Welcome all to a points bonanza! With the tragic demise of everyones favourite bumbling entertainer, Bruce Forsyth, almost everyone scored! 26 of us managed to list him in one way or another, so the leaderboard has changed dramatically. I wont list everyone, but well done all. Sadly we only have two people who have yet to score this year, but fear not, with four months to go, anything can happen!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Sonny Landham, 76, American actor (Predator, 48 Hrs., Lock Up), heart failure.
• Sir Bruce Forsyth, 89, English television presenter (The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, Strictly Come Dancing) and entertainer.
• Robin Griffith, 78, Welsh actor. (Llais Blodyn Tatws, Y Barwn Coch o’r gyfres Siop Siafins).
• Liz MacKean, 52, British broadcast journalist (Newsnight), stroke.
• Dick Gregory, 84, American comedian and civil rights activist, heart failure.
• Sir Colin Meads, 81, New Zealand rugby union player, coach and manager, cancer.

In Other News

The former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, is seriously ill in hospital. The church said the 84-year-old’s health had taken a “defining turn”. Cardinal Cormac became the tenth Archbishop of Westminster in March 2000, was made Cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II, before retiring from his role as archbishop in 2009. As archbishop, he was the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. For whatever good it will do, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the current Archbishop of Westminster, has asked for prayers. In a statement on the diocese of Arundel and Brighton website, where Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor used to be bishop, Cardinal Nichols said “these loving prayers are a source of great strength and comfort as he calmly ponders on all that lies ahead”, which most likely will be oblivion.

Earlier this week, Tom Cruise injured himself doing a stunt for the upcoming Mission: Impossible 6. Production will be shut down for around two months as a result. Variety first broke the news of the delay, which was then confirmed by the other Hollywood trades. Cruise was reportedly performing a stunt for the Christopher McQuarrie film where he had to jump between two buildings. He missed, which was the point, but on one of the takes, he landed wrong and broke his ankle. TMZ posted a video that’s likely the stunt in question. The director spoke to Empire about the whole situation and confirmed that, yes, Cruise broke his ankle. Yes, he’s okay. But no, he’s not sure how long the hiatus will be. The trades all have different estimations, from six weeks to three months. Cruise is well-known for doing his own stunts, especially in the Mission: Impossible movies. He famously hung off the side of the Burj Khalifa for the fourth film and hung off a flying plane for the fifth one. If there’s a seventh, you’d have to think that would be cut back significantly after this.

Willie Nelson was forced to cut his Salt Lake City concert short due to breathing problems, according to various reports from the scene. The 84-year-old singer was reportedly taken to a local hospital after exiting the stage during the early section of his performance at the USANA Amphitheatre. Nelson has battled multiple health complaints in recent years, but took to Twitter to calm fans by stating that he was “feeling better”, while blaming altitude sickness for his woes. “This is Willie,” he wrote. “I am sorry to have to cut the SLC show short tonight. The altitude got to me I am feeling better now & headed for lower ground.” A part of fans’ alarm comes from the various rumours Nelson has recently been plagued with; his publicist Elaine Shock was forced to release a statement that the musician was “perfectly fine”, after Radar Online quoted an anonymous source stating he was “deathly ill”. Several of his shows were cancelled at the start of the year due to a “bad cold”, but Nelson has since returned to the road. He’s also no stranger to online death hoaxes, even addressing the matter in his song ‘Still Not Dead’, off his latest album God’s Problem Child.

Silent Witness actress Liz Carr has said being attacked by a man with scissors was “very frightening” but that she was “relatively unscathed”. Carr, who plays forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery, was with her personal assistant when the assault happened near London’s Euston station. A man has been detained under the Mental Health Act, police said. “Thanks to everyone who has sent their love and good wishes following  last week’s stabbing,” Carr said. “Just to reassure you that whilst it was very frightening at the time, I came out of it relatively unscathed and was even back home later that night. “Looking forward to returning to filming on Silent Witness next week where thankfully all the violence is fake!” The 45-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, suffered minor cuts. Both women were taken to hospital and later discharged.

