Dead Pool 18th November 2018

After what seems to have been months without a single point scored, we’ve now have had a glut of deaths and I can finally bestow some points at last! 55 points to Mark, Laura, Lee and Paula for correctly guessing that Stan Lee would die this year! Well done all of you!    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Douglas Rain, 90, Canadian actor (2001: A Space Odyssey).  
• Stan Lee, 95, American comic book writer and publisher (Marvel Comics).  
• Katherine MacGregor, 93, American actress (Little House on the Prairie).   
• Roy Clark, 85, American Hall of Fame country singer and television host (Hee Haw), complications from pneumonia.   
• Kim Porter, 47, American actress and model, cardiac arrest.   
• William Goldman, 87, American author (The Princess Bride) and screenwriter (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men), Oscar winner (1970, 1977), complications from colon cancer and pneumonia.   
• Al James, 72, British bass guitar player (Showaddywaddy).   
• Richard Baker, 93, English broadcaster (BBC News, Start the Week, Melodies for You).       
• John Bluthal, 89, Polish-born British-Australian actor (Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width, The Vicar of Dibley, Hail, Caesar!)   
• Babs Beverley, 91, British singer (Beverley Sisters)

In Other News

Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke and Gerard Butler are among those whose homes have  been damaged or destroyed as two wildfires sweep through California. The singer said she had been left “devastated” after her Malibu home was destroyed in the blaze as California battles one of the most destructive fire’s on state record. “My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong. I am grateful for all I have left. Sending so much love and gratitude to the firefighters and LA country Sheriff’s department!” In another tweet, Ms Cyrus shared details of how to donate to various organisations involved in the relief effort. Actor Gerard Butler also took to Twitter to share a picture of the charred remains of his car and home, which were also destroyed in the Malibu fire.  He wrote: “Returned to my house in Malibu after evacuating,” he wrote in the post. “Heartbreaking time across California.” Singer Robin Thicke’s Malibu home also burned down entirely, according to his representative. The 41-year-old singer said on Instagram that he, his girlfriend and his two kids are “safe and surrounded by friends and family” and “thankful to firefighters”. “As we drove to safety, they risked their lives trying to save our home,” Mr Thicke said. Many other celebrities including Orlando Bloom, Alyssa Milano and Lady Gaga were forced to evacuate their homes in southern California. But don’t feel overly sorry for these people, Gerard Butler is worth £30 Million, Robin Thicke has £15 Million and the 25 year old Miley Cyrus is worth a staggering £200 Million.  

David Arquette was bloody, mangled and nearly tortured Friday night in a wrestling match … and there was NOTHING FAKE about it. David was in a ‘deathmatch’ — that’s the name and not really an understatement — at a Game Changer Wrestling event. The actor-turned-wrestler was up against Nick FN Gage and it was just brutal. Gage broke a light tube over Arquette’s head. You see David grab his neck as blood pours from the area. Shockingly, the fight continues. Toward the end, it looks like David gives up, climbing out of the ring, but then the 47-year-old hops back in as he bleeds profusely. Gage stomps on him, but David fires back by smacking Gage with a chair. It didn’t take long … David gets pinned. After the match, David told his fans he needed a few stitches and he was fine. He ended by saying death matches weren’t his thing… 

And finally, a loyal dog which has waited on a busy road for more than 80 days after its owner died there has captured the hearts of online communities in China. Footage of the animal in the middle of the road in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, has been viewed 1.4 million times on the popular Sina Weibo microblog. China’s Pear Video website said the dog has been seen in the road every day since its owner died on 21st August. A taxi driver said people try to help but the dog runs away. “Drivers often give the little dog bits of food, but when we get out, he goes away,” he said. “This owner’s relationship with her dog was very deep. After she was killed, this little dog has just stayed standing guard. “Every day it’s in the road, I always see it. The relationship between man and dog is so true.” 

On This Day

• 1421 – A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike in the Netherlands breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people. This event will be known as St Elizabeth’s flood. Sadly they couldn’t find a little boy with a finger that day…   
• 1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronised sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey’s birthday.    
• 1963 – The first push-button telephone goes into service.    
• 1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children.    
• 1987 – King’s Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city’s busiest underground station, King’s Cross St Pancras.   
• 1991 – Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

Deaths

• 1247 – Robin Hood, heroic outlaw in English folklore (b. 1160)  
• 1886 – Chester A. Arthur, American general, lawyer, and politician, 21st President of the United States (b. 1829)  
• 1962 – Niels Bohr, Danish footballer, physicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)   
• 2002 – James Coburn, American actor (b. 1928)   
• 2015 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1975)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Rachel McAdams (40), Martin Scorsese (76), Tom Ellis (40), Danny DeVito (74), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (60), RuPaul (58), Jonathan Ross (58), Maggie Gyllenhaal (41), Missi Pyle (46), Martha Plimpton (48), Gemma Atkinson (34), Gigi Edgley (41), Mark Benton (53), Beverly D’Angelo (67), Jonny Lee Miller (46), Petula Clark (86), Sandahl Bergman (67), Paul McGann (59), Prince Charles (70), Gerard Butler (49), Whoopi Goldberg (63), Jimmy Kimmel (51), Ryan Gosling (38), Anne Hathaway (36), Gustaf Skarsgård (38), Wallace Shawn (75), Neil Young (73), Leonardo DiCaprio (44), Demi Moore (56), Calista Flockhart (54) and June Whitfield (93).