We’re still stuck in the doldrums, we really need a big name to drop soon or this year is going to be a wash out! We’re halfway through the year and most of us haven’t even scored yet! Darn these healthy celebrities!    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Paul Darrow, 78, English actor (Blake’s 7, Doctor Who).
• Keith Birdsong, 59, American illustrator (Star Trek, Shadowrun), complications of cerebral haemorrhage from traffic collision.
• Dr. John, 77, American Hall of Fame singer-songwriter (“I Walk on Guilded Splinters“, “Right Place, Wrong Time“), heart attack.   
• Justin Edinburgh, 49, English football player (Tottenham Hotspur) and manager (Leyton Orient), cardiac arrest.

In Other News

Brian Wilson has postponed his forthcoming June tour over mental health concerns. The  Beach Boys legend, 76, issued a statement to announce that he would not be able to go ahead with the Pet Sounds and Greatest Hits Live tour as scheduled, after a recent surgery caused him to feel “mentally insecure”.  “It is no secret that I have been living with mental illness for many decades,” the statement on Wilson’s website read. “There were times when it was unbearable but with doctors and medications I have been able to live a wonderful, healthy and productive life with support from my family, friends and fans who have helped me through this journey. “As you may know in the last year or so I’ve had 3 surgeries on my back. The surgeries were successful and I’m physically stronger than I’ve been in a long time.” “However, after my last surgery i started feeling strange and it’s been pretty scary for a while,” he continued. ”I was not feeling like myself. Mentally insecure is how I’d describe it. We’re not sure what is causing it but i do know that it’s not good for me to be on the road right now so I’m heading back to Los Angeles.” He said he plans to rest, recover and work with his doctors, and that he was looking forward to recovery and “seeing everyone later in the year”.  

A former nurse has been convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany and handed a life sentence. Judge Sebastian Buehrmann described Niels Högel’s killing spree as “incomprehensible”. Högel, who is already serving life for two murders, administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care between 1999 and 2005. He is believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany’s modern history. Prosecutors said he attacked patients in order to impress colleagues by subsequently trying to revive them. A former colleague told the German newspaper Bild that Högel was nicknamed “Resuscitation Rambo” because of the way he “pushed everyone else aside” when patients needed to be resuscitated. On the last day of his trial, Högel, 42, asked the families of his victims for forgiveness for his “horrible acts”. “I would like to sincerely apologise for everything I did to you over the course of years,” he said. Högel had been accused of murdering 100 patients in the northern cities of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg. Police believe he may have killed far more but the cremation of bodies had destroyed any possible evidence. Högel had confessed to 55 murders and the court in Oldenburg convicted him of 85, German media reported. Högel’s killing spree was stopped when he was caught in the act of administering unprescribed medication to a patient in 2005 in Delmenhorst. Records at the Oldenburg hospital showed rates of deaths and resuscitations had more than doubled when Högel was on shift!!!  

A botched helicopter rescue (video in the link) of a hiker from a mountain in Arizona has resulted in the injured 74-year-old woman being spun round at high speed while strapped to a stretcher as she was being winched up into the aircraft. The incident, which has been captured on film, shows the aircraft crew attempting to winch the woman up into the helicopter. She had reportedly suffered a head injury from a fall while hiking on Piestewa Peak – the second highest point in the Phoenix mountains – on Tuesday morning. As the stretcher nears the belly of the aircraft, it begins to rotate faster and faster until it is a whirling blur. The winch is then lowered somewhat, and the speed of the spin falls, but as they again try to pull up the stretcher the spin goes to an even higher rate. Unable to immediately bring the stretcher on board, the helicopter flies away with the woman strapped to the stretcher on the dangling line, spinning at high speed over the mountains. Shelley Jameson, assistant chief of the Phoenix Fire Department, told us: “We carry out mountain rescues all of the time, but this one gathered quite a bit of attention because during the rescue she was packaged on a hoist in a stokes basket and it started to spin.” Captain Bobby Dubnow said: “As dramatic as it looks … she suffered no ill-effects from that spin other than being a little bit dizzy. The reports from the hospital are that she is stable and suffered no effects from the spin.”

