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Dead Pool 18th April 2021

Alas no points to award this week, even though we have a clutch of decent celebrities who have passed away. In case you missed it, Prince Philip’s funeral took place, everyone was sobbing as the Queen sat by herself and Harry and William argued through clenched teeth about The Markle Incident. All in all, a great advertising campaign by Land Rover.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Everyones favourite sex pest, Harvey Weinstein is reportedly going blind and has lost several teeth in prison, according to his lawyer. The disgraced movie mogul appeared virtually in an upstate New York court to fight extradition to Los Angeles, where he has been indicted on 11 counts of sexual assault. According to the media, he faces four counts of forcible rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual penetration by force connected to the alleged assaults of five women from 2004 to 2013. Weinstein’s lawyer Norman Effman said his client did not want to be extradited yet due to his health issues needing medical attention. He is “scheduled for some dental procedures to save his teeth – he’s lost, I believe four at this point,” Effman said. He didn’t mention if the teeth fell out on their own or were helped along by a fellow inmate. Weinstein was found guilty in February 2020 of third-degree rape and of a criminal sexual act. He was sentenced the following month to 23 years in prison. 

Yet another social media ‘celebrity’ has died. If you know of the TikTok star Adam Perkins, well, he’s dead, and at the very young age of 24. The Boston-born internet sensation’s twin brother Patrick confirmed the news on Instagram, as he revealed the ‘star’ had died on April 11th but did not disclose any cause of death, but by the look of him I suspect a healthy dose of crack. As well as having thousands of TikTok followers, Adam was most well known for a clip on the the now-defunct social media site Vine which saw him parody an advert for the American restaurant chain Chili’s in which we saw him walk into a bathroom and say ‘Welcome to Chili’s’, yup, that’s all it takes nowadays folks! They say he released an album called Latch Relay in 2018 under the name Plas Teg, I’m fucked if I’ve ever heard of it. I reckon his twin brother has missed a trick here though, obviously the lesser talented, he should have declared himself dead and reaped the cash his brother could have made, or not, as we’ve never heard of him!  

You might have rightly skimmed over this weeks deaths and totally ignored the name Barry Mason, I’ll forgive you. However the songwriter who died at the age of 85 on Friday has a string of well known hits and is also behind Leeds United’s anthem Marching on Together. Mason co-wrote the sporting anthem with Les Reed in 1972, which has also become the song of city rugby league club Leeds Rhinos. Other hits penned by Mason include Tom Jones’ mega hit Delilah and The Last Waltz by Engelbert Humperdinck. Taking to Twitter, a Leeds United spokesperson said: “LUFC are saddened to learn of the passing of Barry Mason, co-writer of the club’s anthem Marching On Together.” Spandau Ballet songwriter Gary Kemp said: “Shocked to hear that my friend and lovely human Barry Mason died yesterday. All my love to his wife Vanessa and his children.”  He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music. In a glittering career he won five Ivor Novello Awards and penned an extraordinary 11,000 songs. Working in the golden age of British popular music in the 1960’s, his songs were performed by the likes of Rod Stewart, Engelbert Humperdinck, Elvis Presley ,The Drifters and of course, Tom Jones. 

Not to sound monotonous, but yet another YouTube influencer you’ve never heard of, Jeffree Star has said he is in “excruciating pain” after he and his friend Daniel Lucas were involved in a “severe” car accident in Wyoming. The controversial YouTube ‘star’ was driving in Natrona County when the Rolls Royce they were in hit black ice and flipped over three times. A representative posted a picture of Star in a hospital gown, laying in a bed with a neck brace on, from his official Twitter account. “A few hours ago Jeffree and Daniel were in a severe car accident and the car flipped 3 times after hitting black ice,” the tweet stated. “We will update you all when the doctor gives us more info. So thankful they are both alive.” Star has now posted an update from his social media accounts, calling the incident “one of the scariest moments” of his life. “This morning was one of the scariest moments of our entire lives. I’m so grateful to be here still. I’m in excruciating pain because part of my back is broken and I have vertebrae fractures on my spine. My doctor said it will take a few months but I should make a full recovery,” he wrote. “My best friend Daniel has internal injuries and because he has survived colon cancer three times, he’s having complications with his organs and they’re monitoring him 24/7. We’ll know more soon. Thank you to every single person checking on us.” Star, whose real name is Jeffrey Lynn Steininger, is originally from Orange County, California, but last year bought a 70-acre ranch near Casper, Wyoming. The 35-year-old has run Jeffree Star Cosmetics since 2014, and has 16.5 million subscribers on YouTube, 13.6 million on Instagram and 6.9 million on Twitter.

