Apologies for letting last week’s newsletter slip, life got in the way. However you now have twice as much to read in this bumper two week edition! God help you! Sadly nobody scored points when paedo Ian Watkins was executed in jail, but I think we all win when crims step up and do the right thing. You will also notice from our main feature below that Death Row inmates are being executed at an unprecedented rate. Of the six that have already been killed in the last couple of weeks, only two made the Wiki Death List, so listing Death Row inmates remains a little dodgy. 

Look Who You Could Have Had: 13/10 to 19/10

• Tony Caunter, 88, English actor (EastEnders, Queenie’s Castle, Juliet Bravo). 
• Drew Struzan, 78, American film poster illustrator (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future), complications from Alzheimer’s disease. 
• D’Angelo, 51, American singer-songwriter (“Lady“, “Brown Sugar“, “Untitled (How Does It Feel)“), pancreatic cancer. 
• Alexander Dityatin, 68, Russian gymnast, three-time Olympic champion. 
• Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. 
• Charles Ray Crawford, 59, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. 
• Ace Frehley, 74, American guitarist (Kiss) and songwriter (“Cold Gin“, “Rocket Ride“), complications from a fall. 
• Lady Annabel Goldsmith, 91, English socialite, namesake of Annabel’s. 
• Sam Rivers, 48, American bassist (Limp Bizkit).

Look Who You Could Have Had: 06/10 to 12/10

• Dame Jilly Cooper, 88, English author (Emily, Octavia, Rutshire Chronicles), complications from a fall. 
• Ron Dean, 87, American actor (The Dark Knight, The Breakfast Club, The Fugitive). 
• John Woodvine, 96, English actor (An American Werewolf in London, Z-Cars, Doctor Who). 
• Paolo Bonacelli, 88, Italian actor (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Mission Impossible III, Midnight Express). 
• John Lodge, 82, English musician (The Moody Blues) and songwriter (“I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)“, “Gemini Dream“). 
• Diane Keaton, 79, American actress (Annie Hall, The Godfather, Something’s Gotta Give). 
• Ian Watkins, 48, Welsh singer (Lostprophets) and convicted child sex offender, stabbed.

In Other News

French actress Brigitte Bardot was hospitalised recently upon experiencing a minor health issue. She is now on the mend. The cinema icon underwent minor surgery at the Saint-Tropez hospital in Toulon. According to her team, the surgical operation went well. Bardot is currently recovering at her home in Saint-Tropez. While still in recovery, Brigitte Bardot has expressed her gratitude via a statement to the surgical team and the medical staff. She further stated that she feels okay and is currently resting at her abode. The animal rights activist, who is considered a national treasure by many in France, is 91. She’s been dealing with respiratory issues over the past couple of years. Brigitte’s latest hospital trip isn’t the only time she has suffered health woes. In July 2023, she suffered from severe breathing difficulties, prompting emergency services to rush to her home in Saint-Tropez. Bardot’s name became synonymous with charm and free-spiritedness in the 1950’s and 1960’s. She rose to fame internationally via films like ‘And God Created Women.’ Her performances which were always marked by magnetism and independence, made her the face of a new era of cinema. Beyond acting, the ‘Contempt’ star also navigated the music industry. She released several records during the peak of her professional career. This further solidified her stance in the industry as a multi-talented entertainer. After stepping down from acting in the 1970s, Bardot settled down in Saint Tropez. This beautiful town on the French Riviera captured her heart long ago. Later, she founded her own organisation for protecting and advocating for animals. Since then, she has used most of her time and fame to champion numerous causes. 

Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the first expedition to successfully scale the summit of Mount Everest, has died in the Nepali capital Kathmandu, aged 92. His family said he had recently become unwell. Kanchha Sherpa was 19 when he accompanied the historic team led by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the top of the world’s tallest mountain in 1953. He joined the 35-member expedition as a porter despite no prior mountaineering experience. On the arduous trek lasting more than two weeks, he carried food, tents and equipment up to base camp – and was one of three Sherpas to make it past an altitude of 8,000m (26,247ft). Fellow Nepali mountain guides have described him as a legend and an inspiration. Kanchha Sherpa worked as an high-altitude porter in the Himalayan mountains for two more decades after the expedition, until his wife asked him to stop making the dangerous journeys.  

A child killer who started a fire that killed seven people has died at the age of 58. Paul Mosley was sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter after he helped act out his friend’s twisted plot to set a home alight in Derby on May 11th 2012. Ringleader Mick Philpott had conducted the plan so he could act out the hero by saving his children before blaming it all on his former lover. The pair carried out their ‘evil’ act with the help of Philpott’s wife Mairead – but it went disastrously wrong. Father-of-17 Philpott had been living in a cramped three-bedroom council house in Derby with his wife, Mairead, but also lover Lisa Willis and their children. He was said to be sex-obsessed and boasted about his benefits-funded lifestyle, which police revealed brought him an income of £60,000 a year. It was after his relationship with Willis broke down and she moved out of the family home with their five children that Philpott was triggered to devise his plan to win back custody and also secure a larger property for his sizeable brood. Together with his wife and Mosley – a family friend who it was revealed in court was having a sexual relationship with Mairead – Philpott plotted to set fire to their home and frame Willis for arson. His intention was to rescue the sleeping children still living with him through an upstairs window, but the plan went disastrously wrong after too much petrol was used and the fire burned out of control. Philpott, who had previously been jailed for stabbing his schoolgirl lover 27 times, wove a web of lies trying to get away with the crime and even plotted to ‘get rich quick’ off generous donations from the local community meant to pay for the funerals of his children. In the days that followed the fire, Philpott began his elaborate ruse to appear blameless and even appeared at a press conference appealing for information. He and Mairead shed tears for the cameras as they spoke about their children. Police initially charged the trio with murder, but downgraded this to manslaughter because the defendants had not intended to kill the six youngsters, despite their sickeningly reckless actions. The judge described the plot as ‘a wicked and dangerous plan’ that was ‘outside the comprehension of any right-thinking person’. Mosley was sentenced to 17 years for manslaughter after the court found him guilty of helping to start the fatal fire.  

