Dead Pool 15th December 2019

A slightly shorter edition this week as we’re only just two weeks away from the 2019 finale. With this in mind I thought it prudent to remind you to get working on your lists and email them in. I’m not bothering with the forms this year, just email 13 names and state which of them is your Cert, Woman and Maverick to mail@thedeadpool.rip. The rules can be seen here. 

As always, try to think of those not-so obscure names and try to balance your list so it’s not full of dodgy Death Row inmates or Supercentenarian’s that might score you small and often but mostly might not score you at all. 

Feel free to ask any questions or if you need any obscure name judgements. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• René Auberjonois, 79, American actor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, MASH, Benson), Tony winner (1970), lung cancer.  
• Marie Fredriksson, 61, Swedish singer-songwriter (Roxette) and musician, complications from a brain tumour.
• Nell Gifford, 46, British circus owner (Giffords Circus), cancer.  
• Juice Wrld, 21, American rapper (“All Girls Are the Same“, “Lucid Dreams“, “Bandit“).  
• Caroll Spinney, 85, American puppeteer (Sesame Street, Shalom Sesame, Follow That Bird), cartoonist and author.  
• Natalie Harrowell, 29, English rugby league player (Featherstone Rovers, national team).  
• David Bellamy, 86, English naturalist (Bellamy’s Backyard Safari) and author.  
• Danny Aiello, 86, American actor (Do the Right Thing, The Godfather Part II, Moonstruck).  
• Sheila Mercier, 100, English actress (Emmerdale).  
• Anna Karina, 79, Danish-born French actress (Little Soldier, A Woman Is a Woman, Alphaville), cancer 

In Other News 

Harvey Weinstein has been reduced to releasing a photo of himself in hospital in an attempt to distance himself from rumours he is faking illness ahead of trial. Some have accused the disgraced former film exec of trying to gain sympathy. Weinstein, 67, was in court last week using a walking frame to help him keep his balance – and it didn’t go down well online. The disgraced Hollywood boss is accused of five counts of rape and sexual assault. His trial commences in the New Year but he has moved to publicly cast aside suggestions he is putting it all on. Weinstein’s spokesman said he underwent a three-hour back operation in New York on Thursday. They added he needed to to fix the problem after injuries from a summer a car accident. His spokesman said. ‘Harvey has been in agony and underwent surgery on Thursday. We don’t know if he will need further surgeries. “The idea he is faking his illness is ridiculous.” The movie mogul’s trial is due to start on January 6. He could be jailed for life if convicted on all charges. Last week he reached out-of-court settlements with an unnamed number of people. Lawyer Donna Rotunno said last week that his health is getting worse. “Mr Weinstein’s health has been deteriorating since August when he had the unfortunate accident,” she said. “He had tried to manage the discomfort, but as the pain got worse and the various different courses of treatment failed to remedy the problem, he began to rely on a cane and a walker.  

Something very strange happened in November. You would be forgiven for not having noticed, after all, it was a month during which Prince Andrew, Duke of York ingloriously made royal history after being essentially banished from official duties over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He now has the highly dubious honour of being the first member of the family to walk away from their HRH responsibilities in 83 years when they are still fit and able-bodied. However, while this particular maelstrom was brewing, something else potentially momentous has been going on. Namely, the Queen has quietly taken a huge step back and nearly halved her workload. Like pretty much everything to do with the royal family, this was not by chance or circumstance. Instead, in November, she logged only 30 official events in contrast to November last year when she hit 50. Yes, she is a 93-year-old and has every right to perhaps pop her feet up a bit more and catch Coronation Street once in a while. But for a monarch whose life has been driven by a powerful sense of duty, this carries serious meaning. In recent weeks, with Prince Charles coming to the fore in the Andrew debacle and reportedly playing a decisive role in officially sidelining his little brother, so to have reports that he is preparing to assume the throne in all but name. While Buckingham Palace courtiers were quick to put down their china cups of Earl Grey and quash this rumour fast, it did highlight the issue of how practically the Queen will continue to reign as she pluckily works her way towards 100. 

On This Day

• 1890 – Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.
• 1914 – A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hōjō coal mine, in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.
• 1941 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv. Jeremy Corbyn still hasn’t apologised for this.
• 1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet.

Deaths

• 1890 – Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota tribal chief (b. 1831)
• 1944 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (b. 1904)
• 1966 – Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (b. 1901)
• 2013 – Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (b. 1917)
• 2017 – Heinz Wolff, scientist and TV presenter (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Don Johnson (69), Helen Slater (55), Charlie Cox (36), Garrett Wang (50), Natascha McElhone (49), Miranda Hart (46), Ted Raimi (53), Vicki Michelle (68), Christopher Plummer (90), Jamie Foxx (52), Taylor Swift (30), Steve Buscemi (62), Dick Van Dyke (94), Robert Lindsay (70), Jennifer Connelly (49), Mädchen Amick (49), Bill Nighy (70), Sarah Douglas (67), Kenneth Cranham (75), Dionne Warwick (79), Connie Francis (81), Kenneth Branagh (59), Susanna Reid (49), Kirk Douglas (103), Judi Dench (85), John Malkovich (66), Michael Dorn (67), Beau Bridges (78), Donny Osmond (62), and Kim Basinger (66).