Charles Geschke, the co-founder of the software company Adobe who helped develop the Portable Document Format, or PDF, has died at the age of 81. Geschke set up Adobe in 1982, giving the world the ubiquitous PDF software, among many other audio-visual innovations. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said Geschke, widely known as Chuck, “sparked the desktop publishing revolution”. “This is a huge loss for the entire Adobe community and the technology industry, for whom he has been a guide and hero for decades,” he wrote in an email to the company’s employees. “As co-founders of Adobe, Chuck and John Warnock developed ground-breaking software that has revolutionised how people create and communicate,” he said. Geschke and Warnock were responsible for transformative software inventions, including PDF, Acrobat, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Photoshop, Mr Narayen said. In 1992, Geschke was kidnapped in an incident that made national headlines. He was held at gunpoint in his office and taken to Hollister, California, for four days. Geschke was freed after a suspect, found with $650,000 in ransom money, took police to the location where he was being held. In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded Geschke and Warnock the National Medal of Technology. 

On This Day

  • 1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.   
  • 1930 – The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that “there is no news” in their evening report.  
  • 2007 – A series of bombings, two of them being suicides, occur in Baghdad, killing 198 and injuring 251.  

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Vanessa Kirby (33), David Tennant (50), James Woods (74), Hayley Mills (75), Eli Roth (49), Rick Moranis (68), Jennifer Garner (49), Rooney Mara (36), Sean Bean (62), David Bradley (79), Anya Taylor-Joy (25), Claire Foy (36), Gina Carano (39), Ellen Barkin (67), Sadie Sink (19), Martin Lawrence (56), Emma Watson (31), Luke Evans (42), Seth Rogen (39), Emma Thompson (62), Maisie Williams (24), Adrien Brody (48), Sarah Michelle Gellar (44), Anthony Michael Hall (53), Robert Carlyle (60), Peter Capaldi (63), Julie Christie (81), Ron Perlman (71), William Sadler (71), Erick Avari (69), Edward Fox (84), Peter Davison (70), Jennifer Morrison (42), Saoirse Ronan (27), Claire Danes (42), Ed O’Neill (75), Andy Garcia (65), Shannen Doherty (50), and Nicholas Brendon (50).

Posted by  |  18th April 2021 | Categories: 2021 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 11th April 2021

As Prince Philip dies just two months shy of receiving a telegram from his wife; for us he  instigates a points avalanche! Some of you scored 51 points, but most of you had him down as a Cert, so 151 points. I’ll not list you all, but well done everyone! Commiserations to Martin, myself and Sarai as the only ones neglecting to put the lizard overseer on our lists this year. Interestingly, the old duke scores a grand total of 2930 points. In comparison, Maggie Thatcher scored 1882 points, Nelson Mandela 1315 points, and Bruce Forsyth 2486 points, so the old fella has punched out at the top. I suspect the only person to beat his score could be The Queen herself! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Tracey Emin has declared she’s passed a “big milestone” in her battle with bladder cancer as her last scans gave her the “all clear”. She went public with her health battle back in October, revealing she’d undergone treatment and the disease was in remission. The artist, 57, has now opened up about her condition in a new interview on BBC Newsnight, explaining her last three-monthly scan last week showed she was “all clear”. She added: “I’m not painting because I’m using my willpower to stay alive. That’s what I’m doing. I never realised how much I wanted to live until I thought I was going to die.” Tracey – famed for her messy bed art installation – also revealed she’s undergone life-saving surgeries in a bid to beat the cancer including a full hysterectomy. She also had her bladder and urethra, lymph nodes, part of her vagina and intestine removed. In the Newsnight interview, she explained she now has a urostomy bag to take the place of the bladder and urinary system, calling it a “major disability”. She had been undergoing scans every three months to keep a check on the cancer, but after being given the all clear she will now only have to be checked once a year.  

Sarah Harding has revealed her joy at being told her brain and lung tumours had reduced in size following her cancer treatment at the back end of last year. The Girls Aloud singer was first diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year but received the devastating news that it had quickly spread to other parts of her body.The 39-year-old has since been undergoing chemotherapy treatment and ahead of this week’s release of her debut autobiography called Hear Me Out, it has been revealed that some of the tumours have reduced in size. She shared “MRI scans at the end of December revealed that the tumours in my brain and in my lung have shrunk a bit with the treatment.” While she admitted that she didn’t know “exactly what this means” she was happy to announce that it’s moving in the right direction. She continued: “Right now, every little victory feels momentous”.    

Max George has revealed his pal Tom Parker has “shocked” doctors with how well he’ been response to brain cancer treatment. The Wanted star, 32, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and has been undergoing rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in a bid to prolong his life. Speaking on the Dangerous Dinners podcast, Max, also 32, gave the good news that the cancer has been “suppressed”. He explained: “Tom’s got something called glioblastoma, which is quite an aggressive form of brain tumour, but he’s had his first bout of chemo and radio therapy, which he has responded to unbelievably. “Doctors were actually shocked by how well he’s responded – all of his tumours have been suppressed, so he’s in the best hands.” Max went on to insist dad-of-two Tom is being his usual cheerful self and just wants to keep his life as normal as possible. He added: “In himself, Tom… Nothing puts Tom down, nothing. When you talk to him it’s like everything’s normal, and he just wants that – he wants normality. “He’s just had his second child, so he’s got so much to focus on – he’s doing great, he’s doing really well.” 

