A quiet week, would have gone by without mention unless the well loved John Virgo hadn’t bust an artery! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 53, Libyan politician, shot. 
• Lamonte McLemore, 90, American singer (The 5th Dimension). 
• John Virgo, 79, English snooker player, ruptured aorta. 
• Fred Smith, 77, American bassist (Television, Blondie). 
• Blessed Geza, 82–83, Zimbabwean politician, cancer. 
• Brad Arnold, 47, American singer (3 Doors Down) and songwriter (“Kryptonite“, “Here Without You“), renal cell carcinoma.

In Other News

Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The 68-year-old received the devastating news last month – just 20 minutes before starting her new job on Irish soap opera Fair City. Beverley has been told she will need surgery and radiotherapy. She is also returning to the UK this weekend for tests to check whether the cancer has spread. Beverley told the Flying Monkeys on Friday: “I’ve had some tests just before I left the UK, and literally, 15, 20 minutes before I was in my dressing room at Fair City, getting ready to go on, and I was quite nervous and thinking, ‘I hope everybody thinks I’m all right’, whatever. And my consultant rang me and said, ‘you’ve got to come back to the UK’. I said, ‘Well, I can’t possibly, I’ve just taken a new job’. I said ‘I’m away for a month’, and I was diagnosed with breast cancer.” Reassuring fans about her health battle, Beverley continued: “I’m fine, I’m absolutely fine. My head was a bit mashed for the first few days. It’s very early stages, and I am along with thousands of other women as well. I travel back to the UK tomorrow, just for a couple of weeks, they’re going to test lymph nodes and lymph glands and all that. But then I need an operation and some radiotherapy, and then I’m coming back to Fair City, so I will be back in just a few weeks.” Beverley quit her iconic role as Rovers Return landlady Liz McDonald in 2019 after 30 years on screen.  

Neil Young has cancelled his upcoming UK tour and other dates in Europe with rock band The Chrome Hearts. The Canadian-American singer, 80, apologised to fans in a post on his official website on Friday night. He said it is “not the time” to be playing live shows and said he had “decided to take a break”. Young was due to go on tour this summer with dates scheduled for locations including Manchester, Glasgow, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, and Cork. ‘I’m sorry to let you down’ A message posted to the Neil Young Archives website read: “I have decided to take a break and will not be touring Europe this time. “Thanks to everyone who bought tickets. I’m sorry to let you down, but this is not the time. “I do love playing live and being with you and The Chrome Hearts. Love, Neil. Be well.” The rocker celebrated his 80th birthday on Wednesday by taking a cruise around Oxnard, California, in his 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible, which boasts a rechargeable biodiesel-powered micro-turbine engine. Young made headlines last month when he gave access to his entire digital archive to the people of Greenland as a gesture of solidarity amid Donald Trump’s threats to annex the territory, which is part of Denmark. “I’m honoured to give a free year’s access to neilyoungarchives.com to all our friends in Greenland,” Young wrote on his website. “I hope my music and music films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government.”  

Dame Esther Rantzen has said she does not have “much longer” to live because a drug she has been taking since 2024 has stopped working. Last week marked the third anniversary of the 85-year-old’s diagnosis with stage four lung cancer, and she told the Flying Monkeys: “To my astonishment, thanks to one of the new miracle drugs, I’m still here. Not for much longer. “The drug has stopped working now, and a scan next week will reveal how far my disease has spread.” Rantzen shared her health update as she made another passionate plea in favour of the assisted dying bill, which she has spent years campaigning for. The veteran TV star continued: “I’m definitely not going to live long enough to see the assisted dying bill become law. So if my life becomes unbearably painful and I long for a quick, pain-free death, I will have to go to Dignitas in Switzerland, alone. All I ask is that future generations be given the confidence and hope of a fast, pain-free death, when they need it most,” she wrote. The bill will make assisted dying legal in some circumstances in England and Wales. It passed the House of Commons in June 2025, but still needs to pass in the House of Lords – where more than 1,000 amendments have been tabled. A row has now unfolded with the bill’s supporters claiming opponents in the House of Lords are trying to delay the legislation so that there is not enough time for it to be passed before the current session of Parliament ends this spring. Rantzen first shared her lung cancer diagnosis in January 2023, and revealed a few months later that it had progressed to stage four. She said in 2024 that she had registered with the Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas, and has heavily criticised the fact that current UK law means family members could be prosecuted for accompanying a loved one to the Zurich facility. Last year, Rantzen said she knew her time left was “extremely limited”, adding: “So now I enjoy each day as it comes as an extra bonus. I am never bored, I even appreciate insomnia in my comfy bed listening to Radio 4 and the World Service. I live in a cottage in the New Forest and am extremely lucky to have a beautiful spring garden to admire.”

On This Day

• 1587 – Mary Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1924 – The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
• 1960   – The Hollywood Walk of Fame is founded.
• 1983 – Irish race horse Shergar is stolen and allegedly killed by gunmen in a ransom attempt by the Provisional IRA.

Deaths

• 1960 – Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect and engineer, designed the Red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral (born 1880).
• 1998 – Enoch Powell, English politician, Secretary of State for Health (born 1912).
• 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (born 1967).

