The DeathList 2021

12 / 50 dead

Welcome to DeathList 2021. This is a list of 50 celebrities chosen by the DeathList committee, before the start of the year, for their likelihood to die in 2021. A quick recap of DeathList’s rules: Candidates must be famous enough such that their death is confidently expected to be reported by the UK media; Candidates cannot be famous solely for the fact they are likely to die imminently and only 25 candidates can reappear from the previous year’s list. Buoyed by the global pandemic, DeathList 2020 smashed the previous record with 20 deaths, although only two of them directly related to Covid-19. With quite a few new selections joining the list this year, can DeathList 2021 match the performance of its record-breaking predecessor?

The 2021 List

Rank	Prev Year	Appear	Name	Age	Description
1	1	9	Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh	100	Casual racist
2	13	5	Betty White	99	Golden Girl
3	6	6	Dick van Dyke	96	Actor
4	10	9	Bob Dole	98	Politican
5	8	4	Emperor Akihito	88	Japanese Emperor
6		2	Loretta Lynn	89	Country singer
7		1	George Shultz	101	Politician
8		1	Rush Limbaugh	70	Political Commentator
9	11	4	Murray Walker	98	Formula 1 Commentator
10	14	3	Angela Lansbury	96	Actress
11	15	5	Bob Barker	98	The Price is Right
12	16	3	Alan Greenspan	95	Economist
13	17	9	Henry Kissinger	98	Diplomat
14		3	June Brown	94	Eastenders Dot Cotton
15	18	6	Jimmy Carter	97	Ex US President
16	21	6	Leslie Phillips	97	Comedy Actor
17	30	2	Jacques Delors	96	French Politician
18		2	Ayatollah Ali Khamenei	82	Iranian Ayatollah
19	43	2	David Crosby	80	Crosby, Stills and Nash
20	28	5	Prunella Scales	89	Sybil Fawlty
21	34	3	Abdelaziz Bouteflika	84	Algerian President
22	22	4	Tony Bennett	95	Crooner
23		1	Rosalynn Carter	94	Ex- FLOTUS
24	37	3	Dick Cheney	80	Politician
25		3	Queen Elizabeth II	95	Queen
26	23	3	Harry Belafonte	94	Singer
27		1	Bob Newhart	92	Comedian
28		4	Jimmy Greaves	81	Footballer / pundit
29		2	Barbara Walters	92	Broadcast Journalist
30		3	Pope Benedict XVI	94	Former Pope
31	39	2	Imelda Marcos	92	Former First Lady of the Philippines
32		1	Yoko Ono	88	Mrs Lennon
33		1	Walter Mondale	93	Politician
34		2	Linda Nolan	62	Nolan Sister
35	42	2	Joanne Woodward	91	Actress
36		2	Mel Brooks	95	Comedian / Director
37	31	2	Willie Nelson	88	Country Singer
38		1	Betty Boothroyd	92	UK Politician
39	46	2	Jean-Marie Le Pen	93	French Neo-Nazi
40		2	Sidney Poitier	94	Actor
41		1	Raul Castro	90	Former Cuban Leader
42		1	Burt Bacharach	93	Singer Songwriter
43	12	2	Leon Spinks	68	Boxer
44		1	Frank Williams	79	Formula 1
45		2	Stanley Baxter	95	Comedian
46		1	Bernard Cribbins	93	Actor / comedian
47		2	Vanessa Redgrave	84	Actress
48	36	3	Shane MacGowan	64	Pogue
49		1	Shannen Doherty	50	90210 Actor
50		1	Captain Tom Moore	101	UK Covid-19 Personality

Latest News

31st December 2021

White Out!

Betty White, actress of The Golden Girls fame, has passed on New Year’s Eve to provide DeathList 2021 with its final hit. White’s career started in the 1930s and she began to appear regularly on TV in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s she appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In 1985, she starred as Rose Nyland in The Golden Girls, a show which ran for seven years and was very successful. She continued to make TV and movies throughout the next three decades. White passed aged 99, just 17 days short of her 100th birthday. White was making her fifth appearance on DeathList – this year at number two. She was earmarked for the top spot on DeathList 2022 before some hasty reorganisation…

5 appearances: 2021 (2), 2020 (13), 2019 (18), 2018 (7), 2017 (22)

12th Death
Age: 99, Golden Girl, Cause of death: Natural Causes
5th December 2021

Bob Dole(d) Out!

