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Dead Pool 15th September 2024

A sad week indeed as the voice of Darth Vader dies. However we will not lose him forever, as prior to his death Jones sold the rights to his voice to an AI company, so that future Star Wars films and series can include his iconic voice. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was rushed from prison to a New York City hospital for emergency heart surgery after he experienced chest pains, his representatives told the Flying Monkeys. “Mr Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital last night due to several medical conditions,” Weinstein representatives Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said in a statement. “We can confirm that Mr Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today, however we cannot comment any further than that. As we have extensively stated before, Mr Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment.” Weinstein was out of surgery as of Monday afternoon and is in recovery, they said. Weinstein, 72, was transferred to Bellevue from New York’s Rikers Island jail complex, where he is awaiting retrial on rape and sexual assault charges. It is the second time in two months he had been taken to hospital. Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said they requested jail officials immediately move Weinstein to Bellevue “based on his complaints to us regarding chest pains”. In one email, Aidala said, he told them: “This guy is going to die on your watch if you don’t do something.” He was admitted in July for treatment for a variety of health problems including Covid-19 and pneumonia in both lungs. Representatives at the time said the former director and producer also suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis and fluid on his heart and lungs.  

The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell has revealed a “devastating” Lymphoma diagnosis. The keyboardist revealed his diagnosis in a post for Blood Cancer Awareness Month on Sunday after he was diagnosed with the “very rare and aggressive” cancer in September 2023 and subsequently underwent treatment. “September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month so it’s a good opportunity to have a dialogue about these diseases,” O’Donnell started in a series of posts on Twitter. “In September last year I was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma. I had ignored the symptoms for a few months but finally went and after surgery the result of the biopsy was devastating.” He explained that he’s now “fine” and has an “amazing” prognosis after undergoing several rounds of treatment over the past year. “I’ve now completed 11 months of treatment under some of the finest specialists in the world and with second opinions and advice from the teams that had developed the drugs I was being given. I had the benefit of the latest sci-fi immunotherapy and some drugs that were first used 100 years ago. The last phase of treatment was radiotherapy which also was one of the first treatments developed against cancer. I’m fine and the prognosis is amazing,” added O’Donnell. O’Donnell went on to urge others to get tested for cancer so they can catch and better treat it early. “The mad axe murderer knocked on the door and we didn’t answer,” he wrote. “Cancer CAN be beaten but if you are diagnosed early enough you stand a way better chance, so all I have to say is go GET TESTED, if you have the faintest thought you may have symptoms go and get checked out. If you know someone who is ill or suffering talk to them, every single word helps, believe me I know. I would also like to thank my Drs, rockstars everyone of them, all the nurses and technicians, my friends, family and Mimi, sometimes its harder to be on the other side of this…” added O’Donnell.  

A teenager who appeared in Freddie Flintoff’s BBC documentary has tragically died in a horrific double death crash after the high performance car he was driving smashed into trees. Umar Mahmood, 18, died in hospital last week after being seriously injured while at the wheel of an Audi A3 Sport which veered off the road in Preston, Lancashire on Tuesday. Back seat passenger 16-year-old Adam Bodi also suffered fatal injuries while a 17-year-old who was also in the car remains in hospital, with police investigating the cause of the double tragedy. Umar had been filmed being coached by the England cricket legend in ‘Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams’. He had been a pupil at Penwortham Priory Academy, finishing his studies two years ago, as was Adam who left after his GCSEs this summer. The show saw England all-rounder turned TV presenter Flintoff recruit teenagers from under privileged parts of Lancashire in a bid to change people’s perspective of the sport. Umar’s school paid tribute to the ‘bright’ and ‘studious’ youngster. Principal Matt Eastham said: ‘We are again saddened as a school to hear the news that Umar, who was in the same accident as Adam, and who left Priory two years ago, has also passed away. Umar was a bright, studious and well-loved member of our school community. He had a passion for geography as well as his cricket, playing for Priory’s school team and appearing in the BBC One documentary Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams. It was a privilege for us here at Priory to know Umar. He was a young man who was always considerate to those around him and who showed ambition and kindness in all that he did. It is of course with great sadness that we hear this news. We give our sincere condolences to all of Umar’s family and friends on behalf of the school, at what will be a very difficult time. They too, are in our thoughts and prayers today.’

On This Day

  • 1830 – The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens; British MP William Huskisson becomes the first widely reported railway passenger fatality when he is struck and killed by the locomotive Rocket.
  • 1916 – World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
  • 1954 – Marilyn Monroe’s iconic skirt scene is shot during filming for The Seven Year Itch.

Deaths

Our Final Thoughts?

The first ever recording of the very moment someone dies has revealed what our final thoughts could be.

Probably since the beginning of time, what happens to us after we die is the question we have always wanted to know the answer to.

Even though we will probably have to wait until we’re dead to know for sure, scientists reckon they’ve been able to look into our last ever thoughts before we pass away.

This comes after researchers in Vancouver, Canada, took a look at the brain of a 87-year-old patient suffering from epilepsy, but he unexpectedly died of a heart attack while they were observing him. 

By using the results from an electroencephalogram (EEG) test, they were able to determine what was happening in his brain during his last moments – specifically the 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped beating.

And that age old idea that one’s life ‘flashes before their eyes’ might just be a real thing after an increase in ‘gamma oscillations’ was detected.

‘Gamma oscillations’ are linked to the retrieval of memories and dreaming, which might suggest the patient was reliving past experiences before he died.

Lead author of the study – published in the journal Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience – Dr Ajmal Zemmar said: “Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences.

“These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation.” 

The study showed similar changes in brainwaves between rats at the time of death – but it’s the first time it was detected in humans.

However, as with most studies, the team say that further research is needed in order to provide more conclusive results.

It’s also important to note that the data focuses on just a single case study and the patient’s brain had already been damaged from epilepsy.

Therefore, professionals aren’t able to truly say if the same thing would happened with a different person, near the time of their death.

“Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives,” Dr. Zemmar added.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tom Hardy (47), Tommy Lee Jones (78), Ben Schwartz (43), John Bradley (36), Brendan O’Carroll (69), Jimmy Carr (52), Sam Neill (77), Andrew Lincoln (51), Lolly Adefope (34), Walter Koenig (88), Amanda Barrie (89), Alfie Allen (38), Linda Gray (84), Virginia Madsen (63), Tyler Hoechlin (37), Roxann Dawson (66), Johnny Vegas (53), Guy Ritchie (56), Colin Firth (64), Adam Sandler (58), Hugh Grant (64), Jeffrey Combs (70), Eric Stonestreet (53), and Julia Sawalha (56).

15th September 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 8th September 2024

Short and sweet this week, also considering making next years list full of American rappers! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Queen rocker Brian May has revealed that he was rushed to hospital after suffering a minor stroke and temporarily losing control of his left arm. The British musician, 77, shared the health update with fans in a video posted to his website as he addressed the events of the past week. May referred to a “little health hiccup” that saw him rushed to hospital in an ambulance: “The good news is I can play guitar,” he said. “They called it a minor stroke, and all of a sudden out of the blue, I didn’t have any control of this arm,” he said, moving his left arm and flexing his fingers to show the movement had returned. “It was a little scary, I have to say. I had the most fantastic care and attention from the hospital where I went, blue lights flashing, the lot, it was very exciting. I might post a video if you like.” He continued: “I didn’t wanna say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding it, I really don’t want sympathy. Please don’t do that, because it’ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that. The good news is I’m OK.” The musician appeared slightly disgruntled as he explained he’s “grounded” and not allowed to drive, get on a plane or do anything that might risk raising his heart rate. “Not allowed to have planes flying over, which will stress me,” he said, glancing up at a plane flying noisily overhead, before concluding: “But I’m good.” May has suffered health issues in the past, including a heart attack that turned out to be a symptom of an arterial disease. The guitarist told fans he was “very near death” after being admitted to hospital in May 2020, where doctors discovered that three of his arteries were blocked and in danger of stopping the blood supply to his heart. He admitted he was baffled by the heart attack: “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t have high cholesterol and I was exercising through the tour, so why did it happen?” he questioned. “At least I now have a heart that is working far better than it was.” His doctors advised him to undergo heart surgery, but he instead chose the alternative to have three stents put inside his heart.  

Elle Macpherson has revealed she has been secretly battling breast cancer, but is now in remission despite refusing chemotherapy against the advice of “32 doctors and experts”. The supermodel was diagnosed seven years ago and underwent a lumpectomy but opted against further treatment which went against her “belief system”, instead relying on an “intuitive, heart-led holistic approach”. “It was a shock, it was unexpected, it was confusing, it was daunting in so many ways and it really gave me an opportunity to dig deep in my inner sense to find a solution that worked for me,” she said in an interview with The Flying Monkeys. Macpherson, 60, underwent the procedure to remove a tumour at the time before being diagnosed with HER2 positive oestrogen receptive intraductal carcinoma. Her doctor recommended she undergo a mastectomy with radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction. However, she decided against the advice. “I realised I was going to need my own truth, my belief system to support me through it,” she said. She described her decision to go against traditional medicine as “a wonderful exercise in being true to myself, trusting myself and trusting the nature of my body and the course of action that I had chosen”. In 2022, medical researchers at Yale found that those who used homeopathy and alternative remedies to treat cancer, were twice as likely to die from the disease. The businesswoman who owns her own wellness brand, WelleCo, says she did not take the decision to decline chemotherapy lightly. However, she has been known to be vocal within the anti-vaccination community, having previously dated disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield. “Saying no to standard medical solutions was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But saying no to my own inner sense would have been even harder,” she said. She later describes feeling that chemotherapy and surgery were “extreme”. Her family were divided over her decision. She said her “more conventional” 19-year-old son “wasn’t comfortable with my choice at all”, meanwhile her 14-year-old son “thought that chemo kills you”. Their father, and her ex-husband Arki Busson had a mixed reaction, being “supportive” but Macpherson admits, “he didn’t agree with what I was doing” 

On This Day

  • 1727 – A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom are children. 
  • 1888 – In London, the body of Jack the Ripper’s second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.
  • 1900 – Galveston hurricane: A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
  • 1966 – The landmark American science fiction television series Star Trek premieres with its first-aired episode, “The Man Trap“. 
  • 2022 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Heather Thomas (67), Martin Freeman (53), Gaten Matarazzo (22), P!nk (45), Miles Jupp (45), Jodie Turner-Smith (38), Michael Emerson (70), Evan Rachel Wood (37), Jonathan Majors (35), Toby Jones (58), Julie Kavner (74), Doug Bradley (70), Freya Allan (23), Idris Elba (52), Mathew Horne (46), Michael Keaton (73), Carice van Houten (48), Rose McGowan (51), Paddy Considine (51), Michael Berryman (76), Beyoncé (43), Charlie Sheen (59), Keanu Reeves (60), and Salma Hayek (58).

8th September 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 1st September 2024

Sadly no points this week, just your run of the mill edition with amazing stories to read. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Downing Street officials are preparing a “media plan” to announce the eventual passing of Larry the cat, The Flying Monkeys understand. Larry has become a widely loved fixture of Downing Street and is often seen outside the door to Number 10 during major political events and news broadcasts. The 17-year-old ‘chief mouser’ is thought to be in his final years, having already outlived the average lifespan for a tabby cat. Government sources told The Flying Monkeys that a press release and graphics are drafted “ready for the sad day he goes”. Pictures, selected to be published upon news of his death, are reportedly stored in folders on the No 10 IT system as part of a plan to inform the public. While one source said that, at present, Larry is “doing OK”, another said: “We felt it had to be handled so sensitively.” The cat, who was adopted from Battersea Cats Home, was first brought into Downing Street by David Cameron as a pet for his children and has since outlasted five prime ministers. The Cabinet Office website includes a biography of the beloved cat, which reads: “Larry has been in residence since 15th February 2011, he is the first cat at Number 10 to be bestowed with the official title Chief Mouser. Larry was recruited from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on recommendation for his mousing skills. He joined the Number 10 household and has made a significant impact.” It adds: “He has captured the hearts of the Great British public and the press teams often camped outside the front door. In turn the nation sends him gifts and treats daily. Larry spends his days greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences and testing antique furniture for napping quality. His day-to-day responsibilities also include contemplating a solution to the mouse occupancy of the house. Larry says this is still ‘in the tactical planning stage’.”  

Linda Nolan has shared a health update following her ongoing cancer treatment. The singer, 65, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and went into remission the following year. In 2017, she revealed she had been diagnosed with a secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020. Three years later, the cancer had spread to her brain. Nolan said she was left “sobbing” when doctor’s delivered her latest set of results, which revealed two of her largest tumours had grown in size. Speaking to The Flying Monkeys, Nolan said: “I sobbed when my consultant first told me. I know so many people are suffering and going through things, but I thought, just for once, could cancer just leave me alone? My heart sank.” She continued: “I had feared something was wrong. My balance has been getting worse and my memory – my sisters have to prompt me when I get lost in the middle of a sentence.’ After doctor’s confirmed Nolan’s fears that her cancer had spread, they confirmed she would be placed on a  new life-extending breast cancer drug called Enhertu. Enhertu is not available on the National Health Service as its manufacturers and the NHS spending watchdog could not agree on a price for the medication. Nolan said of her forthcoming treatment: “To be able to try a new drug is amazing, I just wish everyone could have this opportunity. “To be able to try this is hope – it’s a plan B not everyone is being allowed. To take this drug away from women is to take away their hope.” Although the singer admitted she’s dreading the possibility she could lose her hair for the fifth time in the course of her cancer treatment she said she’s “ready to try anything” to get back to full health. “I have done this before and I can do it again,” she said. Back in 2023, Nolan admitted she had started planning her funeral after being diagnosed with brain cancer. “I think it’s a one-way trip now,” she said. While her eldest sister Anne successfully recovered from cancer, Nolan lost both her husband Brian Hudson and younger sister Bernie to the illness. She told The Flying Monkeys that they had organised their own funerals, adding that “it’s easier for people left behind”. She revealed: “I’ve gone into it a little bit. A Neil Sedaka song, “Our Last Song Together”. And I know the funeral people I’m going to use.”  

John Tinniswood, the world’s oldest living man, has turned 112 at his care home in Southport, Merseyside. Mr Tinniswood was born in Liverpool on August 26th 1912, the year the Titanic sank, and became the world’s oldest living man in April, saying the secret of his longevity is “just luck”. Asked how he feels to be turning 112, he told the Guinness World Records: “In all honesty, no different. I don’t feel that age, I don’t get excited over it. That’s probably why I’ve reached it. I just take it in my stride like anything else, why I’ve lived that long I have no idea at all. I can’t think of any special secrets I have. I was quite active as a youngster, I did a lot of walking. Whether that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But to me, I’m no different. No different at all.” On what the biggest difference in the world is over the course of his life, he said: “It’s no better in my opinion, or hardly any better, than it was then. Probably in some places it is, but in other places it’s worse.” Beyond eating a portion of battered fish and chips every Friday, Mr Tinniswood said he does not follow any particular diet. “I eat what they give me and so does everybody else. I don’t have a special diet,” he said. Mr Tinniswood lived through both world wars and is the world’s oldest surviving male Second World War veteran. He worked in an administrative role for the Army Pay Corps. In addition to accounts and auditing, his work involved logistical tasks such as locating stranded soldiers and organising food supplies. He went on to work as an accountant for Shell and BP before retiring in 1972. A lifelong Liverpool FC fan, Mr Tinniswood was born just 20 years after the club was founded in 1892, and has lived through all eight of his club’s FA Cup wins and 17 of their 19 league title wins. Mr Tinniswood met his wife, Blodwen, at a dance in Liverpool, and the couple enjoyed 44 years together before Blodwen died in 1986. Since turning 100 in 2012, he received a birthday card each year from the late Queen Elizabeth, who was his junior by almost 14 years. The oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura from Japan, who lived to the age of 116 years 54 days and died in 2013. The world’s oldest living woman, and oldest living person, is Japan’s 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka.

On This Day

  • 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people. 
  • 1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and still holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of one hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour
  • 2004 – The Beslan school siege begins when armed terrorists take schoolchildren and school staff hostage in North Ossetia, Russia; by the end of the siege, three days later, more than 385 people are dead (including hostages, other civilians, security personnel and terrorists).

Deaths

  • 1715 – Louis XIV of France (b. 1638).
  • 1914 – Martha, last known passenger pigeon (h. 1885).
  • 2006 – Kyffin Williams, Welsh painter and educator (b. 1918).
  • 2008 – Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1937).

Send Nudes! 

California investigators discovered human remains on Friday, under the home of a man charged with murder in the disappearance of an elderly couple from the Olive Dell Ranch nudist resort in San Bernardino County.

Redlands police said at a news conference on Friday that they found the remains beneath the home of Michael Royce Sparks, 62, the neighbour of Daniel Menard, 79, and his wife, Stephanie Menard, 73. Police arrested Sparks Thursday and he was booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

“We don’t know we’ve located their bodies,” Redlands Police Department spokesman Carl Baker said during a Friday news conference. “We located human remains. I can’t verify that that’s Dan and Stephanie.”

Baker said that around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Sparks was found underneath his home and surrendered to police.

“Let me say he surrendered voluntarily. I won’t say he’s been cooperative, but he did surrender voluntarily last night after lengthy negotiations,” Baker said.

The Menards were last seen at the Olive Dell Ranch around 10 a.m. Saturday, according to police. Their dog, a small white Shih Tzu named Cuddles, was with them.

A cadaver dog was used to search for the couple’s bodies at Sparks’ residence Friday morning. Baker said at a news conference that “the dog did alert, indicating the presence of a body somewhere underneath the house.”

“I can confirm the presence of human remains under the house”

In the days following the Menards’ disappearance, friends expressed concern as police dispatched dogs and a sheriff’s office helicopter to aid in the search.

On Thursday, police said that a tip had been called into investigators, prompting them to obtain a search warrant “to try and locate the suspect.”

“We suspect that there may have been foul play,” Baker said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

A SWAT team used armoured vehicles to tear down the walls of Sparks’ house instead of entering it directly “for the officers’ safety,” according to police. On Friday, Baker said Sparks was armed with a rifle and barricaded in the home.

“He did have a rifle and he did attempt to kill himself when police discovered him, but the rifle misfired,” Baker said.

Baker added on Friday that police will continue investigating the dismantled home to search for the couple.

Investigators discovered the human remains along with “bags of evidence” under Sparks’ home.

“At this time, I can confirm the presence of human remains under the house,” Baker said. “We have a representative from the Coroner’s Office here who is evaluating the remains, but  obviously, we are not going to be able to identify those at this time.”

While police have not yet identified the remains, they “believe that Dan and Stephanie Menard are deceased,” Baker said.

“Very suspicious for them to be gone”

Shortly after the couple was last seen, their unlocked car was found down the street from their home in the 26000 block of Keissel Road in Redlands. Some of their possessions, including their cellphones and Stephanie Menard’s purse, were found at the home.

The circumstances of their disappearance had led to concerns from friends.

“I just want them back,” said Sandy Marinelli, who has been friends with the couple for more than a decade. “They don’t deserve this. … They’re just good people. They go to church. They don’t deserve any of this.”

Marinelli said another neighbour went to the couple’s home on Sunday when they weren’t ready for church and discovered Stephanie Menard’s cane inside. She also said a TV and computer were left on.

But the couple was nowhere to be found.

“It was just very suspicious for them to be gone,” Marinelli said.

Tammie Wilkerson, who also lives at the ranch, said Sparks had an ongoing dispute with the Menards.

“He didn’t like them. He hated them, and he told me many times,” Wilkerson said. “It’s such a stupid reason. They had a tree that was on their property line, and Dan used to go trim the limbs and he hated that. That formed his hatred towards them.”

Last Week’s Birthdays

Zendaya (28), Burn Gorman (50), Lily Tomlin (85), Steve Pemberton (57), Gloria Estefan (67), Richard Gere (75), Chris Tucker (53), Cameron Diaz (52), Julian Richings (68), Carla Gugino (53), Rebecca De Mornay (65), Elliott Gould (86), Lenny Henry (66), Jack Black (55), Armie Hammer (38), Brian Thompson (65), Luis Guzmán (68), Barbara Bach (78), Billy Boyd (56), Shania Twain (59), Peter Stormare (71), Aaron Paul (45), Peter Mensah (65), Reece Shearsmith (55), Mike Colter (48), Chris Pine (44), Melissa McCarthy (54), and Macaulay Culkin (44).

1st September 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 25th August 2024

Let’s start by dishing out the points! With the passing of the world’s oldest woman, I can award 33 points to Christine, and 133 points to Abi, Dave, Stu, Paul C. & Lee for being their Cert/Woman. Well done all of you, certainly spicing up the top of the league table! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

BBC presenter Lauren Laverne has announced she has been diagnosed with cancer. The broadcaster, 46, shared the news on Instagram, urging people to “get checked out”, saying she is lucky to have “caught it early” and is “expected to make a full recovery”. Alongside a picture of her smiling, the presenter of BBC 6 Music’s breakfast show and Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs wrote: “Right then, some personal news… I recently had a cancer diagnosis. It was (thank God) caught early and unexpectedly during a screening test and I am expected to make a full recovery. I’m in hospital at the moment and wanted to take this moment to say thank you: Firstly to the medical teams who have got me this far with incredible skill and kindness. To my family and friends who have been absolutely extraordinary every step of the way – I am so very grateful and love you so much. And of course thank you to my colleagues – including those at @itg_ltd, @bbc6music, @bbctheoneshow and #DesertIslandDiscs for their support – and for giving me the time off that I need to get better.” She continued: “I also want to say that if you’re avoiding a test or putting off an appointment to get yourself checked out please, please do it today. Half of us will get cancer at some point, and if you do, finding out asap is everything. It’s usually my job to bring the good vibes on air but any you have to spare are very much welcome here. Sending loads of love to anyone in a similar boat, or who has made it back to shore. xxx.”  