On This Day

• AD 68 – Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer‘s Iliad, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
• 1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
• 1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.

Deaths

• AD 68 – Nero, Roman emperor (b. 37)
• 1870 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (b. 1812)
• 1958 – Robert Donat, English actor (b. 1905)
• 2013 – Iain Banks, Scottish author (b. 1954)
• 2014 – Rik Mayall, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1958)
• 2017 – Adam West, American actor (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Liam Neeson (67), Bill Hader (41), Karl Urban (47), Anna Torv (40), Julianna Margulies (52), Griffin Dunne (63), Nancy Sinatra (78), Kanye West (41), Michael Cera (31), Helen Baxendale (49), Iggy Azalea (29), Bear Grylls (45), Tom Jones (79), Anna Kournikova (38), Jason Isaacs (56), Paul Giamatti (52), Josie Lawrence (60), Robert Englund (72), Sandra Bernhard (64), Mark Wahlberg (48), Mel Giedroyc (51), Angelina Jolie (44), Noah Wyle (48), Bruce Dern (83), Russell Brand (44), Sean Pertwee (55), Bradley Walsh (59), Imogen Poots (30), James Purefoy (55), Suzi Quatro (69), Morena Baccarin (40), Liam Cunningham (58), Zachary Quinto (42), Justin Long (41), Dominic Cooper (41), and Dana Carvey (64).

Who are these dead people? Are they even Z list celebrities? Who  knows… One thing is for certain, no points have been awarded this week! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Carmine Caridi, 85, American actor (The Godfather Part II, Bugsy, Summer Rental), pneumonia. 
• Peggy Stewart, 95, American actress (The Fighting Redhead, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, That’s My Boy)
• John Tidmarsh, 90, English broadcaster and journalist (Outlook).
• José Antonio Reyes, 35, Spanish footballer (Sevilla, Atlético Madrid, national team), traffic collision.

 In Other News

Father Christmas… Sorry, Julian Assange was too ill to appear at his court hearing in London on Thursday, his lawyer said. The WikiLeaks founder, 47, is fighting against being extradited to the United States over charges related to leaking US government secrets. He had been due to appear at his case management hearing via video link from Belmarsh Prison but lawyer Gareth Peirce said he was “not very well”. According to WikiLeaks, Assange has been moved to the medical ward in jail. A spokesman for the whistleblowing website said it had “grave concerns” about Assange’s health. “During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight,” the spokesman said. “Defence lawyer for Assange, Per Samuelson, said that Julian Assange’s health state last Friday was such ‘that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him’.” The five-minute hearing on Thursday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court was the second in the Australian’s extradition case. The US Justice Department has charged Assange with receiving and publishing thousands of classified documents linked to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Thursday, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot set the next hearing for 12 June and suggested the hearing could take place in Belmarsh, adding: “It may be more convenient for everyone if it’s there.” Assange sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. He is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in south east London for bail violations. Earlier this month, Swedish prosecutors reopened their investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies.  

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has checked into a “wellness retreat” in the US, reportedly for stress. The actor – who’s known for playing Jon Snow – began getting treatment several weeks ago. His publicist told Radio 1 Newsbeat that Kit was working on “some personal issues.” In a recent interview Kit spoke of “a huge heave of emotion” after filming the final scenes of Game of Thrones, which he worked on for eight seasons. In a different interview – the 32-year-old actor told Esquire what it was like filming Jon Snow’s final scenes. He said: “The final day of shooting, I felt fine… I felt fine… I felt fine… Then I went to do my last shots and started hyperventilating a bit. “Then they called, ‘Wrap!’ And I just… broke down. It was this onslaught of relief and grief about not being able to do this again.” A documentary about the end of Game of Thrones called The Last Watch was released on Sunday. It showed Kit crying when he learned about his character’s ending. Kit – who was in Game of Thrones from the first episode until the last – told Variety about the effects of working on such an intense show for a long period. “You have these in-jokes, and these relationships that thrive for eight years,” he explained. “That’s a long time for those jokes to be going, and they never felt old or tired. In the last season, I was like, these are getting tired now. “And I think they got tired because we could see the end coming. “That’s a way of emotionally detaching from something: relationships very slightly starting to strain, just on the edges, just frayed.” Must be awful knowing your career is over at such a young age…. 

