Dead Pool 4th October 2015

Welcome all, finally some points to award!!! With the death of the Labour giant Denis Healey, 52 points have been awarded thusly: Karen, Paul, Julie and Shan. Well done all of you, please take a look at the leader board, you will see that Paul is now cementing his lead at the top, but all it takes is the death of one of the Big Three to bring any of you back into the game!  So onwards with the newsletter, I promise not to mention the death of English rugby…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• John Guillermin, 89, British film director and producer (The Towering Inferno, King Kong, Shaft in Africa), heart attack
• Catherine E. Coulson, 71, American film and television actress (Twin Peaks), cancer.
• Donald Seawell, 103, American theatre producer and newspaper publisher.
• Denis Healey, 98, British politician, Secretary of State for Defence (1964-1970), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1974-1979).

In Other News

As everyone in their right mind knows, you’ve got to know when to walk away and when to run. And Kenny Rogers, the man who sang The Gambler, is heeding his own advice by announcing that he will retire after his next tour. The 77-year-old country legend wants to spend time with is wife and family before he dies. The country legend appeared on the Today show in the US, where he said: “I’ve done this long enough. There’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish, and I think I crossed that line when I was younger. I really want to be there with my kids and my wife. I don’t see enough of them. And I have some things on my bucket list.” Let’s hope that reversing his plastic surgery is on that list, seriously, he gives me nightmares!

In another retirement story, Ralph Lauren is giving the fashion empire he founded almost five decades ago a makeover – by stepping down as chief executive. However, Lauren is not going too far: he will remain with the company as executive chairman and chief creative officer. Born Ralph Lifshitz to Jewish immigrants from Belarus in the Bronx in 1939, Lauren changed his last name at the age of 16. He began his fashion career designing ties in 1967, with the Ralph Lauren polo shirt bearing the familiar logo following five years later. Now the 75 year old is reputed to be worth $6.4 billion, not bad for a one design wonder!

Jim Carrey has said he is shocked and deeply saddened after a former girlfriend is thought to have killed herself. Cathriona White, 30, an Irish-born makeup artist, was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment on Monday night, the deputy chief coroner Ed Winter said. Nobody blames her, I suspect shagging Carey would be a nightmare beyond all comprehension. The death was reported to authorities as a suicide but a final determination had yet to be made but a drug overdose is suspected. The celebrity website TMZ said White and Carrey, 53, met in 2012, had an on-and-off romance, and rekindled their relationship in May before splitting up last week. So it’s his fault!

The cause of death of Bobbi Kristina Brown – Whitney Houston’s daughter – has been determined, but officials say they will not reveal the post-mortem results. They say a court in the US state of Georgia ordered a medical examiner to seal the results. Bobbi Kristina, 22, died at a hospice on 26th July, six months after she was found unresponsive in a bath in her Atlanta flat. In a statement, the Fulton county medical examiner said Bobbi Kristina’s post-mortem results would not be publicly released on the order of the Fulton county superior court. “The Fulton County medical examiner has classified the cause and manner of Bobbi Kristina Brown’s death,” it said. Which now opens up many questions, was she killed and has it all been hushed up??

Harry Potter, the boy who lived, has died! Caio César Ignácio Cardoso de Melo, 27, who voiced the character in Portuguese, was reportedly killed on Thursday during an exchange of gunfire in Complexo de Alemão – one of Rio’s largest and most policed shanty towns. He provided the Portuguese voiceover for Potter in all eight films in the series, as a side venture to his main job as a police officer. According to local media reports, his death was confirmed by military police in Brazil and by Warner Bros studios. J.K. Rowling tweeted her condolences following the father-of-one’s death. Local police reported that Melo was shot in the neck when officers came under fire during a routine patrol of the sprawling shanty town. He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery but died from his injuries.

The German sports car manufacturer Porsche has issued a statement denying responsibility for the death of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, who died in a high-speed crash in November 2013. Porsche released its statement to the media in response to a wrongful death lawsuit filed on 28th September by the actor’s daughter Meadow Walker in Los Angeles. “As we have said before, we are very sad whenever anyone is hurt in a Porsche vehicle, but we believe the authorities’ reports in this case clearly establish that this tragic crash resulted from reckless driving and excessive speed,” the manufacturer said. Meadow Walker claims in her suit that Porsche knew the car model had a “history of instability and control issues”. It is understood she is also questioning police reports that suggest the Carrera GT was travelling at around 90mph when the accident happened, arguing that the top speed reached by the vehicle was in fact just 71mph, which is obviously a safe speed. Way to go to tarnish your fathers demise you tart!

And finally, in a warning to all dog walkers, an Essex man has died after his dog dragged him into the path of an oncoming car. The 67-year-old was walking his dog in the Low Road area of Dovercourt on Monday night when it suddenly bolted on to the street. A car travelling on the road then struck the man, who suffered head injuries in the incident. He went home but later felt increasingly unwell. East of England ambulance service personnel attended the man’s home and transferred him to Colchester hospital, where he later died. The dog was not harmed in the incident. A neighbour said the man, who was thought to be retired, would take the animal for a walk every morning and evening. Moral of the story, get a cat!

On This Day

• 1535 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
• 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
• 1883 – First run of the Orient Express.
• 1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.

Deaths

• 1669 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1606)
• 1947 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
• 1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (Big Brother and the Holding Company) (b. 1943)
• 1989 – Graham Chapman, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
• 2010 – Norman Wisdom, English singer-songwriter, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1915)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Gwyneth Paltrow (43), Meat Loaf (68), Lil Wayne (33), Avril Lavigne (31), Naomi Watts (47), Dita Von Tesse (43), Jerry Lee Lewis (80), Ian McShane (73), Erika Eleniak (46), Johnny Mathis (80), Monica Bellucci (51), Kieran Culkin (33), Martina Hingis (35), Julie Andrews (80), Zack Galifianakis (46), Don McLean (70), Jimmy Carter (91), Sting (64), Annie Leibovitz (66), Chubby Checker (74), Roy Horn (71), Gwen Stefani (46), Neve Campbell (42), Sean William Scott (39), Clive Owen (51), Fred Couples (56), Lena Headey (42) and Brigitte Bardot (81).

Next Week peeps!