The world’s oldest living person, Maria Branyas Morera, died in Catalonia in Spain at the age of 117 years and 168 days, her family said on Tuesday. Born in San Francisco, US, in 1907, she lived through two World Wars, the Spanish Civil War and the 1918 flu pandemic and faced many personal hardships in her early years, including losing her father during her family’s emigration to Spain and suffering hearing loss as a child. Her remarkable longevity was recognised by both the Gerontology Research Group and the Guinness World Records, and Branyas Morera became a symbol of resilience, having survived Covid at age 113. “Maria Branyas has left us. She died as she wished: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,” her family wrote on her Twitter account. “We will always remember her for her advice and kindness.” Catalonia’s president, Salvador Illa, re-shared the post and expressed his condolences to the family. ”Maria Branyas, the grandmother of Catalonia and the oldest person in the world, has left us. We lose an endearing woman, who has taught us the value of life and the wisdom of the years.” Branyas Morera, who had spent the last 20 years at the Santa Maria del Tura nursing home in Olot, northeastern Spain, shared in a post on Tuesday that she was feeling “weak”.  Her account was run by her family. “The time is near,” she added. “Please don’t cry; I don’t like tears. And above all, don’t worry about me. Wherever I go, I will be happy.” In January 2023, Guinness World Records recognised Branyas Morera as the world’s oldest person following the death of French nun Lucile Randon at age 118. Branyas Morera tested positive for Covid in April 2020 but recovered, becoming the oldest recorded survivor of the disease at the time. In an interview with the Flying Monkeys, she urged for better treatment of the elderly. “This pandemic has revealed that older people are the forgotten ones of our society. They fought their whole lives, sacrificed time and their dreams for today’s quality of life. They didn’t deserve to leave the world in this way,” she said. Branyas Morera attributed her longevity to “order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people. I think longevity is also about being lucky. Luck and good genetics.” Following the death of Branyas Morera, the title of the world’s oldest living person passed to Japan’s Tomiko Itooka, who is 116.  

Clueless star Alicia Silverstone has reassured fans she is “alive and well” after she filmed herself eating a poisonous berry during a visit to London. The 47-year-old actor had shared a video on TikTok on Monday in which she held up an orange berry with seeds inside it. She was seen biting into the fruit and appearing confused by what it was, before fans flocked to social media to warn that it was a “very poisonous form of deadly nightshade”. Silverstone was not heard from on social media for hours after the posting, prompting fans to speculate that she could have succumbed to the poison. Social media users begged for an update as they said “You’re going to need to let us know you’re OK. It’s been five hours” and “Woman! Update us! Are you alive and well?”. On Tuesday the star shared a picture of herself on a photoshoot with the caption: “Alive and well! Don’t worry… I didn’t swallow.” She added a winking emoji. Supporters shared their relief as they wrote: “Queen I’m glad you’re alive” and “I came here for this confirmation. Glad you’re healthy!” The original post showed the actor, who is best known for playing Cher Horowitz in Nineties classic Clueless, walking down a street in England and plucking an orange berry from a bush in someone’s front garden to taste it. “OK, I’ve discovered something that I can’t figure out what it is and I need your help,” she told her viewers. “I just bit into it because it was on the street, and we were discussing whether it was a tomato or not,” she continued, before filming the gated garden where she got the fruit from. Silverstone also questioned the type of leaves in the plant, which had green, red, and orange berries hanging from it. “So what the heck is this?” the star added, before showing the fruit opened up on the street, with seeds popping out of it. She once again bit into the fruit and showed off the inside of it for the camera. “I don’t think you’re supposed to eat this,” she admitted. “But it’s almost like a pepper. Does anyone know what this is? I don’t know what it is.” The actor emphasised her confusion in the caption, writing: “What the heck is this!? I’m in England and can’t figure it out.” The TikTok video quickly went viral, with more than 1.3 million views on her page and over 10 million views where it was reposted on Twitter. In the comments, multiple people claimed that the fruit she was eating was a Jerusalem cherry, which is poisonous.  

Dr Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was hospitalised after testing positive for West Nile virus. Fauci, a longtime public health official who became a household name as part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has now been discharged and is expected to recover fully, a spokesperson said. “Tony Fauci has been hospitalised with a case of West Nile virus. He is now home and is recovering. A full recovery is expected,” the spokesperson said in a statement shared with the Flying Monkeys. They reported that Fauci had spent six days in hospital before being discharged. Fauci, 83, ran the NIAID for nearly four decades before he retired in 2022. As well as fronting the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he achieved fame after becoming the target of political attacks from then-president Donald Trump. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States and is most commonly spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito. Cases of West Nile occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through autumn. There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat West Nile in people, though most people infected with the virus do not feel sick. Around one in five people who are infected develop a fever and other symptoms. About one out of 150 infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness, according to the CDC. Despite leaving government nearly two years ago, Fauci has continued to face fierce political attacks from congressional Republicans for his role in the nation’s response to coronavirus. In June, he testified before a House panel investigating the response, where he was accused by GOP lawmakers of orchestrating a coverup of the virus’s origins. At the time he described the allegations as “simply preposterous.” 

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has sent a heartbreaking message as he reaches the end of his life and tells fans: ‘I hope you’ll remember me.’ The Swedish ex-Three Lions manager, who has terminal pancreatic cancer, was in charge of England’s ‘Golden Generation’ men’s football team from 2001 to 2006. The 76-year-old revealed in January that he had ‘best case a year’ to live and a new documentary about his life is being released on Amazon Prime on Friday. ‘I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do,’ Eriksson said. ‘Don’t be sorry, smile. Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it.’ Speaking candidly as he approaches the end, Eriksson added: ‘I had a good life. I think we are all scared of the day when we die, but life is about death as well. ‘You have to learn to accept it for what it is. Hopefully at the end people will say, ‘yeah, he was a good man’. But everyone will not say that.’ 

On This Day

  • 1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
  • 1958 – The world’s first publicly marketed instant noodles,  Chikin Ramen, are introduced by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando. 
  • 1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
  • 2001 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
  • 2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space becoming the first man-made object to do so.

Deaths

  • 1819 – James Watt, Scottish engineer and instrument maker (b. 1736).
  • 1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philologist, philosopher, and critic (b. 1844).
  • 1984 – Truman Capote, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1924).
  • 2001 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (b. 1979).
  • 2009 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (b. 1932).
  • 2012 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Blake Lively (37), Alexander Skarsgård (48), Tim Burton (66), Tom Skerritt (91), Gene Simmons (75), Billy Ray Cyrus (63), Jared Harris (63), Rupert Grint (36), Steve Guttenberg (66), Stephen Fry (67), Kristen Wiig (51), Richard Armitage (53), Dua Lipa (29), Ty Burrell (57), James ‘the cunt’ Corden (46), Mark Williams (65), Hayden Panettiere (35), Kim Cattrall (68), Carrie-Anne Moss (57), Amy Adams (50), Andrew Garfield (41), Ke Huy Quan (53), James Marsters (62), John Noble (76), Demi Lovato (32), Ray Wise (77), Sylvester McCoy (81), David Walliams (53), Ian McElhinney (76), Diana Muldaur (86), Jonathan Frakes (72), Jim Carter (76), and Simon Bird (40). 

25th August 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 18th August 2024

Sadly no points scored this week, even though we had a couple of big hitting actors and a centenarian bite the bullet. Perhaps it’s time to let fly those evil monkeys… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Trisha Goddard was praised as she made her debut as a guest presenter on Good Morning Britain. The TV star, 66, joined Richard Madeley to host ITV’s breakfast show, days after she spoke about her terminal breast cancer diagnosis on the programme. Trisha – who fronted her own talk show in the ‘90s and 2000s and now lives in America – was a guest presenter, filling in for Kate Garraway. Trisha opened up about her diagnosis with secondary breast cancer earlier this month. She discovered that the incurable cancer had returned, this time to her hip, when she had a serious fall at her home in Connecticut, in 2022. However, she chose to keep the news of her stage four cancer private from her colleagues and the public. ‘I was grappling with how to deal with it myself. Plus I just wanted to work and be me, with CNN and my colleagues there, they didn’t know that I had no hair, that I had no feeling in my legs from the treatment, because I had chemo every week for four and a half months.’ She previously said, ‘My worry is that people will start seeing me as a frail little thing, and that if it got out, I’d be judged, or people would change the way they are with me, or that I wouldn’t work.’ But she admitted that keeping the ‘difficult secret’ became ‘tough’ as time went on. ‘I can’t lie; I can’t keep making up stories. It gets to a stage, after a year and a half, when keeping a secret becomes more of a burden than anything else,’ she added. ‘It’s not going to go away. And with that knowledge comes grief, and fear. But I must keep enjoying what I have always enjoyed,’ she told the Flying Monkeys. Trisha is determined not to be ‘a poster girl for cancer’. ‘It’s not who I am. It’s not why I’m here,’ she said. ‘Also, I didn’t want to read words like ‘dying’ and ‘terminal’ or ‘battling’. Or ‘inspirational’ because it’s all bollocks.”  

Sir Rod Stewart has been issued a further medical warning after being forced to cancel his concerts due to battling a string of health conditions. Last week we reported that Rod had been struggling with Strep Throat, but now he’s also contracted Covid-19! He was due to perform at Stateline in Nevada, followed by a show at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, California on Saturday night. However, an Instagram post to his 1.4million followers late on Friday confirmed he was once again cancelling. A statement read: “We regret to announce that tonight’s Rod Stewart concert in Stateline, NV and his August 10 show in Lincoln, CA have been postponed, as the singer recovers from a summer strain of Covid-19.” The post also gave details of rescheduled dates for the two cancelled concerts which will now take place on August 18 and 20. Whilst Stewart is keen to return to the stage, the musician has been issued a stern warning over his recovery. Dr Chun Tang, a GP and Medical Director at Pall Mall Medical, claimed Stewart will need “significant rehabilitation” for his voice to return to normal following his illness. He told the Flying Monkeys: “Covid can have several long-lasting effects on the vocal cords, especially for those who experienced severe symptoms. The virus can cause persistent inflammation of the vocal cords, leading to ongoing hoarseness, a reduced vocal range, and a weak or breathy voice.” In some cases, Covid can cause nerve damage that affects the control of vocal cords. Tang added: “This can make it difficult to speak or sing normally and may require significant rehabilitation.”  

John Farnham’s sons Rob and James have spoken about their father’s cancer battle, as the Australian music icon continues to recover from throat cancer following a devastating 2022 diagnosis. The 75-year-old underwent 12-hour surgery after being diagnosed with throat cancer, with doctors removing a tumour from his mouth and reconstructing his jaw. He has since received an “all clear” regarding the cancer. “He’s doing really well,” Rob said. “Every day is another step forward, as it is for everyone with cancer. He’s just gotta keep moving forward and keeping positive, and you know, keep driving forward. That’s what it’s about.” The boys went on to praise their mother, saying she had held the family together for the past two years, and also reflected on comments from global superstar Celine Dion, who paid tribute to Farnham in her own documentary I Am: Celine Dion, calling him one of the greatest singers of all time. “He was pretty impressed — it was pretty cool for him to see it,” James said. “He was quite surprised she spoke about him for so long, and he was the only singer he spoke about in the whole documentary.”

On This Day

  • 1612 – The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England’s most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes. 
  • 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
  • 1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William’s Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa’s apartheid policies.

Deaths

  • 1998 – Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, Femina Miss India 1965 (b. 1948).
  • 2004 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (b. 1922).
  • 2017 – Bruce Forsyth, English television presenter and entertainer (b. 1928).
  • 2018 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (b. 1938).

The Pendle Witches

On August 20th 1612 ten people convicted of witchcraft at the Summer Assize held in Lancaster Castle went to the gallows on the moors above the town. Among their number were two men and a woman in her eighties. Their crimes included laming, causing madness and what was termed “simple” witchcraft. In addition to this some sixteen unexplained deaths, many stretching back decades, were laid at their door. 

Lancashire, in the early years of the seventeenth century, was remote, its roads poor, its people ill-educated. Throughout the county there were places where the outside world hardly intruded, and one such area was Pendle Forest. It was here, among stark hillsides, infertile valleys and scattered hamlets, that the story of the Pendle Witches had its beginnings. 

On March 18th 1612 a young woman by the name of Alison Device was out begging on the road to Colne. She stopped a peddler from Halifax, John Law, and asked him for a pin. He refused her request and walked away. According to Alison’s own testimony her ‘familiar spirit’ in the shape of a dog, appeared to her and asked if she would like him to harm Law. Alison was new to the art of witchcraft, indeed she seems to have resisted being indoctrinated into what was in effect the family business. But now she agreed that Law must be punished and she told the dog to lame the peddler. No doubt to her great surprise, the curse took immediate effect and Law fell to the ground, paralysed down one side (presumably by a stroke) and unable to speak. He was taken to a local inn and later Alison was brought to his bedside. She admitted her part in his illness and begged his forgiveness, which he gave. However, Law’s son Abraham had become involved, and he was far from satisfied. He took the matter to Roger Nowell the local magistrate, and from there things snowballed at an alarming rate. After hearing the most awful admissions from those he interviewed, Nowell made many arrests. By the end of  April nineteen people (including a group from Samlesbury and Isobel Roby from Windle) were incarcerated in Lancaster Castle, awaiting trial at the August Assize. 

The most famous of the Pendle witches actually died before coming to trial. Elizabeth Southernes (“Old Demdike”) had admitted to Nowell that she was a witch. In so doing she also implicated many of her co-accused, as did Anne Whittle (“Old Chattox”) who was herself accused of the murder by witchcraft of Robert Nutter. Also implicated were members of both their families: Elizabeth Device, Demdike’s daughter, was accused of two murders, as was her son James, while Alison was to stand trial for what she had done to John Law on that fateful spring day five months before. Anne Redfearne, Chattox’s daughter, stood accused of the murder of Christopher Nutter eighteen years previously.

Others were dragged into the affair: John and Jane Bulcock, a mother and her son, were tried for causing madness, and for being at a so-called Witches Sabbath held at Malkin Tower on Good Friday 1612; Alice Nutter from Roughlee Hall, was accused of killing one Henry Mitton because he refused to give Demdike a penny; Margaret Pearson was accused of bewitching one of her neighbour’s horses to death, and Katherine Hewitt was accused of the murder of Ann Foulds. 

Lancaster formed part of the Northern Circuit, and the Assize Court judges visited the town twice a year. The trials commenced on Tuesday 18th August with Sir Edward Bromley presiding. First into the dock was Old Chattox. She was accused of the murder of Robert Nutter some eighteen years previously. She pleaded not guilty, but eventually confessed when confronted by evidence given by Demdike and James Device to Roger Nowell back in April. Elizabeth Device followed her into court. She stood charged with three counts of murder, accusations she vehemently denied. However, the Prosecution had a star witness in the form of Elizabeth’s own nine year old daughter Jennet. Her evidence was devastating, and Elizabeth was so overcome with anger that she had to be removed from court. Jennet told of familiar spirits, of the making of clay images in order to cause death, of the Sabbath supposedly held at Malkin Tower on Good Friday, where it was decided to blow up the castle and kill the Governor, Thomas Covell, in order to free those imprisoned there. She spoke of witches mounting ponies and flying off on them before vanishing into thin air. Inevitably, Elizabeth was found guilty as well.

James Device was tried next. He was in a pitiable condition, and may even have been physically ill-treated during his imprisonment. However, there was little sympathy for him and after more hearsay evidence, and his own testimony, he was found guilty along with Elizabeth Device and Anne Whittle. 

Anne Redfearne had already been acquitted of one murder. Now she was tried for killing Christopher Nutter eighteen years previously. The evidence hinged on Nutter’s daughter remembering that her father believed he was the victim of a curse. She had also been seen making clay images by James Device. Anne was found guilty. Next into the dock was Alice Nutter. She was a gentlewoman, and the evidence against her was flimsy. However, her fate was sealed by Jennet Device, who identified her as being present at the infamous Sabbath. Alice too, was convicted. The trial of Katherine Hewitt “Mouldheels” went much the same way, with little Jennet again the star witness. Katherine was convicted as well. Jennet’s evidence against John and Jane Bulcock was even more slight: she remembered John turning a spit on which they had roasted a lamb that  Good Friday. It was illegal to aid or assist a witch, and this was enough in 1612, along with other hearsay evidence, to seal the fate of both defendants.

Margaret Pearson was tried for killing a horse by riding it to death (“Hag Ridden” from which we get the modern word “haggard”) She was convicted, although ultimately not condemned.

Alizon Device was the last of the Pendle witches to be tried. Unusually, the key witness against her was also the victim: John Law. He was the object of much pity, as his brush with Alison had left him crippled. When he was assisted into court Alison rushed to him and begged his forgiveness once more, which he again gave. The court was moved to ask her if she could help restore him to health. She told them she was not powerful enough, but that Old Demdike, had she lived, could have done so. Alison was found guilty.

Isobel Roby, from Windle, also stood trial on charges of witchcraft at this Assize, and she too was convicted.

All that remained was for the sentences to be handed down. Bromley had little option: under the terms of the 1604 Witchcraft Act all the accused had been found guilty of crimes punishable by death. On August 20th 1612 the ten condemned prisoners were taken to the moors above the town and hanged. 

The trials in Lancaster in August 1612 are among the most famous witchcraft trials in history. This is mainly due to the fact that we have a very full (albeit biased) account of them, left to us by the Clerk of the Court, Thomas Potts. In 1613 he published his account of these events in a book entitled “The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster.” This is our only real primary source for what was going on in the more remote areas of Lancashire over all those years, and Potts was writing for an audience which included King James I himself, and one which was more than ready to believe in the existence of such evil. This was also a time of great tension, and of anti-Catholic rhetoric. The Gunpowder Plot was still fresh in the memory, and Potts chose to dedicate his book to Lord Knyvett, the man who had actually arrested Guy Fawkes in 1605. Politics and religion played their part in the prosecutions and convictions in Lancaster in 1612, but the inescapable fact remains that at the end of the day ten people lost their lives, found guilty of a crime that no longer even officially exists.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Christian Slater (55), Edward Norton (55), Robert Redford (88), Roman Polanski (91), Huw Edwards (63), Austin Butler (33), Robert De Niro (81), Sean Penn (64), Belinda Carlisle (66), Taika Waititi (49), Steve Carell (62), James Cameron (70), Julie Newmar (91), Madonna (66), Jennifer Lawrence (34), Ben Affleck (52), David Zayas (62), Natasha Henstridge (50), Jim Dale (89), Tony Robinson (78), Mila Kunis (41), Halle Berry (58), Steve Martin (79), Joseph Marcell (76), Sebastian Stan (42), Cara Delevingne (32), and Jim Beaver (74). 

18th August 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 11th August 2024

Looks like none of the Fascist rioters have managed to cause any famous deaths, perhaps they don’t socialise in the same circles… Maybe they could do with a succulent Chinese meal to calm down. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The world of chess has been rocked after a Russian chess champion allegedly attempted to poison her childhood rival by covering her pieces in deadly mercury. Now facing a possible prison sentence, Amina Abakarova, 43, was caught on a security camera appearing to smear her rival’s pieces with the substance ahead of a tournament in Makhachkala, southern Russia last week. According to the World Health Organisation, even minor exposure to mercury can have serious health consequences. In the shocking footage, Ms Abakarova can be seen looking suspiciously around a room full of chess boards to ensure no one else was present. She then approaches her opponent’s table, takes what appears to be a vial from her bag, and pours the substance on the pieces before looking around the room again. The victim required medical treatment after experiencing “severe dizziness and nausea” during the game, but she was able to continue with the tournament. It is claimed that Ms Abakarova poisoned Umayganat Osmanova in an act of revenge after she insulted her last Friday. She is now facing up to three years behind bars for the incident. Sazhid Sazhidov, a Dagistani sports official, said: “We have video proof showing that one of the players at the Dagestani chess championship, Amina Abakarova from the city of Makhachkala, applied an unidentified substance, which later turned out to contain mercury, to the table where Umayganat Osmanova from the city of Kaspiisk was set to play against her.” Malcolm Pain of the English Chess Federation told The Flying Monkeys that there is no other recorded case in the history of chess of an attempted poisoning during a game. “Like many others, I am perplexed by what happened, and the motives of such an experienced competitor as Amina Abakarova are incomprehensible,” he said. “The actions she took could have led to a most tragic outcome, threatening the lives of everyone who was present, including herself. Now she must answer for what she did by the law.” The Russian Chess Federation is now considering giving Ms Abakarova a lifetime ban.  

Oasis singer Noel Gallagher, 57, has made a dark prediction about his future saying he would be “lucky” to make it to 60. The “Wonderwall” singer reflected on his health and lifestyle habits, particularly his alcohol consumption, as he explained the reasons behind the bleak prognosis. Comparing himself to 81-year-old Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, he told the Flying Monkeys, “Just because Jagger is mincing around at 103 doesn’t mean everyone can.” The Manchester musician continued, “Well, I mean, they’ve got to be pushing, what, 70 now, innit? “I mean, the way I feel fucking now, I mean I’ll be fucking lucky if I make it to 60.” Reflecting on his health and alcohol intake, he explained he had also noticed some weight gain, and added, “I could do with getting off the booze, let’s put it that way,” he said. Gallagher previously said he didn’t want to live past 75 as he told BBC Radio 1 in 2022, “Do I want to live another 50 years? No. Just think how shit the world is now. I would rather not live through it. At 75 I want to go.” At the time he shared a bucket list of goals he’d like to tick off before he dies, including making a song with Johnny Marr and meeting Bob Dylan. Last month, he revealed he was set to go under the knife because of his “bad knees”. Although he didn’t explain the details of the procedure, the news came after his brother, Liam, has also been open about the arthritis affecting his knees suggesting the condition could be genetic.  

Sir Rod Stewart has cancelled his 200th residency celebration show due to a bout of the bacterial infection strep throat. The 79-year-old singer was set to bring his The Hits show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace to a close on Wednesday after performing at the venue across the last 13 years. However, Sir Rod withdrew hours before what was meant to be his last show at the venue, saying he was “desperately sorry”. He added: “Most people can work with strep throat but obviously not me. I’m absolutely gutted. I’ve been looking forward to this concert for so long. My deepest regrets for any inconvenience this has caused. Thankfully we’ll now be returning in 2025 and I hope to see you all there,” he vowed. According to the NHS, a strep infection can mean patients having a sore throat, a rash, nausea and vomiting and muscle aches. It is often not a serious illness and can be treated with antibiotics. Sir Rod is a member of the US Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was knighted by the Queen in 2016. Reflecting on his incredible legacy, Rod – who turns 80 in January – recently acknowledged his “days are numbered.” “I’m aware my days are numbered but I’ve got no fear. We have all got to pass on at some point, so we are all in the same basket. I am going to be enjoying myself for these last few years as much as I can. I say few — probably another 15. I can do that easy mate, easy.”