Last Meals

Gee Jon was a Chinese national who was the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas. A member of the Hip Sing Tong criminal society from San Francisco, California, Gee was sentenced to death for the murder of Tom Quong Kee, who was a member of the rivalling Bing Kung Tong in Mina, Nevada. An unsuccessful attempt to pump poison gas directly into his cell at Nevada State Prison led to the development of the gas chamber. 

Gee Jon was born around 1895 in Canton to a Cantonese family. He immigrated to the United States between 1907 and 1908. He spent most of his life at San Francisco’s Chinatown in California, though he was recorded as having briefly lived in the Chinatown area of Stockton. Gee became a member of the Hip Sing Tong society, which dealt in narcotics and liquor. In 1922, territorial disputes with the Bing Kong Tong society led to the outbreak of hostilities. 

Gee Jon was ordered by Hip Sing officials to perform a gang hit on 74-year-old Chinese laundry proprietor Tom Quong Kee, a nominal member of the Bing Kong Tong, as well as the Four Brothers tong. Hughie Sing, a 19-year-old from Carson City, newly recruited to the Hip Sing Tong and Gee’s apprentice of two months, pointed Tom out as a target. They traveled to Mina from Reno on the 18th or 20th August, reportedly being seen by deputy sheriff W. J. Hammill asking about work at the local Palace Café. By then Hammill had heard rumours that the men he had seen were Tong members in town to kill Tom Quong Kee and were pretending to be job-seekers on their way to Tonopah as a cover.

On the night of August 27th 1921, Gee and Sing knocked on the door of Tom’s cabin, the former armed with a .38 caliber Colt revolver. When Tom answered the door in his pyjamas, Gee, who was standing behind Sing, killed the elderly man with two shots to the heart. Tom’s body was discovered the next morning by one of his friends, reporting his find to justice of the peace L. E. Cornelius, who in turn alerted Hammill. After finding two sets of footprints at the crime scene, Hammill made a possible link to the presence of two strangers he had seen the week before. Gee and Sing were apprehended the same day in Reno after Hammill phoned chief of police John Kirkley about two possible murder suspects driving back from Mina. Their arrests were considered unusual, as other Tong killings typically went unsolved, with at least three additional murders with suspected Tong involvement being reported by the end of August. During interrogation, Sing confessed to his role in the murder and implicated Gee as the one to fire the fatal shots, under the belief that this would lead to his immediate release from custody. 

In February 1922, both were convicted and sentenced to death in the District Court of Mineral County, Nevada. A bill authorising the use of lethal gas had passed the Nevada State Legislature in 1921, making Gee and Sing eligible to become the first people to be executed by this method. 

Sing’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because he was only nineteen years old and Gee had been the one to commit the shooting, also highlighting that unlike Gee, who was described as “an illiterate Chinese unacquainted with American customs”, Sing had been born in the United States, was educated at a bilingual grammar school and had cooperated with the authorities; he was released on parole in 1938. 

The California Cyanide Company of Los Angeles, California, was the only distributor of liquid cyanide in the western United States and refused to deliver it to Carson City over liability concerns. The poison was used to eradicate pests from citrus groves in California. Warden Denver S. Dickerson sent his assistant Tom Pickett to Los Angeles to personally pick up 20 lb (9.1 kg) of lethal gas, which was contained in a mobile fumigating unit that cost $700. Four guards who did not want to participate in the process had resigned. The officials first attempted to pump poison gas directly into Gee’s cell while he was sleeping, but without success because the gas leaked from the cell. A makeshift gas chamber was set up at the butcher shop of the prison, measuring eleven feet long, ten feet wide, and eight feet high. A small window next to the wooden chair allowed witnesses to look inside. A day before the execution, two cats were used to test the lethal effectiveness of the chamber. It was declared that the animals “died apparently instantly and without pain” in 15 seconds.   

Gee Jon was executed in the morning hours of February 8th 1924. The prior evening, Gee had a final visitation with two friends and a cousin, and made his last statement to a journalist, calling “gas all the same as rope or shoot’em gun” and had “no worry”. Gee, who had fasted for ten days before his execution date and weighed only 40.9 kg at this point, agreed to have a last meal, consisting of ham, eggs, toast, and a cup of coffee. A guard transporting Gee to the gas chamber reportedly muttered “Die like a man, Jon” to the inmate as he was tied onto a metal bench while the cyanide was being prepared. Gee wept as he was strapped into the chair until the captain of the guards told him to “Brace up!” Around a dozen attendees, including news reporters, public health officials, and representatives of the U.S. Army, served as witnesses to the execution, many of whom smoked cigarettes before and during the execution, believing that tobacco smoke would act “as protection against vagrant gas fumes that might drift their way”. 

At 9:40 a.m. the pump sprayed 1.8 kg of hydrocyanic acid into the chamber. The weather was cold and humid. Because an electric heater failed, the chamber was 11 °C instead of the ideal 24 °C, causing some of the acid to form a puddle on the floor. Gee turned his head to look for the source of the noise, then appeared to lose consciousness in about five seconds, with his head continuing to nod up and down for six minutes. During this time, an attending physician had declared Gee dead and encouraged attendees to examine him closely through the glass, only for Gee to jerk his head up again. He was completely motionless after ten minutes. Some of the witnesses momentarily thought they smelled the odour of almond blossoms, thought to be the odour of cyanide, leaking from the chamber. The warden had the witnesses cleared from the area. At about 10:00 a.m., a vent was opened, and a fan was turned on to discharge the poison gas. The prison staff waited for the remaining puddle of hydrocyanic acid to evaporate before cleaning up the chamber. Gee’s body was removed from the chamber at 12:20 p.m. and taken to the prison hospital. A group of seven doctors pronounced him dead but did not conduct an autopsy on the body out of concern that some remaining gas could be released. Gee was 29 years old when he died and his body was buried at the Carson City Penitentiary cemetery. 