On This Day

  • 1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.   
  • 1965 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people.  
  • 1976 – The Apple I is created.   

Deaths

  • 1240 – Llywelyn the Great, Welsh prince (b. 1172). 
  • 1890 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities, The Elephant Man (b. 1862).    
  • 1985 – John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (b. 1898). 
  • 2001 – Harry Secombe, Welsh-English actor (b. 1921). 
  • 2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1922). 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tricia Helfer (47), Matt Ryan (40), Jeremy Clarkson (61), Charlie Hunnam (41), Daisy Ridley (29), Haley Joel Osment (33), David Harbour (46), Brad William Henke (55), Steven Seagal (69), Peter MacNicol (67), Kristen Stewart (31), Elle Fanning (23), Dennis Quaid (67), Mark Pellegrino (56), Cynthia Nixon (55), Valerie Singleton (84), Katee Sackhoff (41), Robin Wright (55), Emma Caulfield Ford (48), Patricia Arquette (53), Dean Norris (58), Russell Crowe (57), Jackie Chan (67), Francis Ford Coppola (82), Michael Rooker (66), Paul Rudd (52), Zach Braff (46), John Ratzenberger (74), Billy Dee Williams (84), Lily James (32), Mitch Pileggi (69), Jane Asher (75), and Pharrell Williams (48). 

Posted by  |  11th April 2021 | Categories: 2021 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 4th April 2021

A lacklustre week for famous deaths, but a few interesting reads below to amuse the morbid amongst you. If you see any news snippets of fancy a go at writing for the newsletter, please forward anything you feel that’s interesting or newsworthy. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The music world is reacting to the reports that DMX is in critical condition after taking a drug overdose. It’s been claimed that the overdose, which was said to have been taken on Friday, triggered a heart attack. According to reports, the rapper, 50, was rushed to hospital, where a source says he is in a “vegetative state”. Reports of DMX’s overdose has sent shockwaves throughout the rap community. Among those to have sent “prayers” to the rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, are Ja Rule and Missy Elliott. DMX has previously spoken about his addiction to crack cocaine, which he said began when he was 14. He has been in and out of rehab over the years, the most recent time occurring in 2019 when he checked himself in. In 2013, he told American TV personality Dr Phil that he was “always going to be an addict until I die”, two years after he claimed to have “let the cocaine go” so he could focus on raising his children. As of this morning, DMX has been taken off life support and he is now breathing on his own.  

Evelyn Sakash, an Emmy-winning production designer and scenic artist, has been found dead in her home six months after she was reported missing. Sakash worked in the art department of series including Orange is the New Black and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as well as films such as Mermaids and Still Alice. The 66-year-old’s body was found beneath a pile of debris in the kitchen of her home in Queens, New York. A spokesperson for the New York Police Department confirmed that Sakash died of natural causes, as a result of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Sakash was first reported missing in September, and a GoFundMe campaign was set up by a friend in December to raise funds to find her. On Tuesday, Sakash’s body was found by cleaners hired by her sister, Ellen Brown, to clear the production designer’s home. Brown addressed claims that Sakash was a hoarder and that her sister’s body was found beneath “an avalanche of trash”. “This is just devastating. She had a full life. She was so extraordinarily talented. She was a brilliant mind … I don’t want my sister to be remembered like that, like the way she was found.” In the wake of Sakash’s death, another GoFundMe has been set up in her name to raise money for funeral costs. You have to wonder how smelly her house was to hide a rotting corpse for six months…  

Peter Egan has revealed his wife of 45 years, actress Myra Frances, has passed away. The screen star, 74, took to Twitter on Wednesday to share the tragic news about his ‘friend and soulmate’, admitting: ‘My heart is broken’. The grieving actor said: ‘This is the saddest post I will ever have to make. My wonderful wife Myra, my friend & soulmate lost her battle with cancer at 1.30am on Tuesday. This message is for all her followers on her FB & Twitter @EganMyra. She was the most amazing human being. My heart is broken.’ Peter also recorded an emotional video revealing he’d be taking a break from social media as he came to terms with his wife’s tragic death. Peter met fellow thespian Myra in 1972 when they were both in TV drama The Organisation, and they married four years later. The couple moved from London into their Surrey home in 2016 with their five rescue dogs, and have both campaigned tirelessly for animal welfare. While Peter has had a slew of acting roles in series including Downton Abbey, Hold the Sunset and Afterlife, Myra had been retired for many years. The news comes after Peter appeared in Unforgotten’s heartbreaking series finale on Monday night, before ITV confirmed that show would return for a fifth season.  

