Dead Pool 27th August 2017

Welcome all, another week flies by and a few more notable names pass on into the ether. It’s been a bad week for bodybuilders, two of their brethren have kicked the bucket, but I suppose that stuffing your body full of steroids isn’t going to help you reach your 80’s. Surprisingly, nobody had Jerry Lewis on their lists, perhaps you all thought he was going to live forever!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Brian Aldiss, 92, British science fiction writer (Helliconia, Supertoys Last All Summer Long) and editor.
• Jerry Lewis, 91, American comedian (Martin and Lewis), actor (The Nutty Professor) and humanitarian (The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon), cardiomyopathy.
• Thomas Meehan, 88, American playwright (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray), Tony winner (1977), cancer.
• Dallas McCarver, 26, American bodybuilder, choking.
• Rich Piana, 45, American bodybuilder and Internet personality.
• Tobe Hooper, 74, American film director (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist, Salem’s Lot).

In Other News

I know its been 8 months since we declared last years winner, however, yesterday was the first opportunity for the Dead Pool Master to award last years winner and the title of Angel of Death  2016 her prize! Yes, Laura finally got her knitted Death of Rats; expertly handmade by the talented Sarai who donated her time and expertise to our little community. Laura was obviously over the moon with her prize, to be fair, everyone who’s seen it wants one too! Laura is currently the one to beat again this year, topping the leader board with an astounding 521 points with four months left to go!

When former England rugby player Matt Dawson was bitten by a tick in a London park early last year, it caused a bacterial infection to spread through his body. “I had two days where I felt awful. Very feverish, on the sofa, crashed out,” he said. Eventually he went to hospital where he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. “It was a really scary time for me and my family. Such a tiny creature caused me to end up needing heart surgery.” After multiple heart operations and 18 months of treatment, Matt no longer has the disease. But it still affects his life: “I’m still on medication and its going to take a lot of time for the heart to fully recover. “This is not something that should be looked at like, ‘oh it’s only a tick, a tick is a bit like a flea, its fine!’,” he said.

Loose Women panellist Saira Khan has revealed how she received a death threat after criticising a Muslim preacher on Instagram. Accompanying a picture of her in a bikini, Khan wrote: “I woke up to news that A Muslim Preacher is saying that ‘plucking eyebrows’ for Muslim women is a sin – here’s my response – kiss my ass you backward prehistoric dinosaur!” The post sparked a debate in the comments, provoking supportive messages, criticism and even a death threat. The comment has now been deleted from Instagram but Khan, 47, took a screenshot and tweeted it. “Keep your fucking mouth shut! Your not a Muslim nor do you represent anything to do with Islam!!! Your white masters have given you what you desire as a sell out reporter!!! If you value your life keep the fuck out of Islam” the person wrote. Khan also flagged the comment to the Metropolitan police. A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said: “The Met’s digital contact team @MetCC have DM’d a 47 year old woman with a view to formally reporting an allegation of malicious communications. Enquiries continue.”

On This Day

• 1883 – Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions destroy the island of Krakatoa and cause years of climate change.
• 1893 – The Sea Islands hurricane strikes the United States near Savannah, Georgia, killing between 1,000-2,000 people.
• 1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
• 1956 – The nuclear power station at Calder Hall in the United Kingdom was connected to the national power grid becoming the world’s first commercial nuclear power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale.
• 1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British retired admiral Lord Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland.
• 2011 – Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.

Deaths

• 1576 – Titian, Italian painter and educator (b. 1488)
• 1965 – Le Corbusier, Swiss-French architect and urban planner (b. 1887)
• 1967 – Brian Epstein, English businessman and manager (b. 1934)
• 1975 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1892)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Chris Pine (37), Melissa McCarthy (47), Macaulay Culkin (37), Alexander Skarsgård (41), Sean Connery (87), Tim Burton (59), Rachel Bilson (36), Joanne Whalley (53), Tom Skerritt (84), Gene Simmons (68), Billy Ray Cyrus (56), Claudia Schiffer (47), Steve Guttenberg (59), Rupert Grint (29), Stephen Fry (60), Dave Chappelle (44), Kristen Wiig (44), James Corden (39), Ty Burrell (50), Honor Blackman (92), Carrie-Anne Moss (50), Hayden Panettiere (28), RJ Mitte (25), Kim Cattrall (61), Kenny Rogers (79), Amy Adams (43), Andrew Garfield (34), Ben Barnes (36), Misha Collins (43), Jonathan Ke Quan (46), Joan Allen (61), James Marsters (55), Ray Wise (70), John Noble (69) and Sylvester McCoy (74).

27th August 2017 | Categories: 2017 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 20th August 2017

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).

20th August 2017 | Categories: 2017 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 13th August 2017

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).

13th August 2017 | Categories: 2017 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 6th August 2017

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).

6th August 2017 | Categories: 2017 | Leave A Comment »