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.

Sir Henry

A sad day for horse racing fans as legendary trainer Sir Henry Cecil finally succumbed to cancer.

He was a prolific producer of classic winners over the past 30 odd years, although perhaps best associated now with his most famous (and best) horse Frankel that beat all comers and has now retired to "perform" for something mad like £125k a squirt!

I was surprised to find Chris didn't have Sir Henry in his "stable" for 2013, but his list is made up mainly of people he doesn't like, so as a huge racing fan I can see why he left him out. Unfortunately this now leaves him the only pointless player at the bottom of the table.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Well she took her time didn't she?

A mainstay on the Death Pool lists since it's inception, Margaret Thatcher finally gave up the ghost last week after several years out of the public eye suffering from ill health.

Ignoring all the political stuff, my favourite story about Maggie relates to her "invention" of Mr Whippy ice cream.  A favourite pub quiz question, it's apparently a mere half truth according to the Guardian, but a fun fact anyway as she did work on the formula.

It doesn't particularly shake up the leaderboard as no fewer than 5 people had both Thatcher and the other recently deceased political leader Hugo Chavez.  It's going to take a bit of showbiz excess to give us some real action - we're still waiting on the 2013 version of Wino and Whitney.

Good luck folks!

Calm Down Dear

Miss Fox is the first to get a selection up in 2013 with the shrewd choice of British director Michael Winner, best known in his final years for popping up with his "calm down dear" catchphrase in the esure TV ads.

Actually our "fun only" entrant Mr Anonymous also picked out Mr Winner, but being a high flying celebrity himself feels it inappropriate to identify himself in the public domain.  Boring.

Still no movement in the Mandela or Thatcher camps then...

Popular Double Act

It would seem Thatcher and Mandela have a lot of friends in the Death Pool.

The 2013 competition has once again attracted 14 players for some morbid fun and games, with only two of those omitting the Iron Lady, while Mr Mandela is the clear 2nd favourite.

You can now view everyone's selections via the link on the top left of this page. I think they all seem genuine enough, but let me know if you think anyone is stretching the boundaries of the term "celebrity". Having seen some of the CBB intro this evening I don't think the moniker takes much getting these days.

We have one person electing to play for fun only (Mr Anonymous) so far, and I'll be tapping up the others who have yet to contribute tomorrow.  However it looks like we'll have 13 x £10 in the pot this year, so will likely go for a £90/£40 split of the spoils for 1st and 2nd places.  I'll confirm that once all the cash is safely collected.

Best of luck and keep an eye on those obits - especially those with sneaky obscure foreigners in your ranks. You gotta claim it to get the points!

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!

Death Pool 2012

Alrighty then, it's that time of year again when we get into the holiday spirit and start thinking about who we think will cark it during the next 12 months.

If you check the links on the left you will find the updated rules for 2012.  They haven't changed much cos I'm lazy and there were no complaints last time around.

You can also see the 2011 results sheet that might give you a few pointers on your selections for next year.  Remember though that originality gets you 5 bonus points, and with a larger field expected this time around they could make all the difference so it may pay to do your research.

As I pointed out last year, this means I could gain an advantage if you start firing your lists across to me straight away, and so I will email my list to myself by the end of the weekend should anyone be suspicious enough to want proof of my personal ethics.  Therefore you have some time to ponder before sending through selections during next week.

Remember to get them in by midnight on the 31st though!

Good luck.