Britain’s Got Talent singer Dave Betton, who was given special praise by Simon Cowell, has died at the age of 82. The performer appeared on the ITV show in 2020 alongside his son Dean, reaching the latter stages of the competition. The pair left the judges stunned and received a standing ovation for their rendition of Frank Sinatra’s ‘That’s Life’, as Amanda Holden told them they had ‘smashed it’. Responding at the time, Cowell said: ‘There are certain days I think what I need is a mug of hot chocolate – and you were a mug of hot chocolate! You made me feel good, I needed that.’ Taking to Facebook, Dave’s son Dean shared the news of his father’s death. He wrote: ‘It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I have to let you all know that the legend that is Dave Betton sadly passed away after a very brief illness in the early hours of Wednesday morning surrounded by his loved ones. Myself, my brother Darren, our wives, his grandsons and granddaughters, great grandsons and great granddaughters, extended family and all his friends will miss him dearly and he will leave us with a huge void to fill. For those that knew him, he lit up a room wherever he went and everyone instantly fell in love with him. Rest easy Pops and I hope Mum is giving you a big telling off for joining her far too soon. Love you always. From me and your loving Family.’ Dave died from sepsis after a brief illness surrounded by his loved ones living in sheltered accommodation in Lytham. His funeral will be held on October 27th.  

President Donald Trump is returning to Walter Reed Medical Center for what the White House initially described as a “routine yearly checkup,” just six months after undergoing his annual physical exam. “I think I’m in great shape, but I’ll let you know,” Trump, 79, said from the Oval Office on Thursday. “When I’m around, I like to check. Always be early, it’s a lesson for a lot of people.” Still, the trip to the facility in Bethesda, Maryland, is relatively unusual, departing from a president’s typical calendar of a single exam each year, following a new diagnosis and online rumours and allegations from his political rivals that the president is cognitively impaired. His most recent exam in April marked the public’s first glimpse of the president’s health in his second term, after he became the oldest American to be sworn into office in January. White House physician Sean Barbabella said in a memo at the time that the president is in “excellent health.” After his first physical exam since taking office in January, Trump’s doctor Sean Barbabella issued a three-page summary finding that the president is “fully fit” to serve. Barbabella claimed the president lost 20 pounds since his June 2020 exam, attributed to Trump’s “active lifestyle” that “continues to contribute significantly” to his overall health. “President exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” Barbabella wrote in the April memo. No abnormalities were reported other than sun damage and “scarring” on his right ear from a gunshot wound on his ear after an assassination attempt last year. The memo also listed that the president is taking a cholesterol drug and indicated that the fat cunt is overweight. The president reportedly scored a 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment according to the memo, apparently he managed to put the square peg in the square hole correctly.  ”Overall, I felt I was in very good shape,” Trump said after his appointment. “A good heart, a good soul, a very good soul.” Yes, Donald, a good soul destined for Hell.   

Former England captain Lewis Moody has revealed he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease and admitted he cannot yet face the full implications of the muscle-wasting condition that killed fellow rugby players Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow. The 47-year-old, who was part of the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning side and lifted multiple English and European titles with Leicester, spoke to the Flying Monkeys two weeks after learning he has the disease. “There’s something about looking the future in the face and not wanting to really process that at the minute,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t understand where it’s going. We understand that. But there is absolutely a reluctance to look the future in the face for now.” Moody, speaking alongside his wife Annie, says instead he feels “at ease” as he concentrates on his immediate wellbeing, his family and making preparations for when the disease worsens. “Maybe that’s shock or maybe I process things differently, and once I have the information, it’s easier,” he added. Moody discovered he had MND after noticing some weakness in his shoulder while training in the gym. After physiotherapy failed to improve the problem, a series of scans showed nerves in his brain and spinal cord had been damaged by MND. “You’re given this diagnosis of MND and we’re rightly quite emotional about it, but it’s so strange because I feel like nothing’s wrong,” he added. “I don’t feel ill. I don’t feel unwell. My symptoms are very minor. I have a bit of muscle wasting in the hand and the shoulder. I’m still capable of doing anything and everything. And hopefully that will continue for as long as is possible.”

On This Day: 19th October

• 1953 – Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is published. 
• 1955 – The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union approves the staging of the first Eurovision Song Contest.
• 2019 – Members of Parliament met at the House of Lords to discuss the United Kingdom’s Brexit deal, this was the first Saturday sitting in Parliament since 3rd April 1982 during the Falklands War.

On This Day: 12th October

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus’s first expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, 
• 1799 – Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute. 
• 1984 – The Bighton Bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet.  The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.

Deaths: 19th October

• 1937 – Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand-English physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1871).
• 1997 – Ken Wood, inventor of the Kenwood Chef food mixer (born 1916). 
• 2010 – Tom Bosley, American actor (born 1927).

Deaths: 12th October

• 1870 – Robert E. Lee, American general (born 1807). 
• 1978 – Nancy Spungen, American figure of the 1970s punk rock scene (born 1958). 
• 1997 – John Denver, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1943).  
• 2024 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician, First Minister of Scotland (born 1954).

Five executions in eight days. Why the death penalty is being used more and more

Thirty-four men have been executed by court order in the US this year, with eight more scheduled before its close, five of whom are due to die in the next eight days. This year’s total already significantly surpasses the 25 executions carried out last year. It could mark the highest figure since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death, though it remains considerably below the modern peak of 98 executions in 1999. The surge in executions is predominantly driven by four states – Florida, Texas, Alabama, and South Carolina – which account for 76 per cent of this year’s court-ordered killings.

“This is not an uptick of executions nationally — this is really down to just a few states,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Chief among them is Florida, which has already carried out 13 executions after performing just one last year. The increase comes as President Donald Trump has urged governors to expand their use of the death penalty.

“Gov. DeSantis is scheduling all of these executions with complete autonomy and in complete secrecy,” Maher said. DeSantis’ office has not responded to questions about why the governor is increasing the pace of executions now and whether Trump’s policies are playing a role.

Executions have been carried out this year in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. All but one of those states — Arizona — are run by Republican governors. 

Here’s a look at the executions scheduled for the rest of the year, by state; plus what those who already got the shot ate for their last meal: 

Indiana: Roy Lee Ward died by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year. Ward, 53, was convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. Attorneys said Ward is remorseful and has exhausted his legal options after many court battles. According to DOC officials, Ward’s last meal was from Texas Corral and consisted of the following: One hamburger, one steak melt, one order of French fries, one baked potato with butter, one order of twelve fried shrimp, one sweet potato, one order of chicken alfredo, and one order of breadsticks.

Missouri:: Lance C. Shockley was executed on Tuesday. Shockley, 48, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham outside his home in Carter County in 2005. Authorities said Graham was killed because he was investigating Shockley for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. Shockley ate his last meal at 11:13a.m.- three packs of oatmeal, peanut butter, water, and two sports drinks.

Florida:  Samuel Lee Smithers received a lethal injection on Tuesday evening. Smithers, 72, was convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996. Authorities said he met his two victims — Christy Cowan and Denise Roach — on different dates at a Tampa motel to pay them for sex. Smithers’ last meal included fried chicken, fried fish, a baked potato, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and sweet tea.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled to be put to death on October 28th. He was convicted of raping and killing his neighbour Cynthia Campbell, whose body was found near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1998. Smithers’ and Grim’s executions would be Florida’s 14th and 15th death sentences carried out in 2025, further extending the state’s record for executions in one year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the state’s previous record was eight in 2014.

