Dead Pool 27th March 2016
Welcome all to a not-so-special Easter edition of the Dead Pool where we will not be mentioning eggs nor the death some chap called Jesus, who just happened to start some kind of vicious religion that we’re all still reeling from over two thousand years later. Lets begin by awarding some points to Wombat, 82 of them to be precise! Well done for guessing that cancer riddled Johan Cruyff would bite the bullet in 2016. I was rather surprised that only one of us had him, but it is a cruel game after all.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Rob Ford, 46, Canadian politician, Mayor of Toronto (2010–2014), liposarcoma.
- Rita Gam, 88, American actress (The Thief, Klute, No Exit) and filmmaker, respiratory failure.
- Johan Cruyff, 68, Dutch football player and manager (AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona, national team), lung cancer.
- Garry Shandling, 66, American comedian, actor and writer (The Larry Sanders Show, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), heart attack.
In Other News
Hugh Jackman, the Australian actor, rescued his son and another man when they got caught in strong currents on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Saturday. Without any thought of self-preservation, Jackman, who starred in the X-Men films as Wolverine, became a real-life hero when he pulled the pair to safety, then beckoned other swimmers to shore, away from a rip current flowing out to sea. Television footage broadcast by the Nine Network shows Jackman linking hands with a man and pulling him from a fast-flowing channel on to a sandbar, where the water is shallow. Lynzey Murphy told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper that surf conditions changed quickly, but that Jackman stayed calm. “When we got in the water 20 minutes earlier it was fine. Then the water just came up suddenly,” she said. “Hugh just pulled them calmly on to the sandbar. He then said: ‘All right, we are going to walk towards the flags.’” A lifeguard told the paper that the beach was later closed because of dangerous surf.
The British boxer Nick Blackwell is in an induced coma after suffering a bleed on the brain following a domestic title fight defeat on Saturday night. The referee stopped the largely one-sided fight against Chris Eubank Jr in the 10th round after Blackwell, who had taken heavy punishment in most rounds, was deemed unable to continue by a doctor, due to swelling over his left eye. Shortly after the bout, for Blackwell’s British middleweight title, which was televised live on Channel 5, the 25-year-old, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, collapsed and had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher with oxygen. After the fight, Eubank said: “I was hitting him with some big shots and the referee saw fit to let the fight go on. Looking back now, maybe he should have stopped it earlier.” Eubank’s father, Chris Eubank Sr, who was in his son’s corner for the bout, said the incident brought back painful memories of his world title fight with Michael Watson in 1991, which left his opponent with severe brain injuries. Watson nearly died as a result of injuries sustained in the fight and the incident forced the BBBC to boost safety at bouts to ensure that boxers who suffer such injuries get speedy assistance, including oxygen. Eubank Sr said he was banging on the canvas during the Blackwell fight urging the referee to stop it, but the referee didn’t understand him.
Eddie Izzard has completed 27 marathons in as many days for Sport Relief. But can his body recover from such a feat? The numbers are astonishing. In 27 days, Eddie Izzard ran or walked 707.4 miles (1,138 km) around South Africa, often in extreme heat, at the age of 54. On the last day, because of earlier disruption, he did a double marathon to ensure he reached his target. The comedian’s exertions for Sport Relief have raised more than £1.35m. But now, as the elation of completing his task recedes and he continues to deal with media interest in his achievement, Izzard must begin his recovery. “I can’t stand upright,” Izzard said, after he crossed the line in Pretoria, sipping from a bottle of champagne. “I have a huge blister and I’m exhausted.” Izzard has risked severe damage to the knee ligaments and there’s a strong likelihood of “massive muscle damage”, says Peter Jones, head of Staffordshire University’s school for psychology, sport and exercise. The immune system will be suppressed during the initial recovery, leading to a greater risk of infection. Izzard’s recovery should take about a month and involve plenty of low-impact, low-intensity training, such as swimming, plus stretching exercises. “What he’s done is a little bit extreme, I guess,” says Jones,” but he should be back to normal after a few weeks, so long as he hasn’t done any major damage to his body.” Many athletes report having “the blues” after completing a huge goal, such as a marathon or a triathlon. “It’s that Neil Armstrong thing, once you’ve been to the moon everything else is really dull, isn’t it?
Good Morning Britain was taken off-air on Friday as a result of a fire at the ITV building. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) confirmed that 50 people had been evacuated from the studios on London’s Southbank after a blaze began in the first floor of the building. Four fire engines and 21 firefighters were sent to tackle the “small fire” and the LFB confirmed on their Twitter account that there were “thankfully no injuries and everyone out safely”. In a statement, LFB said: “Part of a post room on the first floor was damaged by fire. Around 50 people evacuated the building before the Brigade arrived. The fire meant that Good Morning Britain was taken off air. GMB presenter Ben Shephard tweeted that it was unlikely the show would return to the air that morning as the cast and crew took refuge in a nearby restaurant that opened early to accommodate them. He tweeted: “Outlook for getting back on air not great.”
A fan at Adele’s Glasgow concert has been injured by a falling chain that possibly came from a lighting rig overhead. The singer was performing her sell-out tour at the SSE Hydro on Friday night when a chain that was part of the production came down. The injured spectator was taken to hospital and Adele, who was apparently unaware of the incident at the time, later tweeted her apologies and promised it would not happen again. A spokeswoman for the venue told the media: “A chain belonging to the production came down and hit one person who was taken to hospital as a precaution’. All we can think of at Dead Pool Towers, is where one badly fitted chain falls, many more are capable of doing so too. Adele is scheduled to perform a second show at the 13,000-capacity arena on Saturday, let’s see if she survives!
In a surprise move sure to sadden Beliebers, Justin Bieber has cancelled all meet-and-greets with his fans on his current Purpose worldwide tour. The pop star made the announcement on his Instagram, explaining that the interactions leave him “feeling so drained and filled with so much of other people’s spiritual energy that I end up so drained and unhappy”. His company indicated that Bieber’s decision to cut back on fan face-time has less to do with keeping the musician’s spirits afloat, and more with maintaining his safety. According to TMZ, that show occurred on Monday night, when a “potentially dangerous fan” got within 10 feet of Bieber during a backstage meet-and-greet. The fan in question was allegedly on the “watch list” for Bieber’s security team. The site also reports that Bieber has had his hair pulled and clothes ripped following intimate paid encounters, and that he contracted the flu from one sickly fan.
On This Day
- 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
- 1871 – The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
- 1881 – Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of teetotalism by The Salvation Army.
- 1886 – Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
- 1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
- 1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the worst aviation accident in history.
- 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
Deaths
- 1923 – James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (b. 1842)
- 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
- 1972 – M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (b. 1898)
- 1991 – Ralph Bates, English actor (b. 1940)
- 2000 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter and actor (The Blockheads) (b. 1942)
- 2002 – Dudley Moore, English actor (b. 1935)
- 2002 – Billy Wilder, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
Last Week’s Birthdays
The Queen (90), William Hurt (66), Spike Lee (59), Theresa Russell (59), Holly Hunter (58), David Thewlis (53), Timothy Dalton (70), Gary Oldman (58), Rosie O’Donnell (71), William Shatner (85), Matthew Modine (57), Reese Witherspoon (40), Chaka Khan (63), Amanda Plummer (59), Damon Albarn (48), Perez Hilton (38), Kelly LeBrock (56), Jim Parsons (43), Alyson Hannigan (42), Jessica Chastain (39), Tommy Hilfiger (65), Aretha Franklin (74), Elton John (69), Sarah Jessica Parker (51), Melanie Blatt (41), Keira Knightley (31), Alan Arkin (82), James Caan (76), Steven Tyler (68), Martin Short (66) and Larry Page (43).
The Last Word
“Let’s cool it brothers . . .”
Spoken to his assassins, three men who shot him 16 times.
– Malcolm X, Black leader, d. 1966
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 20th March 2016
Firstly, apologies for being missing in action last week, I was brought low by a kidney stone, which is as painful as pushing a child out your foof I’ve been told. However my ruined innards have recovered and I feel much better than Paul Daniels does right now! Fear not, your points are still safe and valid, and as luck would have it, we have some to disperse. Debbie R, Martin G, Jemma L, Nicola R, Julie K all score 56 points for the death of Nancy Reagan last week, but Lukasz B scores a mighty 156 points for listing her as his Woman. Well done all of you!!
So, onwards to a double-bubble of deathly fun!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Joan Bates, 86, British Sealandic princess.
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, 81, English composer and conductor, Master of the Queen’s Music (2004–2014), leukaemia.
- Sylvia Anderson, 88, British television producer and voice actress (Thunderbirds).
- Cliff Michelmore, 96, British television presenter and producer.
- Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72, American singer (That Face!) and actor (Hollywood Homicide), heart attack.
- Paul Daniels, 77, British magician (The Paul Daniels Magic Show), brain tumour.
- Larry Drake, 66, American actor (L.A. Law, Johnny Bravo, Darkman), Emmy Award winner (1988, 1989).
- Joe Santos, 84, American actor (The Rockford Files, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Last Boy Scout), heart attack.
- Tray Walker, 23, American football player (Baltimore Ravens), dirt bike collision.
Last week
- Ray Tomlinson, 74, American computer programmer, invented system to send first email and assigned use of @ sign, heart attack.
- Nancy Reagan, 94, American First Lady (1981–1989) and actress (Hellcats of the Navy, Donovan’s Brain, The Next Voice You Hear…), heart failure.
- Richard Davalos, 85, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, East of Eden, Kelly’s Heroes).
- Sir George Martin, 90, British Hall of Fame record producer (The Beatles), composer, arranger and engineer, six-time Grammy Award winner.
- Sir Ken Adam, 95, German-born British production designer (Dr. Strangelove, James Bond, The Madness of King George), Oscar winner (1975, 1994).
- Keith Emerson, 71, English progressive rock and rock keyboardist (The Nice; Emerson, Lake & Palmer), suicide by gunshot.
In Other News
Bill Wyman, the former bassist of the Rolling Stones, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The 79-year-old musician, who joined the rock band in late 1962, is expected to make a full recovery. A spokesman said: “He is undergoing treatment and is expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in the early stages. The Wyman family has asked for their privacy during this time.” Born William Perks in south-east London in October 1936, Wyman joined the Rolling Stones shortly after the band’s formation when they were beginning to play small gigs around the capital. At 25, he was the oldest member of the group, and though he was unkindly dubbed “the boring one”, he and drummer Charlie Watts provided one of the tightest rhythmical backings in rock music, including on hits such as Paint it Black and Gimme Shelter. Wyman and his wife were pictured at the wedding of Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall, the former wife of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, at St Bride’s church in London’s Fleet Street. In photographs, he showed no apparent signs of illness and mingled with other guests. Wyman is not the first band member to be diagnosed with cancer, in 2004 Watts underwent two operations to rid himself of the disease.
One of the Hatton Garden heist ringleaders has had a stroke and is being tested for suspected cancer, a court has heard. Brian Reader, 77, who was known by his fellow gang members as the Guvnor or Master, was “an extremely ill man” who was blind in one eye and hard of hearing, his defence barrister, James Scobie QC, told Woolwich crown court at the start of a three-day sentencing hearing. Reader, the oldest of the seven men convicted of the multimillion-pound burglary in London’s diamond district, had returned to Belmarsh prison’s hospital wing after a period in the critical care unit of Woolwich hospital after a stroke, Scobie said. He was unable to attend court for sentencing on Monday. Scobie said Reader had fallen over twice “ultimately ending up in critical care in Woolwich hospital having had a stroke”. He said he had visited Reader and found him unable to communicate, adding: “There were nine officers there, six armed with machine guns and three in his room, which doesn’t help recovery. “He has a history of prostate cancer, which may return. He has a mass in his face being tested for possible cancer. He has had a stroke and is blind in one eye.”
Dylan O’Brien, the lead star of the Maze Runner teen film franchise, has been injured on the set of The Death Cure. The 24-year-old actor, also known for his role in MTV’s Teen Wolf, was hit by a car while filming an action sequence. According to Variety, he may have suffered multiple broken bones in the accident. O’Brien is currently at a local hospital in British Columbia, where the film was shooting, undergoing recovery. Production has shut down in the interim on what will be the third film in the dystopian YA franchise, which is due for release next February. O’Brien stars as Thomas in the Maze Runner franchise, based on the popular book series by James Dashner. The 2014 original was a major hit in the US, grossing $102m. Its 2015 follow-up The Scorch Trials earned $82m domestically. “Our thoughts go out to Dylan for a full and speedy recovery,” a Fox representative said in a statement.
Sarah Palin’s husband Todd has been seriously injured in a snowmobile accident, it emerged on Monday. The former Alaska governor canceled a planned campaign appearance with Donald Trump on Monday morning, the Trump campaign announced. However, a non-caring Palin appeared at an afternoon rally in Tampa, Florida, where she told the crowd that her husband was in intensive care. A previous Trump campaign statement had said that Palin was returning to Alaska “to be with her husband and looks forward to being back on the campaign trail soon”. Apparently, Todd Palin, 51, is a champion snow machine, or snowmobile, racer.
Fantasy author George RR Martin was moved to reassure his fans that rumours buzzing around the web that he had died following the passing of The Beatles producer George Martin had panicked come hasty readers. As tributes poured in for producer Martin, who died aged 90 last week, some readers mistakenly believed that Martin, author of the Game of Thrones novels, was no more. But writing on his blog, the novelist told his fans that he was “not dead yet”. “While it is strangely moving to realise that so many people around the world care so deeply about my life and death, I have to go with Mark Twain and insist that the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” he wrote, referring to the novelist’s comment to a reporter in 1897 following rumours that he had died. Martin the author said that the Beatles producer would be missed. “I never met Sir George (I did meet Paul McCartney once, for about a minute, while waiting for the valet to bring my rental car up at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills), but like many millions of others, I loved the Beatles, and Martin’s contribution to their music is worthy of recognition and honour,” wrote Martin. “As for me, I am still here, still writing, still editing, still going to movies and reading books, and I expect to hang around for quite a while yet, thank you very much. But thank you all for caring.”
