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!