We have points to give! Unbelievably, Dave guessed that Ilie Ciocan would be a wiki notable death, so 38 points!!! Obviously none of would have heard of him, but in todays celebrity culture, not dying for a long time makes you famous. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Robin Hurlstone, 68, British actor (Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel). 
• Sonny Rollins, 95, American jazz saxophonist (“Airegin“, “Doxy“, “St. Thomas“). 
• Howard Storm, 94, American actor (Take the Money and Run) and director (Mork & Mindy). 
• Ilie Ciocan, 112, Romanian supercentenarian and World War II veteran. 
• Marcia Lucas, 80, American film editor (Star Wars, Taxi Driver, American Graffiti), Oscar winner, cancer. 
• Ronald LaPread, 75, American musician (Commodores). 
• Kelly Curtis, 69, American actress (The Devil’s Daughter, Trading Places, False Arrest). Sister of Jamie Lee Curtis. 
• Bruno Kant, 110, German supercentenarian and Roman Catholic priest.  

In Other News

Barry Manilow has offered new insight into his lung cancer diagnosis and recovery. The 82-year-old “Copacabana” crooner revealed his diagnosis in December, saying it was “found early.” He underwent surgery to remove a spot on his left lung, postponing his Las Vegas residency and several planned tour dates to recover. But part of his post-surgery recovery was a seven-day ICU stay during which he unknowingly had pneumonia. “I didn’t know about pneumonia,” the singer told the Flying Monkeys “I was in the ICU for seven days, because they couldn’t grasp this pneumonia that was just about killing me.” However, Manilow says he’s on the mend. “I’m doing good. I’m doing good,” Manilow said when asked about his health. “It took longer than I thought it was gonna take to get past this lung cancer thing.” Since the start of the year, Manilow has announced multiple rounds of show postponements as he continues his recovery. He described a February visit to the surgeon ahead of his anticipated return to the stage as “very depressing.” Despite “using the treadmill three times a day” to prepare for his upcoming arena tour dates, his surgeon advised against him resuming the previously postponed concerts. The entire ordeal has forced Manilow to take stock of his life. “This made me stop and think about: Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend?” he mused. “All of those cornball things that I’ve read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too. It really did stop me in my tracks. And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought.” 

Lord Tom Watson, the former Labour deputy leader, has announced he is taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords following the recurrence of his cancer. The Labour peer was initially diagnosed with non-aggressive prostate cancer in March 2023, from which he later received the all clear. However, the former minister, who served under both Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, revealed in a Substack post on Friday that he was informed earlier this year that the disease had returned. While initial tests have suggested this second bout of cancer has “gone”, Lord Watson is scheduled to undergo further checks later this summer. His announcement comes as the government recently advised against a population-wide prostate cancer screening programme, instead recommending testing for only a “few thousand” high-risk men. In his Substack post, Lord Watson, who previously resigned as a minister under Sir Tony Blair, also detailed his renewed struggle with weight. He had previously shed more than 125 pounds but admitted to regaining weight in recent years after ceasing exercise following his initial diagnosis. The former MP for West Bromwich East wrote: “I knew the weight was piling on because my clothes no longer fitted me. Not only was I obese again, but the cancer came back earlier this year. Is it weird to say this was the wake-up call I needed to choose life again? Perhaps it is. But it is true. So I have taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords for treatment and recuperation. Initial tests suggest the cancer has gone, though I will not know for certain until more tests in the summer. Despite the uncertainty, I feel good. Chipper, in fact.”  

Police responding to reports of a shotgun blast at a convenience store sounds like the opening of countless American crime movies, but when cops in Nebraska responded to a recent such call they found an unusual culprit: a dog. Local TV station KNOP News 2 reported that police in the town of Scottsbluff were called out to a local store recently after reports of a blast involving a shotgun. Upon arrival they found a truck with blast damage in one of its doors and a woman who had been struck in the arm by a pellet from a shotgun. However, investigation showed a canine cause behind the shooting when it was revealed the blast happened as the vehicle had pulled up to the store as a dog had been moving from one side of its back seat to another. Somehow, the dog had triggered the shotgun – which had a live round chambered – to fire, damaging the vehicle and striking a female passerby. The victim was taken to hospital though not seriously injured, she’s now probably bankrupt. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Nebraska to drive with a loaded shotgun in your vehicle. As of the first quarter of 2026, there have been 3,103 shooting deaths in the United States. Amazingly, this figure represents the lowest number of shooting deaths recorded for that period in the last twelve years! 

On This Day

• 1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
• 2003 – Air France retires its fleet of Concorde aircraft.
• 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat”.

Deaths

• 2009 – Danny La Rue, Irish-British drag queen performer and singer (born 1927).
• 2016 – Carla Lane, English television writer (born 1928). 
• 2024 – Robert Pickton, Canadian serial killer (born 1949).

How would YOU choose to be executed?

Late one Friday afternoon in March last year, the curtain in the ‘witness room’ of South Carolina’s state execution chamber opened to reveal convicted murderer Brad Sigmon strapped to a chair.

A large metal basin had been fitted underneath it to collect his blood and he was dressed all in black to hide the bloodstains that would soon soak through his clothes.

With straps around his ankles, lap, waist and even his chin, he could barely move an inch. A black-and-white target had been Velcroed to his clothes over his heart.

A black hood was then placed over his head, before another curtain was pulled back to reveal three square gun ports cut into a wall 15ft away from him. Standing behind each was a volunteer prison guard holding a loaded rifle.

Without any countdown, they suddenly fired together, the three special bullets, designed to fragment as much as possible on impact – opening up a fist-sized hole where his heart once was. Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead three minutes later.

He had been sentenced to death for murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat in 2001.

He’d had the dubious privilege of becoming the first US death row inmate in 15 years to be executed by firing squad, choosing it over lethal injection and the electric chair. Sigmon didn’t pick the chair because it would ‘burn and cook him alive’, said his attorney Gerald King, adding that lethal injection was ‘just as monstrous’.

Convicted Alabama murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith, on the other hand, became the first American prisoner ever to be executed by nitrogen asphyxiation in 2024. Two years earlier, three executioners had spent 90 awful minutes trying to kill him by lethal injection but had given up after they couldn’t find the two veins they needed. 

When I interviewed him a few months before he died, Smith, who had languished on death row for three decades, said he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of being executed a second time and felt he’d been punished enough.

His protests were in vain. He was strapped to a bed wearing a full-face mask that forced pure nitrogen into his lungs. Witnesses said he thrashed violently in panic and terror before losing consciousness, suffocating some five minutes after the deadly gas began to fill his airways.

