Dead Pool 1st January 2017

Welcome all, let’s start off the last Newsletter of the year by handing out the final points. Millie gets 54 points for Richard Adams. Toby and Laura get 55 for Liz Smith whist I myself finally score with her as my Woman for 155. Unbelievably, Alex & Eliza had Carrie Fisher down as their Woman, 190 points! How did they know???

So, as you will see from the leader board, I can now officially declare that Laura has won the title of Angel of Death 2016! A whopping 654 points, which is an all time record for us here at TheDeadPool.rip

I’d like to also add a huge thank you for everyone who has taken part in 2016 and also for the generous donations we’ve received. We have more than covered the running costs so there will be a prize for 2017, either a cash pot or a deadly gift, all depends if something suitable crops up during the year. Let me wish you all good luck for 2017 and keep those Klaxxons coming, you’re usually quicker that TMZ!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Richard Adams, 96, British author (Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, Shardik), complications from a blood disorder.
• Rick Parfitt, 68, British singer, songwriter and guitarist (Status Quo), infection.
• Liz Smith, 95, English actress (The Royle Family, I Didn’t Know You Cared, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
• George Michael, 53, British singer (Wham!) and songwriter (“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go“, “Careless Whisper“, “Faith“), suspected heart failure.
• Vera Rubin, 88, American astronomer, innovator of dark matter theory, dementia.
• Sarah Clancy, 108, Irish centenarian, nation’s oldest person. 
• William Salice, 83, Italian businessman and inventor (Kinder Surprise), stroke.
• Carrie Fisher, 60, American actress (Star Wars, When Harry Met Sally…), novelist and screenwriter (Postcards from the Edge), complications from a heart attack.
• Debbie Reynolds, 84, American actress, dancer (Singin’ in the Rain, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Irene) and singer (“Tammy“), stroke.
• Allan Williams, 86, English businessman and promoter (The Beatles).

In Other News 

The Queen may miss the annual New Year’s Day church service at Sandringham after Buckingham Palace said the 90-year-old could still be too unwell to attend. A spokeswoman said: “The Queen is continuing to recover from her heavy cold and is still in the residence of Sandringham. We probably will not know what is happening until the morning.” The monarch has not been seen in public for 11 days since she and Prince Philip caught heavy colds, forcing them to cancel the traditional train journey to their north Norfolk estate for Christmas. Instead, the royal couple were flown directly from the palace by helicopter, with the Queen missing the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church for the first time in 28 years. Philip, 95, was well enough to go to the 25th December service with Prince Charles, Prince Harry and other family members before reportedly joining the traditional Boxing Day pheasant shoot. This comes after a tweet from a fake BBC News account claimed that The Queen had died; the palace was forced to issue a statement confirming she was still alive but a 24 hour media blackout before the New Years Honours List and her stepping down from being a patron to 25 high profile charities only exacerbated the rumours.

Talking about tweets, Sony Music has said sorry to pop star Britney Spears, after an official Twitter account suggested the pop star had died. The entertainment firm quickly removed the hoax tweets, saying its global account had been “compromised” but that the situation had “been rectified”. Sony added it “apologises to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion”. The 35-year-old did not react directly to the tweet, but her manager confirmed the singer was “fine and well”. As well Sony’s Twitter account, the official account of Bob Dylan also appears to have been hacked. It tweeted: “Rest in peace @britneyspears” around the time of the fake Sony tweets. After the tweets were published, a group called OurMine appears to have gained access to the Sony Music account and pointed out the security breach. It is not clear whether it was also responsible for the original false messages.

Former football star Paul Gascoigne was taken to hospital after an alcohol-fuelled fight at a hotel, it has been reported. Mr Gascoigne, 49, was “racially abusing” customers at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, east London, and throwing money at them, according to a witness. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to a disturbance at the hotel shortly after 6pm on Tuesday before a 49-year-old man was taken to hospital with a head injury. Witness Alvin Carpio said the former England and Newcastle United striker, who has long-battled alcoholism, appeared “very drunk” during the altercation. He tweeted: “Gazza has just been kicked down the stairs by a guy whose friend got slapped by him. He really isn’t in a good place. “It’s a sad state: He’s been spitting, making racist remarks & groping women, all while throwing around £ notes. “He was racially abusing my mates, and hitting one of them on the shoulder and head before throwing a £20 note on him.” Mr Gascoigne’s spokesman, Terry Baker, said the troubled star had been taken to hospital with a head wound. Mr Baker added: “He hasn’t been arrested. He’s about to be released and sent home.” Mr Gascoigne was fined £1,000 at Dudley Magistrates’ Court in September after racially abusing a bodyguard who was employed to protect him. Twat….

Ex-world champion Ricky Hatton says he tried to kill himself on several occasions in a battle with depression. The Briton also talked about the need for boxers to get more help after retiring, when he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today show. “I tried to kill myself several times,” said Hatton, 38, who retired in 2012. “I used to go to the pub, come back, take the knife out and sit there in the dark crying hysterically.” Hatton, who previously spoke to the BBC in 2011 about attempted suicide and depression, won the world light-welterweight and welterweight titles. He was stripped of his licence to box in 2010 after admitting using cocaine and retired the next year before fighting once more. He is now a promoter and trainer. He continued: “There were times when I hadn’t had a drink for days and I’d still come home and if something went through my mind I’d start pondering something. It was the same outcome whether I was having a drink or wasn’t having a drink. “But in the end I thought I’ll end up drinking myself to death because I was so miserable. “I was coming off the rails with my drinking and that led to drugs. It was like a runaway train.”  Hatton feels “more should be done for boxers” with depression, with ex-world champions Tyson Fury and Frank Bruno among other Britons to have suffered with the illness.

A post-mortem examination into the cause of George Michael’s death was “inconclusive” police have said. The star died aged 53 on Christmas Day at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. More tests will now be carried out to determine what led to his death, Thames Valley Police said in a statement. The results of these tests are unlikely to be known for several weeks. Michael’s death is still being treated as unexplained but not suspicious. South Central Ambulance Service were called to Michael’s property at 13:42 GMT on 25th December and the singer was confirmed dead at the scene. Thames Valley Police also attended. Michael’s partner Fadi Fawaz said he had found the singer lying “peacefully in bed”. He told the media: “I went round there to wake him up and he was just gone. We don’t know what happened yet.” Michael’s manager, Michael Lippman, said the singer had died of heart failure. Michael, who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in north London, sold more than 100 million albums throughout a career spanning almost four decades. Charities and individuals lined up to pay tribute to George following his death and also reveal stories of generosity. A close friend predicted that he will have donated some or all of his future song royalties to charity. He said: “If he did something like this it means the good causes would receive a yearly boost from George even after his death. It is just the kind of thing he would do because he was so generous.” Sad loss…

The family of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher are reportedly planning a joint memorial service. The Singin’ In The Rain star, 84, died from a suspected stroke on Wednesday, while grieving for her daughter Fisher, who died just a day earlier. Fisher, 60, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, died after suffering a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles. Reynolds’ son said: “It’s what we want to do, but we’re still working on the mechanics. “We like the idea, if it’s at all possible. I think it’s appropriate.” Mr Fisher announced his mother’s death on Wednesday, revealing that her last words were: ‘I want to be with Carrie”. He confirmed to US network ABC News that there is currently no date or location for the mother-daughter funeral, but plans are in process.

On This Day

• 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1st as the new date of the new year.
• 1600 – Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1st instead of March 25th.
• 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.
• 1772 – The first traveler’s cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities, go on sale in London, England.
• 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
• 1808 – The importation of slaves into the United States is banned.
• 1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
• 1873 – Japan begins using the Gregorian calendar.
• 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
• 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
• 1934 – Alcatraz Island becomes a United States federal prison.
• 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
• 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
• 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
• 1999 – The Euro currency is introduced in 11 countries – members of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).

Deaths

• 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
• 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
• 1972 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
• 1994 – Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
• 2001 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jared Leto (45), Maggie Smith (82), Denzel Washington (62), Ellie Goulding (30), LeBron James (32), Tiger Woods (41), Annie Lennox (62), Anthony Hopkins (79), Sissy Spacek (67),  Ben Kingsley (73), Sienna Miller (35), Jon Voight (78), Ted Danson (69), Eliza Dushku (36), Jude Law (44), Marianne Faithfull (70), Val Kilmer (57), John Amos (77), Mary Tyler Moore  (80), Shane MacGowan (59), Patti Smith (70), Gerard Depardieu (68), Tracy Ullman (57), Lars Ulrich (53), Helena Christensen (48), Stan Lee (94), Noomi Rapace (37), Michael Nesmith (74), Masi Oka (42), Danny McBride (40) and Jay Kay (47).

Next week peeps!

1st January 2017 | Categories: 2016, 2017 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 2016 Review

2016 is over and we now have a winner! Congratulations to Laura, she scored a whopping 654 points and wins the coveted title of Angel of Death 2016! A small prize will be winging its way to you once it arrives from Satan, or the extremely talented Sarai as we know her!!

So, let’s have a look at 2016; it does seem that there have been a lot of celebrity deaths, but when you look back to 2015, there were just as many notable demises and just as many recognisable faces, although this last week in December was a tad brutal.

2017 might see as many again, as what seems to be the culprit is that it’s much easier to become a celebrity nowadays.

So lets have a look at some of the celebrities we lost during 2016…

The Dead Pool Review of the Year   

January

Abe Vigoda, Cecil Parkinson, Terry Wogan, Glen Frey, Sheila Sim, David Bowie, David Margulies, Alan Rickman, Dan Haggerty, Omis Clay, Ed Stewart, Lemmy, Natalie Cole, Wayne Rogers.

February

Frank Kelly, Tony Burton, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Harper Lee, Umberto Eco, George Gaynes, Margaret Forster, Maurice White.

March   

Rob Ford, Johan Cruyff, Garry Shandling, Sylvia Anderson, Nancy Reagan, Paul Daniels, George Martin, Keith Emerson, George Kennedy.

April

Victoria Wood, Prince, Howard Marks, David Gest, Gareth Thomas, Amber Rayne, Erik Bauersfeld, Patty Duke, Ronnie Corbett.

May

Burt Kwouk, Susannah Mushatt Jones, Jonathan Cainer, Barry Howard.

June

Anton Yeltsin, Jo Cox, Harambe, Carla Lane, Muhammad Ali, Dave Swarbrick.

July, August & September

J.T. McNamara, Jerry Doyle, Vivian Gray, John Pigeon, John McMartin, Gladys Hooper, Caroline Ahern, Michael Cimino.

Joao Havelange, Padraig Duggan, Gerald Grosvenor – The Duke of Westminster, Kenny Baker, Barry  Jenner, David Huddleston.

Bill Nunn, Alexis Arquette, Prince Buster, Gene Wilder.

October

Pete Burns, Bobby Vee, Raine Spencer, Jean Alexander, Bhumibol Adulyadej, Jean Shepard, Shimon Peres, Ann Emery.

November

Florence Henderson, Fidel Castro, Ron Glass, David Hamilton, Leon Russell, Leonard Cohen, Jimmy Young, Robert Vaughn, Curly Putman, John Carson.

December

Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rick Parfitt, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Ian McCaskill, Michael Nicholson, Henry Heimlich, Peter Vaughan, Greg Lake, John Glenn, A.A. Gill, Andrew Sachs, Margaret Rhodes, George Michael, Liz Smith, Richard Adams.

1st January 2017 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead pool 25th December 2016

Welcome to the penultimate edition of The Dead Pool Newsletter 2016! We have points to award, Zsa Zsa has finally been released from her long wait. It would probably be easier for me to list who didn’t have her, but since 19 people had her listed let’s just say well done to all of you, either 51 or 151 points awarded for those who did, just check the leader board to see the change in scores but no real change in positions.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank myself for producing this weekly monstrosity, even on Christmas Day! and if you feel the same, please donate towards the running costs on the website, everything is very much appreciated. As you will see, some very generous people have already set the ball in motion but please don’t feel like you have to, I know we all struggle at this time of year.

All that is left for me to say is, keep working on those lists for 2017, you have until 31st December to hand them in and I hope you all survive the Christmas overindulgence so that you can take part next year. As you will see from this week’s league table, you might want to think a little longer on who you decide your Big Three will be. All of the top scorers have had at least two of their biggies drop, so make sure to take this advantage yourselves in 2017!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99, Hungarian-born American actress (Moulin Rouge, Touch of Evil, Lili) and socialite, heart attack.
• Lionel Blue, 86, British rabbi, journalist and broadcaster, complications from Parkinson’s disease.
• Deddie Davies, 78, Welsh actress (The Railway Children, Stella) and musician (The Zimmers).
• Frank Murray, 66, British band manager (Thin Lizzy, The Pogues), suspected heart attack.
• Philip Saville, 86, British television director and screenwriter.
• Piers Sellers, 61, British astronaut and meteorologist, pancreatic cancer.
• Rick Parfitt, 68, British musician and songwriter (Status Quo), complications from shoulder injury.

In Other News 

Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, is in intensive care after suffering a heart attack during a flight, her brother says. Fisher, 60, went into cardiac arrest minutes before the end of the London to LA flight. Passengers attempted to revive her with CPR and she was taken to hospital when the plane landed after midday local time. “If everyone could just pray for her that would be good,” her brother Todd said. “The doctors are doing their thing and we don’t want to bug them. We are waiting by patiently.” Fisher had been on tour promoting her latest book, The Princess Diarist. The heart attack happened about 15 minutes before the plane landed in LA, a medic who was travelling on the plane administered CPR. Paramedics then spent a further 15 minutes administering more CPR to Fisher before getting a pulse, TMZ reported. The actress was on a ventilator in the UCLA medical centre. A law enforcement official told NBC that her condition was “not good”.

The Queen missed the traditional Christmas day church service at Sandringham for the first time in almost 30 years as she continues to fight a heavy cold, Buckingham Palace said. The 90-year-old monarch has attended the annual service ever since the Royal family began visiting Sandringham in 1988. Before then, the family stayed at Windsor for Christmas. This morning, Prince Charles, The Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry, the Earl of Wessex and Prince Andrew were seen making their way from Sandringham House to the service. Hundreds of no-lifers had gathered outside the church, with some assholes arriving before dawn. The Queen and Prince Philip, 95, were stuck down with colds earlier this week and had to delay the departure of their holiday by 24 hours. Buckingham Palace revealed on Wednesday the royal couple had both come down with “ heavy colds”, leading to the last minute postponement of their annual trip. While the Queen usually takes the train every year to her Norfolk estate, the pair made the 100-mile journey by helicopter, with Royal aides suggesting that it had turned out to be the most practical method of travelling at short notice.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been injured by a knife-wielding attacker, believed to be a burglar, at her home in the Czech Republic. Kvitova, 26, was stabbed in the left hand when she tried to defend herself but her injuries are not life-threatening. She tweeted: ‘In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand. I am shaken, but fortunate to be alive.’  Kvitova was attacked this morning in the town of Prostejov in the east of the country, which is home to a national tennis academy. Prostejov police spokesman Frantisek Korinek said the attacker, who was aged about 35, escaped from the house and a manhunt is under way.  Kvitova tweeted: ‘The injury is severe and I will need to see specialists, but if you know anything about me I am strong and I will fight this. Thank you all again for your love and support.’