Mississippi: Charles Ray Crawford was executed on Wednesday for kidnapping and killing a college student in 1993. Crawford, 59, was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray after abducting her from her parents’ home in northern Mississippi’s Tippah County. Crawford told officers he had blacked out and did not recall killing her. Crawford requested a double cheeseburger, french fries, peach cobbler and chocolate ice cream for his last meal. 

Texas: Robert Roberson had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on October 16th, but his closely watched case was paused Thursday by Texas’ top criminal court. Roberson, 58, had been set to become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. Prosecutors at Roberson’s 2003 trial argued that he hit his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma that led to her death. But Roberson says he never abused the girl. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers believe Roberson is innocent and have sought to get him a new trial. Roberson’s lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died from complications related to pneumonia. They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence.

Arizona: Richard Kenneth Djerf was executed on October 17th by lethal injection for killing four members of a family in their Phoenix home. Djerf, 55, had pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the 1993 killings of Albert Luna Sr., his wife Patricia, their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and their 5-year-old son Damien. Prosecutors say Djerf blamed another Luna family member for an earlier theft of home electronic items at his apartment and became obsessed with revenge. Djerf’s last meal included a double cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, onion rings with ketchup, a slice of cherry pie with whipped cream, and a 20-ounce Pepsi with ice.

Alabama: Anthony Todd Boyd is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on October 23rd. A judge sentenced Boyd to death for his role in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley in Talladega. Prosecutors said Boyd taped Huguley’s feet together before another man doused him with gasoline and set him on fire over a $200 cocaine debt. Boyd has long maintained his innocence, saying he never participated in the killing.

Tennessee: Harold Nichols is scheduled to be executed December 11th. Nichols, 64, was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of 21-year-old Karen Pulley in Hamilton County. Authorities said he broke into Pulley’s home, raped her and hit her in the head several times with a board. Nichols had been scheduled to be killed in August 2020, but the execution was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Rebecca Ferguson (42), Jon Favreau (59), John Lithgow (80), Zac Efron (38), Jean-Claude Van Damme (65), Barry Keoghan (33), Pam Dawber (74), Michael McKean (78), Felicity Jones (42), Mark Gatiss (59), Eminem (53), Tim Robbins (67), Dominic West (56), Ncuti Gatwa (33), Sarah Ferguson (66), Ben Whishaw (45), Lori Petty (62), Steve Coogan (60), Sacha Baron Cohen (54), Himesh Patel (35), Christopher Judge (61), and Paul Simon (84).

Birthdays: 06/10 to 12/10

Hugh Jackman (57), Robin Askwith (75), Emily Deschanel (49), Joan Cusack (63), Jane Krakowski (57), Claudia Black (53), Stephen Moyer (56), Cardi B (33), Dawn French (68), Dan Stevens (43), Charles Dance (79), Rose McIver (37), Manu Bennett (56), Sarah Lancashire (61), Martin Kemp (64), Guillermo del Toro (61), Tony Shalhoub (72), Brandon Routh (46), Scott Bakula (71), Chris O’Dowd (46), Brian Blessed (89), Sharon Osbourne (73), Matt Damon (55), Sigourney Weaver (76), Chevy Chase (82), Paul Hogan (86), Ardal O’Hanlon (60), Bruno Mars (40), Simon Cowell (66), Tim Minchin (50), Thom Yorke (57), Elisabeth Shue (62), Emily Mortimer (54), Ioan Gruffudd (52), and Britt Ekland (83).

Let’s begin by issuing the points! 82 points to Paula H for correctly predicting that Patrick Murray would succumb to cancer this year. 59 points go to Sarai for guessing that Jane Goodall would die; and 54 points to Nicki H, Nicki O’H, Laura, Fiona, Julia and Abigail for the passing of Patricia Routledge. Well done everyone, quite a lot of point scoring there! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Sir Terry Farrell, 87, British architect and urban designer. 
• Patrick Murray, 68, English actor (Only Fools and Horses, Scum, Quadrophenia), lung cancer. 
• Joshua Allen, 36, American dancer (So You Think You Can Dance) and actor, hit by train.
• Renato Casaro, 89, Italian film poster artist (My Name Is Nobody, Conan the Barbarian, Octopussy), bronchopneumonia. 
• Dame Jane Goodall, 91, English zoologist and primatologist, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots & Shoots. 
• Dame Patricia Routledge, 96, English actress (Keeping Up Appearances, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Darling of the Day). 

In Other News

Dolly Parton is pressing pause on working 9 to 5. The “Jolene” singer announced earlier in the week that she needs to postpone her upcoming Las Vegas concerts due to medical concerns. “As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures,” she shared on Instagram. “As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!” As she prepares to undergo the unspecified operations, the 79-year-old said she’s pushing the dates of her performances from December 2025 to September 2026. “In all seriousness, given this, I am not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see,” Parton continued. “You pay good money to see me perform, and I want to be at my best for you. While I’ll still be able to work on all of my projects from here in Nashville, I just need a little time to get show ready, as they say.” But for those concerned she may be retiring soon, Parton went on to set the record straight. “Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,” she added. “But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so l can be ready for more big adventures with all of you. I love you and thank you for understanding.” While the country icon didn’t give further details on her health scare, she was recently forced to pull out of a Dollywood event after being diagnosed with a kidney stone that she said was causing “a lot of problems.” “Turned out it’d given me an infection,” she told fans, “and the doctor said, ‘You don’t need to be traveling right this minute, so you need a few days to get better.’” On top of her own medical concerns, Parton has been going through a difficult period following the death of her longtime husband Carl Dean in March. “Thank you for all the messages, cards and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl,” she wrote on social media at the time. “He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.” 

Lola Young has said she will be cancelling her forthcoming shows “for the foreseeable future”, days after she collapsed on stage during a performance in New York. In a statement posted on social media on Tuesday, the 24-year-old singer said she was “going away for a while” and apologised to fans who had bought tickets for her tour. During a performance at the All Things Go music festival on Saturday, Young appeared to drop her microphone and fall backwards, sparking concern among fans and fellow performers. The following day she cancelled her Sunday slot at the festival held at Forest Hills Stadium in Washington DC. “I’m going away for a while. It pains me to say I have to cancel everything for the foreseeable future,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday. “Thank you for all the love and support. I’m so sorry to let anyone down who has bought a ticket to see me, it hurts me more than you know. Obviously you will be entitled to a full refund. I really hope you’ll give me a second chance once I’ve had some time to work on myself and come back stronger. Love you all, Lola x.” The south London singer had been due to embark on a UK tour in October, followed by tour dates in the US, Mexico and Canada in November and December. In videos posted on social media of Young performing her song Conceited at the All Things Go Festival, she looks uncomfortable before collapsing backwards onto the stage. Earlier in the set, she had described having “a tricky couple of days” due to a “sensitive matter”, but added: “Today I woke up and I made the decision to come here… sometimes life can throw you lemons and you just gotta make lemonade”. Young later reassured fans that she was “doing okay” and thanked them for their support. A day prior on Friday her team had cancelled a performance at New Jersey’s Prudential Centre.  