An autopsy later revealed that his lungs had been  flooded with ‘dark maroon blood’ – a sign of a so-called ‘negative-pressure pulmonary oedema’. Experts believe that, because he hadn’t been sedated, he automatically panicked when he couldn’t breathe.

The authorities had given both Smith and Sigmon the grim choice of how they would die and both rejected lethal injection – for decades America’s de facto execution ‘protocol’.

Now many more death row residents face the same grisly decision. Donald Trump’s administration has just revealed plans to add firing squads, nitrogen gas and electrocution as permissible ways of executing people convicted of the most serious federal crimes.

Some US states already have these alternative execution methods on their books to punish state crimes but rarely use them.

The President, who has reportedly even mused about broadcasting executions live, is keen to expand not only the methods available but also the number of criminals meeting their end in these ways.

To some, this will signal a chilling return to a more barbaric age. To others, it is merely fitting retribution for the worst of the worst criminals.

Trump has long been an enthusiast for the ultimate sanction. In the final six months of his first term, he hastily signed the death warrants of 13 federal inmates by lethal injection – more than had been executed by the previous ten presidents combined.

His successor, Joe Biden, then placed a moratorium on federal executions, commuting (or reducing to life imprisonment) the death sentences of all but three of the 40 people on death row. (The remaining trio were 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; Dylann Roof, convicted in 2016 of killing nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pennsylvania in 2018.) 

Trump is not quite so merciful, and a new report from the Department of Justice (DoJ), which ultimately reports to him, not only says that it is clearing the way for firing squads, electrocutions and lethal gas for federal crimes but, with many death row cases taking decades to complete every permissible appeal, it is intent on ‘streamlining internal processes’ to ‘expedite’ the killings.

Trump has reportedly even considered trying to introduce the guillotine (which has never been used in the US), hold ‘group executions’ and ‘mused about televising footage of executions, including showing condemned prisoners in the final moments of their lives’, according to Rolling Stone magazine.  

A White House official said: ‘Trump has a particular affinity for the firing squad, because it seemed more dramatic, rather than… putting a syringe in people and putting them to sleep’, adding that the ‘eye-for-an-eye’ President enjoyed fantasising publicly about ‘lining up criminals and drug dealers before a firing squad’.

At a campaign rally in 2022, Trump won roars of approval when he suggested copying hardline leaders in China, Iran – and, it might be added, Nazi Germany – in sending the executioner’s bullet to the condemned’s family along with a bill for it.

Trump also considered a ‘flashy, government-backed video ad campaign that would accompany a federal revival of these execution methods’, including ‘footage from these new executions’, said Rolling Stone.

An administration official said: ‘The President believes this would help put the fear of God into violent criminals.’ A Trump spokesman denied the claim. The law as it stands is  messy, patchy and inconsistently applied.

It’s further complicated by the fact that some capital crimes are federal offences, over which Trump and the DoJ have jurisdiction, and others are state offences.

Some 27 states theoretically carry out capital punishment, although six of them have passed moratoriums on the practice. Nine US states authorise the electric chair, nine permit death by gassing, five allow inmates to be executed by firing squad, while three states allow hanging – a method that went out of fashion in America in the 19th century.

The 48-page DoJ report stresses that the move to expand execution methods for federal crimes has been driven by difficulties obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injections – which remain by far the most common execution method in the US, authorised in all death penalty states. 

Experts have argued that Trump’s ‘favourite’ method – firing squad – may, somewhat ironically, be by far the most humane. Doctors say that almost everyone shot in the heart loses consciousness in seconds.

In 2010, Deborah Denno, a law professor at New York’s Fordham University who had studied various execution methods, called the firing squad a ‘dignified execution’ despite ‘its brutal image and roots’.

Four years later, Court of Appeals judge Alex Kozinski echoed that view, adding that while the guillotine was ‘probably best’ [that is, most reliable], it was ‘inconsistent with our national ethos’.

‘The firing squad strikes me as the most promising,’ he said. ‘Eight or ten large-calibre rifle bullets fired at close range can inflict massive damage, causing instant death every time. There are plenty of people employed by the state who can pull the trigger and have the training to aim true.’ 

Indeed, America’s last recorded botched execution by firing squad dates all the way back to 1879, when Utah riflemen missed murderer Wallace Wilkerson’s heart entirely. He hadn’t been tied down and stiffened at the last moment, dislodging the target pinned to his chest.

Wilkerson reportedly leapt up, screaming: ‘Oh my God! They’ve missed it!’ and then took 27 minutes to die. Anti-death-penalty campaigners claimed that sadistic shooters missed his heart on purpose to prolong his agony.

Utah has since attempted to prevent similar mishaps by ensuring the inmate’s head is immobilised by a strap and the chest, shins and arms similarly held in place. Sandbags are stacked around the chair and wooden boards erected behind it to prevent the bullets from ricocheting around the room. Ceiling lights glare down on the prisoner to further guide the riflemen’s aim while a small square of white cloth, bearing a black target, is placed over the heart.

In Utah, one of the Winchester rifles used by the firing squad is usually loaded with a wax round so nobody knows if they fired a fatal shot. (Experienced shooters insist they can tell the difference as a dummy round produces less recoil.)

Until Brad Sigmon was shot dead last year in South Carolina, the firing squad had been used only three times since 1976 and always in Utah. Many dismissed it as barbaric and even a former Utah governor, Gary Herbert, conceded it was ‘a little bit gruesome’.

Killer Gary Gilmore, the first person to be executed after the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, famously growled ‘Let’s do it’ before he was shot by a firing squad in 1977. His words are said to have inspired the creator of the Nike slogan ‘Just do it’.

The US remains the only country in the world to retain the use of the electric chair, or ‘Old Sparky’, but South Carolina is the only state that still prefers it as the default execution method.

The inmate is usually shaved and strapped to a wooden chair. A metal electrode in the shape of a skullcap is attached to the scalp, another to an ankle. The inmate receives a blast of up to 2,000 volts for 30 seconds and, if their heart is still beating, another one.

Although death should be almost instantaneous, it is a notoriously grisly spectacle – sometimes with flames leaping from the condemned’s mask-covered head as their overheating body swells and turns scarlet. Experts say it isn’t painless, either, because the current sends the muscles into uncontrollable and agonising spasms. 

Nine states permit inmates to be gassed. Before the introduction of nitrogen, the condemned were usually dispatched by having a pail of sulphuric acid placed under the execution chair, with crystals of sodium cyanide then released into the pail. The prisoner slowly loses consciousness as they breathe in the gas and eventually die from hypoxia, the cutting off of oxygen to the brain.