April, a giraffe from Animal Adventure Park in New York whose delivery of a new baby calf was live-streamed in 2017, has been euthanised due to advancing arthritis, the zoo has announced. The live-stream became the second most-watched stream in YouTube’s history at the time of broadcast, garnering more than 232 million views and 7.6 billion minutes of live watch time over the course of several months. It was also sponsored by the retailer Toys R Us, in a nod to its official mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe. In a statement shared to social media, Animal Adventure Park said that April’s latest vet exam revealed that her arthritis had accelerated, leading them to conclude that euthanasia was the “humane and appropriate course of action”. “Beginning in the summer of 2020, the staff at Animal Adventure Park began reporting changes in April’s mobility. The park’s veterinarians radiographed April’s feet in July 2020 and noted the onset of osteoarthritis. The park began multi-modal management of osteoarthritis including measures such as pain medications, anti-inflammatories, hoof trimming, installation of padded flooring and dietary changes in hopes of slowing down the progression of her condition. Unfortunately, over time, what we saw was April increasingly shifting her weight from limb-to-limb, a continual decline in mobility and spending a lot more time laying recumbent,” the post reads. With the irreversible condition advancing “at a rapid rate”, it was decided that euthanasia would be the “most humane decision” to take, and she died on Friday aged 20. Following the completion of an animal autopsy – known as a necropsy – April will be cremated, with her ashes returned to Animal Adventure Park to fertilise the roses. 

On This Day

  • 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.  
  • 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. 
  • 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler‘s Nazi party in Germany.  
  • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  
  • 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.  
  • 1975 – Microsoft is founded.

Deaths

 Last Meals

On Thursday, April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was staying in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel was owned by businessman Walter Bailey and was named after his wife. Reverend Ralph Abernathy, a colleague and friend, later told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he and King had stayed in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often that it was known as the “King–Abernathy Suite”. 

According to biographer Taylor Branch, King and Abernathy enjoyed a catfish lunch and iced tea at the Lorraine Motel’s grill and King’s last words were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at a planned event. King said, “Ben, make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord‘ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.”

According to Rev. Samuel Kyles, who was standing several feet away, King was leaning over the balcony railing in front of Room 306 with Rev. Jesse Jackson when the shot rang out. King was struck in the face at 6:01 p.m. by a single .30-06 bullet fired from a Remington Model 760 rifle. The bullet entered through King’s right cheek, breaking his jaw and several vertebrae as it traveled down his spinal cord, severing his jugular vein and major arteries in the process, before lodging in his shoulder. The force of the shot ripped King’s necktie off. King fell backward onto the balcony, unconscious. Everyone first believed King was dead, but found he still had a pulse. 

King was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where doctors  opened his chest and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He never regained consciousness and died at 7:05 p.m. According to Branch, King’s autopsy revealed that his heart was in the condition of a 60-year-old man rather than that of a 39-year-old such as King, which Branch attributed to the stress of King’s 13 years in the civil rights movement. 

The Rev. Kyles had planned to take King to dinner at his home after the balcony speech, the meal, which was to be cooked at the church by a number of female members, included many of King’s favourite dishes: fried chicken, ham, sweet potatoes, two kinds of greens, crowder peas, sweet potato pie. Sadly, although the meal was prepared, the news of King’s death meant that none of it was cooked. 

Shortly after King was shot, witnesses saw a man, later believed to be James Earl Ray, fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the Lorraine Motel. Ray had been renting a room in the boarding house. Police found a package dumped close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars, both with Ray’s fingerprints. Ray had purchased the rifle under an alias six days earlier. A worldwide manhunt was triggered that culminated in Ray’s arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport two months later. On March 10th, 1969, he pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Martin Luther King Jr., which was later recanted. 

The King family and others believe that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, the mafia, and the Memphis police. They believe that Ray was a scapegoat. Ray died in prison on April 23rd, 1998, at the age of 70 from kidney and liver failure caused by Hepatitis C.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Robert Downey Jr. (56), Natasha Lyonne (42), Hugo Weaving (61), Graham Norton (58), Xenia Seeberg (53), Eddie Murphy (60), Amanda Bynes (35), Alec Baldwin (63), Paris Jackson (23), Pedro Pascal (46), Michael Fassbender (44), Clark Gregg (59), Linda Hunt (76), Penelope Keith (81), Mackenzie Davis (34), Asa Butterfield (24), Ali MacGraw (82), Ewan McGregor (50), Christopher Walken (78), Richard Chamberlain (87), Rhea Perlman (73), Daniel Mays (43), William Daniels (94), Robbie Coltrane (71), Warren Beatty (84), Donna D’Errico (53), Piers Morgan (56), Céline Dion (53), Eric Clapton (76), Lucy Lawless (53), Brendan Gleeson (66), Ed Skrein (38), Marina Sirtis (66), Christopher Lambert (64), Elle Macpherson (57), and Eric Idle (78).