Just after the execution, one of the physicians who examined Gee’s body, Dr. Delos A. Turner, a Major of the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau in Reno, asked for permission to perform medical experiments “in the interests of science.” Turner wanted to inject Gee’s corpse with camphor, believing that it would bring Gee back to life. Dickerson denied the request. Another physician professed his belief that Gee had not died by gas inhalation but due to “cold and exposure”. The disputed cause of death also caused concern for residents of Mineral County, some of whom feared that Gee “went to his grave in a state of suspended animation” and would haunt the area as a vengeful spectre. 

Newspapers reported overwhelmingly positive on the new execution method, citing witnesses who described Gee’s death as painless by their own judgement. However, the San Jose Mercury News printed, “One hundred years from now Nevada will be referred to as a heathen commonwealth controlled by savages with only the outward symbols of civilisation.” 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Mary Steenburgen (73), Nick Nolte (85), Seth Green (52), John Williams (94), John Grisham (71), Nabhaan Rizwan (29), Ashton Kutcher (48), James Spader (66), Deborah Ann Woll (41), Eddie Izzard (64), Chris Rock (61), Kevin Whately (75), Michael Sheen (57), Jennifer Jason Leigh (64), Christopher Guest (78), Charlotte Rampling (80), Tony Jaa (50), Cristiano Ronaldo (41), Gabrielle Anwar (56), Natalie Imbruglia (51), Aimee Lou Wood (32), Isla Fisher (50), Warwick Davis (56), Paul Mescal (30), Gemma Arterton (40), and Brent Spiner (77).

We can dish out some points this week. With the execution of Charles Thompson, I can award 95 points to Julia and Abi, well done both! Always a brave punt going for Death Row inmates, but with the Republicans in charge they do like to murder their murderers and Wiki seems to be listing them again. Plus we all get to read about their crimes and last meals. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Bryan Loren, 59, American songwriter (“Do the Bartman“). 
• Charles Victor Thompson, 55, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. 
• Catherine O’Hara, 71, Canadian-American actress (Schitt’s Creek, Beetlejuice, Home Alone). 
• Demond Wilson, 79, American actor (Sanford and Son, The New Odd Couple, Me and the Kid) and author, cancer. 

In Other News

Popular former BBC Radio DJ Andy Kershaw is “unable to walk” after being diagnosed with cancer that affected his spine. The presenter, 66, has been undergoing treatment including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, physiotherapy and “a lot of scans and painkillers”, his friend and podcast producer Peter Everett shared on Facebook this week. Kershaw, who hosted shows for Radio 1 and also co-presented the BBC’s TV coverage of Live Aid in 1985, was diagnosed last August. “Although we’ve not been able to put together any podcasts in the last six months, we are very grateful to all the patrons and supporters who have stuck with us,” Everett said. He then shared a message from Kershaw himself, who said: “I am in good spirits, feeling very positive and planning another podcast. I am determined not to die before Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Ant’n’Dec. That should keep me going for a while.” Everett said the many messages of support and good wishes sent to Kershaw were “hugely appreciated”. Born in Rochdale, Kershaw – the brother of fellow broadcaster Liz Kershaw – grew up a fan of artists such as Bob Dylan and went to university with the aim of becoming a journalist. After arriving in London in 1984, where he secured a job as roadie and driver for singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, he was enlisted as a new presenter for BBC 2’s Whistle Test. He then got his own show on Radio 1 the following year, which he presented for 15 years before being sacked, as his website states, “to be replaced by another dance music programme”. Kershaw went on to work at Radio 3 while also making travel documentaries for Channel 4. He became a tabloid fixture in 2008 after his 17-year marriage ended over infidelity on his part, which he admitted to. His ex-wife, Juliette Banner, left him and obtained a court order to keep him away from their two children; Kershaw repeatedly broke the terms of the order and was imprisoned three times before going on the run. He ended up developing an alcohol dependency and was temporarily homeless: “Nobody, not even my allies within the serious media, bothered to look at what was really going on,” he told the Flying Monkeys at the time. “All I wanted to do was see my children, so why was I in jail? Why was I on the run? It was ridiculous, insane.”  

