Snuffit Stakes
Dunno if anyone else does this, but up until a while ago we used to run "Snuffit Stakes" each year at work. The idea was that at the start of the year you'd each predict the deaths of 3 people famous enough to get an obituary in a national newspaper, write their names on scraps of paper and pay 3 quid (ie £1 a go) into a kitty. If any of the nominated names died in the following 12 months, whoever predicted it correctly would get a pay-out.

Obviously if it was someone old and in the way who could be reasonably expected to peg out at any minute, the Queen Mother for example (although infuriatingly she went on and on till way after we'd stopped doing it), loads of people would vote for them and each share the proceeds.

The trick therefore was to nominate someone completely unexpected to die, and with luck rake in the entire pot (which stood at over £300) all for yourself.

I don't know if this is why we stopped doing it, but I do remember the same girl accurately and somewhat spookily predicted the deaths of Princess Di, Jan Dildo (the newsreader who was shot dead on her doorstep) and Douglas Adams (the Hitchhiker's Guide author). The odds against it must've been astronomical.

Maybe she had them bumped off so that she'd win our office sweepstake? Who knows....
( Ptolemy the man with the silent pea, Fri 19 Nov 2004, 20:23, Reply)