And finally, a great-granddad from Derbyshire is set to become the oldest person in the world to get a tattoo to celebrate his 104th birthday. Chesterfield resident Jack Reynolds appeared on Good Morning Britain, with host Susanna Reid describing him as her “all-time favourite guest”. The centenarian, who two years ago became the oldest person to complete the Ice Bucket Challenge, has also revealed where he would like to get it. “On my bum. I’d prefer to see it on my arm, but I’ve got skinny arms. I’ve got weights to try and make them bigger, but we’ll see,” he said. Asked if he was nervous about getting the tattoo done, he replied: “I’m a big strong lad – and I’ve have plenty of needles in me in my time, in various places.” The silver surfer’s daughter Jayne, who says Guinness World Records have confirmed it would be a new record, explained he is very much young at heart and an avid internet user who is active on Facebook. She told the Ilkeston Advertiser: “Dad wanted to do something to raise money for charity again and I suggested he have a tattoo which he agreed to. We all think it’s great. Asked what the secret to living a long life is, Mr Reynolds said it was a shot of whisky in the morning and another before going to bed. “Work hard, always smile, get plenty of fresh air and last but not least have a tot of Grouse whisky in your tea in the morning and a tot before bed,” he explained.
On This Day
- 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
- 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.
- 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe‘s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published.
- 1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
- 1974 – An unsuccessful attempt is made by a lone perpetrator to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
- 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries (the UK, Australia and Poland) begin military operations in Iraq.
Deaths
- 1413 – Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
- 1726 – Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1642)
- 2013 – James Herbert, English author (b. 1943)
Last Week’s Birthdays
William H. Macy (66), Quincy Jones (83), Billy Crystal (68), Michael Caine (83), Judd Hirsch (81), Eva Longoria (41), Will.I.Am (41), Eric Estrada (67), Judah Friedlander (47), Patrick Duffy (67), Kurt Russell (65), Gary Sinise (61), Rob Lowe (52), Queen Latifah (46), Ursula Andress (80), Glenn Close (69) and Bruce Willis (61).
The Australian Woman Who Skinned and Cooked Her Partner
The story of an Australian former abattoir worker who decapitated and skinned her de facto husband before trying to serve his flesh to his children is set to be told in a new film. Katherine Knight lived a seemingly ordinary life until the day she stabbed John Price 37 times and mutilated him in their home in Aberdeen, in New South Wales’s Hunter Valley, 16 years ago.
The Australian screenwriters Dane Millerd and Ross Murray have been enlisted to find a global audience for the tale of the 60-year-old, who was jailed for life for the killing. Millerd spent almost a decade trying to get the rights to the book, Blood Stains, by journalist Peter Lalor, which details the horrifying crime, and succeeded last year.
Price’s headless body was found by police in the home the couple shared on 1st March 2000, a day after he was murdered. His skin was hanging from a butcher’s hook in the lounge room, his head was cooking in a stew on the stove, and slices of his buttocks had been cooked and served alongside vegetables and gravy in a meal intended for his adult children. Bloodstains showed Price had tried to escape the house, and had even been briefly successful, but was dragged back inside by Knight, who had a borderline personality disorder.
When Knight was sentenced in 2001, the supreme court justice, Barry O’Keefe, said: “The last minutes of his life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her.” Knight, the first Australian woman to receive a life-without-parole sentence, lost an appeal against the sentence in 2006.
The Last Word
I’m bored with it all. – Winston Churchill, statesman, d. January 24, 1965
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 6th March 2016
What’s all this? Points you say?? Indeed, there are points to be awarded with the sad demise of some cricket player we’ve never heard of at a youngish age. Laura, Paul, Liz and Wombat all score 97, however Lee scores 197 as he had him down as his Cert. Well done all, you’ve certainly shaken up the league table.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Antony Gibbs, 90, British film editor (Tom Jones, Fiddler on the Roof, Dune).
- George Kennedy, 91, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, The Naked Gun, Airport), Oscar winner (1968), heart disease.
- Alice Arlen, 75, American screenwriter (Silkwood, The Weight of Water).
- Gil Hill, 84, American police officer, actor (Beverly Hills Cop) and politician (Detroit City Council), pneumonia.
- Lee Reherman, 49, American actor (American Gladiators, Star Trek Into Darkness, Last Action Hero).
- Louise Rennison, 64, British author (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging).
- Jim Kimsey, 76, American technology executive, co-founder and CEO of AOL, melanoma.
- Tony Warren, 79, English television screenwriter and producer (Coronation Street).
- Martin Crowe, 53, New Zealand cricketer (national team), lymphoma.
- Tony Dyson, 68, British film prop designer (R2-D2).
- Sarah Tait, 33, Australian rower, world champion (2005), Olympic silver medalist (2012), cervical cancer.
- Pat Conroy, 70, American author (The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline), pancreatic cancer.
- Joey Feek, 40, American country singer (Joey + Rory), cervical cancer.
In Other News
Paul Daniels has left hospital to spend his “final days” at home after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, his son has revealed. The entertainer is sticking to his belief that when “it’s your time it’s your time” as he spends his last days at home surrounded by his family, Martin Daniels told the Sunday Mirror. The 77-year-old fell at home and was taken to hospital suspected of suffering a stroke, although he was later diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, his son said. “There’s no treatment which can help him. Doctors haven’t said how many weeks or months he might have – and we haven’t asked. “He knows things are not in his hands now and we are living in the knowledge every day is a bonus. It is unbearably difficult. He has said before when ‘it’s your time it’s your time’ and that’s how he is trying to face up to things.” Daniels, who is said to be “lucid”, was at his Thames-side home surrounded by his family, said his son, adding that the support of his fans had given them “tremendous strength at what is a very difficult time”.
For those of you vaguely interested in that game called soccer, the Fourth official Kevin Friend collapsed and hit his head on a dugout during Tuesday’s Premier League game between Bournemouth and Southampton. Friend, who cut his face, was treated in the tunnel before being taken to hospital, where he stayed overnight. The incident happened as the first half came to an end at the Vitality Stadium. The start of the second half was delayed by five minutes as Friend was replaced by Dean Treleaven, a qualified referee who was watching the match. “I was on the bench and he came to us and he fell against the dugout, with his nose, and then fell to the ground,” said Saints boss Ronald Koeman. “For maybe five seconds, he was out of everything.” Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, whose side won 2-0, added: “I saw him collapse. I saw him very dazed and shaken.” Didn’t ask if he was ok though…
Pauline Cafferkey, the Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone in 2014, has been discharged from hospital after she was cleared of any complication related to the virus. She was admitted to the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, north London, last week for the third time after developing a complication related to her previous infection. With relief and delight among her care team, I bet they didn’t want to catch her germs, she was discharged on Sunday and was expected to be on her way back home to Scotland, much to the horror of all kilt-wearing Brits! In a statement the hospital said that the public should not in any way be concerned about the spread of the virus because of the late complication. “We can confirm that Pauline is not infectious. The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic,” the hospital said. “So don’t get anywhere near Ebola Pauline, and don’t fuck her for fuck sake!” Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working for the Save the Children emergency treatment centre outside Freetown in Sierra Leone in December 2014. Since then she’s been a pain in the arse for the NHS and all who have to pay for her treatment.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has married actress-model Jerry Hall in London. This is Mr Murdoch’s fourth marriage and the first for Miss Hall, 59, after her 1992 Bali wedding to Sir Mick Jagger was later deemed legally void. Australian-born Mr Murdoch, 84, who now has US nationality, tweeted he was “the luckiest and happiest man in world”. The rest of the world laughed and saw the marriage for what it is, Hall looking to make a few billion quickly. The pair held a private ceremony of celebration on Saturday at London’s St Bride’s Church, in Fleet Street, which proclaims itself as the “spiritual home of the media”, or as we know it, “The Bed of Political Lies!” Mr Murdoch, whose family control 120 newspapers in five countries, split up with his third wife Wendi Deng in 2013 and is reportedly worth £7.7bn, making him the 77th richest person on the planet. Jerry Hall on the other hand has scraped a fortune of £7 million with her failed modelling career and association with Mick Jagger. Let’s see how long Murdoch lasts before he sips that poisoned tea!
On This Day
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam.
- 1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo – After a thirteen-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.
- 1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
- 1899 – Bayer registers “Aspirin” as a trademark.
- 1912 – Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
- 1964 – Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad officially gives boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.
- 1987 – The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds killing 193.
Deaths
- 1888 – Louisa May Alcott, American novelist and poet (b. 1832)
- 1941 – Gutzon Borglum, Danish-American sculptor, designed Mount Rushmore (b. 1867)
- 1961 – George Formby, English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Ayn Rand, Russian-American philosopher, author, and playwright (b. 1905)
- 2000 – John Colicos, Canadian actor (b. 1928)
Last Week’s Birthdays
John Turturro (59), Roger Daltrey (62), Ron Howard (62), Justin Bieber (22), Javier Bardem (47), Harry Belafonte (89), Daniel Craig (48), Bryce Dallas Howard (35), Jon Bon Jovi (54), Chris Martin (39), Miranda Richardson (58), Julie Bowen (46), Patsy Kensit (48) and Penn Jillette (61).
The Last Word
Go away. I’m all right. – H. G. Wells, novelist, d. 1946
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 28th February 2016
Not much to report this week, no points awarded due to a lack of notable deaths. However, plenty to read and comment upon if you wish.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Douglas Slocombe, 103, British cinematographer (Indiana Jones, The Lion in Winter, Jesus Christ Superstar), complications from a fall.
- Johnny Murphy, 72, Irish musician and actor (The Commitments, Into the West, Angela’s Ashes), respiratory failure.
- Ramón Castro Ruz, 91, Cuban farmer and quartermaster (Cuban Revolution).
- Tony Burton, 78, American actor (Rocky, Assault on Precinct 13, The Shining), pneumonia.
- Frank Kelly, 77, Irish actor (Father Ted, Emmerdale).
In Other News
The artist Yoko Ono, the widow of the late former Beatle, John Lennon, has been admitted to a New York-area hospital after complaining of severe flu-like symptoms, her West Coast-based spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said on Friday. But Mintz denied US media reports that Ono, 83, had suffered a possible stroke or heart attack. He said he understood she would be released from the hospital on Saturday. Ono, 83, was married to former Beatle John Lennon until he was murdered in 1980 outside New York’s Dakota Building, where she still lives. An ambulance was called to the building at 21:00 on Friday, a Fire Department spokesman said. Her son Sean Ono Lennon also tweeted that his mother was doing well. Ono, also an experimental musician and film-maker, was once described by Lennon as “the world’s most famous unknown artist: everybody knows her name but nobody knows what she does.”
Golfer Jason Bohn is in a stable condition in hospital after suffering a mild heart attack during the second round of the Honda Classic in Florida. The 42-year-old American, a two-times PGA Tour winner who is ranked 71 in the world, called for a doctor when he experienced chest pains after putting out on the 18th hole at PGA National. A report on pgatour.com said: “He was taken by ambulance to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, where tests revealed a mild heart attack. Bohn was in stable condition and will remain hospitalised overnight before undergoing more tests on Saturday. His wife was home in Atlanta but his in-laws joined him at the hospital, as did fellow player George McNeill, who said Bohn was “in good spirits”. Who knew that golf was so demanding!!
Benidorm institution Sticky Vicky has announced she is retiring after 35 years entertaining British tourists with her risqué magic show. The 72-year-old who has appeared in the hit ITV show named after the resort, was intending to return to the stage after a hip operation but decided to call it a day after being diagnosed with cancer. Grandmother Vicky, who used to perform a series of X-rated tricks in front of stupefied holidaymakers with ping-pong balls, razor blades and beer bottles, announced her decision on Facebook. ‘Just to let everyone know that the Legend Sticky Vicky Leyton and her real daughter Demaria Leyton have both retired from sexy magic shows. ‘Vicky at the age of nearly 73 has retired to spend more time with her family and her daughter has other projects that have nothing to do with sexy magic shows.’ She was once described by a guide to Benidorm as such a ‘must-see’ that leaving without experiencing her show would be like buying fish without chips or turning on the TV to see Ant without Dec.
Pauline Cafferkey, the do-gooder British nurse who contracted Ebola in west Africa, is being transferred to the specialist unit at the Royal Free hospital in London for the third time since her return. Cafferkey, 39, who is said to be in a stable condition, had been admitted to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University hospital but on Tuesday afternoon an RAF aircraft landed at Glasgow airport to transport her to London at a vast cost to the NHS. A spokesman for the Royal Free said: “We can confirm that Pauline Cafferkey is being transferred to the Royal Free hospital due to a late complication from her previous infection by the Ebola virus. She will now be treated by the hospital’s infectious diseases team under nationally agreed guidelines. Cafferkey was infected while working with victims of the virus in Sierra Leone in December 2014. She spent almost a month in an isolation unit at the Royal Free, where she was treated with a survivor’s plasma and an experimental antiviral drug. She fell ill again in October last year and was readmitted to the same hospital with meningitis caused by the lingering virus. After coming close to dying, she was discharged in November and transferred to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University hospital to continue her recovery before returning home to be forever known as the new Typhoid Mary.
On This Day
- 1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
- 1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
- 1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April’s Nature.
- 1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
- 1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.