Nepal’s tourism authority has denied accusations that the rise in Mount Everest deaths is solely due to overcrowding. The department’s  director general Dandu Raj Ghimire said other factors including adverse weather conditions had also contributed. Ten climbers have been reported dead or missing this season. Photos of long queues near the summit have been widely shared as record numbers ascended the mountain in May. Mr Ghimire said 381 people had ascended Everest this spring but as periods of fine weather had been short, the number of people on the routes had been “higher than expected”. A local tour organiser told AFP that one of the climbers, Nihal Ashpak Bhagwan, died of exhaustion after being “stuck in traffic for more than 12 hours”. Mr Ghimire offered “heartfelt condolences to those who’ve passed away and prayers to those who are still missing”. “Mountaineering in the Himalayas is in itself an adventurous, complex and sensitive issue requiring full awareness yet tragic accidents are unavoidable,” he said. Basically, they don’t give a fuck, just pay your royalty fee of $11,000 and take your chances. 

And finally, there was an empty seat in the front row when Good Omens had its world premiere in London on Tuesday. But that’s not because organisers had trouble filling the gigantic (and newly reopened) Odeon in Leicester Square – quite the opposite, the event was packed out. In fact, a seat was deliberately kept vacant for Terry Pratchett, the co-writer of the original novel, who died in 2015. As a tribute, his trademark hat was placed in the front row as the premiere got under way. According to Gaiman, one of Pratchett’s last requests was that the novel be adapted for the screen. “[Pratchett said] ‘You have to make it into television because I want to see it before the lights go out,'” explained Gaiman at the premiere. “I said OK, figuring I had six or seven years of Terry left. And then he died, which suddenly turned into a last request.” Gaiman took on the task of adapting the story himself – giving the project a stamp of approval that helped it attract some stellar names to the cast. 

On This Day

• 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
• 1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
• 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised.
• 1962 – During the 1962 FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.

Deaths

• 1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
• 2008 – Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
• 2009 – David Eddings, American author (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Richard Dawson, American actor, tv personality, & gameshow host (b. 1932)
• 2017 – Peter Sallis, English actor (b. 1921)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tom Holland (22), Morgan Freeman (81), Brian Cox (72), Jonathan Pryce (71), Amy Schumer (37), Rene Auberjonois (78), Heidi Klum (45), Robert Powell (74), Alanis Morissette (44), Clint Eastwood (89), Colin Farrell (43), Lea Thompson (58), Brooke Shields (54), Tom Berenger (70), Sharon Gless (76), Stephen Tobolowsky (68), Mark Sheppard (55), Colm Meaney (66), Duncan Jones (48), Keir Dullea (83), Harry Enfield (58), Leigh Francis (46), Jennifer Ellison (36), Annette Bening (61), Danny Elfman (66), Mel B (44), Kylie Minogue (51), Julie T. Wallace (58), Michelle Collins (57), Paul Bettany (48), Joseph Fiennes (49), Rachel Parris (35), Helena Bonham Carter (53), Pam Grier (70), Bobcat Goldthwait (57), Lenny Kravitz (55), and Stevie Nicks (71).

Nil points this week, and a lacklustre week for news too. Definitely time to send out the flying monkeys I feel… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Andrew Hall, 65, English actor (Butterflies, Casualty, Coronation Street).
• Niki Lauda, 70, Austrian racing driver and airline owner, Formula One world champion (1975, 1977, 1984).
• Judith Kerr, 95, German-born British writer and illustrator (The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Mog).
• Bobby Joe Long, 65, American convicted serial killer and rapist, execution by lethal injection.

