Dead Pool 7th May 2017

An eventful week for news, but alas no scoring deaths. Although you could have had a couple of interesting Mavericks, by far the most interesting death of the week was Mbah Gotho, he would have scored you 4 points! Now that’s not a common occurrence.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Lorna Gray, 99, American actress (O, My Darling Clementine, Captain America, Oh! Susanna).
• Mbah Gotho, 146 (claimed), Indonesian longevity claimant, oldest unverified living person, heart failure.
• Kevin Garcia, 41, American bassist (Grandaddy), stroke.
• Moray Watson, 88, British actor (The Darling Buds of May, The Quatermass Experiment, Compact).
• Daliah Lavi, 74, Israeli actress (Casino Royale, The Spy with a Cold Nose, Catlow), singer and model.
• Papillon, 26, Irish racehorse, winner of the 2000 Grand National. 
• Steven Holcomb, 37, American bobsledder, Olympic champion (2010)

In Other News

The world was plunged into uncertainty on Thursday morning when royal staff from across Britain were summoned to London for a “highly unusual” meeting at Buckingham Palace. Speculation abounded over whether the 91-year-old Queen or her 95-year-old husband, Prince Philip, had died. The Palace was quick to make clear that both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in good health – but that Prince Philip would be taking a step back from public duties. With both Royals now in their 90s, it wasn’t the first time concerns over their health have been raised. The Guardian recently revealed the secret plan in place for when the Queen does eventually die, known as “London Bridge is Down”, but yesterday’s events have left many Britons wondering what happens when Prince Philip passes away. In the event of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death, it is expected that the news will first be confirmed to the BBC. If he dies overnight, the announcement is likely to come at 8am local time. While the Queen’s consort is entitled to a full state funeral, Prince Philip has previously insisted that he does not want the “fuss” of lying in state at Westminster Hall. The Palace of Westminster is always on six-hour notice to prepare Westminster Hall for a lying-in-state, but authorities have reportedly been told this will not be necessary for Prince Philip. It is thought that his body would lie at St James’s Palace instead, where Princess Diana lay for several days before her funeral in 1997. The funeral is likely to be a low-key affair, with only Prince Philip’s family, friends and heads of state from Commonwealth countries attending a service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The Duke of Edinburgh would then be buried in Frogmore Gardens, in the grounds of Windsor Castle. After Prince Philip has died, if the Queen survives him, she will be expected to enter into an official period of mourning, which is believed to last eight days. During that period, laws will not be given the Royal Assent and affairs of state will be put on pause out of respect. A further period of official Royal Mourning is expected to continue for 30 days, after which, it is believed, the Queen would make a full return to public duties. While concerns over the health of the Queen and Prince Philip, who have been married for nearly 70 years, have been raised several times in recent years, both Royals appeared to be in good health on Thursday.

North Korea has accused the CIA and South Korea of a plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un with “biochemical substances”. A statement from the ministry of state security claimed “hotbeds of evils in the world hatched a vicious plot” targeting Mr Kim during a public appearance for ceremonial events in Pyongyang. It said a terrorist group backed by the CIA and South Korean spies had entered the country for the attempted assassination, vowing that an “anti-terrorist attack” would begin immediately. The statement threatened that the “the last-ditch effort” of American “imperialists” and the South had gone “beyond the limits”. It claimed the two intelligence agencies “ideologically corrupted” and bribed a North Korean with the surname Kim, turning him into “a terrorist full of repugnance and revenge against the supreme leadership of the DPRK”. “They hatched a plot of letting human scum Kim commit bomb terrorism targeting the supreme leadership during events at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun military parade and public procession” the Korean Central News Agency said. “They told him that assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months. The latest allegations emerged amid heightened tensions over a series of weapons tests carried out by the totalitarian state.

The country music legend Loretta Lynn has been taken to hospital after a stroke. Sony Music confirmed that the 85-year-old singer and songwriter was admitted to a  Nashville hospital on Thursday night after the stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Lynn’s website said she was responsive and expected to make a full recovery, but had been advised by doctors to stay off the road while recuperating. Upcoming shows would be postponed. Lynn, originally from Kentucky, had a string of hits starting in the 1960s with the biographical Coal Miner’s Daughter, You Ain’t Woman Enough, The Pill and One’s on the Way. She continues to tour and record regularly, but had to postpone shows last year after suffering injuries in a fall that required surgery. She is set to release a new album this August, called “Wouldn’t It Be Great,” and she will be the subject of a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum also in August.

And finally, a New York City man is on a mission to flush the cremated remains of his lifelong friend, a plumber, down ballpark toilets around the US. Tom McDonald told the New York Times that it’s a fitting tribute for Roy Riegel. The two baseball fans were childhood friends in Queens, not far from – appropriately – Flushing Meadows, where the Mets play. Like baseball, this endeavor has rules. The game has to be in progress when McDonald sprinkles the ashes into the toilet. So far, he’s completed his task at 16 stadiums. “I know people might think it’s weird, and if it were anyone else’s ashes, I’d agree,” McDonald said. “But for Roy, this is the perfect tribute to a plumber and a baseball fan and just a brilliant, wild guy.” Riegel’s family agreed to share a portion of the ashes after his death in 2008. McDonald spoons out a little each time, from an old peanut can, wrapped in Mets ticket stubs, that he keeps next to World Series highlight videos and his collection of 149 baseball Hall of Fame autographs. Hank Riegel, of Waterloo, New York, said his brother would appreciate the offbeat gesture. “He’d be like, ‘Oh, yeah, do that,’” Riegel said. “He would definitely approve of it. Never once did Roy follow the rules.”

On This Day

• 1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning, wounded, to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years’ War.
• 1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire
• 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees.
• 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.
• 2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.

Deaths

• 1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1750)
• 1896 – H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (b. 1861)
• 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American captain, actor, and producer (b. 1909)
• 2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (b. 1957)

Last Week’s Birthdays

George Clooney (56), Alan Dale (70), Henry Cavill (34), John Rhys-Davies (73), Lance Henriksen (77), Richard E. Grant (60), Chris Brown (28), Michael Palin (74), Adele (28), Will Arnett (47), Rocco Siffredi (53), Christina Hendricks (42), Rob Brydon (52), Frankie Valli (83), Dwayne Johnson (45), Ellie Kemper (37), David Beckham (42), David Suchet (71), Matt Berry (43), Jamie Dornan (35), Wes Anderson (48), Julie Benz (45), Joanna Lumley (71), Gal Gadot (32), Kirsten Dunst (35), Burt Young (77), Willie Nelson (84) and Una Stubbs (80)