- 1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
- 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
Deaths
- 468 – Pope Hilarius
- 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Tyne Daly (70), Kelsey Grammar (61), Williams Baldwin (53), Jennifer Love Hewitt (37), Ellen Page (29), Jonathan Demme (72), Kyle MacLachlan (57), Jeri Ryan (48), Thomas Jane (47), Drew Barrymore (41), James Blunt (42), Peter Fonda (76), Kelly MacDonald (40), Dakota Fanning (22), Edward James Olmos (69), Billy Zane (50), Tia Leoni (50), Carrot Top (51), Sean Astin (45), Fats Domino (88), Michael Bolton (63) and Adam Baldwin (54).
The ‘Ghost Weddings’ of China
Grave robbers in rural China are stealing women’s corpses to feed a new demand for “ghost weddings”, an ancient ritual whereby elderly bachelors are given a “bride” to be buried with when they die. Under a rural tradition that began nearly 3,000 years ago, families in rural China consider it bad luck for a single man to pass into the afterlife without a female companion at his side. One way to prevent his spirit becoming restless is to provide a female corpse for him to be buried with. While the ghoulish practice has long been outlawed under communism, it has now revived as newly-wealthy country dwellers pay up to £10,000 per “bride”.
The village of Dongbao in China’s northern Shanxi province, which has suffered 15 corpse thefts in the last three years alone. At least 15 others have vanished from other hamlets across the region. “Who knows where they took my mother?” said Li Fucai, 53, standing over a tomb where his father now rests alone. “She is now ill-gotten gains for thieves.”
Ancestor worship is deeply-rooted in China, and many people will burn fake money and other tributes to the dead at this year’s annual Tomb Sweeping Festival in April. For those who have been the victims of grave robbers, the yearly festival visit to the family tombs can be a difficult one.
“My grandmother must now be wandering other villages, experiencing a painful afterlife,” said 43-year-old Jiang Chaohui, who also had the remains of his great aunt and great-grandmother stolen.
‘Ghost Weddings’ are said to date back to the 17th Century BC in China, and the superstition has persisted despite more than half a century of effort by the Communist authorities to stamp it out. The ritual involves the extra body being reburied and placed along the deceased in their tomb, usually with gongs and drums being played as relatives look on. Brides are more commonly sought by families because of China’s gender imbalance towards males. A deceased single man is also seen as making a family tree incomplete in the traditional Chinese social order. Some families will give such a man a “wife” in a form of a silver statuette or a dough mould of a woman, using black beans for eyes. But a handful of communities in inland backwaters still believe that if they fail to provide a real corpse, the dead relative could return to haunt the family and bring misfortune.
The black market in selling human remains is believed to have grown in recent years as China’s economic boom has seen the rural wealthy pay large sums to meet the needs of their deceased loved ones. Last October, police in Shanxi detained three people suspected of stealing a corpse which they aimed to sell as a bride. In 2013, a gang of four men were jailed after they made £240,000 yuan from the sales of 10 corpses in Shanxi and neighbouring Shaanxi. Remains of younger women and those who have recently died are more expensive on the black market, but decomposed female skeletons can be reinforced with steel wires before they are clothed and buried, according to Chinese media. Matchmaking agents provide the ghoulish service of pairing dead bachelors with the bodies of women from consenting families – which appears to be more tolerated by authorities than the illegal corpse trade.
The Last Word
All is lost. Monks, monks, monks! – Henry VIII, King of England, d. 1547
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 21st February 2016
Welcome all to a points ridden edition of the Dead Pool. Good old Harper Lee has decided to finally kick the bucket, which means that Toby, who listed her as a Cert, gets 111 points! Millie, Ashley, Sarai and John C, each get 61 points!! Well done all of you!!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Kenny Easterday, 42, American actor and “man with half a body” due to sacral agenesis.
- Nathan Barksdale, 54, American heroin dealer, dramatised in The Wire.
- George Gaynes, 98, Finnish-born American actor (Police Academy, Punky Brewster, Tootsie).
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 93, Egyptian politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992–1996), complications from a fall.
- Brendan Healy, 59, English actor and musician, cancer.
- Harper Lee, 89, American author (To Kill a Mockingbird).
- Umberto Eco, 84, Italian philosopher and novelist (The Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum).
In Other News
Magician and entertainer Paul Daniels, 77, has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, his family has said. A statement on his website says: “We can confirm that one of our greatest magicians and entertainers of all times, Paul Daniels, has sadly been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour. “On behalf of Paul, Debbie and their families, we thank you for your kind concerns and support at this sad time and ask that their privacy continues to be respected. There will be no further comments at this time.” Daniels launched his career by performing at parties, youth clubs and to fellow servicemen during his national service. He later began performing at evening shows in clubs, where it is said that he first developed his long-running catchphrase, “You’ll like this … not a lot, but you’ll like it,” to deal with a heckler. The Paul Daniels Magic Show regularly attracted audiences of 15 million in the UK, and was sold to 43 countries. In addition to performing magic, Daniels also hosted popular quiz shows for the BBC including Every Second Counts, Odd One Out and Wipeout. He also narrated the children’s TV show Wizbit.
Denise Robertson, resident agony aunt of ITV’s This Morning, has been diagnosed with cancer. The 83-year old explained: “A persistent health issue has turned into something quite a lot bigger. I’ve been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.” Robertson added that she is due to start chemotherapy soon. Ruth Langsford, one of the presenters of the mid-morning show, said the team were in a “state of shock”. “After almost 30 years of providing comfort to millions of viewers, agony aunt Denise Robertson is in need of a lot of love herself today,” Langsford said. Denise Robertson has been with the programme since it began in 1988. She said the diagnosis had “come as a surprise to me and my family” but added: “We know that many others have suffered and dealt with this condition and I don’t plan to give up without a fight.” She also thanked viewers of This Morning who had sent in messages of concern in recent weeks. She lost her first husband Alex Robertson to lung cancer in 1972, but kept his surname when she remarried. In 2006 her stepson, John, also died of cancer, at the age of 44.
Shane Warne has been bitten by an anaconda after plunging head first into a tank of snakes on the Australian reality television show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. The episode, which aired on Thursday night on Channel Ten, required Warne to dunk his head into boxes filled with African clawed frogs, scorpions, Madagascan hissing cockroaches and rats as part of the show’s “Tucker Trial”. He was then presented with a Perspex tank of snakes – reportedly his biggest fear. “Aw, no, come on,” the spin legend said. “A little warning, Shane,” the show’s host, Chris Brown, said. “You were just in with those rats for a long period of time. They may see you as being food.” Brown’s caution proved prophetic – Warne was struck on the head by the non-venomous anaconda. News Corp Australia reports that the bite was treated with antiseptic fluid and that a medic is monitoring Warne for signs of infection. “Shane has made no secret that snakes are one of his greatest fears so it’s amazing that after being bitten he bravely continued with the trial,” an executive producer of the show told News Corp Australia. “When Shane puts his mind to a task, he won’t let anything stop him.” Warne is believed to have been paid about A$3m to appear on the show.
Japanese police say an actor has died after getting stabbed in the stomach during a rehearsal with what is believed to be either a real or mock samurai sword. Daigo Kashino, a 33-year-old theatre group actor, was rehearsing with several people at a Tokyo studio on Monday when the incident occurred. He was rushed to a hospital, but died hours later. Media reports indicated nobody was watching exactly how it happened. Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that other members of the theatre group rehearsing with Kashino said they saw him hunched over as they turned around after hearing him groan. Tokyo police said on Tuesday they were investigating whether the death was criminal or accidental.
Michael Schumacher’s manager hopes that the seven-times Formula One world champion “will be here again one day”. It is more than two years since Schumacher, 47, sustained brain injuries in a freak accident while skiing in the French Alps, and updates on his condition have been infrequent. Earlier this month the former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said news regarding Schumacher’s condition “is not good”. However, speaking at the opening of an exhibition of Schumacher’s career in Marburg, Germany, his manager Sabine Kehm said: “Of course Michael is missing on days like today. Of course it is a great shame that he cannot be here, and no one should regret it more than him. “Unfortunately, however, we cannot change what has happened. We have to accept it – and patiently hope, supporting him with everything that we have, that he will be here again one day.” Kehm’s words will provide some hope to Schumacher’s fans that he may yet recover from the injuries he sustained in his skiing accident in December 2013.
On This Day
- 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
- 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
- 1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first “instant camera“, the Polaroid Land Camera.
- 1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to “set the people free”.
- 1958 – The peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
- 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
- 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
Deaths
- 1437 – James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
- 1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer and academic (b. 1868)
- 1965 – Malcolm X, American minister and activist (b. 1925)
- 2002 – John Thaw, English actor and producer (b. 1942)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Meg Tilly (56), Jane Seymour (65), Matt Groening (62), LeVar Burton (59), Elizabeth Olsen (27), Ice-T (58), John McEnroe (57), Hal Holbrook (91), Rene Russo (62), Lou Diamond Phillips (54), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (35), Michael Jordan (53), Paris Hilton (35), Yoko Ono (83), Cybill Shepherd (66), John Travolta (62), Matt Dillon (52), Dr. Dre (51), Molly Ringwald (48), Smokey Robinson (76), Jeff Daniels (61), Seal (53), Benicio Del Toro (49), Sidney Poitier (89), Brenda Blethyn (70), Cindy Crawford (50), Rhianna (28), Ivana Trump (67), Mike Leigh (73) and Patty Hearst (62).
The Last Word
I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis. – Humphrey Bogart, actor, died January 14th 1957
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 14th February 2016
Welcome all to a special ‘Fuck Off to Valentines Day Special Edition’ of The Dead Pool, where there will be no further mention to said consumer holiday. Alas no points to award, in fact we’re very thin on the ground this week for deaths. However we have plenty of deathly news for you to read and plenty of gruesome facts.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Dan Gerson, 49, American screenwriter (Monsters, Inc., Big Hero 6, Chicken Little), brain cancer.
- Margaret Forster, 77, English novelist (Georgy Girl) and biographer, cancer.
- Wayne England, English artist (Magic: The Gathering).
- Christopher Rush, 50, American illustrator (Magic: The Gathering).
- Antonin Scalia, 79, American judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (since 1986).
In Other News
Barry Manilow is out of surgery and is “doing well” after being rushed to hospital “due to complications from emergency oral surgery”. The 72-year-old singer was taken to a Los Angeles hospital after playing a sold-out show on Wednesday evening. In a message posted on Manilow’s Facebook page, his management team said it was due to complications arising from an operation he had on Monday. “For the next 48 hours, Manilow has been instructed not to talk, sing, or rap,” an updated posting on the singer’s Facebook page said. Manilow is due to attend Monday night’s Grammy awards – it’s not yet known whether he will still be able to make it. He has suffered a series of health scares over his career – having to undergo regular dental treatment after a benign tumour ruptured in his mouth in 1986.
Richard Dawkins has had a stroke on the eve of his tour of Australia and New Zealand. Management for the 74-year-old author of The God Delusion said he had suffered a “minor stroke” in the UK last Saturday but had already returned home from hospital. Management for the 74-year-old author of The God Delusion said he had suffered a “minor stroke” in the UK last Saturday but had already returned home from hospital. “On Saturday night Richard suffered a minor stroke, however he is expected in time to make a full or near full recovery,” the statement said. “He is already at home recuperating.
Ken Watanabe has revealed he is suffering from stomach cancer. The illness has forced the 56-year-old Japanese actor to delay his return to the Broadway musical The King and I in order to have treatment. The Oscar-nominated actor has had endoscopic surgery and is recuperating in a hospital in Japan, his agent said. Watanabe, who has previously battled leukaemia, was diagnosed “almost miraculously early” with stomach cancer last month and underwent surgery, he said. “I was really shocked, my wife and daughter pushed me to have a health check and the cancer was found. It was a very early stage and they operated immediately,” he added. The actor was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 1989 but resumed acting while still undergoing chemotherapy. He became ill again in the early 1990s and, following further treatment, has been in remission since.
Rapper DMX is recovering after being found unconscious in a hotel car park and resuscitated. A representative of the rapper whose real name is Earl Simmons said he had suffered an asthma attack, although one source told the media it was actually a drug overdose. Police in Yonkers, New York, were first alerted to the report of an unconscious man in a Ramada Inn parking lot on Monday night. Lt Patrick McCormack of the Yonkers Police Department told CNN that officers escorted Simmons to the nearby Saint Joseph’s Medical Center, administering chest compressions and oxygen in the ambulance.
Britain’s most successful gymnast is walking unaided after neck surgery following a fall during training for Channel 4 show The Jump. Beth Tweddle, who won bronze at the London Games in 2012, could only walk a few steps assisted by medics after the operation, which involved having a piece of bone taken from her hip. In a statement, she said: “The medical staff here in Austria have been fantastic and I couldn’t have wished for better people to be around me at this time. I’ve started to feel a lot better in the past 24 hours and I’ve begun walking by myself. It’s still a case of taking one day at a time.” Surgeons took a bone from her hip and used it with pins to fuse together two fractured vertebrae in her neck. The number of injuries on the third series of The Jump – five celebrities have been forced to pull out – has prompted Channel 4 to review safety procedures on the show.
Hugh Jackman has appealed to people to wear sunscreen and get regular skin checks by posting a picture of himself on social media after having a fifth skin cancer removed. The picture shows his nose covered in a dressing after the removal of a basal cell carcinoma, a common and usually non-invasive type of skin cancer. The 47-year-old Australian actor, who starred as the Wolverine in the X-Men film series, says he had his first skin cancer removed in 2013 after his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, suggested he should get a mole on his nose checked. Basal cell carcinomas are relatively common, accounting for about 70% of all non-melanoma skin cancers. They are not invasive, but can require treatment as some may develop into more aggressive skin cancers. About 95% are caused by UV exposure from sunlight.
