Dead Pool 4th October 2026
So, a little housekeeping before we start with the mega points for Esther Rantzen. Over the last few months I have missed the following deaths, so did my AI checker, so it doesn’t look like Claude or I are going to be taking over the world any time soon.
- Lee U scores 103 points for the death of Brad Arnold in February.
- Ceri J scores 149 for the death of Baron Christopher in April. He was also her Cert.
- Mark K scores 69 points for the death of Michael Tilson Thomas in April.
- Julia B scores 91 points or the death of Richard Scolyer in June.
- Paul C scores 41 points for the death of Violet Hensley in August.
Scores on the doors have been adjusted accordingly.
Now onto the Rantzen Razzle Dazzle.
We can award 64 points to Lee U, Laura U, Paul C, Paula H and myself and an astounding 164 points to Julia B, Emma B, Martin G, Ceri J, Paul G, Christine A, Liz C as they either had her down as their Cert or Woman. Well done everyone.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Ronnie Golden, 78, British singer (The Fabulous Poodles) and comedian, heart attack.
- Dennis Haskins, 75, American actor (Saved by the Bell, Clemency, Max Keeble’s Big Move), complications from Parkinson’s disease.
- Pac, 40, English professional wrestler (AEW, WWE, Dragongate).
- Michael Wynn-Jones, 85, Welsh writer, editor and publisher. Husband of television cook Delia Smith.
- Dame Esther Rantzen, 86, English journalist, television presenter (That’s Life!) and philanthropist (Childline, The Silver Line), lung cancer.
- Mary Louise Weller, 79, American actress (Animal House, Forced Vengeance, The Bell Jar).
In Other News
Billy Joel wants fans to know he’s okay amid his brain disorder diagnosis. The music legend, 77, shared a health update on Wednesday with the Flying Monkeys. After discussing his song “Captain Jack,” Joel shot down some misconceptions about his battle with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), which is a build-up of fluid on the brain that can affect memory, movement, thinking, and concentrating. “I know people are worried about me because they read that I have a brain disorder, which sounds a lot worse than it actually is,” Joel said. “I’m okay. My balance isn’t that good. Lost a little bit of my hearing, but that may have to do with my age, too, and the rock and roll life and the loud volume probably didn’t help. But I’m fine. I want people to not have to worry about me. I’m okay.” Joel originally shared his diagnosis in May 2025 after he canceled his slate of concerts. The condition is exacerbated by performing, and his team shared it was “leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance.” Hence why the “Piano Man” singer has been taking a break from the stage, and recently underwent brain shunt surgery, which his medical team said would mitigate his symptoms. “I read up on it and I realised it can help improve your balance and can help your memory,” Joel said. “You know, I don’t want to lose my marbles. It’s hard to tell what’s age and what’s a condition, so I agreed to do the shunt, and I had a surgery, and they implanted a shunt in my brain.” So far, Joel said he’s noticed improvements with his health. “My memory got better, my balance got a little better, my ability to function was better,” he admitted. However, it doesn’t sound like he’s making a return to the stage anytime soon as he’s prioritising physical therapy and rest to ensure a healthy lifestyle. “I realised, and the doctors told me this, because of my job, which is playing rock and roll music very loud, that it was giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show. It was causing damage to my brain nerves and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did and I realised that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now. I gotta improve.”
Cliff Curtis was recently hospitalised with internal injuries after a road collision in Auckland, New Zealand. The famed actor, known for Hollywood projects like Avatar and Fear the Walking Dead, has confirmed to The Flying Monkeys that he was hospitalised with internal injuries after the crash on Auckland’s waterfront last week. The 58-year-old was one of two people in a Tesla when it crashed into a parked Prius taxi. The taxi driver was seriously injured in the collision. In a statement Curtis said, “I am deeply saddened by this incident. My thoughts are with those who were hurt, and their families at this time.” According to the actor, he helped the other injured parties with first aid until emergency services arrived on the scene. The Piano star noted that he was “collaborating fully with relevant authorities” during their investigation into the crash, and would therefore make no further comments “out of respect for the process.” Fire and Emergency Auckland city senior station officer Michael Manning told the Flying Monkeys that firefighters arrived on the scene to find a man trapped inside a Prius. He was cut out of the car and given life support. Two people, one in a serious condition and another in a moderate condition, were taken to Auckland City Hospital. No charges have been issued over the incident as yet, and the investigation is still ongoing.