On This Day

  • 1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • 1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.
  • 1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi. 
  • 1962 – Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Chris Hemsworth (41), Viola Davis (59), Anna Gunn (56), Ian McDiarmid (80), Hulk Hogan (71), Rosanna Arquette (65), Antonio Banderas (64), Bill Skarsgård (34), Anna Kendrick (39), Gillian Anderson (56), Sam Elliott (80), Rhona Mitra (48), Eric Bana (56), Melanie Griffith (67), Dan Levy (41), Audrey Tautou (48), Dustin Hoffman (87), Charlize Theron (49), Michael Shannon (50), Abbie Cornish (42), Harold Perrineau (61), David Duchovny (64), Tobin Bell (82), M. Night Shyamalan (54), Michelle Yeoh (62), and Mark Strong (61).

11th August 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 4th August 2024

Contender, ready! Gladiator, ready!!! No winners today though! Might as well sit down and  have a Tiramisu. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Miriam Margolyes has shared a health update as she experiences difficulty walking, due to problems with problems her spine. The 83-year-old Harry Potter actor has opened up about dealing with spinal stenosis – the narrowing of the spinal canal – which can cause compression on the spinal nerves. As the condition progresses, it can cause back and leg pain. Margolyes said that she is now registered as disabled and has started using a mobility scooter. “I can’t walk very well, and I’m registered disabled,” she told the Flying Monkeys. “I use all kinds of assistance. I’ve got two sticks and a walker and they’re such a bore, but I’ve just got a mobility scooter, which is a lot of fun.” Last year, the Australian actor underwent major heart surgery to replace her aortic valve, and has since shared concerns that she won’t have enough money to cover her health and medical support costs as she gets older. “I’m worried that I won’t have enough money for carers when I finally get paralysed or whatever it is that’s going to happen to me, I’m saving up cash so that I can pay people to look after me and my partner. We don’t have children, so I need to make sure I’m going to be looked after in the way that I’ve become accustomed. When I started kind of failing physically, I remember saying to directors and producers, please don’t show me clambering out of a car or climbing upstairs on my hands and knees. I didn’t want people to see that because I was embarrassed to see myself looking so pathetic. But, subsequently, I’ve met loads of people who have said I gave them the courage to do things that they never thought they could. So I’m very pleased about that.”  

Following on from last weeks story of the 23-year-old Australian surfer who survived having his leg bitten off by a suspected great white shark, he has vowed to be back in the water “in no time”. Kai McKenzie was attacked off the mid-north coast of New South Wales last week, and his severed leg later washed up on the beach. The limb was placed on ice and taken to a hospital about 200km away from the place where the attack took place, with the hope that it could be reattached. It’s not clear if doctors attempted surgery to reattach the leg, but an Instagram post by Mr McKenzie on Monday confirmed that he had lost the limb. “Spot something missing? Hahah,” Mr McKenzie quipped in a caption alongside an image showing him standing arm-in-arm with a group of friends. Mr McKenzie was taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital and later flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle after last Tuesday’s attack. He was riding the waves off the shore of New South Wales when a 10ft shark attacked and nearly killed him. In an earlier post on Instagram on Saturday he detailed the incident and thanked people for the support he received. “To be here right now just to fucking be able to hold my beautiful Eve and my family is everything to me,” he wrote. “A few days ago I went through a crazy shark attack, biggest shark I’ve ever seen, which was a very crazy scene and scared the living fuck out of me. But to all you fucking kind-hearted people, all you legends, to anyone and everyone all your support has meant the absolute world to me. I can tell you now if you know my personality this means fuck all. I’ll be back in that water in no time, big fuck off to that shark and big thanks to Steve for saving my life.” In a statement on Thursday, the McKenzie family also thanked all of the “medical staff … bystanders and first responders” who had worked to save the surfer’s life. 

Good Morning Britain contributor Iain Dale has shared an update on his health following the news earlier this week that he had been admitted to hospital with “acute pain”. The broadcaster, 62 – who’s made numerous appearances as a panelist on the ITV show over the years – announced just days ago that he had ended up in A&E over a suspected “gall bladder issue”. He however later told fans that he was in intensive care awaiting an operation to remove the organ. The LBC radio host took to Twitter, on Wednesday afternoon to share an update. He stated that his gallbladder is “infected and inflamed,” with Iain adding that his operation had been postponed amid other treatment. Addressing his followers, he wrote in the post: “FURTHER UPDATE: No sign of gallstones but gallbladder infected and inflamed. Decision on op put off until we see if antibiotics work.” He continued: “Hope to be discharged tomorrow, but won’t be at full capacity for some time, I’m told.” Iain also expressed gratitude to his followers for their well wishes and support. He concluded the recent tweet by writing: “Renewed thanks for all the kind comments and to the wonderful people who have been caring for me.” It comes just days after Iain shared that he was “suffering” due to his health recently. He initially took to the platform on Sunday to apologise to his followers for his “lack of interaction,” attributing it to a “bout of food poisoning”. 

On This Day

  • 1693 – Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon’s invention of champagne. 
  • 1783 – Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people. The eruption causes a famine, which results in an additional 20,000 deaths.
  • 1892 – The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. She will be tried and acquitted for the crimes a year later. 
  • 2020 – Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.

Deaths

How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder

The Lizzie Borden murder case is one of the most famous in American criminal history. New England’s major crime of the Gilded Age, its barbarity captivated the national press. And the suspected killer was immortalised by an eerie rhyme passed down through generations:

Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

While the public largely believed that Borden committed the murders, the rhyme is not quite correct: the female victim was Borden’s stepmother, and the weapon wasn’t an ax, but rather a hatchet, a smaller, lighter tool. Also, the killer struck the victims around half as many times as stated in the rhyme, 19 blows rained down on 64-year-old Abby Borden, and 10 or 11 rendered the face of Lizzie Borden’s 69-year-old father, Andrew Borden, unrecognisable. Still, the rhyme does accurately record the sequence of the murders, which took place about an hour and a half apart on the morning of August 4th, 1892. 

In the early hours, after the discovery of the bodies, the public only knew that the assassin had struck the victims in broad daylight at their home on a busy street, one block from the town’s business district. There was no evident motive like robbery or sexual assault. Neighbours and passers-by heard nothing. No one saw a suspect enter or leave the Borden property.

Moreover, Andrew Borden was no ordinary citizen. Like other Fall River Bordens, he possessed wealth and standing. He had invested in mills, banks and real estate. But Andrew had never made a show of his good fortune. He lived on the unfashionable Second Street, in a modest house, now a spooky bed and breakfast, instead of on “The Hill,” Fall River’s lofty, leafy, silk-stocking enclave.

Lizzie Borden, then a 32-year-old who lived at home, longed to reside on The Hill. She knew her father could afford to move away from a neighbourhood increasingly dominated by Catholic immigrants. 

Police initially considered the killings the work of a man, probably a “foreigner.” Within a few hours of the murders, they arrested a suspect: an innocent Portuguese immigrant from the town’s new diaspora of European workers. 

On the day of the murders, Lizzie claimed that she’d come into the house from the barn and discovered her father’s body. She yelled for the Bordens’ 26-year-old Irish servant, Maggie Sullivan, who was resting in her third-floor room. She told Sullivan she needed a doctor and sent the servant across the street to the family physician’s house. He was not at home. 

Initially, this helped keep Lizzie off the suspect list. She was, after all, a Sunday school teacher at her wealthy Central Congregational Church. Members of her social class didn’t think a person like her would slaughter her parents. 

But during the interrogation, Lizzie’s answers to different police officers shifted. And her inability to summon a single tear aroused police suspicion. Then an officer discovered that Borden had tried to purchase deadly prussic acid from a nearby drugstore a day before the murders. 

Five days after the murders, authorities convened an inquest. Lizzie took the stand on each of its three days; the inquest was the only time she testified in court under oath.

Even more than the heap of inconsistencies that the police compiled, Lizzie’s testimony led her into a briar patch of seeming self-incrimination. She did not have a defence lawyer during what was a closed inquiry. But she was not without defenders. The family doctor, who staunchly believed in her innocence, testified that after the murders, he prescribed a double dose of morphine to help her sleep. Its side effects, he claimed, could account for her confusion. Her 41-year-old sister, Emma Borden, who also lived at home, claimed that the sisters harboured no anger toward their stepmother. 

However, authorities arrested Lizzie on August 11th, one week after the murders. The judge sent her to the county jail. This privileged suspect found herself confined to a cheerless 9.5-by-7.5-foot cell for the next nine months. 

Lizzie’s arrest provoked an uproar that quickly became national. Women’s groups rallied to her side, especially the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and suffragists. Borden’s supporters protested that at trial, she would not be judged by a jury of her peers, as women did not have the right to serve on juries.

Lizzie’s upper-class status benefited her throughout her ordeal. During the preliminary hearing, one of Boston’s most prominent defence lawyers joined the family attorney to advocate for her innocence. 

Her attorneys stressed that the prosecution offered no murder weapon and possessed no bloody clothes. As to the prussic acid, Lizzie was a victim of misidentification, they claimed. In addition, throughout the saga, her legion of supporters remained steadfast that Lizzie’s guilt was culturally inconceivable: A well-bred, virtuous Victorian woman, a “Protestant nun,” to use the words of the national president of the temperance union, could never commit patricide. 

At the preliminary hearing, Lizzie’s defence attorney  delivered a rousing closing argument. Her partisans erupted into loud applause. It was to no avail. The judge determined she was ‘probably guilty’ and should remain jailed until a state Superior Court trial. 

Neither the attorney general, who typically prosecuted capital crimes, nor the district attorney was eager to haul Lizzie into Superior Court, though both believed in her guilt. There were holes in the police’s evidence. And while Lizzie’s place in the local order was unassailable, her arrest had also provoked a groundswell of support.

Though he did not have to, the district attorney brought the case before a grand jury in November. He was not sure he would secure an indictment. Twenty-three jurors convened to hear the case on the charges of murder. They adjourned with no action. Then the grand jury reconvened on December 1st and heard dramatic testimony. 

Alice Russell, a single, pious, 40-year-old member of Central Congregational, was Lizzie’s close friend. Shortly after Andrew Borden was killed, Lizzie sent Sullivan to summon Alice. She slept in the Borden house for several nights after the murders, with the brutalised victims stretched out on mortician boards in the dining room. Russell had testified at the inquest, the preliminary hearing and earlier before the grand jury. But she had never disclosed one important detail. Distressed over her omission, Russell returned to the grand jury. She testified that on the morning after the murders, Lizzie had pulled a dress from a shelf in the pantry closet and proceeded to burn it in the cast iron coal stove. The grand jury indicted Lizzie the next day. 

The district attorney perhaps underestimated the legal and cultural impediments he faced. With her father’s money in hand, Lizzie could afford the best legal team to defend her, including a former Massachusetts governor who had appointed one of the three justices who would preside over the case. That justice delivered a slanted charge to the jury, which one major newspaper described as “a plea for the innocent.” The justices took other actions that stymied the prosecution, excluding testimony about prussic acid because the prosecution had not refuted that the deadly poison could be used for innocent purposes. 

Not surprisingly, the jury quickly decided to acquit Lizzie. They waited for an hour so it would not appear they’d made a hasty decision. 

The courtroom audience, the bulk of the press and women’s groups cheered Lizzie’s acquittal. But her life was altered forever. Two months after the innocent verdict, the Borden sisters moved to a large Victorian house on The Hill. Yet many people there and in the Central Congregational Church shunned her. Lizzie became Fall River’s curio, followed by street urchins and stared down whenever she appeared in public. She withdrew to her home, but even there, neighbourhood kids pestered Lizzie with pranks. 

Lizzie enjoyed traveling to Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., dining in style and attending the theatre. She and her sister Emma had a falling out in 1904, and Emma left the house in 1905. The sisters never saw each other again. Both died in 1927, Lizzie first and Emma nine days later. Both were buried in the same plot as their father and stepmother.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Meghan Markle (43), Billy Bob Thornton (69), Barack Obama (63), Lee Mack (56), Evangeline Lilly (45), Stephen Graham (51), Martin Sheen (84), Steven Berkoff (87), John C. McGinley (65), Mamie Gummer (41), Sam Worthington (48), Edward Furlong (47), Kevin Smith (54), Jason Momoa (45), Daisy May Cooper (38), Wesley Snipes (62), Michael Biehn (68), Emilia Fox (50), Dean Cain (58), J.K. Rowling (59), Christopher Nolan (54), Arnold Schwarzenegger (77), Lisa Kudrow (61), Hilary Swank (50), Laurence Fishburne (63), Frances de la Tour (80), Terry Crews (56), Jean Reno (76), Carel Struycken (76), and Wil Wheaton (52).

4th August 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 28th July 2024

Alas no points scored this week, however we have plenty to read, especially the story of a Great White Shark Attack, which we in the UK might have to deal with soon enough. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The severed leg of a 23-year-old Australian surfer who was attacked by a great white shark off the mid-north coast of New South Wales has washed up on the beach, police said. Kai McKenzie was attacked by a shark at North Shore Beach at Port Macquarie on Tuesday morning around 11am local time and remained in critical condition. The surfer managed to catch a wave to the shore where bystanders helped treat him after the attack. An off-duty police officer, who was walking his dog on the beach, used his dog’s leash as a tourniquet around his wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding before paramedics arrived at the scene. Mr McKenzie was taken to Macquarie base hospital and later flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where he remained in a stable but critical condition. The severed leg that washed up on the beach was placed on ice and taken to the hospital about 200km away from the place where the attack occurred. However, doctors will assess whether the leg can be reattached. Shark biologists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development reviewed photographs of the incident and identified the shark as a great white approximately 3m in length. “He saw the shark,” Kirran Mowbray, a NSW ambulance worker said. “He was able to fight it off. He was very courageous. He turned around and caught a wave into shore. The only person that saw the shark was the young man himself. He was quite calm. He was able to talk with us. He was completely with it,” he added. Images from the scene showed Mr McKenzie’s surfboard with a chunk bitten off by the shark from its tail.  

Disgraced movie mogul and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalised with Covid-19 and pneumonia in both lungs just days after he appeared at a court hearing in New York over his retrial on rape and sexual assault charges. The Hollywood movie producer was transferred from the notorious Rikers Island jail complex in New York to a secure ward at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan on Wednesday. “Mr Weinstein tested positive for COVID and contracted double pneumonia in his lungs,” his publicist Juda Engelmayer said in a statement on Thursday. Weinstein was first transferred to the hospital’s prison ward late on Wednesday night before being sent to the Manhattan hospital. There, Weinstein is also being treated for a “myriad of health conditions” including diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, and fluid on his heart and lungs, his publicist said. “We continue to express our gratitude to the officers, doctors and nurses in the city’s corrections and public hospital systems who saw to it that Mr. Weinstein was immediately transferred to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward,” he added. This marks Weinstein’s second stint at the hospital since he was returned to Rikers Island in April for legal proceedings related to his rape case.  

Three members of gospel group The Nelons have been killed in tragic plane crash. The group is formed of Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark, and Kelly’s daughters Amber Nelon Kistler and Autumn Nelon Streetman. Kelly, Jason and Amber were amongst those killed in the accident, with Amber’s husband Nathan Kistler, and three friends also dead.  They were travelling to the Gaither Homecoming Cruise when the plane crashed over a remote area of northeastern Wyoming. There were no survivors. Autumn, who wasn’t on the plane released a statement on Saturday to announce the sad news. She wrote: ‘As many of you have heard by now, my father and mother, Jason and Kelly Nelon Clark, along with my sister, Amber, and brother-in-law, Nathan, as well as our dear friends Melodi Hodges, Larry, and Melissa Haynie, were involved in a tragic plane crash on Friday.  ‘Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark. We appreciate your continued prayers, love, and support as we navigate the coming days.’ 

Earlier this month, Stevie Nicks canceled a solo concert in  Glasgow, Scotland. At the time, she blamed it on a leg injury that required surgery. Now, Nicks is revealing her condition was much more serious, requiring hospitalisation for the 76-year-old singer. Nicks’ health crisis forced her to abruptly postpone her July 6th Glasgow show and her July 9th Manchester show. The initial announcement downplayed things. “Due to a recent leg injury requiring a minor surgical procedure that will need a few days of recovery time, Stevie Nicks’ scheduled performances in Glasgow Saturday 6th July and Manchester Tuesday 9th July have been postponed,” Glasgow venue OVO Hydro posted Twitter. During the rescheduled Glasgow show on July 24th, Nicks told the crowd what actually occurred. “I don’t know what happened. I just got this weird infection, and it just went crazy,” she told the crowd at the concert. The musician said that she was staying in a “fabulous castle” in Glasgow for her concert. “We get here days early because we want to be here for a few days,” she said. “I finally just looked at my assistant – it was like two in the morning – and I said, ‘I think we need to go to emergency’. She looked at me and I said, ‘I’m not kidding! I think we need to go to the hospital. And so our butler – this wonderful man – throws us in his BMW Sedan, which is so great, and off we sped through the night to a hospital.” The singer said she spent two days in the hospital, before she returned to the castle and decided to cancel the Glasgow show. “I’ve been fighting this for this whole thing,” she told her fans. “This whole tour I’ve been fighting what started here. And I would be damned if I wasn’t coming back here,” she said.  

Sir Geoffrey Boycott has been rushed to hospital with pneumonia after suffering a setback in his recovery from cancer surgery. The national cricket icon, 83, went under the knife this week after revealing he had been diagnosed with throat cancer for a second time. His family issued an update on social media, telling fans that Boycott had successfully undergone a three-hour operation. However, a new statement on Sunday afternoon revealed that Boycott’s health has now “taken a turn for the worse.” After returning home from his cancer surgery, the former batsman was struck down with pneumonia. He is “unable to eat or drink” as a result of the illness. Boycott is now back in hospital “on oxygen and a feeding tube.” The full statement from daughter Emma read: “Thank you all for the well wishes, we’ve been blown away by the sheer number of them! Unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse and my Father has developed pneumonia and is unable to eat or drink so is back in hospital on oxygen and a feeding tube for the foreseeable.” The update on Boycott’s health comes after he revealed his second cancer diagnosis at the start of July. He said at the time: “In the last few weeks I have had an MRI Scan, CT Scan, a PET Scan and two biopsies and it has now been confirmed I have throat cancer and will require an operation. From past experience I realise that to overcome cancer a second time I will need excellent medical treatment and quite a bit of luck and even if the operation is successful every cancer patient knows they have to live with the possibility of it returning. So I will just get on with it and hope for the best.” 

On This Day

  • 1540 – Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
  • 1883 – A moderate earthquake measuring magnitude 4.3–5.2 strikes the Italian island of Ischia, killing over 2,300 people. 
  • 1976 – The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People’s Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Hannah Waddingham (50), Anya Chalotra (29), Elizabeth Berkley (52), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (54), Taylor Schilling (40), Donnie Yen (61), Jason Statham (57), Kate Beckinsale (51), Sandra Bullock (60), Kevin Spacey (65), Helen Mirren (79), Nana Visitor (67), Eve Myles (46), Mick Jagger (81), Matt LeBlanc (57), D.B. Woodside (55), Iman (69), Jennifer Lopez (55), Anna Paquin (42), Elisabeth Moss (42), Summer Glau (43), Lynda Carter (73), Danny Dyer (47), Kathryn Hahn (51), Ronny Cox (86), Daniel Radcliffe (35), Woody Harrelson (63), Charisma Carpenter (54), Rhys Ifans (57), Willem Dafoe (70), Selena Gomez (32), Terence Stamp (86), Danny Glover (78), and Bonnie Langford (60).

28th July 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st July 2024

Let’s dole out the points! With the passing of Bob Newhart I can award 56 points to Iwan!  Well done that bloke! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

For all of you enjoying festival season, beware what you grab hold of! Brazilian rock singer Ayres Sasaki was electrocuted last week during a live performance in Brazil. The musician died instantly after reportedly hugging a soaking-wet fan during a concert on July 13th at the Solar Hotel in Salinopolis. The contact allegedly triggered a nearby cable to jolt, causing a fatal electric shock, according to The Flying Monkeys. Salinópolis Police are investing the incident. The Pará Civil Police say that witnesses have given statements and they have requested expert reports. The Solar Hotel shared a statement on social media about the tragic incident. “We are fully dedicated to providing support to his family and taking the necessary measures. We reaffirm our commitment to fully cooperating with the competent authorities for the proper clarification of the events,” the hotel wrote in a translated message. “Our thoughts and condolences are with Ayres Sasaki’s family and friends at this difficult time.” Sasaki is survived by his wife of 11 months, Mariana. On her Instagram Story, Sasaki’s wife thanked fans. “I would like to thank you for every message of affection and comfort, for every prayer during this difficult time that we are going through, I haven’t been able to read all the messages yet, but as I feel better, I will respond to each one. Thank you.” 

There are rumours that Bret Michaels, the reality TV star and frontman of the glam-metal band Poison, has been hospitalised and is in critical condition after suffering a brain haemorrhage. An article on his website seemed to confirm his condition but has since been removed. “There are several incorrect reports on Bret’s condition,” read the Saturday posting on bretmichaels.com. “Bret remains in critical condition at an undisclosed location. Further tests are being ran and information will be updated in the coming days.” Michaels, 47, former star of VH1’s “Rock of Love With Bret Michaels” and current “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant, initially was hospitalised at an undisclosed facility Thursday after suffering a massive subarachnoid haemorrhage, or bleeding at the base of his brain stem, his publicist confirmed to the Flying Monkeys on Friday. Michaels was in critical condition and under “intense observation” by doctors while they ran tests to determine the cause of his bleeding. The new medical woes came on the heels of an emergency appendectomy Michaels received after falling ill before a concert in April. Last weekend, Michaels revealed details of how he was rushed to a hospital in April before a show in San Antonio, Texas. “They told me that if I had gone onstage like I wanted to, my appendix likely would have ruptured and I could have died,” he wrote on his blog. “I’m feeling pretty bad … to tell you the truth,” Michaels wrote after the appendectomy. “When you’re not planning on having a body part ripped out of you, it can be a shock to the system. While the doctors are amazing in San Antonio, there is just no way around the fact that getting your appendix out HURTS. I have a pretty good threshold for pain, but this one hurts.” The rocker added that because he’s been a diabetic since age 6, his recovery could take longer than usual. However, it’s unlikely that Michaels’ diabetes spurred his current condition. “This type of haemorrhage is usually from an aneurysm,” Dr. Wendy Wright, an assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, told the Flying Monkeys. “The risk of an aneurysm rupturing is probably related to size – the larger the aneurysm, the more likely to rupture – and also may be more likely in people who smoke or on blood thinning medications.”  *Editors note: So, this happened in 2011, FML. 