On This Day

• 336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.
• 800 – The Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
• 1066 – William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
• 1914 – A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.
• 1946 – The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union‘s F-1 nuclear reactor.
• 1989 – Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.

Deaths

• 1946 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, juggler, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
• 1977 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director (b. 1889)
• 1989 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian general and politician, 1st President of Romania (b. 1918)
• 1995 – Dean Martin, American singer and actor (b. 1917)
• 2006 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
• 2008 – Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress (b. 1927)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Brad Pitt (53), Katie Holmes (38), Jake Gyllenhall (36), Alyssa Milano (44), Kiefer Sutherland (50),  Jane Fonda (79), Samuel L. Jackson (68), Ralph Fiennes (54), Eddie Vedder (52), Ricky Martin (45), Vanessa Paradis (44), Steven Spielberg (70), Christina Aguilera (36), Keith Richards (73), Ray Liotta (62), Johan Hill (33), Stephanie Meyer (43), Steve Austin (52), Jennifer Beals (53), Phil Donahue (81), Chris Evert (62), Carla Bruni (49), and Kirsty Swanson (47).

Next week peeps!

25th December 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 18th December 2016

Welcome all, another edition hits the stands. Congratulations to Millie, the only one to guess that Henry Heimlich would pass away this year. Luckily she listed him as a Cert, thus garnering a total of 154 points! Woo!

Now, we only have two weeks left to go, I hope you are all working hard on your lists. Also, remind your friends and get them in on the game as well. The rules are here, if you want to link them and also point them towards the donations page 😉

Onto email Klaxxons, I’d like to know what you think of them. Some people love them, others despise them. I have had a few people drop out of the email list because of them, but some of you, perhaps like me, do rather enjoy having the interaction within our group and a reminder of who’s died. Sometimes it seems the email arrives before the media get hold of the news!! Depending on your reaction, Klaxxons may be consigned to The Hole™

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ian McCaskill, 78, British meteorologist and weatherman.
• Michael Nicholson, 79, British journalist and war correspondent.
• E. R. Braithwaite, 104, Guyanese novelist (To Sir, With Love) and diplomat.
• Jim Prior, Baron Prior, 89, British politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1981–1984) and Employment (1979–1981).
• Alan Thicke, 69, Canadian actor (Growing Pains, Not Quite Human), talk show host (The Alan Thicke Show), and songwriter, heart attack.
• Bernard Fox, 89, Welsh-American actor (Bewitched, Titanic, The Mummy), heart failure.
• Henry Heimlich, 96, American physician and inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, complications from a heart attack.

In Other News

Bruce Springsteen’s wife helps him pull “back into his life” when he is gripped by depression. The 67-year-old musician revealed earlier this year he was “crushed” by the disease in his early 60s, and says his spouse Patti Scialfa helps him see how “blessed” his life is when he is experiencing one of his dark periods. He said: “Patti’s very helpful, and sometimes just time. Or sometimes the correct medication, you need the right drugs. That can really help also. “These are all things that can pull you back into your life and certainly in my case how blessed my life has been. “I have developed some skills that help me deal with it but still, it is a powerful, powerful thing, it really comes up and there are things that still remain unexplainable to me.” Let’s hope that she goes on a long vacation…

Larry Lamb finds ageing “frightening at times”. The 69-year-old actor says everything changed for him when he turned 65 and admits it was then he realised that the “clock had started ticking”. He said: “You suddenly realise that you’re not immortal anymore. One minute you’re mortal and then you suddenly realise that you’re not. The clock starts ticking, you get your pension and you know you’re heading towards the end. “You never used to know where you were heading in life and then it all changes, You begin to feel like an old man and it’s frightening at times.”

Tony Bennett has decided he’ll never retire from making music because “it’s too late” to give up. The 90-year-old music legend has decided it would be pointless to end his career despite being only 10 years off 100 as there is still so much more he wants to achieve. Talking about reaching the ripe age of 90, he previously said: “I turn 90 tomorrow and feel like I’m just getting started and look forward to each day.” So do we Tony, so do we.

Lionel Blair has “always” lied about his age for many years, but has finally revealed he is three years older than he had previously let on. The British actor has admitted he has been pretending to be three years younger than he actually is for his entire life, but has finally decided to come clean about how old he is whilst celebrating his 88th birthday this week. However, the veteran performer has revealed despite telling a little white lie about his age, his hair is real and all his own. Lionel has revealed he would like nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of fellow actor Kirk Douglas, who hit a major milestone of 100 years old last week. And the star has hinted his hectic lifestyle and heavy work schedule is the secret to keeping him feeling young and, although he he hasn’t been offered many acting roles lately, he believes he will be inundated with work commitments in the New Year.

On This Day

• 1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in October.
• 1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognised land speed record of 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car.
• 1981 – First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, the world’s largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.

Deaths

• 1932 – Eduard Bernstein, German theorist and politician (b. 1850)
• 1993 – Sam Wanamaker, American-English actor, director, and producer (b. 1919)
• 1997 – Chris Farley, American comedian and actor (b. 1964)
• 2000 – Kirsty MacColl, British singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
• 2006 – Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (b. 1911)
• 2008 – Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (b. 1932)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Taylor Swift (27), Jamie Foxx (49), Eugene Levy (70), John Kerry (73), Christopher Plummer (87), Steve Buscemi (59), Dick Van Dyke (91), Vanessa Hudgens (28), Don Johnson (67), Jennifer Connelly (46), Bill Pullman (63), Milla Jovovich (41), Pope Francis (80), Ernie Hudson (71), Billy Gibbons (67), Dionne Warwick (76) and Laurie Holden (47).

Next week peeps!

18th December 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 11th December 2016

Welcome all, a short and sweet edition hits the press! No points to be awarded this week but if things     were slightly different, one of next years contestants would have close to 300 points already!!!! So this should show you how hard you should be trying to make sure your list hits the top spot next year!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Billy Chapin, 72, American child actor (The Night of the Hunter).
• Wayne Duncan, 72, Australian musician (Daddy Cool), stroke.
• Margaret Whitton, 67, American actress (Major League, The Secret of My Success, Steaming), cancer.
• Peter Vaughan, 93, British actor (Game of Thrones, Brazil, Porridge).
• Greg Lake, 69, English singer and musician (King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer), cancer.
• John Glenn, 95, American astronaut (Mercury-Atlas 6) and politician, U.S. Senator from Ohio (1974–1999).
• Joseph Mascolo, 87, American actor (Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, Jaws 2), complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
• A. A. Gill, 62, British writer and restaurant critic (The Sunday Times), cancer.

In Other News 

One of Jared Leto’s L.A. homes was the scene of a panic Friday evening that had firefighters searching the grounds. LAFD says it got a call to the residence in Laurel Canyon because someone smelled smoke. We’re told everyone inside the house had been evacuated by the time firefighters arrived and started going through the 50,000 sq. ft complex. Good news for Jared — who was home at the time, we’re told — firefighters found nothing burning. No fire. No damage. No messy insurance claims. No deaths. Win-win-win-boo.

Batman star Val Kilmer has been seen struggling to speak with a severely swollen tongue – after denying he has cancer. Last month, Val clarified rumours around his health, but now the actor shocked an audience in LA on Thursday night when he had  trouble speaking. The 56 year old took to the stage to explain that his tongue and swollen and he was still recovering. He didn’t explain what caused the swelling and dabbed saliva from his mouth while he joked with the audience. The actor explained that he’s had to cancel his tour of his one-man play version of Twain. Earlier this month, Michael Douglas — who beat stage 4 oral cancer in 2013 — was speaking at a Q&A in London when he talked about Val battling oral cancer. “Things don’t look too good for him,” the 72 year old said.

On This Day

• 1282 – Battle of Orewin Bridge: Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, in mid-Wales.
• 1972 – Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.

Deaths

• 1964 – Sam Cooke, American singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
• 1996 – Willie Rushton, English cartoonist, author, and publisher, co-founded Private Eye (b. 1937)
• 2008 – Bettie Page, American model (b. 1923)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jay Z (47), Marisa Tomei (54), Judd Apatow (49), Nicki Minaj (34), John Malkovich (63), Judi Dench (82), Tyra Banks (43), Jeff Bridges (67), Kim Basinger (63), Kirk Douglas (100), Ann Coulter (55), Teri Hatcher (52), Dominic Monaghan (40), Kenneth Branagh (56), Beau Bridges (75), Sinead O’Connor (50), Donny Osmond (59), Margaret Cho (48), Little Richard (84), Frankie Muniz (31) and Nicole Appleton (42).

Next week peeps!

11th December 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 4th December 2016

Welcome all to the first Dead Pool Newsletter of December!!! As per usual, I do a bit of housekeeping and go through each of your lists with a fine tooth-comb and award points for all those dead people I missed throughout the year. I thought I’d been rather good at not missing anyone, however, I was very wrong! But before we get onto that, lets congratulate Julia for getting Margaret Rhodes for 59 points!

• Apologies to Julie and Martin, both guessed that TV Presenter Cliff Michelmore would die this year, 56 points each.
• Apologies also go to Alex & Eliza, the musician Scotty Moore died back in June, another 66 points awarded!
• Apologies to Laura, actress Lupita Tovar died in November at the age of 106, but she also listed her as her Woman, so 144 points!
• Apologies to Wombat, who correctly guessed cinematographer Douglas Slocombe who died at the age of 103 back in February.
• Apologies to Luke, chemist Adam Bielañski died in September at the age of 103.

Points awarded all round!! So, that changed a few positions on the league table with only four weeks to go!!!  I hope I don’t need to remind you that you should be working on your list for 2017!!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Bernard Gallagher, 87, British actor (Casualty, Crown Court, Downton Abbey).
• John Mansfield, 108, British centenarian, oldest man in the United Kingdom.
• Keo Woolford, 49, American filmmaker and actor (Hawaii Five-0), complications from a stroke.
• Andrew Sachs, 86, German-born British actor (Fawlty Towers, Coronation Street, Hitler: The Last Ten Days), dementia.
• Margaret Rhodes, 91, British writer, cousin of Elizabeth II.
• Alice Drummond, 88, American actress (Awakenings, Ghostbusters, Where the Heart Is), complications from a fall.
• Peng Chang-kuei, 97, Taiwanese chef, inventor of General Tso’s Chicken, pneumonia.
• Jim Delligatti, 98, American entrepreneur, creator of the Big Mac.
• Don Calfa, 76, American actor (The Return of the Living Dead, Weekend at Bernie’s, Me, Myself and I).
• And an airplane full of Brazilians.

In Other News

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has been evacuated from the South Pole after falling ill. The 86-year-old former astronaut was visiting Antarctica in a tourist group and was evacuated to New Zealand. He has fluid in his lungs but is responding well to treatment, a statement on his website said. He is being kept overnight for observation. Mr Aldrin’s manager Christina Korp, who accompanied him, said he was in good spirits. She described the last 24 hours as “gruelling”, posting a picture on Twitter of Mr Aldrin giving the thumbs up while being lifted on a stretcher.

Ex-youth football coach Barry Bennell, who is at the centre of a sex abuse scandal, has been taken to hospital after being found unconscious. The convicted sex offender was found at an address in Knebworth Park, Stevenage on Friday, Thames Valley Police said. The force said it was called to a “fear for welfare” incident and the 62-year-old was still in hospital. Bennell was named last week by several former footballers who alleged they were abused as children. Five police forces are now investigating claims of historical abuse. Bennell, who also worked for Manchester City, Stoke and junior teams in north-west England and the Midlands, was given a four-year sentence for raping a British boy on a football tour of Florida in 1994 and a nine-year sentence in 1998 for 23 offences against six boys in England. He was jailed for a third time in 2015 after admitting abusing a boy at a 1980 football camp in Macclesfield. Bennell was said to have moved out of his home in Milton Keynes when the new allegations came to light.

Kanye West is reportedly back at home more than a week after he was admitted to hospital with exhaustion. According to multiple reports in the US, the rapper left UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles with wife Kim Kardashian and his doctor, Michael Farzam. The 39-year-old was admitted to hospital last Monday suffering from “temporary psychosis due to sleep deprivation and dehydration”. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) responded to a report of a disturbance last week but later said it was a “medical emergency”. The rapper was admitted to hospital a day after he cancelled his Saint Pablo tour after a series of rants on-stage.

And finally, Emma Morano, who just turned 117 years old, says she doesn’t want to celebrate her birthday, but people came from all over the world to see her anyway. When she was born, Umberto I was still reigning over Italy, Fiat had only just been established and Milan Football Club was still a few weeks off creation. Looking back on a life which has not only spanned three centuries but also survived an abusive marriage which started with blackmail, the loss of her only son and a diet which most would describe as anything but balanced. Ms Morano, the oldest of eight siblings, all of whom she has outlived, was born on 29th November 1899 in the Piedmont region of Italy. This year, she officially became the world’s oldest living woman after American Susannah Mushatt Jones died in May. She is also officially the last person still living born in the 1800s. Ms Morano’s longevity, she admits, is partly down to genetics – her mother reached 91 and several sisters reached their centenary – and partly, she says, down to a rather unusual diet of three eggs – two raw – each day for more than 90 years. It was a regime she took up as a young woman, after the doctor diagnosed her with anaemia shortly after World War One. These days, she has cut down to just two eggs a day, and a few biscuits. Let’s all wish her a very happy birthday!

On This Day

• 1791 – The first edition of The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, is published.
• 1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.
• 1954 – The first Burger King is opened in Miami.

Deaths

• 1642 – Cardinal Richelieu, French cardinal and politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1585)
• 1850 – William Sturgeon, English physicist, invented the electric motor (b. 1783)
• 1902 – Charles Dow, American journalist and publisher, co-founded the Dow Jones & Company (b. 1851)
• 1993 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1940)
• 2015 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (b. 1930)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Ben Stiller (51), Woody Allen (81), Ozzy Osbourne (68), Julianne Moore (56), Don Cheadle (52), Britney Spears (35), Jon Stewart (54), Bette Midler (71), Ed Harris (66), Randy Newman (73), Joel Cohen (62), Lucy Liu (48), Billy Idol (61), Mandy Patinkin (64), Amanda Seyfried (31), Ridley Scott (79), Nelly Furtado (38), Brendan Fraser (48), Bill Nye (61), Judd Nelson (57), Diane Ladd (84), Tom Sizemore (55) and Daryl Hannah (56).