Paul Danan’s will has been revealed after the star died aged 46 – along with the amount he left his ten-year-old son. The Hollyoaks actor, who played bad boy Sol Patrick from 1997 to 2001 on the Channel 4 soap, was found dead on a sofa with the TV on at his home in the Brislington area of Bristol, on January 15th. Mr Danan, who was later known for his reality TV appearances, including on Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Love Island, died from a cocktail of drugs including cocaine and heroin. And it has now emerged the reality TV star left over £400,000 in his will – mostly to his beloved young son DeNiro, who was born in 2015. Documents show his estate was worth £438,237 at the time of his death, with a net value of £421,737 after any debts and expenses were paid. He left £30,000 to each of his two brothers, Jamie and Joshua Danan, and £20,000 to Emma Devries, described as the guardian of his only child. The star left the rest of the estate in trust to his son, stipulating he will inherit the cash when he reaches 21. It is believed he co-parented him alongside a former partner. The troubled star had been open about his struggles with addiction, previously telling of how he experimented with ecstasy from the age of 14 and survived a heroin overdose in 2007. Danan said by 2022, he had been to rehab 17 times and had spent ‘about £1million on rehab and recovery’. His girlfriend Melissa Crooks raised the alarm about him earlier this year when she had not heard from him after they had been out together for a ‘couple of drinks’ in the early hours of January 14th. A neighbour then used a ladder to gain entry to his first-floor flat where Danan was found dead. He was found slumped at the edge of the sofa with the TV still on, the inquest at Avon Coroner’s Court in Flax Bourton, near Bristol, heard. Emergency services attended the scene and he was pronounced dead at 5.20pm on January 15th. His body was identified at the property by Ms Crooks. A postmortem examination concluded his death was due to combined toxicity of heroin, methadone, codeine, pregabalin, cocaine and zopiclone, contributed to by benzodiazepine use.  

A British teenager who was jailed in Dubai after having sex with a UK tourist has been killed in a car crash – just months after being set free following a royal pardon. Marcus Fakana, 19, died in Tottenham, north London, at around 1am on Friday after a car he was a passenger in failed to stop when being blue-lighted by the Metropolitan Police. Officers say they ‘temporarily lost sight of the vehicle’ after tailing it for around 60 seconds, before discovering its involvement in a huge smash with another car at The Roundway. Marcus was left seriously injured as a result of the crash and received first aid treatment at the scene, but he died shortly after being rushed to hospital. The driver, a man also aged 19, was arrested after the crash on suspicion of failure to stop and dangerous driving. He remains in police custody. Marcus’s death came exactly three months after he was released from prison in the Gulf state, thanks to a pardon from Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He was arrested and sentenced to one year in a maximum-security prison last year over a consensual holiday relationship with another British tourist who was just a few months younger than himself – a fact he was not aware of at the time. The girl was one month away from turning 18, but sex with anyone under the age of 18 is an offence in Dubai. They met when both their families were staying at a luxury hotel. 

On This Day

• 1887 – A fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter kills 186, making it the UK’s deadliest ever building fire.
• 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. As of September 2025 it has reached a distance of 15.6 billion miles which is still a year away from a distance of one light day. 
• 1981 – The first women arrive at what becomes Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in the UK.
• 2022 – Liz Truss is declared the winner of the UK Conservative Party leadership election, beating Rishi Sunak. It doesn’t go well for her.

Deaths

• 1548 – Catherine Parr, Sixth and last Queen of Henry VIII (born c. 1512).
• 1877 – Crazy Horse, American tribal leader (born 1849).
• 1997 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, and saint (born 1910).
• 2021 – Sarah Harding, English singer, member of Girls Aloud (born 1981).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kate Winslet (50), Guy Pearce (58), Jesse Eisenberg (42), Karen Allen (74), Diane Morgan (50), Clive Barker (73), Neil deGrasse Tyson (67), Dakota Johnson (36), Christoph Waltz (69), Susan Sarandon (79), Alicia Silverstone (49), Liev Schreiber (58), Melissa Benoist (37), Nick Mohammed (45), Alicia Vikander (37), Seann William Scott (49), Lena Headey (52), Neve Campbell (52), Clive Owen (61), Lorraine Bracco (71), Avery Brooks (77), Sting (74), Brie Larson (36), Julie Andrews (90), Zach Galifianakis (56), Larry Lamb (78), Marion Cotillard (50), Monica Bellucci (61), Kieran Culkin (43), Alistair Petrie (55), Omid Djalili (60), Luke Goss (57), Mackenzie Crook (54), Ian McShane (83), and Erika Eleniak (56).

This week’s newsletter is mostly brought to you by Nickie, she found almost everything you are about to read! Thanks Nickie, made my life easy this week. Plus, you all missed a supercentenarian! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Dickie Bird, 92, English cricket umpire and player (Yorkshire, Leicestershire). 
• Claudia Cardinale, 87, Italian actress (Once Upon a Time in the West, The Leopard, 8½). 
• Ruth Posner, 96, Polish Holocaust survivor and actress (Making News, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Casualty), assisted suicide. 
• Patricia Crowther, 97, British Wiccan occultist. 
• Ann Granger, 86, British crime writer (Cold in the Earth). 
• Sara Jane Moore, 95, American accountant and convicted attempted assassin (Gerald Ford). 
• Izabel Rosa Pereira, 114, Brazilian supercentenarian, heart failure. 
• Billy Vigar, 21, English footballer (Chichester City), brain injury. 
• Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, 84, British politician and Olympic sprinter, MP (1987–2015), member of the House of Lords. 
• Tony Harrison, 88, English poet (“V“).