Experts say it is unquestionably painful and nerve-racking, comparing it to the experience of having a heart attack. A former prison warden recalled: ‘At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain and strangling. The eyes pop, the skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool.’

And as for the time-honoured tradition of permitting inmates to choose their last meal, this hasn’t survived the attention of money-conscious officials. In Oklahoma, the cost is now limited to $25, compared with $40 in Florida.

In 2011, Texas – by far the biggest executioner of any state – stopped the practice after racist killer Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a vast feast including two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, three fajitas, a ‘meat lover’s’ pizza, a pint of ice cream and peanut butter fudge. He didn’t eat any of it.

Then again, who would have much of an appetite nowadays when facing the daunting execution alternatives on offer in Trump’s America?

Last Week’s Birthdays

Clint Eastwood (96), Colin Farrell (50), Brooke Shields (61), Lea Thompson (65), Tom Berenger (77), Colm Meaney (73), Stephen Tobolowsky (75), Keir Dullea (90), Harry Enfield (65), Ted Levine (69), Annette Bening (68), Laverne Cox (54), Sarah Millican (51), Carey Mulligan (41), Kylie Minogue (58), Michelle Collins (64), Joseph Fiennes (56), Paul Bettany (55), Jack McBrayer (53), Helena Bonham Carter (60), Pam Grier (77), Bobcat Goldthwait (64), Lenny Kravitz (62), and Stevie Nicks (78).

A few interesting stories this week, alas no points to award.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Scott Hastings, 61, Scottish rugby union player (Watsonians, Edinburgh, national team), non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  
• Tom Kane, 64, American voice actor (The Powerpuff Girls, Star Wars, The Wild Thornberrys), complications from a stroke. 
• Leroy Dean McGill, 63, American convicted murderer and arsonist, execution by lethal injection. 
• Matthew Biggs, 65, British radio personality (Gardeners’ Question Time), bowel cancer. 
• Judith Chalmers, 90, English television presenter (Wish You Were Here…?), complications from Alzheimer’s disease. 
• Peter Helm, 84, Canadian-American actor (Inside Daisy Clover, The Andromeda Strain, The Longest Day).   
• Grizz Chapman, 52, American actor (30 Rock). 
• Dick Parry, 83, English saxophonist (Pink Floyd). 
• Michael Keating, 79, English actor (Blake’s 7, EastEnders, Doctor Who). 

In Other News

A radio station has issued an apology after mistakenly announcing that King Charles has died. Radio Caroline, which broadcasts across the south of England and the Midlands made the announcement and played God Save the King. One online listener said that the usual broadcast abruptly stopped before the hosts said that normal programming had been suspended, before the broadcast ceased for 15 minutes. After the hosts apologised for the confusion, it emerged that the announcement had been made due following a “computer error”. The station manager Peter Moore wrote on Facebook: “Due to a computer error at our main studio the Death of a Monarch procedure, which all UK stations hold in readiness while hoping not to require, was accidentally activated on Tuesday afternoon, mistakenly announcing that HRH the King had passed away. Radio Caroline then fell silent as would be required, which alerted us to restore programming and issue an on-air apology. Caroline has been pleased to broadcast Her Majesty the Queen’s, and now the King’s, Christmas Message and we hope to do so for many years to come. We apologise to HM the King and to our listeners for any distress caused.” One person commented: “It was a shock, but after telling my wife and neighbours I realised it was a mistake – and perhaps it was the relief, but then the laughter set in.” While others referred to it as an “honest mistake”, another wrote: “I heard this while working in our garage. I dashed indoors shouting to the missus ‘He’s dead ! Charlie is bloody dead!’. She looked puzzled and said ‘Well he was just at the flower show yesterday’. After much perusal of news websites we concluded that perhaps I should lay off the sauce for a while.”   

Number 16 – the world’s longest-lived known spider – has died, likely killed by a wasp at the ripe old age of 43 years. She outlived the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico. Previously, researchers believed trapdoor spiders lived for about 25 years. However, more important than setting a record, Number 16 offers a life-lesson on sustainability.  Number 16 built her burrow in the North Bungulla Reserve in southwestern Australia, when she was young. Like all female trapdoor spiders (mygalomorph spiders), she was a homebody, never leaving her burrow. She had to protect and maintain her burrow, because if it were damaged, mature trapdoor spiders cannot easily rebuild or relocate. Trapdoor spiders are hairy tropical spiders up to 4cm long that nest underground. Their bites can cause pain and swelling in humans. They cleverly camouflage their trapdoor and lay out trip lines so that when an insect triggers it, they leap out in surprise attack, dragging their prey into their burrow. In 1974, Australian arachnologist Barbara York Main included Number 16 in a study of how trapdoor spiders live in native bushland to learn about their sedentary nature and low metabolisms. As part of the study, all active burrows were checked every six months. Researchers discovered the lid of Number 16’s burrow had been pierced by a parasitic wasp and was in disrepair. Parasitic wasps implant eggs inside other insects, and when the eggs hatch the larvae feed on their host, in this case Number 16. All of her contemporaries were long gone by this time. Number 16 offers an example of a long life with low-level impact and frugal resource use, the study concluded. Moreover, she – and trapdoor spiders generally – cannot up and move if their home is destroyed or too badly damaged. This may offer humans a lesson in sustainable living, says lead author of the new study Leanda Mason from Curtin University in Perth.  

Russell Andrews, a veteran actor who appeared in major shows like Better Caul Saul and Grey’s Anatomy, has shared his diagnosis with ALS. The 64-year-old revealed the news live on The Story Is with Elex Michaelson Saturday alongside his fiancée, Justified actor Erica Tazel. ALS is the most common type of Motor Neurone Disease. It is a rare, degenerative disease that affects motor neuron’s in the brain and spinal cord, impacting movement, speech, and independence. The condition has been in the spotlight recently after another Grey’s Anatomy star, Eric Dane, announced his diagnosis in April 2025 and died in February this year. “I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year,” Andrews told Michaelson in the interview. “And it’s been humbling, but there’s… Elex, there’s also something in the fact that I walked into a family of very caring people I did not know a year ago — the cliché family, but they have not let us miss a step in terms of care, the attention, the awareness and the ability to get me here today.” Andrews said he initially feared he’d suffered a stroke during the Covid pandemic, before later recognising what may have been early signs of ALS. “It was a stressful time. We didn’t work for three years, about, and then we had the back-to-back strikes and so a lot was going on,” he said, referring to the 2023 actors’ strikes and writers’ strikes in Hollywood. There were twitches… I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck and they were quite frequent,” he continued. “I was not able to do things that I normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses at night. It felt like things were running up and down my arm at different times and it was the nerves.” “It took him longer to clean the pool,” Tazel said of the early signs of ALS in her fiancé. “The way he walked, there was just the subtle little things like that and I had questions. I was like, ‘Something is definitely wrong.’”

