h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That puts coelyon two, and an outright winner, if no-one else kicks the bucket in the last few days...

There's at least one other person with 2. Mu Beta.

OK sorry, I just read the whole list through.

No-one had Marmaduke Hussey.

I'm on two as well.

JK Galbraith and Mr Ford

I make it 4 people have scored 2 points a piece. Nobody else has a single point so far.

coely had Syd Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) and Gerald Ford (14 July 1913 - 26 December 2006)

DD had Ford plus John Kenneth Galbraith (15 October 1908– 29 April 2006)

Mu Beta also has Ford with General Augusto Pinochet (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006)

Guru Roghan Josh also had Pinochet plus Joseph Barbera (24 March 1911 – 18 December 2006)

Hmm I know this game is Mu Beta's baby, but how about if we can't list people that have already been listed by someone else for the 2007 game?

It would mean more names overall, instead of loads of repeated names.

Opinions, thoughts on that idea...

Emmily

I think after 3 or 4 entries with 30-40 suggestions, it would become rather limiting for others. Sorry.

Of course part of the problem for 2007 is knowing who is already dead.

(And getting over the slightly unkind feeling I get from hoping that the people that I am going to choose, die. Wouldn't it be nicer to have a "2007 I Hope These People Will Get To The End Of 2007 In The Rudest Of Health List Game".)

Hah. There we go - a parallel competition. Everybody chosen must be over 70. Not have a death sentence or a known terminal disease.

PP

Not that much limiting SWL, it would just mean the most obvious names had already beed used. There's plenty more to choose from than the most obvious.

My own list for 2007 doesn't include anyone mentioned in the 2006 lists, but if someone else had already listed any of them by the time I posted, I'd be happy to find a replacement or two.

Emmily

Looking at this logically here are last year's multiples.

Ariel Sharon 8
Margaret Thatcher 7
Patrick Moore 6
Pete Doherty 5
Mohammed Ali 4
Ronnie Biggs 4
Elizabeth Taylor 4
Prince Philip 3
Kirk Douglas 3
Charlton Heston 3
Gerald Ford 3
General Pinochet 2
Charlie Watts 2
Dick Cheney 2
Eric Sykes 2
Jimmy Carter 2
Kate Moss 2
Keith Richards 2
Michael Foot 2
Michael Jackson 2
Pope Benedict XVI (2)
Shane MacGowan 2

Of these Sharon was already in a coma, Thatcher, Pinochet Cheney, Bush and Ford all had known cardiac condistions. Richard, MacGowan, Doherty, Watts and Taylor have all got a history of addiction issues which may lead to death either through side effects or direct ODing, there are a few others picked once. Ali was one of three Parkinson sufferers, but the only muliple, on the list but all are still floruit this morning when last I checked.

So even terminal or lifestyles perocatives can lead to guaranteed extinction in the following year.

BTW the others who only one person picked were:

50 Cent
Albert Hofmann
Alec Bedser
Alex Higgins
Alfredo di Stefano
BB King
Bernard Manning
Brigitte Bardot
Bruce Forsyth
Christopher Lee
Claude Levi-Strauss
Clint Eastwood
Colin Farrell
Courtney Love
Denis Healey
Dennis Norden
Fidél Castro
Harold Pinter
Herman Wouk
Humphrey Littleton
Ian Brady
Ian Huntley
Jacquie Stallone
James Garner
JD Salinger
Jeremy Clarkson
Jimmy Tarbuck
John Cleese
John Kenneth Galbraith
John Paul Stevens
Joseph Barbera
Ken Russell
Kerry Katona (McFadyen)
Kris Kristofferson
Kylie Minogue
Leonard Nimoy
Leslie Philips
Liz Dawn
Liza Minelli
Lord Bill Deedes
Lord Tebbit
Maggie Smith
Matt Groening
Michael J Fox
Nancy Reagan
Norman Wisdom
Olivia de Havilland
Osama Bin Laden
Paul Gascoigne
Pete Waterman
Peter Stringfellow
Richard Widmark
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Shimon Peres
Stephen Hawking
Syd Barrett
The Queen
Tony Curtis
Tony Hart
Vera Lynn
Whitney Houston
Zsa Zsa Gabor

I can understand the need to modify the game if we were getting loads of people getting 8 or 9 answers right, but when the highest score is 2/10 and only 4 people score that much, it seems things are difficult enough.

Well done DD

Put another way 14 people picked 86 different names of whom only 5 have passed away this year.

Perhaps we need to advertise our list so that these inconsiderate so-and-so's who are grimly hanging on could realise that so many people have an interest in their shuffling off the mortal coil.

I'm going to e-mail those on my list and let them know that the next four days could be the most important in their lives.

I mean, if you're going to die anyway, it's only right that I should get some points.

Stop prevaricating all you lot on my list.

DD you have w-a-y too much time on your hands!

Doesn't take that long to make a excel spreadsheet that you use for the whole year

Looks like a winner to me

B

If you're thinking about scoring, perhaps a better way would be to award - say - 12 points for a successful Death (that sounds SO wrong), and divide the score by the number of people overall that have predicted it.

For example, if you're the only person to correctly predict a death, then you get 12 points. If there are two of you then 6 points, and so. This system is pretty easy to incorporate into an Excel spreadsheet.

The problem with pushing contestants for original choices is that they end up selecting obscure economists and such like, who barely count as being 'famous'.

B

(ignore post 137, by the way. That was a posting error made by someone who whould know better )

B

Do we get a bonus for posting our list as early as January? (considering some joined in during March)