The daughter of Dame Esther Rantzen, Rebecca Wilcox, shared an update about her mother’s health whilst appearing on Good Morning Britain. Rebecca appeared on the programme in a bid to share a plea with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Rebecca is urging Sir Keir to change the law in favour of assisted dying. It was here that she shared heartbreaking information about her TV star mum’s lung cancer battle. Rebecca appeared emotional as she discussed her plea to the Prime Minister, she also admitted how difficult it is to discuss the topic, stating that she “can’t talk about it” without being upset. The devoted daughter’s appearance follows Esther’s decision to join the assisted dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland, due to assisted dying being illegal in the UK. Rebecca shared her disappointment that Sir Keir’s promise to reverse the law was not mentioned in the King’s speech this week. She confessed that due to the severity of her mother’s illness, she is currently “living from scan to scan”. A tearful Rebecca detailed: “We feel like we’re living in an hourglass and the sand is pouring on us. There will come a point where our heads are no longer above it, and I really want politicians, MPs, people of this country to realise that we all have a choice in how we live, and I want us to have a choice in how we die. This is not about shortening anyone’s life, it’s about shortening their death and making it dignified.” Rebecca spoke of her mother, stating: “I don’t want her to go through a painful death. I don’t want my memories of her to completely be dissolved by pain and agony in those last few days.” 

On This Day

  • 1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
  • 1969 – Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.
  • 1983 – The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C!

Deaths

  • 1796 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet and songwriter (b. 1759).
  • 1967 – Basil Rathbone, South African-American actor and singer (b. 1892).
  • 1998 – Alan Shepard, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923).
  • 2004 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1929).
  • 2023 – Tony Bennett, American singer (b. 1926).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Josh Hartnett (46), Juno Temple (35), Paloma Faith (43), John Woodvine (95), John Francis Daley (39), Sandra Oh (53), Gisele Bündchen (44), Benedict Cumberbatch (48), Jared Padalecki (42), Vin Diesel (57), Kristen Bell (44), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (42), Eric Winter (48), Brett Goldstein (44), David Hasselhoff (72), Alex Winter (59), Rosa Salazar (39), Will Ferrell (57), Phoebe Cates (61), Corey Feldman (53), Travis Fimmel (45), Brigitte Nielsen (61), Diane Kruger (48), Forest Whitaker (63), Celia Imrie (72), and Jesse Ventura (73).

21st July 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 14th July 2024

Inches matter! What could have been, oh well, maybe next time! So, lets dole out the points!

Following the sad passing of Shannen Doherty at the young age of 53, I can award 97 points to the following: Mark W, me, Julia, Paula, Abi, Mark K, and 197 to Ian who had her down as his Woman. Well done everyone!!! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Souvenir T-shirts picturing the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump have already gone on sale. The T-shirts use an image of a defiant Trump raising his fist into the air as Secret Service officers try to safely move him off the stage. The former president narrowly escaped being killed after a bullet hit his ear at the rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. The assassination attempt took place at around 6.15pm local time, with photos of Trump’s recovery being published minutes later. Mere hours later, T-shirts with variations of the historic image have gone on sale from outlets based in the US and China. By around 8pm on Saturday some Chinese manufacturers had already put the iconic photo onto T-shirts, according to the South China Morning Post. The first batch reportedly went on sale on Taobao, a Chinese e-commerce platform, at 8.40pm. One of the Taobao sellers, Li Jinwei, told the Hong-Kong based newspaper: “We put the T-shirts on Taobao as soon as we saw the news about the shooting, though we hadn’t even printed them, and within three hours we saw more than 2,000 orders from both China and the US.” Potoshirt, an online store for trending T-shirts which is based in the US, was also advertising defiant Trump assassination T-shirts on social media on Sunday morning. One product, which was on sale for $22.95, had a shot of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in defiance with the words “you can’t kill Trump” above the image. Another T-shirt, on sale for the same price, used the full image of the former president surrounded by security personnel, with the line “if you come at the king you best not miss” underneath the photo.  

The family of an 82-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at a New York nursing home are demanding answers after after she was later found to be breathing two hours later at the funeral home. Janet Balducci was thought to have died mid-morning on February 4th, 2023 at the Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson on New York’s Long Island. Balducci’s body was then driven from the nursing home to Casimir Funeral Home in nearby Miller Place, some six miles away, to be embalmed. Just as funeral parlour workers were ready to tend to Balducci’s body they noticed the cadaver that lay before them still had a pulse. Now the family, Balducci’s two sons, Robert and Joseph, are looking for an explanation as to how the mix-up occurred in what has been termed as ‘extreme and outrageous conduct’ in a lawsuit filed by the family which is taking on a two-pronged approach. The sons are suing for what they allege is the premature and wrongful death of their mother. The family believe that staff at the care home both declared Balducci prematurely deceased but then also contributed to her actual death by failing to diagnose a deep vein thrombosis, which they allege occurred as nursing home workers stood by and did nothing to help treat her. The family’s lawyer say the woman’s sons are ‘horrified’ by what happened and have to live with the sickening reality their mother ‘was placed in a body bag alive.’ ‘I think the case is more emblematic of what happens when elderly people go into these homes,’ DeNoto said. ‘They don’t have an advocate to keep track of what’s happening,’ lawyer Peter DeNoto, told the Flying Monkeys. A criminal investigation into the entire episode is also still ongoing.   

Strictly professional Amy Dowden has revealed she made an unexpected dash to hospital last week amid her ongoing battle with breast cancer. The star, 33, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer last year. Caerphilly-born Dowden has since undergone a mastectomy, chemotherapy and fertility treatment, and missed out on being a competitor on Strictly during the 2023 series. On Monday, she took to social media to update her fans about how she spent time at a respiratory unit last week. She wrote under pictures of herself on a hospital bed: “So last week didn’t exactly go to plan. Feeling much better now and still taking it easy. “But can’t thank the NHS and the care I received on the respiratory unit enough. Also to my family and Ben of course. Always dropping everything and spending endless hours next to my bed while I mainly slept. Feeling much better and thanks for the many messages after going quiet. Off to oncology unit today for my monthly injection, (missed it last week due to being poorly).” 

On This Day

  • 1881 – American outlaw Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the Maxwell House at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
  • 1983 – Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise.
  • 2002 – French president Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt from Maxime Brunerie during a Bastille Day parade at Champs-Élysées.
  • 2016 – A man ploughs a truck into a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, killing 86 people and injuring another 434 before being shot by police.

Deaths

  • 1827 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer, reviver of wave theory of light, inventor of catadioptric lighthouse lens (b. 1788). 
  • 1881 – William H. Bonney aka Billy the Kid, American gunfighter and outlaw (b. 1859). 
  • 1998 – Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald’s (b. 1909).
  • 2022 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model (b. 1949).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Phoebe Waller-Bridge (39), Jackie Earle Haley (63), Matthew Fox (58), Conor McGregor (36), David Mitchell (50), Kyle Gass (64), Harrison Ford (82), Patrick Stewart (84), Ken Jeong (55), Melissa O’Neil (36), Michelle Rodriguez (46), Cheryl Ladd (73), Tamsin Greig (58), Bill Cosby (87), Michelle Fairley (61), Stephen Lang (72), Sofía Vergara (52), Fiona Shaw (66), Peter Serafinowicz (52), Chiwetel Ejiofor (47), Tom Hanks (68), Pamela Adlon (58), Kelly McGillis (67), Scott Grimes (53), Jimmy Smits (69), Courtney Love (60), Richard Wilson (88), Kevin Bacon (66), Maya Hawke (26), Anjelica Huston (73), and Jaden Smith (26).

14th July 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 7th July 2024

Other than the death of the Tory party; you’d be forgiven for not knowing anyone on the list this week, its been a very quiet week indeed! So, this has given me a chance to run through the lists to see who I’ve missed. 

49 points to Trish as I missed the passing of Janis Page on 2nd June. Paul C got lucky when Zhang Lixiong died in early April, 40 points! Well done both of you, and well done me for not missing too many 🙂 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Eamonn Holmes was forced to bow out of his GB News programme early due to ill health. The presenter prompted concern among viewers on Tuesday when he was suddenly absent halfway through an interview segment. Holmes, 64, and his co-host Isabel Webster interviewed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health Maria Caulfield at 7.45am. Halfway through the chat, however, during which Holmes was completely silent, he exited the studio and left Webster to present the breakfast show solo for the remaining 90 minutes. An explanation for his absence was not given at the time. A spokesperson for GB News has since told the Flying Monkeys: “Eamonn had to finish a little earlier today as he was feeling unwell. He hopes to be back tomorrow.” His swift exit follows just days after the broadcaster told us that he felt as though he was living on “borrowed time” because his father had died at the age of 65 from a heart attack in 1991. Holmes made the comments at the TRIC (Television and Radio Industries Club) Awards, which took place in London on 25th June. The veteran broadcaster is currently suffering from chronic back pain, and required a walker with a seat at the ceremony, stating that he considered pulling out of the event due to the severe pain. “I wasn’t going to come, but I’ve got this new chair with all these gadgets,” explained Holmes, who previously said in January that he was facing the “harsh reality” that he may never be able to walk again unaided.  

Christina Applegate has opened up about what she would like to do with the time she has left, including some fun-sounding things! The celebrity has long been open about her ongoing health struggle with MS, and revealed she has a bucket list. And let’s just say the bucket list is not lacking in ambition in the slightest, containing several very exciting activities. It comes as Applegate made a concerning comment during a podcast where she claimed that she no longer ‘enjoys living’. She told her podcast MeSsy: “This is being really honest. I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things anymore.” Applegate later clarified that she did not mean to alarm people with the remark. And in a marked change of tone, the star of Married… with Children didn’t hold back on what she wants to do with the time she has, covering work and and play in her list. In a post to her 1.5 million followers on Twitter, she hinted at some of the things she wants to do with her time: “There are things I want to do with the days I have left in life. I want to work with Shirley MacLaine and do shots with Cher! And yes my days are so big. Just saying.” Both of those things sound like they would be brilliant! Many fans of the actor piled into the comments to share their thoughts on the heartwarming post. Some fans even tagged Cher in their tweets in an attempt to draw the star’s attention to the post on social media. 

On This Day

  • 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.
  • 1985 – Boris Becker becomes the youngest male player ever to win Wimbledon at age 17.
  • 1992 – The New York Court of Appeals rules that women have the same right as men to go topless in public. 
  • 2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London’s transport system, killing 56 people, including four suicide bombers, and injuring over 700 others.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Shelley Duvall (75), Jack Whitehall (36), Ringo Starr (84), Sylvester Stallone (78), Eva Green (44), Kevin Hart (45), Geoffrey Rush (73), Jennifer Saunders (66), Burt Ward (79), Huey Lewis (74), Post Malone (29), Neil Morrissey (62), Tom Cruise (62), Patrick Wilson (51), Kurtwood Smith (81), Yeardley Smith (60), Bolo Yeung (78), Margot Robbie (34), Lindsay Lohan (38), Saul Rubinek (76), Larry David (77), Jerry Hall (68), Peter Kay (51), Liv Tyler (47), Pamela Anderson (57), Dan Aykroyd (72), and Geneviève Bujold (82).

7th July 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 30th June 2024

A quiet week for us, you’d be hard pressed to know any of the potentials below. With us now being halfway through the year, embarrassingly I am still leading the league table. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Princess Anne has been discharged from hospital five days after being admitted with minor head injuries and concussion believed to have been caused by a horse. The Princess Royal, 73, left Southmead hospital in Bristol early on Friday morning. There is no indication yet when she will have recovered enough to resume public engagements. She will remain at her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire for a further period of rest and recuperation, it is understood, and will return to public duties only once her medical team recommend it is safe and comfortable to do so. Her husband, V Adm Sir Timothy Laurence, said in a statement: “I would like to extend my warmest thanks to the team at Southmead hospital for their care, expertise and kindness during my wife’s short stay.” Few details about the incident are known, and it is understood the princess was unable to remember precise details due to the concussion. There were said to be horses in the vicinity of where it occurred, within the protected perimeter of her estate, and her medical team have said her injuries are consistent with a potential impact from a horse’s head or legs. Emergency services and an air ambulance attended and Anne was treated at the scene. She was transferred to Southmead hospital by road for tests, treatment and observation. Buckingham Palace said on Monday that she was “expected to make a full and swift recovery”. Recovery from concussion varies depending on the individual and the nature of the incident. Sources indicated Anne will return to public duties when doctors recommend she may do so but at this stage it is not possible to know when that will be. She will receive rehabilitation support at home as she follows standard concussion protocols, it is understood. She had been due to visit Canada at the end of this week, and was unable to attend the Buckingham Palace banquet on Tuesday held for the Japan state visit. Laurence, and Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, visited her in hospital separately on Tuesday, with Laurence returning on Wednesday. He said at the time the princess was “doing fine, slow but sure” and that he had taken her a “few little treats from home”. King Charles did not visit his sister in person but was being kept closely informed of her progress and sent his “fondest love and well wishes” to the princess for a speedy recovery. 

The Notebook star Gena Rowlands has been living with Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years, her son, director and actor Nick Cassavetes, has said. Rowlands, 94, starred as the older version of Rachel McAdams’s lead character, Allie, in the 2004 romantic drama – based on the bestselling Nicholas Sparks novel. Allie ends up passing away at the end of the movie after developing Alzheimer’s. “I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” Cassavetes told the Flying Monkeys. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy – we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us,” The Notebook director said. Speaking in a 2004 interview, Rowlands discussed how her mother’s struggle with the same disease impacted her decision to take the role. “This last one – The Notebook was particularly hard because I play a character who has Alzheimer’s,” she said at the time. “I went through that with my mother, and if Nick hadn’t directed the film, I don’t think I would have gone for it – it’s just too hard. It was a tough but wonderful movie.” Rowlands, who is retired from acting, had an illustrious career in film, TV and theatre. She earned two Oscar nominations for her breakout role in the 1974 drama Woman Under the Influence and 1980’s Gloria. She was married to filmmaker and actor John Cassavetes from 1954 up until his death in 1989. Besides Nick, they share two other children: director and Broken English actor Zoe Cassavetes and director and actor Alexandra “Xan” Cassavetes.   

Former England and Gloucestershire fast bowler David ‘Syd’ Lawrence has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). The 60-year-old played five Test matches for England and took 625 wickets in 280 matches during a 16-year career at Gloucestershire that ended in 1997. A hugely popular figure among the Gloucestershire and wider England fanbase, Syd was unveiled as Club President in April 2022 and despite his MND diagnosis, has said he wishes to see out the entirety of his Presidency at Gloucestershire. David and his wife, Gaynor, are hugely appreciative for the unwavering support they have received and will do in the future from friends and family. While devastated at the diagnosis, David will fight the disease all the way and has expressed his thanks to the Club, the PCA and the Hornsby Trust, for all their support during this extremely difficult time.  Will Brown, outgoing Chief Executive at Gloucestershire Cricket, said: “Everyone at the Club is devastated to hear of the news from David Lawrence and his MND diagnosis. David is an icon of the game, a club legend and a trailblazer as the first British-born Black player to play for England. More than that he is the best of people, kind, loving, considerate and an inspiration to all of us here at Gloucestershire. Working with him since he has been Club President has been both an awesome and humbling experience – he has opened doors we didn’t even know were there, helped us learn and become a friend to so many of us. That friendship is a very special thing and one I know we all cherish. I know I speak for everyone associated with the Club in sending all our love to David, Gaynor and all of their family and friends.” At the request of David, Gaynor and their family, Gloucestershire would like to ask that David’s privacy is respected while he comes to terms with the diagnosis. 

On This Day

  • 1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
  • 1908 – The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event on Earth in human recorded history, resulting in a massive explosion over Eastern Siberia.
  • 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.
  • 1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.
  • 1971 – The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
  • 2007 – A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance of Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack. Alex McIlveen, a taxi driver, saw what was unfolding and after approaching one of the men, famously kicked the terrorist so hard in the  groin that he tore a tendon in his own foot. 
  • 2009 – Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300, crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, killing 152 of the 153 people on board. A 14-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survives the crash.

Deaths

  • 888 – Æthelred, archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 2003 – Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (b. 1924).
  • 2017 – Barry Norman, English television presenter (b. 1933).

Welcome to Death Row

Wade Wilson, the Fort Myers man convicted of killing two Cape Coral women, is one step closer to being sentenced to death for his crimes. 

Wilson was convicted on June 12, 2024, in Lee County on six charges, including the murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz: The jury in Wilson’s trial voted in favour of recommending the death penalty for each of the murders. 

Back in October 2019, Wilson, then 25 years old, met Kristine Melton, 35, and her friend Stephanie Sailors at Buddah LIVE, a Fort Myers bar. After the bar closed, Wilson and the two women went to the home of Jayson Shepard where they stayed for several hours before leaving in the morning. 

Wilson, Melton and Sailors then went Melton’s Cape Coral home. After Sailors left, Wilson strangled Melton to death as she slept in her bed and stole her car. 

A short time later, Wilson saw 43-year-old Diane Ruiz walking along a Cape Coral street, asked her for directions and lured her into the car. When Ruiz tried to exit the car, Wilson attacked her, beating and strangling her before pushing her out of the car and running her over repeatedly.

After the murders, Wilson called his biological father Steven Testasecca several times confessing to and narrating the crimes. Testasecca contacted police and Wilson was arrested.  

Jurors, who had the option of recommending life without parole or death, voted 9-3 and 10-2 for death. Trial judge Nicholas Thompson will decide whether the death sentence recommended by the jury is imposed.

Once sentenced and other unrelated charges are resolved, Wilson will be transferred from the Lee County Jail into the Florida prison system.

Death row inmates are housed at Union Correctional Institution, formerly Florida State Prison, in Raiford. Executions are also carried out at that facility.

If Wilson is sentenced to death, he’ll be housed in a cell measuring 6x9x9.5 feet on Florida’s death row at Union Correctional Institution. According to the Florida Department of Corrections, inmates on death row are allowed snacks, radios and 13” TVs, but do not have cable or air-conditioning.  They wear orange T-shirts to set them apart from other inmates and the same blue pants worn by regular prisoners.

Death row inmates are served three meals a day – at 5a.m., from 10:30 to 11a.m. and from 4 to 4:30p.m.. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells, where inmates are given sporks to eat from the provided trays. They’re allowed showers every other day and any visitors must be pre-approved. Inmates can receive mail, except on holidays and weekends. 

Death Row inmates are counted at least hourly. They wear handcuffs everywhere except in their cells, the exercise yard and shower. They are in their cells except for medical reasons, exercise, social or legal visits or media interviews. Once a death warrant is signed by the governor, the inmate is put on Death Watch status and allowed a legal and social phone call. 

In 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair. An oak chair was built by prison inmates in that year.

Florida’s current three-legged electric chair, nicknamed “Old Sparky,” was built of oak by Florida Department of Corrections staff and installed at Florida State Prison in Raiford in 1999.

Legislation passed in 2000 allows for lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Vincent D’Onofrio (65), Mike Tyson (58), Katherine Ryan (41), Gary Busey (80), Amanda Donohoe (62), Kathy Bates (76), John Cusack (58), Mel Brooks (98), Felicia Day (45), Alice Krige (70), Elon Musk (53), Emma D’Arcy (32), Tobey Maguire (49), Aubrey Plaza (40), Ariana Grande (31), Nick Offerman (54), Ricky Gervais (63), Sheridan Smith (43), Erin Moriarty (30), Iain Glen (63), Peter Weller (77), and Nancy Allen (74).

30th June 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 23rd June 2024

No points to award this week, but a few names and stories to read below. Since we are having website trouble again, I’ll email the newsletters until the SSL issues are resolved. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

A London theatregoer has described the moment Sir Ian McKellen fell off stage and into her lap, saying she “went into shock.” Johanna Dart was attending a production of Player Kings at the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End on Monday evening when the Lord of the Rings star lost his footing during a fight scene and fell off the stage into the front row where she was sitting. Dart told the Flying Monkeys: “Getting crushed by Gandalf the Grey, that’s something you don’t expect.” She recalled that the 85-year-old theatrical knight appeared to trip on a prop on stage before falling and landing head-first on her knees. She added she had been enjoying the show immensely up until that moment. Charlie Johnson, a journalist for the Kingston Courier who was in the audience, told us: “As we approached the interval of the play, there was a fight scene going on. “There were strobe lights and then it all went dark, at which point you could see the silhouette of Sir Ian come out from the wings. And the way the stage works at the Noel Coward, there’s sort of a step down just as the stage meets the audience. I think what happened was he put his foot too far, sort of went off that initial step, at which point he lost his balance and pretty much just went head-first into the audience. And within seconds a blood-curdling scream arose from the actor. He was clearly in a lot of pain, he was screaming, ‘Help me.’” Straight after the incident, McKellen was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital. The following two evening’s performances were cancelled, and it has now been announced he will not be returning to the production. Dart went home with her family but also attended hospital later that night to ensure she has a record for her compensation claim. A statement by McKellen through his publicist Clair Dobbs said: “After three nights in hospital, the effects of my fall onstage have been fully analysed and I’m now having physiotherapy, light exercise and a lot of essential rest at home.  

A TV personality who was shot dead by her British oil tycoon husband in a murder-suicide loved to ‘party hard’ and seemed ‘happy’ in Turkey before she was killed, shocked friends  have revealed. Singer and comedian Victoria Vera Blyth, 40, was found dead after her husband David Thomas Blyth, 53, killed her before turning the gun on himself at their home in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, while their children were in the house on June 11. Friends of the couple yesterday claimed that the tragedy may have unfolded because Scottish-born Mr Blyth found out his wife was planning to leave him over his string of affairs. Ms Blyth is understood to have sent texts to friends telling them that she was unhappy  with her husband over his jealousy and ‘constant infidelities’ and return to her Czech Republic homeland. Her friends believe that the celebrity couple who were married for ten years could have had a furious row at their luxury villa after he translated her text messages showing her discussing her plans with her Czech friends. It was also claimed that controlling Blyth had allegedly become fed up with his ‘vivacious’ wife posting glamorous pictures of herself on Instagram, and had told her that it was unbecoming behaviour for the spouse of a senior executive. A Czech friend of Ms Blyth, who had three children with her husband and was known as Viky said: ‘Everyone was following her on Instagram, but a few months ago her profile suddenly disappeared. So I contacted Viky to find out what was going on. She told me that the husband did not want the wife of an influential businessman to present herself in this way. So, she complied and created a new profile, which she already had locked to the public, and stopped sharing her sexy photos. She explained that she was leaving her husband and children, that she wanted a life without infidelity and stress for the children… Who could have guessed that this decision would cost her her life and make three children orphans.’ Ms Blyth was a hugely popular figure in Czech showbiz circles, and presented the Morning Show on Europe 2 alongside  Czech broadcaster Leo Mare. 