Posted by  |  4th April 2021 | Categories: 2021 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 28th March 2021

Another week passes, so do a few celebrities.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

People have been left confused after BBC News published breaking news reports that Mary Tyler Moore had died, four years after the actor’s actual death. The Oscar-nominated actor and US sitcom star died aged 80 in January 2017. Users on social media were baffled after the BBC announced the news on their social media channels. A post from their official BBC Breaking News Twitter account has since been deleted. “Peculiar announcement by the BBC a few moments ago. Considering Mary Tyler Moore already died back in 2017,” commented one person. Another user added: “Who’s going to tell them that Mary Tyler Moore has been dead since 2017?” Someone else wrote: “Mary Tyler Moore’s died again I see…” A fourth person said: “Well this is odd… @BBCBreaking is tweeting that #MaryTylerMoore has passed away… Ummmm you are right, she did, but it was 4 years ago on January 25, 2017!!!” Tyler’s cause of death was cited as cardiopulmonary arrest after she had contracted pneumonia. The seven-time Emmy Award winner battled diabetes over the years and had been breathing through a respirator for more than a week.  

BJ Thomas has revealed he is fighting stage four lung cancer. The singer, best known for the hit Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, released a statement breaking news of his diagnosis to fans. In the post shared to social media, BJ, 78, began by thanking his loved ones for their support. “I just wanted to take this unique opportunity to share my gratitude to Gloria, my wonderful wife and my rock for over 53 years, my family, friends, and fans. I’m so blessed to have had the opportunity to record and perform beautiful songs in pop, country, and gospel music, and to share those wonderful songs and memories around the world with millions of you.” BJ then asked for prayers during this difficult time and revealed his hope that his “music can live on’ with his fans. A representative for the Grammy-winning vocalist said he was hopeful for a complete recovery. Among BJ’s first hits were the 1966 cover of the Hank Williams song I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, and the 1968 song Hooked on a Feeling.  His biggest hit came in 1969 with Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which topped the charts for an entire month. The track was featured in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and named the Best Song at the Oscars.  

Jeff Lowe has been airlifted to hospital after suffering a suspected stroke in an Oklahoma casino. The 54-year-old star of Netflix hit series Tiger King allegedly had his drinks spiked, according to his wife Lauren Lowe. She found her husband unconscious at 3am at the WinStar World Casino, where they were staying, on March 18th, and said that he was not breathing when she found him. Lauren has publicly stated that she thinks someone slipped something into his drink and have poisoned him in the process. Lauren said she thought Jeff was “dying in my arms” after she had called emergency services. Paramedics determined that Jeff was having a stroke, when they arrived at the scene, and decided to have him airlifted to a hospital. Lauren said that she was suspicious of the cause of Jeff’s stroke because the paramedics were unable to determine what had triggered the stroke after performing tests on him. Lauren told us about what happened that evening, saying they were enjoying a dinner date when they were approached by a stranger. The man claimed that he knew who there were and had knowledge of their usual drinks order. She believes that this could have been the moment that Jeff’s drink was spiked. Despite the claims, blood and urine tests on her husband have come back negative when being checked against commonly abused drugs. Lauren is still maintaining that the man who approached them could have contaminated Jeff’s drink and brought on the stroke. Despite their fears as to what happened, the couple have not as yet reported the incident to the police. 

On This Day

  • 1933 – The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airliner lost to sabotage when a passenger sets a fire on board.
  • 1979 – A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.  
  • 1979 – The House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan’s government by 1 vote, precipitating a general election.  

Deaths

 They’re Sill Alive?!?!

Long term readers will remember that we had a long Dead Pool love affair with Carlos Irwin Estévez for quite some time. Who? I hear you ask! 

Better known professionally as Charlie Sheen, with a list of films and TV roles as long as your arm; he was once the highest paid actor on television, earning US$1.8 million per episode of Two and a Half Men, that is, until Tiger blood happened…. 

To say that Sheen’s personal life has made headlines is a slight understatement. He’s been linked to reports of alcohol and drug abuse and marital problems, as well as allegations of domestic violence. 

Sheen’s love life has been somewhat up and down, he has been married three times and has five children and one grandchild. In January 1990, Sheen accidentally shot his fiancée, Kelly Preston, in the arm. Unsurprisingly, she broke off the engagement soon after. In the 1990’s, Sheen subsequently dated a number of porn film actresses, including Ginger Lynn and Heather Hunter. He went on to marry his first wife, Donna Peele in September 1995. 

That same year, Sheen was named as one of the clients of an escort agency operated by Heidi Fleiss. Sheen and Peele divorced in 1996. 