Ray J has revealed he believes he won’t live past this year as his heart is ‘done’ from years of drug and alcohol abuse. The singer, 45, was previously treated for pneumonia but in a recent update on Instagram, he confirmed things weren’t looking up. ‘2027 is definitely a wrap for me. This [gesturing to his heart] is black. This is, like, done,’ he told fans on the livestream. He shared that he ‘almost died’ while in hospital and admitted he had messed up by thinking he had ‘more weight’. ‘I thought I was big so I could handle all the alcohol, I could handle all the Adderall, I could handle all the drugs—but I couldn’t. It curved my time here,’ he explained. The Sexy Can I singer said over the weekend his heart was ‘only beating 25%’ but he had put a recovery plan in place. Before his health scare, Ray J — who has daughter Melody, seven, and son Epik, five, with estranged wife Princess Love — was taking 10 Adderall per day. He was also drinking ‘four or five bottles’, reasoning: ‘Ain’t nothing happening to me I’m indestructible. ’ Ray J rose to fame in the 00’s with hits like One Wish and Lil’ Kim collab Wait A Minute, however, he’s more well known for his sex tape with Kim Kardashian. Since then, he’s kept fairly out of the spotlight, appearing on the 2017 series of Celebrity Big Brother, where he walked off after a week. In 2020, he and Princess appeared in the first episodes of reality TV show The Conversation and two months later, she filed for divorce. He continued: ‘As long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, everything will be all right. My health is not OK, so I thank everybody for supporting and praying for me through everything I’ve been in the hospital.’ His family have rallied around him, including parents Sonja and Willie Norwood and his sister Brandy, who is also a singer. ‘Shoutout to my momma and daddy, and shoutout to Brandy for looking out for me. My sister paid my bills for me for the rest of the year. That’s crazy.’ The I Hit It First singer was hospitalised with pneumonia in 2021, initially assuming he had coronavirus, and so he was placed in the Covid wing. Calling his time in the wing ‘terrifying’, he stated: ‘I thought it was over. I started praying and knew God is good so I just kept praying.’ He was moved to a different ward and placed on oxygen, making a full recovery at the time.

On This Day

• 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
• 2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, opens its viewing gallery to the public.

Deaths

• 1851 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (born 1797). 
• 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1895).
• 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic (born 1901).
• 1988 – Heather O’Rourke, American child actress (born 1975). 
• 2019 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio host and panelist (born 1961).

Last Meals

Charles Victor Thompson was an American convicted double murderer who was sentenced to death in April 1999 for the murder of his former girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, on April 30, 1998 in the Houston suburb of Tomball. Thompson was executed on January 28, 2026.

Thompson’s case gained nationwide attention following a November 2005 jail escape launching a manhunt that lasted 3 days; Thompson is, so far, the only American death row inmate to have successfully escaped a correctional facility in the 21st century.

On the evening of April 29, 1998, police were summoned to Hayslip’s apartment to resolve a domestic disturbance involving Thompson and Cain, who was Hayslip’s current love interest. Officers escorted Thompson from the premises, but he returned approximately three hours later, in the early morning of April 30, armed with a firearm.

Thompson gained entry to the residence by kicking in the front door, at which point he confronted Cain and Hayslip. Forensic evidence and witness statements established that Thompson fired four rounds into Cain’s neck and chest, resulting in immediate fatal trauma. Following the incapacitation of Cain, Thompson focused his attention on Hayslip. After reloading the weapon, he reportedly uttered a disparaging remark—”I can shoot you too, bitch”, before discharging a round into her face. The projectile entered through her cheek, causing catastrophic internal damage that included the destruction of her dentures and the near-total severance of her tongue. Despite these severe injuries, Hayslip survived the initial 

trauma and was transported via Life Flight to a hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery, was taken off life support days later and died.

After the shootings, Thompson fled the scene and disposed of the murder weapon in a nearby creek. He then traveled to the residence of Diane Zernia, a confidante to whom he described the shootings in detail. Following this confession, Thompson contacted his father, who facilitated his surrender to the authorities later that morning.

Following his arrest, Thompson stood trial in Harris County in 1999 on charges of capital murder. The death penalty was imposed throughout his trial.

While Thompson was in jail, he approached inmates Reid and Humphrey to arrange the murder of Diane Zernia, whom he correctly identified as the only witness capable of linking him to the homicides. Law enforcement, tipped off by Reid, orchestrated an undercover operation where Investigator Gary Johnson posed as a hitman. Johnson met with Thompson 

in a visiting booth and wore a wire to record their conversation. During this meeting, Thompson offered Johnson $1,500 to retrieve the murder weapon from Cypress Creek and to murder Zernia. Thompson displayed a hand-drawn map against the glass of the visitor’s booth depicting Zernia’s address and the weapon’s location, and he provided detailed descriptions of Zernia’s family and vehicles to facilitate the hit.

In November 3, 2005, he executed a brazen escape that exposed systemic negligence within the facility. Thompson had smuggled several items into his cell using a legal binder, which inmates are permitted to keep. These items included a handcuff key, a fake identification badge, and a set of civilian clothes consisting of khaki pants, a dark blue shirt, and white tennis shoes. Thompson later claimed that a sergeant had found a previous set of smuggled clothes but had merely confiscated them as contraband without reporting the incident to the district attorney’s office.

On the afternoon of November 3, Thompson was taken to a visitors’ room for what he claimed was a meeting with his attorney. Once alone, he slipped out of his handcuffs and changed out of his orange prison jumpsuit and into the smuggled civilian attire. Thompson then walked toward the exit, flashing his fake ID badge—which claimed he was a state investigator with the Attorney General’s office—to at least four jail employees. He bluffed his way past the final guards at the front door by walking calmly.

