Dead Pool September Update

The competition's heating up.

The 1st of the month was a veritable celebrity catastrophe, with no less than three notable personages dropping off the perch.

There was Australian actor Michael Pate, the first man, in a 1953 television production of Casino Royale, to play the iconic Felix Leiter.

Then there was Don LaFontaine, a man whose name you may not know but whose voice you certainly do. This was the guy famous for his narration of film trailers, particularly the way he would say "In A World . . ."

Still on the 1st, we bid farewell to television gardening presenter Kevin Heinz. I remember as a youngster turning on the TV to see Sow What, and getting annoyed because it meant The Goodies wasn't on. Cheerio, Kevin.

On the 6th silent movie star Anita Page, the last living attendee of the original 1929 Academy Awards ceremony, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 98.

On the 15th musician Richard Wright, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, passed away at the age of 65.

Finally, on the 26th the world lost Paul Newman; legendary actor, director, humanitarian and racing car driver. The outpouring of emotion that accompanied news of his death was huge . . . not least amongst our dead pool entrants, as a prescient tip meant that first-place holder Kate was usurped by Spoon.

The leaderboard now stands thus:

Spoon 17
Kate 16

But there's three months to go, and a lot of precarious names among the nominations. So anything could happen.