In Other News

William Shatner is brushing off reports about his health, calling them “greatly exaggerated.” After online reports claimed the 93-year-old actor was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, his agency told the Flying Monkeys in a statement that the story was untrue, saying, “He is at home. This is a false report.” On Thursday, Shatner addressed the rumours himself, posting a meme on Instagram that read, “Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated!” “I over indulged,” he wrote in the caption. “I thank you all for caring but I’m perfectly fine. I keep telling you all: don’t trust tabloids or AI! ” This isn’t the first time Shatner has had to debunk rumours about his health. In 2018, he responded to a Facebook ad falsely claiming he had died. At the time, Shatner was alerted to his alleged death by a fan on Twitter, who tagged the icon with the caption, “@WilliamShatner I thought you might want to know you’re dead.” The post included a picture from a sponsored advertisement on Facebook that claimed the “beloved Sci-Fi actor was found” dead. “Hey @facebook isn’t this your messenger app?” he wrote on Twitter at the time in response. “Thought you were doing something about this?” The company quickly took action and removed the ad from the platform. Shatner later followed up in classic fashion, writing, “Thank you. I’m not planning on dying so please continue to block those kinds of ads.”  

Tributes have poured in for an actress and Holocaust survivor who ‘died at a Swiss suicide clinic’ alongside her husband. Devoted couple, Ruth Posner, 96, and husband Michael, 97, informed their family and friends they had taken their own lives in an email. Neither had terminal illnesses but the pair, from Belsize Park, north London, decided they did not want to be apart after almost 75 years married. They addressed a message to ‘Dear family and friends’ on Tuesday and wrote: ‘So sorry not to have mentioned it but when you receive this email we will have “shuffled off this mortal coil”. The decision was mutual and without any outside pressure. We had lived a long life and together for almost 75 years. There came a point when failing senses, of sight and hearing and lack of energy was not living but existing that no care would improve. We had an interesting and varied life and except for the sorrow of losing Jeremy, our son. We enjoyed our time together, we tried not to regret the past, live in the present and not to expect too much from the future. Much love Ruth & Mike.’ Ms Posner used a falsified passport to flee the Warsaw ghetto and posed as a Catholic school student during three years spent on the run with her aunt. The rest of her family were killed at the Treblinka extermination camp. On her arrival in the UK aged 16, Ms Posner did not speak any English but soon started training as a dancer and enrolled at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. She later started acting school, studying theatre arts at Hunter College in New York before gaining membership at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Holocaust survivor went on to become a star of both the film and TV worlds, receiving acclaim for roles in movies Leon The Pig Farmer and Love Hurts. She also featured on the small screen in Casualty, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and a string of other top shows. Ms Posner acted for 80 years and recently played Polish princess Katya in BBC comedy series Count Arthur Strong. She married her British husband Michael in 1950 and the pair travelled the world thanks to his work as a chemist for Unilever and Unicef. The couple are survived by a grandson.  

An aspiring teenage gymnast has died at age 19 after a horrific accident training in Russia. The Indonesian Gymnastics Federation announced the death of 19-year-old Naufal Takdir Al Bari after he had been in intensive care for 12 days. He sustained a severe neck injury, according to reports in Russia, when he fell into a foam pit during a horizontal bar routine. The athlete was training to compete in this year’s Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which are being held in Indonesia. An IGF statement said: ‘Athlete Naufal Takdir Al Bari has passed away to the mercy of Allah in Penza, Russia. The 19-year-old gymnast breathed his last after undergoing intensive care for 12 days at GA Zakharyin Hospital. ‘Naufal was one of the talented gymnasts and his passing was a blow to the world of sports, especially the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation. He was prepared to compete in the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2025, the 2025 SEA Games Bangkok, and was projected to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.’ The statement added: ‘Indonesian Gymnastics has lost the nation’s best. This is a deep blow and sorrow for us. May the family be given strength.’ Vice President of the Russian Gymnastics Federation Vasily Titov, said Al Bari was hurt after performing a routine he had not been prepared to take on. ‘We conducted the necessary investigation, and all the circumstances surrounding the injury have been established. Unfortunately, the athlete was not prepared to perform such a complex element,’ he said. ‘We will certainly provide assistance, if necessary, in the shipment and repatriation of the body.’

On This Day

• 1066 – William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.
• 1889 – The General Conference on Weights and Measures defines the length of a metre.
• 1912 – Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash. 
• 1928 – Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.

Deaths

• 1891 – Herman Melville, American author and poet (born 1819).
• 1895 – Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (born 1822).
• 1953 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and scholar (born 1889).
• 1964 – Harpo Marx, American comedian, actor, and singer (born 1888).
• 2024 – Kris Kristofferson, American singer, songwriter, and actor (born 1936).

The Rapper and the Tragic Schoolgirl

Celeste Rivas Hernandez, described as a ‘studious’ and ‘intelligent’ schoolgirl, vanished from her suburban family home in May 2024, aged just 13. Her decomposed body was discovered earlier this month in the Hollywood Hills, wrapped in plastic and hidden inside a Tesla registered in the name of David Anthony Burke, a viral music star known as D4vd.

While police have opened a homicide investigation, no arrests have been made and Burke, 20, has not been named as a suspect or person of interest.

Yet the chilling discovery has sparked frenzied speculation online and a torrent of conspiracy theories all obsessing over one question: what really happened to Celeste?

‘Sweet’ and ‘studious’ Celeste grew up in Lake Elsinore, a suburban city located 76 miles from where her decomposed remains were uncovered on September 8th.

She had been reported missing from the family home in May 2024 aged 13 – after previous brief disappearances – and her whereabouts thereafter remained a mystery.

Her brother, Matthew Rivas, claimed she left home to see a film with Burke – whose songs have been streamed more than three billion times on Spotify – and never came back. 

Mr Rivas claimed Burke would regularly pick his younger sister up in the same Tesla in which she would later be found dead.

Two sources close to Celeste’s family claimed Burke had been in an underage relationship with the teenager.

One of those sources claimed the musician had first made contact with Celeste through social media when she was aged just ’11 or 12’.

Though Celeste’s body was discovered a day after her 15th birthday, officials described her body as ‘severely decomposed’, suggesting she died while aged just 14.

The dented black 2023 Tesla Model Y in which her body was found was impounded on September 5th, having been abandoned a short distance from a four-bedroom mansion where Burke had been living.

Workers at a Hollywood tow yard raised the alarm after noticing a ‘foul odour’ coming from the vehicle.

The 5ft 2ins teen was found wearing a tube top with black leggings and a yellow bracelet with similar metal stud earrings. 

Celeste’s cause of death has not been revealed. Her partial remains have since been released back to her family.

Burke, 20, was on the US leg of his Withered World Tour when the grisly discovery was made.

The rapper, known as D4vd, shot to fame on TikTok after making soundtracks for video games.

His rapid rise culminated in national television appearances, a coveted slot at Coachella, and tours alongside singer SZA.

Images show the platinum-selling singer rubbing shoulders with the likes of Billie Eilish, Rosalia and producer Benny Blanco.

Burke, who received a $3m record advance aged 17, had been on a tour promoting his debut album, ‘Withered‘, when Celeste’s body was found.