Former US politician and presidential candidate, Bob Dole, has passed away aged 98, providing DeathList 2021 with another success. Dole fought in World War II in Italy, where he was hit by a shell, causing injuries which he lived with for the rest of his life. Dole was elected a as Republican to the US Senate in 1968. In 1976 he ran for vice president alongside Gerald Ford, losing to Jimmy Carter. After several attempts at securing the Republican party presidential nomination, he eventually won this in 1996 only to be heavily defeated by Bill Clinton in the election. This saw the end of his main political career, although he remained in the public eye throughout the later years of this life. Dole was making his ninth appearance on DeathList, this year moving up to fourth position.

9 appearances: 2021 (4), 2020 (10), 2019 (11), 2018 (17), 2017 (13), 2016 (20), 2015 (27), 2013 (26), 2011 (22)

11th Death
Age: 98, Politican, Cause of death: Lung Cancer
28th November 2021

Williams - Box, Box, Box!

Frank Williams, Formula 1 team owner/boss, has passed away aged 79 to give DeathList 2021 its tenth success. Williams set up his first racing team in 1966 although he ultimately lost ownership of that team. He then set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1977 and had much success in the 1980s and 90s, winning the drivers’ championship six times and the constructors’ championship eight times. Williams was confined to a wheelchair following a car accident in 1986. He was knighted in 1999. Williams was making his first appearance on DeathList, in at number 44.

1 appearance: 2021 (44)

10th Death
Age: 79, Formula 1, Cause of death: TBC
19th September 2021

Grieving for Greavsie

English footballing legend, Jimmy Greaves, has passed away at the age of 81 to provide DeathList 2021 with some more goalmouth action. Greaves started his football career at Chelsea but played in his prime between 1961 and 1970 at Tottenham. He was part of England’s world cup winning squad in 1966 but as a result of an injury in the early rounds he ended up not playing in the final – although many years later was awarded a winner’s medal in 2009 when the harsh FIFA rule that only players on the pitch at the end of the final got medals was reviewed. After his football career finished, he became a popular TV pundit in the Saint and Greavsie Show which ran from 1985 to 1992. Greaves had a period in the 1970s when he succumbed to severe alcoholism and also suffered from ill health as a result of several strokes in the later years of his life. Greaves was making his fourth appearance on the list, this year at number 28.

4 appearances: 2021 (28), 2019 (35), 2018 (42), 2016 (43)

9th Death
Age: 81, Footballer/pundit, Cause of death: TBA
17th September 2021

Abdelaziz Done

Former Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has passed away aged 84, bringing a lengthy DeathList drought to an end. Bouteflika was involved in Algerian politics for most of this life, acting as Minister for Foreign Affairs soon after Algerian independence from France in 1962, holding the position until 1979. In 1999 Bouteflika was elected President of Algeria, a post he would hold for 20 years. He was rarely seen in public in the later years of his life suffering from ill health as a result of a stroke in 2013. Bouteflika was making his third appearance on DeathList, this year at number 21.

3 appearances: 2021 (21), 2020 (34), 2006 (30)

8th Death
Age: 84, Algerian President, Cause of death: Cardiac Arrest
20th April 2021

Fritz adds to the hits

Former US Vice President, Walter Mondale, has provided DeathList 2021 with another score. Nicknamed “Fritz”, Mondale started life as a lawyer but became a senator in 1964 and steadily rose through the ranks. In 1976 Jimmy Carter chose him as his running mate, becoming Vice President in January 1977, until the heavy defat to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election. In 1984, Mondale secured the democratic party presidential nomination and took on Ronald Reagan again. He was beaten in a landslide. Mondale was making his first appearance on DeathList, securing the number 33 slot this year. He was 93.

1 appearance: 2021 (33)

7th Death
Age: 93, Politician, Cause of death: Old age
9th April 2021

Duke of Deadinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has passed on at the age of 99 to provide DeathList 2021 with its sixth score from this year’s top selection. Philip was born in Corfu, Greece (resulting in his occasional nickname of ‘Phil the Greek’) but was mostly educated in the UK. He joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and married the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947. Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1952 and Philip began a role that he would undertake for more than 69 years. Philip is credited with his endless support of the Queen in carrying out her duties. He is however more famous for an almost endless series of verbal gaffes that were reported over the years, appearing to demonstrate unfortunate, or extremely outdated, attitudes to race, gender and disability. Philip was making his 9th appearance on DeathList and had firmly held the top spot since 2020.