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen has been released from hospital, having been admitted after falling seriously ill. “Alan has been discharged from hospital today to continue his recovery at home,” a statement from Liverpool FC read. “Alan, Janet, Adam, Lucy and family would like to thank everybody for their wonderful messages of love and support. It has been overwhelming and has helped enormously.” The former footballer, 69, was admitted in early June with figures from the footballing world rallying around. His former Liverpool and Scotland team-mate Graeme Souness had been in regular contact with Hansen’s family, providing updates on his chats with his close friend. “Anyone who’s met Alan Hansen, he has a wicked sense of humour so I’ve had two conversations with him in the last five, six days, both conversations were me on the receiving end of his humour, so that tells me he’s on the way back.” Souness had earlier indicated Hansen was on the mend following a phone conversation. And now there has been more positive news, with the defender allowed to return home. 

On This Day

  • 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the “Type-Writer”. 
  • 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the Watergate break-ins. 
  • 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.
  • 2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon
  • on a tight rope.
  • 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.

Deaths

Central Coast Massacre Murderer Dies

Malcolm George Baker was an Australian spree killer from Terrigal, New South Wales, who died while serving six sentences of life imprisonment for the shooting massacre of seven people, including an unborn child, in Terrigal, Bateau Bay and Wyong on the evening of 27th October 1992, an event known as the Central Coast massacre. 

Baker had dated one of his victims, 23-year-old Kerry Gannon, for several years. She broke off the relationship about six weeks before the shootings. It was reported that a court had ordered Baker not to contact Gannon after their break up. Channel Nine television reported that authorities had revoked Baker’s weapon’s permit and confiscated a cache of weapons from him weeks prior after he allegedly harassed Gannon.

The shootings started at 9:12 p.m. at the Terrigal apartment of his ex-girlfriend Kerry Gannon and her younger sister Lisa Gannon. Baker used his shotgun to smash the front window. Twenty-two-year-old Christopher Gall, a friend of the sisters, was the first person shot, suffering a gunshot wound to the face. Baker then entered the house and shot Kerry Gannon dead. Moving through the house he shot dead Lisa, who was eight months pregnant; later efforts to save her unborn baby failed. Their father, Thomas Gannon, 43, who had been visiting for a few days, was found dead in the street. 

Baker then drove to the resort of Bateau Bay, where he arrived about ten minutes later, at the home of his 27-year-old son David. Baker shot his son through the back of his head. His body was discovered in the back yard of the home he shared with his wife and baby.

Baker then went to the home of Ross Smith, 35, and Leslie Read, 25, in Wyong, 15 kilometres north of Bateau Bay. Arriving there shortly before 10 p.m., he shot and critically injured Read, then finding Smith in the bathtub shot and killed him instantly. Read died two hours later in hospital. Smith and Baker had had a confrontation about two years prior, over a business deal gone sour.

At 11.00 p.m., Baker walked into Toukley police station, surrendered, and handed over a Sawed-off Remington 12-gauge double-barrelled shotgun. 

He was charged with six counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. 

On the 25th anniversary of the massacre, the mother of the killer’s ex-girlfriend, Ann Gannan, spoke out about her last encounter with him.

Baker, who was 43-years-old at the time, tried to run Ms Gannan over before making a chilling threat to her and her family.

‘Then he called out something like: “I’m going to take the lot of youse out,” and I really panicked then,’ she told news.com.au in 2017.

‘I went back to Lisa and told her and we were all scared.’

She was right to be afraid of the unemployed mechanic, who went on his murder spree only weeks later.

‘He was the type of person that had to be in control. You’d just get a sense that something was amiss and if you see that you know trouble’s coming,’ she said.

‘I already knew it, I’d seen it in the girls. I’d seen the girls getting scared.’

Baker, 76, died in palliative care on Saturday while serving six life sentences.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Joel Edgerton (50), Melissa Rauch (44), Selma Blair (52), Bryan Brown (77), Frances McDormand (67), Meryl Streep (75), Lindsay Wagner (75), Bruce Campbell (66), Paterson Joseph (60), Kris Kristofferson (88), Tim Russ (68), Stephen Chow (62), Cyndi Lauper (71), Prunella Scales (92), Carrie Preston (57), Chris Pratt (45), Juliette Lewis (51), David Morrissey (60), Eve Harlow (35), Nicole Kidman (57), John Goodman (72), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (35), Lionel Richie (75), Miles O’Keeffe (70), Brian Wilson (82), Millie Gibson (20), Zoe Saldana (46), Kathleen Turner (70), Aidan Turner (41), Paula Abdul (62), Jacob Anderson (34), Richard Madden (38), Carol Kane (72), Isabella Rossellini (72), Paul McCartney (82), Will Forte (54), and Jodie Whittaker (42).

23rd June 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 16th June 2024

Not a good week to be a footballer it seems! We also have points to award!!! 70 whole points go to Neil, who correctly guessed that Françoise Hardy would peg it this year. Well done that man! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Noam Chomsky has suffered a stroke and is recovering in hospital, his wife has confirmed. The 95-year-old famed linguist has not been seen in public since June last year, with many commenting on the weight of his absence from the broader debate surrounding the war in Gaza. Chomsky, who has been vocal about his support for the Palestinian cause and what he has called the “crimes” of the Israeli state, has been notably absent from demonstrations and discussions on the issue over the last year. Valeria Chomsky told the Flying Monkeys that the MIT professor is currently in a Sao Paulo hospital in her native country of Brazil after suffering from a stroke in June last year. The couple travelled on an ambulance jet with two nurses once he was well enough to leave the United States. Mrs Chomsky confirmed reports that her husband had difficulty speaking and that the right side of his body is affected. She said that a neurologist, speech therapist and lung specialist visit the academic on a daily basis. The famed intellectual is still following the news and his wife confirmed that he raises his left arm in a gesture of lament and anger when he sees images of the war in Gaza. It is feared that the MIT professor is unlikely to ever return to the public eye following the deterioration of his health. Chomsky’s former assistant Bev Stohl explained that the usually responsive academic “hasn’t been returning emails, or interviewing”. “In a nutshell, Noam is 95-years-old and suffered a medical event in June. As many have noticed, he has not been writing, corresponding, or interviewing, as his health situation has taken the majority of his time and energy.  

Veteran BBC DJ Johnnie Walker has been told to “prepare to die at any moment” after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Walker, who has worked at the BBC since 1969, began his career at Radio 1 before moving to Radio 2 in 1998, where he currently hosts Sounds of the 70’s and The Radio 2 Rock Show. Since he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an inflation of the lungs, he has been presenting his radio shows from his home in Dorset. Walker needs round-the-clock care and is being looked after, full-time, by his wife, Tiggy. The couple have opened up about Walker’s terminal illness on BBC Sounds podcast, Walker and Walker: Johnnie and Tiggy, in honour of Carers Week. In the special, the DJ opened up about having “only a finite amount of time left here in the physical before I pass over”, calling it “a very reflective time for us”. Walker, who was previously cared for by Tiggy when he was diagnosed with cancer shortly after their marriage in 2006, told his wife: “Here we are at the end of my life when you’re having to care for me all over again.” He said of Tiggy: “You definitely saved my life when I went through cancer. I’m positive I wouldn’t have made it without you. Your love was just so sustaining, it gave me so much to look forward to. And your caring for me now makes my life so much better.” Tiggy said she has required help in “grieving” the life they had together, stating: “It’s only by going to the doctors and going on antidepressants that I have kept going because I was crying every single day and I was overwhelmed.” She recalled how the couple were told by a consultant that Johnny should “prepare to go at any moment”, before adding: “Equally, you might be around for six months.” Walker said that at night Tiggy “very lovingly helps me get into bed and gives me a nice kiss good night, and then she has to wonder whether I’m still going to be alive in the morning, which must be pretty hard for  her”. 

Liverpool Football Club has sent a heartfelt message to club legend Alan Hansen, who is currently seriously ill in hospital, on his 69th birthday. Hansen was admitted to hospital late last week and has since received numerous messages of support. As the Scottish footballer turned 69, Liverpool FC took to Twitter to express their thoughts: “We’re all thinking of Alan and his family on his 69th birthday.” On Sunday, Liverpool confirmed Hansen’s hospitalisation with a statement that read: “The thoughts and support of everyone at Liverpool FC are with our legendary former captain Alan Hansen, who is currently seriously ill in hospital. A defender of the utmost elegance, Hansen’s outstanding raft of honours across a 14-year spell with the Reds he joined from Partick Thistle in 1977 included eight league titles, three European Cups, two FA Cups and three League Cups.” Known as ‘Jocky’ by his teammates, Hansen is among the top 10 for all-time appearances for the club, having played 620 matches. The Scottish centre-back also served as Liverpool’s captain for four seasons. Liverpool FC is currently in contact with Hansen’s family to offer support during this challenging time, and our thoughts, wishes and hopes are with Alan and all of the Hansen family.” Further updates will be provided as they become available, and the club has requested that the privacy of the Hansen family be respected during this time.  

Chef Gordon Ramsay has described feeling shaken after a “really bad” cycling accident in the US. In a video on social media, he lifted his chef’s whites to show substantial purple bruising on his torso for which he required hospital treatment. Addressing the message to “all the dads out there” ahead of Father’s Day on Sunday, the star of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen stressed the importance of wearing a helmet. “I don’t care how short the journey is,” he said, adding that the guidance becomes even more important when it comes to cycling with children – “they’ve got to wear a helmet”. “I want to wish you all a happy Father’s Day, but please, please, please wear a helmet. If I didn’t, honestly, I wouldn’t be here now.” On his Instagram, he also shared a before and after photograph showing substantial damage to his helmet. The chef said the accident took place earlier this week in Connecticut. The 57-year-old thanked the state’s Lawrence and Memorial Hospital’s trauma surgeons and nurses who looked after him. He clarified that he did not “break any bones or suffer any major injuries” but was “a bit bruised up looking like a purple potato”. “I’m in pain. It’s been a brutal week. And I’m sort of getting through it,” Ramsay added. 

Oprah Winfrey has been hospitalised with a stomach virus, her friend Gayle King revealed. On June 11, the 70-year-old media mogul was noticeably absent from a scheduled appearance on CBS Mornings. Her longtime friend and CBS anchor King revealed during the segment that Winfrey was unable to appear on the program due to a “serious” stomach bug. “She had some kind of stomach thing – stomach flu – stuff was coming out of both ends,” King said. “I won’t get too graphic. Needless to say, she ended up in the hospital, dehydration, had to get an IV. It was a very serious thing.” While King noted that Winfrey was going to “rally” from the stomach virus, she still needed time to rest. “She will be okay. I hope she’s not mad at me for sharing that detail,” King added about her pal. “But I wanted to make it clear, though, that it mattered to her and that it really bothered her that she couldn’t be here for you today.” In a statement a spokesperson told the Flying Monkeys that Winfrey is “recovering” following the stomach virus and “received an IV due to dehydration at the recommendation of her doctor.” “She is resting and feeling better every day,” they added.

On This Day

  • 1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England, kills 183 children.
  • 1955 – In a futile effort to topple Argentine President Juan Perón, rogue aircraft pilots of the Argentine Navy drop several bombs upon an unarmed crowd demonstrating in favor of Perón in Buenos Aires, killing 364 and injuring at least 800.
  • 1963 – Soviet Space Program: Vostok 6 mission: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

Deaths

  • 1959 – George Reeves, American actor and director (b. 1914).
  • 1999 – Screaming Lord Sutch, English singer and activist (b. 1940).
  • 2016 – Jo Cox, English political activist and MP (b. 1974).
  • 2017 – Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1930).

Penis of the Dead 

An autopsy expert has spoken about what happens to the male anatomy after you die, after answering a curious Reddit user’s question.

A forensic technician and autopsy assistant was asked what actually happens to the penis after death, and was only too happy to let internet users know.

We’re guessing that if you’re still reading then you’re morbidly curious about this sort of thing, but just to warn you, it’s not pleasant…

The question posed on Reddit was: “What happens to dicks when the body decomposes? Do you ever chat with your coworkers about the body’s dicks?”

The expert replied: “They bloat pretty intensely, turn green, and get maggoty just like the rest of the body.”

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

They then went on to explain that penises of deceased patients have to be discussed sometimes for medical reasons – and they have to be inspected for ‘genital warts, trauma, tattoos and silicone implants’ in order to file them properly on the body exam.

The expert added: “We have to remove jewellery if they have genital piercings, and if there is a catheter, we have to remove that as well.”

Meanwhile, an interactive map recently appeared online which pinpoints the size of penises across the globe.

On the WorldData.info website, the interactive map reveals average erect penis sizes in up to 90 countries around the world – so you can see where your country sits in the list.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Arnold Vosloo (62), Sibel Kekilli (44), John Cho (52), James Bolam (89), Helen Hunt (61), Courteney Cox (60), Neil Patrick Harris (51), Jim Belushi (70), Julie Hagerty (69), Robin Curtis (68), Will Patton (70), Donald Trump (78), Boy George (63), Chris Evans (43), Stellan Skarsgård (73), Ally Sheedy (62), Kat Dennings (38), Malcolm McDowell (81), Tim Allen (71), Richard Thomas (73), Simon Callow (75), Mary-Kate Olsen (38), Ashley Olsen (38), Kathy Burke (60), Steve-O (50), Shia LaBeouf (38), Peter Dinklage (55), Hugh Laurie (65), Joshua Jackson (46), Adrienne Barbeau (79), Jane Goldman (54), DJ Qualls (46), Elizabeth Hurley (59), Bill Burr (56), and Jürgen Prochnow (83).

16th June 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 9th June 2024

A busy week for deaths! With the sad passing of rugby player Rob Burrow, I can award 109   points to Christine, Paula, Mark, Paul C, and me, and a whopping 209 points to Julia for having him as her Cert. I can also award 49 points to Gwenan who correctly guessed that Janis Paige would pass away this year. 

Well done everyone, especially me as I am now embarrassingly at the top of the Leader Board, I’m not cheating, honestly!!!  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Erich Anderson, 67, American actor (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Bat*21,), oesophageal cancer. 
  • Harry van Hoof, 81, Dutch conductor (“Ding-a-dong”, “I See a Star”), composer (“How Do You Do”). 
  • Rob Burrow, 41, English rugby league player (Leeds Rhinos, Yorkshire, national team), complications from motor neurone disease. 
  • Jeannette Charles, 96, British actress (National Lampoon’s European Vacation, The Naked Gun, Austin Powers in Goldmember).  
  • Colin Gibb, 70, British musician (Black Lace). 
  • Janis Paige, 101, American actress (Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, The Pajama Game, It’s Always Jan). 
  • Morrie Markoff, 110, American blogger, writer, and supercentenarian. 
  • William Russell, 99, English actor (Doctor Who, The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, The Great Escape). 
  • C.Gambino, 26, Swedish rapper, shot.  
  • Nicholas Ball, 78, English actor (EastEnders, Footballers’ Wives, Hazell). 
  • William Anders, 90, American astronaut (Apollo 8, author of the photograph Earthrise) and diplomat, ambassador to Norway, plane crash. 
  • Michael Mosley, 67, British television journalist and writer. 

In Other News

Singer Halsey has indicated she has been struggling with the autoimmune disease lupus in a cryptic social media post. The 29-year-old declared she was “lucky to be alive” in the Instagram post and said she had written an album about her secret health struggles. “Long story short, I’m lucky to be alive. Short story long, I wrote an album,” she said on Tuesday night. “It begins with The End. Out now.” she said before tagging Lupus Research Alliance and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs, causing inflammation. Along with the announcement she shared a series of photos summarising her health journey. In the first clip, she was seen rubbing her legs as she told the camera, “Seriously … I feel like an old lady. I told myself I’m giving myself two more years to be sick. At 30 I’m having a rebirth, I’m not going to be sick and I’m going to look super hot and have lots of energy and I’m going to get to redo my 20s in my 30s.” 

Kevin Campbell is ‘very unwell’ in hospital as Arsenal and Everton both provided an update on their former player following news of his ill health. It emerged on Sunday that Campbell had been reportedly ‘rushed to hospital’ with former footballers Ray Parlour and Trevor Sinclair offering public support. The 54-year-old won a number of major trophies at Arsenal having progressed through the Hale End academy during his 10-year stint at the north London club. Campbell recently fell ill and while his current condition remains unknown, his former clubs Arsenal and Everton have confirmed that he is ‘very unwell’. ‘Everyone at the club is sending love to Kevin Campbell and his family, following news that our former striker is very unwell,’ Arsenal said in a statement on Monday. ‘We’re thinking of you.’ Campbell played a total of 209 games for Arsenal between 1985 and 1995, producing 55 goals and 20 assists. He is also well known for his successful spell at Everton, where he scored 50 times and provided eight assist across 160 appearances.

On This Day

  • 1930 – A Chicago Tribune reporter, Jake Lingle, is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone.
  • 1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
  • 1968 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Deaths

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

Dead & Alive

A woman in Nebraska who was mistaken for dead at a nursing home and later found to be alive at a funeral home has now really died, authorities have confirmed.

Constance Glantz, 74, was declared dead at a nursing home near the state capital of Lincoln on Monday.

Staff at a local funeral home that she was then brought to noticed about two hours later that she was still breathing. They quickly performed CPR on her.

Ms Glantz was quickly taken to hospital, but officials said that she was later declared dead – for a second time – soon after.

Police are now investigating the incident, but they said there is no evidence of criminal intent by the nursing home.

“This is a very unusual case,” Chief Deputy Ben Houchin from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said at a press briefing on Monday.

“Been doing this 31 years, and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.”

A coroner was not sent to the nursing home after it declared her dead because Ms Glantz had been placed in hospice care, and the circumstances did not fall within a coroner’s remit, Mr Houchin told reporters.

Ms Glantz’s death had been anticipated, he explained.

Additionally, “a physician had seen her in the last seven days, and the physician was willing to sign the death certificate, and… there was nothing suspicious at the time of the death”.

On Tuesday at around 16:00 local time she was pronounced dead for a second time, Mr Houchin later told reporters.

He added that a post-mortem examination had been scheduled later on Tuesday, and that results could take up to 12 weeks.

“The funeral home did absolutely nothing wrong,” Mr Houchin added. “They are the ones who found that she was still alive.”

Mr Houchin did not name the homes at the centre of the mishap.

Reporters also contacted the funeral parlour named in local media – Butherus, Maser and Love Funeral Home – which said in a statement: “We are proud that our directors and staff handled the recent incident in the news appropriately and with upmost care.”

Ms Glantz is not the only person to be pronounced dead only to reveal themselves as still being alive.

In June last year, 76-year-old Bella Montoya in Ecuador was declared dead following a suspected stroke, placed in a coffin and taken to a funeral parlour for a vigil ahead of her burial. Five hours later, she was found to be alive after the coffin was opened to change her clothes. She did, however, die days later.

In 2018, a South African woman who was initially declared dead following a road accident was discovered alive in a mortuary fridge.

Dr Stephen Hughes, a senior lecturer in medicine at Anglia Ruskin University’s School of Medicine in Chelmsford, has said that such cases are rare, but that “death is a process”.

“Sometimes somebody may look like they’re dead but they’re not quite dead,” Dr Hughes told the Flying Monkeys  after the incident in Ecuador. “Careful examination is necessary.”

Dr Hughes added that doctors would often look for heart sounds or breathing effort for at least a minute before declaring someone dead, and that some drugs could also slow down body processes, giving someone the false appearance of having passed away.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Johnny Depp (61), Natalie Portman (43), Eddie Marsan (56), Michael J. Fox (63), Griffin Dunne (69), Kanye West (47), Colin Baker (81), Liam Neeson (72), Karl Urban (52), Anna Torv (45), Bill Hader (46), Michael Cera (36), Helen Baxendale (54), Bear Grylls (50), Mark Ryan (68), Paul Giamatti (57), Jason Isaacs (61), Robert Englund (77), Josie Lawrence (65), Mark Wahlberg (53), Mel Giedroyc (56), Angelina Jolie (49), Bruce Dern (88), Sean Pertwee (60), Noah Wyle (53), Russell Brand (49), Bradley Walsh (64), Imogen Poots (35), Michelle Keegan (37), James Purefoy (60), and Suzi Quatro (74).

9th June 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 2nd June 2024

Welcome once again to a pointless week for the Dead Pool. Shockingly, most of our famous people were tragically young this week

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Bette Nash, the world’s longest-serving flight attendant, has died aged 88 after nearly 70 years of airborne service. The news was broken by her employer, American Airlines, which mourned her death in a post on Twitter. “She started in 1957 and held the Guinness World Record for longest-serving flight attendant,” the airline said. “Bette inspired generations of flight attendants. Fly high, Bette.” Ms Nash began her career at the age of 21 with Eastern Airlines, the forerunner of American Airlines, working on its shuttle flight between Washington DC, where she lived, and Boston. She preferred the route because it allowed her to spend every night at home. She had intended to move on after a few years, but ended up staying, becoming a familiar sight to frequent flyers on the route. She never officially retired from her post. “The people are exactly the same,” she told the Flying Monkeys in 2017. “Everybody needs a little love.” According to other US media outlets, she died on 17th May in a hospice after recently having been diagnosed with breast cancer. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union which represented Ms Nash, said “Our thoughts are with her family and friends during this difficult time. Bette will always be an integral part of our history and she will not be forgotten.”

Bats and rock ‘n roll rarely go together. There’s Ozzy Osbourne’s legendary biting the head off one. And now, add Taylor Momsen to the list. Opening for AC/DC on  the Power Up tour, the Pretty Reckless front-woman was bitten on the leg by a small bat. She wasn’t particularly bothered and the show went on, but now she has to undergo two weeks of rabies shots. “So…ROCK AND ROLL MOMENT…in Sevilla Wednesday during “Witches Burn” of all songs… a BAT flew onto me and clung to my leg,” Momsen wrote on Instagram. “In the moment I was performing and had no idea until the incredible crowd kept screaming and pointing.” In the video she shared, Momsen was calm. “I must really be a witch,” she said to the crowd. “It’s alright and the bat’s fine. He’s gonna be my new friend.” In the caption, Momsen added: “He was cute, but yes he bit me…so rabies shots for the next two weeks thanks to all the staff at the hospital who dubbed me #batgirl after seeing it on the local news that morning…more footage to come…that’s one for the books!!!!” The Pretty Reckless are touring with AC/DC in Europe through August.  