The rest of the schedule – including dates in Europe, the UK, and Australia – has now been suspended indefinitely.

When the discovery of Celeste’s remains were first made, a representative for the singer claimed he was helping police.

Burke subsequently hired powerhouse Hollywood lawyer Blair Berk, who has yet to issue a public statement. 

His 2022 song Romantic Homicide, which features the line ‘I killed you and I didn’t even regret it’ has subsequently rebounded up the music charts as fans and sleuths dissect his songs for hints.

Detectives now face the difficult task of piecing together the 16 months between Celeste’s disappearance and the grim discovery in Burke’s car.

Officials said Celeste had been ‘inside the vehicle for an extended period of time before being found’ and her reportedly dismembered body was ‘severely decomposed’.

Investigators are also examining the nature of the relationship between the teenager and the rapper, after family members alleged Celeste and Burke were romantically involved.

Both were reported to have matching tattoos reading: ‘Shhh…’ in red ink, though other stars have the same tattoo, including Rihanna and Lindsay Lohan.

Police have searched the £3.5m Hollywood Hills mansion Burke had been renting – a property once occupied by Halle Berry – and removed electronics and boxes. The singer’s manager has since cancelled his $20,000-a-month lease.

No suspects or persons of interest have yet been publicly  named and this week an LAPD spokesperson simply described the investigation as ‘ongoing’.

Burke, who boasts two million Instagram followers, has not been accused of any wrongdoing and is ‘fully cooperating with the authorities’.

However, he has been dropped from brand campaigns with footwear company Crocs and fashion brand Hollister.

In the absence of official answers, social media detectives have filled the vacuum. 

Some claim to have uncovered an unreleased track allegedly recorded by Burke titled Celeste Demo unfin. The song, leaked online, appears to reference a girl named Celeste – though its authenticity has not been confirmed.

The singer’s dark stage persona has fuelled intrigue, with D4vd performing alongside a casket and also featuring in a video in which one blood-soaked version of his body carries another into a trunk.

Numerous images have since emerged on social media, purporting to show Celeste and Burke together during the time she was reported missing.

One photo purports to show Burke and a teenage girl believed to be Celeste sitting side by side in a green booth.

Speaking to the Flying Monkeys, unnamed friends who ‘frequently’ partied with Burke and Celeste said they believed the pair to be ‘romantically involved’.

They described the singer as ‘a very gentle person’ and said Celeste seemed to ‘mirror’ Burke’s shyness.

Celeste’s mother meanwhile claimed that her daughter had been dating someone called ‘David’.

Former Department of Justice prosecutor Neama Rahmani described the mounting evidence as ‘staggering’ and said it was ‘shocking’ no-one had yet been arrested.

He said: ‘Whenever they find a body in your car, that’s not good. And when it’s been dismembered, it’s even worse – and that’s without considering everything else we’ve heard in this case. So it’s shocking to me that nobody has been arrested – but I expect that to change within days. It’s just a matter of time. There are so many possibilities here: that she died from other causes like an overdose, and someone tried to conceal it, but there’s also a lot of bad evidence in this case, too. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’

Neighbours, meanwhile, painted a picture of two young people who kept to themselves.

A man who lives next to the Hollywood Hills home where Burke had been staying told how he often saw Celeste and the singer together.

‘They were with each other all the time. I thought they were just kids, like 18 or 19 years old. I had no idea anything was wrong. Any time I tried to talk to them, they weren’t very engaging.’

Meanwhile, friends of the singer claim that Celeste had fake IDs and they believed her to be 19-year old who studied at the University of Southern California (USC).

The owner of the rental home, Mladen Trifunovic, said Burke’s manager had signed the lease but recently asked to end the agreement. He said: ‘They didn’t want to be there anymore because of the ongoing circumstances. I had no idea what was going on until police searched the house. This has all been such a big shock. I’m still trying to process everything, and I’m anxiously waiting for the story to conclude itself.’

Despite the feverish speculation, major gaps remain. It is unclear when an autopsy will be completed and the precise cause of Celeste’s death known.

Her movements in the months after she went missing are also unclear. Some residents in Lake Elsinore reported seeing her after her disappearance was logged in May 2024.

It is also not known what Tesla’s inbuilt cameras may have recorded.

Detectives have reportedly seized electronic devices from the rented home but have not revealed what was recovered.

Police say they are ‘following up on several leads’ but Mr Rahmani warned progress may be slow. He claimed it could take the LAPD up to eight months to prepare a report for a basic road or traffic accident. ‘Obviously, a murder is a very different type of case, but I haven’t dealt with a law enforcement agency as slow as LAPD There is a lot of criticism of the LAPD for this exact reason’

Last Week’s Birthdays

Naomi Watts (57), Jeffrey Jones (79), Hilary Duff (38), Brigitte Bardot (91), Jenna Ortega (23), Indira Varma (52), Gwyneth Paltrow (53), Linda Hamilton (69), Catherine Zeta-Jones (56), Will Smith (57), Mark Hamill (74), Bella Ramsey (22), Donald Glover (42), Heather Locklear (64), Kevin Sorbo (67), Sven-Ole Thorsen (81), Anthony Mackie (47), Rosalind Chao (68), Bruce Springsteen (76), Karl Pilkington (53), Billie Piper (43), Tatiana Maslany (40), Tom Felton (38), and Ruth Jones (59).

As we mourn the death of free speech in the US, perhaps we should start listing American  journalists next year? After all, I’m pretty sure we’re only a few months away from a second Night of the Long Knives…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Stephen Luscombe, 70, English musician (Blancmange) and songwriter (“Living on the Ceiling“, “Don’t Tell Me“). 
• Robert Redford, 89, American actor (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men) and film director (Ordinary People). 
• Sonny Curtis, 88, American musician (The Crickets) and songwriter (“I Fought the Law“, “Love is All Around“).
• Matt Beard, 47, English football manager (Burnley F.C. Women, Liverpool F.C. Women).
• John Stapleton, 79, English broadcaster (Nationwide, Watchdog) and journalist, complications from Parkinson’s disease.

In Other News

Steve Martin has canceled two comedy tour stops over the weekend after contracting COVID, the Only Murders in the Building star shared on Instagram. He and co-star Martin Short were set to continue The Dukes of Funnytown! Tour. “Dear Virginia Beach and Richmond. Sadly, I have come down with Covid. I can’t possibly do the shows that you deserve. So Marty and I must cancel tonight & tomorrow. But we will return under better circumstances.,” Martin wrote on Instagram yesterday alongside a photo of his pup looking weary. In a separate joke. Martin and Short were recently at the Emmys this past Sunday, after which they attended The Walt Disney Company’s Emmys bash. This is now the second time one of the veteran comics’ contraction of COVID has forced a tour cancellation or rescheduling. Earlier this year, it was Short who contracted COVID after attending the star-studded weekend-long celebration that was SNL50. “Maya Rudolph]had Covid. Marty has Covid. I wonder why? The SNL 50th Covid curse is real,” Martin wrote on Instagram in February. As a result, The Dukes of Funnytown! moved its Tennessee and North Carolina stops to mid-October.  

