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...
IN THE PITS, MAN Not the missing link between Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman, guitarist Bill Pitman has strummed his last aged 102. Pitman was among the gang of versatile session musicians now known as the Wrecking Crew, the unsung heroes of 60s music who provided the backbone to countless classics. He was on the […]
SNOWMAN’S LAND In a scorching summer where we all feel like liquefying, it’s only fitting that the man behind the saddest instance of melting for many a tyke leaves us. Beloved illustrator Raymond Briggs was best known for softly-coloured children’s tearjerker The Snowman, depicting the magical friendship between a boy and a snowman that ends […]
ISSEY DEAD? YES Fashion designer Issey Miyake has died aged 84. Born in Hiroshima, he survived the atomic bombing 7 years later and the horrors he witnessed – including his mother eventually dying of radiation poisoning – inspired him to focus on a life dedicated to creation rather than destruction. He worked in Paris and […]
TOM K.O. Catholic Cardinal Jozef Tomko has died aged 98. Born in what is now Slovakia, he was the oldest living cardinal at the time of his death. Initially no obit was forthcoming but a Daily Mail AP photo gallery made reference to his funeral, leaving Perfect 10 a happy camper. Jozef Tomko11 March 1924 […]
OLIVER DITCHED Former top cop Ian Oliver has died aged 82. A chief constable before he was 40, he first served for the Central Scotland Police and later the Grampian Police. No stranger to the media spotlight, he was noted for his opposition to drugs and frequent butting of heads with councillors. Scandal-mired final years […]
INCOMING TRANSMISSION LOST Communications have ceased for Star Trek trailblazer Nichelle Nichols at the age of 89. Now the inaugural crew is down to George Takei, Walter Koenig, and… William… Shatner. Nichols was primarily a musical theatre actress early in her career, and her ties to Gene Roddenberry predated the Enterprise – she guest starred […]
USURPED-ULA Pat Carroll, the voice of the nefarious, voice-snatching Ursula in The Little Mermaid, has been calamari’d aged 95. The first movie I saw in theatres, so my parents tell me. A US comedy mainstay for decades, a recurring role on Caesar’s Hour won her an Emmy and national attention. The perky blonde was a […]
WE’LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER HER Australian folkie Judith Durham has shed her dowdy feathers and flew aged 79. A little bit. Judith Cock strangely adopted her mother’s maiden name for her musical career, which began as a jazz pianist with Frank Traynor’s Jazz Preachers before joining forces with the Seekers. Anchored by Durham’s lead vocals […]
HE. IS. GONE! The dean of US sportscasting has made his last call. Vin Scully began working as an announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950, when he was in his early twenties, and by age 25 he broadcast his first World Series. His early highlights included capturing the Dodgers’ first World Series win in […]
SLAM DUNK What seemed like the third wheel of a difficult triple whammy for geeks quickly changed to relief after they realised this was the basketball one. Bill Russell was one of the very best to dribble the orange ball, and often cited as the sport’s greatest player pre-Jordan. A center for the Boston Celtics, […]
