Dead Pool 19th June 2022

Short and sweet this week, simply because of my epic hangover.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Hilary Devey, 65, English businesswoman and television personality (Dragons’ Den). 
• Phil Bennett, 73, Welsh rugby union player (Barbarians, Llanelli, national team).  
• Philip Baker Hall, 90, American actor (Magnolia, Zodiac, Rush Hour), emphysema.  
• Tyler Sanders, 18, American actor (Just Add Magic).  

In Other News

Samantha Fox, 56, has been left “in shock” after doctors discovered a 10mm growth between her vocal cords. The lump was found after Sam sought medical attention due to issues with her singing. Following tests, doctors ruled that the growth is in a “precarious” position, but have not determined at this stage whether it is cancerous. The former Page 3 model says she was left in tears when she saw the growth. And, following a history of cancer in her family, she has expressed her worries that it could be throat cancer. Sam told The Flying Monkeys: “When I saw the growth on the screen, I thought, ‘Oh God, that’s not normal. It looked very big. You think about throat cancer straight away. The doctor said, ‘We have to get that out as soon as possible. It might be nothing, but it might not be’.” The singer adds that her fiancée, Linda Olsen, 48, was with her when she received the news and “broke down in tears”. Sam adds she is “in shock” and has “cried a lot”. She will have surgery to remove the growth this month. Doctors have told her that even if the lump is benign, its “precarious position” means “scarring is very much a possibility”. Sam’s former long-term partner, Myra Stratton, died in 2015 after battling a rare cancer in her jaw. Sam and Myra were in a relationship for 16 years and Sam took care of her until she died.   

Gardeners’ World star Monty Don was found by his wife after a terrifying collapse, and rushed to hospital where morphine was injected into his veins. The star had  succumbed to a bad case of peritonitis, which can quickly prove fatal if left untreated. Monty, 52, had been filming for the TV series Around The World in 80 Gardens when he became unusually exhausted. “I said to my director ‘I feel really tired’ and then woke up in the middle of the night feeling dreadful,” he told the flying monkeys. “My wife found me collapsed. If she had not found me I would have died. I got into an ambulance at 2am and they stuck morphine into my veins.” He had contracted peritonitis just before he travelled to South Africa. The father of three, who has also been open about his battle with depression, had become run down after taking on a heavy workload. He had not taken a holiday for two years at the time of his collapse. Peritonitis develops after the intestines become perforated and it can be deadly, so reacting quickly is vital.  

US President Joe Biden fell off his bike as he was trying to get off it, after a ride near his beach home in the US state of Delaware. The 79-year-old leader got back to his feet and proceeded to talk with members of the public. He said he did not hurt himself, according to the flying monkeys. He said his foot had been caught in the pedal strap. But we all know what a fall does to someone of his age. Here at Dead Pool Towers we are left wondering who does the presidents risk assessment? Seriously, they wouldn’t allow Obama to walk up a mountain with Bear Grylls, yet here they allow a geriatric loose on a racer! Go figure! 

On This Day

• 1718 – At least 73,000 people died in the Chinese Tongwei–Gansu earthquake due to landslides.
• 1910 – The first Father’s Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington. Greeting card and sock manufacturers rejoice!
• 1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate.
• 2009 – Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef.

Deaths

• 1937 – J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and playwright (b. 1860).
• 1993 – William Golding, British novelist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911).
• 2013 – James Gandolfini, American actor and producer (b. 1961).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Zoe Saldana (44), Kathleen Turner (68), Aidan Turner (39), Paula Abdul (60), Richard Madden (36), Isabella Rossellini (70), Carol Kane (70), Paul McCartney (80), Will Forte (52), Jodie Whittaker (40), Barry Manilow (79), Arnold Vosloo (60), John Cho (50), James Bolam (87), Courteney Cox (58), Helen Hunt (59), Neil Patrick Harris (49), Ice Cube (53), Jim Belushi (68), Will Patton (68), Yasmine Bleeth (54), Donald Trump (76), Boy George (61), Chris Evans (41), Stellan Skarsgård (71), Richard Thomas (71), Ally Sheedy (60), Tim Allen (69), Malcolm McDowell (79), Mary-Kate Olsen (36), Ashley Olsen (36), Simon Callow (73), Steve-O (48), and Kathy Burke (58).