9 appearances: 2021 (1), 2020 (1), 2019 (4), 2018 (5), 2017 (6), 2016 (16), 2015 (10), 2014 (16), 2013 (13)

6th Death
Age: 100, Casual racist, Cause of death: TBC
13th March 2021

Chequered Flag for Walker

Murray Walker, motorsport TV presenter and known as the voice of Formula 1, has crossed the final finish line to clock up another success for DeathList 2021. Walker had various commentary roles at the BBC in the 1950s and 60s, but in the late 1970s become the main Formula 1 commentator when the sport was only shown on BBC TV in the UK. Walker’s had huge enthusiasm for the sport which, often, boiled over resulting in hilarious gaffes, frequently contradicting himself – “Mansell is slowing down, taking it easy - Oh no he isn't - it's a lap record!". In the late 90s Formula 1 coverage in the UK moved from BBC to ITV and Walker followed. He retired from full time commentary in 2001, but still had an active role for many years in motorsport coverage. Walker passed away at the age of 97, while making his fourth appearance on the list, this year at number nine.

4 appearances: 2021 (9), 2020 (11), 2019 (16), 2016 (42)

5th Death
Age: 98, Formula 1 Commentator, Cause of death: TBA
17th February 2021

Rush To The Exit

Right wing radio host, Rush Limbaugh, has chalked up the fourth success for DeathList 2021. Limbaugh was one of the original provocateurs who gained notoriety spreading his inflammatory opinions. Limbaugh’s radio career started in the 1970s, but he his fame developed in the 1980s. Limbaugh would frequently refer to feminists as feminazis, regularly slurred the LGBTQ+ community, showed his racism in attacking Barrack Obama during his election campaign and, of course, supported the myth that the 2020 US election was stolen from Donald Trump. Limbaugh announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020. He passed away from the illness aged 70, with many happy to see the back of his bile. Limbaugh was making his first appearance on DeathList, securing 8th place.

1 appearance: 2021 (8)

4th Death
Age: 70, Political Commentator, Cause of death: Lung cancer
7th February 2021

No faults in picking Shultz

George P. Shultz has become another score for DeathList 2021, passing at the age of 100. Shultz was an economist and businessman who held several political offices under President Nixon, including Secretary of the Treasury from 1972 to 1974. He was appointed as Secretary of State by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and stayed in that role until 1989. In his later years he was an advocate for clean energy. More recently he was caught up in the Theranos scandal, being a board director as the company started to unravel. Shultz was making his first appearance on DeathList, straight in at number 7.

1 appearance: 2021 (7)

3rd Death
Age: 101, Politician, Cause of death: TBA
7th February 2021

Spinks Counted Out

Former World heavyweight boxing champ, Leon Spinks, has provided DeathList 2021 with its second success. Spinks was a successful amateur boxer who won the light heavyweight Olympic gold medal in 1976. After the Olympics, Spinks turned professional. For his eighth professional fight in February 1978 Spinks manged to land a fight with the champion Muhammad Ali, which, in a big shock result, he won on points. As world heavyweight champion, Spinks partied hard for months. In a rematch with Ali in September 1978, Spinks was well beaten and his boxing career took a long downward trajectory finally retiring in 1995. His brother, Michael Spinks, also went on to win one version of the world heavyweight title in 1981 and his son, Cory Spinks, won world titles at several weights in the 2000s. It was announced that Leon Spinks had advanced prostate cancer in 2019. He dies aged 67, making his second appearance on this lest – this year at number 43.

2 appearances: 2021 (43), 2020 (12)

2nd Death
Age: 68, Boxer, Cause of death: Cancer
2nd February 2021

Captain Tom No Moore

Britain’s premier pandemic personality, Captain Tom Moore, has sadly succumbed to Covid-19 at the grand old age of 100. Captain Tom shot to fame in April 2020, when he vowed to walk around his garden with his zimmer frame 100 times before his 100th birthday during the first UK lockdown to rise £1,000 for NHS charities. However, Captain Tom’s activities caught the imagination of the British public and he raised more than £32M and elevated himself to national treasure status. Late in April 2020, Captain Tom topped the UK pop singles chart, being the oldest artist to hold the number one spot (and possibly also the worst singer to do so). In July, Captain Tom was knighted by the Queen to become Captain Sir Tom Moore and, in September, his autobiography became a best seller. In October he hosted his own series of podcasts. Captain Tom joined the DeathList for the first time this year, in at coveted number 50 spot.

1 appearance: 2021 (50)

1st Death
Age: 101, UK Covid-19 Personality, Cause of death: Covid-19