On This Day

• 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5th for the 11,000 mile flight).
• 1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
• 2019 – Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7th.

Deaths

• 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (born 1473).
• 1974 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (born 1899). 
• 1995 – Harold Wilson, English politician, Prime Minister of the U.K. (born 1916). 
• 1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (born 1923). 
• 2015 – Tanith Lee, English author (born 1947).
• 2023 – Tina Turner, American-Swiss rock and pop singer, dancer, and actress (born 1939).

America’s Scientists Are Disappearing, And Nobody Can Agree  On Why

It started, as all great conspiracy theories do, with a YouTuber.

In early 2026, a man named Daniel Liszt posted a video suggesting that a Portuguese nuclear physicist had been assassinated because of his work in advanced fusion research. The physicist in question was Nuno Loureiro, an MIT professor and director of the university’s Plasma Science and Fusion Centre, who was shot dead at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts in December 2025. The shooting has been attributed to a rivalry with another scientist. Dramatic, certainly. A secret government hit? Probably not. A jealous colleague with a gun? Apparently yes.

But then people started looking around. And the more they looked, the more names they found.

JPL space researcher Frank Maiwald died in July 2024; his cause of death was not publicly disclosed. Anthony Chavez, a retired engineer who had worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in nuclear weapons research, disappeared from his New Mexico home in May 2025. An administrative assistant from the same lab named Melissa Casias went missing in June 2025, last seen walking along a highway a few miles from her home.

Then there’s Monica Reza, which is where things get properly eerie. The 60-year-old aerospace engineer and co-creator of a nickel-based alloy for rocket engines disappeared on June 22, 2025, while hiking with a friend in the Angeles National Forest. The friend was about 30 feet ahead, turned around to check on her, and she smiled and waved. He turned back to continue hiking, and when he looked again moments later, she was gone. No trace has ever been found. She simply ceased to exist on a well-travelled trail on a sunny morning in California. 

The story that really got Washington paying attention, though, was retired Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland. He went missing from his Albuquerque home on February 27, 2026. His phone, prescription glasses and wearable devices were all found at home. Missing: his hiking boots, his wallet, and a .38-calibre revolver. McCasland had commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — the facility famously rumoured to house debris from the Roswell UFO crash. This detail, naturally, sent the internet absolutely feral. 

Two Los Alamos employees vanished weeks apart in 2025 under nearly identical circumstances, each leaving behind their car, keys, wallet, and phone. A Novartis pharmaceutical researcher named Jason Thomas disappeared in December 2025 and was found dead in a Massachusetts lake three months later. Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair — known for his work searching for water around exoplanets — was shot dead on his front porch in February 2026. A suspect was arrested, but there is no clear motive, and the two men didn’t appear to know each other.

By April, the White House was involved. Trump, when asked whether the cases were connected, said: “I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half. I just left a meeting on that subject.” The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation. The FBI announced it was “spearheading the effort to look for connections.” NASA said nothing related to its work “indicates a national security threat,” which is exactly what NASA would say either way. 

So what’s actually going on? The sceptics have a point. Science writer Mick West noted that more than 700,000 people work in top-secret-cleared positions in the US aerospace and nuclear sectors — which would suggest around 250 would normally die from homicides and suicides across any given multi-year period, with thousands more from natural causes. In other words: when you go looking for dead scientists, you will find dead scientists. That’s just statistics. 

Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic, explained that conspiracy theorists were “digging around to find anyone who died for any reason, then scraping through their bio to see if they have any connection whatsoever to UFOs, military, defence, space, aerospace, propulsion” — inevitably discovering “patterns in random noise.” 

And yet. A woman who vanishes mid-wave on a hiking trail. A general who walks out of his house with only a revolver. Two Los Alamos workers gone within weeks of each other, leaving everything behind. The rational explanation is almost certainly the correct one. Almost certainly.

Last Meals

An Arizona prisoner who killed a man by throwing gasoline at him and lighting him on fire has been executed by lethal injection, marking the first of three planned executions across the United States this week.

Leroy Dean McGill, 63, was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. PT Wednesday at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. McGill had been sentenced to death for the murder of Charles Perez, who was attacked alongside his girlfriend in a north Phoenix apartment in 2002.

John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, stated that McGill’s last meal consisted of onion rings, bread and butter, chocolate cake, and a green salad.

His final words were quoted as: “I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice.”

Media witness Josh Kelety from The Associated Press reported hearing McGill say at one point: “I’m going home soon.” 

McGill threw gasoline and a lit match at Perez and his girlfriend, Nova Banta, as they sat on a sofa on July 13th 2002. The attack followed an accusation by the couple that McGill had stolen a gun from their apartment.

At the time, McGill was reportedly using methamphetamine and had not slept for several days. While Banta survived the ordeal, Perez died from his injuries.

During the trial, Banta testified that McGill had told her and Perez not to talk behind people’s backs before igniting them. Perez died in hospital after suffering what prosecutors described as extreme pain while Banta sustained third-degree burns over three-quarters of her body.

Jurors deliberated for less than an hour in October 2004 before convicting McGill of murder in Perez’s death, as well as attempted murder for the attack on Banta, arson, and endangerment.

McGill’s legal team had sought leniency, presenting evidence of childhood abuse, mental impairment, and psychological immaturity, but the jury ultimately returned a death sentence. A last-ditch bid for resentencing this spring was rejected by a lower-court judge, and the Arizona Supreme Court also declined a request to postpone the execution. McGill, who declined an interview request, waived his right to seek clemency.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office pursued the execution, said: “My  thoughts today are with the family and the loved ones of Charles Perez and Nova Banta.”

Media witness Sean Rice from Phoenix television station KPNX observed that the “process went swimmingly. I didn’t see any issue at all finding a vein on either arm,” noting a slight twitching on the right side of McGill’s head approximately four minutes before his death.

Twelve people have been executed in the United States so far this year, with Tennessee and Florida each scheduled to carry out further executions on Thursday.

The state of Arizona carried out several executions in 2025, including those of Richard Kenneth Djerf for the 1993 killings of four members of a Phoenix family and Aaron Gunches for the 2002 fatal shooting of his girlfriend’s ex-husband.

