Hollywood Good

On first hearing the news that Paul the "psychic" octopus has died at his home at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany, it is tempting to think that the Dutch got to poor Paul for predicting their loss to Spain in the world cup!

Some of Pauls life achievements and highlights
 
1. A career highlight: Paul correctly predicts that Spain will beat The Netherlands in the World Cup final. Here he moves immediately to the Spanish box and is thrillingly decisive with his tentacles. Clearly for Paul the issue was never in any doubt. In many ways this was the perfect swansong to a predictive career that took off two years earlier at Euro 2008: Paul announced his competitive retirement shortly afterwards.

2. A less happy moment: Paul would receive death threats shortly after predicting Germany's defeat to Spain in the World Cup semifinals. Publicly he appeared completely unshaken by the experience and continued to carry out his duties with great professionalism. Privately, however ... Well, privately nobody really knows the truth, although as an octopus he did have very little actual consciousness and an emotional range that remains unguessably limited.

3. A difficult moment: Paul refuses to be swayed by feelings of jingoistic loyalty and picks Germany to beat his native England in their World Cup second-round match. In the end, of course, Paul was right. Germany beat England 4-1 to advance to the next stage. Although there are of course those who might say you didn't need to be a psychic octopus to see that