The world’s longest-surviving heart transplant patient has died, 33 years after his life-saving operation. John McCafferty was told he had only five years to live when he received the transplant at Harefield Hospital in west London, on 20 October 1982. His widow Ann said: “The last 30 years we had together were brilliant. We’ve travelled the world.” Mr McCafferty, from Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, died aged 73 on Tuesday at Milton Keynes Hospital. He was officially recognised as the world’s longest surviving heart transplant patient by Guinness World Records in 2013. At the time he said: “I want this world record to be an inspiration to anyone awaiting a heart transplant and to those who, like me, have been fortunate enough to have had one.”
And finally, we’re wondering if everything okay with the Queen? The only reason we ask is that the Arts Council have just sent out a document entitled “Advice And Guidance: Category ‘A’ Death” which lets organisations know how they should conduct their affairs in the event of the death of a senior member of the Royal Family. Although they do try to broaden the advice out for other “notable persons”, they return to the theme of Queeny carking it regularly. The most interesting part? We learned that while Charles, Camilla, Wills and Kate all classify as a ‘Category A’ member of the Royal Family, Harry doesn’t, perhaps further fanning the fires that he’s Hewitt’s son, not Charles’.
On This Day
- 1400 – Richard II of England dies, most probably from starvation, in Pontefract Castle, on the orders of Henry Bolingbroke.
- 1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
- 1849 – James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
- 1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.
- 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
- 1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
- 1929 – Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone‘s gang, are murdered in Chicago.
- 1966 – Australian currency is decimalised.
- 1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
- 1990 – The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth later become famous as Pale Blue Dot.
- 2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
Deaths
- 1400 – Richard II of England (b. 1367)
- 1744 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (b. 1682)
- 1779 – James Cook, English captain and explorer (b. 1728)
- 1975 – Julian Huxley, English biologist and eugenicist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1887)
- 1975 – P. G. Wodehouse, English author and poet (b. 1881)
- 1996 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (b. 1919)
- 2010 – Dick Francis, Welsh jockey and author (b. 1920)
Why Are So Many Unnatural Deaths Not Investigated?
The UK’s most prolific murderer, Harold Shipman, would have been 70 this year had he not killed himself 16 years ago in Wakefield Prison. He managed to kill at least 250 women without alerting suspicion. The whistle was blown by a relative of one of the victims. So why wasn’t the case picked up by a coroner and how many more unnatural deaths are officially missed?
What do coroners do? A coroner is an an independent judicial officer, appointed and paid for by the relevant local authority. He or she is usually a solicitor or doctor of five years standing, although all new appointments now have to be legally qualified. Their job is to investigate deaths that are violent, unnatural or of unknown cause with a view to determine who the deceased was, when and where they died and, crucially, how they died. There are about 507,000 deaths every year in England and Wales, of which about 45% will be reported to coroners. And there are currently 96 separate local coroner areas, each with their own senior coroner.
The coroner has three main decisions to make when a death occurs. First, should they accept the death for investigation? The general principles are that if the death was violent, unnatural or of unknown cause, it should be investigated. However, local reporting rules mean that what’s considered violent or unnatural varies from one area to another.
Second, once investigated, the coroner must decide whether to open an inquest. An inquest is opened when the original reason for accepting the death for investigation – violent, unnatural, or unknown cause – still holds after initial enquiries. Data for the same period showed that deaths advancing to inquest ranged from 6% in some areas to 29% in others.
The third and final decision for the coroner is to determine the appropriate verdict for the death. There are six common verdicts (now known as “conclusions”): natural causes, accidental death, suicide, industrial disease, open verdict, and the increasingly used “narrative” verdict where the circumstances of the death are recorded in a brief story.
You might think that coroner areas would have a fairly similar profile of verdicts but, in fact, these too vary widely. For example, narrative verdicts for the period 2000-2010 ranged from almost zero in some areas, such as Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales, to 46% of all verdicts returned in another (Birmingham and Solihull). And in South Shropshire, just 3% of inquest verdicts were recorded as natural deaths, while that verdict accounted for an incredible 52% of all inquest conclusions in Sunderland. Suicide rates ranged from 4% to 27%.
Does this matter? Widely varying outcomes across the country prove that not all coroner areas can be striking the appropriate balance between the needs of the state and the rights of the bereaved. This is how Harold Shipman was able to kill people without anybody batting an eyelid. Had he been practising in another area he would have been caught much sooner or perhaps not at all!!!
Last Week’s Birthdays
James Spader (56), Garth Brooks (54), Chris Rock (51), Ashton Kutcher (38), Nick Nolte (75), Mary Steenbergen (63), John Grisham (61), Seth Green (42), Joe Pesci (73), Mia Farrow (71), Greg Norman (61), Glenn Beck (52), Laura Dern (49), Elizabeth Banks (42), Chloe Grace Moretz (19), Robert Wagner (86), Burt Reynolds (80), Taylor Lautner (24), Damien Lewis (45), Jennifer Aniston (47), Sheryl Crow (54), Darren Aronofsky (47), Arsenio Hall (60), Josh Brolin (48), Christina Ricci (36), Mena Suvari (37), Peter Tork (74), Jerry Springer (72), Peter Gabriel (66), Charles Yeager (93) and Robbie Williams (42).
The Final Word
Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford died. Crawford said, “Damn it! Don’t you dare ask God to help me!”
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 7th February 2016
Alas, no points to be awarded today, which is somewhat of a surprise after the glut of celebrity deaths we’ve been seeing lately. Either famous people are dying exponentially or you lot are getting clued up as to how to play this game!
A quick note about contributions towards the newsletter; I know you have all been enjoying Ceri’s excellent pieces of writing and you probably feel that you could manage a few paragraphs from time to time too. Don’t be shy, email in a short piece, if only to give the us a break from time to time as writing on the same subject on a weekly basis gets very difficult very quickly, as some of you might remember when you took over the Dead Pool when I took a vacation ;P
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Joe Alaskey, 63, American voice actor (Looney Tunes, Rugrats, Casper), cancer.
- Benoît Violier, 44, French-Swiss chef, suicide by gunshot.
- Katie May, 34, American model (Playboy, Sports Illustrated) and online media personality (Snapchat), complications from a stroke.
- Kristine Miller, 90, American actress (I Walk Alone, Jungle Patrol, Too Late for Tears).
- Dave Mirra, 41, American BMX rider, suicide by gunshot.
- Edgar Mitchell, 85, American astronaut (Apollo 14).
- Axl Rotten, 44, American professional wrestler (ECW).
- Maurice White, 74, American songwriter and musician (Earth, Wind & Fire), complications from Parkinson’s disease.
- Raphael Schumacher, 27, Italian actor, hanged during performance.
In Other News
The news on Michael Schumacher’s health is “not good”, according to Luca di Montezemolo, the former Ferrari president, in an unusual intervention which only added to the speculation and mystery surrounding the Formula One legend’s condition. What is known is that Schumacher is still receiving treatment in Switzerland after sustaining severe head injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013 in the Alpine resort of Meribel. The 47-year-old was put in an induced coma following the crash and has been recovering with a specialist medical team at home on the shores of Lake Geneva since September 2014. The seven-time world champion’s family have retained a dignified silence throughout, with updates few and far between. Sabine Kehm, the 47-year-old’s manager, declined to respond to Di Montezemolo’s comments when contacted by the media. “I have news and unfortunately it is not good,” Di Montezemolo told reporters on Thursday, refusing to elaborate in any way. “Life is strange. He was a fantastic driver and only had one accident with Ferrari in 1999 (Schumacher broke his leg in an accident during the British Grand Prix).” Very few people are known to have visited the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver, who won five straight championships from 2000 to 2004.
Talking about Schumacher’s, an Italian actor who was left in a coma after he accidentally hanged himself during a live theatre performance has been pronounced clinically dead. Raphael Schumacher, 27, was performing in a production of Mirages at the Teatro Lux in Pisa, Italy, when the incident occurred. He was taken to hospital on Saturday night and has been in a coma since. Doctors say his condition has worsened and that he was not responding to treatment. The BBC reports that following a six-hour procedure to establish brain death on Thursday, the hospital issued a statement: “The family and the prosecutor’s office have both authorised that his organs be donated, but their removal will be subject to a medical assessment to be performed in the course of the night.” Mirages is a six-scene immersive performance staged in different parts of the theatre, with audience members walking between them. At the time of the incident, Schumacher was reciting a monologue from Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening alone in a courtyard in front of just one spectator. The actor reportedly changed the ending of the scene by placing his head in a noose instead of using a gun. He was discovered unconscious by a second spectator, reportedly a medical student, who rushed to his aid. While it is assumed that the incident was accidental, an investigation has been launched into the theatre’s safety procedures. That investigation has shifted from grievous bodily harm to culpable homicide, or manslaughter, according to the BBC. Schumacher’s mother has rejected the theory that he may have tried to commit suicide. “My son recently lost his father and had ended a relationship but had found his serenity again,” she said. “He didn’t leave a suicide note and had no reason to kill himself.”
More than 40 years after Lord Lucan disappeared from a blood-soaked London crime scene, the high court has finally cleared the way for his only son to inherit the earldom. A presumption of death certificate was granted by Mrs Justice Asplin on Wednesday following a hearing that lasted less than an hour. George Bingham, 48, can now assume the family title as the eighth earl of Lucan. The hearing at the Rolls Building in central London had been scheduled to last three days but Neil Berriman, Rivett’s son, withdrew his objections to a death certificate being issued under the 2014 Presumption of Death Act. The judge made the declaration on the basis that she was satisfied Lucan had not been known to be alive for a period of at least seven years. The death certificate can be revoked if the peer, who would now be aged 81, reappears. The hearing was told that police had confirmed there were no live lines of inquiry into Rivett’s murder, although the case had not been closed.
Frank Bruno’s death wish of returning to the ring have been dashed after he was told his application for a licence would be declined. The 54-year-old former heavyweight boxing champion posted on Twitter that the British Boxing Board of Control had informed his agent that “should I apply for a licence this would not be granted”. His agent, Dave Davies, confirmed on Monday the board had been in touch, saying: “Frank, like many other former sports stars, misses the good times when he was in the boxing ring and watching his son train has reignited his wish to return to the ring. “However we have had confirmation today … that should an application for a boxing licence be received from Frank it would be declined. As agents for Frank we must respect and accept their decision.” Bruno, who has bipolar disorder, acknowledged he had “certainly set Twitter talking” after he announced on ITV’s This Morning that he was “coming back into boxing” to help him cope with the effects of his medication. Asked how drugs had affected him, he said: “They made me suicidal – mess up your head, mess up your clock – you can’t sleep. I’m walking around break-dancing I’ve got so much energy. Asked how drugs had affected him, he said: “They made me suicidal – mess up your head, mess up your clock – you can’t sleep. I’m walking around break-dancing I’ve got so much energy!”. Almost enough energy to die in the ring!
Gone With The Wind actress Olivia de Havilland, who – at 99 – is the oldest living Oscar winner, is honoured by satirical magazine The Oldie. However she was unable to travel from her home in France to collect her Oldie of the Year award in person at Tuesday’s ceremony in London. But in a recorded message she said she was “utterly delighted” the judges deemed there was “sufficient snap in my celery” to win the accolade. The tongue-in cheek awards are given out annually by The Oldie, set up by former Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams to take an irreverent stand against ageism. De Havilland said: “It is deeply gratifying to thus find myself in the company of the Queen Mother, whose record I have long wanted to match as well as that of so many other distinguished recipients.” She shared her Oldie of the Year award with 101-year-old former barrister and member of the House of Lords, Jeremy Hutchinson.
A father of three choked to death as he tried to eat a McDonald’s cheeseburger in one mouthful, an inquest heard. Darren Bray, 29, blacked out when he attempted to fit the 99p burger into his mouth whole following a night out with friends. Cardiff Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Bray, of Barry, South Wales, had been drinking cans of beer, but not enough to affect his judgement, although eating a McDonald’s would be considered bad judgement in our book! He died from a food blockage to his airway and a coroner recorded a conclusion of death by misadventure. The hearing was told that Mr Bray had told friends to “watch this” as he picked up the burger, “rolled it into a ball” and put it in his mouth. However, Mr Bray went “blue” in front of two friends and started choking. Friend Sam Bisgrove told the inquest: “I could see him trying to cough it up and he was making horrible coughing noises. I tried to hit his back to help him clear his airway.” Paramedics arrived and performed CPR on Mr Bray, who was at a friend’s house in Barry, but were unable to restart his heart and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Dr Rhiannon Trefor told the hearing there was a 3in by 1.9in (8cm by 5cm) ball of food stuck at the back of his neck. The moral of the story, avoid McDonalds at all costs!
And finally, Antonio Docampo García, who died last week at the grand old age of 107, attributed his longevity to his drinking habits – four bottles of red wine a day, and no water. Mr Docampo liked to have two bottles of wine with lunch, and another two with dinner, his family told reporters. “He could drink a litre and a half all at once,” said his son Miguel Docampo López. “When we were both at home we could get through 200 litres of wine a month. He never drank water.” Mr Docampo, of Vigo in north west Spain, owned his own vineyard and was founder of the wine company Bodegas Docampo. (A cynic might suggest that tales of the wine’s life-giving properties could contain a teensy trace of marketing spiel.) Mr Docampo’s nephew Jerónimo Docampo, who now runs the vineyard, told La Voz de Galicia: “He sold the majority of the wine he produced, but still kept a decent amount back for himself.” “If he produced 60,000 litres a year he would keep 3,000 litres for himself. He always said that was his secret to living so long.”
On This Day
- 1497 – The Bonfire of the Vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy.
- 1935 – The classic board game Monopoly is invented.
- 1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
- 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
- 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
- 1997 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
Deaths
- 1871 – Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (b. 1797)
- 1938 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (b. 1868)
- 1979 – Josef Mengele, German SS officer and physician (b. 1911)
Why Do OAP’s Die Every Seven Minutes During the Winter?
