Dead Pool 26th May 2024

I hope you’re all enjoying the bank holiday weekend! Somehow I don’t think the people listed below are. Anyhow, no points to dispense this week, unsurprising as some of the deaths were very unexpected.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Richard Foronjy, 86, American actor (Serpico, Midnight Run, Carlito’s Way). 
• Ebrahim Raisi, 63, President of Iran (since 2021), helicopter crash. 
• Charlie Colin, 57, American bassist and guitarist (Train, The Side Deal), fall.
• David Wilkie, 70, Scottish swimmer, Olympic & World champion, cancer. 
• Caleb Carr, 68, American author (The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness), cancer. 
• Morgan Spurlock, 53, American film director (Super Size Me, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope), cancer. 
• Kabosu, 18, Japanese Shiba Inu dog and Internet meme (Doge), leukemia. 
• Richard M. Sherman, 95, American film songwriter (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). 

In Other News

Scottish comedian Janey Goldley has shared a worrying health update. The 62-year-old is currently battling terminal cancer. Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Janey admitted she was “worried sick”. She gave a fresh health update as she said that her cancer markers were “high”. Sharing the news with her 294,000 followers, the Glasgow-born performer wrote: “I have a CT scan soon, every three months I get them, I am worried sick as the cancer number is high, we know the cancer is active but not sure where. “Every pain, every twinge scares me. But I am carrying on – next show London ! I won’t go easy into the night” Her health update, which she posted on Twitter alongside a video update, has racked up 4.7k retweets, over a hundred shares, and nearly 200 comments. Janey was admitted to hospital in November 2021 for ovarian cancer, which has since been diagnosed as terminal, though the disease is being kept under control. At the time, she was forced to cancel tour dates while she underwent treatment. The comedian was told she was cancer-free in June 2022, but by the end of the year, the disease had spread to her peritoneum, the membrane lining the abdominal cavity. Earlier this year, she thanked NHS staff for taking care of her as she underwent a scan and announced her cancer was “incurable”. Posting to social media, Janey wrote: “The scan news is in – me and Ashley laugh and cheer Thanks to the Scottish NHS And everyone at the Beatson I have incurable cancer but it’s treatable. “The scan results are in and there is no change from the scan in November 2023. So that means no change, doesn’t mean I am cured or the cancer has gone away.” She continued: “I am still getting the same treatment so it’s a clear scan but I still have terminal cancer.”  

ITV news presenter Rageh Omaar looks like he is on the road to recovery after his on air health scare that saw him hospitalised after the live show. The 56-year-old has been pictured looking happy and relaxed as he walked his dog in London while wearing navy trousers and a waxed jacket, a month after he fell ill. The News At 10 host received medical care last month after he became disorientated while presenting and appeared to slur his words while reading an autocue towards the end of the bulletin. Omaar, the ITV News International Affairs Editor, was seen struggling to clear his desk and re-cap a pen following the final news story of the night and as the end credits began to roll. and has been recovering at home with his wife and three children since, the nature of his illness has not been disclosed. Following his live TV ordeal, Rageh penned a statement to thank his fans for the support he had received. “I would like to thank everyone for their kindness and good wishes, especially all the medical staff, all my wonderful colleagues at ITV News, and our viewers who expressed concern”, he wrote, adding that he had been “determined” to finish the program despite his suspected mini-stroke.  

Kabosu, the dog behind the “doge” meme, has died after 14 years of internet fame, her owner has said. The Japanese shiba inu inspired a generation of online jokes and became the face of Dogecoin cryptocurrency. She had been suffering from leukaemia and liver disease and died on 24th May. “She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog “I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner. As a rescue dog, Kabosu’s real birthday was unknown, but Ms Sato estimated her age at 18. In 2010, two years after adopting Kabosu from a puppy mill where she would otherwise have been put down, Ms Sato, a teacher from Sakura, east of Tokyo, took a picture of her pet crossing her paws on the sofa. She posted the image on her blog, from where it spread to online forum Reddit and became a meme that bounced from college bedrooms to office email chains. The memes typically used goofy broken English to reveal the inner thoughts of Kabosu and other shiba inu “doge” – pronounced like pizza “dough” but with a “j” at the end. The picture also later became an NFT digital artwork that sold for £3.1m and inspired Dogecoin, which was started as a joke by two software engineers and is now the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market capitalisation of $23bn. Kabosu fell ill with leukaemia and liver disease in late 2022, and Ms Sato said in a recent interview with AFP that the “invisible power” of prayers from fans worldwide helped her pull through. Ms Sato, 62, said she had become so used to “unbelievable” events that when Mr Musk changed the icon for Twitter, now X, to Kabosu’s face last year, she “wasn’t even that surprised”. A $100,000 statue of Kabosu and her sofa crowdfunded by Own The Doge, a crypto organisation dedicated to the meme, was unveiled in a park in Sakura in November last year. Sato and Own The Doge have also donated large sums to international charities, including more than $1m to Save the Children. The NGO says it is “the single largest crypto contribution” it has ever received. 