Next week peeps!

4th December 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 27th November 2016

Welcome to a busy week for the Dead Pool! A stalwart name on many a list has finally    passed away, Fidel Castro died at the age of 90. This gives 60 points to Lee, Laura, Mark, Dave, Wendy, Sarai, Stu, Millie and Paula. Strangely enough, nobody had him down as a Cert. This has changed the league table somewhat, we have a new points leader and with just over a month to play, it’s very close at the top.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Peter Sumner, 74, Australian actor (Ned Kelly, Star Wars, Heartbreak High).
• Florence Henderson, 82, American actress (The Brady Bunch) and singer (Fanny), heart failure.
• Fidel Castro, 90, Cuban politician, Prime Minister (1959–1976), President (1976–2008).
• Ron Glass, 71, American actor (Barney Miller, Firefly, Lakeview Terrace).
• David Hamilton, 83, British photographer, suspected suicide.

In Other News

US rapper Kanye West has been taken to hospital following an emergency services call. A police spokesperson said they had received a “disturbance call” on Monday afternoon, but did not name the singer. The disturbance was later deemed a medical incident, he said, and the fire department responded. A spokesman for the LA Fire Department said an unnamed man had been taken to hospital for “further assessment”. Further details of the incident naming West varied in conflicting reports from multiple news sources. NBC News said officers had been responding to a “medical welfare call” and the decision to hospitalise West was for his own health and safety, citing “multiple authorities familiar with the case”. Gossip website TMZ said that West was taken to hospital for “psychiatric evaluation” and had been seeking treatment for “severe sleep deprivation”. Before news broke of West’s hospital treatment, Kardashian West’s mother, Kris Jenner, spoke to US media about the rapper’s reasons for cancelling his shows. “He’s exhausted, he’s just really tired. He’s had a gruelling tour and it’s been a grind so he just needs some rest,” she told US TV show Extra. The rapper had cancelled all remaining dates on his current tour after abandoning a Sacramento performance at the weekend. He had performed just three songs on Saturday night, before embarking on an unscripted rant, criticising Facebook, Jay Z and Hillary Clinton. He criticised Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg for failing to give him $53m (£42.5m) to get out of debt and said he was hurt that Jay Z failed to visit his family after last month’s robbery. West then appeared to suggest that Jay Z employed hit men, saying: “Jay Z, I know you got killers, please don’t send them at my head.” “Get ready to have a field day, press, because the show’s over,” he said, as he dropped his microphone and walked out. His promoter, Live Nation, has announced refunds for all tickets from the show.

The former British middleweight champion Nick Blackwell was in a “stable condition” in hospital last night after he was taken ill having reportedly been involved in a sparring session. Blackwell had retired from competitive boxing after recovering from being put into an induced coma following March’s fight against Chris Eubank Jnr, where he collapsed shortly after being stopped. The 26-year-old from Trowbridge was found to have suffered a bleed on the skull following that fight, but woke without requiring an operation and made encouraging progress. Although Blackwell had his boxer’s licence removed by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) after his ordeal, he retained a trainer’s licence. The BBBofC general secretary, Robert Smith, confirmed on Saturday evening that Blackwell was in hospital. “We are investigating this matter and it will be fully looked into, but it is very early days. We understand that Blackwell was sparring some time this week and he has undergone a procedure. We don’t know exactly what the procedure was yet. We have spoken to a number of people about this and we will be putting the full facts together.”

On This Day

• 176 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius grants his son Commodus the rank of “Imperator” and makes him Supreme Commander of the Roman legions.
• 1835 – James Pratt and John Smith are hanged in London; they are the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.
• 1895 – At the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signs his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he dies.

Deaths

• 1852 – Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1815)
• 1895 – Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (b. 1824)
• 1934 – Baby Face Nelson, American criminal (b. 1908)
• 1978 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Irvin Kershner, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1923)
• 2011 – Ken Russell, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
• 2011 – Gary Speed, Welsh footballer and manager (b. 1969)
• 2014 – P. D. James, English author (b. 1920)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Miley Cyrus (24), Mark Ruffalo (49), Goldie Hawn (71), Joe Binden (74), Scarlett Johansson (32), Jamie Lee Curtis (58), Christian Applegate (45), Tina Turner (77), Sarah Hyland (26), Bo Derek (60), John Larroquette (68), Rita Ora (26), Bjork (51), Boris Becker (49), Carly Rae Jepsen (31),  Terry Gilliam (76), Billy Jean King (73), Natasha Bedingfield (35), Peter Facinelli (43) and Ming-Na Wen (53).

Next week peeps!

27th November 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 20th November 2016

Afternoon all, welcome to spot the dead celebrity week. Maybe I’m being a little cruel and uneducated, but fuck me, who are these people? Six more weeks to go and all to pay for.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Leon Russell, 74, American Hall of Fame musician (The Wrecking Crew) and songwriter (“Tight Rope“).
• Lisa Lynn Masters, 53, American actress (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Girl in the Book, Gossip Girl), apparent suicide by hanging.
• Sharon Jones, 60, American singer (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings), pancreatic cancer.
• Yevgeni Lazarev, 79, Russian-American actor (Iron Man 2, The Sum of All Fears, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), cardiac arrest.

In Other News 

Restaurant critic AA Gill has revealed he has been diagnosed with the “full English” of cancers. The illness prompted his engagement to his partner of 23 years, Nicola Formby, with whom he has two children. Doctors found he had cancer, which has spread from his lungs to other parts of his body, after he went for an X-ray when people noticed he had lost weight. Gill, 62, who is having chemotherapy, said he does not “feel cheated” and has been “very lucky” in his life. The columnist, who is restaurant and TV critic for the Sunday Times, told the paper: “I’ve got an embarrassment of cancer, the full English. “There is barely a morsel of offal not included. I have a trucker’s gut-buster, gimpy, malevolent, meaty malignancy.” Doctors found he had a smoking-related cancer which had spread from his lungs – despite him giving up smoking 15 years ago. The illness has meant he is unable to ride a bike because one tumour affects his balance and he has been banned from flying because he cannot risk infections. Gill told readers of his column he was revealing his diagnosis because chemotherapy can alter the way things taste, adding: “If ever things start tasting like licked battery terminals, I’ll tell you.” Gill said he had visited a private doctor and paid for his own X-rays, but wanted to go back into the NHS because of the “connection it brings”. He told the newspaper: “My father would say he didn’t want to die in the trench, and I don’t want to die in a trench in Harley Street.”

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson has told how she feared she was going to die when doctors revealed she had a brain tumour. The 44-year-old former “It girl” has received treatment for the non-malignant growth in her pituitary gland since January and said it had now cleared. She told the media: “I went to the doctors to talk about my latest blood test results when I got back from skiing in January. I said: ‘What does this mean? Can you translate it?’ And the doctor said: ‘As I suspected, you have a brain tumour’.” “I got terribly frightened. I started thinking, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die. I’ve only got a couple of weeks to live.’ Stuff like that.” Palmer-Tomkinson, who has battled drug problems in the past, also said the blood tests found she was suffering with an auto-immune disease which had caused tiredness, joint pain and acute anaemia. So nothing to do with cocaine then..

An 89-year-old Canadian has made headlines for digging his own grave. “I love digging,” Jimmy Kickham, from Prince Edward Island, told CBC News, saying he feels pride in his personal project. Mr Kickham, who owns a construction business, has been digging graves and trenches for more than 60 years. “One day I just thought I’d do my own if I lived to be 90,” Mr Kichkam explained. He is in good health but turns 90 on Thursday. “I love digging. Just one of those things that gets into your system. It’s just work. Money. No matter what they wanted dug, I could do it,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr Kichkam still works on most days, using the same earth mover that he bought 45 years ago. Eric Gallant, a maintenance worker for the St Alexis church in Rollo Bay, said he had never come across anything like it. “It’s something else. That’s one of a kind, I figure,” he said. “The only thing that’s missing is his casket.” “And me!” Mr Kickham quipped.

On This Day

• 1947 – The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.
• 1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
• 1990 – Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union‘s most prolific serial killers, is arrested; he eventually confesses to 56 killings.
• 1992 – In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
• 1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.

Deaths

• 1910 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (b. 1828)
• 2006 – Robert Altman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Peter Dimmock, English sportscaster and producer (b. 1920)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Rachel McAdams (38), Owen Wilson (48), Jodie Foster (54), Prince Charles (68), Meg Ryan (55), Jimmy Kimmel (49), Danny DeVito (72), Whoopi Goldberg (61), Larry King (83), Maggie Gyllenhaal (39), Linda Evans (74), Martin Scorsese (74), Gerard Butler (47), Anni-Frid Lyngstad (71), Beverly D’Angelo (65), Calvin Klein (74), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (58), Lauren Hutton (73), Martha Plimpton (46), RuPaul (56), Delroy Lindo (64), Sophie Marceau (50), Missi Pyle (44), Chad Kroeger (42) and Condoleezza Rice (62).

Next week peeps!

20th November 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 13th November 2016

Good afternoon all, welcome to yet more deadly hilarity! Again, no points to award, we’re not doing so well considering celebrities are dying like flies this year!!!

So, let’s talk about next year! You now have seven weeks remaining to research and submit your new list. Sounds like a lot of time, but remember how long it took you to get around to watching that box set? Yeah…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Leonard Cohen, 82, Canadian singer-songwriter (“Suzanne“, “Hallelujah“, “First We Take Manhattan“), poet and novelist (Let Us Compare Mythologies, Beautiful Losers).
• Julie Gregg, 79, American actress (The Godfather, The Happy Time, Batman), cancer.
• Sir Jimmy Young, 95, British radio personality (Radio 2) and singer (“Unchained Melody“, “The Man from Laramie“).
• Robert Vaughn, 83, American actor (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Magnificent Seven, Hustle), acute leukemia.

In Other News

Jill Gascoine is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, her heartbroken husband has revealed. Actor Alfred Molina said his wife’s prognosis was “bleak” and that she was in latter stages of the disease. Gascoine, 79, is best known for her role ITV’s The Gentle Touch  which ran from 1980 to 1984 and, at its height, was regularly watched by 18 million viewers. The actress also played a recurring role in the hugely popular 1970s drama The Onedin Line. Molina, who is 16 years younger than his wife, told The Radio Times: “Not everyone can approach Alzheimer’s with the bravery that Terry Pratchett showed.” Molina added: “Every Alzheimer’s case is unique unto itself – the only thing that unites them all is the outcome is always the same. Ultimately, you end up on the same path.”

Joyce Frost, who appeared as the “Old Woman” on BBC Radio 2’s Steve Wright in the Afternoon, has died. Frost, from Dagenham, east London, died “peacefully and pain free” last week, Wright announced on his Wednesday show. The Old Woman, a regular on the show, discussed the news and once presented the “factoids” slot – listing quirky facts – with Hollywood star Will Smith. Wright praised her as “a complete natural on the air” and said she had been a “lovely, lovely person”. On Wednesday’s show, Wright told  listeners she had been “very opinionated and witty” and always cheeky, funny and charming. He added: “It’s a sad loss, thank you for being the Old Woman with us Joyce and we’ll miss you very much.”

Sir Bruce Forsyth’s wife has thanked the public for the support the couple have received  during the entertainer’s recuperation from surgery. “We’ve had so many wonderful letters and phone calls and good wishes for him,” said Lady Wilnelia Forsyth. Earlier this month, Lady Forsyth said the 88-year-old was still having “a bit of a problem moving”. “He’s in incredible shape mentally but he gets very tired,” she said. Speaking on ITV on Thursday, Lady Forsyth said it had been “very hard” for her husband to be convalescing, having been “active until just recently”. Sir Bruce has not been seen in public of late, having been too frail to attend the funerals of close friends Ronnie Corbett and Sir Terry Wogan. “With a little bit of luck he should be back,” said the 1975 Miss World winner. “I don’t expect him to go tap dancing, he’s not doing that at home, but he loves show business.” Sir Bruce underwent keyhole surgery last year after doctors discovered he had two aneurysms following a fall at his Surrey home.

On This Day

• 1002 – English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice’s Day massacre.
• 1841 – James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism.
• 1947 – The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles.
• 1974 – Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murders his entire family in Amityville, Long Island in the house that would become known as The Amityville Horror.

Deaths

• 1770 – George Grenville, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1712)
• 1903 – Camille Pissarro, Virgin Islander-French painter (b. 1830)
• 1973 – Lila Lee, American actress (b. 1901)
• 1974 – Karen Silkwood, American technician and activist (b. 1946)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sally Field (70), Ethan Hawke (46), Thandie Newton (44), Rebecca Romijn (44), Emma Stone (28), Maria Shriver (61), Joni Mitchell (73), Tinie Tempah (28), Gretchen Mol (44), Matthew Rhys (42), Tara Reid (41), Jack Osbourne (31), Gordon Ramsay (50), Lou Ferrigno (65), Tracy Morgan (48), Stanley Tucci (56), Demi Moore (54), Calista Flockhart (52), Leonardo DiCaprio (42), Wallace Shawn (73), Neil Young (71), Ryan Gosling (36) and Ann Hathaway (34).

The Last Word

“There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is God’s messenger.”

• Saddam Hussein December 30, 2006 – Executed by hanging

Next week peeps!

13th November 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 6th November 2016

Good afternoon everyone, another edition hits the press, alas no points and some very obscure deaths. With eight weeks to go, we’re beginning to wonder if we peaked too early on in the year.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Curly Putman, 85, American songwriter (“Green, Green Grass of Home“, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E“, “He Stopped Loving Her Today“).
• Max Alexander, 63, American comedian and actor (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Trainwreck, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2), head and neck cancer.
• Kay Starr, 94, American singer (“Wheel of Fortune“, “The Rock and Roll Waltz“), complications from Alzheimer’s disease. 
• John Carson, 89, English actor (Doomsday, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter, Doctor Who)

In Other News

US actor Val Kilmer has denied he has cancer, following Michael Douglas’s claim that his former co-star is ill. “I love Michael Douglas but he is misinformed,” the Top Gun and  Batman Forever star wrote in a Facebook post. Douglas claimed that Kilmer was “dealing with” throat cancer – the same ailment that Douglas was diagnosed with in 2010. Kilmer, however, said he was “rehabbing steadily” from “a swollen tongue” and had “no cancer whatsoever”. “The last time I spoke to [Douglas] was almost two years ago, when I asked him for a referral for a specialist to get a diagnosis for a lump in my throat,” wrote the 56-year-old. “I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever,” he continued. Following Douglas’s comments, it was reported that he had been reluctant to seek medical treatment due to his Christian Science faith. He added: “Some fans have mistakenly thought my silence about my personal issues meant that somehow I wasn’t being responsible to my health, because of my reliance on prayer and Love. “Nothing could be further from the truth… Being healthy and having the respect of my peers and love from my family, friends, peers and fans is a DAILY source of inspiration, for which I am so grateful.” Kilmer’s post follows a number of Facebook messages last year in which he assured fans he had “no tumour or infection of any kind”.