Over the last four winters, according to the latest official figures, nearly 120,000 people in England and Wales have died of cold weather, or factors associated with cold weather such as a virulent strain of influenza. But campaigners argue that these excess winter deaths, defined as the difference between the number of deaths that occur each winter (from December to March) and the average number of deaths during the preceding four months (August to November) and the subsequent four months (April to July), have more to do with poverty than freezing temperatures.
And excess winter deaths seem to be increasing: despite last year’s mild winter, an estimated 43,900 excess winter deaths occurred – a rise of 140% on the previous year and the worst statistics since 1999-2000. Female deaths leapt nearly 150% in a single year, from 10,250 to 25,500 between 2013-14 and 2014-15. Poverty rates for women remain higher than for men, which compounds health problems.
Weather seems to be a minor factor in explaining these deaths. Across Europe, England and Wales have some of the highest rates of excess mortality in winter months. All Nordic countries have far lower winter mortality rates, despite much harsher weather. Norway’s rate is a quarter that of England and Wales, while Finland reports no difference in mortality rates between the summer and winter months. In contrast, Spanish and Portuguese climates are milder than Britain’s, yet excess winter deaths are far higher.
“The UK has an appalling record on cold-related deaths, with one older person dying every seven minutes from the winter cold. Colder countries like Sweden are better at protecting older people from the cold,” says Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK. Abrahams argues the issue is not so much cold weather as increasing fuel poverty, where people cannot afford to heat their homes adequately.
“Cold homes are a bigger killer across the UK than road accidents, drug abuse or alcohol abuse,” says Maria Wardrobe, director of National Energy Action. She agrees that the key to tackling winter deaths is to make sure older people have a well-insulated, warm home and the income needed to pay the fuel bills. The NPC wants a fuel poverty inquiry, and more suitable homes built specifically for older people, extra money for insulation and winter fuel payments.”
Of course, fuel poverty isn’t the only reason for excess winter deaths. The main problem with these statistics is that the measure itself is simplistic. The myriad factors that exacerbate illness, vulnerability or susceptibility aren’t collated. Inequality levels, access to hospitals and social care, loneliness and poverty worsen physical and mental health, and increase people’s vulnerability to dying during the winter months.
So keep all this in mind when you’re hoping for a rich celebrity death during the Winter!
Last Week’s Birthdays
Carol Channing (95), Johnny Rotten (60), Minnie Driver (46), Justin Timberlake (35), Brent Spiner (67), Lisa Marie Presley (48), Michael C. Hall (45), Stephanie of Monaco (51), Graham Nash (74), Shakira (39), Morgan Fairchild (66), Rebel Wilson (36), Isla Fisher (40), Alice Cooper (68), Natalie Imbruglia (41), Charlotte Rampling (70), Christopher Guest (68), Bobby Brown (47), Cristiano Ronaldo (31), Michael Sheen (47), Zsa Zsa Gabor (99), Rip Torn (85) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (54).
The Final Word
Murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah and asked if he had a last request. He replied, “Bring me a bullet-proof vest.”
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 31st January 2016
We awoke this morning to hear on the radio that Terry Wogan has died. A great loss to the BBC and those who loved him, however two of us thought that his death would be worth listing, well done to Nick M and Ceri J, both get 73 points!! No only this, but Shân E stuck to her guns and kept Abe Vigoda on her list and managed to score 156 points as a Cert. So now we have a new points leader and if the celebrity deaths keep on coming as they are, I think we’ll all be scoring something pretty soon!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Henry Worsley, 55, British adventurer, multiple organ failure.
- Colin Vearncombe, aka Black, 53, British singer-songwriter (“Wonderful Life“), head injuries sustained in a traffic collision.
- Abe Vigoda, 94, American actor (The Godfather, Barney Miller, Late Night with Conan O’Brien).
- Paul Kantner, 74, American musician (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship) and songwriter (“Wooden Ships“), multiple organ failure.
- Gordon Goody, 86, British criminal (Great Train Robbery), heart attack.
- Cecil Parkinson, 84, British politician, cabinet minister, cancer.
- Frank Finlay, 89, British actor (Othello, The Pianist, The Three Musketeers).
- Sir Terry Wogan, 77, Anglo-Irish broadcaster (BBC), cancer.
In Other News
Israel’s former president Shimon Peres has been rushed to hospital after experiencing chest pains, 10 days after he had a small heart attack. A spokeswoman has said medics treated him at his home on Sunday night and detected a “light irregular heart rate”. She said the doctors decided he should spend the night in hospital for observation. Mr Peres, 92, underwent minor surgery last week for a constricted artery. Despite his age, Mr Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Centre for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
Lord Lucan’s body was fed to a tiger after he shot himself, a member of the missing peer’s gambling set has claimed, the latest twist in the decades-old mystery surrounding the fate of the aristocrat. The account comes days before a procedural hearing at the High Court to determine whether a death certificate should finally be issued for Lucan. The Eton-educated 7th Earl of Lucan vanished after Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found murdered at his family home in Belgravia on November 7, 1974. He is said to have mistaken her for his wife Veronica and bludgeoned her to death. Three days later, the peer’s blood-soaked car was found abandoned in Newhaven, East Sussex, and an inquest jury declared him to be Miss Rivett’s killer a year later. Now, more than four decades later, a member of the set of wealthy gamblers to which Lord ‘Lucky’ Lucan belonged has given a grisly account of what is said to have happened to the peer. In an interview, Philippe Marcq says he was told by Stephen Raphael, another regular at the Clermont Club in Mayfair, shortly after Lucan’s disappearance that the peer travelled to a private zoo in Kent owned by his close friend John Aspinall. According to 73-year-old Mr Marcq, Raphael claimed he was among a group of
friends at Howletts zoo who discussed with Lucan about what he should do next. The peer was said to be concerned that he would never see his children again and his wife would get both them and the family trust. In order to make sure his estranged wife didn’t get a penny from his trust, he was advised the only way to avoid this was for him to vanish without a trace. His friends allegedly told him that, without proof of death, probate could not be granted on his estate for at least seven years – by which time his children would be old enough to look after their own affairs. They allegedly dismissed the idea that he flee abroad, saying he was not cut out for a life on the run and he would be returned to the UK. Instead, Mr Marcq said a pistol was placed in front of Lucan, who picked it up, went into the next room, and shot himself. The body was then fed to a tiger named Zorra. Police reportedly investigated the tiger theory at the time after Aspinall’s mother, Lady Osborne (the grandmother of Chancellor George Osborne) told them: “The last I heard of him (Lucan), he was being fed to the tigers at my son’s zoo.” When police visited Howletts, Aspinall is said to have responded: “My tigers are only fed the choicest cuts – do you really think they’re going to eat stringy old Lucky?”
I don’t know how I missed this last week, but Nickie pointed out that Mustafa Koç, 55, Turkish businessman (Koç Holding), died of a heart attack. There’s a whole family of very successful Koç’s if you care to take a look on their Wiki. What I like most is that this Turkish family have made their fortune from hard work and graft and have since shared their wealth with their country by donating towards a Koç Museum, a Koç School and a Koç University. Who knows, maybe we will see his kind arise again.
A grieving family and funeral congregation were left horrified when a pornographic video was accidentally played during the service. Hundreds of people gathered at Thornhill Crematorium in Cardiff to pay their respects to Simon Lewis, 33, and his baby boy, Simon Lewis Jnr, who were killed in a head-on collision. Mourners at Wednesday’s funeral described their shock after a crematorium blunder saw pornographic footage played by accident, instead of a tribute made in remembrance of Mr Lewis. Cardiff council, which runs the crematorium, has launched an urgent investigation. “It was absolutely disgusting, the priest turned around to play the video of Simon, but instead a hard-core pornography video was played on the big screen,” said a funeral-goer, who wished to remain anonymous. “Everyone was in shock, Simon’s father-in-law was furious, he shouted at the staff present and told them to turn it off. “It took them nearly four minutes to turn it off, people couldn’t believe what they were seeing. “To the priest’s credit he handled it extremely well. He apologised on behalf of Cardiff Council and said that in 30 years of doing the job, he had never seen such filth.” Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, who led the funeral service, said: “I remember looking up at the screen and seeing some type of video came on and a very loud noise. “I look at my congregations instead of the TV screen, but when I heard this noise and members of the congregation moving towards the screen, I realised something was wrong. “Members of the family were very distressed, and Simon’s father-in-law was desperately upset. “Thankfully an engineer came to fix it and turn it off. It seems to be some kind of electronic accident. A Cardiff council spokesman said: “We are carrying out an urgent investigation. There were four television screens used. “We are trying to establish whether the smart TV could have picked up a broadcast by accident from Bluetooth or a Wifi connection. The other TVs were not affected. “We are clear that it is not possible for any member of staff to play or download anything onto the computer to be shown on the screen.
On This Day
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for plotting against Parliament and King James.
- 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
- 1865 – The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
- 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
- 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.
- 1990 – The first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.
- 2010 – Avatar becomes the first film to gross over $2 billion worldwide.
Deaths
- 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
- 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright; wrote Winnie-the-Pooh (b. 1882)
- 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born American film producer; co-founded Goldwyn Pictures (b. 1882)
Ceri’s Grisly Corner
On our “how to die horribly list” this week is Necrotising Fasciitis, a rare Flesh Eating Bacterial Infection where the full thickness of whole areas of skin become infected, goes gross, black and dies in a short period of time and although the skin dies, the tissue beneath it is generally left untouched. The thing that marks it out as special is that it travels so fast, racing over your body like a flashover or backdraft or something leaving large areas of tissue beneath it either open to infection or dead.
NF can spread at the rate of 3cm per hour which, as I’m sure you can imagine is a right bugger when there’s only so much body to race around. Around 25% of people who get it die from it and many people lose loads of skin and require skin grafts, quite often large areas of tissue and or limbs need to be removed to try to stop this flesh eating menace’s spread.
Caused by relatively innocuous flora living on the surface of the skin, there’s no reliable way to avoid Necrotising Fasciitis other than practicing good hygiene and avoiding having a compromised immune system as most cases are in people who would be able to fight it off were their immune systems’ not taking a snooze or otherwise MIA. Very small scratches or wounds can start it off and then it’s holding a huge rave with only antibiotics or surgery as options for treatment and on top of all that lovely stuff it can also cause systemic shock and cause organ failure and ultimately death.
Many famous types have had their flesh metaphorically eaten by this infection such as Alan Coren (call my bluff), Jeff Hannerman (guitarist of Slayer) and there seems to be some confusion over whether Jim Henson (Muppets) died from it (or TSS). Either way it seems to me that it’s a safe bet for the monkeys of misfortune.
Last Week’s Birthdays
Aaron Neville (75), Neil Diamond (75), Nastassja Kinski (55), Kristen Schaal (38), Alecia Keys (35), Scott Glenn (75), Eddie Van Halen (61), Ellen DeGeneres (58), James Cromwell (76), Mimi Rogers (60), Bridget Fonda (52), Alan Cumming (51), Patton Oswalt (47), Alan Alda (80), Elijah Wood (35), Ariel Winter (18), Jessica Ennis-Hill (30), Tom Selleck (71), Heather Graham (46), Gene Hackman (86), Vanessa Redgrave (79), Phil Collins (65), Christian Bale (42) and Dick Chaney (75).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 24th January 2016
Points galore this week!!! With the passing of the world’s oldest living man, Yasutaro Koide at the age of 112, Kaz scores 138 as she had him down as her Cert, and Paul C. and Dave J. both score 38. But not only this, Stu had Sheila Sim, so a further 57 points are awarded! Well done to all of you! This has now moved things along somewhat on the leader board and it’s barely mid-way through January!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Dale Griffin, 67, British drummer (Mott the Hoople), Alzheimer’s disease.
- Glenn Frey, 67, American musician (Eagles), songwriter (“Take It Easy“, “Hotel California“, “Tequila Sunrise“) and actor (Wiseguy, Jerry Maguire), complications following intestinal surgery.
- Andrew Hatch, 117?, American supercentenarian, world’s unverified oldest person claimant.
- Yasutaro Koide, 112, Japanese supercentenarian, world’s oldest living man, heart failure and pneumonia.
- Sheila Sim, Lady Attenborough, 93, English actress (A Canterbury Tale, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, West of Zanzibar), dementia.
- Jimmy Bain, 68, Scottish bassist (Rainbow, Dio).
- Jennifer Guinness, 78, Irish socialite and kidnapping victim, cancer.
In Other News
British-born astronaut Piers Sellers says he is now living life at “20 times normal speed” after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Dr Sellers, originally from Crowborough in East Sussex, is the deputy director of Nasa’s science and exploration division. The 60-year-old was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in late October. “It did motivate me to concentrate my thoughts,” he told the BBC. “I’d been feeling rough for about six or nine months, getting progressively more ill. The outlook in terms of expected longevity was a bit of a shocker.” Speaking of his diagnosis and treatment, Dr Sellers said: “The prognosis right now is 12 to 18 months.” Dr Sellers had to become a US citizen to fulfil his dream of becoming an astronaut and has campaigned for the British government to develop its own space programme.
Jamie Foxx has been praised for putting his own life at risk by saving a man who was trapped in a burning truck. Brett Kyle’s pick-up went off the road and rolled over into a ditch close to Foxx’s California home. Foxx said the truck became engulfed in flames “within five seconds” after he got the driver out. “I don’t look at it as heroic”, he told reporters, “I just look at it like, you know, you just had to do something. And it all just worked out.’’ The Oscar-winning actor said he heard the crash from his house and called 911 before running to the scene. An off-duty paramedic who was driving by also stopped to help. They used his emergency room scissors to break the window and cut the man’s seatbelt and pull him out. “I told him as we were talking, as I’m getting him out, I said ‘you’ve got to help me get you out because I don’t want to have to leave you'”, Foxx said. The driver’s father Brad Kyle met Foxx to thank him for his actions. He said he had been shown surveillance footage of the crash site and said several cars had passed by the scene without helping. The 32-year-old driver has broken bones and a punctured lung, but he is expected to recover.