This follows a nearly eight-year hiatus in Arizona’s use of capital punishment, prompted by difficulties in obtaining execution drugs and criticism surrounding a botched 2014 execution where Joseph Wood was injected 15 times over two hours, leading to repeated snorting and gasping before his death.

The state’s current execution protocol involves administering two syringes of the sedative pentobarbital. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kristin Scott Thomas (66), John C. Reilly (61), Alfred Molina (73), Doug Jones (66), Jim Broadbent (77), James Cosmo (78), Priscilla Presley (81), Bob Dylan (85), Richard Ayoade (49), Joan Collins (93), Bob Mortimer (67), Melissa McBride (61), Ginnifer Goodwin (48), Sara Pascoe (45), Graham Linehan (58), Fairuza Balk (52), Mr. T (74), Noel Fielding (53), Louis Theroux (56), Jack Gleeson (34), Cher (80), Grace Jones (78), Tina Fey (56), Chow Yun-Fat (71), and Miriam Margolyes (85).

Quite a few familiar faces from last week, sadly nobody scored. A few names even missed being called out in the Telegram Group, you lot are slipping!  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Dennis Rush, 74, American actor (The Andy Griffith Show, Wagon Train). 
• David Burke, 91, British actor (Sherlock Holmes, Reilly, Ace of Spies, The Love School). 
• Günther Maria Halmer, 83, German actor (Sophie’s Choice, Gandhi, Amen.). 
• Donald Gibb, 71, American actor (Revenge of the Nerds, Bloodsport, 1st & Ten), complications from throat cancer. 
• Michael Pennington, 82, English actor (Return of the Jedi, The Iron Lady), co-founder of the English Shakespeare Company and writer.
•  Jack Taylor, 99, American actor (Succubus, Conan the Barbarian, The Ninth Gate). 
• Raymond Eugene Johnson, 52, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
• Alan Rothwell, 89, English actor (Coronation Street, Brookside, Heartbeat). 
• Jill Curzon, 87, English actress (Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., Hugh and I). 
• Albert Beckles, 95, Barbadian-born British bodybuilder. 
• Dennis Locorriere, 76, American singer and guitarist (Dr. Hook), kidney disease. 

In Other News

The Hoff is falling apart, but don’t count him out just yet. The man who once ran in slow motion across Baywatch’s beaches is now navigating parking lots with a walker, spotted shuffling through West Hills, Los Angeles with wife Hayley Roberts. His people were quick to reassure everyone that he’s “doing well and feeling good”, which is exactly what you say when you’re 73 and have just had both your knee AND hip replaced. This isn’t his first mobility-related media moment either. Back in May 2025, airport staff were wheeling him through LAX after a Cancun holiday, at which point he cheerfully informed waiting paparazzi that he had knee surgery booked for the following week. Ever the showman, he reportedly flashed a thumbs-up and a grin from the wheelchair. The Hoff does not do undignified. The tabloids, naturally, have been less charitable. Unnamed “insiders” are lining up to declare that decades of hard living are “finally catching up with him,” that he’s “living on borrowed time,” and that his body is basically held together with surgical staples and optimism. Apparently he even has a defibrillator fitted. To top it all off, 2025 was already a rough year before the joint replacements kicked in; his ex-wife Pamela Bach tragically passed away in March. He’s patched up, in physio, and apparently in good spirits. The Hoff has survived Knight Rider, Baywatch, a very public battle with alcohol, and whatever the German pop music scene did to him. A hip replacement isn’t taking him down anytime soon, probably… 

Ray J says his days are numbered — and the number he’s citing is 2027. “Just almost died!! I’m alive because of your prayers and support!!” the singer wrote in an Instagram caption posted Sunday. “I wanna thank everyone for praying for me. I was in the hospital,” he said in the accompanying video. “My heart is only beating like 25%, but as long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, then everything will be all right, so thank you for all your prayers.” It was a different story in another livestream, however, captured in clips on the @Livebitez Instagram page. “2027 is definitely a wrap for me,” the 45-year-old, real name William Ray Norwood Jr., said in one video posted Tuesday, making a “cut off” motion across his neck. “No, don’t say that, brother,” a friend says off camera. “That’s what the doctor says,” Ray J replied meekly, then seemingly grew frustrated as his friend talked loudly over him and insisted he was going to live long enough to see his children’s children. In the next clip, the singer says, “It don’t matter if my days are counted. But guess what — my baby mama gonna be straight. My kids are gonna be straight. If they want to spend all the money they can spend it, but I did my part here.” Then he looks up and tells his friend, “I shouldn’t have went this hard, bro. I shouldn’t have went hard. And then, when it’s all done, burn me, don’t bury me.” In clips assembled on the next Livebitez post, Ray J admits heavy alcohol and drug use and says that messed up his heart “on the right side, here, it’s like, black. It’s like done.” He said he might go to Haiti to “do some voodoo” because he thinks “they got the cure.” He also said he thought he was “bigger” and “had more weight” to put up against the onslaught of substances. “I thought I could handle all the alcohol, I could handle all the Adderall.” Cut to the next clip where he says he thought he “could handle all the drugs, but I couldn’t. … And it curbed my time here.” The R&B singer was hospitalised in early January in Las Vegas, sidelined by heart pain and pneumonia, according to the Flying Monkeys. Four years ago, he battled pneumonia as well.  

It was supposed to be a feel-good moment. A chance for long-time American Idol fans to see one of the show’s most beloved original judges back where he belonged. Instead, within hours of the episode airing, fan concern about Randy Jackson’s health had spread across social media. Jackson, 69, sat in a chair throughout the mentoring sessions, speaking with the remaining contestants as they prepared for their live performances. Viewers described him as frail and soft-spoken, moving more slowly than in previous appearances, with a voice some called hoarse. He did not stand up during the sessions. To be fair, Randy Jackson’s body has been through a lot. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2002 and underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003, losing more than 100 pounds. Then came spinal surgery in 2019 for a back injury. Decades of diabetes management, neuropathy, and the long-term effects of bariatric surgery. The man has been quietly fighting a whole series of battles while the rest of us were just watching him say “dawg” on television. His team has offered no statement. No new diagnosis has been announced. Jackson has not announced any new illness and says he remains focused on managing his health. One UCLA bariatric surgeon offered a more measured take: “Fifteen to twenty years post-bypass, muscle mass naturally declines with age. That can look like frailty.” In other words, this might just be a 69-year-old man who has had a lot of surgeries, sitting down because sitting down is comfortable, and the internet catastrophising accordingly. 

