Dead Pool 9th April 2017

Another strange pointless week, so another run of the mill newsletter. So, let’s ask our little community to contribute. If you feel you have an article for the newsletter within you, please forward it and it shall appear. We’ve had quite a few successful contributions over the years, some people even producing a series of articles, all of which were amazing. Another thing you could do to help out is to forward any interesting stories about death you might stumble upon, even though I do trawl through five different news RSS feeds a week, I do miss a lot. Anyhow….

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Brenda Jones, 62, American R&B singer (The Jones Girls), traffic collision.
• Don Rickles, 90, American comedian (Dean Martin Celebrity Roast) and actor (Toy Story, Kelly’s Heroes), kidney failure.
• Tim Pigott-Smith, 70, English actor (The Jewel in the Crown, Clash of the Titans, V for Vendetta). 
• Paul O’Neill, 61, American producer, composer and songwriter (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra).
• Georgy Grechko, 85, Russian cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, heart failure.
• Brian Matthew, 88, English TV and radio presenter (BBC).

In Other News

Former England hooker Brian Moore has announced he is recovering in hospital after suffering a heart attack. The 55-year-old, whose international career spanned eight years between 1987 and 1995, revealed the news on his Twitter account on Saturday morning. He wrote: “As this is starting to get out – I’m in ICU of St George’s having suffered heart attack. Thanks to the professionals who saved my life.” Moore made 64 appearances in an England shirt and has since gone on to become a television pundit. The RFU was among those offering best wishes to Moore. Former team-mates and others associated with the sport were also among the well-wishers, while Moore himself later responded to the many messages of support with a light-hearted quip. “I’m trying to work out whether nearly 5K of likes over the news I’ve had a heart attack is sympathy or schadenfreude,” he wrote on Twitter.

The BBC faced criticism on Wednesday after it mistakenly reported that the DJ Brian Matthew, who hosted its long-running Sounds of the 60s programme, had died. The broadcaster had been told by his family that he was critically ill. Less than three hours after announcing the veteran DJ’s death on air, with tributes led by the BBC’s director-general, Tony Hall, the corporation issued an embarrassing clarification. “We were informed by close family and friends that Brian had passed away in the night. They have since been in contact to say that he remains critically ill,” a statement said. But the statement did not include an apology for the earlier error, and a spokeswoman for Radio 2 said: “The family have their privacy and we respect that, and we support them at this time, but there isn’t anything to add to the statement.” For the record, Brian Matthew died yesterday, we’re pretty sure of it this time.

Michael Gambon has not travelled to Dublin to receive a special award at IFTAs ceremony after coming down with an illness. The Irish Film and Television Academy announced today that the legendary actor was taken into hospital earlier this week. According to a statement by the organisation he “has now been discharged, however, medical advice is that he is not well enough to travel to Dublin to receive his Lifetime Achievement Award at the IFTA Award Ceremony this weekend”. It continued: ” Michael had been determined to come to Dublin to receive his IFTA Lifetime Achievement Award. “Naturally, he is devastated not to be able to travel to be part of the Awards Ceremony. “The Irish Film and Television Academy has confirmed to Michael that he will receive his Lifetime Achievement Award at a special event to be held in his honour later this year. The Irish actor, who replaced the late Richard Harris in the role of Professor Albus Dumbledore, was to be recognised for a career spanning more than 50 years. Gambon, 76, is best known for his roles in TV drama The Singing Detective, cult movie The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and Gosford Park.

On This Day

• 1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
• 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
• 1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.

Deaths

• 1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
• 1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)
• 1978 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed Portmeirion (b. 1883) 
• 2011 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kristen Stewart (27), Elle Fanning (19), Dennis Quaid (63), Hugh M. Hefner (91), Robin Wright (51), Patricia Arquette (49), Emma Caulfield (44), Dean Norris (54), Russell Crowe (53), Jackie Chan (63), Francis Ford Coppola (78), Paul Rudd (48), Zach Braff (42), John Ratzenberger (70), Billy Dee Williams (80), Mitch Pileggi (65), Roger Corman (91), Pharrell Williams (44), Robert Downey Jr. (52), Hugo Weaving (57), Eddie Murphy (56), Alec Baldwin (59), Amanda Bynes (31), Paris Jackson (19) and Michael Fassbender (40).