The number of executions recorded worldwide last year jumped to the highest level since 2015, with a sharp rise in Iran and across the Middle East, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday. The human rights group said it recorded a total of 1,153 executions in 2023, a 30% increase from 2022. Amnesty said the figure does not include thousands of death sentences believed to have been carried out in China, where data is not available due to state secrecy. The group said the spike in recorded executions was primarily driven by Iran, where authorities executed at least 853 people last year, compared to 576 in 2022. Those executed included 24 women and five people who were children at the time the crimes were committed, Amnesty said, adding that the practice disproportionately affected Iran’s Baluch minority. “The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offences, further highlighting the discriminatory impact of the death penalty on Iran’s most marginalised and impoverished communities,” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, said in a statement. The group said China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the United States were the five countries with the highest number of executions in 2023. The total number cited in Amnesty’s annual report was the highest it recorded since 2015, when 1,634 people were known to have been executed. The US carried out 24 death sentences last year with only China (1,000+ executions), Iran (853+), Saudi Arabia (172), and Somalia (38+) using the death penalty more often. Callamard said progress faltered in the US, where executions rose from 18 to 24 and a number of states “demonstrated a chilling commitment to the death penalty and a callous intent to invest resources in the taking of human life.” The report cited the introduction of bills to carry out executions by firing squad in Idaho and Tennessee, and Alabama’s use of nitrogen gas as a new, untested execution method in January. Amnesty said that despite the setbacks, there was progress because the number of countries that carried out executions dropped to 16, the lowest on record since the group began monitoring. 

A man who died at Amsterdam airport was an airline employee who allegedly deliberately climbed into plane’s jet engine. He was killed immediately after getting into the KLM passenger plane’s engine at Schiphol Airport Wednesday afternoon as it prepared for takeoff. Passengers and crew members on board the Embraer 190 aircraft told the Flying Monkeys that a ‘hellish noise’ came from the engine, which quickly began trailing smoke. The Dutch Royal Military Police investigating the incident said today that the man ‘intentionally climbed into the engine, indicating this is a case of suicide’. They additionally said that he had been ‘identified as an employee of a company operating at the airport’. It was unclear from initial reports whether the victim was travelling with the airline or worked at the airport. An insider told the Flying Monkeys that the incident was ‘very intense’, adding: ‘After the plane was pushed back to take off, someone walked into the engine.’ Psychological support will be provided for the passengers witness to the incident, military police said. The passengers have since been disembarked from the aircraft. They noted that the passengers may still be ‘important witnesses’ in helping them understand exactly what happened.

On This Day

  • 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
  • 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first major international events to be televised.
  • 2023 – A collision between two passenger trains and a parked freight train near the city of Balasor, Odisha in eastern India, results in 296 deaths and more than 1,200 people injured.

Deaths

  • 1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908).
  • 2008 – Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928).
  • 2008 – Mel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1917).
  • 2009 – David Eddings, American author (b. 1931).
  • 2012 – Richard Dawson, English-American soldier, actor, and game show host (b. 1932). 
  • 2017 – Peter Sallis, English actor (b. 1921).

The Pig Farmer Killer

Robert William “Willie” Pickton, a.k.a. “The Pig Farmer Killer”, was a Canadian serial killer who was convicted for six counts of murder and was suspected for at least 26 others. 

Not a lot of details about Pickton’s life prior to him becoming a serial killer are currently publicly known due to Canadian publicity laws regarding ongoing criminal investigations. What is known is that he was born in 1949 in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. His family had been pig farmers for three generations, but by the time of his arrest, Pickton had largely given up using the farm for actual farming and only raised a few pigs to sell to friends and neighbours. 

He and his two siblings, David Francis Pickton and Linda Louise Wright, inherited the family pig farm, where Pickton later committed his murders. In 1994 and 1995, they sold parts of their inherited land, earning a total of $5.16 million. 

In 1997, Robert was charged with the attempted murder of a prostitute named Wendy Lynn Eistetter, having tried to stab her, but the case was dropped because prosecutors felt that the victim, who was a drug addict, was too unstable to give an accurate testimony, even though both the victim and Pickton, who suffered a stab injury during the encounter, were treated at the same hospital and a key to the set of handcuffs on Eistetter’s wrist was found in Pickton’s pocket. David, on the other hand, had a criminal record for a sexual assault in 1988 and had also been sued on three occasions for various traffic offences. 

Though Robert was locally considered a quiet man, he and his siblings often hosted wild parties at a converted building near the pig farm called “The Piggy Palace”. In 1996, they also founded a non-profit charity organisation called the “Piggy Palace Good Times Society”, the function of which was listed as to “organise, coordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organisations, sports organisations and other worthy groups”. This came to an end after a New Year’s Eve party on December 31, 1998, when the Pickton siblings were sued for violating zoning laws and legally forbidden from holding any more parties. The “Piggy Palace Good Times Society” was disbanded soon afterwards in January 2000 for failing to provide mandatory financial statements. 

In 1999, Canadian police received a tip that Robert kept human flesh in freezers on his  property. Though a warrant was secured, no search was carried out. 

On February 5, 2002, Pickton was arrested when police, acting on a warrant for firearm violations, found personal belongings of a missing woman on the farm. A second court order was obtained to continue searching the farm as part of the BC Missing Women Investigation, which investigates the disappearances of women. 

As they searched the grounds, they found remains of some victims, such as skulls cut in half and stuffed with human hands and feet, DNA from 33 women, bloody clothing, and a jawbone and teeth. They also found a .22 revolver with a dildo attached to its barrel, .357 Magnum rounds, two pairs of faux fur-lined handcuffs, a pair of night-vision goggles, and photos of a garbage can containing the remains of a victim. Pickton claimed that the dildo, which had the DNA of both him and a victim on it, had been meant to function as a makeshift suppressor. The gun also contained a spent cartridge. While in custody, Pickton told an undercover officer posing as a fellow inmate that he had wanted to kill one more in order to bring his victim count up to an even 50, suggesting that he is responsible for 49 murders. A video recording of the statement was later used as evidence in his trial, which began on January 30, 2006. 

Exactly how he killed his victims is not entirely known to the public, as is anything he might have done to them before killing them. According to a witness on tape, Pickton had claimed that he brought his victims, who were prostitutes, to the farm, handcuffed them, raped them, killed them by strangling them, bled and gutted them, ran them through a wood-chipper and then fed their remains to his pigs. Another claim is that the victims were ground, the resulting mince mixed with the pork mince from the farm and the packages given to Pickton’s friends and family. It was stated in a Biography Channel documentary about the case that Pickton would lure his victims to his farm using a simple ruse, such as pretending to buy sexual favours. During sex, he would become violent and accuse the victims of something, such as stealing from him, in order to build up his rage. He would then restrain them, kill them by strangling or shooting them, and then butcher their bodies.

Pickton pleaded not guilty to 27 charges of first-degree murder, one of which was later rejected on the grounds of a lack of evidence. Because of a publication ban, not all the details are publicly known about the proceedings. On December 6, 2007, a jury found Pickton guilty of six murders, which were reduced from first-degree to second-degree. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, which in Canada entails a possibility of parole in 25 years and is the highest possible punishment for second-degree murder, essentially earning Pickton the same punishment that he would have received for a first-degree conviction. 

On May 19, 2024, Pickton was attacked by another prisoner at the Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec. The prisoner, Martin Charest, described as having a history of assaulting other prisoners, “speared” Pickton in the head with a “broken broom-like handle.” Pickton was placed on life support after being airlifted to a hospital. He died at a hospital in Quebec City from complications of the attack on May 31, 2024. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Morena Baccarin (45), Awkwafina (36), Jewel Staite (42), Liam Cunningham (63), Justin Long (46), Zachary Quinto (47), Dominic Cooper (46), Dana Carvey (69), Tom Holland (28), Morgan Freeman (87), Brian Cox (78), Jonathan Pryce (77), Amy Schumer (43), Robert Powell (80), Heidi Klum (51), Alanis Morissette (50), Brooke Shields (59), Colin Farrell (48), Clint Eastwood (94), Lea Thompson (63), Stephen Tobolowsky (73), Colm Meaney (71), Mark Sheppard (60), Keir Dullea (88), Harry Enfield (63), Ted Levine (67), Annette Bening (66), Laverne Cox (52), Danny Elfman (71), Kylie Minogue (56), Michelle Collins (62), and Paul Bettany (53).

2nd June 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 26th May 2024

I hope you’re all enjoying the bank holiday weekend! Somehow I don’t think the people listed below are. Anyhow, no points to dispense this week, unsurprising as some of the deaths were very unexpected.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Richard Foronjy, 86, American actor (Serpico, Midnight Run, Carlito’s Way). 
  • Ebrahim Raisi, 63, President of Iran (since 2021), helicopter crash. 
  • Charlie Colin, 57, American bassist and guitarist (Train, The Side Deal), fall.
  • David Wilkie, 70, Scottish swimmer, Olympic & World champion, cancer. 
  • Caleb Carr, 68, American author (The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness), cancer. 
  • Morgan Spurlock, 53, American film director (Super Size Me, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope), cancer. 
  • Kabosu, 18, Japanese Shiba Inu dog and Internet meme (Doge), leukemia. 
  • Richard M. Sherman, 95, American film songwriter (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). 

In Other News

Scottish comedian Janey Goldley has shared a worrying health update. The 62-year-old is currently battling terminal cancer. Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Janey admitted she was “worried sick”. She gave a fresh health update as she said that her cancer markers were “high”. Sharing the news with her 294,000 followers, the Glasgow-born performer wrote: “I have a CT scan soon, every three months I get them, I am worried sick as the cancer number is high, we know the cancer is active but not sure where. “Every pain, every twinge scares me. But I am carrying on – next show London ! I won’t go easy into the night” Her health update, which she posted on Twitter alongside a video update, has racked up 4.7k retweets, over a hundred shares, and nearly 200 comments. Janey was admitted to hospital in November 2021 for ovarian cancer, which has since been diagnosed as terminal, though the disease is being kept under control. At the time, she was forced to cancel tour dates while she underwent treatment. The comedian was told she was cancer-free in June 2022, but by the end of the year, the disease had spread to her peritoneum, the membrane lining the abdominal cavity. Earlier this year, she thanked NHS staff for taking care of her as she underwent a scan and announced her cancer was “incurable”. Posting to social media, Janey wrote: “The scan news is in – me and Ashley laugh and cheer Thanks to the Scottish NHS And everyone at the Beatson I have incurable cancer but it’s treatable. “The scan results are in and there is no change from the scan in November 2023. So that means no change, doesn’t mean I am cured or the cancer has gone away.” She continued: “I am still getting the same treatment so it’s a clear scan but I still have terminal cancer.”  

ITV news presenter Rageh Omaar looks like he is on the road to recovery after his on air health scare that saw him hospitalised after the live show. The 56-year-old has been pictured looking happy and relaxed as he walked his dog in London while wearing navy trousers and a waxed jacket, a month after he fell ill. The News At 10 host received medical care last month after he became disorientated while presenting and appeared to slur his words while reading an autocue towards the end of the bulletin. Omaar, the ITV News International Affairs Editor, was seen struggling to clear his desk and re-cap a pen following the final news story of the night and as the end credits began to roll. and has been recovering at home with his wife and three children since, the nature of his illness has not been disclosed. Following his live TV ordeal, Rageh penned a statement to thank his fans for the support he had received. “I would like to thank everyone for their kindness and good wishes, especially all the medical staff, all my wonderful colleagues at ITV News, and our viewers who expressed concern”, he wrote, adding that he had been “determined” to finish the program despite his suspected mini-stroke.  

Kabosu, the dog behind the “doge” meme, has died after 14 years of internet fame, her owner has said. The Japanese shiba inu inspired a generation of online jokes and became the face of Dogecoin cryptocurrency. She had been suffering from leukaemia and liver disease and died on 24th May. “She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog “I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner. As a rescue dog, Kabosu’s real birthday was unknown, but Ms Sato estimated her age at 18. In 2010, two years after adopting Kabosu from a puppy mill where she would otherwise have been put down, Ms Sato, a teacher from Sakura, east of Tokyo, took a picture of her pet crossing her paws on the sofa. She posted the image on her blog, from where it spread to online forum Reddit and became a meme that bounced from college bedrooms to office email chains. The memes typically used goofy broken English to reveal the inner thoughts of Kabosu and other shiba inu “doge” – pronounced like pizza “dough” but with a “j” at the end. The picture also later became an NFT digital artwork that sold for £3.1m and inspired Dogecoin, which was started as a joke by two software engineers and is now the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market capitalisation of $23bn. Kabosu fell ill with leukaemia and liver disease in late 2022, and Ms Sato said in a recent interview with AFP that the “invisible power” of prayers from fans worldwide helped her pull through. Ms Sato, 62, said she had become so used to “unbelievable” events that when Mr Musk changed the icon for Twitter, now X, to Kabosu’s face last year, she “wasn’t even that surprised”. A $100,000 statue of Kabosu and her sofa crowdfunded by Own The Doge, a crypto organisation dedicated to the meme, was unveiled in a park in Sakura in November last year. Sato and Own The Doge have also donated large sums to international charities, including more than $1m to Save the Children. The NGO says it is “the single largest crypto contribution” it has ever received. 

On This Day

  • 1940 – World War II: Operation Dynamo: In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
  • 1967 – The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.
  • 2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
  • 2020 – Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupt in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, later becoming widespread across the United States and around the world.

Deaths

The Last Queue

Hundreds of crowded climbers have been captured on footage slowly making their way up the summit of Everest close to where a British climber and his guide went missing on Tuesday after they were hit by collapsing ice.

Experts fear overcrowding on the world’s highest mountain may have played a role in causing the collapse of a cornice – an overhanging mass of hardened snow on the edge of a precipice – which led to the disappearance of Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and Pastenji Sherpa, 23. The pair have not been heard from since they reached the summit at around 4.40am local time on Tuesday and are feared dead.

Mr Paterson and his guide ran into trouble after ice collapsed and fell on them near the Hillary Step, just below the summit at around 8,800 metres, according to Lapka Sherpa. The Everest guide said they had ‘heroically’ reached the top of the world’s highest peak before going missing as they descended. 

Vinayak Malla, an accredited guide with the International Federation of Mountain Guides  Associations, said: ‘After summiting, we crossed the Hillary Step, traffic was moving slowly then suddenly a cornice collapsed a few metres ahead of us. ‘As the cornice collapsed, four climbers nearly perished yet were clipped onto the rope and self-rescued. Sadly, two climbers are still missing. We tried to traverse yet it was impossible due to the traffic on the fixed line.’ Meanwhile, a member of a team at Everest base camp told The Times: ‘A cornice broke off and washed down a few climbers including Daniel and his guide towards the Tibet side.’

Overcrowding on Everest has become of increasing concern to experts and officials in recent years. In 2019, 11 people died between March to May during the climbing season, prompting Kul Bahadur Gurung, general secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association to say that  ‘there were more people on Everest than there should be’.

With Mr Paterson’s disappearance entering a fourth day, his partner Beck Woodhead vowed that she will ‘do everything’ to bring him home, and has set up a GoFundMe page to raise £150,000 for a search and rescue operation. The research nurse said that her partner ‘is known for his adventurous spirit, his kindness, and his unwavering dedication to helping others,’ as she issued a plea saying: ‘Now, it is our turn to help him.’ She described him as a passionate Leeds United fan, as well as a ‘beloved son, brother, partner, friend and a proud joint owner of Wakefield Crossfit.’ The British climber, who is believed to be from Wakefield, was described by Sherpa Lapka as being ‘known for his robust fitness, uplifting positivity, and strong determination’.

The missing men were part of a 15-strong team with 8K Expeditions, led by Bolivian climber David Hugo Ayaviri Quispe. Sherpa Lapka said his colleague Pastenji was a ‘dedicated climber from his youth, with  impressive climbs under his belt including twice on Mt. Everest, K2, Amadablam, and  several other 6,000m peaks.  His warm spirit, kindness, and outstanding expertise made him one of the premier guides at 8K Expeditions,’ he added.

Mr Paterson, who was known to his friends as ‘Pat’, was also a ‘committed’ climber, and had trained in the Himalayas last year. He previously said he was emotional when he saw the Everest summit, telling his followers: ‘My dream will always be to conquer this.’ He dedicated his climb to a late friend from Wakefield Crossfield Club and recently announced that members had raised £10,000 for her family.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres (26,246 feet) and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring climbing season. Everest is only climbable in the short windows of clear weather when the winds are calm. This has led to long queues forming at challenging sections, leaving climbers waiting in the freezing cold and burning through their valuable oxygen supplies. Earlier this month, Mongolian climbers Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Purevsuren  Lkhagvajav, 31, went missing on Everest. The pair, who had not relied on sherpa guides, were found dead a week later at two different locations after summiting the peak.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Helena Bonham Carter (58), Pam Grier (75), Bobcat Goldthwait (62), Laurence Fox (46), Lenny Kravitz (60), Stevie Nicks (76), Cillian Murphy (48), Ian McKellen (85), Mike Myers (61), Octavia Spencer (54), Frank Oz (80), Doug Jones (64), Alfred Molina (71), John C. Reilly (59), Jim Broadbent (75), Priscilla Presley (79), James Cosmo (76), Tommy Chong (86), Bob Dylan (83), Joan Collins (91), Richard Ayoade (47), Melissa McBride (59), Bob Mortimer (65), Ginnifer Goodwin (46), Naomi Campbell (54), Fairuza Balk (50), Judge Reinhold (67), Noel Fielding (51), Mr. T (72), Timothy Olyphant (56), Jack Gleeson (32), Joel Fry (39), Cher (78), and Louis Theroux (54).

26th May 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 19th May 2024

Another short newsletter this week, not a lot going on!  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Olivia Munn has offered fans a candid health insight following her cancer diagnosis. Earlier this year, the 43-year-old announced to her Instagram followers that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer ten months prior. Just days after doctors confirmed the disease was present in her body, she underwent a double mastectomy. In a heartbreaking post, Olivia revealed she’d ‘only cried twice’ during the ordeal and that she credited Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi for ‘saving her life’. “Dr. Aliabadi looked at factors like my age, familial breast cancer history, and the fact that I had my first child after the age of 30,” the X-Men star wrote. “She discovered my lifetime risk was at 37 percent. Because of that score I was sent to get an MRI, which led to an ultrasound, which then led to a biopsy. The biopsy showed I had Luminal B cancer in both breasts.” Following the initial reveal on March 13th, the mum-of-one has shared another update. Speaking to the Flying Monkeys, Olivia announced she had opted to undergo further surgery as opposed to receiving Lupron or leuprolide injections. This medication, which lowers oestrogen levels in the body, was reportedly causing her to feel intense levels of ‘exhaustion’. “I would wake up in the morning and almost immediately need to get back into bed,” she explained. Meanwhile, Munn announced that she has now had an oophorectomy and hysterectomy, as well as a full double mastectomy. “I took out my uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries!” 

Steve Buscemi is on the mend after he was attacked in Manhattan on Wednesday. The 66-year-old was punched in the face while walking in the Kips Bay neighbourhood around noon on May 8th. The attack left Buscemi with swelling to his face and left eye, and he was treated at Bellevue Hospital. Afterward, his publicist gave an update on his condition. In a statement the spokesperson said, “Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city. He is OK and appreciates everyone’s well wishes, though incredibly sad for everyone that this has happened to him while also walking the streets of New York.” A witness working nearby saw the attack and told the Flying Monkeys, “I saw he was with a woman, and then through the corner of the window I saw him trip and fall backwards. He right away got up and ran in the opposite direction. I didn’t see who hit him.” The NYPD told us, “At this time there are no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing.” The department released surveillance footage of a suspect and added, “The individual is described as a male with dark complexion, wearing a dark coloured baseball style cap, blue t-shirt, black pants, white sneakers, and carrying a bookbag.” The police department is asking for the public’s help to find the perpetrator. Just weeks ago, Buscemi’s “Boardwalk Empire” co-star Michael Stuhlbarg was also randomly attacked with a rock in Manhattan.

On This Day

  • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest. 
  • 1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “Happy Birthday“.
  • 2018 – The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Grace Jones (76), James Fox (85), Tina Fey (54), Miriam Margolyes (83), Chow Yun-Fat (69), Toyah Willcox (66), Paul Whitehouse (66), Megan Fox (38), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (34), Pierce Brosnan (71), Danny Trejo (80), Debra Winger (69), David Boreanaz (55), Stephen Mangan (56), Janet Jackson (58), Cate Blanchett (55), Sofia Coppola (53), Tim Roth (63), George Lucas (80), Francesca Annis (79), Siân Phillips (91), Greg Davies (56), Harvey Keitel (85), Robert Pattinson (38), Samantha Morton (47), Iwan Rheon (39), Zoë Wanamaker (75), and Mark Heap (67).

19th May 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 12th May 2024

Some very well known faces on our list this week, however nobody scored a point! This weeks edition is short and sweet, it’s lovely and sunny out there, so go outside! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Jeannie Epper, 83, American stuntwoman (Romancing the Stone, Kill Bill: Volume 2, Wonder Woman). 
  • Susan Buckner, 72, American actress (Grease, Deadly Blessing, The Brady Bunch Hour). 
  • Bernard Hill, 79, English actor (The Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Boys from the Blackstuff). 
  • Ian Gelder, 74, British actor (Game of Thrones, Torchwood, Little Dorrit), bile duct cancer. 
  • Kristin Hallenga, 38, English breast cancer awareness activist (CoppaFeel!), breast cancer. 
  • Dame Shirley Conran, 91, British writer. 
  • Susan Backlinie, 77, American actress (Jaws, Day of the Animals, 1941). 
  • Roger Corman, 98, American film director (The Little Shop of Horrors, Death Race 2000, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre).

In Other News

BBC Antiques Roadshow’s Theo Burrell has been hospitalised again as she continues her fight against an incurable brain tumour. The beloved antiques expert shared her concerns over critical scan results after being admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, providing fans with an update on her ongoing health struggle. Theo has kept the public informed about her health since being given only months to live nearly two years ago. Diagnosed in 2022 with grade 4 glioblastoma – an aggressive form of cancer that originates in the brain or spinal cells – the 36-year-old was confronted with a dire prognosis. The BBC personality was initially crushed by the news and worried about the potential spread of the cancer. Despite this, she has received treatments that have successfully reduced the tumour to just 10 percent of its original size, although she still experiences significant side effects like headaches and nausea. Nevertheless, Theo is determined to make a difference by embarking on a daring fundraising challenge. She announced to her Instagram followers: “On Saturday 25th, I’m heading to Aberdeen and abseiling down the King’s Tower, all 131 feet of it! The last time I did anything similar I was 19 – not exactly yesterday! If you can help me raise some funds (all for @braintumourrsch ) I’d be very grateful – link in bio. Thank you.”  