On This Day

• 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
• 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. 
• 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armoury in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.

Deaths

• 1922 – Dorothy Levitt, English racing driver and journalist (born 1882).
• 2012 – Donna Summer, American singer-songwriter (born 1948). 
• 2022 – Vangelis, Greek musician, composer (born 1943).

Last Meals

Raymond Eugene Johnson was an American convicted murderer who killed his ex-girlfriend and her infant daughter in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2007, shortly after being paroled from a previous manslaughter conviction in 1995. For the latter crimes, Johnson was sentenced to death. 

On September 11th 1995, the 21-year-old Johnson was in the company of 25-year-old Clarence Ray Oliver in Oklahoma City when the pair got into an argument. In the ensuing scuffle, Johnson pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot Oliver, who got into his car and attempted to drive away, and was then shot through the passenger side window. The car crashed into a nearby ditch, where it was found the following day.

About two weeks later, Johnson was questioned by detectives regarding the killing and was soon arrested for the murder. In the ensuing trial, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

After being paroled in 2005, Johnson moved to Tulsa, where he entered a relationship with a woman named Brooke Whitaker, a mother of four children. Their relationship quickly deteriorated as Johnson became physically abusive, stalked her, and even threatened to kill her on more than ten occasions. Due to this, she eventually filed a restraining order against him in April 2007, but the order was dropped the following month when neither party attended a court hearing scheduled for May 21st.

On June 23rd, Johnson went to Whitaker’s home, where he brutally beat her with a hammer, almost to the point of cracking her skull. He then doused her in gasoline, lit her on fire, and fled. Whitaker suffered severe burns, and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, burned to death. Firefighters brought Whitaker to Hillcrest Medical Center, where she died of her injuries. Shortly after the discovery of the crime, an arrest warrant was issued for Johnson. He was arrested later that same day in Coweta and extradited to Tulsa, where he was charged with  two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson. According to the arrest report submitted by the Tulsa Police Department, Johnson admitted to both slayings. 

Jury selection for Johnson’s trial took place in June 2009, with prosecutors announcing that they would seek the death penalty against him. Not long after, Johnson was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death for each of the murder charges and to life imprisonment on the arson charge. He did not offer a statement after the verdict, and the verdict itself was welcomed by the victims’ family members.

Following his incarceration on death row, all of Johnson’s appeals were rejected by the respective courts. His final appeal was denied by the Supreme Court in November 2019, allowing for an execution date to be set. 

On May 14th 2026, Johnson was executed by lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. CDT. Johnson’s last meal consisted of chicken, a pint of gizzards, and fried pickles with hot sauce and ranch dressing. In his final statement, Johnson apologised to the victims family and asked for forgiveness stating he “hopes people can speak their names without his name attached to it”. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Paul Whitehouse (68), Pierce Brosnan (73), Megan Fox (40), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (36), David Boreanaz (57), Danny Trejo (82), Debra Winger (71), Stephen Mangan (58), Tim Roth (65), Cate Blanchett (57), Francesca Annis (81), Danny Huston (64), George Lucas (82),  Siân Phillips (93), Greg Davies (58), Martine McCutcheon (50), Bonnie Blue (27), Robert Pattinson (40), Harvey Keitel (87), Samantha Morton (49), Stephen Colbert (62), Iwan Rheon (41), Zoë Wanamaker (78), Mark Heap (69), Rami Malek (45), Malin Akerman (48), Rhea Seehorn (54), Domhnall Gleeson (43), Emilio Estevez (64), Gabriel Byrne (76), Ving Rhames (67), Jason Biggs (48), Jeffrey Donovan (58), Coby Bell (51), Tim Blake Nelson (62),  and Holly Valance (43).

Woohoo! Points! Lets congratulate Mark W. For correctly guessing  that Ted Turner would pass away this year. 63 points awarded. I think we can award Jake Hall the stupidest death of the year as well. Head-butting hard things whilst off his head on drugs seems such a waste. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Doris F. Fisher, 94, American businesswoman (Gap Inc.).   
• Claire Maurier, 97, French actress (La Cage aux Folles, Amélie, A Bad Son). 
• Jonathan Tiersten, 60, American actor (Sleepaway Camp, Return to Sleepaway Camp).  
• Jake Hall, 35, British model, reality television star (The Only Way Is Essex), head injury.  
• Ted Turner, 87, American media proprietor (CNN) and sports team owner (Atlanta Braves), founder of Turner Broadcasting System, complications from Lewy body dementia. 
• Betty Broderick, 78, American convicted murderer. 

In Other News

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been released from intensive care and continues recovering in the hospital after being admitted last Sunday with pneumonia. Giuliani, 81, was hospitalised after becoming ill while returning from a trip to Paris, according to his doctor, Maria Ryan. His condition reportedly worsened rapidly, leading doctors to place him on a ventilator. A priest also administered last rites, according to those close to the former mayor. By Tuesday Giuliani was breathing and speaking on his own and was transferred from the intensive care unit to a standard hospital room. Spokesman Ted Goodman said complications may have been linked to restrictive airway disease Giuliani developed years after his response to the September 11th terrorist attacks while serving as mayor of New York City. According to the CDC, restrictive lung disease limits the lungs’ ability to fully expand, reducing oxygen intake and causing shortness of breath. “This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilise his condition,” Goodman said. “The mayor and his family appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers sent his way,” Goodman said in a social media update Wednesday. Sadly Giuliani is expected to make a full recovery. 

Bonnie Tyler is in a medically induced coma after being rushed to a hospital in Portugal. “Bonnie has been put into an induced coma by her Doctors to aid her recovery. We know that you all wish her well and ask for privacy at this difficult time please,” a statement from Tyler’s manager reads. “We will issue a further statement when we are able to.” On Wednesday, the singers official website and social media pages revealed her hospitalisation. “We are very sorry to announce that Bonnie has been admitted to hospital in Faro, Portugal, where she has a home, for emergency intestinal surgery,” the statement read. “The surgery went well, and she is now recuperating. We know that all of her family, friends, and fans will be concerned about this news and will be wishing her well for a full and swift recovery.” Tyler, whose real name is Gaynor Hopkins, achieved international fame in the 1980s with the release of her single Total Eclipse Of The Heart, which shot to the top of the charts in the UK and US. Recognisable for her husky voice, Tyler has released many hit songs over the years including Holding Out For A Hero, It’s A Heartache and If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man). The Grammy-nominated star is due to tour Europe later this year to mark 50 years since the release of her 1976 breakthrough hit Lost In France, which entered the charts across Europe.  