And finally, the grandmother who infamously tried to claim a £33million lottery jackpot by alleging she had put the ticket in the washing machine has died aged 49. ‘Lotto gran’ Susanne Hinte is believed to have had a heart attack at her home in Worcester yesterday afternoon. The grandmother-of-four contacted Camelot last year after claiming she found the winning ticket in her jeans which had been damaged in the wash. But when German-born Ms Hinte sent in the crumpled ticket, investigators from Camelot’s security team soon determined the ticket was not correct. Ms Hinte provoked a storm of criticism by the false lottery claim and later revealed she regretted the whole incident and felt suicidal. Last year she said: ‘I wanted to be dead. I couldn’t understand why all of a sudden I was hated by so many people. I didn’t do anything wrong.’ Although not famous enough for our needs, she would have scored quite nicely.

On This Day

• 1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.
• 1940 – In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.
• 1940 – World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.
• 1975 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• 1977 – Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
• 1989 – The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.

Deaths

• 1825 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, English admiral and politician, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753)
• 1912 – William Booth, English preacher, co-founded The Salvation Army (b. 1829)
• 2013 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Matthew Perry (48), Jonathan Frakes (65), Kevin Dillon (52), Diana Muldaur (79), Jim Carter (69), Edward Norton (48), Robert Redford (81), Christian Slater (48), Madeleine Stowe (59), Roman Polanski (84), Denis Leary (60), Robert De Niro (74), Sean Penn (57), Steve Carell (55), James Cameron (63), Julie Newmar (84), Madonna (59), Jennifer Lawrence (27), Ben Affleck (45), Natasha Henstridge (43), Debra Messing (49), Jim Dale (82), Mila Kunis (34), Halle Berry (51) and Steve Martin (72).

Oh my! Points to award and a new table leader! With  the sad passing of Glen Campbell, 69 points go to Doug and 169 to Martin as he had him down as his Cert.  Luke and Dave also score 137 with their Cert, with the death of the world oldest man, Yisrael Kristal. The top three scorers now have nothing between them, one death is enough to secure the championship.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Chantek, 39, American hybrid orangutan who learned signing.
• Haruo Nakajima, 88, Japanese actor (Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Seven Samurai), pneumonia.
• Glen Campbell, 81, American singer (“Rhinestone Cowboy”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”) and actor (True Grit), Grammy winner (1967, 2015), Alzheimer’s disease.
• Sitaram Panchal, 54, Indian actor (Peepli Live, Lajja, Slumdog Millionaire), kidney and lung cancer.
• Yisrael Kristal, 113, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian, world’s oldest living man.

In Other News

Singer Sinead O’Connor has sparked fresh concern over her mental health after posting a Facebook video in which she reveals she has wanted to kill herself for the past two years. The Irish songwriter, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, took to the social media site for a tearful confessional recording, opening up about how alone she has felt since losing custody of her 13-year-old son. In the video, posted from the Travelodge in New Jersey where she says she is now living, the 50-year-old said she suffers from three mental illnesses. “I’m all by myself, there’s absolutely nobody in my life. “I’m now living in a Travelodge motel in the arse-end of New Jersey. “[No one] except my doctor, my psychiatrist — who is the sweetest man on earth who says I’m his hero — and that’s about the only f**king thing keeping me alive at the moment. The fact that I’m his bloody hero … and that’s kind of pathetic.” O’Connor, who shot to fame in 1990 with the smash hit Nothing Compares 2 U, claims she is being treated “like shit” by family members who are refusing to take care of her. The thousands of comments from friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter mainly expressed concern for the singer’s well-being and urged her to seek help. Last May, the singer sparked a police investigation after she went missing after going on a bike ride with friends concerned she may have carried out her threats to take her own life.

Jeremy Clarkson will have to take a break from work for “quite some time” after contracting pneumonia, the TV presenter has said in a statement. The Grand Tour presenter was admitted to hospital on Friday after falling ill while on a family holiday in Majorca. The 57-year-old posted a message on social media saying: “To keep you up to date, I’ll be out of action for quite some time apparently.” He said it was “really annoying” as he had never had a day off work. Clarkson also thanked fans for “all the good wishes”. On Sunday, it was confirmed the former Top Gear host was being treated in a hospital on the Spanish island. Clarkson shared a photograph of tubes in his arm and his hospital identity tags around his wrist, writing: “Not the sort of bangles I usually choose on holiday.” Clarkson made light of the situation on social media, saying the show’s third co-presenter, James May, was now the only “functioning member” of the Grand Tour team, adding: “God help us.”