US whistleblower Chelsea Manning attempted suicide for a second time last month, her lawyers say. Her legal team declined to give details but said prison conditions contributed to her fragile mental state. Manning was sentenced to 14 days in solitary confinement in September for charges relating to her attempt to kill herself in July. The transgender army private, born Bradley Manning, is serving a 35-year sentence for espionage. In July, the former intelligence analyst attempted to take her own life after what lawyers said was the Army’s refusal to provide appropriate health care. She later went on hunger strike which ended after the military agreed to provide her with gender dysphoria treatment. Her lawyer Chase Strangio described her treatment in a letter, quoted by the AP news agency, as “demoralising”, adding that it was an “assault on her health and humanity”. “She has repeatedly been punished for trying to survive and now is being repeatedly punished for trying to die,” wrote Mr Strangio.

David Van Day, a former member of pop duo Dollar, is “doing fine” after suffering a heart attack, his spokesman has said. The singer was taken to a hospital in Essex over the weekend after suffering chronic chest pain for several days. The 59-year-old was later moved to St Bartholomew’s Hospital in central London for treatment. A representative told the BBC that Van Day has “had a stent fitted to a main artery”. Van Day’s spokesman said the singer “should be leaving for home soon” following the operation but will need to rest for the next month. He tweeted: “Thanks for all the kind and positive messages I’ve had today. I’m hoping to make a speedy recovery.” Van Day, together with Canadian-born Thereza Bazar, made up Dollar – a pop duo who had a string of chart hits in the late 1970s and 1980s, including Mirror Mirror and Give Me Back My Heart.

Singer Michael Buble and his wife Luisana Lopilato have said they are “devastated” after their three-year-old son Noah was diagnosed with cancer. The Canadian star broke the news on his Facebook page. He did not give any details about the type of cancer although we strongly believe its cancer of the ear. He said he and Lopilato, a model and actress, were giving up work commitments to concentrate on “helping Noah get well”. His statement said: “We are devastated about the recent cancer diagnosis of our oldest son Noah who is currently undergoing treatment in the US. “We have always been very vocal about the importance of family and the love we have for our children. Luisana  and I have put our careers on hold in order to devote all our time and attention to helping Noah get well. “At this difficult time, we ask only for your prayers and respect for our privacy.” Let’s hope the little nipper gets better, the burden of bing Buble’s son is enough for one child to bear.

And finally, a quick mention to Herbert Howe, who died last month after a brave battle with cancer. Alas he wasn’t famous enough for our needs, i.e. no Wiki page or a listing on the deaths page, but I’m sure you’ll recognise those teeth!

On This Day

• 1944 – Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility and subsequently used in the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
• 2012 – Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay politician to be elected to the United States Senate.

Deaths

• 1893 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer and critic (b. 1840)
• 2004 – Fred Dibnah, English engineer and television host (b. 1938)
• 2012 – Clive Dunn, English actor (b. 1920)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Henry Winkler (71), Peter Jackson (55), Vanilla Ice (49), Anthony Kiedis (54), Toni Collette (44), Jenny McCarthy (44), K.D. Lang (55), David Schwimmer (50), Rosanne Barr (64), Dolph Lundgren (59), Anna Wintour (67), Loretta Swit (79), Ralph Macchio (55), Matthew McConaughey (47), Laura Bush (70), Louise Redknapp (42), Robert Patrick (58), Bryan Adams (57), Tilda Swinton (56), Tatum O’Neal (53), Sam Rockwell (48) and Famke Janssen  (52).

The Last Word

Adolf Hitler – April 29th 1945 – Hitler committed suicide, with is wife Eva Braun, in an underground bunker in Berlin. The last lines of Hitler’s suicide note reads as follows:

“I myself and my wife – in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation – choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years’ service to my people.”

Next week peeps.

6th November 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 30th October 2016

Another week passes and so do a few celebrities. Alas no points to award and with little over two months left to go things are still tight at the top of the leader board. Maybe some of you realise now how hard it is to have a successful list. A lot of research and time can be spent finalising a winning list, so as I said, with little over two months to go, get yourself researching for 2017!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Sheri S. Tepper, 87, American science fiction author.
• Pete Burns, 57, English singer-songwriter (Dead or Alive), cardiac arrest.
• Jimmy Perry, 93, English actor and screenwriter (Dad’s Army, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi!).
• Bobby Vee, 73, American pop singer (“Rubber Ball“, “Take Good Care of My Baby“, “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes“) and actor, Alzheimer’s disease.
• Takahito, Prince Mikasa, 100, Japanese royal, cardiac arrest.

 In Other News

Rick Parfitt has quit Status Quo after 50 years following his recent heart attack. The 68-year-old ‘died’ for several minutes after suffering a huge heart attack in Turkey in June, and it’s now been confirmed that he has stopped touring on health grounds. The Rocking All Over The World guitarist will be replaced by Ritchie Malone for the band’s current arena tour. In an statement, the band said: ‘Status Quo today confirm that Rick Parfitt will indeed, as previously reported, step back from his regular touring commitments with the band.  This is for reasons of health, following his recent heart attack. ‘Status Quo would, however, like to make it completely clear that – contrary to some inaccurate reports this week – Rick’s connection with and within the band of course remains intact and that he will continue to be involved with future non-touring commercial activities of the band.’ In an interview with Classic Rock, he said: ‘I do wish Richie Malone all the best. He’s a fucking good little player and it must be all of his dreams come true.’

Bad news if you’re a Catholic, the ashes of the cremated cannot be kept at home, scattered or divided among family members, the Vatican has announced in new guidelines. The two-page instruction by the Vatican’s department on doctrine said ashes of the dead must be kept in “sacred places” such as cemeteries. It also stressed that the Roman Catholic Church still preferred burials over cremations. The Vatican allowed cremation in 1963 but has always frowned on the practice, they much rather you rot instead. The Vatican said it was issuing the new guidelines to counter “new ideas contrary to the Church’s faith”. The guidelines reiterated that Catholics who chose to be cremated “for reasons contrary to the Christian faith” must be denied a Christian funeral. Nice bunch of people these Catholics.

And finally, in what can be classed as a Darwinian moment, a US college student has crashed into a police car while taking a topless selfie behind the wheel, say officials. Miranda Rader, 19, rear-ended the patrol vehicle while sending nude photos to her boyfriend through the social media app Snapchat. The accident on Wednesday in Bryan, about 100 miles (160km) north of Houston, caused the airbag to deploy. The Texas A&M University student also had an open bottle of wine in a cup holder by her, according to police. The officer whose car had been hit approached Ms Rader to find she had an “unclasped brassiere” and was trying to put on her blouse. The arresting officer wrote in an affidavit: “I asked her why she was not dressed while driving and she stated she was taking a Snapchat photo to send to her boyfriend while she was at a red light.” She was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and released from jail on Thursday morning on a $2,000 (£1,600) bail bond. No one was injured in the incident.

On This Day

• 1925 – John Logie Baird creates Britain’s first television transmitter.
• 1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells‘s The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.
• 1944 – Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they die from disease the following year, shortly before the end of WWII.
• 1960 – Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
• 1961 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 50 megatons of yield, it remains the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.
• 1974 – The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali wins by KO in the eighth round, regaining the title of World Heavyweight Champion and causing Foreman´s first professional defeat.

Deaths

• 1979 – Barnes Wallis, English scientist and engineer, invented the Bouncing bomb (b. 1887)
• 2015 – Al Molinaro, American actor (b. 1919)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Ang Lee (62), Weird Al Yankovic (57), Cat Deeley (40), Ryan Reynolds (40), Bill Wyman (80), F. Murray Abraham (77), Kevin Kline (69), Tila Tequila (35), Nancy Cartwright (59), Katy Perry (32), Wayne Rooney (31), Cary Elwes (54), Seth McFarlane (43), Jon Heder (39), Hillary Clinton (69), John Cleese (77), Simon LeBon (58), Kelly Osbourne (32), Charlie Daniels (80), Annie Potts (64), Julia Roberts (49), Joaquin Phoenix (42), Bill Gates (61), Kate Jackson (68), Dan Castellaneta (59), Rufus Sewell (49) and Winona Ryder (45).

The Last Word

“Yes, a bullet-proof vest.” – James W. Rodgers

• Asked if he has any last requests before facing a firing squad.

Next week peeps!

30th October 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 23rd October 2016

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Dead Pool, where more renowned horses have died than famous people.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Junko Tabei, 77, Japanese mountaineer, peritoneal cancer
• Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer, 87, British socialite and politician.
• Steve Dillon, 53, English comic book artist (Preacher, The Punisher).
• Rough Quest, 30, British racehorse, winner of the 1996 Grand National.
• Moscow Flyer, 22, Irish racehorse.
• Monarchos, 18, American thoroughbred racehorse and stallion.

In Other News

Edward Furlong has been spotted looking unrecognisable more than two decades after he shot to fame and became one of Hollywood’s hottest pin-ups. The actor has been pictured at a shopping mall in Los Angeles this week, and he looks a world away from the fresh-faced young man who captured the hearts of fans across the globe. Edward, now 39, looked tired as he walked around the shops with a female friend. He wore a T-shirt, which appeared to be inside out, with frayed jeans and he kept his long hair off his face with a pair of Aviator-style sunglasses. The former movie star carried a plastic carrier bag and appeared preoccupied as he trudged around the mall. He shot to fame playing young John Connor in 1991 blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and went on to become one of Tinseltown’s hottest properties. The actor landed roles in movies such as American Heart, American History X and Detroit Rock City, and cemented his place as a Hollywood heartthrob. His popularity waned after the 1990s and he has won less lucrative roles in recent years. Edward also suffered a slew of personal problems including a well-documented battle with drink and drug addiction. He has also served time in jail following numerous brushes with the law, and has been treated in rehab. Next years Maverick anyone?

The latest episode in the serial adventurer Leonardo DiCaprio’s continuous brush with death has been revealed. The Titanic actor ended up being saved by his friend the actor Edward Norton after his oxygen tank began leaking on a diving expedition in 2010. Leonardo found himself unable to breathe and had to share Norton’s tank. Now, we at Dead Pool Towers have never dived, but we assume that you have a visual regulator that tells you how much oxygen you have left, so DiCaprio nearly died of stupidity as he could have easily resurfaced if he knew what he was doing. The hapless DiCaprio also recounted his various near-misses before explaining earlier this year he has nearly died three times. The 41 year old’s list involves an emergency plane landing after he witnessed “the entire wing explode in a fireball,” a great white shark entering his cage in South Africa and his parachute becoming knotted during a skydive.

And finally, a man may have cooked and eaten parts of a police officer’s corpse after strangling him, a court has heard. Stefano Brizzi, 50, is accused of murdering PC Gordon Semple, who had served with the Metropolitan police for 30 years, on 1st April after inviting him round for drug-fuelled sex, as you do. Brizzi admits dismembering and disposing of the 59-year-old police officer’s body, but claims his death was an accident and denies murder. At the Old Bailey on Friday, the prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said Semple’s DNA was recovered from Brizzi’s oven, a cooking pot and chopsticks found in the flat. Additionally, possible bite marks were found on a rib in the kitchen dustbin and a leg bone showed signs of heat damage, he said. “It could be seen that the handle of the oven was bloodstained. Inside the oven, there was a pool of fat and grease,” Aylett told the jury. “This was found to contain a DNA profile that matched that of Gordon Semple.” One can only assume he tried to make a pulled pork, perhaps a stir-fry.

On This Day

• 1707 – The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
• 2002 – Moscow theater hostage crisis: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theatre in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatre-goers hostage.
• 2012 – After 38 years, the world’s first teletext service (BBC‘s Ceefax) ceases broadcast due to Northern Ireland completing the digital switchover.

Deaths

• 1915 – W. G. Grace, English cricketer and physician (b. 1848)
• 1950 – Al Jolson, Lithuanian-American actor and singer (b. 1886)
• 1957 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (b. 1905)
• 1984 – Oskar Werner, Austrian-German actor (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Josh Kirby, English illustrator (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Alvin Stardust, English singer and actor (b. 1942)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Angela Lansbury (91), Suzanne Somers (70), Tim Robbins (58), Michael McKean (69), George Wendt (68), Eminem (44), Wyclef Jean (47), Jean-Claude Van Damme (56), Zac Efron (29), Martina Navratilova (60), Pam Dawber (65), John Lithgow (71), Evander Holyfield (54), Viggo Mortensen (58), Snoop Dogg (45), Dannii Minogue (45), Judge Judy (74), Carrie Fisher (60), Ken Watanabe (57), Christopher Lloyd (78), Catherine Deneuve (73) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (41).

The Last Word

“I do not believe in my death.” – Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

Next week peeps!

23rd October 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 16th October 2016

At last, after a long drought of  nothingness, we have points to award! Well done to Julia, Wombat and Mark for guessing that Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej would pass away this year, 62 points each, but Martin gets 162 for having him as a Cert, which also gives us a new points leader! Shockingly, we all missed out on Hilda Ogden, perhaps like me you thought she’d died years ago!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Gary Dubin, 57, American actor (The Partridge Family, The Aristocats, Diamonds Are Forever), bone cancer.
• Patricia Barry, 93, American actress (All My Children, The Guiding Light, Days of Our Lives).
• Robert Bateman, 80, American songwriter and record producer (“Please Mr. Postman“), heart attack.
• Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, Thai monarch, King (since 1946), world’s longest-serving head of state.
• Jean Alexander, 90, English actress (Coronation Street, Last of the Summer Wine).

