Dead Pool 12th April 2020

We have a winner! With the sad passing of Sir Stirling Moss, Ashley has scored 60 points! Well done that man! I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the overriding news of the week is this rather nasty flu that’s going around! Apparently it’s killing off thousands of people a day, barely any celebrities though… Even Boris is getting better :/ 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News 

Promoter Barry Hearn is recovering after suffering a minor heart attack, his son and fellow promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed. Hearn is the chairman of Matchroom Sport, World Snooker and professional darts organisation PDC. His son, who leads Matchroom Boxing, confirmed the news with a tribute to the NHS and an update on his father’s health. He wrote: “As if we can’t thank the NHS enough, I want to particularly thank the staff at Broomfield and Basildon. “My dad Barry Hearn was taken to hospital on Sunday after a minor heart attack and was operated on yesterday. He is up and well and returns home today in good spirits! Thank you.” Hearn has been active on Twitter despite recovering in hospital, even reaching out to a fan to thank him for his fiancée’s work for the NHS.  

Jimmy Greaves spent a comfortable night in hospital on Tuesday and is awaiting the outcome of tests. Tottenham announced on Tuesday night that their record goalscorer, who turned 80 in February, was receiving treatment in hospital. Greaves suffered a severe stroke in May 2015, which left him wheelchair-bound. A statement on his Facebook page, run by his friend and agent Terry Baker, read: “I did promise a statement mid-morning today when I posted a statement last night. “All I can say is no news is good news at the moment. Jimmy has spoken to his wife Irene by phone. “During the course of the day he will be having tests and when we find out the results I will post them on here. So watch this space and have a good thought for Jimmy as you go about your current daily routine. “His problem isn’t coronavirus-related and doesn’t seem to be related to his previous illness. Hopefully he won’t be in hospital for too long. “Thanks for the 1000s of you showing concern. England’s greatest ever goalscorer is still with us and here’s hoping he’s home soon.” 

Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise and his daughter  have been hospitalised in Norway after being involved in a car accident in Norway in the early hours of the morning.  The 39-year-old was understood to be driving his 19-year-old daughter Ariana home to Alesund from Tonsberg in the middle of the night when he was forced to swerve in an effort to avoid something in the road, causing the vehicle to slide off the side-verge and into a guard rail. Police found the car stranded at the side of the road in Erstad, around five miles from Alesund, and both occupants were taken to hospital, though this is reported to have been a precautionary measure. Riise’s agent, Erland Bakke, confirmed the accident involved the former footballer and his daughter, and said that both were conscious as they were taken to hospital for medical checks. Police have confirmed that there is no suspicion of criminal circumstances. 

The Newly Infected

  • Karl von Habsburg, the Archduke of Austria: The 59-year-old has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and is now being quarantined. 
  • George Alagiah: The BBC newsreader confirmed he had tested positive for the virus but said he thought he had had a “mild dose”.  
  • Alister Jack: Scottish Secretary and member of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet has developed symptoms of COVID-19.   
  • Chris Whitty: England’s Chief Medical Officer announced he was in self-isolation at home after experiencing coronavirus symptoms.  
  • Sir Kenny Dalgish: The former Liverpool player and manager tested positive after being admitted to hospital.

On This Day

  • 1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.  
  • 1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.  
  • 1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.  
  • 1961 – The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.   
  • 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

Deaths

Last Meals

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer and prostitute who murdered seven men in Florida in 1989 and 1990 by shooting them at point-blank range. Wuornos claimed that her victims had either raped or attempted to rape her while she was servicing them, and that all of the homicides were committed in self-defense. She was sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. The 2003 film Monster chronicles Wuornos’ story from childhood until her first murder conviction. It stars Charlize Theron as Wuornos, a performance that earned Theron an Academy Award for Best Actress. Wuornos was incarcerated at the Florida Department of Corrections Broward Correctional Institution death row for women, then transferred to the Florida State Prison for execution. Her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied in 1996. In a 2001 petition to the Florida Supreme Court, she stated her intention to dismiss her legal counsel and terminate all pending appeals. “I killed those men,” she wrote, “robbed them as cold as ice. And I’d do it again, too. There’s no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I’d kill again. I have hate crawling through my system…I am so sick of hearing this ‘she’s crazy’ stuff. I’ve been evaluated so many times. I’m competent, sane, and I’m trying to tell the truth. I’m one who seriously hates human life and would kill again.” While her attorneys argued that she was not  mentally competent to make such a request, Wuornos insisted that she knew what she was doing, and a court-appointed panel of psychiatrists agreed. Wuornos’s execution took place on October 9, 2002. She died at 9:47 a.m. EDT. She declined her last meal which could have been anything under $20 and opted for a cup of coffee instead. Her last words were, “Yes, I would just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I’ll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I’ll be back, I’ll be back.” She was the tenth woman in the United States and the second in Florida to be executed since the 1976 United States Supreme Court decision restoring capital punishment. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Saoirse Ronan (25), Claire Danes (40), Jennifer Morrison (40), Andy Garcia (63), Ed O’Neill (73), Shannen Doherty (48), David Letterman (72), Tricia Helfer (45), Matt Ryan (38), Jeremy Clarkson (59), Joss Stone (32), Jill Gascoine (82), Charlie Hunnam (39), Daisy Ridley (27), Haley Joel Osment (31), David Harbour (44), Steven Seagal (67), Peter MacNicol (65), Kristen Stewart (30), Elle Fanning (22), Dennis Quaid (66), Robin Wright (54), Patricia Arquette (52), Dean Norris (57), Jackie Chan (66), Russell Crowe (56), Francis Ford Coppola (81), Paul Rudd (51), John Ratzenberger (73), Michael Rooker (65), Zach Braff (45), and Billy Dee Williams (83).

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