American Pie singer Don McLean was arrested on a misdemeanour domestic violence charge on Monday in Maine, a jail supervisor said. In a statement on his official website, McLean blamed “hard emotional times for my wife, my children and me”. “What is occurring is the very painful breakdown of an almost 30-year relationship…. There are no winners or losers but I am not a villain. I hope I will not be judged in this frantic media environment,” he said. The 70-year-old was arrested on 18 January after police were called to a property in Camden, Maine, at 02:00 local time. He was later released on bail. It is understood his wife was granted a temporary restraining order against the singer after she cited a pattern of abuse going back three decades. She claimed she feared for her life when she called police earlier this week, writing: “Don terrorised me for four hours, until the 911 call that I think might have saved my life.” McLean, “vigorously denies” his wife’s allegations. One thing is for sure, this clusterfuck ain’t over yet!
The Ryder Cup star Jamie Donaldson has suffered a potentially severe finger injury following a mishap with a chainsaw. The Welshman, who claimed the decisive point when Europe defeated the United States in September 2014, posted a graphic photo on Twitter of what seems to be a laceration to the little finger on his left hand. The 40-year-old wrote: “So folks in my time off decided to have a fight with a chainsaw and lost! Oops!! C u in Dubai.” It is not yet known whether Donaldson hacked off the finger completely, although the image shows he required multiple stitches. Further details remain unclear, but his post seems to indicate he will play at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, which gets under way on 4th February.
On This Day
- 41 – Roman Emperor Caligula, known for his eccentricity and sadistic despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. The Guard then proclaims Caligula’s uncle Claudius as Emperor.
- 1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.
- 1908 – The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.
- 1961 – Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
- 1984 – The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
- 1986 – Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi) of Uranus. Hehe
Deaths
- 1965 – Winston Churchill, English colonel and politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- 1986 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (b. 1911)
- 1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Betty White (94), James Earl Jones (85), Jim Carey (54), Kid Rock (45), Zooey Deschanel (36), Michelle Obama (52), Kevin Costner (61), Dolly Parton (70), Katey Segal (62), Bill Maher (60), Buzz Aldrin (86), Rainn Wilson (50), Geena Davis (60), Billy Ocean (66), Emma Bunton (40), Jack Nicklaus (76), Placido Domingo (75), Dj Jazzy Jeff (51), Linda Blair (57), Piper Laurie (84), John Hurt (76) and Rutger Hauer (72).
Why is Leslie Nielsen STILL dead? BBC Blog by Anisa Subedar
Is this a familiar experience? You wake up. Check the internet and there’s news of the passing of a much-loved celebrity. Then some time later after scrolling through screens of social media tributes you discover that person had actually died before… several times.
This week there have been waves of online sympathy over the passing of actor Leslie Nielsen prompting many to quote their favourite and most memorable lines from films such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun.
The only trouble is Nielsen actually died in November 2010 aged 84.
That didn’t stop thousands of online users sharing this BBC story without checking the date and so it appeared that Nielsen had just died.
As a result the article popped up in the “Most Read” section which resulted in even more people sharing it. And the snowball rolled on gathering weight. Many people shared their own personal tributes on Twitter and then felt foolish when they discovered the truth.
Leslie Nielsen isn’t the only celebrity who has experienced Multiple Death Syndrome, as we’re calling it. Artist and children’s TV presenter Tony Hart and Columbo actor Peter Falk have also been mourned more than once.
So why does this happen and why will it keep happening?
BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan Jones says the intricacies of how stories spread on social media are complex and mysterious. “It’s no surprise that the deaths of Leslie Nielsen or Tony Hart are stories that people want to share. But they’re at an interesting level – not people whose death makes the traffic stop like David Bowie or Princess Diana, but big enough in people’s childhoods to mean something.”
So if a person’s celebrity is below a certain level some of their fans may have missed news of their original death. And if they randomly search to find out whatever happened to a star, they may discover a report of their hero’s death, but not notice the date stamp. And so another snowball starts rolling downhill. It’s chaos theory making its presence known via social media. An entirely innocent variation of the Butterfly Effect – very different from the malicious “RIP” trolling of celebrities who are still alive.
So what fuels the need to share the death of someone famous online in such a hurry without checking the facts? Rory thinks it’s obvious that there’s a natural urge to be first with breaking celebrity news. “Everyone now sees themselves as a celebrity reporter! I’m sure there’s an element of mischief involved – which sometimes descends into malice. Social media is now where you see all kinds of human behaviour reflected – from kindness to one-upmanship to sheer nastiness.”
So there you go, we’re all a bunch of nasties!
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 17th January 2016
Welcome poolers, to a sadness filled edition of The Dead Pool. The flying monkeys have indeed been busy, taking from us a host of people, but primarily David Bowie and Alan Rickman, both much loved for the work they did. However, the Reaper waits for no man, and we all missed a bunch of points there, in fact with all the deaths last week, everyone failed to score! Luckily we’re experiencing a huge cold snap, you know how old people hate the cold right?
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- David Bowie, 69, English singer-songwriter (“Space Oddity“, Ziggy Stardust, “Heroes“), record producer and actor (Labyrinth), liver cancer.
- William Del Monte, 109, American centenarian, last known survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
- David Margulies, 78, American actor (Ghostbusters, The Sopranos, Conversations with My Father).
- Robert Black, 68, Scottish serial killer and kidnapper.
- Brian Bedford, 80, British actor (Robin Hood, Nixon, Much Ado About Nothing), cancer.
- Conrad Phillips, 90, British television and film actor (The Adventures of William Tell).
- René Angélil, 73, Canadian entertainment manager (Celine Dion), throat cancer.
- Alan Rickman, 69, English actor (Harry Potter, Die Hard, Love Actually), pancreatic cancer.
- Robert Banks Stewart, 84, Scottish television writer (Doctor Who, Bergerac, Shoestring), cancer.
- Dan Haggerty, 74, American actor (The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams), spinal cancer.
- Molly Madden, 109, Irish woman, oldest citizen of Ireland (death announced on this date).
In Other News
In what we could only describe as wishful thinking, a radio presenter announced the death of David Cameron in a news report about the death of singer David Bowie. Fiona Winchester, a newsreader across Global Radio-owned stations Heart, Smooth, LBC and Capital, was reading the news for Heart FM on Monday morning when she made the gaffe. A tongue-tied Winchester said “David Cameron has died” before quickly correcting herself and replacing the prime minister’s name with Bowie, who has died of cancer aged 69. If only her story was true! So, now that Bowie is dead, please rush out to buy all of his albums, because you never appreciated him when he was alive as you’re a sheep following the masses.
We’d better keep an eye on Celine Dion, because days after her husband and manager died of cancer, a family spokesman said on Saturday that the Canadian singer lost a brother to cancer too! Daniel Dion was 59. He was the eighth of 14 Dion siblings, so she does have some to spare. Strangely, both men suffered from throat cancer. Mr Angelil’s funeral will be held on Friday at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal where the couple married. The following day a memorial service will be held for her late brother, with a formal funeral a few days after that, the family spokesman said. I’m sure Celine’s heart will go on…
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres has undergone a “successful minor surgery” after suffering small heart attack, officials have said. Mr Peres, 92, was treated for a constricted artery that had caused chest pain, his spokesman Ayelet Frisch said. The veteran politician is said to be “conscious and in stable condition” in hospital in Tel Aviv. Mr Peres twice served as prime minister and was president from 2007 to 2014. His personal physician Raphi Walden said he was expected to stay in the Tel Hashomer hospital for “a few days”. Despite his age, Mr Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Centre for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
Bob Mortimer came so close to death he was given special permission to marry his long-term girlfriend just half an hour before undergoing a triple heart bypass. The comedian, one half of double act Reeves and Mortimer, was told last autumn he needed surgery because his arteries were 95 percent blocked. He wed his partner of 22 years Lisa Matthews on the morning of the operation. Couples are usually required to give 28 days’ notice to their local register office before the ceremony, but special dispensation can be granted if the bride or groom is suffering from a terminal illness or has an operation for a serious illness scheduled. Mortimer, 56, said: “I found out on the Thursday that I needed surgery, so I made a will on the Friday. My consultant said I was incredibly ill, so the registrar in London gave me permission to get married on the Monday. So I got married at 9.30am on the Monday, and went to hospital at 10am to have my operation.” His comedy partner Vic Reeves did not have the opportunity to be his best man because the only guests at the ceremony were the couple’s two children, Harry and Tom. The news of his heart problems “came completely out of the blue” after visiting the doctor with a suspected chest infection, he said. He added: “I’ve just redone all my tests and they said if I was a builder or a scaffolder I would be absolutely fine to do the show. And we don’t do anything like heavy labour in it.” But Mortimer still has to monitor his health, with a device that gives a constant reading of his heart rate. If it goes above a certain limit, he would have to stop the show.
And finally, a British man received quite a shock when the courier service that was supposed to be delivering a Kindle to his address sent him a package containing a tumour tissue sample from America instead. The sample was supposed to be sent to the Royal Free Hospital in London, yet somehow ended up in Bristol at the home of James Potten, who had been expecting to receive the e-reader, which he had ordered online. FedEx had initially delivered the package to Mr Potten’s door while he was out, so he contacted the courier asking them to return once he got home. The driver then headed back to the house, bearing a package with the recipient’s name and address. However, when Mr Potten opened the parcel, he discovered a box marked “patient tumour – specimen enclosed.” After seeing this, the still Kindle-less environmental consultant got back in touch with FedEx, asking them to retrieve the package and deliver it to the correct address. Meanwhile, the Royal Free Hospital has confirmed that a package destined for one of its institutions had been erroneously delivered to an address in Bristol, and says it will now seek “answers from the delivery company as to how this mistake was made.” Apparently there is still no sign of the Kindle.
On This Day
- 1912 – Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
- 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
- 1949 – The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, airs for the first time.
Deaths
- 1874 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai conjoined twins (b. 1811)
- 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
- 1964 – T. H. White, English author (b. 1906)
- 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor, singer, director, and producer (b. 1926)
Ceri’s Grisly Corner
Generally we think of rabies as something that happens somewhere else, mainly because it does, however the population of our lists are fairly elsewhere (other than incarcerated ones) in nature too or at least travel a lot.
Rabies, or bitey frothy mouth disease is caused by a virus passed between mammals when the infected creature bites, scratches or otherwise passes the virus into the uninfected one. It causes fever and tingling in the site of infection leading to inability to move body parts or jerky movement, excitement, confusion, fear of water and aggression. All lovely symptoms to have, I’m sure you’d agree!
Once you have been bit, scratched or even licked by something that might be infected you need to have the vaccine as soon as possible as other than a few recent cases treated with the ‘Milwaukee protocol’ (mainly involving an induced coma) its 100% fatal once it gets to the brain.
Rabies (from the Latin for madness) leads to inflammation of the brain where it causes behaviour changes and movement problems. Animals infected with Rabies will often change their normal routine such as being active during the day if nocturnal or the reverse, leading to an increased chance of encountering other animals and so being more likely to pass on the virus. Moral being don’t let a drooling lurchy animal into your house!
Rabies has been around since at least 2000 BCE and has always been a source of fear leading to owners of rabid dogs being heavily fined if their dog bit a person, I’m not sure if you’d be fined if your own dog bit you though. There were many culls of stray dogs and cats carried out during the 18th century however as people like fluffy animals in general the culls were not fully enforced and so were not particularly helpful in reducing the spread; idiots! During the 19th century the increased understanding of dogs and disease led to more helpful initiatives such as quarantine which is the main reason behind the UK being rabies free and is still used today.
Over the years many stories and fantasy creatures have evolved from our collective fear of rabies, especially the behaviour changes. Werewolves (people acting more like dogs with rabies presumably), Vampires (people biting people) and even Zombies (lurching body movements, biting and aggression while having their personality destroyed) are thought to have emerged from legends and myths surrounding rabies.
It’s a rather nasty condition and I probably wouldn’t wish it on anyone on my list really. Even the pretty nasty ones, however I guess the ones in prison are kind of quarantined anyway so if it were to happen at least it wouldn’t lead to a zombie plague!
Last Week’s Birthdays
Rod Stewart (71), Kate Moss (42), Jason Bateman (47), Faye Dunaway (75), Orlando Bloom (39), Kirsty Alley (65), Pat Benatar (63), Howard Stern (62), Mary J. Blige (45), George Forman (67), Liam Hemsworth (26), LL Cool J (48), Dave Grohl (47), Carl Weathers (68), Melanie Chisholm (42), Pixie Lott (25), Amanda Peet (44) and Evan Handler (55).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 10th January 2016
Welcome all, to a slightly controversial start to the scoring this year. As you know, the first death of the year is a highly coveted prize that secures an extra 50 points, so when Laura messaged me that one of her choices had died, I was over the moon. However, one of the rules of the Dead Pool is that your choices must appear in the Wiki Death Pages. Laura knew from the outset that her choice, Oscar Ray Bolin, a Death Row inmate in Florida, was a dodgy listing. Strangely he has no Wiki page of his own, despite his murderous tendencies and several appeals against his execution. Perhaps someone will take it upon themselves to write one. Saying this, he did pop up briefly on the mobile version of the Wiki Deaths page, he has been subsequently removed for some reason, but we do have pictorial proof, hence my decision to award the points! In the past, the Wiki Death Page has been rather unreliable in its listings, highly notable people are missed whilst obscurities from the world of fly fishing are included. I believe the listings are changed by the demonic power of Jimmy Wales himself, so in future, if you have an obscure listing, the onus is on you to send proof that your dead star was listed on the page, be it the mobile or normal version.
