The End of Death Pool

 

Stating the obvious here, but we don't run this competition any more.

It was a bit of fun to begin with, but got a bit too macabre when people started googling for celebs with a known terminal illness!

Please check out Deathlist as the best source of info for this sort of contest.

Death Pool Wind-up & Kick-off

I was pretty poor updating this last year, and there was actually some excitement at the end of the year with a flurry of oldies succumbing to winter and shaking up the final finishing positions.

While Ben was solidly in the lead, there was action behind for the 2nd place prize with Mr Anonymous out of contention. Jo Fox looked to have nabbed the prize when legendary criminal "Mad" Frankie Fraser went out with a whimper after surgery complications in November.

However to add a bit of spice, veteran Oscar winning actress Luise Rainer who'd been hanging on grimly at 104 years of age got done by pneumonia on December 30th. Apparently she had a mad one planned for NYE too so the local nightclub was gutted.

This put me and Jo neck and neck on 20 points each, but Jo ended up claiming the spoils due to a countback rule I'd completely forgotten about writing into the rules. Ho hum!

Congrats to both winners, and onward to 2015 where we have another 11 players glued to the obits for the year. Fun fun.

Those meddling kids

Finally a bit of action recently on the Death Pool from the paid participants.

Josefine and Claire both picked up points for Eli Wallach, a prolific character actor who was working well into his 90's. It turns out he has an aged actress wife as well in Anne Jackson so one for the shortlist next year maybe!

But onto the point of the Scooby image, the voice of Shaggy Casey Kasem also passed away last month and was a unique pick for Ben bagging him 11 points to shoot up the table. Zoinks!

2014 Death Pool

So 2013 is winding down and the Death Pool is coming to a close for another year. It looks to be something of a controversial end as despite leading all year Claire is going to be pipped at the post due to a previously unnoticed death back in February of renowned (*cough*) pianist Van Cliburn.

Make sure you double check your 2013 entries in case you missed one slipping away!

If you would like to take part in 2014 and didn't get the email invite already then please let me know ASAP and I'll send you the link for submitting your 2014 list. We'll sort out the monies in the new year.  Rules and links to previous lists are linked in the top left (on mobile you need to click "view desktop version") for info and inspiration.

Remember it is the unique picks that bag the bonus points. Any dubious selections will be checked by the end of the week to make sure we're all happy they are famous enough!

Good luck.

The Great Life Robbery

December is proving a fruitful month for a bit of last minute action in the Death Pool table. After the Mandela anti-climax when we realised everyone had him, there have been a couple more less popular picks.

First the oddly popular Ronnie Biggs who has wielded his last finger at the cameras having survived 4 years after wangling his way out of prison on compassionate grounds. Sneaky.

And then this weekend saw the passing of popular sports commentator and Question of Sport host David Coleman. He actually has the dubious honour of being top Death Pool points scorer of 2013 (so far) as he was the second celeb to bag the chooser a 5 point bonus for a unique pick - well played Chris Walker!

No damage to Claire at the top of the table though as she had Biggs for a record 5-timer to maintain a healthy lead.  It probably needs an obscure one in the next week to change things there.  Culkin or Bowie anyone?

I'll also be in touch soon for Death Pool 2014 picks.  They need to be in by December 31st so get your thinking caps on!

Full Nelson

So another one of favourites has given up the goose. Ironic really that we were thinking the cold winter weather might nab a few of the oldies but this one was down in the Southern Hemisphere and soaking up a bit of summer sun.

There has been the standard outpouring of affection for Nelson Mandela, who has done more than most to bag his spot in the history books. Impressive considering he spent 25 years in prison. He's a good example of rehabilitation though, as despite his attempt to nick the World Cup in the photo here, as far as I know he never reoffended.

Not much change in the table as pretty much everyone had Nelson on the list. Claire is still the one to beat but only a few weeks to go now.

Wing and a Prayer

So I was just thinking we'd had a very quiet time of it recently, but it looks like someone managed to slip through the cracks!

Claire has taken the lead through the sneaky unique pick (5 bonus points) of Anna Wing who is best known for playing central Eastenders character Lou Beale in the first few years of the show.  For those with hazy memories of the 80's she was Ian Beale's Grandmother and Pauline's Mum.

She died in her sleep in July at the ripe old age of 98 having not done a lot since being killed off the #1 soap. Probably mainly sitting eating Werther's with a blanket on her lap.  With a cat.