Dead Pool 7th June 2026

Quite a deadly week, but no scoring though. Think I’ll go get a Nescafe and bother my next door neighbour….

Look Who You Could Have Had:

John Blanche, 77, British fantasy and science fiction illustrator (White Dwarf, Warhammer 40,000).
Anthony Head, 72, English actor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ted Lasso, Merlin), complications from pneumonia.
Peabo Bryson, 75, American singer (“If Ever You’re in My Arms Again“, “Beauty and the Beast“, “A Whole New World“), complications from a stroke.
Sir Alex Younger, 62, British intelligence officer, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, pancreatic cancer.
Patrick Godfrey, 93, English actor (Maurice, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ever After).
Sally Grace, 74, English actress (Mr. Bean: The Animated Series, Coronation Street, Ghost Story).
James Handy, 81, American actor (Top Gun: Maverick, Jumanji, Alias), stabbed.
Angela Morant, 84–85, British actress (I, Claudius, Brookside, Dixon of Dock Green).
Nell Hynes, 109, Irish centenarian, oldest person in Ireland (since 2025).
Marjane Satrapi, 56, Iranian-French graphic novelist (Persepolis) and film director (Persepolis, Dear Paris).
Lady Pamela Hicks, 97, British aristocrat.
Bernadette Chirac, 93, French spouse of the president.
Alan Hale, 67–68, American astronomer, co-discovered the Comet Hale–Bopp.

In Other News

Jon Snow, the lead presenter of Channel 4 News for 32 years, has revealed he has Alzheimer’s disease. The 78-year-old journalist and his wife Precious Lunga will be seen navigating his diagnosis in a film that will receive its premiere next week. “At the beginning I wanted to hide it, there’s so much prejudice,” he says in the film. “Any sort of hint of mental decay, you’re sort of dead. There are moments when it pops up but it’s not an all day every day condition, and that’s what I cling onto.” Snow was the lead presenter on Channel 4 News from 1989 to 2021, after serving as ITN’s Washington correspondent and diplomatic editor in the 80s. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described him as “a true giant in journalism” who is now “helping others feel less alone and raising awareness of a condition that affects so many families”. In an interview with the Flying Monkeys to support an Alzheimer’s Society campaign, Snow said: “If I don’t speak out, who will?” Asked about the impact of the disease, he said: “I don’t know really. I don’t feel disabled in any way.” He said he still questions the diagnosis. “I mean sometimes I doubt whether I’ve really got it. I don’t know if it’s widespread knowledge.” Snow’s wife, an epidemiologist, told us he was initially reluctant to see a doctor, but he saw a specialist in 2023. “He was given what’s called a mini-mental state exam and he aced it. He got 29 out of 30,” she said. “It was only later, when they did a brain scan, that we got a diagnosis.”

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant, the country’s royal household has said. Mette-Marit, who suffers from an incurable lung disease, has suspended official duties and will have the operation as soon as a donor becomes available, it said. The princess, who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, has been battling the illness while facing revelations about her association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the rape trial of her son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby. Høiby, who denies the charges, has requested release from custody because his mother is seriously ill, Norwegian media report. Mette-Marit, 52, was diagnosed in 2018 with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis that causes breathing difficulties and creates scar tissue that stiffens the lungs making it difficult to breathe and for oxygen to enter the bloodstream. It has repeatedly forced her to take sick leave or scale back official duties. In December, Mette-Marit told the Flying Monkeys that her illness had developed “faster than I’d hoped” and that activities she enjoyed with her husband – like hiking and skiing – were no longer possible. Over the past six months, her condition has deteriorated significantly, Prof Are Holm, a lung specialist at Oslo University Hospital, was quoted by the royal household as saying. “We can see that there has been a significant increase in scar tissue in her lungs over the past year – and lung function tests show that her lung function has declined considerably in the last three months alone,” Holm told reporters at a news conference on Friday. He said the deterioration was “dangerous”, which was why she has been placed on the transplant list. A successful transplant hinges on several factors, including finding the right match and ensuring the body does not reject the new organ once implanted. Holm explained that the process was viewed as a last resort, and that individuals must be considered significantly ill and have a limited life expectancy before a lung transplant could be deemed appropriate.

Marion Fossett, a ringmistress who was known as “one of the best” in circus entertainment, has died at the age of 71. Her family said she died in hospital in Dublin last night after being ill for some time. “She loved what she did,” said her brother Eddie Fossett. “She was the face of Fossett’s Circus…we are so proud of her.” Her niece Sonya Fossett described her as a showgirl who loved her feathers and sequins. “She was a singer, an actress…she was a star to be shared,” Sonya said. The family-run Fossett’s Circus, which has been touring since the late 1880s, was set up by Marion’s great-grandfather after he returned from America. In her childhood, Marion made her debut in the ring at just 18 months old in a basket on an elephant. She went on to master many skills, becoming an aerialist, contortionist and a sword balancer. Marion was once quoted as saying “you can shake the sawdust from your feet, but you never shake it from your blood”. Her friend Charles O’Brien recalls a woman who was at the “top of her craft” and adored the enjoyment she provided to large crowds. “She was very much aware of the fact she brought a smile to people’s faces around the country,” he said. “Marion would stand in the middle of the ring twice a day, six days a week and she could see every single face. She effectively was born on the show as the entire family were,” said Mr O’Brien. “That was the heyday of circus.” He described how Marion made a “rare” move from the circus into mainstream entertainment in the 1970s. While living in London, she played all the main cabaret venues and featured on prime Saturday night television programmes including Seaside Special. Her broad career included acting in a feature film and on stage. For a certain generation she will be remembered for her part in the girl group Sheeba alongside Maxi and Frances Campbell. They represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. “This predated the Spice Girls,” said Mr O’Brien. “They were the number one.”

On This Day

1975 – Sony launches Betamax, the first videocassette recorder format.
1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.

Deaths

1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (born 1274).
1937 – Jean Harlow, American actress and singer (born 1911).
1954 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (born 1912).
1970 – E. M. Forster, English novelist, short story writer, essayist (born 1879).
1980 – Henry Miller, American novelist and essayist (born 1891).
2015 – Christopher Lee, English actor (born 1922).