Dead Pool 31st July 2016
Welcome all, to what seems to be a massive list of dead celebrities. Alas, no point scorers and a slight scarcity of news. But worry not, as usual the Dead Pool Master has tried his best to make the newsletter slightly interesting. Not too interesting mind, I don’t want your expectations to elevate to stratospheric proportions.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Shawshank tree, c. 180, North American white oak featured in The Shawshank Redemption.
- Dave Bald Eagle, 97, American Lakota Chief and actor.
- Carl Falck, 109, Norwegian businessman, nation’s oldest living man.
- Marni Nixon, 86, American singer (The King and I, West Side Story, My Fair Lady) and actress (The Sound of Music), breast cancer.
- Forrest Mars Jr., 84, American billionaire businessman (Mars, Incorporated), heart attack.
- JT McNamara, 41, Irish jockey.
- Sandy Pearlman, 72, American record producer and band manager (Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash, Black Sabbath), pneumonia as a complication from a stroke.
- Jack Davis, 91, American cartoonist and illustrator (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, Georgia Bulldogs), co-founder of Mad.
- Jerry Doyle, 60, American talk show host and actor (Babylon 5), founder of EpicTimes.
- Vivean Gray, 92, British-born Australian actress (Neighbours, The Sullivans, Prisoner).
- Ken Barrie, 83, British voice actor (Postman Pat) and singer, liver cancer.
- Fred Tomlinson, 90, British singer (The Two Ronnies, Monty Python’s Flying Circus), composer (“The Lumberjack Song“) and critic.
In Other News
Travelling to the moon, Mars or beyond could dramatically increase an astronaut’s risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, the first research into the long-term health of Apollo spacemen has revealed. Nasa’s Apollo programme sent nine manned missions and 24 astronauts beyond low Earth orbit during the 1960s and early 1970s, including Apollo 11, which delivered Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon. But it seems such missions might have taken their toll. A team of researchers looking into the fate of the Apollo astronauts has discovered that their rate of death from cardiovascular disease is four to five times higher than that seen for astronauts of the same era who only flew in low Earth orbits, or who never flew on an orbital mission at all. That, the researchers say, suggests that venturing beyond the Earth’s protective magnetic field could cause long-lasting damage to the cardiovascular system, potentially as a result of exposure to deep space radiation. The findings come as a number of space agencies and commercial enterprises are looking to venture to the moon and beyond, with Nasa planning to send humans to Mars in the 2030’s. Time to rewrite those 2017 lists!
1990s styles may be back in fashion, but getting hold of 20-year-old technology is about to get much harder. The last known maker of video cassette recorders, Funai Japan, has announced it is to cease production of VCRs. Those whirring, magic boxes will soon be nothing but a mere memory. Worldwide a total of 900 million VCRs were produced. With nobody producing the format anymore we can officially announce its DEAD!
A skydiver has made history by becoming the first person to leap without a parachute. After a two-minute free-fall, Luke Aikins, 42, landed dead centre in the 100 x100ft net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley, California. As cheers erupted, Aikins quickly climbed out, walked over and hugged his wife Monica, who had been watching from the ground with their four-year-old son Logan, who was no doubt fully expecting his father to end up like a pancake. ‘This thing just happened! I can’t even get the words out of my mouth,’ he added as he thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the fishing trawler-like net and made sure it really worked. Aikins admitted before the jump he was nervous and his mother said she was one family member who would not watch.
On This Day
- 1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
- 1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
- 1970 – Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
Deaths
- 1886 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
- 1917 – Hedd Wyn, Welsh soldier and poet (b. 1887)
- 1964 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Gore Vidal, American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Michael Ansara, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Trevor Storer, English businessman, founded Pukka Pies (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Roddy Piper, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (b. 1954)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Lynda Carter (65), Gus Van Sant (64), Jennifer Lopez (47), Summer Glau (25), Anna Paquin (34), Matt LeBlanc (49), Mick Jagger (73), Helen Mirren (71), Kevin Spacey (57), Sandra Bullock (52), Kate Beckinsale (43), Josh Radnor (42), Paul Anka (75), Arnold Schwarzenegger (69), Jean Reno (68), Laurence Fishburne (55), Lisa Kudrow (53), Christopher Nolan (46) and Hilary Swank (42).
The Last Word
“Ik schiet beter!” – I could shoot better! – Hannie Schaft
Spoken to a German soldier after having been shot in her execution; the soldier subsequently emptied his machine gun into her.
Next week peeps!
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