Thompson’s journey took him on a freight train to East Texas, where he stayed in an open boxcar, describing the experience as an “adventure” where he felt “dirty and happy”. He eventually reached Shreveport, Louisiana, where he stole a bicycle and used money obtained from “Good Samaritans” by posing as a Hurricane Katrina evacuee. His escape ended at a  pay phone outside a Shreveport liquor store. On November 6, 2005, acting on a tip, police found Thompson intoxicated while he was attempting to call friends overseas to arrange a wire transfer for a planned trip to Canada. Following his capture, Thompson was extradited back to Texas.

After exhausting his appeals, Thompson received his death warrant on September 11, 2025, scheduling him to be executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on January 28, 2026. In an October 2025 interview, he stressed that he would continue to fight his death sentence, though he acknowledged that a stay was unlikely.

55-year-old Thompson was put to death by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on January 28, 2026. He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m CT. In his final words, Thompson apologised to the victims’ families and asked for forgiveness. He went on to say that there were no winners and that it would create more trauma and victims after 28 years. 

Prior to his execution, Thompson ate a standard last meal of scrambled eggs, grape jelly, oatmeal, applesauce and biscuits for breakfast and fried chicken, pinto beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, sliced bread, swirl pudding along with beverages of punch and water for lunch.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Michael C. Hall (55), Sherilyn Fenn (61), Harry Styles (32), Minnie Driver (56), Jonathan Banks (79), Justin Timberlake (45), Olivia Colman (52), Christian Bale (52), Vanessa Redgrave (89), Phil Collins (75), Heather Graham (56), Katharine Ross (86), Tom Selleck (81), Marc Singer (78), Oprah Winfrey (72), Tim Healy (74), Elijah Wood (45), Will Poulter (33), Ariel Winter (28), Tom Hopper (41), Alan Alda (90), Alan Cumming (61), James Cromwell (86), Patton Oswalt (57), Bridget Fonda (62), Scott Glenn (87), Deep Roy (77),  and Ellen DeGeneres (68).

Another pointless week flies by. Time to release the Flying Monkeys! The donations page will be open for another week, so if anyone feels benevolent, please do so by the end of next week. Thank you to everyone who has already donated, it is truly appreciated and does keep our Dead Pool going. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Norman Gifford, 85, English cricketer (Worcestershire, Warwickshire, national team). 
• Patsy King, 95, Australian actress (Prisoner, Homicide, Bellbird). 
• Valentino, 93, Italian fashion designer, founder of Valentino. 
• Tommy Wright, 81, English footballer (Everton, national team). 
• Rob Hirst, 70, Australian musician (Midnight Oil), pancreatic cancer. 
• Francis Buchholz, 71, German bass guitarist (Scorpions).
• Floyd Vivino, 74, American actor & comedian (Good Morning, Vietnam, Crazy People).
• Maurice Le Coutour, 111, French supercentenarian. 
• Yvonne Lime, 90, American actress (I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Rainmaker).

In Other News

Bernadette Hunt, fondly remembered as Falcon from the legendary TV show Gladiators, left a significant sum to her family in her will after sadly losing her battle with cancer in 2023 at the age of 59. The surprising amount she bequeathed has now been revealed, with the formidable gladiator leaving her son and daughter a total sum running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. After debts and costs were deducted, Bernadette’s estate amounted to £293,000 from an original £444,000, according to probate documents seen by the Flying Monkeys. This means her children, Adam and Angel, received nearly £300,000 from her will. She had appeared in every series until its eventual cancellation. Regularly drawing in over 14 million viewers, the original cast quickly became household names, propelling stars like stern referee John Anderson and hosts Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu to fame. Throughout her time on Gladiators, Bernadette also appeared on International Gladiators from 1994 to 1995, and took part in three live performances. Her primary events included Joust, Powerball and Tilt. Queen’s iconic track Breakthru served as her signature tune during her time on the programme, and she enjoyed enormous popularity amongst viewers, with countless Gladiators enthusiasts calling her the ‘nicest Gladiator’. Prior to her television career, the Brighton-born star trained as both a ballerina and aerobics instructor. At 18, she secured a place at the London Contemporary Ballet School, but a back injury brought her ballet ambitions to an abrupt end. Following her exit from Gladiators in 1999, after the eighth series, Bernadette pivoted to a career as a personal trainer in Basingstoke. The tragic news of Bernadette’s passing was announced on 31st March. She is survived by her partner Mark and their two children, Angel and Adam.  

Derek Martin’s son, David Rapp, has died just days after the EastEnders star. Last week, we announced that the Charlie Slater actor had passed away, aged 92. Son David was with the actor when he died, a family friend confirmed in a statement. Now, BBB Talent Agency has confirmed to the Flying Monkeys that David has also sadly passed away. ‘Devastating news today. Just after losing his father. David has also passed away. The gentle giant whose heart was as big as he was. I couldn’t have wished for a better friend or workmate’, BBB Agency wrote on social media. ‘Rest in peace, David Rapp you will be missed! BBB HQ will never be the same.’ The news comes just under two weeks after EastEnders paid tribute to Derek, who starred as Charlie Slater from 2000 until 2011. ‘We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Derek Martin. From the moment he arrived, Derek’s portrayal of Charlie Slater instantly cemented him in the hearts of the audience, as the head of one of EastEnders most iconic families. Charlie would do anything for his family, and much like his character, Derek would do the same for those around him. Derek was deeply loved by all those that worked with him at EastEnders and will always be remembered with great fondness. Our love and thoughts are with his family and friends.’  