Morrissey has cancelled two shows in the US after receiving a death threat ahead of a concert in Ottawa, Canada. A 26-year-old Ottawa man was released on bail after allegedly uttering a threat to kill the singer, whose real name is Steven Morrissey, ahead of his performance at a music festival last week. The event went on as planned, but the singer later cancelled two shows in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Morrissey was the front man of the rock band The Smiths, but left the band in 1987 to pursue a solo career. He is known for being outspoken on issues such as animal welfare and politics. In 2006, he refused to tour in Canada in protest at the annual seal hunt. After the threat against his life in Ottawa last week, he cancelled Friday’s show in Connecticut and one in Boston. “In recent days, there has been a credible threat on Morrissey’s life,” said a statement from the Boston venue on Instagram. “Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of both the artist and the band, tomorrow’s engagement at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway has been canceled.” 

Springwatch icon Bill Oddie has confessed to struggling with his health in recent years after an “almost fatal” ordeal that left him “very ill”. The Goodies star, now 84, was diagnosed with lithium toxicity in 2020 which left him “very confused”, admitting he “didn’t know” if he would ever return to his former self. The BBC presenter said “Just so you know, I have been very ill most of this summer. Lithium toxicity. Almost fatal! I am still here but very confused about most things! But then aren’t many of us. It fuddles my brain. Confusion. Will I return? I really dunno. I hope so. Please wish me luck.” According to the NHS, too much lithium in the blood can cause serious side effects – causing confusion, drowsiness, blackouts and blurred vision. Used as a mood stabiliser, he was prescribed lithium after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Bill plunged into a spiral of depression after being axed from Springwatch in 2008, and attempted suicide twice. He explained it took “10 years” to get a diagnosis of bipolar disorder after years of mood swings – excessive energy and over-confidence followed by sudden dark periods. He explained: “It happened to me. It’s happening to others right now. “It could be fatal. You don’t know what to do except sleep. So you take a couple of sleeping pills, and then you take another until they’re all gone,” he said in 2017. The star added: “A producer said, ‘People are scared of you. You’re abrasive’. If I knew then what I know now, I’d have accepted that I was going through a manic phase. When my GP watched The Goodies he recognised I was bipolar.” Oddie was “in and out of hospital” in 2009, branding it his “lost year”. He was admitted to a private clinic in London – the same one that treated Amy Winehouse – but said it was “like being medicated in a hotel”. He told the Flying Monkeys: “I really was suicidal. I took too many sleeping pills, twice. I can only say the feeling wasn’t, ‘I want to kill myself’. It was, ‘I want to go to sleep and just blank out’. But I did take risks, a couple of times.” Bill also suffers from musical hallucination, a form of tinnitus where instead of a ringing or buzzing noise, sufferers hear music that isn’t really there. He explained that the music is “only in his right ear”, explaining: “At first, I thought it must be outside but when I closed the windows, the volume stayed the same. I started moving from room to room, looking to see if there was a radio on somewhere, but there wasn’t. It really was quite confounding.”

On This Day

• 1921 – A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 500–600 people. 
• 1934 – A large typhoon hits western Honshū, Japan, killing more than 3,000 people.
• 1937 – J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is published for the first time.

Deaths

• 19BC – Virgil, Roman poet (born 70 BC).
• 1327 – Edward II of England (born 1284).
• 1998 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter (born 1959).

When The King Met Ethel

King Charles paid a special visit to the world’s oldest person, Ethel Caterham, who entertained him with her memories of how “all the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you”. 

The monarch travelled to see 116-year-old Mrs Caterham at her care home in Lightwater, Surrey, on Thursday, shortly after bidding a formal farewell to US Dickhead in Charge Donald Trump at Windsor. 

Mrs Caterham became the oldest living person in April after the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas at 116. 

She chose to celebrate her latest birthday in August quietly with just her family – but it was revealed at the time that she would have made a concession for the King. The monarch duly obliged just a few weeks later by travelling to see her in person. 

Charles held Mrs Caterham’s hand at the start as he introduced himself. Then, sitting in an armchair next to Mrs Caterham, who was wearing gold fur-lined sequinned slippers, a patterned sage dress and a pale pink shawl, the King listened intently as she told him: “I remember when your mother crowned you in Caernarfon Castle.” 

The King expressed delight at her recollection of his 1969 investiture as the Prince of Wales when he was 21, saying “oh yes” and adding to others in the room: “You see, fascinating.” Mrs Caterham continued: “And all the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you.” 

The remark prompted a hearty laugh from the King and a raise of his eyebrows. 

One of Mrs Caterham’s granddaughters, Kate Henderson, added: “You were saying that the other day, weren’t you? “You said ‘Prince Charles was so handsome. All the girls were in love with him’. A true prince – and now the King.” 

Charles, who responded with a playful grimace, quipped: “Yes well, all that’s left of him anyway.” 

The pair also spoke about Mrs Caterham’s fond memories of a Buckingham Palace garden party she attended in the 1960’s. 

On the table between the chairs was a previous birthday card from Charles and Camilla, one from the late Queen Elizabeth II, and a framed, signed letter from the King congratulating Mrs Caterham on her 116th birthday and becoming the world’s oldest living person. The cards were just some of the 17 she has received from both the King and the late Queen Elizabeth II to mark her birthdays since turning 100, including the one marking her centenary. 

In 2023, Mrs Caterham featured on the monarchy’s official Instagram when she was filmed receiving a card from the King in the post to mark her 114th birthday. She was joined by three granddaughters, Kate, Julia Pauling and Lucy Robinson. 

Mrs Caterham was born on August 21st in 1909, in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, five years before the start of the First World War, as the second youngest of eight siblings. 

She is the last surviving subject of Edward VII, who died in May 1910. 

In 1927, aged 18 she travelled to India and worked as an au pair to a military family until she was 21. 

She met her husband, Norman, who was a lieutenant colonel in the British Army who died in 1976, at a dinner party in the UK in 1931. They lived in Salisbury before being stationed in Gibraltar and Hong Kong and Mrs Caterham set up a nursery school while in Hong Kong and raised two daughters, both of whom died before her. 

One of her sisters, Gladys, lived to be 104. 

Mrs Caterham drove until she was 97 and enjoyed playing contract bridge in her centenarian years. 