Sheen then met actress Denise Richards on the set of Good Advice in 2000. They dated and soon married in 2002 and had two daughters together, however by 2005 Richards filed for divorce, accusing Sheen of alcohol and drug abuse and threats of violence as well as accusations of Sheen looking at gay pornography featuring “boys who looked underage” and being “attracted” to underage women. Sheen would later deny these claims, and stated that the FBI was “aware” of the allegations and had searched his computers. 

In 2008, Sheen married his third wife, Brooke Mueller and had twin sons. Two years later Mueller obtained a restraining order against Sheen, had the social services take the children and commented that she was concerned that “Sheen is currently insane.” Strangely, he was the one who filed for divorce this time. 

Since then he’s had a few relationships with more adult film stars, including Bree Olson, Georgia Jones, and Brett Rossi, the latter was hospitalised for an apparent drug overdose one month after leaving Sheen. You could assume that Sheen’s issues arose from the time he suffered a stroke after overdosing while using cocaine and was hospitalised. Sheen was found in his seaside home by a friend, after which paramedics rushed him to hospital. He was described as being in a “serious condition” after his stomach was pumped. Sheen subsequently checked into a rehab clinic days later but told doctors within hours that he did not intend to stay. Sheriffs later forced Sheen back into the clinic after he fled only hours after arriving. Sheen admitted that the overdose was caused by his injecting of cocaine. 

In 2009, Sheen was arrested for assaulting his wife at the time, Brooke Mueller. He was released the same day from jail after posting an $8,500 bond. Sheen was charged with felony menacing, as well as third-degree assault and criminal mischief. Around the same time he was forcibly removed from the Plaza Hotel after he reportedly caused $7,000 in damage in a drug and alcohol bender. 

Sheen publicly revealed that he was HIV positive in 2015, having been diagnosed roughly four years earlier. In an interview, he referred to the acronym HIV as “three hard letters to absorb”. He manages his condition with a triple cocktail of antiretroviral drugs, and said that it was impossible that he could have infected any of his partners. Sheen noted that since 2011, he had paid extortionists approximately $10 million to keep his HIV status secret. Sheen stated that he was upfront about his HIV positive condition with all of his past partners. 

In 2017, Sheen sued the National Enquirer over a story alleging that, in 1986, the then 19-year-old actor raped his 13-year-old co-star Corey Haim on the set of Lucas. The case was settled in 2018. Haim’s mother, Judy Haim, identified a different actor as her son’s rapist on The Dr. Oz Show, and told Entertainment Tonight that Sheen never raped her son, calling the claims “made up”. Two years later, actor Corey Feldman repeated the claim that Sheen raped Haim in his documentary (My) Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys, corroborated by Feldman’s ex-wife Susie Feldman and his Lost Boys co-star Jamison Newlander. Sheen, through his publicist, denied the allegations, calling them “sick, twisted and outlandish”. 

During 20001, at the height of his television career, Sheen underwent a substance rehabilitation program in his home, his third attempt at rehab in 12 months. At this time,  Sheen publicly made derogatory comments about the series’ creator, Chuck Lorre, so Warner Bros. banned Sheen from entering its production lot and canceled the remaining episodes of season four of Two and a Half Men. Sheen, already the highest-paid actor on television, responded by publicly demanding a 50 percent raise, claiming that in comparison to the amount that the series was making, he was “underpaid”. CBS and Warner Bros. terminated Sheen’s contract. He was replaced by Ashton Kutcher. 

In the wake of the dismissal, Sheen had highly publicised events which were broadcast on television and the Internet. He made statements in television interviews, suggesting that he was a “warlock” with “tiger blood” and “Adonis DNA”, and that he was “winning”. He also posted videos to YouTube showing himself smoking cigarettes through his nose, and cursing out his former employers. He told one TV interviewer, “I’m tired of pretending I’m not special. I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars.” 

His life and career hasn’t really recovered since, however, somehow, Charlie Sheen is still alive! 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Dianne Wiest (73), Julia Stiles (40), Lady Gaga (35), Vince Vaughn (51), Nick Frost (49), Chris Barrie (61), Quentin Tarantino (58), Nathan Fillion (50), Julian Glover (86), Michael York (79), Fergie (46), Mariah Carey (52), Jessie J (33), Keira Knightley (36), Jennifer Grey (61), James Caan (81), Martin Short (71), Diana Ross (77), Steven Tyler (73), Lee Pace (42), Sarah Jessica Parker (56), Paul Michael Glaser (78), Richard O’Brien (79), Elton John (74), Jessica Chastain (44), Louie Anderson (68), Alyson Hannigan (47), Jim Parsons (48), Lara Flynn Boyle (51), Kelly LeBrock (61), Amanda Plummer (65), Joanna Page (44), Reese Witherspoon (45), Lena Olin (66), and William Shatner (90).

