Death Pool GamesMaster

It's official, Alex has topped the Death Pool table for the second consecutive year and has proved himself the expert on celebrity deaths. A proud assertion no doubt.

A couple of people had former TV GamesMaster Patrick Moore on their lists, who lost the game of life yesterday at 89 years of age. The rules state that December deaths don't count for the competition, although I don't think it would have made a difference to the standings anyway. Next year we'll be getting rid of that rule though as it's a bit pointless - so Jan 1st to Dec 31st can be fully spent eagerly watching the obituaries.

Anyhow, congrats to Alex who has £90 on the way over to help with the Christmas shopping. Yours truly also managed to bag £40 for the runner up spot.

I'll be in touch in the next week or two to let you know the procedure for getting your 2013 entries in - so start getting that research in early. Let me know if you know anyone else who'd like to receive an invite to the contest.

Mae you rest in peace

Just as things were winding down for a fairly uneventful 2012 in the world of Death Pool, there has been a twist in the tale!

It turns out that one of my selections actually slipped away in her sleep back in January, although clearly didn't cause much of a stir this side of the Atlantic.  The super old actress Mae Laborde has not been with us for many months now but has only just made her mark on the spreadsheet.  A rather miserly 4 points gained for the 102 year old, but a tasty 5 bonus points for being a unique selection.

This may be a good time to put Google into action and make sure none of your selections are worm food already.  You only have until next week to make your claim as we wind things up at the end of November. Tick tock.

Sunday Night Fever

Like the proverbial buses, you wait for one celebrity death to come along and then a few arrive all at once.

On Thursday the news broke that singer Donna Summer had died of cancer, with the Daily Mail gleefully adding a ridiculous subtext involving the inhalation of 9/11 toxic particles.  No points gained by the death poolers though.

However Sunday was the big one.  Having been mailing/texting me "Lockerbie Bomber" updates since last year's competition, Alex can finally lay claim to his oddly unique selection of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who had been hanging on for a while.

In fact, Alex has managed to shoot to the top of the table having bagged a double death this weekend, with one of the 2012 favourites also dropping off the radar.  Bee Gee co-founder Robin Gibb will be Stayin' Alive no more, and has contributed points to four members and helped to shake up the leaderboard after a period of inactivity.

Is this the way to Amarillo

This is what you get for overanalysing.  Last year I had poker player "Amarillo Slim" Preston on my list but decided he wasn't worthy of a Top 10 listing this time around.

However he finally folded his hand (boom boom) at the end of April so will be one that got away for me.  There are probably a few of you wondering if he was actually famous enough for this competition so here's his Guardian obituary for the curious.

All the more frustrating as this is a ridiculously quiet year so far.  Surely Maggie Thatcher and that Bee Gees guy can't last much longer?!

There's all to play for still as no one is really that far ahead.  There are 13 paid up members so we'll be playing Top 2 places, with £90 for 1st and £40 for 2nd.

Good luck!

Waiting to Exhale

There are a good number of addicts within our lists this year, but only the one person had Whitney Houston.  Congrats to Claire for bagging a near maximum 10 pointer for the 48 year old, as well as notching 5 bonus points for having her as a unique selection.

In typical US style they will probably now spend weeks fighting over the cause of death so we'll leave the "unnatural causes" award pending, although I'm assuming a body ravaged with years of drugs and alcohol abuse was gonna give up the ghost eventually without much extra help.  I don't think a bodyguard would have helped anyway.

This raises a point I argued about with one of our members at the start of the year though - does a long-term junkie dying of their final hit count as "unnatural causes" for an overdose?  I didn't award the points to Amy Winehouse last year as felt that someone like that it was more about the long term damage taking it's toll rather than a one off - like an alcoholic dying of liver failure.  The straw that broke the camels back if you will.

Obviously if someone like David Beckham or David Cameron suddenly keeled over having eaten a bottle of sleeping pills then that would be a slam dunk.

Let me know what you think.

Etta James Foursome

So a few people have managed to get off the mark nice and early this year, with research into the critically ill paying off handsomely.

Singer Etta James had managed to collect a pretty nasty trifecta of illnesses over the past few years; Alzheimer's, MRSA, and Leukemia - so it didn't really come as a massive surprise when she gave up the ghost on Jan 20th.  Quite surprising only four people had her in the end really when she was top of the deathlist.

I'm not quite sure how she managed to release a final album in November 2011, but it sounds like a poor move really by her promoters.  These artists always sell much better when the sympathy vote is out in full force, so when they spotted her withering away they should have hung on for another couple of months.

Best keep that Thatcher rap album under wraps for a bit longer still.

Can I have an RIP please Bob?

So the first high profile death of 2012 has been and gone with none of the 14 participants this year having him amongst their chosen ten.

The legendary Blockbusters host Bob Holness that many of us grew up with finally passed away in a nursing home last week after suffering multiple strokes in recent years.  So much for our extensive research!

Annoyingly I've actually got a bit into Challenge again recently so have seen a few old shows - but instead put Jim Bowen on my own list!

As I mentioned last week we have had a total of 14 entries, with the full lists now available via the link on the top left of this page.  I've not checked the account yet but guessing a few of you have yet to cough up the £10 so will be chasing you this week.  Assuming I manage to collect it all we'll have £100 up for grabs for the winner and the remaining £40 for 2nd.

Good Response

Hi guys,

After a flurry of activity on NYE I think we managed 14 entries this year so should be plenty of (un)healthy competition.

Am currently in Las Vegas so won't be able to get all the details up on site until next weekend, but I don't think we'll have any issues with the people chosen.

Will send an email next Sunday/Monday and from then on will just update the blog every now and again so best way to get the news is to subscribe to it with your google account.

Good luck!