Dead Pool 13th August 2017

Oh my! Points to award and a new table leader! With  the sad passing of Glen Campbell, 69 points go to Doug and 169 to Martin as he had him down as his Cert.  Luke and Dave also score 137 with their Cert, with the death of the world oldest man, Yisrael Kristal. The top three scorers now have nothing between them, one death is enough to secure the championship.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Chantek, 39, American hybrid orangutan who learned signing.
• Haruo Nakajima, 88, Japanese actor (Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Seven Samurai), pneumonia.
• Glen Campbell, 81, American singer (“Rhinestone Cowboy”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”) and actor (True Grit), Grammy winner (1967, 2015), Alzheimer’s disease.
• Sitaram Panchal, 54, Indian actor (Peepli Live, Lajja, Slumdog Millionaire), kidney and lung cancer.
• Yisrael Kristal, 113, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian, world’s oldest living man.

In Other News

Singer Sinead O’Connor has sparked fresh concern over her mental health after posting a Facebook video in which she reveals she has wanted to kill herself for the past two years. The Irish songwriter, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, took to the social media site for a tearful confessional recording, opening up about how alone she has felt since losing custody of her 13-year-old son. In the video, posted from the Travelodge in New Jersey where she says she is now living, the 50-year-old said she suffers from three mental illnesses. “I’m all by myself, there’s absolutely nobody in my life. “I’m now living in a Travelodge motel in the arse-end of New Jersey. “[No one] except my doctor, my psychiatrist — who is the sweetest man on earth who says I’m his hero — and that’s about the only f**king thing keeping me alive at the moment. The fact that I’m his bloody hero … and that’s kind of pathetic.” O’Connor, who shot to fame in 1990 with the smash hit Nothing Compares 2 U, claims she is being treated “like shit” by family members who are refusing to take care of her. The thousands of comments from friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter mainly expressed concern for the singer’s well-being and urged her to seek help. Last May, the singer sparked a police investigation after she went missing after going on a bike ride with friends concerned she may have carried out her threats to take her own life.

Jeremy Clarkson will have to take a break from work for “quite some time” after contracting pneumonia, the TV presenter has said in a statement. The Grand Tour presenter was admitted to hospital on Friday after falling ill while on a family holiday in Majorca. The 57-year-old posted a message on social media saying: “To keep you up to date, I’ll be out of action for quite some time apparently.” He said it was “really annoying” as he had never had a day off work. Clarkson also thanked fans for “all the good wishes”. On Sunday, it was confirmed the former Top Gear host was being treated in a hospital on the Spanish island. Clarkson shared a photograph of tubes in his arm and his hospital identity tags around his wrist, writing: “Not the sort of bangles I usually choose on holiday.” Clarkson made light of the situation on social media, saying the show’s third co-presenter, James May, was now the only “functioning member” of the Grand Tour team, adding: “God help us.”

In what we would call a non-news story, The Queen is preparing to make Prince Charles King of England and abdicated the throne, according to reports. Queen Elizabeth, 91, intends to step aside when she turns 95. They said: “Out of the profound respect the Queen holds for the institution of monarchy and its stewardship, Her Majesty would want to make sure that she has done everything she can for her country and her people before she hands over. She is dutiful to her core. Her Majesty is mindful of her age and wants to make sure when the time comes, the transition of the Crown is seamless. I understand the Queen has given the matter considerable thought and believes that, if she is still alive at 95, she will seriously consider passing the reign to Charles.” Clarence House is making no comment about ‘Plan Regency’, which involves a piece of legislation called the Regency Act coming into force.

Ant McPartlin has revealed how his secret two-year addiction to super-strong painkilling drugs almost killed him. The 41-year-old I’m A Celebrity presenter told how he was rushed to hospital at 5am after an “insane” pills binge. “I was at the point where anything — prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs — I would take. And take them with alcohol, which is ridiculous. The doctors told me, ‘You could have killed yourself’. Ant knew the game was up as he pleaded with his wife Lisa to get him to hospital after bingeing on tramadol, morphine and alcohol while recovering from a second knee operation in June. He recalls: “It was five in the morning and I was screaming in pain so I rang Lisa. She was upstairs because I was living in the living room because I couldn’t get around. I said, ‘You’re going to have to call me an ambulance. I’m in a bad way’. Post-rehab, he’s now clean of all drugs other than paracetamol for the first time in three years — and looking healthy after losing a stone.

On This Day

• 1868 – The 8.5–9.0 M_w Arica earthquake struck southern Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin wide tsunami that affected Hawaii and New Zealand.
• 1961 – East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started.
• 1964 – Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the Murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.
• 1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker tape parade in New York City That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

Deaths

• 1910 – Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse and theologian (b. 1820)
• 1946 – H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic (b. 1866)
• 2009 – Les Paul, American musician (b. 1915)
• 2016 – Kenny Baker, English actor and musician (b. 1934)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Cara Delevingne (25), Jim Beaver (67), Sam J. Jones (63), Chris Hemsworth (34), Anna Gunn (49), Ian McDiarmid (73), Hulk Hogan (64), Antonio Banderas (57), Rosanna Arquette (58), Kylie Jenner (20), Anna Kendrick (32), Sam Elliott (73), Rhona Mitra (41), Gillian Anderson (49), Eric Bana (49), Melanie Griffith (60), Audrey Tautou (41), McG (48), Dustin Hoffman (80), Keith Carradine (68), Charlize Theron (42), Abbie Cornish (35), David Duchovny (57) and Tobin Bell (75).