Alex Honnold has sensationally scaled one of the tallest skyscrapers on Earth with only a bag of chalk — with no ropes or safety gear, and survived to tell the tale! The American rock climber took one hour, 31 minutes and 43 seconds to complete the hair-raising stunt on Saturday evening. On Friday night, just minutes before Skyscraper Live was due to air on Netflix on Friday, it was announced that the special had been postponed due to wet weather conditions in Taipei. Fans of 40-year-old Honnold tuned in to watch the professional rock climber take on Taipei 101, the 1,667-foot, 101-story tower that dominates the skyline of Taiwan’s capital. Built in 2004, Taipei 101 features mostly glass curtain walls, with balconies near the top that taper to a pointed peak, a design inspired by the ridges on a stick of bamboo. It was once the world’s tallest building until the construction of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in 2010. Honnold is best known for his record-breaking ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in 2017, which was captured in the Oscar-winning documentary, Free Solo. He has noted that Taipei 101 was previously climbed by French urban climber Alain Robert — but with ropes. Honnold says he hopes his climb inspires people to use their time in “meaningful” ways. Speaking to the Flying Monkeys ahead of his daring climb, Honnold confirmed that were he to fall, it would have likely been fatal. “If something happens, I would die, though actually, on this particular building, that’s not even totally true because there are balconies every few floors,” he said of the 101-storied building. “The geometry of the building, the shape of the building is such that you actually could fall in tons of places and not actually die, which makes it in some ways safer than a lot of rock-climbing objectives.” 

On This Day

• 1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
• 1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the United States. 
• 2006 – Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.

Deaths

• 1947 – Al Capone, American gangster and mob boss (born 1899).
• 1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (born 1922).
• 2015 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer (born 1946).
• 2017 – John Hurt, English actor (born 1940).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Matthew Lillard (56), Mischa Barton (40), Kristen Schaal (48), Adrian Edmondson (69), Neil Diamond (85), Linda Blair (67), Phil Wang (36), Geena Davis (70), Martin Shaw (81), Rainn Wilson (60), Tom Baker (92), Katey Sagal (72), Rob Delaney (49), Tippi Hedren (96), Dolly Parton (80), and Michael Crawford (84).

Alas, no points to award this week. We all seemed to have missed the 142 year old Nasser bin Radan Al Rashid Al Wadaei, it’s almost like nobody believes that he was that old, or perhaps nobody fancied just scoring eight points. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Derek Martin, 92, British actor (Law & Order, Eldorado, EastEnders). 
• Trevor A. Toussaint, 65, British actor (Hollyoaks). 
• Marcus Gilbert, 67, British actor (Army of Darkness, The Masks of Death, Rambo III), throat cancer. 
• Nasser bin Radan Al Rashid Al Wadaei, 142, Saudi longevity claimant. 
• Sheila Bernette, 94, English singer (The Good Old Days, The Black and White Minstrel Show) and actress (The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins). 
• Eddie McCreadie, 85, Scottish football player (Chelsea, national team) and manager (Chelsea). 
• Scott Adams, 68, American cartoonist (Dilbert), prostate cancer. 
• Kenny Morris, 68, English drummer (Siouxsie and the Banshees). 

In Other News

BBC presenter Reggie Yates has opened up about undergoing surgery after the discovery of a tumour over a year ago. The 42-year-old host shared a frank look into his secret health scare and admitted it was one of the “hardest moments of his life” as he initially chose to keep the operation secret. In a Substack post titled “New Year, Old Tumour”, Reggie opened up about his diagnosis, his fear around sharing the news, and his surgery to get the tumour removed. He explained that the tumour was found in his hand, but he had chosen to “hide and move on” from the experience of having the operation last year. It wasn’t until he reflected on the year alongside his wife that his feelings about it reemerged. “I got to the third item on my list and stopped,” he wrote. My pen had scribbled something I’d totally forgot. Or had I? In 2025, I’d endured one of the hardest moments of my adult life and overcome it. But for some reason, I’d chosen to bury it.” Reggie admitted that he had tried to repress the memory of discovering the tumour, revealing once it was found it took the team a week to find out if it was cancerous or not. “Like most men, my ‘concrete complex’ has existed almost as long as I have. A well held belief that invincibility is part of my DNA,” he said. “Minutes before surgery, I chose to fake the brave face. To be fair to myself, it’s hard not to crack dad jokes when you’re wearing compression socks and tiny paper panties.” Thankfully, the star is now on the mend – admitting his pride that he had gone from fearing he may lose the use of his hand in February, before releasing a book by the end of the year. 