In what we would call a non-news story, The Queen is preparing to make Prince Charles King of England and abdicated the throne, according to reports. Queen Elizabeth, 91, intends to step aside when she turns 95. They said: “Out of the profound respect the Queen holds for the institution of monarchy and its stewardship, Her Majesty would want to make sure that she has done everything she can for her country and her people before she hands over. She is dutiful to her core. Her Majesty is mindful of her age and wants to make sure when the time comes, the transition of the Crown is seamless. I understand the Queen has given the matter considerable thought and believes that, if she is still alive at 95, she will seriously consider passing the reign to Charles.” Clarence House is making no comment about ‘Plan Regency’, which involves a piece of legislation called the Regency Act coming into force.

Ant McPartlin has revealed how his secret two-year addiction to super-strong painkilling drugs almost killed him. The 41-year-old I’m A Celebrity presenter told how he was rushed to hospital at 5am after an “insane” pills binge. “I was at the point where anything — prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs — I would take. And take them with alcohol, which is ridiculous. The doctors told me, ‘You could have killed yourself’. Ant knew the game was up as he pleaded with his wife Lisa to get him to hospital after bingeing on tramadol, morphine and alcohol while recovering from a second knee operation in June. He recalls: “It was five in the morning and I was screaming in pain so I rang Lisa. She was upstairs because I was living in the living room because I couldn’t get around. I said, ‘You’re going to have to call me an ambulance. I’m in a bad way’. Post-rehab, he’s now clean of all drugs other than paracetamol for the first time in three years — and looking healthy after losing a stone.

On This Day

• 1868 – The 8.5–9.0 M_w Arica earthquake struck southern Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin wide tsunami that affected Hawaii and New Zealand.
• 1961 – East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started.
• 1964 – Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the Murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.
• 1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker tape parade in New York City That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

Deaths

• 1910 – Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse and theologian (b. 1820)
• 1946 – H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic (b. 1866)
• 2009 – Les Paul, American musician (b. 1915)
• 2016 – Kenny Baker, English actor and musician (b. 1934)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Cara Delevingne (25), Jim Beaver (67), Sam J. Jones (63), Chris Hemsworth (34), Anna Gunn (49), Ian McDiarmid (73), Hulk Hogan (64), Antonio Banderas (57), Rosanna Arquette (58), Kylie Jenner (20), Anna Kendrick (32), Sam Elliott (73), Rhona Mitra (41), Gillian Anderson (49), Eric Bana (49), Melanie Griffith (60), Audrey Tautou (41), McG (48), Dustin Hoffman (80), Keith Carradine (68), Charlize Theron (42), Abbie Cornish (35), David Duchovny (57) and Tobin Bell (75).

Several prominent names have dropped this week, however no points scored. Rather a lot of juicy news too, in fact it was rather difficult to edit this issue down to the usual size, if only every week was the same!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jeanne Moreau, 89, French actress (Elevator to the Gallows, The Lovers, Jules and Jim).
• Jeffrey Brotman, 74, American businessman, co-founder of Costco.
• Mariann Mayberry, 52, American actress (War of the Worlds, August: Osage County, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), ovarian cancer.
• Goldy McJohn, 72, Canadian keyboardist (Steppenwolf), heart attack.
• Robert Hardy, 91, British actor (All Creatures Great and Small, Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, Harry Potter).
• Hywel Bennett, 73, Welsh actor (The Virgin Soldiers, Shelley, EastEnders).