On This Day

• 1940 – World War II: Operation Dynamo: In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
• 1967 – The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.
• 2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
• 2020 – Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupt in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, later becoming widespread across the United States and around the world.

Deaths

• 1703 – Samuel Pepys, English politician (b. 1633). 
• 2013 – Jack Vance, American author (b. 1916).
• 2022 – Ray Liotta, American actor (b. 1954).

The Last Queue

Hundreds of crowded climbers have been captured on footage slowly making their way up the summit of Everest close to where a British climber and his guide went missing on Tuesday after they were hit by collapsing ice.

Experts fear overcrowding on the world’s highest mountain may have played a role in causing the collapse of a cornice – an overhanging mass of hardened snow on the edge of a precipice – which led to the disappearance of Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and Pastenji Sherpa, 23. The pair have not been heard from since they reached the summit at around 4.40am local time on Tuesday and are feared dead.

Mr Paterson and his guide ran into trouble after ice collapsed and fell on them near the Hillary Step, just below the summit at around 8,800 metres, according to Lapka Sherpa. The Everest guide said they had ‘heroically’ reached the top of the world’s highest peak before going missing as they descended. 

Vinayak Malla, an accredited guide with the International Federation of Mountain Guides  Associations, said: ‘After summiting, we crossed the Hillary Step, traffic was moving slowly then suddenly a cornice collapsed a few metres ahead of us. ‘As the cornice collapsed, four climbers nearly perished yet were clipped onto the rope and self-rescued. Sadly, two climbers are still missing. We tried to traverse yet it was impossible due to the traffic on the fixed line.’ Meanwhile, a member of a team at Everest base camp told The Times: ‘A cornice broke off and washed down a few climbers including Daniel and his guide towards the Tibet side.’

Overcrowding on Everest has become of increasing concern to experts and officials in recent years. In 2019, 11 people died between March to May during the climbing season, prompting Kul Bahadur Gurung, general secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association to say that  ‘there were more people on Everest than there should be’.

With Mr Paterson’s disappearance entering a fourth day, his partner Beck Woodhead vowed that she will ‘do everything’ to bring him home, and has set up a GoFundMe page to raise £150,000 for a search and rescue operation. The research nurse said that her partner ‘is known for his adventurous spirit, his kindness, and his unwavering dedication to helping others,’ as she issued a plea saying: ‘Now, it is our turn to help him.’ She described him as a passionate Leeds United fan, as well as a ‘beloved son, brother, partner, friend and a proud joint owner of Wakefield Crossfit.’ The British climber, who is believed to be from Wakefield, was described by Sherpa Lapka as being ‘known for his robust fitness, uplifting positivity, and strong determination’.

The missing men were part of a 15-strong team with 8K Expeditions, led by Bolivian climber David Hugo Ayaviri Quispe. Sherpa Lapka said his colleague Pastenji was a ‘dedicated climber from his youth, with  impressive climbs under his belt including twice on Mt. Everest, K2, Amadablam, and  several other 6,000m peaks.  His warm spirit, kindness, and outstanding expertise made him one of the premier guides at 8K Expeditions,’ he added.

Mr Paterson, who was known to his friends as ‘Pat’, was also a ‘committed’ climber, and had trained in the Himalayas last year. He previously said he was emotional when he saw the Everest summit, telling his followers: ‘My dream will always be to conquer this.’ He dedicated his climb to a late friend from Wakefield Crossfield Club and recently announced that members had raised £10,000 for her family.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres (26,246 feet) and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring climbing season. Everest is only climbable in the short windows of clear weather when the winds are calm. This has led to long queues forming at challenging sections, leaving climbers waiting in the freezing cold and burning through their valuable oxygen supplies. Earlier this month, Mongolian climbers Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Purevsuren  Lkhagvajav, 31, went missing on Everest. The pair, who had not relied on sherpa guides, were found dead a week later at two different locations after summiting the peak.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Helena Bonham Carter (58), Pam Grier (75), Bobcat Goldthwait (62), Laurence Fox (46), Lenny Kravitz (60), Stevie Nicks (76), Cillian Murphy (48), Ian McKellen (85), Mike Myers (61), Octavia Spencer (54), Frank Oz (80), Doug Jones (64), Alfred Molina (71), John C. Reilly (59), Jim Broadbent (75), Priscilla Presley (79), James Cosmo (76), Tommy Chong (86), Bob Dylan (83), Joan Collins (91), Richard Ayoade (47), Melissa McBride (59), Bob Mortimer (65), Ginnifer Goodwin (46), Naomi Campbell (54), Fairuza Balk (50), Judge Reinhold (67), Noel Fielding (51), Mr. T (72), Timothy Olyphant (56), Jack Gleeson (32), Joel Fry (39), Cher (78), and Louis Theroux (54).