He joins Tom Weiskopf as a US athlete in this update with a career marked by tempestuous behaviour, including […]

Duggie Brown

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DUGGIE A HOLE Actor, comedian, and incumbent King Rat Duggie Brown has met his mousetrap aged 82. The younger brother of Corrie’s Lynne Perrie, his presence on rapid-fire gagfest The Comedians led to frequent appearances in 70s/80s light entertainment programmes such as 3-2-1. His acting career balanced his funnyman reputation with serious roles, including a […]

Tsuneko Sasamoto

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PHOTO FINISH Pioneering Japanese photojournalist Tsuneko Sasamoto has gone negative aged 107. Her homeland’s first female photojournalist, she was veered onto her career path after her father discouraged her from painting. She captured Japan’s rise from collapsing empire to economic superpower through her photos, which featured subjects ranging from the prominent (Douglas MacArthur) to the […]

Lenny Johnrose

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THORNY END FOR JOHNROSE ALS-addled footballer Lenny Johnrose has died of his disease aged 52. A defensive midfielder, he played for various teams with his stint with Bury the most prolific. While playing with Swansea he notably saved the club from relegation when scoring a crucial goal in a comeback win against Hull City. ALS […]

Olivia Newton-John

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HOPELESSLY DEMOTED TO BLUE Despite our clamping down on FFBIs in the DDP, a few slipped through the cracks. Case in point: A bunch of teams scored points with the granddaughter of Einstein’s bestie. Wait, she did a bit since then? Oh, tell me more… Yes, months after losing its namesake, one of Rydell High’s […]

Lamont Dozier

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THIS OLD HEART OF MINE (IS WEAK) Now that he’s gone, all that’s left are the two Hollands… Motown titan Lamont Dozier has died aged 81. Such is his CV that posting a raw list of every classic song he had a hand in would make a lengthy obit as is. While attending a jazz […]