In Other News

The death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand means Queen Elizabeth II has become the world’s longest-reigning living monarch. The Queen became monarch at the age of 25 on the death of her father King George VI on 6 February 1952. Now 90, she has reigned for 64 years, eight months and ten days, or considerably more than two thirds of her life. Before his death on Wednesday at the age of 88, the Thai king had chalked up more than 70 years and four months on the throne. The Queen has a comfortable margin over the next longest-serving monarch, the Sultan of Brunei. Hassanal Bolkiah can boast 49 years and twelve days on the throne of the tiny, oil-rich Asian state, having ascended the throne on 4th October 1967. The wealthy Sultan is a car enthusiast, reportedly owning a private collection of up to 5,000 luxury sports cars. Qaboos bin Said al-Said has been Sultan of Oman since 1970, when he overthrew his father in a coup, giving him 46 years, 2 months on the throne so far. Prince Charles, incidentally, holds a world record of his own – as the longest-waiting heir apparent, surpassing his great-great-grandfather Edward VII who waited for more than 59 years for Queen Victoria to die. Her impressive stint is dwarfed, however, by the reign of Sobhuza II of Swaziland, whose period on the throne, from 1899 to 1982, overlapped with both the reign of Queen Victoria and the premiership of Margaret Thatcher. Having sired around 210 children by 70 wives in that time, he had more than 1,000 grandchildren at the time of his death.

Singer Janet Jackson has officially confirmed she is expecting her first child, at the age of 50. Speculation about her pregnancy surfaced in April when she postponed her ‘Unbreakable’ tour, saying she wanted to focus on planning a family with her husband, Wissam al-Mana. She was recently spotted in London shopping for baby essentials. A source close to the Jackson family said: “She is super excited about her pregnancy and is doing extremely well. She actually feels very good about everything.” Janet Jackson is far from the only famous face to give birth later in life. Oscar-winning Halle Berry had her second child at 47, three years ago, and John Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston gave birth to her third child at 48.

A giant panda believed to have been the oldest ever kept in captivity has died at the age of 38, officials say. The death of Jia Jia, whose age in human terms was more than 100 years, was announced by the Hong Kong theme park where she lived. Her condition had worsened rapidly in recent weeks and she had lost her appetite, according to local reports. She was put down by vets at Ocean Park, where she had lived since 1999. A Hong Kong government spokesman thanked the park for providing Jia Jia with care and support and added that it was “saddened” by the news. Born in 1978 in the wild in Sichuan, China, Jia Jia was given to Hong Kong in 1999 to mark the semi-autonomous city’s handover by Britain two years earlier. Pandas normally live to around 20 years of age in the wild, and 25 in captivity.

And finally, a father has claimed his 25-year-old son was brutally murdered and eaten by inmates during a month-long riot at a Venezuelan prison. Juan Carlos Herrara told local media his son, Juan Carlos Herrera Jr, was stabbed, hanged, dismembered and then eaten at the Táchira Detention Center. Mr Herrara’s son was jailed in 2015 for robbery and had become caught up in the prison mutiny, which reportedly began on the 8th September when eight visitors and two guards were taken hostage over extreme overcrowding in the jail. According to reports, 350 men had been crammed into the  detention centre, which has a capacity of 120. Speaking to reporters on Monday, after a visit to the prison three days after the mutiny had subsided, Mr Herrara said: “One of those who was with him when he was murdered saw everything that happened. “My son and two others were taken by 40 people, stabbed, hanged to bleed, and then Dorancel butchered them to feed all detainees,” referring to the notorious Dorancel “people-eater” Vargas – jailed in 1999 for cannibalism. “The inmate with whom I spoke to told me that he was beaten with a hammer in order to force him to eat the remains of the two boys. “I beg you to give me at least one bone so we can bury him and relieve some of this pain.” An anonymous police source confirmed to the media that two inmates were missing following the riots.

On This Day

• 1793 – Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.
• 1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground.
• 1923 – The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney.
• 1975 – Rahima Banu, a two-year-old girl from the village of Kuralia in Bangladesh, is the last known person to be infected with naturally occurring smallpox.
• 1984 – The Bill debuts on ITV, eventually becoming the longest-running police procedural in British television history.

Deaths

• 1793 – Marie Antoinette, Austrian wife of Louis XVI of France (b. 1755)
• 2001 – Etta Jones, American singer-songwriter (b. 1928)
• 2007 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (b. 1921)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tony Shalhoub (63), Scott Bakula (62), David Lee Roth (62), Joan Cusak (54), Jane Krakowski (48), Emily Deschanel (40), Daryl Hall (70), Stephen Moyer (47), Hugh Jackman (48), Paul Simon (75), Sacha Baron Cohen (45), Sammy Hagar (69), Roger Moore (89), Cliff Richard (76), Lori Petty (53), Steve Coogan (51), Ralph Loren (77), Dominic West (47), and Sarah Ferguson (57).

The Last Word

“Is it the Fourth?” – Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, died. July 4th, 1826

Next week peeps!

16th October 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 9th October 2016

Welcome all, another edition hits the press and again we  struggle to know who these celebrities are. In the case of one of our demises, this quote was rather apt. “Rod Temperton is proof that it is possible to be hugely talented and successful, whilst also completely avoiding the limelight”. Ah well, onwards and 6ft downwards…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Rod Temperton, 66, English keyboardist (Heatwave) and songwriter (“Rock with You“, “Give Me the Night“, “Thriller“), cancer.
• Joan Marie Johnson, 72, American singer (The Dixie Cups), heart failure.
• Brock Yates, 82, American automotive journalist (Car and Driver) and screenwriter (Smokey and the Bandit II, The Cannonball Run), Alzheimer’s disease.
• Steve Byrd, 61, English guitarist (Gillan, Kim Wilde), heart attack.

In Other News

More than £40,000 has been raised in 24 hours to fund pioneering cancer treatment for former Emmerdale star Leah Bracknell. The award-winning actress has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and is in a race against time to raise £50,000. Her partner Jez Hughes launched an online appeal on Thursday to raise cash for cutting edge immunotherapy in Germany that they hope will give her a fighting chance to beat the disease. The 52-year-old actress, who played Zoe Tate in the ITV soap from 1989 to 2005, was diagnosed with the condition five weeks ago, as she prepared to return to the stage in a comedy show. In an emotional post about her condition, the mother-of-two – the first British soap character to come out as a lesbian – described how she had been enjoying life as a ‘fit and healthy’ yoga teacher when her world was ‘unexpectedly turned on its head’. Writing on her fundraising page, Leah vowed to fight the cancer with ‘a glass half full’, describing how her priority was ‘to defy expectation’.

The Scottish nurse who was treated for Ebola in 2014 is expected to spend a second day in a Glasgow hospital despite testing negative for the disease. Pauline Cafferkey,  40, was taken to the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital under police escort on Thursday morning after becoming unwell. She is in a stable condition and medics say there is no danger to the public. This is the fourth time Ms Cafferkey has been in hospital since returning to the UK from Sierra Leone two years ago. On Thursday, NHS Greater Glasgow said: “Pauline Cafferkey was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital this morning under the care of the Infectious Diseases Unit. “Due to Ms Cafferkey’s past medical history, appropriate precautionary measures were taken whilst further investigations were carried out. “We are pleased to report that tests for the Ebola virus are negative. She remains in a stable condition in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. We want to repeat our previous reassurance that there is no risk to the public.”

US reality TV star Kim Kardashian West was robbed at gunpoint at a luxury residence in Paris by at least two men dressed as police officers, her publicist and police say. A box containing jewellery worth up to €6m (£5.2m; $6.7m) was among items taken, a police spokesman said. The concierge led the gunmen to the residence where they tied Kardashian West up in the bathroom, police said. A spokeswoman for the star said she was “badly shaken but physically unharmed”. The mother-of-two – who became a household name thanks to the reality series Keeping up with the Kardashians – has now left France, flying out of a Paris airport aboard a private jet. A police source has told the BBC the attack was carried out by five men, wearing police-style jackets, who forced the building’s overnight security guard to show them where Kardashian West was staying. Once inside, one of the men put a gun to her head while they robbed her of jewellery including a ring worth €4m, then tied her up and locked her in a bathroom while they escaped.

The UKIP MEP involved in an altercation with Steven Woolfe has said he “categorically did not” throw a punch at his colleague. Mike Hookem acknowledged he and his colleague had a “scuffle” in the European Parliament but insisted that he did not hit him. “I am innocent,” he told the BBC. “I never threw a punch. I never assaulted him. I will stand my corner.” UKIP’s Steven Woolfe will be kept in hospital for a further 48 hours. Thursday’s incident is being investigated by UKIP and the European Parliament, where it has been announced the inquiry will be led by Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim. There have been varying descriptions of what happened during what UKIP called an “altercation” and Mr Hookem told BBC Radio Humberside only he and Mr Woolfe knew precisely what went on. Mr Woolfe, among the favourites to be the party’s next leader, collapsed after their exchange and was taken to hospital. The 49-year old had a precautionary scan which revealed there was no blood clot on his brain although he is to remain under observation for a further 48 hours in Strasbourg “as a precaution”.

On This Day

• 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1967 – A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
• 2012 – Members of the Pakistani Taliban make a failed attempt to assassinate an outspoken schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai.

Deaths

• 1974 – Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Felix Wankel, German engineer, invented the Wankel engine (b. 1902)
• 1995 – Alec Douglas-Home, British cricketer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1903)
• 2006 – Paul Hunter, English snooker player (b. 1978)
• 2015 – Geoffrey Howe, Welsh lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1926)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sting (65), Annie Leibovitz (67), Donna Karan (68), Chubby Checker (75), Roy Horn (72), Gwen Stefani (48), Neve Campbell (43), Sean William Scott (40), Clive Owen (52), Fred Couples (57), Lena Headey (43), Susan Sarandon (70), Armand Assante (67), Liev Schreiber (49), Alicia Silverstone (40), Christoph Waltz (60), Steve Miller (73), Karen Allen (65), Bob Geldof (65), Kate Winslet (41), Jesse Eisenberg (33), Guy Pierce (49), Britt Ekland (74), Simon Cowell (57), Toni Braxton (49), Thom York (48), Paul Hogan (77), Chevy Chase (73), Sigourney Weaver (67), Matt Damon (46), Brun Mars (31), Jesse Jackson (75) and Kristanna Loken (37).

Next week peeps!

9th October 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 2nd October 2016

Welcome my morbid minions, to a jam-packed edition full of nothing. No points to be shared, no stories to be told. The evil flying monkeys must be flown, as nothing seemed to have happened last week. So expect some big names falling by Wednesday, it has been ordained! I only wish Tony Curtis had died, again…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Arnold Palmer, 87, American Hall of Fame professional golfer.
• Jean Shepard, 82, American honky tonk singer-songwriter (“A Dear John Letter“, “Slippin’ Away“), Parkinson’s disease.
• Herschell Gordon Lewis, 87, American film director (Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!).
• Karam Chand, 110, British supercentenarian, co-holder of the world’s longest marriage.
• Shimon Peres, 93, Polish-born Israeli statesman, President (2007–2014), Prime Minister (1977, 1984–1986, 1995–1996), Nobel Laureate (1994), stroke.
• Ann Emery, 86, British actress (Rentaghost, Billy Elliot, Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde).

In Other News

SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced his plan on Tuesday to launch manned missions to Mars by 2022. One small problem: you might die. Musk admitted that the chances of dying on the first trip – which will have about 100 passengers, with tickets likely to be $500,000 – were “quite high”. And even if that first mission is a success, the risk of fatality will remain a definite possibility for those who sign on to the second mission, and the third, and the fourth…  “There’s no way around it… Are you prepared to die? If that’s okay, you’re a candidate for going,” said Musk. Are you willing to go on a trip that could cost you your life? Hell Yes!

Researchers from Spain have found that a tendency to bump off members of the same species is particularly common among primates, and have estimated that around 2% of human deaths at the origin of our species were down to such lethal spats. “What it is saying, in the broadest terms, is that humans have evolved strategies for solving problems with violence,” said Mark Pagel, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Reading, who was not involved in the research. Writing in the journal Nature, the team of researchers from four Spanish institutions sought to unpick the evolutionary contribution to lethal human violence by looking at how commonly a range of different mammals kill members of the same species. To do so, they examined the evolutionary family tree of mammals, looking at data from more than 1,020 species, as well as 600 human populations stretching as far back in time as the Stone Age, drawing on evidence from human remains found in archaeological excavations. The results revealed that for the ancestor of all mammals, around 1 in every 300 deaths was down to lethal violence between members of the same species. But, the authors note, for evolutionary ancestors of the primates and apes, the figures were higher.

If you take Benjamin Franklin at his word, death is coming. The good and the bad, the young and the old, the in-the-middle: as far as we know, none will live forever. The idea of an eventual death is something that was widely accepted as “true” long ago, but, like many things, it must be updated to suit the modern day. It’s time to accept that when death does come for us, it will be at the hand of our smartphone. And isn’t that comforting? It’s a fitting death: death by smartphone. What used to kill people? Horses, probably. Unlike what you might think, the way we will die by smartphone will not vary. At least not by much. Sure, there will be those who follow a smartphone game off of a cliff, or walk into traffic looking at a map, or lie down on the ground, close their eyes, and refuse to ever get up again because of Twitter. But the rest of us will die when our phones explode. Boom!

On This Day

• 1919 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed.
• 1925 – John Logie Baird performs the first test of a working television system.
• 1950 – Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published.
• 1959 – The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS television.

Deaths

• 1985 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1998 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and guitarist (b. 1907)
• 2006 – Tamara Dobson, American actress (b. 1947)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Mark Hamill (65), Michael Madsen (58), Heather Locklear (55), Will Smith (48), Catherine Zeta-Jones (47), Olivia Newton John (68), Linda Hamilton (60), Jim Caviezel (48), Serena Williams (35), Wilford Brimley (82), Meat Loaf (69), Gwyneth Paltrow (44), Avril Lavigne (32), Naomi Watts (48), Bam Margera (37), Hillary Duff (29), Dita von Tesse (44), Jerry Lee Lewis (81), Ian McShane (74), Johnny Mathis (81), Monica Bellucci (52), Julie Andrews (81),  Zack Galifanakis (47) and Jimmy Carter (92).

The Last Word

“Don’t die like I did.” – George Best, the Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team.

• Best died as a result of a lung infection and multiple organ failure caused by years of alcoholism.

Next week peeps!

2nd October 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 25th September 2016

Due to the lack of notable deaths this week, we have a bare bones edition of The Dead Pool. Who said everybody seemed to by dying this year??

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Charmian Carr, 73, American actress and singer (The Sound of Music), complications from dementia.
• Curtis Hanson, 71, American film director and screenwriter (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile, Wonder Boys), Oscar winner (1998).
• Bill Nunn, 63, American actor (Do the Right Thing, Spider-Man, Sister Act), cancer.