Posted by  |  28th March 2021 | Categories: 2021 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st March 2021

I don’t know about you, but I was very sure that Yaphet Kotto died about twenty years ago, but here we are! I’m wondering if this is another Mandela effect or am I just being bonkers? 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Prince Philip has left King Edward VII’s Hospital in London where he has been recovering after heart surgery. The Duke of Edinburgh spent 28 nights as an in-patient – his longest ever stay – after he was admitted on 16th February. He was initially taken to King Edward VII’s Hospital after feeling unwell at Windor and was moved to St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London two weeks later. He underwent surgery for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s on 3rd March, before being transferred back to King Edward’s to recover and continue treatment. The duke left the private hospital in the back of a black BMW on Tuesday morning. Philip has been treated for heart problems in the past and in 2011 was rushed to hospital by helicopter from Sandringham after suffering chest pains as the royal family was preparing for Christmas. In the serious health scare, he was treated for a blocked coronary artery at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire and underwent a minimally invasive procedure of coronary stenting. 

The last male member of an indigenous Amazonian tribe has died from Covid-19, marking the permanent loss of his people’s traditions and rituals.  Aruká Juma, of the Juma tribe, died on 17th February due to complications caused by the virus in a hospital in Pôrto Velho, the capital of state of Rondônia in western Brazil. The coronavirus crisis has hit indigenous people in the Amazon hard, believed to have been spread by non-indigenous people entering their areas to carry out illegal activities such as logging and mining. Mr Juma, who was believed to be aged between 86 and 90, had three daughters, all of whom married into a different tribe and will be unable to carry on his lineage as it is descended from fathers. In the 18th century, there were an estimated 15,000 people in the Juma tribe, but the numbers shrank drastically due to disease and massacres. By 1934, only around 100 members remained. 30 years later, a massacre left just six members of the tribe alive, including Mr Juma. After the death of his brother-in-law in 1999, he became the last living male member of the tribe. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Rondônia said in a statement on Mr Juma’s death: “In the mid-60s, the Juma people were almost extinct due to the massacres that other relatives suffered in the previous decades by rubber tappers, loggers and fishermen in the territory, which is on the banks of the Assuã River, in Canutama. Aruká was one of the survivors of his ethnicity. The indigenous man leaves three daughters, the last people of the Juma ethnic group.” Groups advocating for the rights of indigenous people said Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro’s denial of Covid-19 and lack of policy, coupled with geographic challenges, pose a substantial threat to the survival of indigenous populations.  

Five-time world darts champion Raymond van Barneveld is being monitored by medics after collapsing at the Players Championship 8 on Friday. The Dutchman, 53, required medical assistance after becoming unwell soon after his first-round defeat at the event in Milton Keynes. Raymond collapsed as he marked a match between Jeffrey de Zwaan and Zoran Lerchbacher. He was seen by paramedics but did not require hospital treatment and returned to his hotel to be monitored. A spokesperson for the PDC said: “Raymond van Barneveld received medical treatment after being taken ill at Friday’s competition. He was treated by paramedics but has not required hospital treatment, and returned to his hotel room at the Marshall Arena to be further monitored. Play was suspended whilst Van Barneveld received treatment before resuming at 14:45 GMT.” Van Barneveld retired from the sport in 2019 but made his return earlier this year and won a two-year card through Q School.  

An Iranian woman who died of a heart attack while waiting to be executed was allegedly still hanged. The woman, named in reports as Zahra Ismaili, was reportedly made to watch as 16 men were hanged in front of her while waiting her turn at Rajai Shahr Prison, west of the capital Tehran. The mother-of-two had been  convicted of killing her husband, who was a senior official in the Ministry of Intelligence. Her lawyer, Omid Moradi, claimed her husband had allegedly been abusive to both her and their daughter and that she had acted in self-defence. Mr Moradi is said to have described how the events unfolded on Wednesday in a Facebook post, which claimed his client’s body was still hanged after she collapsed, to allow her husband’s mother to kick a chair away from beneath her. According to the Iran Human Rights Monitor, the post, which has reportedly since been deleted, said Ismaili’s death certificate gave her cause of death as “cardiac arrest”. Mr Moradi reportedly wrote: “It states cardiac arrest as cause of death because yesterday 16 men were hanged before her eyes. Zahra’s heart stopped and she died before she was taken to the gallows. “They hanged her lifeless body, and the victim’s mother personally kicked the stool from under her feet so she could see her daughter-in-law’s corpse on the gallows for even a few seconds.” Ismaili was one of three women to be executed in Iran in recent weeks in the prisons of Ardabil, Sanandaj and Karaj, according to the Iran HRM. This brings the total number of women executed during Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s tenure, which began in August 2013, to 114, the website, run by human rights activists, said. Hands up who would like a mother-in-law like that?

On This Day

  • 1871 – Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone. 
  • 1963 – Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes.  
  • 1983 – The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin; Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic.  
  • 2006 – The social media site Twitter is founded.  

