Dead Pool 5th September 2021

It was just an average week, no points and lots of sad stories; however just as I was about to post this weeks edition, news of Sarah Harding’s death came through. Rewrites and points to award!!! So 211 points to Nickie, Laura, Lee & Louise as they all listed her as their Woman, which has now changed the top of the league table considerably. We have a new leader!! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ed Asner, 91, American actor (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Up). 
• Geronimo, 8, New Zealand-born British alpaca, euthanised. 
• Daffney, 46, American professional wrestler (WCW, SHINE, TNA).  
• Robbie Dale, 81, British radio presenter (Radio Caroline).  
• Willard Scott, 87, American weatherman (Today) and creator of Ronald McDonald. 
• Sarah Harding, 39, English singer (Girls Aloud), cancer. 

In Other News

Katie Price has revealed she offered her mum her lung as she is still waiting for a transplant as she battles a terminal disease. Katie’s beloved mother Amy is battling idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which causes scarring on the lungs, and makes it hard for the body to take in oxygen, becoming worse over time. Amy was diagnosed in 2017 and as the disease worsens, she is looking at all options to ease the situation, including a lung transplant. Speaking to us, Katie, 43, revealed she had even offered her mum one of her lungs. She said: “My mum, she’s never smoked, always been healthy. She got told a couple years ago, coming up to three years, that she would have three to five years left of her life. You know, it’s gonna happen. She still does a spinning classes. She’s got like 34 per cent left of her lung capacity, so she has started oxygen, which isn’t nice to see because I, in my head, it’s that once you start the oxygen and you need that, you know it’s coming. So she’s waiting to see if she can have a lung transplant. I even offered my lung to her.” However, Katie explained it wasn’t as simple as giving her mother a lung, telling Simon: “But it’s not that easy. You have to be ill enough to have it. Although my mother she could have it now, it doesn’t mean to say that she’d still survive it because it can reject in three weeks and it only prolongs your life five years.” Very brave of Katie, especially more so as she’s still recovering from a good beating by her fiancé.  

Former professional wrestler Daffney Unger has died at age 46. Unger’s mother Jean Tookey Spruill (the wrestler’s real name was Shannon Spruill) confirmed her death, writing on Facebook, “It is with great sadness I have to let you know that my daughter Shannon Spruill … Scream Queen Daff, passed away suddenly last night. Absolutely heartbroken.” On Wednesday, Unger sparked concerns after she hosted an Instagram Live that showed her holding what appeared to be a small gun. In her video, Unger discussed potentially having symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disorder caused by repeated concussions. “The most important thing to remember is, that, CTE, and head injuries and concussions, they can only really now be—” Unger said in the video, before pausing and taking several nervous breaths. “They can now really only be diagnosed after you are dead. So, I don’t want to do anything to hurt my brain. I want to be studied,” she continued. “I want the future generations to know. Don’t do stupid shit like me.” After the Instagram Live, former pro wrestler Mick Foley used Twitter to ask people to help locate Unger. “If anyone has a way of reaching Daffney Unger, or knows her address, please help out,” Foley said. “She’s in a bad personal place and is threatening to harm herself. My phone call went straight to voicemail.”  A cause of death has not been released.   

Richard E Grant has said his heart is broken following the death of his wife of 35 years. The actor, known for films including Withnail And I and Can You Ever Forgive Me?, said Joan Washington, a voice coach, had died on Thursday night. He did not give a cause of death. Sharing a video of them dancing together to the song Only You by the Platters on Twitter, he wrote: “ONLY YOU! Joan – Love of my Life & Giver of Life to our daughter Olivia. Our hearts are broken with the loss of your Life last night. 35 years married & 38 together. To be truly known and seen by you, is your immeasurable gift. Do not forget us, sweet Monkee-mine.” Grant, 64, also shared a series of broken heart emojis, prompting condolences and messages of support from his followers. He and Washington married in 1986 and share a daughter, Olivia, and a stepson, Tom, from Washington’s previous relationship. Washington, from Aberdeen, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and had nearly 40 years’ experience in the film industry as a voice and dialect coach, working with stars including Anne Hathaway, Vanessa Redgrave and Emma Stone. Among her early projects in the mid-80s were Yentl starring Barbra Streisand, Highlander, and The Bounty, featuring Mel Gibson and Sir Anthony Hopkins. 

