Dead Pool 25th February 2017

Points!!!! Lots too! Lets begin with 183 points to Sylvia for predicting the demise of Catherine Nevin, fantastic score due to her relatively low age and that Sylvia stuck her in as her Woman. 51 points to Mark, Laura, Lee, Julie and Nicola for guessing Billy Graham. Surprisingly, the stalwart of the Dead Pool didn’t score that many points given that he has refused to die over the countless years we’ve been running The Dead Pool. Well done all of you who scored!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Catherine Nevin, 67, Irish murderer, brain tumour.
  • Emma Chambers, 53, English actress (The Vicar of Dibley, Notting Hill, How Do You Want Me?).
  • Billy Graham, 99, American evangelist and Southern Baptist minister.
  • Eddy Amoo, 74, British soul singer (The Real Thing).
  • Sridevi, 54, Indian actress (English Vinglish), heart attack.
  • Barbara Alston, 74, American singer (The Crystals, Da Doo Ron Ron), complications from influenza.

In Other News

Stephen Fry is recovering from surgery for prostate cancer and said “it all seemed to go pretty well”. The broadcaster, who had his operation in early January, said on his website: “They took the prostate out,” adding: “So far as we know it’s all been got.” He said it was an “aggressive” cancer but it “doesn’t seem” to have spread. The former QI host added: “For the moment I’m fit and well and happy and I just wanted to let you know because rumours had started to swirl.” In the video on his site, he said: “You have to recover and that’s what I’ve been doing.” He said his family and “my darling, darling husband” Elliott Spencer had been “just marvellous”. “Here’s hoping I’ve got another few years left on this planet because I enjoy life at the moment and that’s a marvellous thing to be able to say, and I’d rather it didn’t go away,” he added. His condition was given a Gleason Score – a scale used to rate the aggressiveness of prostate cancer – of nine out of 10 before the operation, in which surgeons removed 11 lymph nodes.

To paraphrase the great American humourist Mark Twain, Twitter reports of Sylvester Stallone’s death are an exaggeration. Stallone and his brother confirmed on social media the actor was alive and well after he was the victim of a “death hoax”. Death hoaxes usually originate from a website or person intending to spread the rumour,  and go viral as web-users are duped into believing the claim. In Stallone’s case, pranksters even mocked up fake pictures showing the actor in his “final days”. The hoax, which started overnight in the US while the actor and his representatives were asleep, raced across the internet. By morning, Stallone was already being mourned by a legion of adoring fans. However Rocky refused to stay down. The 71-year-old actor and his brother took to social media to debunk the prank. “Please ignore this stupidity,” Stallone wrote in an Instagram post. “Alive and well and happy and healthy.”

An attempted execution in Alabama was halted after medical personnel repeatedly jabbed the death row inmate in the ankles, lower legs and groin but failed to find a usable vein, according to a court filing by his lawyer. The dramatic night began with a temporary stay of execution at around 6pm local time – lifted by the US Supreme Court just three hours later – and ended in confusion as 61-year-old Doyle Lee Hamm was returned to his cell shortly before midnight on Thursday. Lawyer Bernard Harcourt, who has represented Hamm for 28 years, said he was seeking information about what happened during the attempted execution. “He’s in great pain from yesterday evening, physically, from all of the attempts to access his veins in his lower extremities and in his groin,” Mr Harcourt said. He has long argued that his client, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2014, should not face lethal injection as his veins were “severely compromised” due to the cancer and treatment, and the procedure would cause severe and unnecessary pain.

And finally, a suspected drug dealer has refused to use the toilet for 37 days and is now at “risk of death”, a court has been told. Lamarr Chambers, 24, allegedly swallowed the drugs while being chased by police in Essex and has since rejected laxatives and an X-ray but has continued to eat and drink. Essex Police officers have been tweeting daily updates of the operation they described as “poo watch” since the man was arrested in Harlow on 17th January. He has been charged with two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply. Police said they would continue to apply to court for custody extensions until he empties his bowels or allows doctors to retrieve the package he is suspected of swallowing. Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court has now been told that Mr Chambers was being kept in a normal prison cell with two police officers with him at all times and has therefore not had the privacy to use the toilet. His defence lawyers claimed there was “the potential of something going seriously wrong. We’re in an arena of risk of death.” They added that the drugs that Mr Chambers had allegedly swallowed was not necessarily crucial evidence. The situation has been described as “unprecedented” and the previous record for avoiding emptying the bowels was thought to have been 33 days.

On This Day

  • 1336 – Four thousand defenders of Pilėnai commit mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.
  • 1797 – Colonel William Tate and his force of 1000–1500 soldiers surrender after the Last invasion of Britain.
  • 1994 – Mosque of Abraham massacre: In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and injuring 125 more before being subdued and beaten to death by survivors.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Billy Zane (52), Edward James Olmos (71), Dennis Waterman (70), Emily Blunt (35), Dakota Fanning (24), Kelly Macdonald (42), Peter Fonda (78), Aziz Ansari (35), Drew Barrymore (43), Thomas Jane (49), Jeri Ryan (50), Julie Walters (68), Kyle MacLachlan (59), James Hong (89), Jenna Haze (36), Sheila Hancock (85), Nigel Planer (65), Niki Lauda (69), Sophie Turner (22), Tuppence Middleton (31), Kelsey Grammer (63), William Baldwin (55), Tyne Daly (72), Anthony Daniels (72), Rihanna (30), Brenda Blethyn (72), Sidney Poitier (91), Anthony Head (64), Cindy Crawford (52), Mike Leigh (75), Trevor Noah (34), Ivana Trump (69), Benicio Del Toro (51), Jeff Daniels (63), Ray Winstone (61), Leslie Ash (58), Seal (55) and Smokey Robinson (78).

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