In Other News 

We start this week with the sad news that Monty Python star Terry Jones has been diagnosed with a severe variant of dementia. The 74-year-old is suffering from primary progressive aphasia, which affects his ability to communicate. As a result, Jones “is no longer able to give interviews”, his spokesman said. The news was confirmed as Bafta Cymru announced the Welsh-born comedian is to be honoured with an outstanding contribution award. The National Aphasia Association describes primary progressive aphasia as a neurological syndrome in which language capabilities become slowly and progressively impaired. “It commonly begins as a subtle disorder of language, progressing to a nearly total inability to speak, in its most severe stage,” their website states. Jones, who is from Colwyn Bay in north Wales, was a member of the legendary comedy troupe with Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and the late Graham Chapman. He directed Monty Python’s Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life and co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Gilliam.

A lawyer for Michael Schumacher has told a court in Germany that the former Formula 1 world champion “cannot walk” following his skiing injury. Felix Damm was detailing the extent of Schumacher’s injuries in a lawsuit against German magazine, Bunte. The magazine had reported last Christmas that the seven-time world champion could walk again. But Mr Damm said that Schumacher, 47, “cannot walk” more than two and a half years after the accident. Bunte had quoted a source at the end of last year as saying that Schumacher could manage some steps with the help of therapists and could raise an arm. At the time, Schumacher’s agent, Sabine Kehm, released a statement denying the story, saying: “Unfortunately we are forced by a recent press report to clarify that the assertion that Michael could move again is not true. “Such speculation is irresponsible, because given the seriousness of his injuries, his privacy is very important. Unfortunately they also give false hopes to many involved people.” Schumacher suffered a head injury in a skiing accident in France in 2013. He was placed in a medically induced coma for six months before being transferred to his home in Switzerland to continue his treatment. Very little is known of the sports icon’s recovery as his family has strongly protected his privacy.

What do you do to someone who has already tried to commit suicide? Well, a military prison disciplinary board has seen fit to sentence US whistleblower Chelsea Manning to 14 days in solitary confinement. She will serve seven days, with another seven suspended, for charges relating to her attempt to kill herself in July. She ended a hunger strike last week, after the military agreed to provide her with gender dysphoria treatment. The army private, born as Bradley Manning, is serving a 35-year sentence for espionage. Last July, the former intelligence analyst attempted to take her own life, after what lawyers said was the Army’s refusal to provide appropriate health care. She was found guilty on Thursday by prison officials in Leavenworth, Kansas, of “conduct which threatens” for her suicide attempt. She also was convicted of having “prohibited property” – the book “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy” by Gabriella Coleman. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013, after being found guilty of espionage for her role in leaking diplomatic cables and battlefield reports to Wikileaks, the anti-secrecy group. The leak of more than 700,000 documents and videos was one of the largest breaches of classified material in American history.

On This Day

• 1956 – TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated.
• 1983 – Maze Prison escape: Thirty-eight republican prisoners, armed with six handguns, hijack a prison meals lorry and smash their way out of the Maze prison. It is the largest prison escape since World War II and in British history.
• 1992 – NASA launches the Mars Observer, a $511 million probe to Mars, in the first U.S. mission to the planet in 17 years. Eleven months later, the probe would fail.

Deaths

• 1984 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian-American actor (b. 1897)
• 1987 – Mary Astor, American actress (b. 1906)
• 2012 – Andy Williams, American singer (b. 1927)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Frankie Avalon (76), Jada Pinkett Smith (45), Lance Armstrong (45), Jeremy Irons (68), Twiggy (67), Jimmy Fallon (43), Sofia Loren (82), Kristen Johnson (49), Stephen King (69), Bill Murray (66), Ethan Coen (59), Faith Hill (49), Ricki Lake (48), Alphonso Ribeiro (45), Luke Wilson (45), Liam Gallagher (44), Nick Cave (59), Joan Jett (58), Andrea Bocelli (58), Scott Baio (56), Tom Felton (29), Julio Iglesias (73) and Bruce Springsteen (67).

The Last Word

“Is it not meningitis?”–  Louisa May Alcott, an American novelist and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women.

• Alcott had been in ill health for many years and took a turn for the worse after she visited her father. She did not have meningitis. She may have died of mercury poisoning, the after-effect of an earlier treatment for typhoid fever.

Next week peeps!

25th September 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 18th September 2016

Nil points to  dispense this week, but reading through the news we could have quite easily scored quite a lot, here’s hoping for next week!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Alexis Arquette, 47, American actress (The Wedding Singer, Pulp Fiction, Lords of Dogtown).
• Domingos Montagner, 54, Brazilian actor, drowning.
• Edward Albee, 88, American playwright (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Delicate Balance).
• Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 95, Italian banker and politician, President (1999–2006) and Prime Minister (1993–1994).
• W. P. Kinsella, 81, Canadian writer (Shoeless Joe), assisted suicide.

In Other News

The veteran BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson has told how he nearly died earlier this month from a severe allergic reaction that caused kidney problems. The 72-year-old was rushed to Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital on 8th September after experiencing what he described as a “rare and deadly allergic reaction”. Simpson had complained of feeling ill and a doctor who came to his house diagnosed him as suffering from food poisoning and dehydration and sent him to hospital, where his condition rapidly declined. Doctors found he had suffered an allergic reaction to medication, which caused kidney problems. “It was like a perfect storm. There was a whole chain of events that meant their was an overreaction on the kidney side which made him seriously ill,” his wife said. Simpson, who has reported from war zones around the world for more than four decades, described the episode as “terrifying” and thanked the staff in the ICU “who saved my life”.

Rolf Harris is reportedly being treated in hospital for  suspected blood poisoning. The Australian-born artist, 86, is serving a near six-year sentence at Stafford prison for historic sex abuse. Our source said, “Harris was treated like any other prisoner in the circumstances. He was escorted from Stafford by prison officers and has been monitored at all times. He is likely to return to jail shortly.” Blood poisoning, also known as sepsis, is triggered by an infection or injury and can be potentially life-threatening if left untreated. In November 2015, we reported that Harris, who is diabetic, had been taken to hospital and fallen ill after eating chocolate and sweets in prison.

US Democratic party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton kept her pneumonia diagnosis from most of her staff, according to reports, choosing to tell only family and close aides. Mrs Clinton was reportedly concerned that news of the illness would be exploited by her opponents. She was diagnosed on Friday and advised to rest, but continued campaigning. Her team was forced to go public with the diagnosis on Sunday when she left a 9/11 memorial early, appearing weak. Speaking to CNN late on Monday, Mrs Clinton said she was feeling “so much better”. She also told the broadcaster that she had not disclosed her pneumonia diagnosis, saying: “I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.” The US presidential candidate said she had ignored a doctor’s “wise” advice to rest for five days. She said she hoped to be back on the trail in “the next couple of days”. The Democratic nominee acknowledged she had lost her balance during Sunday morning’s health scare, but said she did not faint. “I felt dizzy and I did lose my balance for a minute, but once I got in (the van), once I could sit down, once I could cool off, once I had some water, I immediately started feeling better,” she said.

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres is in intensive care after suffering a serious stroke, medical officials say. Doctors at the Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv, where he is being treated, said Mr Peres, 93, was “in a critical condition but stable”. Mr Peres’ son-in-law and personal physician said there was “no imminent threat to his life”, adding that he had a “pretty good chance of survival”. Dr Rafi Valden said Mr Peres was responsive – he had squeezed his hand. There was “certain optimism” after doctors “lessened the dose of sedation”, he said, adding the former president was being sedated and ventilated again to let his brain recover. “We were happy to see that he was reactive, he was responsive,” Dr Valden told journalists. Doctors had earlier said the stroke had caused “lots of bleeding”. In January, he underwent successful minor surgery at the same hospital after suffering a small heart attack.

And finally, imagine if Ken Barlow aka William Roache managed to drown on the set of Coronation Street. Well, this is what has happened in Brazil! Brazilian soap opera star Domingos Montagner drowned in a river where the crew had been recording scenes for the country’s most popular soap opera. Montagner played the leading role in Velho Chico, a soap opera named after the Sao Francisco river where he died. The 54-year-old had gone for a swim with an actress after a day of shooting in the north-eastern state of Sergipe. She said he had been dragged away by the river’s strong currents. The actress, Camila Pitanga, cried for help but local people failed to act initially as they believed the drowning was a scene in the soap opera. Authorities said there was little that anyone could have done. In the soap opera, Montagner played a farmer who often fought off local gunmen. In one of those clashes, he was shot multiple times and appeared to drown in the same Sao Francisco river, but reappeared weeks later, alas we doubt he will make a return this time as four hours after the incident, rescue teams found Montagner’s body trapped in rocks at a depth of 18 metres (59 feet) and some 300 metres (984ft) from where he was last seen. His body will be taken by plane to Sao Paulo, where his funeral will be held on Saturday.

On This Day

• 1793 – The first cornerstone of the Capitol building is laid by George Washington.
• 1809 – The Royal Opera House in London opens.
• 1870 – Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition to Yellowstone.
• 1906 – A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
• 1974 – Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people.
• 1977 – Voyager I takes first photograph of the Earth and the Moon together.

Deaths

• 1949 – Frank Morgan, American actor, The Wizard of Oz (b. 1890)
• 1970 – Jimi Hendrix, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1942)
• 2004 – Russ Meyer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Brian De Palma (76), Virginia Madsen (55), Moby (51), Harry Connick Jr (49), Ian Holm (85), Linda Gray (76), Ben Folds (50), Stella McCartney (45), Sam Neill (69), Tommy Lee Jones (70), Oliver Stone (70), Prince Harry (32), David Copperfield (60), Mickey Rourke (64), Cassandra Peterson (65) and Baz Luhrmann (54).

The Last Word

“I’m not afraid of death. I’m going home”. – Patrick Swayze

Next week peeps!

18th September 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 11th September 2016

Bit thin on the ground again this week. So I wont warble on too much. But if any of you amazing readers would like a go at guest editing or supplying a few articles, please do have a go!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Leslie H. Martinson, 101, American film and television director (Batman: The Movie, CHiPs, Fantasy Island).
• Richard Neville, 74, Australian writer and editor (Oz).
• Hugh O’Brian, 91, American actor (The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, The Shootist, Twins).
• Darren Seals, 29, American activist (Black Lives Matter), shot.
• Prince Buster, 78, Jamaican ska musician (“One Step Beyond“, “Al Capone”).
• Lord Littlebrook, 87, British midget wrestler. 
• Greta Friedman, 92, American nurse, subject of V-J Day in Times Square.

In Other News

The Princess Royal has cancelled her public engagements next week as she  recovers from a bad chest infection, Buckingham Palace has said. A spokesman said: “On doctors’ orders she has cancelled her engagements for the coming week. She is resting privately at home.” Anne was treated at Aberdeen Royal infirmary on Wednesday before being discharged and returning to Balmoral. Last weekend, she joined the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales at the Braemar Highland Games, which are held a short distance from the royal family’s summer retreat in Aberdeenshire. The 66-year-old also spent time in Brazil at the Olympic Games as a member of the International Olympic Committee. Could it be some kind of Zika virus variant??

A death we all missed back in April was that of the first-ever person to have a face transplant, Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire. In 2005, surgeons  gave her a new nose and mouth after she was disfigured by her pet dog. But heavy use of immunosuppressant drugs weakened her and she succumbed to cancer in April at the age of 49. News of her death, announced by a hospital in Amiens, was delayed to respect her family’s privacy. She told the BBC in 2009 that when she looked in the mirror she saw a mixture of herself and the donor. “The donor is always with me,” she said. Figaro newspaper said she had suffered another transplant rejection. The strong anti-rejection treatment she was receiving led to two cancers, it added. In her BBC interview she said her disfigurement by her dog had come as a result of an attempt to end her life. After taking an overdose of sleeping pills, she awoke lying beside a pool of blood, with her pet Labrador at her side. The dog had apparently found her unconscious, and desperate to rouse her, had gnawed away at her face. The injuries to her mouth, nose and chin were so extreme that doctors ruled out a routine face reconstruction. Instead they proposed a ground-breaking face transplant. She was happy with the surgery but expressed distress at the attention from the media and passers-by that the operation brought her.

Look out all potential presidential candidates because the man who shot US President Ronald Reagan in 1981 has been released from a psychiatric hospital in Washington, DC, 35 years after his assassination attempt stunned the world. John Hinckley Jr, who is now 61, was released from St Elizabeth’s hospital on Saturday morning and returned to his mother’s home in Virginia. Mr Reagan and three others were injured in the shooting outside a Washington hotel on 30 March 1981, weeks into his first White House term. Mr Hinckley, who was obsessed with the movie Taxi Driver and its young star Jodie Foster, is thought to have been trying to impress the actress. He was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. In July, after several decades of treatment at St Elizabeth’s, a judge ruled that Mr Hinckley posed no further danger to himself or to the public. In recent years, he had been spending 17 days a month at his 90-year-old mother’s home, on a golf course in the gated community of Kingsmill, where his bedroom is reportedly decorated with his paintings of houses and cats. Under the conditions of his release, Mr Hinckley will be forbidden to speak to the media and from having any social media accounts. He is banned from contacting Ms Foster or any of his other victims and their families. He must see a psychiatrist regularly and will be permitted to drive no further than 30 miles from the home unaccompanied – or 50 miles if accompanied.

On This Day

• 1941 – Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
• 1978 – Janet Parker is the last person to die of smallpox, in a laboratory-associated outbreak.
• 1982 – The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel‘s 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
• 2001 – Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashes into The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks by 19 members of al-Qaeda. In total 2,996 people are killed.
• 2007 – Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the Father of All Bombs.

Deaths

• 1972 – Max Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1883)
• 1987 – Lorne Greene, Canadian-American actor (b. 1915)
• 1988 – Roger Hargreaves, English author and illustrator (b. 1935) 
• 1994 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (b. 1909) 
• 2002 – Kim Hunter, American actress (b. 1922) 
• 2003 – John Ritter, American actor and producer (b. 1948) 
• 2014 – Donald Sinden, English actor (b. 1923)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Beyonce (35), Bob Newhart (88), Raquel Welch (76), Michael Keaton (65), Rose McGowan (43), Roger Waters (73), Delores O’Riordan (45), Pippa Middleton (33), Idris Elba (44), Gloria Gaynor (67), Chrissie Hynde (65), Julie Kavner (66), Shannon Elizabeth (43), Evan Rachel Wood (29), Heather Thomas (59), Martin Freeman (45), Hugh Grant (56), Adam Sandler (50), Eric Stonestreet (45), Michael Buble (41), Joe Perry (66), Colin Firth (56), Guy Richie (48) and Karl Lagerfeld (83).