On This Day
- 1883 – First run of the Orient Express.
- 1936 – The Metropolitan Police and various anti-fascist organisations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.
- 1957 – Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
Deaths
- 1669 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (born 1606).
- 1947 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1858).
- 1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (born 1943).
- 1989 – Graham Chapman, English actor & member of Monty Python (born 1941).
- 2010 – Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (born 1915).
Last Meals
Christa Pike is still in critical condition and receiving “lifesaving care” at a hospital, her lawyers said, after a failed attempt to execute her pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions this year and order an independent review.
Pike, who was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder, was taken to a hospital Wednesday night after surviving a double dose of the drug Tennessee uses to execute prisoners. “We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference. “But we know she is alive right now.”
The failed execution, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Republican Gov. Bill Lee to order a review, calling what happened “deeply disturbing” and indefinitely postponing Pike’s execution and another one that had been scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state’s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections. Spivey called the process cruel and torturous, saying he was “haunted” by watching and hearing Pike talking, singing and then snoring loudly during her more than 90 minutes in the death chamber.
Her attorneys also said it was unclear if she might have suffered brain damage from being deprived of oxygen.
May Martinez, whose daughter was murdered by Pike and her boyfriend and who traveled to Nashville to watch the execution, was also upset. “I didn’t get justice for my daughter, I watched the whole thing. She was awake. She was laughing. She was moving her head, moving her feet. She was trying to sit up,” Martinez said. “Didn’t work the first time they gave her a shot. It didn’t work the second time.”
It was not immediately clear what went wrong. Pike’s attorneys said there were a number of possibilities. The execution team worked for an hour to administer the lethal drugs, said Spivey, who counted at least seven needles in her left arm. During the struggle to locate a vein, Pike even suggested where they might find one, he said. “Please try here, please try here,” Spivey recalled her saying. “She told them over and over, please try higher on my shoulder.” At one point Pike asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way, though it’s unclear if it was after the first dose entered her body because officials don’t share that information.
Neither the initial nor the backup dose of pentobarbital worked. Pike was still snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt.
Another Pike attorney, Steve Ferrell, said she feared there would be complications because of a lifelong blood disorder that made it tough to get needles into her veins. “Throughout her life, she’s explained to us that she had trouble having blood drawn,” he said. It was quite possible, Ferrell said, that the IV line didn’t enter her vein properly and the drug was filling her arm instead of entering her bloodstream.
Pike’s lawyers now want her death sentence to be commuted. Now age 50, she was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year.
Strapped to a gurney, Pike described herself as at peace and said “I’m ready to be free. … This is a happy day.” But she remained awake, and at one point she complained about a feeling in her arm.
An hour after officials first raised the curtains, witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off almost 30 minutes later.
Her lawyers filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in “unnecessary agony” and the procedure violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment.
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. The killing stoked fears of Satan worship because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body. She didn’t dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but supporters argued that her mental illness and allegations of severe sexual abuse should be considered. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after the killing. “It took me numerous years to even realise the gravity of what I’d done,” she once said.
Pike was offered a last meal, however she turned it down, asking instead that the $20 she had to cover her final dinner be spent on her be used to buy pizza for homeless people in downtown Nashville.
Last Week’s Birthdays
Dakota Johnson (37), Christoph Waltz (70), Susan Sarandon (80), Nick Mohammed (46), Alicia Silverstone (50), Melissa Benoist (38), Lena Headey (53), Alicia Vikander (38), Neve Campbell (53), Seann William Scott (50), Clive Owen (62), Noah Schnapp (22), Gwen Stefani (57), Lorraine Bracco (72), Avery Brooks (78), Sting (75), Brie Larson (37), Julie Andrews (91), Zach Galifianakis (57), Randy Quaid (76), Larry Lamb (79), Monica Bellucci (62), Kieran Culkin (44), Omid Djalili (61), Nicholas Galitzine (32), Ian McShane (84), Zachary Levi (46), Erika Eleniak (57), Mackenzie Crook (55), Luke Goss (58), and Naomi Watts (58).