Well done Laura, first death of the year and a relatively young un too. 147 points to start off the season!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Robert Stigwood, 81, Australian band manager (Bee Gees, Cream) and film producer (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Evita).
- Sian Blake, 42–43, British actress (EastEnders), head and neck injuries.
- André Turcat, 94, French aviator, first man to fly the Concorde.
- Pat Harrington, Jr., 86, American actor (One Day at a Time, The Inspector, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels), complications from a fall and Alzheimer’s.
- Otis Clay, 73, American R&B and soul singer (“Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You“, “The Only Way Is Up“), heart attack.
- Ed Stewart, 74, British broadcasting personality (Top of the Pops, Crackerjack), stroke.
In Other News
Pop star Janet Jackson has used her own lyrics to deny rumours she has throat cancer. Concerns spread earlier this week, when US media reported “sources close to the singer” saying doctors had found a growth on her vocal cords. Jackson responded by quoting her song The Great Forever on social media: “Sources say but where ya gettin’ it? Don’t create the truth you like.” In a statement, she added: “The rumours are untrue. I do not have cancer.” The singer announced just before the new year she would postpone several 2016 dates on her Unbreakable world tour, telling fans she had been advised to have surgery. “I need you to know, I learned today, from my doctors that I must have surgery soon,” she wrote. “It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable tour until the spring.” Jackson didn’t elaborate on her condition at the time, saying: “There will be no further comment.” The cancer rumour originated on US gossip site Radaronline and was rapidly reported by media outlets. The unnamed source was quoted as saying Jackson’s family were “terrified” as they awaited test results. After denying the cancer rumour, the 49-year-old stated: “I’m recovering. My doctors have approved my concerts as scheduled in Europe, and as I promised, the postponed shows will be rescheduled. Thank you for your prayers and love.”
Bob Mortimer has been cleared by doctors to go on tour with comedy partner Vic Reeves after having a triple heart bypass operation. Vic and Bob cancelled the first leg of their 25th anniversary UK tour last October because he needed surgery. Mortimer wrote on Twitter on Monday: “Doctors just passed me fit to do second leg of tour next month.” The tour, 25 Years Of Reeves And Mortimer: The Poignant Moments, was due to have started in Glasgow on 8th November. At the time, Mortimer wrote: “So sorry to those who bought tickets that we had to cancel 1st leg of tour. Three consultants said I had to have the op immediately.”
USA Paralympic silver medallist Richard Browne has sustained broken ribs and concussion in a car accident. The 24-year-old spent two nights in hospital after his car was in collision with a lorry in Florida. “Richard is badly shaken up and in a lot of pain but he was very lucky,” his manager Ian Byers said in a statement. “Doctors have advised that he should rest for three weeks, which will impact on his winter training and may mean that we have to review his early-season race plans.”
Did you know that Tony Hart, presenter of TV shows including Vision On, Take Hart and Hart Beat, died in 2009. Half the people you know on Facebook don’t. The internet apparently has an extremely short memory when it comes to children’s television icons of the 70s and 80s. Piers Morgan was one of the useless cunts that failed to check his sources when he joined in with the latest round of lamentations over the death of Mr Hart, but why would he check his sources, he never bothered when he was running The Tabloids™. The six-year-old story became the most shared page on the Telegraph website on Sunday as huge numbers of readers posted the link to Twitter and Facebook. Well done you if you saw through it!
And finally, in a slightly overthought suicide, a man strangled and dismembered his wife, encased her head in concrete and then used the concrete block to help drown himself in an Austrian lake. Officials said the couple were a 72-year-old man and his 71-year-old wife from near Frankfurt in Germany, but did not identify them further. The corpse and a bag were recovered by police divers from the waters of Traunsee on Monday. A day earlier, two suitcases containing the woman’s remains were found floating close to the lake’s shore near the town of Gmunden. Postmortem examinations suggested that the woman was strangled between 25th December and 1st January and that the man drowned some time later. There was no indication of involvement by a third party. “We believe first and foremost that [the man’s death] was suicide,” state prosecutor Birgit Ahamer said.
On This Day
- 1810 – Napoleon Bonaparte divorces his first wife Joséphine.
- 1863 – The London Underground, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington station and Farringdon station.
- 1927 – Fritz Lang‘s futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
- 1929 – The Adventures of Tintin, one of the most popular European comic books, is first published in Belgium.
- 1985 – Sir Clive Sinclair launches the Sinclair C5 personal electric vehicle, which became a notorious commercial failure and later a cult collector’s item.
- 2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involves beer that was deliberately contaminated with crocodile bile leaving at least 56 dead and nearly 200 hospitalised.
Deaths
- 1862 – Samuel Colt, American businessman; founded Colt’s Manufacturing Company (b. 1814)
- 1917 – Buffalo Bill, American soldier and hunter (b. 1846)
- 1971 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (b. 1883)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Victoria Principal (66), Mel Gibson (60), Michael Stipe (56), Julia Ormond (51), Robert Duvall (85), Diane Keaton (70), Marilyn Manson (47), Bradley Cooper (41), Rowan Atkinson (61), Jeremy Renner (45), Nicholas Cage (52), Kenny Loggins (68), Lewis Hamilton (31), Shirley Bassey (79), Joely Richardson (51), Jimmy Page (72) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (34).
Ceri’s Grisly Corner
Hello Deadpoolers, I’m attempting to do my bit for our weekly death page by bringing you a weekly peek at the horrible, disgusting and terrifying diseases and conditions that will hopefully prove the downfall of those on your list.
This week we’re looking at a fairly recent threat to our genitals, that is, super gonorrhoea. Super gonorrhoea (or as I prefer to call it ‘mutant clap’) has been in the news recently, as it emerged amongst some amorous feckers who aren’t sensible enough to wear a raincoat when making the beast with 2 backs.
The clap has been around since at least the 1600’s. It causes yellow or green discharge from yer bits, tummy ache and burny pee. Obviously it’s a complete bugger to have running riot in your nethers and early treatments included various metals including mercury and weirdly an Indonesian pepper! Ultimately it became less serious and more treatable once penicillin was introduced. While it isn’t strictly fatal by itself, the associated complications really can be, if not treated in time.
Right, back to the super in super gonorrhoea. In 2015, 16 cases of antibiotic resistant clap were reported in Northern England. This was probably helped by people not sticking to their treatment regimes. The UK chief medical officer said that ‘gonorrhoea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease’ and has ‘rapidly acquired resistance’ to the drugs we are using and as there are few alternative options for treatment we may soon be screwed. Complications can range from sterility to sores on your nads (which if infected can kill).
I don’t know about you guys, but I know I don’t fancy getting gross, green genitals. I think I’ve just killed my libido. Shame that wasn’t on my list, eh?’
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 3rd January 2016
Welcome all to the brand new 2016 Dead Pool!! Please welcome all the new players and nod your head towards the old guard. We have now fully migrated to the new domain www.TheDeadPool.rip, so please update your bookmarks. Also the email has changed to mail@TheDeadPool.rip. After some teething trouble earlier this week, everything is now fully operational, pretty much like The Death Star!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
2015
- John Bradbury, 62, English drummer (The Specials).
- Meadowlark Lemon, 83, American Hall of Fame basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters).
- Lemmy, 70, English rock musician (Motörhead, Hawkwind), cancer.
- Ian Murdock, 42, American software engineer, founder of the Debian Project.
- Pavel Srníček, 47, Czech footballer (Newcastle United, national team), complications from heart attack
- Natalie Cole, 65, American Grammy-winning singer (“This Will Be“, “Sophisticated Lady“, Unforgettable… with Love) and actress, heart failure.
- Steve Gohouri, 34, Ivorian footballer (Wigan Athletic, national team).
- Wayne Rogers, 82, American actor (M*A*S*H, Cool Hand Luke, House Calls), complications from pneumonia.
2016
- Nimr al-Nimr, 56, Saudi Shia religious leader, executed
- Faris Ahmed Jamaan al-Showeel al-Zahrani, 38, Saudi al-Qaeda member, executed
In Other News
Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne is said to be feeling better after suffering a heart attack earlier this week and has thanked members of the public for their support. The 81-year-old was taken to hospital on Tuesday. He is best known for presenting The Late Late Show on Irish television between 1962 and 1999. Since then, he has continued to work for the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ, working on television and radio shows. “I’m feeling better and on the road to recovery. Thanks to all for the well wishes,” he said. High-profile RTÉ colleagues have expressed relief at news of the improvement in his condition, and the station said “all his friends and colleagues across RTÉ are thinking of him and wish him all the best with his recovery”. Despite cutting back on his workload in recent times, Byrne continues to host a weekly show on RTÉ Lyric FM as well as the ‘Meaning of Life’ television series on RTÉ One. The family have requested privacy following the incident.
Nigel Farage has said police suspected sabotage after a wheel on his Volvo fell off while he was driving on a motorway. The Ukip leader claimed nuts on all of the wheels of his V70 were found to be loose after the “frightening” crash on a road near Dunkirk in France. He described how he was forced to stop after losing control on the motorway, fleeing the car and darting over a barrier to avoid oncoming traffic. “It was in the middle of bloody nowhere, and I was caught in a very bad position. There was a huge section of roadworks with cars going back and forth on the same side of the carriageway. “I suddenly realised I was losing steering but there was no hard shoulder to pull on to. I slowed down, put the hazards on and then one of the wheels came off. I jumped over the wall as quickly as I bloody well could to get away from lorries and everything.” When police arrived, they reportedly told him the cause was a malicious act but he decided not to take action. He has received death threats in the past but, when asked who he thought might be responsible, said: “I haven’t got a clue. Quite frankly, the way my life’s been over the past two and a half years, nothing surprises me.”
The favourite dog of Thailand’s ailing monarch has died. The dog, called Tongdaeng (Copper), became both a household name and a publishing sensation in Thailand after King Bhumibol Adulyadej adopted her as a stray puppy and penned a heartfelt book about her attributes in 2002. She was praised for her loyalty and obedience, with the book widely interpreted at the time as a parable about how Thais should live and remember their place within the kingdom’s rigid society. Her death was announced in a statement from the veterinary faculty of Kasetsart University late Monday. “While Khun Tongdaeng was sleeping and relaxing, she died peacefully on 26th December 2015 at 11:10pm at Klai Kangwon Palace,” the statement read. The statement added that she had been ill for the last few years and was just over 17 years old when she passed away. An unnamed official at the university confirmed that the statement was genuine. She regularly featured in palace photographs while the book about her outsold bestsellers such as Harry Potter in Thailand.
A clip shared by boxing legend Mike Tyson on Twitter shows the moment he tried out his daughter Milan’s ‘hoverboard’. At first, he manages to ride and spin the self-balancing scooter, however, he soon appears to lose control and ends up crashing to the floor. His daughter may have seen it coming, as she is heard saying: “Daddy, I don’t want you to fall.” Tyson, 49, posted the video on Twitter and said: “Seemed like a good idea to ride my daughter #milantyson #cyboard #hoverboard but guess not…” His fall, which sounded like a pound of wet flesh splatting on a hard concrete floor, proved popular on social media with thousands of shares.
A man died on Christmas Day in Germany after he was hit in the head by a flying piece of metal from a condom machine that he and two accomplices blew up in an apparent robbery attempt, police said on Monday. The 29-year-old man was taken to hospital in the western town of Schöppingen, near the Dutch border, by the two other men who fled the scene of the explosion in a car, leaving behind condoms and money scattered around the gutted vending machine. The two men told hospital officials that their friend had fallen down the stairs, injuring his head. Suspicious of their story, the officials called the police. During questioning, police said, one of them admitted that the three had blown up the condom machine, and that their fellow conspirator was hit in the head by metal as he tried to take cover. They should have taken precautions…
On This Day
- 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
- 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
- 1996 – The Motorola StarTAC, the first flip phone and one of the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption, goes on sale.
- 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Deaths
- 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (b. 1730)
- 1903 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
- 1967 – Jack Ruby, American murderer (b. 1911)
- 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (b. 1887)
- 2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (The Everly Brothers) (b. 1939)
Last Week’s Birthdays
John Amos (76), Gerard Depardieu (67), Masi Oka (41), Stan Lee (93), Maggie Smith (81), Denzel Washington (61), Sienna Miller (34), Noomi Rapace (36), Marianne Faithfull (68), Ted Dansen (68), Jude Law (43), Danny McBride (39), Fred Ward (73), Patti Smith (69), Tracey Ullman (56), Jay Kay (46), Eliza Dushku (35), Ellie Goulding (29), Heidi Fleiss (50), LeBron James (31), Anthony Hopkins (78), Ben Kingsley (72), Val Kilmer (56), Verne Troyer (47), Tia Carrera (49), Cuba Gooding Jr. (48) and Kate Bosworth (33).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 27th December 2015
How’s this for commitment eh? A not-so-special post-Boxing Day edition of the Dead Pool. Yup, I spent half my Crimbo writing up this piece of tat just to keep you happy. Don’t worry though, I had plenty of time spare as they overlooked my space at the dining table and I had next to no presents to open, so here we are. I hope you all got to see The Queen looking as doddery as her husband at 3pm, surely 2016 is the year for both of them, but there’s only one way to find out, list them and send your deadly thirteen to me!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Patricia Elliott, 77, American actress (A Little Night Music, One Life to Live), Tony Award winner (1973), leiomyosarcoma.
- Carol Burns, 68, Australian actress (Prisoner), cancer.
- Brooke McCarter, 52, American model and actor (The Lost Boys, Thrashin’), alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency.
- Don Howe, 80, English football player (West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal, national team) and coach.