In Other News

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson is being treated for pneumonia after being admitted to  hospital in Majorca. The 57-year-old was on a family holiday on the Spanish island when he was taken ill. He tweeted friend Jemima Goldsmith he was “in a wheelchair, connected up to tubes, in a hospital”, and also posted a picture of himself on Instagram. A spokesman for The Grand Tour confirmed the TV presenter was being treated for pneumonia. Clarkson is the second Grand Tour host to be admitted to hospital this year. Fellow Top Gear alumnus Richard Hammond, 47, was flown to hospital in Switzerland after crashing an electric super car in Switzerland in June. The car, which was being filmed for the latest series of The Grand Tour, burst into flames after Hammond escaped the wreckage. The presenter said he thought he was going to die during the incident, during which he became airborne and crashed after completing the Hemberg Hill Climb in Switzerland. He described the experience as “like being in a tumble dryer full of bricks going down a hill”.

Controversial columnist Katie Hopkins had to be rushed to hospital after being treated by paramedics at a train station. The reality TV star was left in agony after dislocating her shoulder while carrying a suitcase onto the platform. She had to be given emergency gas and air inside Paddington, west London, before being taken to nearby St Mary’s Hospital. Katie’s husband Mark Cross told the Sunday Mirror: “This is a legacy from her years with epilepsy. The staff at St Mary’s were brilliant and managed to get her patched up in a couple of hours.” The ex-Apprentice contestant Katie, 42, was her way to Heathrow to catch a flight to LA where she appeared as a guest speaker at the Politicon conference in Pasadena. Mark added: “I’m pleased to say Katie, although in a great deal of pain and doped-up, still made her flight.” Katie was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 19 and last year underwent brain surgery but surgeons failed to find her brain.

The Duke of Edinburgh met Royal Marines in his final solo public engagement before he retires from royal duties. The 96-year-old announced his retirement in May, after decades of supporting the Queen as well as attending events for his own charities and organisations. Prince Philip has completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952. Prime Minister Theresa May took to Twitter to thank him for “a remarkable lifetime of service”. She added that she hoped he “can now enjoy a well-earned retirement”. While his diary of engagements will come to an end, Buckingham Palace has said the duke may still decide to attend certain events alongside the Queen in the future.

Martin Shkreli, the hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical entrepreneur once dubbed “the most hated man in America”, has been found guilty on three of eight federal charges that he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds. The jury of seven women and five men reached their verdict on the fifth day of deliberations after a month-long federal fraud trial. Shkreli, nicknamed “Pharma Bro” for his wilfully provocative behaviour, faces up to 20 years behind bars on the charges of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prior to the trial, Shkreli boasted he would be acquitted entirely because he was “so innocent” and jurors would apologise to him. Shkreli also faces a heap of civil lawsuits. Shkreli achieved notoriety in 2015 after the 34-year-old increased the price of a life-saving drug, Daraprim, used by people with Aids, by 5,000% overnight, shortly after his pharmaceutical startup bought the commercial rights to it. Let’s see how long he lasts if he gets put in jail.

On This Day

• 1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
• 1926 – Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
• 1945 – World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb “Little Boy” is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
• 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.

Deaths

• 1623 – Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare (b. 1555)
• 2005 – Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (b. 1946)
• 2009 – John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1950)
• 2012 – Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer (b. 1913)

Last Week’s Birthdays

M. Night Shyamalan (47), Michelle Yeoh (55), Mark Strong (54), Loni Anderson (72), Lexi Belle (30), Kara Tointon (34), Billy Bob Thornton (62), Barack Obama (56), Evangeline Lilly (38), Martin Sheen (77), John Landis (67), Steven Berkoff (80), Sam Worthington (41), Kevin Smith (47), Edward Furlong (40), Joanna Cassidy (72), Jason Momoa (38), Sam Mendes (52), Michael Biehn (61), Wesley Snipes (55), Dean Cain (51), Emilia Fox (43), J.K. Rowling (52), Christopher Nolan (47), Arnold Schwarzenegger (70), Lisa Kudrow (54), Hilary Swank (43), Laurence Fishburne (56), Jean Reno (69), Richard Linklater (57), Carel Struycken (69), and Frances de la Tour (73).