Deaths

  • 1617 – Pocahontas, Algonquian Indigenous princess (b. c. 1595). 
  • 1997 – Wilbert Awdry, English cleric and author, created Thomas the Tank Engine (b. 1911). 
  • 1999 – Ernie Wise, English comedian and actor (b. 1925). 
  • 2017 – Colin Dexter, English author (b. 1930). 
  • 2017 – Martin McGuinness, Irish republican (b. 1950). 

The Last Man Executed in The Isle of Man

John Kewish Jr. was the last person executed in the Isle of  Man. He was convicted and executed for the crime of patricide. Sentences of death would be continually issued, the last in 1992, on the Isle of Man, but Kewish’s sentence was the last to be carried out. 

Prior to his arrest John Kewish Jr. lived on a farm with his elderly parents. He was the oldest of seven siblings and was unmarried. Kewish’s father, John Kewish Sr., was found dead in his home on 28th March 1872. Kewish Jr., who had a history of crime including sheep stealing, was arrested and charged with patricide. He was described as mentally disabled. 

According to depositions, the body was found on the evening of 28th March by the victim’s wife, Mary Kewish, and a neighbour. The following day the family moved the body, washed it, and prepared it for burial. It was not until 30th March that someone decided to contact the police. On 31st March a police doctor examined the body and noted six wounds (four on the back and two on the chest) which he felt were caused by three thrusts from a small pitchfork. Thomas Kewish, John Jr.’s brother, also admitted there was an ongoing argument between John and his father. The police felt this was strong enough evidence to arrest John Jr. 

Kewish was tried twice before a jury. At his first trial his only defence was that he had not committed the crime. After 14 hours of deliberation the jury was unable to reach a verdict. A new trial was ordered when the jury foreman became ill and deliberations could not continue. There is evidence that a majority of this first jury believed Kewish to be either innocent of the crime, or so simple-minded that he was not responsible for the act. (According to one of the jurors, seven of the twelve believed he was not guilty.) At Kewish’s second trial his advocates added the further plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, submitting that either he had not committed the crime or if he had, his mental disability freed him of responsibility. Insanity was later supported by an examining physician’s statement that Kewish’s mind was unable to comprehend the moral turpitude of such a criminal act. After an hour’s deliberation the jury convicted him of patricide. The presiding deemster, William Drinkwater, sentenced Kewish to the mandatory punishment of death by hanging.  

Although convicted, Kewish hoped to receive leniency from the British Government. The Lieutenant-Governor received several sworn statements intended to encourage leniency, including from the jurors of the first trial, his examining physician, and others. Kewish’s post-trial statements were inconsistent. At one point Kewish’s gaoler stated that Kewish admitted he had accidentally shot his father and hid the weapon in the thatch of an outhouse (where a bird gun was later found). At other times Kewish repeated his claims of innocence and requested a free pardon. The pitchfork had not been clearly identified; however, the Home Secretary advised the Queen that he could not recommend mercy. He felt the crime was premeditated, and committed from greed, and added that neither the deemster nor the jury had recommended mercy at the trial.

Manx law at the time required the British Crown to order the execution by positive act. Queen Victoria was displeased with this, and she indicated this in a letter to the Home Secretary. He apologised and promised to bring Manx law into compliance with that of England, which did not require such an order. Although expressing personal doubts about the case, she took his advice and indicated that  the execution was to proceed. 

Locally there was reluctance to become involved in the execution. Craftsmen initially refused to build the gallows, and an executioner, William Calcraft, had to be brought over from England to carry out the sentence. Kewish was hanged in Castle Rushen at Castletown on 1st August 1872 and he is buried there. It was the only non-public execution to take place under Manx law. 

After the execution, Queen Victoria was petitioned to put an end to the death penalty. She declined, and it was not until 1993 that Tynwald abolished capital punishment in the Isle of Man. Five people were sentenced to death (for murder) on the island between 1973 and 1992, but all death sentences after Kewish’s were commuted to life imprisonment by the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom using the Crown’s Prerogative of Mercy.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Gary Oldman (63), Sonequa Martin-Green (36), Matthew Broderick (59), Timothy Dalton (75), Ruby Rose (35), Holly Hunter (63), Freema Agyeman (41), David Thewlis (58), Spike Lee (64), William Hurt (71), Bruce Willis (66), Glenn Close (74), Ursula Andress (85), Harvey Weinstein (69), Abigail Cowen (23), Queen Latifah (51), Brad Dourif (71), Luc Besson (62), Irene Cara (62), Rob Lowe (57), Kurt Russell (70), Gary Sinise (66), John Boyega (29), Patrick Duffy (72), Alexandra Daddario (35), Alan Tudyk (50), Aisling Bea (37), Jerome Flynn (58), Erik Estrada (72), Judah Friedlander (52), Jimmy Nail (67), Eva Longoria (46), David Cronenberg (78), Judd Hirsch (86), and Will.i.am (46).

Posted by  |  21st March 2021 | Categories: 2021 | Leave A Comment »