Diary excerpts belonging to the ‘secret’ daughter of Freddie Mercury will be released following her death this week, her widower has revealed. On Thursday, it was announced that Bibi had died at the age of 48 after being diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. Her widower Thomas said in a statement that she died ‘peacefully after a long battle with chordoma, a rare spinal cancer, leaving two sons aged nine and seven’. Bibi’s death comes just months after she was identified as the secret daughter of late Queen singer Mercury, in a book written by author Lesley-Ann Jones titled Love, Freddie. Bibi was previously publicly known only as ‘B.’ Following the family’s initial statement, Bibi’s widower has since revealed details of her final wishes as her health began to deteriorate last year.  ‘Her health began to fail this summer as we crossed the Andes Mountains on a holiday, she had decided in the last few months to gather the photos and excerpts from her father’s notebooks that supported what she had confided to Lesley Ann Jones in the book. The goal was to publish these elements in the fall of 2027. I will respect her wishes. She said that 2026 would be nothing but a big circus in the exploitation of what would have been her father’s 80th birthday and the 35th anniversary of his death. She dedicated the last months of her life to preparing the book and to preparing what is now the legacy of her children.’ He added: ‘It will be a book, a kind of photo album. My wife wanted all the proceeds from the sale of this photo album to be for the benefit of the paediatric oncology units.’ Thomas also claimed Bibi was ‘extremely affected’ by Mercury’s former fiancée Mary Austin denying any knowledge of her existence. He said that Bibi wrote to Austin’s business address many times over the years, but that the letters ‘remained unanswered.’ Bibi’s family announced her death in a statement, which said: ‘B is now with her beloved and loving father in the world of thoughts. Her ashes were scattered to the wind over the Alps.’ In May 2025, the late Bibi revealed she took a DNA test to confirm her paternity when, 34 years after the Queen star’s death, it was alleged he fathered a child after having a brief fling with a friend’s wife in 1976. In response to calls for DNA tests to be made public, author Jones wrote on social media: ‘To those “demanding” to see proof of a DNA test, otherwise they won’t believe it – please rest assured that the requisite verification was obtained, legal teams have been involved, but that such measures are private & not shared publicly. Thank you.’ 

A man who raised more than £420,000 by walking around his communal east London garden has died, aged 106. Dabirul Islam Choudhury OBE passed away in the early hours of Tuesday, January 13, at the Royal London Hospital. Inspired by Captain Tom, Dabirul, spearheaded a walking challenge aiming to reach 1.5 million steps worldwide. He raised the money by walking 970 laps of his garden in Bow, east London while he was fasting for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Nearly £116,000 of the total  raised was donated to the NHS, while the remaining amount was divided between 30 charities in 52 countries as part of the Ramadan Family Commitment (RFC) Covid-19 crisis initiative. The RFC, who Dabirul was an ambassador for, is run by British-Bangladeshi television broadcaster Channel S. In 2020, he was made an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours for his charitable efforts. Dabirul was born in 1st January 1920 in Bangladesh, then called British Assam. In 1957, Dabirul moved to England to study English Literature in London. Due to his education and command in the English language, he ended up as a community leader and settled in St Albans. His charity work was responsible for many community projects and raising money for the independence struggle of Bangladesh. Dabirul is an accomplished poet and has published over a thousand of his own poems. Dabirul also spends his time going to his local book clubs and poetry associations.

On This Day

• 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
• 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment. 
• 1977 – Australia’s worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney, killing 83.

Deaths

• 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet (born 1865).
• 1990 – Melanie Appleby, English singer (born 1966).
• 2009 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (born 1925). 
• 2023 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter (born 1941).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Dave Bautista (57), Kevin Costner (71), Mark Rylance (66), Isa Briones (27), Jim Carrey (64), Zooey Deschanel (46), Kelly Marie Tran (37), Lin-Manuel Miranda (46), John Carpenter (78), FKA twigs (38), James May (63), James Nesbitt (61), Dove Cameron (30), Natasia Demetriou (42), Claudia Winkleman (54), Eddie Hall (38), Jason Bateman (57), Kevin Durand (52), Mark Addy (62), Faye Dunaway (85), Grant Gustin (36), Natalia Dyer (31), Michael Peña (50), Ruth Wilson (44), Orlando Bloom (49), William B. Davis (88), Bill Bailey (61), and Pixie Lott (35).

Quite a deadly week for the football community, far more footballers than I have listed here kicked their final ball. Plus we have seen the last of pseudoscience poster boy, Erich von Däniken. Perhaps we’ll hear less from the mad hatters claiming humans did not build the Pyramids, Stonehenge etc…  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Pa O’Dwyer, 40, Irish strongman. 
• Jayne Trcka, 62, American bodybuilder, fitness model and actress (Scary Movie). 
• Eva Schloss, 96, Austrian-British Holocaust survivor and memoirist.
• Terry Wharton, 83, English footballer (Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers, Crystal Palace). 
• Martin Chivers, 80, English footballer (Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, national team). 
• Tony Field, 79, English footballer (Blackburn Rovers, Southport, Memphis Rogues). 
• Terry Yorath, 75, Welsh football player and manager (Leeds United, national team). 
• Molly Parkin, 93, Welsh painter, novelist and journalist. 
• T. K. Carter, 69, American actor (The Thing, Punky Brewster, Runaway Train). 
• Erich von Däniken, 90, Swiss author and ufologist. 
• Bob Weir, 78, American musician (Grateful Dead) and songwriter (“Sugar Magnolia“, “One More Saturday Night“), complications from cancer.  
• Tina Packer, 87, British actress (David Copperfield, Doctor Who) and stage director, co-founder of Shakespeare & Company. 