Another pointless week, to be fair, I could walk past any of this weeks deceased and not notice them. However, they are all more famous than I am, so lets celebrate their demises by not scoring any points whatsoever! But, from reading this weeks news, we now know not to eat cherry stones as they have enough cyanide in three of them to kill you, so make sure you offer cherries to any celebrities you happen to meet, just on the off chance like..

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Clarence Matthews, 111, American supercentenarian, oldest living man in the US.
• Michael Johnson, 72, American singer (“Bluer Than Blue”, “Give Me Wings”, “The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder”), songwriter and guitarist.
• Barbara Sinatra, 90, American fashion model, showgirl and philanthropist.
• Patti Deutsch, 73, American comedian and voice actress (The Smurfs, Match Game, Tattletales), cancer.
• June Foray, 99, American voice actress (The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Cinderella).
• Rob Anker, 27, English dancer (Diversity), winner of Britain’s Got Talent (2009), car crash.
• Charlie Gard, 11 months, British infant, subject of life support and parental rights case, MDDS.

In Other News

Troubled Ant McPartlin has been allowed on trips out of rehab after making progress on overcoming his addictions. The TV favourite, 41, shocked fans last month by telling the media of his substance abuse, prescription drugs and booze issues. But smiling Ant, who has had surgery to fix an injured right knee, has been on walks to a park and shops after four weeks staying inside the clinic. A source said: “He’s doing very well considering everything he’s been through and is happy at being allowed to leave the centre with one of the staff. He is in good spirits and on the road to recovery.” Ant admitted to being hooked on painkillers he took for knee pain. He also turned to substance abuse while depressed after years of being unable to conceive with wife Lisa. Ant checked into rehab after confessing to her and TV partner Declan Donnelly about his problems and is expected to remain at the clinic for up to three months. The source added: “Ant has had no visitors — not even Lisa or Dec. “It was judged best that he battled through this on his own. It has been very tough for him, but he really wants to get better and promised to do whatever that takes. There is still a way to go, but he is making real progress.”

Olivia Newton-John’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi has revealed that cannabis oil is helping her recover from cancer. Fans everywhere were devastated when the Grease star announced the return of her cancer in May, being forced to postpone her US and Canada tour as the cancer has now spread to other areas of her body. Olivia’s daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, revealed that her mother would be trying alternative courses of medicine – including cannabis oil to try and treat her, so in all likelihood she wont be around for our lists for 2018. Chloe, Olivia’s only child, owns a legal marijuana farm in Oregon with her fiancé, and discussed how effective the cannabis oil had been. She said: “She’s using it, it inhibits cancer cell growth. It’s an amazing plant and I’m much more for natural medicine than I am for traditional western medicine. “I think a combination of both is good. My mum and I more lean towards the natural remedies.” She said in a totally impartial way that didn’t promote her money making scheme over her mothers health.

And finally, just when you thought it was safe to go out at night once more, police in the US state of Maine have arrested a drunk, one-armed clown who was brandishing a machete. Corey Berry, 31, from the town of Hollis, was spotted walking down a road in a black hooded sweatshirt and a clown mask, holding the weapon. He had duct-taped the machete to his arm, which police say had been amputated. Worried residents began calling 911 at around 18:00 on Tuesday. Local media said Mr Berry ran off into the woods, where police struggled to apprehend him as further emergency calls came in. State Trooper Adam Schmidt said the clown was highly intoxicated, but cooperative. He told police he had been inspired by previous creepy clown sightings and was trying to play a prank. While sightings have died down this year, summer and autumn 2016 saw a wave of “killer clown” stunts that spread across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.

On This Day

• 762 – Baghdad is founded by caliph Al-Mansur.
• 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
• 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
• 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission: David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
• 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.
• 2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
• 2006 – The world’s longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years and as many as 30,000 children were fucked by the presenters.