 In Other News

Broadcaster Bill Turnbull has spoken of living with cancer, declaring it is “out to get him”, but that since he finished chemotherapy “just feeling normal feels fantastic”. Bill, 63, was on steroids last year after having several rounds of chemo. He said: “I’ve had a holiday from it now for 10 months. I still have bad days, but I get through.” The Classic FM host was speaking at the Chelsea Flower Show, where he met up with weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, his old BBC Breakfast colleague. He said: “My hair has grown back and I’m letting my hair grow long just to celebrate. I know I looked awful last year. “I saw pictures of myself and I was, ‘Oh Lord, that was just ghastly’. I was in the middle of the treatment.” In November 2017, he was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer, which had spread to his pelvis, hips, legs and spine. He said: “I’m keeping it at bay is the best way to put it. The first prognosis I got was 10 years, then I went to a different doctor and he said 12 to 14, but his ambition was to get me to 80. “But the boundary keeps getting pushed back. You can never tell, but looking at the horizon, the horizon is getting further away with treatments and stuff, so you have to stay positive.”  

Comedian Freddie Starr lived as a recluse in Spain after falling on tough times which left him single, drowning in debt and battling health troubles. The funnyman died alone at his home in Feungirola at the age of 76 and his body was found by his carer. Subsequent reports suggest Starr had become housebound and stopped talking to his friends and neighbours after racking up massive debts in the years before his death. He’s believed to have spent most of his time alone at the two-bed £170,000 townhouse in the hills above the town of Mijas. Starr got himself into thousands of pounds-worth of debt from unpaid water bills and community fees. Also his health had been causing him troubles over the last few years and he went into a downward spiral after his appearance on I’m A Celeb back in 2011. After leaving the jungle, he was caught up in Operation Yewtree after an allegation of sex abuse but was later told he would not be prosecuted. It emerged yesterday that Starr – real name Frederick Fowell – faced being made homeless over a £500,000 debt to the woman who accused him of groping her. Lawyers acting for Karin Ward had reportedly secured a “freezing order” on his Spanish home. They had obtained a preventative embargo from a Costa del Sol court in January 2017 for £380,000. Starr had sought damages in the High Court in July 2015 for alleged slander and libel over her claims that he groped her as a 15-year-old but failed and amassed nearly £1 million legal bill.  

A convicted offender accidentally shot himself in the testicles while having drugs hidden in his anus, say police and prosecutors in Washington state. Cameron Jeffrey Wilson, 27, was forced to seek treatment at a Wenatchee city hospital after the pistol in his front pocket discharged sending a bullet through his groin. He is accused of trying to hide the gun in the aftermath of the violent mishap. A balloon full of marijuana was seen falling out of his anus while doctors operated on his gunshot wound, according to the Wenatchee World News. Police called to the hospital to investigate the unusual 5th April shooting searched Wilson’s car and discovered a bag of methamphetamine inside a pair of blood-stained jeans he had been wearing while shot, Chelan County authorities have claimed. Later that month – while Wilson was being strip-searched by police at Chelan County Regional Justice Centre following his arrest on initial drugs charges – a second balloon full of marijuana slipped out of his anus. After being booked at the county jail on 18th April, he called his girlfriend from jail to tell her to keep silent about the accidental shooting and its aftermath – a call recorded by the authorities. Wilson had allegedly told his girlfriend to hide the pistol at a friend’s house before they drove to the hospital on 5th April. The 27-year-old has been charged with unlawful drugs possession, unlawful weapons possession and tampering with a witness. Reportedly convicted 13 times, he has been detained in jail on a $110,000 (£100,000) bail. He due in court to face the charges on 18th June.

On This Day

• 1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 23,000.
• 1897 – Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
• 1986 – The European Community adopts the European flag.
• 2004 – Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.