The Last Word

“I cannot.” – Louis Pasteur – His response when he was offered a cup of milk.

Next week peeps!

11th September 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 4th September 2016

Unsurprisingly, nobody listed Gene Wilder. Often is the case that well loved celebrities never make the list. Remember, if you want to win it, you have to be unscrupulous and harsh.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Mr. Fuji, 82, American professional wrestler and manager (WWF).
• Darrell Ward, 52, American reality television personality (Ice Road Truckers), plane crash.
• Gene Wilder, 83, American actor (The Producers, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein), screenwriter and author, complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Doris McLemore, 89, American teacher, last fluent speaker of the Wichita language.
• Joe Sutter, 95, American aeronautical engineer, chief designer of the Boeing 747.
• Jon Polito, 65, American actor (Miller’s Crossing, The Rocketeer, Homicide: Life on the Street), cancer.
• Islam Karimov, 78, Uzbekistani politician, President (since 1990), stroke.

In Other News

We were going to lead this week with the Uzbek President/Dictator, Islam Karimov, having a stroke. Alas he died. So that put a big spanner in the works for us at Death Towers, but we’ll lead with the story anyway.

It does leave central Asia’s most populous country in a state of turmoil and political uncertainty. The Uzbek government did not confirm the reports at first but played funeral music on state channels. Later on Friday the government eventually released a statement saying the 78-year-old president had died. Karimov has no official successor. The most likely candidate to replace him appears to be Uzbekistan’s long-time prime minister, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. There is little prospect that the country of 31 million will democratise, after a quarter of a century characterised by repression, the boiling of prisoners and unflinching authoritarian rule. Even by the standards of the region, Karimov treated manifestations of dissent harshly. The upheaval has sparked much uncertainty for the Karimov family, his daughter, Gulnara Karimova, was for a long time considered a potential successor to her father and was a highly public figure has disappeared. Perhaps we should be looking at listing a few Uzbek elites in the near future.

Jeremy Vine almost got run over by an irate woman in a car as he was cycling home. The lady involved in the alleged road-rage incident has said his “dangerous” cycling provoked her foul-mouthed response. Vine shared the footage of the alleged road rage incident with his Facebook and Twitter followers on Tuesday. The 51-year-old filmed the “horrible moment” on a helmet-mounted camera while cycling home in Kensington, London after hosting his show on Friday 26th August. Have a look at the video yourself and make up your own mind. One thing is for sure, don’t have a wobbly at a cyclist when they work for the BBC.

And finally, an emergency response was initiated at a school in Ohio after around 40 children ingested Bhut Jolokia peppers – one of the hottest species in existence. An unidentified student brought the peppers into Milton Union Middle School, West Milton, and apparently shared them among other students aged 11 to 14. Police and emergency responders were contacted on Friday after the students began to exhibit symptoms such as blotchy skin, hives, sweating, watering eyes and general discomfort. Five students had to be hospitalised. The students “took these peppers voluntarily”, according to a police investigation. “We all drank like 10 cartons of milk,” eighth grade student Cody Schmidt told the newspaper, adding that the pepper was “really hot”. The school’s superintendent, Brad Ritchey, said: “The response of emergency services was amazing, deputies and help from surrounding paramedics. Research conducted in 1980 found a 68 kilogram human would need to eat at least 1.3 kilograms of the hottest chillies in one sitting for the peppers to have a lethal effect.

On This Day

• 1666 – In London, England, the most destructive damage from the Great Fire occurs.
• 1882 – Thomas Edison flips the switch to the first commercial electrical power plant in history, lighting one square mile of lower Manhattan. This is considered by many as the day that began the electrical age.
• 1888 – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
• 1998 – Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.

Deaths

• 2001 – Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, American radio host and actor (b. 1962)
• 2006 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (b. 1962)
• 2014 – Joan Rivers, American comedian, television host, and author (b. 1933)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Paul Rubens (64), Daniel Stern (59), Shania Twain (51), Jack Black (47), Jason Priestley (47), LeAnne Rimes (34), Florence Welch (30), Elliott Gould (78), Rebecca DeMornay (57), John McCain (80), Michael Chiklis (53), Cameron Diaz (44), Warren Buffett (86), Van Morrison (71), Richard Gere (67), Chris Tucker (45), Lily Tomlin (77), Barry Gibb (70), Gloria Estefan (59), Keanu Reeves (51), Salma Hayek (50), Jimmy Connors (64), Lennox Lewis (51) and Charlie Sheen (51).

The Last Word

Now I can cross the Shifting Sands. – L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.

• Note: Baum was referring to the Shifting Sands, the impassable desert surrounding the Land of Oz.

Next week peeps!

4th September 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 28th August 2016

No points to award this week, but we do have the joy of reading about Richard Branson falling on his face. If that’s not enough for you, then please take a moment to find a piece of your soul that cares, as the Storm Trooper who hit his head on a door frame has passed away. We’re not sure if he’s actually dead, he might come back as a ghost in subsequent sequels.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Sir Antony Jay, 86, English broadcaster, director and writer (Yes Minister).
• Michael Leader, 78, British actor (EastEnders, Star Wars – clumsy Star Wars stormtrooper).
• Steven Hill, 94, American actor (Mission: Impossible, Law & Order, The Firm).
• Walter Scheel, 97, German politician, President of West Germany (1974–1979).
• Marvin Kaplan, 89, American actor (It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Alice, The Great Race).

In Other News

Sir Richard Branson says he thought he was “going to die” after crashing his bike on Caribbean island Virgin Gorda. The businessman said he was “extremely fortunate” only to have suffered a cracked cheek and torn ligaments. Sir Richard said he was cycling down a hill when he hit a speed bump, and “the next thing I knew, I was being hurled over the handlebars and my life was literally flashing before my eyes.” His bicycle “went flying off the cliff and disappeared”, he said. In a post on the Virgin website, the 66-year-old said: “I was heading down a hill towards Leverick Bay when it suddenly got really dark and I managed to hit a sleeping policeman hump in the road head on. “I really thought I was going to die. I went flying head-first towards the concrete road, but fortunately my shoulder and cheek took the brunt of the impact, and I was wearing a helmet that saved my life. “We’ve since recovered the crumpled bicycle, completely destroyed. My cheek has been badly damaged and my knee, chin, shoulder and body severely cut.” Sir Richard said his assistant, Helen Clarke, was first on the scene as he was “lying prostrate on the road” and then another member of his team, George, “sprinted from the bottom of the hill” to assist. The accident happened on the fifth anniversary of a fire which destroyed his luxury home on Necker Island.

Phil Collins has addressed his former alcohol addiction and said he came close to nearly dying due to heavy drinking. The 65-year-old grammy-award winning singer explained he started drinking more after his third marriage broke up and his family moved away to Miami. Collins said he was in turn left with an emotional vacuum and began drinking excessively. “There’s a chapter in it about the drinking, which escalated when my third marriage broke up, and I retired,” he told The New York Times while talking about his new memoir I’m Not Dead Yet. “I was left with this huge void. I didn’t want to work because I wanted to be with the kids, but the kids weren’t there anymore, because they moved to Miami, and I was still in Switzerland.” “You start drinking, and then you start drinking too much. Then it physically hurts you. I came very close to dying at that point. I’m being honest about that. The book is honest, it’s self-deprecating. I’m not shirking my responsibilities. I apologise when I need to.” Collins has spoken about his struggle with alcohol in the past, explaining that heavy drinking nearly cost him his life and he would open a bottle of wine at 11am in the morning at the height of his drinking. Once a drinker, always a drinker.

Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong caused a scare when he fainted briefly while delivering a lengthy televised speech on Sunday, but he resumed speaking after resting. The 64-year-old cancer survivor, son of the city-state’s late founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, suddenly stopped speaking more than two hours into his speech and had to be helped off the stage. When he returned about an hour and 20 minutes later, the crowd in the packed auditorium gave him a standing ovation and thousands of well-wishers expressed relief on social media. Aides blamed fatigue and dehydration and ruled out a stroke. “Thank you for waiting for me. I gave everybody a scare,” said Lee, who has been in power since 2004. He said he fainted during the speech, part of celebrations linked to Singapore’s 51st anniversary as a republic on August 9th. “I think that’s what happened. I’ve never had so many doctors look at me all at once, they think I’m all right. But anyway I’m going to have a full check-up after this.” Lee had been on his feet for more than two hours when he stunned the audience as he slouched over the lectern before cameras cut away to his listeners during a live broadcast. Lee underwent surgery for prostate cancer last year and has received the all-clear from doctors. He survived a bout of lymphoma, a form of cancer, in 1992.

A Vietnamese woman has admitted to paying for her foot and part of her arm to be cut off in order to claim an insurance payout, police say. In May, the 30-year-old woman, named as “Ly Thi N”, pretended she had been hit by a train, the People’s Police Newspaper of Vietnam reports. But she has now reportedly admitted to having paid a friend $2,200 (£1,660) to sever her limbs. The aim was to claim more than $150,000 from her insurance company. A supposed bystander, “Doan Van D”, the same person who did the cutting, had called an ambulance after “finding” the injured woman on a Hanoi railroad. Pictures published by the official police newspaper showed the woman three months later, with her wounds healed. She is believed to run a struggling business, according to local media. Police have dropped the criminal investigation against both suspects, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reports, after all, she’s a bit armless and can’t run anywhere…

And finally, the world’s oldest man has been named as Indonesian Mbah Gotho, who is 145 years old, with documentation that says he was born in 1870. Mr Gotho said he began preparing for his death in 1992, even having a gravestone made, but 24 years later he is still alive. He has now outlived all 10 of his siblings, his four wives and his children. Though his age is impressive, Mr Gotho told a regional news network: “What I want is to die.” For the past three months he has needed to bathed and spoon-fed, and is becoming increasingly frail. Mr Gotho has official documentation which shows his age, and the Indonesian records office says it has confirmed his birth date as December 31 1870. If this is correct, this would earn him the title of the oldest person ever, a title currently held by French centenarian Jeanne Calment, who was 122 when she died – 23 years younger than Mr Gotho. If the documents cannot be independently verified, however, Mr Gotho will not go down in the record books. There are a number of people who claim to have broken Jeanne Calment’s record, such as Nigerian James Olofintuyi, who claims to be 171, and Dhaqabo Ebba from Ethiopia, who claims to be 163, but without verifiable documents they cannot be given her title. The centenarian, from Central Java, says he spends his time listening to the radio, as his eyesight is no longer good enough to watch television. When asked the secret to a long life, he said: “The recipe is just patience”.

On This Day

• 1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives Royal Assent, abolishing slavery through most of the British Empire.
• 1898 – Caleb Bradham invents the carbonated soft drink that will later be called “Pepsi-Cola“.
• 1957 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.
• 1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
• 1963 – Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie are murdered in their Manhattan apartment, prompting the events that would lead to the passing of the Miranda Rights.
• 1988 – Ramstein air show disaster: Three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. Seventy-five are killed and 346 seriously injured.

Deaths

• 1978 – Robert Shaw, English actor, screenwriter, and author (b. 1927)
• 1987 – John Huston, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kenny Rogers (78), Carrie-Anne Moss (49), Alecia Witt (41), Hayden Panettiere (27), RJ Mitte (24), Usain Bolt (30), Tori Amos (53), Ty Burrell (49), Kirsten Wiig (43), Barbara Eden (85), Shelley Long (67), Steve Guttenberg (58), Dave Chappelle (43), Rupert Grint (28), Stephen Fry (59), Sean Connery (86), Tom Skerritt (83), Gene Simmons (67), Elvis Costello (62), Tim Burton (58), Billy Ray Cyrus (55), Claudia Schiffer (46), Rachel Bilson (35), Alexander Skarsgard (40), Melissa McCarthy (46) and Macauley Culkin (36).

The Last Word

“Oh, what’s the bloody point?”

• Kenneth Williams, British actor and raconteur. This was the final entry in his diary.

Next week peeps!

28th August 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st August 2016

Finally we’ve had a notable  death at long last! Shân, Dave, Alex & Eliza all correctly guessed that João Havelange, the Brazilian football executive, would kick the bucket this year. 50 points each. We’re pretty much three quarters of the way through the year and the leader board is quite tight at the top so anything could happen!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Dalian Atkinson, 48, English footballer (Ipswich Town, Aston Villa), tased.
• James Woolley, 49, American keyboardist (Nine Inch Nails, 2wo), Grammy winner (1993).
• João Havelange, 100, Brazilian football executive, President of FIFA (1974–1998).
• John McLaughlin, 89, American political commentator and television personality (The McLaughlin Group).
• Arthur Hiller, 92, Canadian-born American film director (Love Story, The Hospital, The In-Laws).
• Jack Riley, 80, American actor (The Bob Newhart Show, Rugrats, Spaceballs), pneumonia.
• Brian Rix, 92, British actor (And the Same to You) and activist (Mencap).
• Lou Pearlman, 62, American record producer, music manager (Backstreet Boys, NSYNC) and convicted criminal.
• Matt Roberts, 38, American rock guitarist (3 Doors Down) and songwriter (“Kryptonite“), apparent prescription drug overdose.
• Lilia Cuntapay, 81, Filipino actress (Shake, Rattle & Roll, Brokedown Palace, Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay).

In Other News

Television presenter Charlie Webster “nearly died” after falling ill with a rare strain of malaria at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, according to her mother, shortly after completing a 3,000 mile charity ride to make it to the games. At first, doctors treating the 33-year-old from Sheffield thought she was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration when she felt unwell and started vomiting at the event a fortnight ago. But over the following few days, Webster’s health sharply deteriorated and her family said that she fell unconscious last Thursday, although news of the seriousness of her condition only publicly emerged a week later. The presenter – who has worked for Sky Sports and ITV – remains seriously ill with kidney failure, but has been taken out of an induced coma and can speak to family members by her bedside, according to a family statement. On Thursday, doctors said they are “very happy” with her “neurological results” suggesting she has not suffered any brain damage. However they cautioned that her kidneys were “still not responding to treatment and she remains on dialysis.”

Pauline Cafferkey, the nurse who nearly died after contracting Ebola as a volunteer in west Africa, has been charged by a regulatory body with concealing her high temperature when she returned to the UK. Cafferkey, hailed as a hero for her work in the Ebola treatment units of Sierra Leone, could be struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council if the charges are proved against her. The NMC alleged that the Scottish nurse “allowed an incorrect temperature to be recorded” on 29th December 2014 and “intended to conceal from Public Health England staff that you had a temperature higher than 38˚C”. A high temperature is one of the first symptoms of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. NHS workers who returned from volunteering were all supposed to fill in questionnaires about their exposure to the virus in their patients and have their temperatures taken by PHE staff at Heathrow airport. Cafferkey nearly died twice – the first time after being diagnosed in Scotland. She was flown to London to be treated in a special tented Ebola isolation unit at the Royal Free hospital. Last October she developed meningitis as a result of the Ebola virus and had to be transferred to the Royal Free once more. Her condition became critical but she pulled through.