She survived Covid in 2020 aged 110. 

The title of the oldest person ever is held by French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years 164 days, according to Guinness World Records.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bill Murray (75), Stephen King (78), David Wenham (60), Alfonso Ribeiro (54), Ricki Lake (57), Jon Bernthal (49), Sophia Loren (91), Moon Bloodgood (50), George R.R. Martin (77), Twiggy (76), Jimmy Fallon (51), Danielle Panabaker (38), Jeremy Irons (77), Christina Chong (42), Patrick Schwarzenegger (32), James Marsden (52), Jason Sudeikis (50), Keeley Hazell (39), Babs Olusanmokun (41), Jada Pinkett Smith (54), Tim McInnerny (69), Danielle Brooks (36), Ella Purnell (29), Cassandra Peterson (74), Bruce Spence (80), Mickey Rourke (73), Madeline Zima (40), Jennifer Tilly (67), Amy Poehler (54), Nick Jonas (33), Danny John-Jules (65), Tom Hardy (48), Tommy Lee Jones (79), John Bradley (37), and Jimmy Carr (53).

Bit of a deadly week for drummers. No points though, so I best leave those Flying Monkeys out for another week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Rick Davies, 81, English musician (Supertramp), and songwriter (“Bloody Well Right“, “Goodbye Stranger“), complications from multiple myeloma. 
• Charlie Kirk, 31, American conservative activist, co-founder of Turning Point USA, shot. 
• Jay Wynne, 56, British weather presenter (BBC Weather)
• Viv Prince, 84, English drummer (Pretty Things). 
• Allen Blickle, 42, American heavy metal drummer (Baroness). 
• Atomic Steif, 57, German thrash metal drummer (Sodom). 
• Ricky Hatton, 46, English professional boxer. 

In Other News

A Japanese racehorse who became famous for having never won a single race has died, Haru Urara, who was the inspiration for a popular mobile game character, passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 29. She was surrounded by her keepers at Martha Farm in Chiba prefecture, in eastern Japan, according to the Flying Monkeys. The thoroughbred mare, known for donning a pink Hello Kitty face mask while racing, was once dubbed “the shining star of losers everywhere.” “Haru Urara was 29 years old, which would be nearly 90 years old in human terms, but she was in great health until yesterday,” her caretaker, Yuko Miyahara, said. “Recently, more and more people, not only from Japan but also from overseas, have been coming to see Haru Urara. So it’s really unfortunate.” The horse was still receiving visits from fans and was reportedly still in good health the weekend before her death. Haru Urara, whose name means “glorious spring” was born in the northern island of Hokkaido in 1996. She suffered her first loss at the Kochi Racecourse in southwestern Japan in November 1998. However it was not until 2003 when she first found fame when local media in Japan reported on her 80th racing loss in a row, postponing her planned retirement. She continued the impressive streak until her retirement in 2004 – having lost 113 races – and later became a national symbol of perseverance and tenacity. The horse’s fame also took a bump recently in July, following the launch of the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby mobile game, where she appeared as a pink-haired anime character.  

John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman has received a decision in his 14th parole hearing last week. The 70-year-old attended a parole board interview to learn whether or not he’d be sprung from the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Beekman, New York. Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life back in 1981 for killing the music legend. Online records updated by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision reveal Chapman’s request for parole was denied. While it’s not yet publicly known what Chapman said during his most recent parole hearing, he has shown remorse in the past for his actions, even stating he only went after Lennon because of The Beatles’ legend’s level of fame. Chapman has reportedly stated, “I assassinated him…because he was very famous. That is the only reason and I was very, very, very much seeking self-glory.” He’s also said, “I’m sorry for the pain that I caused to his wife, to his son. I think about it all of the time.” Chapman has also admitted he feels he should spend the rest of his days locked up, adding, “I deserve zero, nothing. I should be in prison for the rest of my life.” Following the shooting, Ono released a statement which read, in part, “John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him.” Paul McCartney received some criticism for his comments after Lennon’s death when he said “It’s a drag,” but later went on to clarify he was in a state of shock. Chapman’s next parole hearing is scheduled for 2027. 

Longtime Dead Pool favourite, Charlie Sheen has candidly revealed he would die if he touches drugs again after past, public battles with addictions. The Hollywood star is eight years sober and has admitted the scary outcome as he updates fans on his health. The Two and a Half Men star, 60, is telling his story in his new memoir as well as a two-part Netflix documentary. In it, he opens up on his on his past behaviour and admits, he never thought he’d see his current milestone age, nor did we Charlie, nor did we! He admits he is currently feeling “pretty good” as he revealed he has a rigid fitness regime that he follows. He explained the new memoir is simply him telling the stories the way they actually happened. That included several trips to rehab, and he claims it was a miracle had only had one overdose and close brush with death in his heaviest partying days. “I keep a mental list of the worst, most shameful things I’ve done, and I can look at that in my head if I feel like having a drink,” he said before admitting he has no interest in returning to his drug-taking self. However, he also candidly claimed: “Whether it’s true or not, I like to think the next hit would kill me.” He said that during the height of his fame, where he was earning $1.8m per episode of his hit sitcom, he became erratic. And he previously boasted of “banging seven gram rocks” of cocaine and claiming to have “tiger blood” running through his veins. Charlie said that he is still evolving as he tries to forgive his former ways and actions. He said there are sometimes moments that give him the “shame shivers”. But he said thankfully those times are getting further apart, labelling it “progress”.

On This Day

• 1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).
• 1901 – U.S. president William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on September 6 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
• 2022 – Death of Queen Elizabeth II: The Queen’s coffin is taken from Buckingham Palace, placed on a gun carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and moved in a procession to Westminster Hall for her lying in state over the next four days with the queue of mourners stretching for miles along the River Thames.

Deaths

• 1715 – Dom Pérignon, French monk and priest (born 1638).
• 1852 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Irish-English field marshal & politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1769).
• 1982  – Grace Kelly, American-Monegasque actress; Princess of Monaco (born 1929).
• 2009 – Keith Floyd, English chef and author (born 1943).
• 2009 – Patrick Swayze, American actor, singer, and dancer (born 1952).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sam Neill (78), Andrew Lincoln (52), Walter Koenig (89), Sydney Sweeney (28), Alfie Allen (39), Hans Zimmer (68), Linda Gray (85), Virginia Madsen (64), Tyler Hoechlin (38), Elizabeth Henstridge (38), Johnny Vegas (54), Colin Firth (65), Matt Rife (30), Adam Sandler (59), Hugh Grant (65), Eric Stonestreet (54), Jeffrey Combs (71), Martin Freeman (54), Heather Thomas (68), Miles Jupp (46), and P!nk (46).