Deaths

• 1703 – Samuel Pepys, English politician (b. 1633)
• 1904 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French physician and neurologist (b. 1857)
• 2008 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Jack Vance, American author (b. 1916)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Doug Jones (59), John C. Reilly (54), Jim Broadbent (70), Alfred Molina (66), Priscilla Presley (74), Gary Burghoff (76), Tommy Chong (81), Bob Dylan (78), Eric Cantona (53), Cillian Murphy (42), Octavia Spencer (46), Mike Myers (55), Ian McKellen (79), Frank Oz (74), Joan Collins (86), Melissa McBride (54), Ginnifer Goodwin (41), Naomi Campbell (49), Judge Reinhold (62), Noel Fielding (46), Mr. T (67), Jack Gleeson (27), Cher (73), Louis Theroux (49), Grace Jones (71), and James Fox (80).

Welcome all, as today is a points extravaganza I’ll just get on with it! With the death of Doris Day, the following have scored 53 points each! Christine, Paula, Rachel, Paul G, Dave, Julie, Louise, and a special hooray for Millie who had her listed as her Woman, so she earns a whopping 153 points!! 

Not to be outdone by such scoring, Paul C and Debbie correctly guessed Herman Wouk would die too, so 47 points each there as well! So that’s changed the league table somewhat and livens up the Dead Pool as it were… 

And a special RIP to Bob Hawke. The former Aussie PM who set a world record in 1953 by drinking a yard of ale in 11 seconds at Oxford’s Turf Tavern, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Doris Day, 97, American actress (Pillow Talk, Calamity Jane), singer (“Que Sera, Sera“) and animal welfare activist, Golden Globe winner, pneumonia.
• Grumpy Cat, 7, American internet celebrity cat, complications from urinary tract infection.
• Bob Hawke, 89, Australian politician, Prime Minister (1983–1991), President of the ACTU (1969–1980).
• Ashley Massaro, 39, American professional wrestler (WWE), model (Playboy) and reality show contestant (Survivor).
• I. M. Pei, 102, Chinese-born American architect (Bank of China Tower, East Building of the National Gallery of Art, Louvre Pyramid), Pritzker Prize winner (1983). 
• Herman Wouk, 103, American author (The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, War and Remembrance), Pulitzer Prize winner (1952). 
• Brian Walden, 86, British broadcaster (Weekend World) and politician, MP (1964–1977), emphysema.

In Other News 

Former US President Jimmy Carter has undergone surgery for a broken hip after falling at his home in Georgia, his office says. The 94-year-old, the oldest living former US president, was on his way to go turkey hunting when he fell. Mr Carter was recovering comfortably at a medical centre in Americus, near his home in Plains, with his wife, Rosalynn, a statement said. His surgeon was quoted as saying that the operation was successful. “President Carter said his main concern is that turkey season ends this week, and he has not reached his limit. He hopes the State of Georgia will allow him to rollover the unused limit to next year,” the Carter Center said. Since leaving the White House, Mr Carter has remained active, carrying out humanitarian work with his Carter Center in recent years. In 2015, Mr Carter – who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 – disclosed that cancer that had been found on his liver had also been discovered on his brain. After four months of treatment, he announced that he was cancer-free. At the time, he said: “I’ve had a wonderful life… I’ve got thousands of friends and I’ve had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence, I’ve just gotta make sure I kill all those turkeys before I go.”  

Video footage has shown Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger being attacked at an event in South Africa. The 71-year-old former California governor was interacting with fans during a skipping competition at his Arnold Classic Africa sporting event when a man drop-kicked him from behind. The attacker is seen being restrained following the incident. Schwarzenegger thanked fans on Twitter for their concern, but insisted there was “nothing to worry about”. The video footage, shared widely on social media, shows Schwarzenegger posing for photos and filming at the Johannesburg event on Saturday when the man attacks him with a flying kick. The Terminator star stumbles forward a step after the kick, while the attacker falls to the ground, where he is immediately restrained by a security guard. The man was later handed over to police officers, event officials said. Schwarzenegger tweeted to his more than four million followers: “I thought I was just jostled by the crowd, which happens a lot. I only realised I was kicked when I saw the video like all of you.” He later urged fans to focus on the athletes at the event instead of the attack. 