Christopher Biggins has undergone open heart surgery and admitted: “It’s not easy getting old.” The 72-year-old pantomime veteran and TV star revealed he has recently had an operation to repair a valve in his heart and knee-replacement surgery. Biggins told the Flying Monkeys: “I’m like the bionic man. I’ve had a new knee put in and I’ve had a new valve put into my heart. It’s not easy getting old.” The actor, known for his appearance on reality shows including I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2010 and admitted he is becoming increasingly aware of his health. He said: “I’ve always been aware of being a big boy – aware of my weight and looking at going on diets.” The theatre star admitted that losing his friends has brought home his own mortality. He said: “As you get older, the things you go to – apart from restaurants and theatres – are funerals and memorial services. It makes you aware that life is very shallow. It’s not easy. You never know when you’re going to go.” Speaking about Dame Barbara Widsors’s death last year he said: “I hope that, when we die, all of us, that we can see for the next 24 hours the reaction of everybody to our death. If she could have seen the reaction to her death she would have been so thrilled. The coverage was unbelievable.”   

Susan Backlinie, the American actress and stuntwoman who played the first shark attack victim in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws, has died. Along with being a stuntwoman specialising in swimming work, she was also an animal trainer. In her later life she worked as a computer accountant. Backlinie’s appearance in Jaws took three days to shoot, with Backlinie strapped into a harness while the crew struggled to get the desired effects.Contrary to rumour, Backlinie’s startled reaction and screams of anguish were not due to her being injured by the harness that yanked her back and forth in the water. However, she was attached to a line that was anchored to the ocean floor beneath her, and she was intentionally not warned when she would be first pulled underwater; this helped provoke a more genuine expression of surprise from her initially – but the remainder of her performance was her own as an actress. When Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss saw a daily of her performance of being attacked by the shark, he told her it absolutely terrified him. Backlinie also appears in Spielberg’s film 1941 parodying her role in Jaws: instead of being attacked by a shark during a midnight swim, she’s “picked up” by the periscope of a Japanese submarine. The scene has been described as the best joke in what is otherwise widely considered one of Spielberg’s least successful films.

On This Day

  • 1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
  • 2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
  • 2010 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board. The sole survivor was a 9-year-old Dutch boy.

Deaths

  • 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, Austrian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1885).
  • 1994 – John Smith, Scottish-English politician, Labour Party leader (b. 1938).
  • 2001 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (b. 1912).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Malin Akerman (46), Rami Malek (43), Domhnall Gleeson (41), Emilio Estevez (62), Rhea Seehorn (52), Ving Rhames (65), Gabriel Byrne (74), Jason Biggs (46), Richard Gadd (35), Tim Blake Nelson (60), Pam Ferris (76), Holly Valance (41), Jadyn Wong (39), Meg Foster 76), Sally Phillips (54), Bono (64), Rosario Dawson (45), Grace Gummer (38), Billy Joel (75), Stephen Amell (43), Vicky McClure (41), David Attenborough (98), Salome Jens (89), Alexander Ludwig (32), Richard O’Sullivan (80), George Clooney (63), Adrianne Palicki (41), and Pippa Haywood (63). 

12th May 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 5th May 2024

Short and sweet this week, I’m sure you all have better things to do on a bank holiday weekend! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Jeremy Clarkson’s Clarkson’s Farm co-star Gerald has been diagnosed with cancer, with the news being broken to fans in the new Amazon Prime series. The latest instalment of the hit series reveals that Gerald, a cherished member of the farm crew, is battling prostate cancer. Fans of the show have come to adore Gerald, who regularly features in Jeremy and Kaleb’s farm antics, especially for his expertise in construction. In a touching update later in the season, Jeremy shares that Gerald is on the mend following a medical procedure, much to the relief of viewers rooting for his recovery. Jeremy has previously spoken fondly of his bond with Gerald, reminiscing: “It doesn’t matter if you can’t understand what he’s talking about, because he’s usually talking about Manchester United.” He added, “He’s fantastic. We’ve known each other for a very long time. He’s 72, also never been outside the village, but has worked on this farm for 50 years. He’s a great dry stone-waller, which is a dying art.” The dynamic duo of Jeremy and Kaleb found themselves in need of Gerald’s skills this year after they accidentally demolished a significant stone wall during their attempts at ‘unfarming’. 

Former Spandau Ballet musician Martin Kemp has predicted that he will die within 10 years. Kemp, 62, made the admission during a podcast recorded alongside his son, former  Capital Breakfast radio presenter and former I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! contestant Roman Kemp. Back in the 1990s, Kemp was diagnosed with two benign brain tumours, and successfully underwent radiotherapy and surgery to have the growths removed. However, one of the side effects of the experience was epilepsy, which Kemp has lived with ever since. The two Kemps discussed their mortality during the first episode of the new podcast series FFS! My dad is Martin Kemp. In the episode, titled “Death, Martin and Roman”, Kemp is asked by his son how much longer he expects to live. “I’ll be really honest with you, 10 years,” he responds. “I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I will tell you, since I was the age of 34, when I went through all of that brain tumour scare, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die. And I think, after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month that I’ve lived, every experience that I’ve had has been a bonus.” Kemp explained that he had been “practically resigned” to the notion that he was going to die, and had been “happy with his lot”. The bassist continued: “I thought: ‘If I go, do you know what? What a life’ and that was back then. So, every year that I live, every month that I’m alive now is like a bonus. “I would be happy if I got to 80, that gives me 18 years. My brain still wasn’t working properly from the operation,” he said. “To the point where sometimes if I wanted to walk left, I would walk right, or like I couldn’t think about putting things in order, or anything like that. Learning lines was just way out there.”  Kemp played bass guitar in Spandau Ballet from 1979 until the group’s dissolution in 1990, later returning for a decade after the band reunited in 2009. 

Mark Steel has shared the triumphant news he is now cancer free as he reveals doctors “saved his life”. The comedian and BBC radio star, 63, revealed he noticed his neck was “looking much bigger than normal” while shaving. He ignored it for two weeks but eventually saw a doctor after his neck continued to get bigger. After hospital visits and a lost biopsy, Mark was told he had cancer in at least two places, with the “primary cancer” in his throat. Mark shared his cancer diagnosis in October last year, and has now been able to reveal the news he is cancer free. In a post on Twitter, he said: “A nice man from UCL Hospital called this week, to say a scan of me showed the cancer I had has all gone. The treatment worked, the cancer bottled it and ran off, the wimp.” He added: “One thing I’ve learned through all this is I don’t recommend chemotherapy or radiotherapy as recreational drugs. I can’t see them taking off in the clubs. UCLH is an amazing place packed with wonderful souls. They’ve saved my life but I reckon this mention on Twitter makes us even. Also, I discovered my son and daughter are magnificent and that I know lots of brilliant people who are beautifully kind and funny and rude. And… lots of you sent me messages which was SO appreciated and I’d marry you all if there wasn’t a law against it. Now I’ll shut up about it, after the ‘my cancer journey’ book and tour and musical. And from now on I’ll be careful not to catch cancer again.” Mark’s pals shared their delight at the update as Janey Godley said: “I’m so happy for you.” 

On This Day

  • 1902 – A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between Scotland and England. 
  • 1943 – World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory one kilometre from the residential area hit.
  • 1974 – Carrie, the first novel by American author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies.

Deaths

Last Meals

Willie James Pye was an American convicted murderer who was given the death penalty in 1996 for murdering his ex-girlfriend Alicia Lynn Yarbrough after he kidnapped and raped her. Pye acted together with two other people to commit a robbery at the home of Yarbrough’s boyfriend, which in turn led to the murder in 1993. 

Pye, who was convicted and sentenced to death three years after the crime, remained on death row for nearly 30 years before he was put to death via lethal injection on March 20, 2024. His case became a point of controversy due to the alleged inadequate legal representation he received during the trial, which allegedly left out details of Pye’s troubled childhood and other mitigating factors that may have spared his life. Pye was the first death row convict to be executed in Georgia after a four-year moratorium on executions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On November 17th 1993, Pye was involved in the rape-murder of his ex-girlfriend Alicia Lynn Yarbrough (aged 21 at the time), with whom he had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship prior to their final break-up. After their final break-up, Yarbrough ended up with another man, and she had a child, which Pye believed to be his, and he was angered that a birth certificate for the baby was signed with Yarbrough’s lover as the child’s father. On the day in question, Pye, armed with a newly bought .22 pistol, teamed up with two people, 15-year-old Anthony Freeman and 25-year-old Chester Adams, to commit robbery at the lover’s house, but after finding Yarbrough alone in the house with her baby, Pye and his accomplices abducted her and would later rape her at a motel, and also stole her jewellery. Afterwards, the trio drove Yarbrough down a dirt road, where Pye ordered her out of the car, told her to lie face down and shot her three times, which resulted in her death.

Yarbrough’s corpse was discovered on the same day of her murder, and the trio were arrested soon after. Pye and Adams denied their involvement in the crime, while Freeman confessed to the murder and implicated both Adams and Pye. DNA tests would later confirm that the semen found on the victim’s corpse belonged to Pye, which allowed the authorities to charge him as a suspect for Yarbrough’s murder. 

Pye’s lawyers urged for the state to grant Pye clemency and commute his death sentence to life in prison without parole, on the grounds of Pye’s low IQ and troubled childhood and the inadequate legal representation in his trial back in 1996. They also claimed that Pye suffered from foetal alcohol syndrome, as a result of his mother’s alcohol abuse while she was  pregnant with him, which may have damaged his brain and affected his mental responsibility at the time of the killing. Three former jurors who convicted Pye stated that they did not want Pye to be executed, after citing that they would have opted for life without parole had his childhood and low intelligence been revealed during his first trial. However the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles officially turned down his clemency petition in 2024. 

Pye reportedly ordered a last meal of two chicken sandwiches, two cheeseburgers, french fries, two bags of plain potato chips, and two lemon-lime sodas. He was also visited by six family members, a clergy member, and an attorney for the final time before his death sentence was carried out. 

Pye was executed by lethal injection at 11:03 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson, Georgia. Pye was 59 years old at the time of his death. Reportedly, before he was administered with a single dose of pentobarbital, Pye accepted a final prayer but he did not make a final statement. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Henry Cavill (41), Zach McGowan (44), John Rhys-Davies (80), Lance Henriksen (84),  Richard E. Grant (67), Marc Alaimo (82), Michael Palin (81), Adele (36), Will Arnett 54), Christina Hendricks (49), Pom Klementieff (38), Rob Brydon (59), Sandi Toksvig (66), Ben Elton (65), Matt Berry (50), Dwayne Johnson (52), David Suchet (78), Lily Allen (39), David Beckham (49), Engelbert Humperdinck (88), Julie Benz (52), Jamie Dornan (42), Joanna Lumley (78), Uma Thurman (54), Michelle Pfeiffer (66), Daniel Day-Lewis (67), Jerry Seinfeld (70), Kate Mulgrew (69), Willie Nelson (91), Anita Dobson (75), Kirsten Dunst (42), Gal Gadot (39), and Sam Heughan (44).

5th May 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

DeadPool 28th April 2024

A fairly quiet week again, I’d send out the Flying Monkeys, but I’ve misplaced the cage key. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Terry Carter, 95, American actor (Foxy Brown, McCloud, Battlestar Galactica). 
  • Mike Pinder, 82, English Hall of Fame musician (The Moody Blues) and songwriter (“The Best Way to Travel”, “A Simple Game”).
  • Frank Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, 81, British politician, MP and member of the House of Lords, prostate cancer. 
  • Marla Adams, 85, American actress (The Young and the Restless, The Secret Storm, Splendor in the Grass). 
  • Maria Feliciana, 77, Brazilian singer, worlds tallest woman 7ft 3in.

In Other News

The ITV News presenter Rageh Omaar is “receiving medical care” after becoming unwell live on air. Omaar, who is the network’s international affairs editor, was leading Friday evening’s News at Ten programme when he appeared to have difficulty reading the bulletins on the autocue. In a statement released after the programme aired, ITV News acknowledged viewers’ worries and provided an update on the situation. “We are aware that viewers are concerned about Rageh Omaar’s wellbeing,” an ITV News spokesperson said. “Rageh became unwell while presenting News at Ten on Friday and is now receiving medical care. He thanks everyone for their well wishes.” The nature of Omaar’s illness during the broadcast is currently unknown. Across social media, the hashtag #itvnews began to trend in the UK, as viewers shared messages of support and worry for the newsreader. ITV pulled the show from its scheduled re-runs on ITV+1, with a message instead telling viewers that ITV was “temporarily unable to bring you our +1 service. We will resume shortly.” it read. Many on Twitter have admonished others for sharing the footage or Omaar’s broadcast, during which he stumbled over reading some words. Omaar has worked on ITV News since 2013, beginning his tenure as a special correspondent and presenter. Update: Following medical treatment at hospital, he is now recovering at home with his family. The nature of Omaar’s illness during the broadcast still remains unknown.

Harvey Weinstein, the former movie mogul and convicted sex offender, has been hospitalised in New York City, his lawyer said on Saturday. Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Weinstein, told The Flying Monkeys that Weinstein was moved to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan after he arrived to the city jails from a prison in upstate New York. “They examined him and sent him to Bellevue. It seems like he needs a lot of help, physically. He’s got a lot of problems. He’s getting all kinds of tests. He’s somewhat of a train wreck health wise,” Mr Aidala said. The news comes just days after a New York appeals court vacated his rape conviction after finding the trial judge made “egregious errors” by allowing prosecutors to call witnesses whose allegations were not related to the charges at hand. Weinstein was moved from Mohawk Correction Facility in Syracuse to Rikers on Friday after his 23-year prison sentencing was vacated. The 72-year-old remained in custody due to his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles.   

Norway’s king plans to scale back his participation in official duties “out of consideration for his age”, the country’s royal household has said. Officials said the move would see King Harald, 88, make a “permanent reduction” to his public engagements. Harald is one of Europe’s longest reigning monarchs, serving since 1991. But he has battled illness in recent years and was admitted to hospital in Malaysia in February after falling sick while on holiday. He was treated for an infection he contracted while staying on the resort island of Langkawi. He was later fitted with a pacemaker to compensate for a low heart rate. Harald has not been seen in public since his hospitalisation. His son, Crown Prince Haakon, has carried out the king’s duties in his absence. In a statement on Monday, the royal household said “practical arrangements will also be made in the conduct of his official activity”, but offered no further details on what the arrangements would be. Monday’s announcement comes just days after Harald formally resumed his constitutional duties, having taken two months of sick leave after being released from hospital. His official diary listed three separate meetings, including a summit with the head of the country’s armed forces. Last year, the king carried out 431 public engagements. They included chairing cabinet 35 times and holding 110 audiences with leaders such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Despite his advancing age and ill-health, King Harald has openly ruled out abdicating. In January, he told reporters that he had taken an oath that “lasts for life”. “It’s that simple for me,” he added. “We’re at it until the bitter end.” Despite his health issues, polling suggests that the king remains extremely popular with Norwegians. A survey earlier this year showed that 64% of the population did not want him to abdicate in favour of his son, while some 72% of Norwegians remained supportive of the monarchy. Harald has been known to hold progressive views throughout his time on the throne. In 2016, he made an impassioned speech in support of LGBT equality and refugees, paying tribute to his fellow citizens from “Afghanistan, Pakistan and Poland, from Sweden, Somalia, and Syria,” and saying that Norwegians “are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other”. 

On This Day

  • 1869 – Chinese and Irish labourers working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
  • 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
  • 1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
  • 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
  • 1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
  • 1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.

Deaths

Gods of Death

Hades, Pluto, and Hel are some of the most well-known gods of death and the underworld from ancient mythology, but nearly all ancient cultures have one. Each death god from around the world represents the unique views different cultures have of death. Let’s have a  look at a few. 

Hades – Greek God of Death: In Ancient Greek mythology, the Greeks believed many gods ruled over the various elements of life and death. They would often perform ceremonies and sacrifices to earn favour, be it a good harvest, wealth and prosperity, or entrance to the afterlife. Among these gods, Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, ruled over the dead. Often depicted with a somber expression and a beard, Hades was known for his helmet, the Helm of Darkness or the Cap of Invisibility, and his companion, Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the Underworld. His name means Unseen One, but he is also known as the Giver of Wealth, or Pluton. He is most known for his roles in the mythological stories about his parents, the Titans, and his niece, Persephone. As the god of the underworld, Hades typically remained in his realm and does not appear in as many myths as other gods.

Pluto – Roman God of Death: The foremost of the Roman chthonic (“subterranean”) deities, Pluto was god of the dead and lord of the underworld. A figure of enormous dread and terrible might, Pluto dispensed luck and controlled the fates of all mortals. As commander of the subterranean realms, he was the master of ores, metals, and the precious stones found within them. For this reason, he was celebrated by many as the bringer of wealth. Pluto was the Roman counterpart to Hades, who ruled the underworld of the same name. Pluto lived underground in a gloomy palace, and seemed to have little interest in the world of men. Likewise, Pluto seldom involved himself in godly affairs. He rode a chariot, carried a staff, and was often depicted wearing a warrior’s helm. Pluto was often accompanied by Cerberus, a three-headed hound that served both as his pet and guardian of the underworld.

Hel – Norse God of Death: Hel is a giantess/goddess who rules over the identically-named Hel, the underworld where many of the dead dwell. Her name’s meaning of “Hidden” has to do with the underworld and the dead being “hidden” or buried beneath the ground. Hel is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, and therefore the sister of the wolf Fenrir and the world serpent, Jormungand. This makes her part of a highly dangerous and disreputable family. Hel is generally presented as being rather greedy, harsh, and cruel, or at least indifferent to the concerns of both the living and the dead. However, her personality is little-developed in what survives of Old Norse literature. Her appearance is described as being half-black, half-white, and with a perpetually grim and fierce  expression on her face.

Kali – Hindu God of Death: Kali is the Hindu goddess of death, time, and doomsday. She is often associated with sexuality and violence but is also considered a strong mother figure and symbol of motherly love. Kali is most often represented in art as a fearful fighting figure with a necklace of heads, skirt of arms, lolling tongue, and brandishing a knife dripping with blood. Kali’s name derives from the Sanskrit meaning ‘she who is black’ or ‘she who is death’. As an embodiment of time Kali devours all things, she is irresistibly attractive to mortals and gods. 

Anubis – Egyptian God of the Underworld: Anubis was a jackal-headed deity that guided souls and dead kings to the afterlife. There they were judged by Osiris through the weighing of the heart. Anubis would also embalm the dead and protect them. Anubis was one of the most important gods in Ancient Egyptian history. People viewed him with respect as a god of the underworld. He was depicted as a jackal-headed god because jackals were frequently seen roaming around tombs in Ancient Egypt. Anubis was said to have invented the mummification process. In world mythology, gods of death are often associated with evil. However, this wasn’t the case for Anubis. The Egyptian people viewed him as a good, protective deity. 

Ah Puch – Mayan God of Death: Ah Puch is an extremely fearsome deity usually depicted as a skeleton, often with rotting flesh. Ah Puch is the god of death, darkness, and disaster and yet also apparently represents regeneration, child birth, and beginnings. Ah Puch likes to surface at night and skulk around, there is only one way to escape his attentions. Howl! 

Mictlantecuhtli – Aztec God of Death: Mictlantecuhtli was the Aztec god of death who ruled over Mictlan, the land of the dead. Mictlan was where most people would spend their afterlife, regardless of moral standing. His name comes from his status as the ruler of Mictlan, and simply means “Lord of the Land of the Dead.” Mictlantecuhtli was most commonly depicted as a skeletal figure, though reliefs have also been found depicting him as a skull with eyes. He was sometimes shown with his mouth open, ready to receive the setting stars that disappeared during the day. As the Aztec lord of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli didn’t act as the judge of the dead, Mictlantecuhtli simply tried to maintain order in his domain.

The Shinigami – Japanese Death Gods: In Japanese folklore, the Shinigami are death gods who play an essential role in the afterlife. People believed them to be spirits who guided the dead to the next world. In most cases, they are considered benevolent beings who guide the dead to the afterlife. Though many assume they are look similar to the Grim Reaper, most literature portrays them as something less frightening. They are said to wear black kimonos and have long white hair and can hide in plain sight or be invisible until you are  close to death.

Maman Brigette – Haitian and Voodoo Death God: Maman Brigitte is a lwa, or intermediary between the human and divine, of both life and death in Haitian Voodoo. She is always seen drinking rum infused with hot peppers, or sometimes she simply seen eating the peppers. She’s also said to swear frequently, and is associated with black roosters. She’s the partner of Baron Samedi, the male lwa of life and death. She protects the dead, gravestones, tombs and cemeteries. Maman Brigitte use of obscenity is a reminder not to be afraid to tell the truth and speak from the heart. She likes to have fun and is not afraid to say what is on her mind. Maman Brigitte is tough, serious, fun loving, the life of the party, caring, protective, religious, respectful, loud, rowdy and wild. Despite the fact of her rude and foul mouth she is also well spoken and behaves in a regal manner. Even though she has the power over the dead Maman Brigitte is priestess and teacher in healing.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jessica Alba (43), Penélope Cruz (50), Mary McDonnell (72), Ann-Margret (83), Jay Leno (74), Jenna Coleman (38), Russell T. Davies (61), Giancarlo Esposito (66), Pablo Schreiber (46), Channing Tatum (44), Tom Welling 47), Kevin James (59), Jet Li (61), Joan Chen (63), Melania Trump (54), Renée Zellweger (55), Al Pacino (84), Gina Torres (55), Hank Azaria (60), Talia Shire (78), Djimon Hounsou (60), Jack Quaid (32), Joe Keery (32), Shirley MacLaine (90), Barbra Streisand (82), Rory McCann (55), Dev Patel (34), John Cena (47), Lee Majors (85), John Hannah (62), Gemma Whelan (43), Blair Brown (78), John Oliver (47), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (58), Amber Heard (38), Jack Nicholson (87), and Sheryl Lee (57).

28th April 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st April 2024

Sadly no points to award this week, In fact a quiet week all round! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Pooch Tavares, 81, American singer (Tavares). 
  • Vincent Friell, 64, Scottish actor (Trainspotting, Restless Natives, The Angels’ Share).
  • Derek Underwood, 78, English cricketer (Kent, national team), complications from dementia.  
  • Michael Donovan, 54, English convicted kidnapper (Kidnapping of Shannon Matthews), cancer. 
  • Willie Limond, 45, Scottish boxer and footballer (Albion Rovers), complications from a seizure.
  • Dickey Betts, 80, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band) and songwriter (“Jessica”, “Ramblin’ Man”), cancer and COPD. 
  • Leighton James, 71, Welsh footballer (Burnley, Swansea City, national team). 

