Dead Pool 28th October 2018

Afternoon Poolers. Not a lot to report this week, a dearth of deaths means a paucity of points. However, if a few pipe bombs would have worked, we would have had a bonanza week!    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

  • Gilberto Benetton, 77, Italian businessman, co-founder of Benetton Group, pneumonia.  
  • James Karen, 94, American actor (Poltergeist, The Return of the Living Dead, Nixon), cardiorespiratory arrest.  
  • Mighty Shadow, 77, Trinidadian calypsonian, stroke.

In Other News

Former England manager and Tottenham midfielder Glenn Hoddle remains in a “serious  condition” in hospital after suffering a heart attack on Saturday. Hoddle, who is “responding well to treatment”, collapsed after appearing on BT Sport on his 61st birthday.  The station’s Saturday afternoon football results show was cancelled as a result. Hoddle earned 53 England caps and was considered one of the best players of his generation. A spokesman for Hoddle said: “The family are grateful to everyone in the football family – and beyond – that have sent kind messages of support. They are very much appreciated. In particular, Glenn and his family would like to publicly thank the BT Sport staff that treated him immediately on set following his collapse. Glenn is now in the care of the professional NHS medical services, who have also been exemplary in helping him and the family during the last 24 hours. Doctors have advised the most important thing for Glenn is time to rest. Therefore, his family have reiterated the request for their privacy to be respected during this period.”   

 WWE champion Roman Reigns has revealed that he is suffering from leukaemia. The 33-year-old, real name Leati Joseph Anoaʻi, publicly revealed live on Raw that he was first diagnosed with the disease 11 years ago, having been in remission as he rose to the top of the WWE. But in an emotional address on Monday night, Reigns revealed that his leukaemia had returned. “Y’all have made my dreams come true,” Reigns said to the crowd. “It didn’t matter if you cheered me or you booed me, you’ve always reacted to me and that’s the most important thing and for that I have to say thank you so much.” He also stressed that his address “wasn’t a retirement speech”, but confirmed that he will need to take a leave of absence to undergo treatment and, as a result, was relinquishing his WWE Universal Championship title. “When I do [return] it’s not going to be just about titles or being on top. It’s about a purpose,” he added. “I will beat this and I will be back so you will see me very, very soon.” The announcement left fans and viewers stunned given that Reigns had never spoken of his illness publicly before, and it triggered an outpouring of emotion from his colleagues, with his former Shield partners Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose appearing on stage to embrace him after his announcement.  

And finally, a game ranger who was shot through the mouth with an arrow pursued his attacker for almost an hour, with the shaft clenched between his teeth. William Hofmeyr, 51, was on patrol at Olarro Conservancy, Kenya, when he saw a Maasai warrior sleeping under a tree. As he woke up the man to warn him of a hungry pride of lions nearby, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his mouth where an arrow had hit him. The arrowhead sliced through his right cheek and back out of his open mouth, causing it to fill with blood. Unable to call for help on his radio, he ran back to his car and drove after his attacker through the conservancy. “It was painful, but I spent a lot of time in the military and in the police, so my first instinct was to go after him,’’ Mr Hofmeyr told The Herald newspaper. “I’ve been shot before, it happens.” Mr Hofmeyr said he fired two warning shots from his rifle, which led his attacker to flee. “He came after me and I ran to my car but couldn’t easily open the driver’s side because the arrow shaft was hooking on everything. I had to fire warning shots with my left hand and he ran off.” Mr Hofmeyr said the arrow was sticking out of the window of the car and kept hitting against the bushes he was driving through. “To stop the arrow flapping about I had to bite down on the shaft – it may sound like something out of Rambo but I was bloody angry and upset he shot me.” After chasing his attacker for almost an hour, the ranger lost his tracks and drove to a nearby clinic, where staff were unable to remove the arrow from his mouth. Eventually he removed it himself by pulling the tip out through his mouth followed by the shaft.  Police said they were investigating but that the man’s tracks were disturbed by elephants. 

On This Day

  • 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World.  
  • 1726 – The novel Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is published.   
  • 1929 – Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval.  
  • 1995 – 289 people are killed and 265 injured in Baku Metro fire, the deadliest subway disaster in history.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Joaquin Phoenix (44), Julia Roberts (51), Matt Smith (36), Gwendoline Christie (40), Annie Potts (66), Bill Gates (63), John Cleese (79), James Cosmo (71), Robert Picardo (65), Cary Elwes (56), Seth MacFarlane (45), Jon Heder (41), Roger Allam (65), Hillary Clinton (71), Katy Perry (34), Nancy Cartwright (61), Glynis Barber (63), Kevin Kline (71), F. Murray Abraham (79), Drake (32), Emilia Clarke (32), Ryan Reynolds (42), Sam Raimi (59), ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic (59), Cat Deeley (42), Jeff Goldblum (66), Bob Odenkirk (56), Christopher Lloyd (80), Catherine Deneuve (75), Derek Jacobi (80), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (43), Ken Watanabe (59) and Everett McGill (73).

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