Police have renewed a public appeal for information after three human feet were discovered within a few hundred yards of each other. The first foot was found in Weston Park East in Bath, Somerset, in February, the second was discovered in the garden of a property in Weston Park in July, and the third in the garden of a property in Cranwells Park earlier this month. Avon and Somerset police said the first foot was more than likely to be an exhibit from a medical or educational establishment and was not the result of a crime. The force said it anticipated that inquiries into the second and third feet, which are still undergoing tests, are likely to come to the same conclusion. Temporary DI Paul Catton said: “We are confident no crime has been committed and strongly believe the feet have come from an old private collection. “All three feet show signs they have come into contact with animals and it is likely that they have been moved to the locations they were found from a specific source. Dare I quote Arthur Conan Doyle? “Come, Watson, come!’ he cried. ‘The game is afoot!”

And finally, three people, including two children, have died after their throats were slit by glass-coated strings used for flying kites on India’s Independence Day. Saanchi Goyal, 3, and Harry, 4, were looking out through the sunroof of their cars in different parts of Delhi when sharp strings slit their throats. Zafar Khan, 22, died in the same manner when he was riding his motorbike. Glass-coated strings are used to bring down competitors’ kites, but they also end up injuring and killing people. Many Indians fly kites to celebrate festivals and important occasions like the Independence Day, which is celebrated on 15th August. But every year, there are reports of people dying or getting wounded from the kite strings – locally known as manja – treated with powdered glass or metal to sharpen them. The Delhi government has now banned the use of sharpened manja to fly kites and promised to run campaigns to educate people about the dangers of using such strings.

On This Day

• 1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
• 1897 – Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles, is founded.
• 1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.
• 1945 – Physicist Harry Daghlian is irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project. He does not turn into a superhero, he dies a horrible death 25 days later.
• 1957 – The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
• 1961 – Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes.

Deaths

• 1614 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (b. 1560)
• 1940 – Leon Trotsky, Russian theorist and politician, founded the Red Army (b. 1879)

Last Weeks Birthdays

Steve Martin (71), Halle Berry (50), Mila Kunis (33), Magic Johnson (57), Ben Affleck (44), Natasha Henstridge (42), Jennifer Lawrence (26), Princess Anne (66), Julie Newmar (83), James Cameron (62), Madonna (58), Steve Carell (54), Ulrika Jonsson (49), Belinda Carlisle (58), Sean Penn (56), Donnie Wahlberg (48), Robert Redford (80), Denis Leary (59), Madeleine Stowe (58), Christian Slater (47), Edward Norton (47), Jim Carter (68), Matthew Perry (47), Bill Clinton (70), Robert Plant (68), Andrew Garfield (33) and Amy Adams (42).

The Last Word

“Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards.” – Willem Arondeus, Dutch artist and writer, member of the Anti-Nazi resistance.

• He led a group in bombing the Amsterdam Public Records Office, destroying thousands of files to prevent the Nazis from identifying Jews. Within a week, Arondeus and the other members of the group were arrested. Twelve, including Arondeus, were executed by firing squad.

Next week peeps!

21st August 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 14th August 2016

As yet another pointless edition of the Dead Pool lands in your inbox, we can only hope that next week brings in the names we need. Although this week did have people that we have actually heard of on the list, which makes a refreshing change!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Padraig Duggan, 67, Irish folk musician (Clannad, The Duggans).
• Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, 64, British billionaire property developer.
• Barry Jenner, 75, American actor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dallas, Family Matters), acute myeloid leukaemia.
• Kenny Baker, 81, British actor (Star Wars, Time Bandits, Flash Gordon).

In Other News

The Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe is set to move out of Broadmoor psychiatric hospital and back into jail after a mental health tribunal ruled him sane enough to do so, sources said. The serial killer, 70, has spent 32 years inside the high-security institution in Berkshire after murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven more between 1976 and 1981. Sutcliffe, a former lorry driver from Bradford, now calls himself Peter Coonan. Most of his victims were prostitutes who were mutilated and beaten to death. The decision of the tribunal has been referred to the Ministry of Justice, which still needs to confirm the move. Sutcliffe was given 20 life terms for the murders and was caught when police found him with a prostitute in his car. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Peter Coonan will remain locked up and will never be released for his evil crimes. ”Decisions over whether prisoners are to be sent back to prison from secure hospitals are based on clinical assessments made by independent medical staff. And I bet their assessment was, why waste more money on him, let the prison population deal with him once and for all.

The former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has made a rare public appearance at an event to mark his 90th birthday. He appeared at a gala in Havana’s Karl Marx Theatre with his brother, President Raul Castro, and Cuba’s ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In his first public appearance since April, he appeared frail and remained seated during the event. Too frail to smoke the 90 meter cigar rolled in his honour! The masterpiece took 10 days to create with the help of several assistants who worked 12 hours a day to roll the extraordinary cigar. It was presented on long tables in an old colonial fort overlooking the harbour of Havana.

Pope Francis has surprised 20 former prostitutes by popping in for a visit at their house in Rome. The women had been rescued from their pimps and are being given shelter and protection at an apartment run by a Catholic charity in Italy’s capital. The pontiff ‘chatted’ to the women, some trafficked from Africa and elsewhere in Europe, for more than an hour! The 79-year-old cleric has repeatedly described human trafficking as a “crime against humanity”. The prostitutes were all aged about 30 and had “suffered serious physical abuse” and now lived under “Vatican protection”. Pope Francis encouraged the former sex workers “to be strong” as they started their new lives with the help of the Pope John XXIII Community. Sounds like our newish pontiff has plenty of spunk for a man of his age!

On This Day

• 1885 – Japan’s first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
• 1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
• 1969 – Operation Banner: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland.
• 1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.

Deaths

• 1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (b. 1863)
• 1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (b. 1898)

Last Week’s Birthdays

David Duchovny (56), Charlize Theron (41), Abbie Cornish (34), Dustin Hoffman (79), Roger Federer (35), Sam Elliott (72), Melanie Griffith (59), Gillian Anderson (48), Eric Bana (48), Anna Kendrick (31), Audrey Tautou (40), Rosanna Arquette (57), Antonio Banderas (56), Hulk Hogan (63), Chris Hemsworth (33), George Hamilton (77), Mark Knopfler (67), Bruce Greenwood (60) and Pete Sampras (45).

The Last Word

“The bastards tried to come over me last night. I guess they didn’t know I was a Marine”. – Private First Class Edward H. Ahrens

• During the Battle of Tulagi, Private Ahrens was mortally wounded while single-handedly fighting back a group of Japanese soldiers attempting to infiltrate Allied lines. After his superior officer discovered Ahrens the next morning surrounded by dead Japanese troops, he whispered these words and died.

Next week peeps!

14th August 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 7th August 2016

In all honesty, you almost didn’t get a newsletter this week. The lack of news and deaths nearly put a stop on us! It’s really time to send out the flying monkeys, don’t blame me if someone you adore dies this week!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Gloria DeHaven, 91, American actress (Summer Stock, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Out to Sea), complications from a stroke.
• Anne of Romania, 92, French-born Romanian royal, queen consort of King Michael.
• David Huddleston, 85, American actor (The Big Lebowski, Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie), heart and kidney disease.
• Gaspar Saladino, 88, American comic letterer (Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, Arkham Asylum). 

In Other News

Oscar Pistorius has denied injuries to his wrists sustained in prison were “a suicide attempt”, a South African prison spokesman has said. Pistorius claimed he fell out of bed in his cell at the prison where he is serving a six-year sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. “Oscar Pistorius denied speculations of a suicide attempt. As a policy principle, we cannot further discuss a particular offender’s personal condition in the public domain,” Manelisi Wolela, a spokesman at the Department of Correctional Services, told Reuters. His brother posted on Twitter to say Pistorius was in good spirits and is “doing well given the circumstances”. He called reports the athlete had tried to injure himself “completely untrue and sensational”.

Brazil’s most recognisable celebrity Pelé pulled out of the Rio  2016 opening ceremony just hours before it was due to begin, but the director insisted this would not detract from a show that aims to be about a lot more than sport. Underscoring how nothing seems to go right for the country recently, the footballer Pelé announced his withdrawal as a result of pain to caused by his recent hip replacement surgery. Local media had reported that he was among the candidates to light the Olympic cauldron. “At this point I’m not physically able to attend the opening of the Olympics,” the 75-year-old said in a statement. “As a Brazilian, I ask God to bless all who participate in this event and to make it a great success.”

Ozzy Osbourne is undergoing “intense therapy” for sex addiction, which caused his separation from his manager and wife of 34 years, Sharon. The Black Sabbath frontman’s representatives released a statement saying he had been dealing with sex addiction for the last six years,but that since his “relationship” with hairstylist Michelle Pugh had been exposed, he had sought treatment. When Osbourne moved out of the family home in May, it was suggested he might have relapsed in his drugs and alcohol addictions. Osbourne himself said: “I have been sober for three and a quarter years. I have not touched drugs or alcohol in that time. Any reports that I am not sober are completely inaccurate.”

On This Day

• 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl‘s balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
• 1955 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, sells its first transistor radios in Japan.

Deaths

• 1957 – Oliver Hardy, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1892)
• 1999 – Brion James, American actor (b. 1945)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Wesley Snipes (54), Fatboy Slim (53), J.K. Rowling (51), Dean Cain (50), Joe Elliott (57), Coolio (53), Kevin Smith (46), Sam Worthington (40), Edward Furlong (39), Martin Sheen (76), Martha Stewart (75), John Landis (66), James Hetfield (53), Evangeline Lilly (37), Billy Bob Thornton (61), Barack Obama (55), M. Night Shyamalan (46), Gerri Halliwell (44) and Michelle Yeoh (54).

The Last Word

“Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel”. – George Appel, executed by electric chair in 1928.

Next week peeps!

7th August 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 31st July 2016

Welcome all, to what seems to be a massive list of dead celebrities. Alas, no point scorers and a slight scarcity of news. But worry not, as usual the Dead Pool Master has tried his best to make the newsletter slightly interesting. Not too interesting mind, I don’t want your expectations to elevate to stratospheric proportions.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Shawshank tree, c. 180, North American white oak featured in The Shawshank Redemption.
• Dave Bald Eagle, 97, American Lakota Chief and actor.
• Carl Falck, 109, Norwegian businessman, nation’s oldest living man.
• Marni Nixon, 86, American singer (The King and I, West Side Story, My Fair Lady) and actress (The Sound of Music), breast cancer.
• Forrest Mars Jr., 84, American billionaire businessman (Mars, Incorporated), heart attack.
• JT McNamara, 41, Irish jockey.
• Sandy Pearlman, 72, American record producer and band manager (Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash, Black Sabbath), pneumonia as a complication from a stroke.
• Jack Davis, 91, American cartoonist and illustrator (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, Georgia Bulldogs), co-founder of Mad.
• Jerry Doyle, 60, American talk show host and actor (Babylon 5), founder of EpicTimes.
• Vivean Gray, 92, British-born Australian actress (Neighbours, The Sullivans, Prisoner).
• Ken Barrie, 83, British voice actor (Postman Pat) and singer, liver cancer.
• Fred Tomlinson, 90, British singer (The Two Ronnies, Monty Python’s Flying Circus), composer (“The Lumberjack Song“) and critic.

In Other News

Travelling to the moon, Mars or beyond could dramatically increase an astronaut’s risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, the first research into the long-term health of Apollo spacemen has revealed. Nasa’s Apollo programme sent nine manned missions and 24 astronauts beyond  low Earth orbit during the 1960s and early 1970s, including Apollo 11, which delivered Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon. But it seems such missions might have taken their toll. A team of researchers looking into the fate of the Apollo astronauts has discovered that their rate of death from cardiovascular disease is four to five times higher than that seen for astronauts of the same era who only flew in low Earth orbits, or who never flew on an orbital mission at all. That, the researchers say, suggests that venturing beyond the Earth’s protective magnetic field could cause long-lasting damage to the cardiovascular system, potentially as a result of exposure to deep space radiation. The findings come as a number of space agencies and commercial enterprises are looking to venture to the moon and beyond, with Nasa planning to send humans to Mars in the 2030’s. Time to rewrite those 2017 lists!

1990s styles may be back in fashion, but getting hold of 20-year-old technology is about to get much harder. The last known maker of video cassette recorders, Funai Japan, has announced it is to cease production of VCRs. Those whirring, magic boxes will soon be nothing but a mere memory. Worldwide a total of 900 million VCRs were produced. With nobody producing the format anymore we can officially announce its DEAD!

A skydiver has made history by becoming the first person to leap without a parachute. After a two-minute free-fall, Luke Aikins, 42, landed dead centre in the 100 x100ft net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley, California. As cheers erupted, Aikins quickly climbed out, walked over and hugged his wife Monica, who had been watching from the ground with their four-year-old son Logan, who was no doubt fully expecting his father to end up like a pancake. ‘This thing just happened! I can’t even get the words out of my mouth,’ he added as he thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the fishing trawler-like net and made sure it really worked. Aikins admitted before the jump he was nervous and his mother said she was one family member who would not watch.

On This Day

• 1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
• 1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
• 1970 – Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
• 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.

Deaths

• 1886 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
• 1917 – Hedd Wyn, Welsh soldier and poet (b. 1887)
• 1964 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Gore Vidal, American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Michael Ansara, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Trevor Storer, English businessman, founded Pukka Pies (b. 1930)
• 2015 – Roddy Piper, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (b. 1954)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Lynda Carter (65), Gus Van Sant (64), Jennifer Lopez (47), Summer Glau (25), Anna Paquin (34), Matt LeBlanc (49), Mick Jagger (73), Helen Mirren (71), Kevin Spacey (57), Sandra Bullock (52), Kate Beckinsale (43), Josh Radnor (42), Paul Anka (75), Arnold Schwarzenegger (69), Jean Reno (68), Laurence Fishburne (55), Lisa Kudrow (53), Christopher Nolan (46) and Hilary Swank (42).

The Last Word

“Ik schiet beter!” – I could shoot better! – Hannie Schaft

Spoken to a German soldier after having been shot in her execution; the soldier subsequently emptied his machine gun into her.

Next week peeps!

31st July 2016 | Categories: 2016 | Leave A Comment »