On This Day

• 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
• 1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.
• 1975 – Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
• 1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

Deaths

• 1548 – Catherine Parr, Sixth and last Queen of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1512).
• 1877 – Crazy Horse, American tribal leader (b. 1849).
• 1982 – Douglas Bader, English captain and pilot (b. 1910).
• 1997 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, and saint (b. 1910).

Life is a Lottery

Margaret Loughrey, 56, from Ballycolman, Strabane, in Northern Ireland, was found dead on Thursday morning eight years after winning £27million on Euromillions. Margaret was unemployed and on her way home from the job centre when she bought a Euromillions ticket on a whim and ended up scooping the jackpot. 

She checked and re-checked her numbers while pacing around her house for five hours the next day trying to process what had happened before calling her brother. 

‘Maggie Millions’ went on to buy an old mill, as well as a pub and various homes, while also giving away half of her fortune to good causes. But her win also attracted the wrong sort of attention and she claims thieves stole millions from her, leaving her with just £5million by 2019.  

Her mental and physical health also deteriorated, with her weight at one stage reportedly dropping to five-and-a-half stone. So it was no surprise to anyone when she was found dead at only 56 years of age. 

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it is not currently treating her death as “suspicious”, after her body was found at 10.30am in her home. A post mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death, the force added. 

“I regret winning the lottery, of course I do. I was a happy person before. I am a human being and all it has done is destroy my life,” Margaret once said during an interview. 

Her problems began almost immediately after her landmark win which saw her scoop the biggest lottery fortune Northern Ireland had ever seen. 

She was sectioned for four months in 2013 and later admitted to Sunday Life: “If there is a hell, I have been in it. It has been that bad.” She added: “I will never have peace as long as I live. Even if I didn’t have a penny left, I won’t.” 

Spending her cash brought no end of trouble. Margaret splashed out £1million to buy the historic Herdman’s Mill in Sion Mills a year in but it was  targeted by vandals and set on fire multiple times. She also continually locked horns with Sion Mills Cricket Club, eventually locking them out of their pitch on the grounds before an agreement was reached. 

In 2015, she drunkenly assaulted a taxi driver as he took her home after a party, breaking his glasses and smashing his satnav. He drove her directly to a police station where she had to be physically restrained by officers, and was later ordered by magistrates to do 150 hours community service. 

Last September an employment tribunal awarded her former general assistant, Patrick Breslin, £30,000 after it determined she had mocked his religion before sacking him. 

Her latest business venture had seen Margaret buy her local pub The Greyhound Bar with plans to transform it into The Back Street Bar. She also intended to build 18 affordable homes on her own land, among a string of charitable donations running into the millions. But Margaret was never fulfilled. 

“Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life,” she said a couple of years ago. 

Local councillor Jason Barr told us this morning: “Margaret would have been well thought of…she has had her ups and downs in life like all of us but hopefully she’s at rest now.” 

At the time of her win, Margaret said she’d gone to the job centre to print off an application for a job within the charity sector. Then, while heading home she’d gone into a Supervalu store and bought a lottery ticket. “I can’t always afford to do the Euromillions but I had a couple of extra pound in my purse and just on the spur of the moment I did a Lucky Dip,” she explained. At the time, Ms Loughrey was living on benefits of £62 a week. 

Speaking about the moment she realised she had won the jackpot, Margaret said she’d got up early the next day and “just had this notion so I checked my numbers and there they were. I was just in state of shock and I must have checked 10 times. I took a walk out to the back garden and sat out there for a while before coming back in and checking again.” Eventually, she got her brother to verify the win. 

The next time you’re in the shops, ignore the lotto station and save your money, it’ll only give you grief. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Michael Keaton (70), Carice van Houten (45), Raquel Welch (81), Rose McGowan (48), Bob Newhart (92), Paddy Considine (48), George Lazenby (82), Damon Wayans (61), Michael Berryman (73), Beyoncé (40), Charlie Sheen (56), Pauline Collins (81), Keanu Reeves (57), Salma Hayek (55), Keith Allen (68), Zendaya (25), Lily Tomlin (82), Burn Gorman (47), Gloria Estefan (64), Steve Pemberton (54), Barry Gibb (75), Richard Gere (72), Chris Tucker (50), Jessica Henwick (29), Cameron Diaz (49), and Michael Chiklis (58).