In Other News

Shocking footage captured the moment a shameless woman dragged her dead uncle into a bank in a bid to take out a loan in his name. The dead man’s head could be seen swaying back and forth as her niece tried to get hold of his neck at a bank counter in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian woman, identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, can also be seen using her hand to keep her dead uncle’s neck upright as she asked him to sign off a four-figure loan. Pretending to have a conversation with him, she said: “Uncle, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t sign for you. “Sign here and stop giving me a headache,” she added as she asked the deceased old age pensioner to hold the pen between his fingers. But her shameless drama was met by a silent response from the dead man. One of the bank workers present at the scene said: “I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale.” To which Erika quipped: “He’s like that,” before asking her uncle if he is unwell and wants to go to the hospital again. Seeing the ordeal, the bank staff grew suspicious and started filming the pair before calling an ambulance. And her shocking con rumbled soon after the paramedics confirmed Paulo Roberto Braga, 68, had passed away before she shamelessly hauled his body into the bank in a wheelchair. Cops soon arrested Erika for the scam and revealed she tried to take out a loan for 7,000 Brazilian Reais (£2,500), local media reports. Police chief Fabio Luiz confirmed after the arrest Mr Braga was already dead when he was wheeled into the bank. He added: “The investigation is continuing to identify other family members and to find out if he was alive when the loan was arranged and when it dates from.” 

Warwick Davis has announced that his wife of over 30 years, Samantha Davis, died on March 24. “My wife and soul-mate, best friend. Devoted mother. My favourite human. My most trusted confidant and an ardent supporter of everything I did in my career, has passed,” the 54-year-old said in a statement. “Her passing has left a huge hole in our lives as a family. I miss her hugs.” While Samantha’s cause of death has not been shared, Warwick explained that her mobility had become impaired in recent years. He said she was “determined that it would not impact her quality of life and limit what she did and was able to achieve.” Samantha’s death follows her 2019 battle with sepsis. Her health dramatically declined ahead of a family caravan holiday. Warwick previously said: “The next few hours were the longest of my life as I waited on the ward with our children in the empty space left by Sam’s hospital bed. I hoped it would not symbolise a future for us without her.” It’s believed she contracted the deadly bacterial infection, sepsis, after undergoing decompression surgery on her spine. Samantha said: “We went home a week later and suddenly I couldn’t feel my legs. I thought I was still recovering from the surgery so I went to bed, but the next day I felt awful, as though I had been hit by a truck. I stayed in bed all day while Warwick and Harrison went to a family party and the next morning I woke at 4am feeling even worse.” She recalled her deteriorating condition, “As the day went on I couldn’t concentrate, I lay on the sofa and when I tried to get up I collapsed on the floor.” Warwick hopes that following her death, Samantha “continues to inspire through the things she did and that her love, warmth and generosity will be her legacy. She always lived her best life. Although the pain of losing Sammy and being without her is unbearable, I feel so fortunate I was able to be close to her and experience her magic for 35 years.” 

On This Day

  • 1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII. 
  • 1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France. 
  • 1934 – The “Surgeon’s Photograph“, the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail. 

Deaths

  • 1509 – Henry VII of England (b. 1457). 
  • 1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835). 
  • 2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933). 
  • 2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958). 

Last Meals

After spending countless years incarcerated and having only prison chow to tide you over, you’d think the majority of death row inmates would have their final meal order all sorted out in advance.

It’s arguably the only thing that people facing capital punishment have to look forward to, as being put to death isn’t the most exciting prospect.

But this bloke’s dietary request should serve as a cautionary tale to any other death row prisoners, as what he asked for was so ridiculous that prison officials refused – and saddled him with a pot of plain yoghurt instead. 

Let’s have it right – who would want to leave this world with just a dairy product on their stomach? I for one, do not.

James Edward Smith, on the other hand, had no choice.

The convicted killer, 37, was slapped with a death sentence after he was found guilty of fatally shooting Larry Don Rohus, while he was robbing an office building in Houston, Texas.

On March 7, 1983, Smith strolled up to a Union National Life Insurance Company branch brandishing a gun and wearing a stocking mask, before he started to demand money.

The employee who he first encountered refused and hid behind a filing cabinet, leaving the district manager, Rohus, to deal with the situation.

Rohus complied with all the demands and began to retrieve money from the cash drawer before putting it in a plastic bag.

He gave the money to Smith and then began walking away – only for the gunman to open fire. 

The 44-year-old was shot twice – once through the heart – and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Smith fled the building on foot and was chased down by one of Rohus’ co-workers as well as other Good Samaritans.

Ultimately, the Kentucky-born killer was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

The former tarot-card dealer – who also confessed to six ‘ritualistic’ deaths at trial which were never proven – even waived his final appeals which could have potentially stalled the process in the hopes of speeding up his execution.

Prior to his first scheduled execution on 11 May, 1988, Smith was quoted as saying: “Life is a temporary situation. The spirit moves on. Death is like eating a prune in the morning. It’s a  natural function.”

He really ran with this take on life and then requested a last meal of rhaeakunda dirt – which is exactly what it sounds like. 

Smith intended to eat the soil as part of a voodoo ritual, which he both practiced and believed in, as he reckoned that it would assist his journey into reincarnation.

Sadly for him, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice turned down the bizarre request because, as you would expect, dirt was not included on the list of approved foods.

After all that rigmarole, Smith ended up getting a last-minute stay of execution – although his death sentence was then rescheduled for two years later.

He again refused his appeals, expressed his wishes to die and his hunger for dirt to be his last meal.

Again, Smith’s strange snack was denied and the last ever item of food he ate on this earth was a plain yoghurt.

Not even flavoured.

Last Week’s Birthdays

James McAvoy (45), Toby Stephens (55), Andie MacDowell (66), Tony Danza (73), Rob Riggle (54), Iggy Pop (77), Jessica Lange (75), Andy Serkis (60), Clint Howard (65), Carmen Electra (52), Veronica Cartwright (75), George Takei (87), Ruth Connell (44), Michael Brandon (79), Nicholas Lyndhurst (63), James Franco (46), Tim Curry (78), Ashley Judd (56), Hayden Christensen (43), Kate Hudson (45), Simu Liu (35), David Tennant (53), Rick Moranis (71), Hayley Mills (78), Conan O’Brien (61), James Woods (77), Jennifer Garner (52), Rooney Mara (39), David Bradley (82), Victoria Beckham (50), Sean Bean (65), Anya Taylor-Joy (28), Gina Carano (42), Claire Foy (40), Ellen Barkin (70), Sadie Sink (22), Emma Watson (34), Seth Rogen (42), Emma Thompson (65), Luke Evans (45), and Maisie Williams (27).

21st April 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 14th April 2024

Surprisingly, no points to hand out today, I could have sworn a couple of you had O.J.  

Next weeks issue will be dependent on whether WWIII has kicked off yet… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Lori and George Schappell, 62, American conjoined twins. 
  • Joe Kinnear, 77, Irish football player (Tottenham Hotspur, national team) and manager (Wimbledon), complications from vascular dementia
  • Peter Higgs, 94, British theoretical physicist, discoverer of the Higgs boson, Nobel Prize laureate (2013). 
  • O. J. Simpson, 76, American football player (Buffalo Bills) and actor (The Naked Gun, The Towering Inferno), prostate cancer. 
  • Roberto Cavalli, 83, Italian fashion designer and inventor. 
  • Eleanor Coppola, 87, American filmmaker (Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, Paris Can Wait, Love Is Love Is Love). 

In Other News

Jackie Chan has responded to fans who were left “concerned” about his health following the release of a new photo of the star. The renowned actor and martial artist is known for his fitness, and was seen with grey hair at a recent event in Sichuan, China, sparking concern on social media once it went viral. Now, the Rush Hour star, who just turned 70, has responded to worries about his health, and revealed the reasons behind his appearance – which he admitted had frightened even his close friends. “Not so long ago, a lot of friends saw some recent photos of me on the internet, and they were all concerned about my health,” he wrote in a post on Instagram celebrating his 70th birthday on Sunday. “I want to take this opportunity to let everyone know, don’t worry!” He shared that he had donned the new look for a forthcoming role, but did not confirm any further details. “It’s just a character appearance for my latest movie. The character requires me to have white hair, white beard and look old. Over the years, I’ve always been willing to try new things for a movie, no matter if it’s a challenging stunt or a breakthrough appearance for a character.” He went on to reflect on his long career in the industry and turning 70, adding: “Especially for us stunt people, we don’t know how lucky we are to be able to grow old.” The Police Story star was born in Hong Kong, China, and appeared in a number of low-budget action movies before making his big break in Hollywood in the 1980 film The Big Brawl. He was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2016 for his contributions to the film industry. The actor concluded, “I’ve been in the entertainment business for 62 years and I cherish every moment because I’m lucky I’m still filming today.”   

The world’s oldest conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell have died at the age of 62. Lori and her transgender twin George passed away on Sunday at a hospital in Pennsylvania due to undisclosed causes, per their online obituaries. The siblings, who had partially-fused skulls and shared 30 per cent of their brains, defied doctors who said they wouldn’t live past the age of 30. The twins had previously made headlines after George, formerly Dori, came out as transgender. Lori was able-bodied but George, who had spina bifida, was confined to a wheelchair which his twin pushed around. He had enjoyed a successful career as a country singer but Lori pursued her interests elsewhere as a trophy-winning ten-pin bowler. She also worked at a hospital laundry for several years during the ’90s, arranging her schedule around George’s gigs, which took them around the world to countries including Germany and Japan, according to the Guinness World Records. The twins lived independently in a two-bedroom apartment in Pennsylvania where they took turns practicing their separate hobbies. They alternated whose room they slept in and also showered separately by using the shower curtain as a barrier as one stood outside the bath. The pair appeared on numerous shows including Jerry Springer, The Maury Povich Show and The Howard Stern Radio Show. In the past, when asked if the death of one would necessarily mean the death of the other, Lori said at the time: ‘No, it would not. That’s another misconception.’ George, then Reba, explained in the 1997 documentary: ‘If it’s caught early enough, we could both be rushed to the hospital and then in an emergency, quickly be separated to save the other one.’ Elaborating further on whether they had ever wished to be separated, he said no: ‘Would we be separated? Absolutely not. My theory is: why fix what is not broken?’  

The mystery around Kate Beckinsale’s health continues as the Underworld actress has deleted all posts related to her hospital stay from her Instagram feed. For several weeks, the 50-year-old shared cryptic photos where she could be seen lounging in her room but as eagle-eyed followers have spotted, all posts related to the star’s health woes have been deleted. As she seemingly takes a break from the online platform, her comments have also been limited, although reasons for the change have been left unclear. The actress’ social media activity sparked concern in March, 2024, as she unveiled her health ordeal by sharing a string of shots where a teary-eyed Kate could be seen in a hospital gown with a large black bow in her hair. Her post was relayed on Instagram as she paid tribute to mothers around the world on Mother’s Day, including her own, Judy Loe. She refused to respond to worried fans who asked her for an update. “Thank you to those that love us and support us when it’s shit and try to make sure there are some bits that aren’t”, she had then penned. “And for looking after our dogs when we can’t, and lead us to remember happy things when we can’t. And turn up when we are sick and sit with us. And send balloons and check in and pull us out of wells with love.” A handful of days later, Kate still kept details around her health issues shrouded in secrecy as she continued to post from hospital to honour her late father, Richard, who passed away in 1979 as well as her stepfather, Roy Battersby, who drew his last breath at the age of 87 in January, 2024. After celebrating Easter in her hospital bed with a pair of festive socks, Kate posted photos while receiving a visit from pal Jonathan Voluck and seemed in good spirits as they wore peanut headbands while smiling at the camera. But, once again, she failed to mention why she’d been hospitalised. On April 9, 2024, the actress added fuel to the fire by posting and also deleting a photo of her mother Judy with a black eye. Fans grew increasingly frantic as she captioned: “My mum is hurt. Everything in me just wants me to scream. That soft, beautiful face, the unfairness of yet another fucking blow, this time to the face, hands, knee. As I am twisting my guts up to rail at this, she dresses in delicate purple to jauntily complement and has managed not to break a single bone. No one is stronger, no one terrifies me more in her fragility. Please mind, if you can. Minding helps.” But when faced with questions about her health, particularly as fans remember she had suffered from a ruptured ovarian cyst in January, 2019, Kate denied that she was being treated for a ruptured cyst or endometriosis. 

On This Day

  • 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day. 
  • 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.
  • 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days.This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
  • 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing 1 kilogram, fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
  • 1999   – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history. 
  • 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

Deaths

Last Meals 

A Missouri man who murdered his cousin and her husband in 2006 has been executed by lethal injection despite clemency appeals by prison staff.

Brian Dorsey, 52, shot Sarah and Ben Bonnie after they agreed to help him with debts he owed to drug dealers.

The couple’s four-year-old daughter was at the home during the fatal attack. 

Dorsey nearly faced ‘surgery without anaesthesia’ to find a vein to inject the lethal drug due his obesity. Currently there is no guidance on how far the execution team can go to find a suitable vein, leaving open the possibility of an invasive “cutdown procedure,” Dorsey’s attorneys said. 

The procedure involves an incision that could be several inches wide and several inches deep. Forceps are used to tear tissue away from a vein that becomes the injection point.

However, the procedure wasn’t required and he was pronounced dead at 18:11 local time on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Advocates for Dorsey argued that he had reformed during his stay in prison and that he did not have adequate legal defence during his trial.

The US Supreme Court rejected two bids to delay the execution. The governor also rejected a request for clemency, saying in a statement on Monday that Dorsey “punished his loving family for helping him in a time of need”.

Missouri Governor Michael Parsons also cited prosecutors’ claims that he sexually assaulted his cousin’s body after killing her. Lawyers for Dorsey reject the allegation, saying it was never proven at trial.

Dorsey turned himself in to the police three days after the attack. He confessed and pleaded guilty.

He is the first inmate executed by Missouri this year, after four people were put to death in the state in 2023.

Lawyers for Dorsey argued that he had become a model inmate in the last 17 years, one who worked as a prison barber giving haircuts to staff, and was remorseful for his crimes.

They said he was suffering drug-induced psychosis at the time of the attack, two days before Christmas, and that his lawyers faced a financial conflict of interest during trial.

At the time, the Missouri Public Defender Office’s paid court-appointed lawyers a flat fee of $12,000 per case. A low sum, given the thousands of hours normally needed in capital justice murder cases.

They argue his lawyers rushed him to take a plea deal that did not ensure that he would not be given a death sentence.

Former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Michael Wolff wrote to the governor saying the payment system, which has since been changed, has “undoubtedly influenced everything”.

Mr Wolff wrote that executing Dorsey “will dishonour our system of capital punishment”.

A petition signed by more than 70 correctional officers argued his sentence should be commuted to life in prison due to good behaviour.

“The Brian I have known for years could not hurt anyone,” one officer wrote in the petition. “The Brian I know does not deserve to be executed.”

In his final statement before his death, Dorsey again apologised to his victims and their relatives.

“To all of the family and loved ones I share with Sarah  and to all of the surviving family and loved ones of Ben, I am totally, deeply, overwhelmingly sorry,” he wrote.

“Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame. I still love you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I am sorry I hurt them and you.”

Ahead of the execution, relatives of Dorsey’s victims called his sentence being carried out “a light at the end of the tunnel”.

Dorsey “was a close family member who was given a safe haven to get him out of a bad situation and turned this helping hand into the ultimate betrayal of a loved one”, according to a statement from Sarah Bonnie’s family. 

According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, before his execution he ordered his favourite foods, which included two cheeseburgers, two large French fries, two orders of chicken strips and a sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushrooms and extra cheese pizza.

The execution was carried out by a single dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Adrien Brody (51), Anthony Michael Hall (56), Sarah Michelle Gellar (47), Robert Carlyle (63), Julie Christie (84), Rob McElhenney (47), Peter Capaldi (66), Bokeem Woodbine (51), Ron Perlman (74), Peter Davison (73), William Sadler (74), Edward Fox (87), Jennifer Morrison (45), Saoirse Ronan (30), Claire Danes (45), Shannen Doherty (53), Andy Garcia (68), Ed O’Neill (78), Nicholas Brendon (53), David Letterman (77), Milly Alcock (24), Tricia Helfer (50), Matt Ryan (43), Jeremy Clarkson (64), Charlie Hunnam (44), Daisy Ridley (32), Haley Joel Osment (36), David Harbour (49), Steven Seagal (72), Peter MacNicol (70), Kristen Stewart (34), Elle Fanning (26), Dennis Quaid (70), Mark Pellegrino (59), Cynthia Nixon (58), Robin Wright (58), Katee Sackhoff (44), Patricia Arquette (56), and Dean Norris (61).

14th April 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 7th April 2024

Lets award the points!!! Stu and Lee both had the worlds oldest man down as their Cert, so  136 points each and 36 points goes to Dave, who strengthens his grip at the head of the league table. Well done all of you! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

In late March 2024, weeks after Buckingham Palace announced King Charles is suffering from an unspecified form of cancer, celebrity gossip magazine In Touch Weekly published an article allegedly offering specifics on his diagnosis. Citing anonymous sources, the article claimed he has pancreatic cancer and only two years to live. One source reportedly told In Touch Weekly some people close to the British monarch believe his cancer “is worse than they’re making it out to be,” while another allegedly told the publication Charles “is not only battling pancreatic cancer… but has a mere two years to live.” Obviously this rumour is unproven, the alleged sources in the In Touch Weekly article were anonymous and, therefore, we were unable to to independently verify their claims. Searching the Royal Family’s website and Google, there was no evidence of the Palace revealing Charles’ specific form of cancer. No reputable news publications substantiated the rumour – which, if true, would be eminently newsworthy. 

A teenager had to be taken to hospital due to a suspected brain infection, after bursting an enormous pimple on his nose. Justine Seit, had burst the huge zit sitting on his nose, however, he soon became ill with an infection in Negros Oriental province, the Philippines. Burning up with a fever, the boy was taken to hospital on March 30th. The 17-year-old was put on oxygen whilst doctors conducted a CT scan to investigate whether the infection had reached his brain. After being prescribed antibiotics, Justine’s condition started to improve and the pus was drained from his boil-like pimple. His relieved mother Monaliza Marcos said: “To everyone, especially the teenagers, my advice is not to fiddle with pimples on your face because the infection might spread to your brain. The doctors have taken a sample from the pimple for analysis. I’m so grateful my son was able to recover from his sickness.” Doctors have warned against popping pimples in the ‘danger triangle’ area of the face. The region, also called the ‘triangle of death’, is marked by the corners of the mouth to the bridge of the nose. The network of veins in this area provides channels through which facial infections can spread toward the brain. Several years ago, a teenager was blinded by a mystery illness sparked from squeezing a seemingly harmless nose spot. Mary Ann Regacho, 17, suffered severe facial swelling after simply popping a pimple on her nose. The youngster originally thought the growth was a simple spot caused by hormones after she gave birth to a baby boy at age 16. But, when she squeezed the spot, Mary said it grew painful days later before it started spreading across her face. The teenager, from Nueva Ecija, in the Phillippines, said it was “like a balloon inflating”.

On This Day

  • 1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States).
  • 1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
  • 1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date.
  • 1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.

Deaths

  • AD 30 – Jesus Christ (possible date of the crucifixion (b. circa 4 BC).
  • 1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705).
  • 1891 – P. T. Barnum, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810).
  • 1947 – Henry Ford, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863). 
  • 2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950). 
  • 2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935).

Last Meals 

The US state of Oklahoma has carried out its first execution for 2024, giving a lethal injection to a man convicted of a double murder.

Michael Dewayne Smith was 19 when he killed Janet Moore and Sharath Babu Pulluru during a drug-fuelled crime spree in Oklahoma City in 2002. 

When offered the choice of what to order for a last meal, Smith made the unusual decision to reject the chance to place an order. He instead ate some of the remaining foods he’d had from the prison canteen. When asked if he had any last words, Smith, 41, said: “Nah, I’m good.” 

He is the 12th person to be executed in Oklahoma since the state resumed carrying out death penalties in 2021.

The nearly seven-year hiatus came after a series of problems arose during executions.

In 2014, a condemned prisoner writhed in apparent pain for 43 minutes before dying from a heart attack. The next year, a prisoner being executed told witnesses “it feels like acid” and “my body is on fire”.

Smith’s murders were committed while he was already on the run for a shooting death a year earlier.

Janet Moore was killed when he went to her house looking for her son, who Smith believed to be a police informant.

In a separate attack, Sarath Babu Pulluru was killed when Smith mistook him for another convenience store clerk who had made comments to a local newspaper about Smith’s criminal gang. Pulluru was shot nine times before being doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.

Smith died within minutes of receiving the lethal cocktail of three drugs, according to reporters who witnessed it at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

He was pronounced dead at 10:20 ET on Thursday, the Department of Corrections confirmed to the Flying Monkeys.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond released a statement after Smith was declared dead, saying: “I am grateful that justice has been served.” 

The family of Janet Moore also released a statement declaring that “justice has been served”   and thanking authorities for pursuing the punishment over the past 22 years.

“It does not go unnoticed or in vain, as we were constantly reminded this is justice for a loss that has caused a ripple for generations to come,” the family wrote.

Sharath Babu Pulluru’s family said in a statement that Sharath “will forever live in our hearts”. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Russell Crowe (60), Francis Ford Coppola (85), Jackie Chan (70), Paul Rudd (55), Michael Rooker (69), Zach Braff (49), John Ratzenberger (77), Billy Dee Williams (87), Lily James (35), Hayley Atwell (42), Mitch Pileggi (72), Pharrell Williams (51), Robert Downey Jr. (59), Natasha Lyonne (45), Hugo Weaving (64), Graham Norton (61), Amanda Bynes (38), Eddie Murphy (63), Alec Baldwin (66), Paris Jackson (26), Pedro Pascal (49), Michael Fassbender (47), Jesse Plemons (36), Emma Myers (22), Linda Hunt (79), Penelope Keith (84), Mackenzie Davis (37), Asa Butterfield (27), Annette O’Toole (72), Ali MacGraw (85), and Michael Praed (64).

7th April 2024 | Categories: 2024 | Leave A Comment »

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