The British wife of a death row inmate screamed “I love you” before her husband was executed for a fatal shooting he claimed he didn’t commit. James Broadnax, 37, was pronounced dead on Thursday after a dose of lethal injection in Huntsville, around 70 miles north of Houston, Texas. Broadnax had said prosecutors misused rap lyrics he wrote to secure his death sentence. His emotional British wife, named in various reports as Tiana Krasniqi, screamed “I love you” before Broadnax stopped breathing. During the execution, she leaned up to the death chamber window with arms spread and had to be helped out of the prison. Earlier in the day, the US Supreme Court had denied a request by Broadnax’s attorneys to stop his execution. He was convicted for the fatal 2008 shootings of two men outside a Dallas music studio. Prosecutors said he and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, had shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio in Garland. Cummings was sentenced to life without parole. In his final statement, Broadnax protested his innocence but asked for forgiveness from the victims’ relatives, some of whom, including the parents of each of the victims, were present. He said: “I prayed to God for your forgiveness. Despite what you think about me, I hope to God that prayer was answered. But no matter what you think about me, Texas got it wrong. I’m innocent. The facts of my case should speak for itself. Period.” As the lethal dose of the sedative, pentobarbital, began, Broadnax urged his supporters to keep fighting, saying “don’t give up”. He was stopped in the middle of another sentence by a gasp. He also shook his head briefly and all movement stopped, before he was pronounced dead 21 minutes later. Prosecutors said he had confessed to the shooting and told reporters during jailhouse interviews that “I pulled the trigger” and that he had no remorse. Broadnax was the tenth person put to death in the US this year, and the third in Texas, which has historically held more executions than any other state. Since Texas abolished the traditional last meal in 2011, Broadnax did not receive a special last meal.

On This Day

• 1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120. 
• 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States. 
• 1940 – Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. 
• 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk. 
• 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.

Deaths

• 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed).
• 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (born 1942).  
• 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (born 1928).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Meg Foster (78), Sally Phillips (56), Bono (66), Grace Gummer (40), Rosario Dawson (47), Stephen Amell (45), David Attenborough (100), Vicky McClure (43), Alexander Ludwig (34), MrBeast (28), Richard O’Sullivan (82), George Clooney (65), Adrianne Palicki (43), Gabourey Sidibe (43), Henry Cavill (43), John Rhys-Davies (82), Richard E. Grant (69), Lance Henriksen (86), Zach McGowan (46), Michael Palin (83), and Will Arnett (56),

Alas, no points to award this week, but plenty to read on this damp, sunny, rainy, hot and cold bank holiday weekend.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Dion Anderson, 87, American actor (The Shawshank Redemption, Days of Our Lives, Townies). 
• Tony Wilson, 89, Trinidadian musician (Hot Chocolate) and songwriter (“Brother Louie“, “You Sexy Thing“).
• Gerry Conway, 73, American comic book writer (The Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher, Justice League), pancreatic cancer. 
• Nedra Talley, 80, American singer (The Ronettes). 
• Roger Sweet, 91, American toy designer (Mattel), creator of He-Man, complications from dementia. 
• J. Craig Venter, 79, American genomics researcher, founder of Celera Corporation and JCVI, complications from cancer 
• Gwen Farrell, 94, American actress (M*A*S*H) and boxing referee. 
• James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. 
• Alex Zanardi, 59, Italian racing driver (CART, Formula One) and para-cyclist, four-time Paralympic champion.
• Gary Lydon, 61, Irish actor (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Clinic, Pure Mule).

In Other News

A notorious fraudster wanted by the Met has died after falling from a window in the capital. Swindler Karl Cronin was found fatally injured on the pavement along the King’s Road in Chelsea, west London. It is believed he fell out of a second-storey window, although police do not suspect third-party involvement. The Flying Monkeys have been told the victim was Cronin, who was wanted by police over his role in a large-scale multi-million-pound property scam. He was even the subject of a police appeal on BBC series Crimewatch in 2008, as detectives sought to question the elusive criminal. It is not known how the fraudster was able to return to London under the noses of the Met. One friend said: ‘He did a lot of bad things in his life and destroyed many, many lives. He lived through lies and deceit and he had a ruthless streak. All he cared about was money, dating young women, and having a good time. It did not matter who got hurt along the way. There have been a lot of people laughing that his life has ended this way. There’s the feeling that he got what he deserved.’ Another friend told us: ‘He was a loveable rogue, almost like an Arthur Daley figure. He was always good company, the life and soul of a party and someone who was living life to the full. But he caused a lot of damage, there is no doubt about that.’ Sources said Cronin had been living in the rented apartment since November last year, having flown into London Heathrow. He became wanted for defrauding landlords and property owners in the Chelsea and Fulham areas in the early 2000s. It is believed he made in excess of £5 million out of the scam. He was also implicated in a high-profile 2017 fraud trial which led to a model and her mother being jailed. Laylah de Cruz and her mother Dianne Moorcroft conned a 91 year-old heiress – who has since died – to raise cash against her home. Investigations are continuing into how Cronin met his death. One person who knew Cronin well said: ‘There is no way Karl killed himself. None of the people who knew him believe that is what happened. One thing is for sure – he had a lot of enemies.’  

All Elite Wrestling aired a tribute to wrestler Tanea “Rebel” Brooks following her announcement that she has been diagnosed with “terminal” amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “You probably know by social media that one of our fine athletes has some very serious health problems,” announcer Tony Schiavone told viewers on the Saturday episode of AEW Collision. “We want Tanea to know you are big part of AEW and we are thinking about you right now and we are praying for you, that you will pull through.” Brooks shared with her social media followers on Friday that she was recently diagnosed with “terminal ALS,” a nervous system disease that impacts the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS — which is alternatively known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or Motor Neurone Disease — causes a gradual loss of ability to control speech, breathing and eating. There is no known cure. The wrestler has been on a longterm health journey, having battled primary pulmonary lymphoma, a rare type of lung cancer, since 2024. In Friday’s vlog, Brooks explained that recent developments in her cancer fight led doctors to discover that she has ALS. “The thing is, sometimes we don’t want to hear that answer to our prayers. And so, while I was waiting to have lung surgery for the masses on my lung, the doctors at Mayo Clinic finally found what’s going on,” she told viewers. Brooks admitted that her medical team “does not know how long” she has to live since “there is not a lot of research behind ALS.” “It explains why I have trouble walking and talking and all my functions will soon decline. But now, we can prepare for the future and what is to come,” she acknowledged. The 12-year pro wrestling veteran personally thanked All Elite Wrestling owner Tony Khan for supporting her through her health problems. “I want to say thank you to Tony Khan and AEW for supporting me on this medical journey,” a tearful Brooks said. “It has been a blessing that is unheard of and, from the bottom of my heart, thank you and thank you to all of you for your prayers.” She asked fans to keep her in their thoughts, saying, “Please continue to pray for a peaceful journey and a peaceful passing. I love you.” B

