Dead Pool 28th July 2019
Another pointless week, sadly marked by the passing of Rutger Hauer. Although many of you have seen him in Blade Runner, my personal favourite of his was Salute of the Jugger, but most if his 80’s films were awesome!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Rutger Hauer, 75, Dutch actor (Blade Runner, Nighthawks, The Hitcher).
- Li Peng, 90, Chinese politician, Premier (1987–1998), Vice Premier (1983–1987). Known as the “Butcher of Beijing” for his role in the Tiananmen Square massacre.
- Maxim Dadashev, 28, Russian boxer, head injuries sustained in match.
- Carl Mattsson, 111, Swedish supercentenarian, oldest person in the Nordic countries.
- Jimmy Patton, 87, British comedian (Patton Brothers, ChuckleVision), cancer.
- Russi Taylor, 75, American voice actress (Disney’s House of Mouse, The Simpsons, DuckTales).
In Other News
Comedian and broadcaster Sir Michael Palin is to have surgery to fix a “leaky valve” in his heart. The Monty Python member discovered a problem with his mitral valve – a small flap that stops blood flowing the wrong way around the heart – five years ago. It had not affected his general fitness until earlier this year, he said. “Recently, though, I have felt my heart having to work harder and have been advised it’s time to have the valve repaired,” he wrote on his website. “I shall be undergoing surgery in September and should be back to normal, or rather better than normal, within three months.” According to the NHS, a leaking mitral valve – known as mitral regurgitation – can cause dizziness, breathlessness, tiredness and chest pain, and can potentially lead to an irregular and fast heartbeat, high blood pressure and heart failure. The 76-year-old has cancelled a book tour scheduled for October to promote his North Korea Journal, a spin-off from his recent Channel 5 documentary about the country.
Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was found semi-conscious in his prison cell on Thursday, US media reports say. The 66-year-old, who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, was reportedly found sprawled on the floor with injuries to his neck on Wednesday. The cause is unclear – neither suicide attempt nor assault has been ruled out. He has been at the New York facility since being denied bail last week. Epstein has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. The US Bureau of Prisons issued a statement saying that Epstein was, as of noon local time (16:00 GMT), at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre and “not in a local hospital as has been reported”. But it was not clear if he had been treated for injuries either at a hospital or the prison, with officials saying “we do not share information on an inmate’s medical status or their conditions of confinement”. He was taken to a nearby hospital in Manhattan, reports say, but his condition has not been made public. Investigators are working to establish what happened. According to the indictment, the financier is accused of paying girls under the age of 18 to perform sex acts at his Manhattan and Florida mansions between 2002 and 2005.
Finally, because Nickie is obsessed with it, I’m bringing back the Last Meals section. A few longtime subscribers might remember a few of these from back in the day, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself.
We’ll start with John Wayne Gacy (1942 –1994). He was an American serial killer who raped, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County, Illinois. All of Gacy’s known murders were committed inside his Norwood Park ranch house. His victims were typically induced to his address by force or deception, and all except one of his victims were murdered by asphyxiation or strangulation with a makeshift garrotte, his first victim was stabbed to death. Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space of his home. Three other victims were buried elsewhere on his property, while the bodies of his last four known victims were discarded in the Des Plaines River. Gacy became known as the “Killer Clown” because of his charitable services at fund-raising events, parades, and children’s parties where he would dress as “Pogo the Clown” or “Patches the Clown”, characters that he had created. Popular rumour suggests that Ronald McDonald was retired due to Gacy’s actions and that many horror clown stories are based on him. For his last meal, Gacy requested 12 fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe KFC, french fries, and a pound of strawberries. His final statement to his lawyer before his execution was that killing him would not compensate for the loss of others, and that the state was murdering him. His final spoken words were “Kiss my ass”. One fun fact, prior to being convicted, Gacy managed three KFC outlets. Nom Nom!
On This Day
- 1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
- 1976 – The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People’s Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
- 2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
Deaths
- 1540 – Thomas Cromwell, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1495)
- 1655 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French poet and playwright (b. 1619)
- 1741 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1678)
- 1750 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1685)
- 2004 – Francis Crick, English biologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (48), Taylor Schilling (34), Donnie Yen (55), Jason Statham (52), Kate Beckinsale (46), Sandra Bullock (55), Kevin Spacey (60), Helen Mirren (74), Nana Visitor (62), Eve Myles (41), Mick Jagger (76), Roger Taylor (70), Matt LeBlanc (52), Iman (64), Elisabeth Moss (37), Jennifer Lopez (50), Summer Glau (38), Anna Paquin (37), Lynda Carter (68), Danny Dyer (42), Daniel Radcliffe (30), Woody Harrelson (58), Charisma Carpenter (49), Ronny Cox (81), Slash (54), Willem Dafoe (64), Rhys Ifans (52), Selena Gomez (27), Terence Stamp (81), Danny Glover (73), Louise Fletcher (85), Ross Kemp (55), John Woodvine (90), and Paloma Faith (38).
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