In Other News

Football legend Kevin Keegan has been diagnosed with cancer, his family has said. In a statement published on Wednesday, his family said the former England international was recently admitted to hospital for “further evaluation of ongoing abdominal symptoms”. “These investigations have revealed a diagnosis of cancer, for which Kevin will undergo treatment,” the statement continued. “Kevin is grateful to the medical team for their intervention and ongoing care. During this difficult time, the family are requesting privacy, and will be making no further comment.” The statement was released by Newcastle United, the club Keegan both played for and managed and remains closely associated with. Affectionately known as “King Kev”, he scored 204 goals in 592 appearances during an illustrious club career and 21 goals in 63 international caps. He began his playing career at Scunthorpe United before moving to Liverpool, where he won three First Division titles as well as two Uefa Cups, the FA Cup and the European Cup. The 74-year-old later had spells at Hamburg – where he won the Bundesliga, was twice named European Footballer of the Year, and reached the European Cup final – and Southampton before he joined Newcastle. He helped the Magpies secure promotion from the Second Division in his second season. He retired in 1984 before moving into management, returning to Newcastle in 1992. Newcastle sealed promotion to the Premier League in his first full season, and he later took charge of Fulham, England, and Manchester City before a second spell with Newcastle in 2008, his most recent managerial role. 

A grandmother in Wales who became an internet hit after being hoisted 10ft into the air by a shop’s shutters has died. Anne Hughes’ coat had got entangled in the electronic shutters as they were being opened and she was left dangling upside down. A CCTV video of the incident, which thankfully left her unscathed, was viewed more than 100 million times. Although initially somewhat embarrassed, Anne soon saw the funny side and ended up embracing her newfound fame. Now it’s emerged that she sadly passed away shortly before Christmas, after being diagnosed with cancer. A family friend said: ‘Anne was lovely and, luckily for her and everyone else, she had a good sense of humour. She quite enjoyed her moment of notoriety and she definitely saw the funny side. It’s sad that she’s gone but she has left us with a memory that will always bring a smile to people’s faces.’ Anne was working as a part-time cleaner at the Best One Shop in Tonteg when she was taken for the unexpected ride in March 2024. The video shows her waiting out the front of the store as shopkeeper Amir Akram – who is out of shot – begins opening the shutters. Anne’s coat then gets caught and the shutters start to lift her up. She tries to unhook herself but with no success and keeps rising – the whole time holding on to her shopping trolly. After hearing Anne’s cries Amir rushes out and manages to lower her safely down to the ground. The store later posted the video on its Facebook site, with the caption: ‘Don’t hang about like Anne, come down to best one to get the best deals!!! The only thing going up in this shop is our staff, not the prices!!’ Anne told the media at the time: ‘It could only happen to me. I was embarrassed, who wouldn’t be? But looking back I can see the funny side. And I’ve quite enjoyed the fame, people ask me for selfies next to the shutters.’ In honour of Anne and her unexpected adventure, a graffiti artist spray painted an image of the granny in her famous upside down position on the shop’s shutters. Although she took all the attention in her stride, Anne also wanted to get on with family life and turned down numerous appearances to appear on shows like Good Morning Britain and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. 

BBC host Nick Owen has returned home after undergoing surgery after being diagnosed with kidney cancer. The 78 year old, who presents BBC Midlands Today, was hospitalised before  Christmas to undergo treatment. The news of his second cancer diagnosis comes a little under two years after he made a full recovery from prostate cancer. He returned to TV screens later in 2023. Nick has since admitted it had been a “tough” ordeal for the broadcaster and his wife following his most recent health announcement. The presenter also shared he was thankful he made it through the operation in a candid admission. He explained: “I am so relieved to have come through the operation after a traumatic time, especially after what my wife Vicki and our family went through when I had prostate cancer. It’s been tough, but things are picking up now.” Speaking about his recent treatment, Nick told the Flying Monkeys: “The NHS has been absolutely brilliant – from my GP, who was so thorough in getting me a diagnosis, to all the medics at Russells Hall Hospital. I am forever grateful.” Nick had been open about his prostate cancer treatment and encouraged men to get tested. Owen has been on screens for the past 50 years making his first appearance the very first Good Morning Britain in 1983, before forming one of the nation’s favourite on-screen partnerships with Anne Diamond on ITV and then for Good Morning with Anne and Nick on BBC One. 

On This Day

• 1922 – Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to be injected with insulin.
• 2003 – Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois’s death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.
• 2020 – Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19.

Deaths

• 2013 – Tom Parry Jones, Welsh chemist, invented the breathalyser (born 1935).
• 2014 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (born 1928).
• 2015 – Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (born 1931).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jason Connery (63), Jemaine Clement (52), Evan Handler (65), J.K. Simmons (71), Joely Richardson (61), Imelda Staunton (70), James Acaster (41), Cynthia Erivo (39), Michelle Forbes (61), Amber Benson (49), Nicolas Cage (62), Jeremy Renner (55), Linda Kozlowski (68), Erin Gray (76), Lewis Hamilton (41), Rowan Atkinson (71), Eddie Redmayne (44), Kate McKinnon (42), Norman Reedus (57), Genevieve O’Reilly (49), Bradley Cooper (51), Robert Duvall (95), Clancy Brown (67), January Jones (48), and Vinnie Jones (61).