Bryan Murray, best known for his role in Brookside, has been placed into “full-time care” following his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Bryan’s wife, Una Crawford O’Brien, disclosed the  news at the Alzheimer’s Tea Day 2026 last month regarding her husband’s deteriorating condition. She said: “Over the past year, Bryan’s needs became far greater, and he has now moved into full time care. Up until now, I didn’t have time to think. My day was completely focused on Bryan and his needs. Now I have time to miss him. The 76-year-old former actor portrayed Trevor Jordache in 1993.  He was equally well recognised for his portrayal of Bob Charles in the soap opera, Fair City. Bryan continued to feature in the Irish soap until last year, when he stepped down after two decades of portraying Bob Charles. The Dublin-born actor was initially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019, though he kept his diagnosis private for several years. Bryan featured in just 24 episodes of Brookside, yet his character became one of the show’s most notorious, as a violent and abusive murderer. Throughout his career, he also made appearances in a host of popular British television programmes, including Casualty, Holby City, The Bill, Silent Witness, and The Tudors. 

On This Day

• 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
• 1979 – Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election.
• 2007 – The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.

Deaths

• 1935 – Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (born 1863).
• 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (born 1904).
• 1986 – Robert Alda, American actor (born 1914).

Last Meals

James Ernest Hitchcock was an American convicted child murderer. On July 31st 1976, Hitchcock raped and murdered his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers, at her home in Winter Garden, Florida. Hitchcock was found guilty of Driggers’s murder and sentenced to death in 1977, although his death sentence was overturned thrice before it was reinstated after each re-sentencing trial. Hitchcock’s death sentence was ultimately upheld and finalised, and he was executed at the Florida State Prison on April 30th 2026, nearly 50 years after he had killed Driggers. 

James Ernest Hitchcock was born in Arkansas on April 5th 1956, and he grew up together with six siblings in Manila, Arkansas. During Hitchcock’s childhood, his family stayed in a shack and lived in poverty, and his parents made a living by picking cotton. When Hitchcock was six years old, his father contracted skin cancer and died. Hitchcock’s mother later remarried, but his stepfather was often abusive towards his mother. At the age of 13, Hitchcock ran away from home after he could no longer tolerate his stepfather’s abuse of his mother. Despite his difficult upbringing, Hitchcock was the first in his family to complete and receive a high school diploma. At one point in his life, Hitchcock was convicted of a burglary offence in Arkansas, but was released on parole by 1976. 

On August 5th 1976, James Hitchcock was charged with the rape and murder of his 13-year-old step-niece, which occurred five days earlier on July 31st 1976.

About two to three weeks before the murder, Hitchcock, who was then jobless and out on parole for his burglary conviction, moved to Orlando, Florida, where he stayed with his brother and his family, with one of the members being his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter, Cynthia Ann Driggers. On the eve of Driggers’s murder, Hitchcock watched television with his brother’s family until 11pm, before he went out drinking and smoking marijuana with his friends in Winter Garden. Hitchcock only returned home at about 2:30am, and he entered the house through the dining room window before he went back to his bedroom.

Afterwards, Hitchcock entered the room of Driggers, where he raped her. After the rape, Driggers reportedly stated that she was hurt and she wanted to tell her mother about it. Hitchcock proceeded to grab her by the neck, brought her outside and tried to convince her to not tell anyone about the rape. However, Driggers resisted and yelled, and hence, Hitchcock choked and hit his step-niece before he strangled her. After the murder, Hitchcock left the body inside the bushes before he went back to the house to shower and go to bed. The body was later found, and Hitchcock was arrested as a suspect the day after the murder. 

Less than a year after he was arrested, James Hitchcock was put on trial and convicted of the first-degree murder of Cynthia Driggers. During the trial itself, Hitchcock recanted his confession and claimed that Driggers voluntarily had sex with him, and that this was discovered by his brother, who killed Driggers in a fit of rage, and Hitchcock claimed he only confessed in order to cover up for his brother. This defence was rejected by the jury that convicted him. Hitchcock was later sentenced to death by the electric chair after the jury recommended the death penalty based on a majority vote. 

On March 31st 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Hitchcock, scheduling his execution date as April 30th 2026. 

Upon receiving the news of Hitchcock’s death warrant, Cynthia Driggers’s family reportedly felt a mixed sense of relief and recalling of the tragedy. Driggers’s younger sister stated that the decades of legal processes dragged on in her sister’s murder were an “inescapable loop”, and a female cousin of Driggers stated that the family had waited 50 years for justice to be served, and implied that two of their surviving family members hoped to live longer than Hitchcock. St. Lucie County Judge Robert Meadows, who was Driggers’s cousin, revealed that his background in the judiciary made him often hear questions about why there was a lengthy delay in Driggers’s case and he found it hard to give a reply. Driggers’s mother stated her wish for Hitchcock to be executed for murdering her daughter. 

Come April 30th, 70-year-old James Ernest Hitchcock was put to death by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison. He was pronounced dead at 6:12pm. Hitchcock was one of two offenders executed on the same date in the United States; the other was James Broadnax, who was convicted in 2008 of killing two music producers in Texas. Prior to his execution, Hitchcock received a final visit from a family member, and he also requested for a last meal of salad, chicken, ice cream, pie and soda.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bobby Cannavale (56), Christina Hendricks (51), Rachel Zegler (25), Pom Klementieff (40), Rob Brydon (61), Frankie Valli (92), Sandi Toksvig (68), Dwayne Johnson (54), Mae Martin (39), Kumail Nanjiani (48), Ellie Kemper (46), Christine Baranski (74), Matt Berry (52), Lily Allen (41), David Beckham (51), Jamie Dornan (44), Julie Benz (54), Joanna Lumley (80), Ana de Armas (38), Kirsten Dunst (44), Gal Gadot (41), Sam Heughan (46), Michelle Pfeiffer (68), Daniel Day-Lewis (69), Uma Thurman (56), Kate Mulgrew (71), Willie Nelson (93), Mary McDonnell (74), Jessica Alba (45), Penélope Cruz (52), and Jenna Coleman (40).