Deaths

• 1898 – Otto von Bismarck, Lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1815)
• 2007 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1918)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Wil Wheaton (45), David Warner (76), Elizabeth Berkley (43), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (47), Taylor Schilling (33), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (40), Donnie Yen (54), Bryan Fuller (48), Kate Beckinsale (44), Jason Statham (50), Kevin Spacey (58), Sandra Bullock (53), Helen Mirren (72), Nana Visitor (60), Eve Myles (39), Mick Jagger (74), Matt LeBlanc (50), Iman (62), Lynda Carter (66), Anna Paquin (35), Summer Glau (36), Jennifer Lopez (48), Danny Dyer (40), Woody Harrelson (56), Daniel Radcliffe (28), Charisma Carpenter (47), Ronny Cox (79), Slash (52) and Selena Gomez (25).

After a busy week for the flying monkeys, none of us managed to score a single point. Quite a few big names on the list this week, even a very good potential Maverick, if only we could predict the future somehow…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Martin Landau, 89, American actor (Ed Wood, Mission: Impossible, North by Northwest), Oscar winner (1995).
• George A. Romero, 77, American-Canadian film director and screenwriter (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow), lung cancer.
• Harvey Atkin, 74, Canadian actor (Cagney & Lacey, Meatballs, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), cancer.
• Chester Bennington, 41, American singer and songwriter (Linkin Park, Dead by Sunrise, Stone Temple Pilots), suicide by hanging.
• John Heard, 72, American actor (Home Alone).
• Pudsey, 11, British performing dog (Britain’s Got Talent, Pudsey: The Movie, Mr Stink), blood cancer.
• Deborah Watling, 69, English actress (Doctor Who, Take Me High, The Invisible Man), lung cancer.

In Other News

British actor Paul Nicholls, 38, was found in agony at the base of Khun Si falls after a local spotted his abandoned rental motorbike. He was found partially submerged in a rock pool, semi-conscious and with hypothermia, unable to move to safety or find food. “I am lucky to be alive,” Nicholls said. “It took such a long time to find me. It’s an understatement to say it wasn’t a great situation … The problem was I couldn’t move to get out of there.” Nicholls said his kneecap was destroyed in the fall and would need a complete reconstruction. It took two hours for emergency services to get him to International Koh Samui hospital, and his medical bills will run into tens of thousands of pounds. Nicholls debuted in EastEnders in 1996 as Joe Wicks. He quit the soap a year later and has since worked on City Central, Holby City, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Law & Order. He also acted in the 2004 film, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

Veteran US Republican Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is reviewing treatment options, according to his office. The options may include chemotherapy and radiation, his doctors said. The 80-year-old politician is in “good spirits” recovering at home. He thanked those who had wished him well and said he would be back soon. The tumour was discovered during a surgery to remove a blood clot from above his left eye last week. Tissue analysis revealed that a primary brain tumour known as glioblastoma was associated with the clot. “The senator’s doctors say he is recovering from his surgery ‘amazingly well’ and his underlying health is excellent.” Senior Republicans and Democrats wished him a speedy recovery, prompting Mr McCain to tweet his thanks. Glioblastoma is a particularly aggressive brain tumour, and increases in frequency with age, affecting more men than women.

You might want to pop over to Nickie’s blog to read this excellent post about our perception on who is is still alive or is actually dead. Each year at Dead Pool Towers we have to review each persons list because invariably there will be one or two already deceased celebrities on their lists. We also get shocked at times to find out that a celebrity is still alive, having been certain that they died twenty years ago, only to find they just retired and slipped back into obscurity like the rest of us.

On This Day

• 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
• 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program.
• 1982 – Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone:The Movie.

Deaths

• 1885 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822)
• 1948 – D. W. Griffith, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1875)
• 1966 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1982 – Vic Morrow, American actor (b. 1929)
• 1996 – Jean Muir, American actress (b. 1911)
• 2002 – Leo McKern, Australian-English actor (b. 1920)
• 2011 – Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (b. 1983)
• 2012 – Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1951)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Willem Dafoe (62), Clive Standen (36), Rhys Ifans (50), Terence Stamp (79), Danny Glover (71), Louise Fletcher (83), Josh Hartnett (39), Diana Rigg (79), John Francis Daley (32), Gisele Bündchen (37), Benedict Cumberbatch (41), Jared Padalecki (35), Vin Diesel (50), Kristen Bell (37), Paul Verhoeven (79), Donald Sutherland (82), David Hasselhoff (65) and Alex Winter (52).