Another eight to go over this week, and we had some truly lovely people leaving us this time.
Film
You know a pick is obscure when news of their death only reaches us through the email address! Winning the “How the hell did they QO” award this week is Jason Hoganson, whose only role as an actor came in 1987’s Empire State. Having starred as a drifter in a movie about gangland warfare, he seems to have taken the role a little too much to heart. 40 years of drug abuse and petty crime followed and his only notable news story of late was assaulting his ex-partner only one day after being released early from prison. He died way back on April 4 in “unexpected” circumstances that remain completely undisclosed, but at least he can rest at peace having finally contributed something to society. That being an out-of-the-blue thirteen points for veteran team Noz4news!
Media
Rex Reed was a film critic, author and occasional actor who spent most of his career writing for The New York Observer. How much talent he had as a critic is debatable as he was more of a “character” than a professional, famous more for being as thoroughly unpleasant as possible about his subjects than for any useful critical insight. Ten points for Pearly Gates.
Music
Soul singer Clarence Carter had a string of R&B hits in the 1960’s, his biggest being Slip Away, Too Weak to Fight, and Patches. The rise of disco in the 70’s ended his chart success but he continued to pump out albums for the next couple of decades and had a notably naughty hit in 1986 with Strokin. I doubt such racy lyrics will be enough to stop them letting him in at the pearly gates compared to most of the others this week having said that. A combination of pneumonia and prostate cancer finished him off in hospice care to the tune of five points for three musical theme teams.
Claudine Longet was a French singer who started out acting on television before shifting to pop music following a well received performance on Run For Your Life. Her self-titled debut album went gold and peaked at #11 but she only enjoyed middling chart success after this. She disappeared from public life in 1976 though not due to her diminishing chart hits. No, poor Claudine was traumatized into retirement when her boyfriend, Olympian ski racer Spider Sabich, was killed in a firearms “mishap”.
Luckily, the police made a string of procedural errors, and the fact she was coked up at the time and writing about how much she hated Spider in her diary wasn’t allowed to be used in court. Justice was served after her tearful breakdown on the stand led to the lesser charge of negligible homicide, and after a small fine and 30 days in prison (only served on weekends so she wouldn’t be away from her children too long) she married her defense attorney and lived happily ever after. C’est la vie and all that, with ten points going to Zombie Dance Party.
Television and Radio
We’ll be getting back to scumbags soon, don’t worry, but let’s take a breather for now. Alan Rothwell was best known for playing original character David Barlow in Coronation Street in the 1960’s before his character was unceremoniously killed off-screen in 1968. He went on to multiple roles across British telly staples such as Heartbeat, Doctors, and of course Casualty. His death at 89 gets ten points for Prowlers Goners ’26 and leaves only three actors left who first graced the famous cobbles of Weatherfield.
Terrorism
Izz al-Din al-Haddad was a militant commander for Hamas and had been leading the terrorist group ever since Mohammed Sinwar got blown to bits last year. He was the main tactician on October 7 when Hamas launched their attack on Israel and had been one of the top targets for elimination as a result ever since. Notoriously slippery and a big proponent of the human shield technique, his luck finally ran out this week with both sides confirming that he had been killed. It’s an astute unique pick by The Marvelous Pneumonia Squad, with an Israeli missile not only atomizing al-Haddad but adding the unnatural points bonus for a whopping sixteen points. Let’s see if announced successor Mohammed Odeh makes it to the new year shall we?
As if one genocidal maniac wasn’t enough, just one day later Felicien Kabuga carked it at the age of 93, albeit from much more boring natural causes sadly. Kabuga was a wealthy agricultural mogul and Hutu supremacist who provided a major source of funds for government propaganda outlets during the Rwandan civil war. He imported half a million machetes into the country in 1993, and these were promptly used to massacre over half a million Tutsi’s in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. After the side he was backing eventually lost the civil war, he spent the next 26 years as a fugitive before his eventual arrest and imprisonment in the Hague. He ultimately escaped any form of justice as a combination of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s led to him being declared unfit to stand trial. Nine points scored for 20 Random Guys Part 3.
Theatre
We finish off with Michael Pennington, a noted theatre actor and joint founder of the English Shakespeare Company. His role as Grand Moff Jerjerrod in Return of the Jedi was mostly left on the cutting room floor but it was enough to land him on science fiction themed All these moments will be lost’s team for ten points.
Scores
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Teams and Scores |
| Jason Hoganson | 55 | April 4 | Noz4news 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻 = 13 Points |
| Michael Pennington | 86 | May 9 | All these moments will be lost 💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 10 Points |
| Rex Reed | 87 | May 12 | Pearly Gates 💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 10 Points |
| Clarence Carter | 90 | May 13 | 3 Teams💀💀💀💀💀= 5 Points |
| Claudine Longet | 84 | May 13 | Zombie Dance Party 💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻 = 10 Points |
| Alan Rothwell | 89 | May 14 | Prowlers Goners ’26 💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 10 Points |
| Izz al-Din al-Haddad | 50’s | May 15 | The Marvelous Pneumonia Squad 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀+👻+😲 = 16 Points |
| Felicien Kabuga | 93 | May 16 | 20 Random Guys Part 3 💀💀💀💀💀+👻= 9 Points |