Jeremy Kyle has said he is “devastated”  following the death of a guest and cancellation of his TV show. The controversial long-running chat show was axed by ITV bosses after the death of guest Steve Dymond last week. MPs and broadcasting regulators are now looking into the care of participants in reality and factual TV shows. “Myself and the production team I have worked with for the last 14 years are all utterly devastated by the recent events, especially since my cash cow has suddenly evaporated” Kyle said in a statement. “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Steve’s family and friends at this incredibly sad time, fuck knows what I’ll do now, perhaps I’ll just stand outside a McDonalds or a Job Centre and belittle those who walk by.” he added. On Wednesday, MPs announced the welfare of guests on TV shows is to be scrutinised in the wake of the death of Mr Dymond. The Commons media select committee is to investigate whether TV companies give guests enough support and media regulator Ofcom is examining whether to update its code of conduct. Mr Dymond was found dead on 9th May, a week after filming the show, during which he took a lie detector test.  

And finally, two tales made better or worse by mobile phones! A man has died after his head was trapped in a freak accident with an electronic seat at a Vue cinema in Birmingham. The cinema-goer went into cardiac arrest after his head was crushed by an electric footrest while he was attempting to rescue his phone. The accident is said to have taken place when the man dropped his phone between two seats in the middle of a film at Vue cinema in Star City, which is in the north east of the city. He is thought to have got trapped when the seat’s footrest clamped down on his head. After his partner and staff at the cinema struggled to release him he was eventually liberated and taken to hospital. Birmingham City Council has begun a health and safety investigation. But he might count himself lucky compared to farmer Kurt Kaser, from Nebraska, who was unloading corn last month when he climbed out of his truck and accidentally stepped into the opening of a grain hopper. The 63-year-old said he could remember telling himself “this ain’t good, this is not good at all” as he tried and failed to pull his leg out. With no mobile phone near him to call for help and the knowledge that no one would come to his aid, the farmer of 40 years made the agonising decision to amputate his own leg. He said: “I thought ‘how long am I going to stay conscious here?’ because I didn’t know what to expect. Then I felt it jerk me again and I thought it was going to grab me again and pull me in further. I had my pocket knife and I thought ‘well, the only way I’m getting outta here is to cut it off’ so I just started sawing on it. When I was cutting it, the nerve endings I could feel them just ping every time I’d start sawing around that pipe and all at once it went and let me go so I got the heck out of there.” After freeing himself, Mr Kaser then had to crawl 150ft across the farm to the nearest phone to call for help. He said he could not remember much pain or blood but he never lost consciousness and could recall the journey to the hospital. Well done that man! 

On This Day

• 1499 – Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.
• 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.
• 1780 – New England’s Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada.
• 1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe‘s rendition of “Happy Birthday”.

Deaths

• 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England (1533–1536); second wife of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1501)
• 1935 – T. E. Lawrence, British colonel and archaeologist (b. 1888)
• 1984 – John Betjeman, English poet and academic (b. 1906)
• 1994 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist, 37th First Lady of the United States (b. 1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tina Fey (49), Miriam Margolyes (78), Yun-Fat Chow (64), Toyah Willcox (61), Paul Whitehouse (61), Andrea Corr (45), Megan Fox (33), Pierce Brosnan (66), Danny Trejo (75), David Boreanaz (50), Janet Jackson (53), Stephen Mangan (51), Cate Blanchett (50), Tim Roth (58), George Lucas (75), Sofia Coppola (48), Francesca Annis (74), Danny Huston (57), Greg Davies (51), Martine McCutcheon (43), Siân Phillips (86), Iwan Rheon (34), Samantha Morton (42), Robert Pattinson (33), Harvey Keitel (80), Zoë Wanamaker (70), Mark Heap (62), Stephen Colbert (55), Stevie Wonder (69), Rami Malek (38), Malin Akerman (41), Emilio Estevez (57), Catherine Tate (51), Gabriel Byrne (69), Ving Rhames (60), Jason Biggs (41), Stephen Baldwin (53), and Holly Valance (36).

A quick round up this week, I’m sure you all have better things to do. A few unexpected deaths this week, but aren’t they all!    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Adam Sky, 42, Australian DJ, severed artery from broken glass.  
• Alvin Sargent, 92, American screenwriter (Julia, Ordinary People, The Amazing Spider-Man).  
• Freddie Starr, 76, English comedian.  
• Peggy Lipton, 72, U.S. actress & model (The Mod Squad, Twin Peaks, The Postman), cancer.  
• Pua Magasiva, 38, Samoan-born New Zealand actor (Shortland Street, Power Rangers Ninja Storm, 30 Days of Night).

In Other News 

For those of you who follow wrestling, you’ll be rather surprised to hear that Cesar Barron, known as Silver King, a professional wrestler and actor has died after collapsing during a bout in London. He was a star in his native Mexico and appeared alongside the comic actor Jack Black in the 2005 film Nacho Libre. The 51-year-old was performing at the Roundhouse in Camden when he reportedly fell to the canvas. A fellow Mexican wrestler paid tribute to his “great rival”, saying: “He went as he wanted: fighting!” El Hijo del Santo, aka Jorge Rodriguez, tweeted his “deep regret” at the death of his “partner in so many battles”. Barron had been in the middle of a match at the Greatest Show of Lucha Libre event on Saturday. Reports in Mexican media suggest he may have suffered a heart attack. Roberto Carrera Maldonado, who attended the fight, said it initially looked like his collapse was part of the show. “It felt like it was staged,” he told the media. “Obviously it was quite normal in the fight.” But the wrestler stayed on the floor despite the referee’s efforts to revive him. Footage posted online shows the referee and several other men coming to his aid after he collapsed. “All of us were really shocked – it wasn’t clear what was happening,” Mr Carrera said. “I had the impression they didn’t know what to do.”  

Former Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry was laid to rest in a “mushroom suit”, his daughter has revealed, but what exactly is this eco-friendly burial option? Sophie Perry spoke in an Instagram post of how mushrooms now hold an entirely new meaning for her, as she praised her late father’s alternative mode of interment. He died in March after suffering a massive stroke. “Any explanation I give will not do justice to the genius that is the mushroom burial suit, but it is essentially an eco friendly burial option via mushrooms,” she posted from the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in California. “My dad discovered it, and was more excited by this than I have ever seen him. He was buried in this suit, one of his final wishes. They are truly a beautiful thing for this beautiful planet, and I want to share it with all of you.” The mushroom suit, or infinity burial suit, was developed by Jae Rhim Lee, founder of Coeio, a California-based green burial company. The firm claims to have found a better way to reduce the body’s toxic pollutants, including lead and mercury, which are often released into the environment during decomposition and cremation. Made from organic cotton embedded with material from specially cultivated mushrooms, the firm says its infinity burial suit “delivers nutrients from body to surrounding plant roots efficiently”. The firm promises to plant two trees for every suit it sells. Its website says the mushroom suit – which costs $1,500 (£1,144) – is currently out of stock, although it does have a version for pets. Green burials are not a new concept. In Washington state compost burials have been presented as an alternative burial option by the company Recompose. The idea is that the human body composts so loved ones take home a pot of soil instead of an urn of ash. 

On This Day

• 1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.   
• 1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Jr., is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs’ home.  
• 1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.  
• 2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.  
• 2010 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board.  
• 2015 – Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3500.

Deaths

• 1994 – John Smith, Scottish-English lawyer and politician (b. 1938)  
• 2001 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (b. 1912)  
• 2014 – H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (b. 1940)  
• 2018 – Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer (b. 1945)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Pam Ferris (71), Holly Valance (36), Meg Foster (71), Maureen Lipman (73), Bono (59), Rosario Dawson (40), Glenda Jackson (83), Billy Joel (70), Vicky McClure (36), David Attenborough (93), Stephen Amell (38), Enrique Iglesias (44), Richard O’Sullivan (75), Adrianne Palicki (36), George Clooney (58), Alan Dale (72), Pippa Haywood (58), Henry Cavill (36), Zach McGowan (39), John Rhys-Davies (75), Richard E. Grant (62), Lance Henriksen (79), Michael Palin (76), Adele (31) and Chris Brown (30).