In Other News
Singer Janet Jackson has put her Unbreakable world tour on hold until spring to have surgery. Jackson said her doctors told her she needs an operation “soon”. “Please pray for me, my family and our entire company during this difficult time,” the 49-year-old asked fans. She said she would not be giving any details of her health condition. In 2008, Jackson cancelled a string of concert dates after developing migraine-associated vertigo, which might suggest that she’s got a brain bubble. “It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable Tour,” she said, adding that fans should hold on to their tickets. “They will be honoured in a special way when the new schedule is announced.” Would that be your funeral Janet?
Former Newcastle goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering cardiac arrest in the Czech Republic. According to information received by his agent Steve Wraith, the 47-year-old collapsed while out jogging in Ostrava on Sunday, which doesn’t surprise anyone. “I spoke to his family in the Czech Republic who said his heart had stopped,” Wraith told BBC Sport. “He is in a critical condition in hospital and remains unconscious.” Srnicek became a fans’ favourite during his first spell with the Magpies between 1991 and 1998. He was signed by manager Jim Smith and played under Ossie Ardiles, Kevin Keegan and latterly Kenny Dalglish, all of which are amazing names for your list!
The downhill skiing champion Marcel Hirscher escaped unharmed after a drone carrying a camera fell from the sky and narrowly missed him on his way down the slope during a race in Italy. The Austrian, who has won the overall World Cup title for the past four seasons, was on his second run of the slalom event at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy when the machinery smashed into the snow metres behind him. Hirscher appeared not to notice and continued his run, but afterwards he said: “This is horrible. This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.” But we’re all hoping that it will!
And finally, a Montana man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to shoot a student for divulging a plot line from the newly released Star Wars epic. Police say Arthur Roy, of Helena, got “angry” with a student he had befriended on Facebook after the boy gave up a subplot to Star Wars: The Force Awakens during an online conversation last week. During the online fight that ensued, Roy is alleged to have posted a photo of himself in which he appears to brandish a gun, which he indicates is a Colt 1911 with a “hair trigger”, according to a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit also says the boy was fearful Roy was going to come to “shoot him”. Roy also said he was “coming to find” the boy, whose school was placed on security “lockdown” after officials saw the exchange. Roy was arrested on Friday on suspicion of assault with a weapon, a felony. He made an initial appearance in Lewis and Clark county justice court on Monday, after which he was ordered held on $10,000 (£6,750) bail. Such a waste of resources, I could have easily told you that Chewy dies and Yoda’s babies have infiltrated the Imperial HQ as green larvae that need seeding by Luke’s special sauce, Oh, jesus turns up with a light sabre too!! Seriously, the film is that shit!
Oh… Michael Schumacher is still alive, just about. Whatever you have heard is false.
On This Day
- 1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington‘s funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
- 1846 – Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
- 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died.
- 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
- 1982 – Time‘s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
- 2004 – A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.
Deaths
- 1972 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
- 1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
- 2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor and producer (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
- 2006 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Jane Fonda (78), Kit Harington (29), Samuel L. Jackson (67), Kiefer Sutherland (49), Jonah Hill (32), Sissy Spacek (66), Ricky Martin (44), Jared Leto (44), Annie Lennox (61), Phil Spector (76), Harry Shearer (72), July Delpy (46), Chris Evert (61), Phil Donohue (80), Ralph Fiennes (53), Vanessa Paradis (43), Lars Ulrich (52), He,ena Christensen (47), Dido (44), Stephenie Meyer (43) and Lemmy Kilmister (70).
End of year round up next folks!
Dead Pool 20th December 2015
Welcome all, to a points ridden edition of the Dead Pool. Lets start off with the only one who’s died this week, Jimmy Hill! Wendy had him down as her Cert, so 163 points, well done!! Now onto the housekeeping. Those pesky names I missed throughout the year. Luke had Ingeborg Sjöqvist, so 47 points. Barry had Denis Healey, so 52 points. Lee had Nicholas Winton, 44 points and he had Stuart Scott, 101 points. Martin also had Stuart Scott, 101 points. So there’s some movement on the leader board.
Do I need to remind you that there is only 11 days left? Which means that you have that much time to submit your list for 2016, best get your arses into gear!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Kathy Secker, 70, British television presenter. (body discovered on this date).
- Patricia Brooker, 80, British reality television personality (The Only Way Is Essex).
- Peter Dickinson, 88, British author.
- Jimmy Hill, 87, English footballer (Fulham), manager, trade union leader (Professional Footballers’ Association) and TV presenter (Match of the Day), Alzheimer’s disease.
- Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, 87, British politician, Member of Parliament for Leicester North West and later Leicester West (1970–1997), Alzheimer’s disease.
In Other News
England’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks has revealed he is suffering from kidney cancer for a second time. Having lost one kidney to the disease 10 years ago, Banks, 77, is receiving chemotherapy after blood tests showed the other is now affected. He told the media: “Last year we went on our annual holiday to Florida. A week later I couldn’t sleep and then I couldn’t even stand due to the pain. I was sent straight to hospital where they told me I had cancer. I was so shocked when they told me it was my kidney. “The last time I had the cancer it was very large but they were able to remove the kidney and take the cancer away with it. We hope medication will make this cancer small enough for them to operate and carry out electrical treatment to break it up. But if it grows they will have to remove [the kidney] and I’ll need a replacement.”
Marc Dal Maso, who was in charge of Japan’s scrum during Eddie Jones’s time there, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease and believes the blows he received during his career as a hooker are the cause. Dal Maso, who played for France 33 times, will not be part of Jones’s England regime as he resumes a consultancy role with the Highlanders in Otago in the new year. He said the illness was diagnosed in 2012 but he did not tell anyone, including Jones, until now. “The problems started when I was 30 and still playing,” said Dal Maso, who is 48, in an interview with a French newspaper. “I was not feeling well, tired all the time, and my sister, who works in medicine, suggested I had tests. A scan revealed Parkinson’s disease and I am on medication morning, noon and night.
Actor James Woods has narrowly avoided serious injury after being involved in a major car accident. The three-time Emmy award winner tweeted on Monday that a man driving “75+ in an ice storm” spun out of control. In a dramatic report of events, Woods said he “hit right wall to avoid him, spun 180, hit left wall sliding backwards going 60 mph.” “Huge drop 100 feet into river below, but the guardrail held. I managed to pull out and slide down out of oncoming traffic. Six car pileup.” The Nixon actor said there were no deaths but his car was “wrecked”. “Good to be alive. Glad everybody survived.” Woods was driving in the US state of Colorado in a 4WD jeep he described as an “old tank”. “That Jeep saved my life,” he tweeted. He also said police officers told him he was the only driver involved who didn’t hit anybody. Woods said he had only a “little concussion”. “God smiled on me today. I am so happy to be alive.”
Wilnelia Forsyth has revealed she feared for the life of her husband, Sir Bruce, after he had surgery following a fall, but said he was getting better. The veteran television presenter underwent keyhole surgery on an abdominal aortic aneurysm in mid-November and is still in recovery, forcing him to pull out of hosting the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special. The aneurysm was discovered in October after a fall, which left him in hospital with a minor concussion and abrasions on his face. The 87-year-old entertainer has been recovering at home and his wife said it had been an emotional time. She told the Daily Mail: “I’m not ready to lose him yet. This has scared me to death, particularly waiting in that hospital when he was having his operation. That felt like an eternity. Because of Bruce’s age there are so many risks involved. “You think: ‘My God, will he come out all right?’ But you have to trust the doctors. The alternative – not having surgery – was worse. It’s like you’re in a corner. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, because this is such a fatal thing.” The 58-year-old said the surgery and recovery had been “very, very hard” for her husband, who was a “proud man”. But she said: “We’ve been told with this kind of operation it will take one or two months for him to fully recover. Seeing my husband getting better is like having an early Christmas present.”
Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has made a rare public appearance, amid concerns for his ailing health. In television footage released on Monday by the palace he is seen swearing in judges at a Bangkok hospital where he has been staying. He has received treatment for a number of ailments including a lung infection. The health of the 88-year-old monarch is of public concern as he is widely revered and seen as an arbiter in the country’s divided political arena. The king, who is the world’s longest serving monarch, was last seen in September in a video released by the palace. He missed his birthday celebrations for the second consecutive year on 5th December. The event was marked by a cycling event last week in Bangkok led by his son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. Palace officials did not give any further details of the king’s health on Monday.
The former BBC broadcaster, Stuart Hall, has survived and been released from prison after serving half of his sentence for sexual abuse. The former It’s a Knockout presenter, now 85, was jailed in 2013 after he admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, one as young as nine, between 1967 and 1985. He was sentenced to 15 months, which was doubled when the court of appeal ruled the original term “inadequate”, and received an additional 30 months in jail in 2014 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting a teenage girl. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said it was unable to comment on individual cases, but added: “Public protection is our top priority and offenders automatically released on licence at the halfway point of their sentence are subject to strict controls. Either way, lock up your daughters!
And finally, the doctor of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he is in “excellent” health and has had no significant medical problems. Mr Trump had been under pressure to release his medical history after several other candidates had done so. The 69-year-old real estate tycoon would become the oldest president to be elected in US history. However, his physician said he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”. New York City-based physician Harold Bornstein said his physical strength and stamina are “extraordinary”. Promising to release it a few weeks ago, he tweeted that his medical report would show “perfection”. “I am fortunate to have been blessed with great genes,” Mr Trump wrote on Facebook. “People have been impressed by my stamina, but to me it has been easy because I am truly doing something that I love.” Mr Bornstein writes in a note that he has been Mr Trump’s personal physician since 1980, and that in 39 years, he has had no major issues. His blood pressure and laboratory tests are “astonishingly excellent” and he has lost 15 pounds (7kg) in the past year, according to Mr Bornstein. He said Mr Trump has had no forms of cancer, or joint surgery, and does not smoke or drink alcohol.
On This Day
- 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade.
- 1946 – The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
- 1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
- 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
- 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
- 2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
Deaths
- 1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
- 1968 – John Steinbeck, American author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
- 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934)
- 2010 – Brian Hanrahan, English journalist (b. 1949)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Dick Van Dyke (90), Christopher Plummer (86), Steve Buscemi (58), Ted Nugent (67), Jamie Foxx (48), Taylor Swift (26), Vanessa Hudgens (27), Don Johnson (66), Michelle Dockery (34), Billy Gibbons (66), Ernie Hudson (70), Eugene Levy (69), Bill Pullman (62), Milla Jovovich (40), Laurie Holden (46), Pope Francis (79), Keith Richards (72), Stephen Spielberg (69), Leonard Maltin (65), Ray Liotta (61), Christina Aguilera (35), Steve Austin (51), Jennifer Beals (52), Kirsty Swanson (46), Alyssa Milano (43) and Jake Gyllenhaal (35).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 13th December 2015
Good afternoon all, no points to award this week with only 18 days left to go! So no change in the league table and Paul C looks very strong there in the lead, which shows how important it is to pick successful Cert’s and Women. So far, four of us have handed in lists for 2016, so we will be continuing with the whole escaped again.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Nicholas Smith, 81, British actor (Are You Being Served?, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Doctor Who), complications from a fall.
- Holly Woodlawn, 69, Puerto Rican-born American actress and Warhol superstar, brain and liver cancer.
- Shirley Stelfox, 74, British actress (Emmerdale, Keeping Up Appearances, Coronation Street), cancer.
- Martin E. Brooks, 90, American actor (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Dallas).
- Douglas Tompkins, 72, American conservationist and businessman, co-founder of The North Face and Esprit, hypothermia following kayak accident.
In Other News
Former US president Jimmy Carter announced that he was cancer-free on Sunday, just four months after revealing that doctors had found four spots of melanoma on his brain. “My most recent MRI brain scan did not reveal any signs of the original cancer spots nor any new ones,” Carter said in a statement on Sunday. “I will continue to receive regular three-week immunotherapy treatments of pembrolizumab,” he added, referring to a common cancer drug. Carter, 91, shared the news on Sunday with worshippers at the Baptist church in Georgia where he teaches Bible study. The news was confirmed by two grandsons. When he announced the diagnosis in August, the former president’s outlook did not appear so rosy. His entire nuclear family from childhood – two sisters, a brother and both parents – died from cancer. Carter said he had been diagnosed with melanoma on his liver and that he had told his wife of 69 years, Rosalynn, 88, months earlier. An operation to remove growths on his liver had discovered the additional growths on his brain. In November, Carter told the AP he had reacted well to treatment. “I haven’t been uncomfortable or ill after the treatments were over. So that part of it has been a relief to me and I think to the doctors. But the final result of how well the treatments are combatting or controlling the cancer, we don’t know yet.” Carter has lived 34 years post-presidency, longer than any of his peers. Both presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan lived to be 93 while former president George HW Bush turned 91 in June.
An attempt by Lord Lucan’s son to obtain a death certificate for the peer who disappeared more than 40 years ago reached the high court in London, on Tuesday. The legal move by his only son, George Bingham, is at an early stage and senior official Master Teverson is expected to deal with preliminary issues about how it should proceed. Lucan vanished after Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found murdered at the family home, 46 Lower Belgrave Street, central London, on 7 November 1974. Even though he was officially declared dead by the high court in 1999, there have been reported sightings in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and even claims that he fled to India and lived life as a hippy called “Jungly Barry”. Lord Bingham has applied under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect a year ago, so he can inherit the title as eighth earl. Bingham said the 1999 declaration had not proved death “for all purposes” and the new law allowed for a more complete process. But his application in London faces an objection from Rivett’s son, Neil Berriman. Berriman, 47, has told the Daily Mail: “I don’t know if Lord Lucan is alive or not – but I want justice. “There have been too many coverups already and he should not be declared dead. If Lord Lucan is still alive, he should be prosecuted.” On the night of Lucan’s disappearance, the nanny’s attacker also turned on Bingham’s mother, Lady Lucan, beating her severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub. Lucan’s car was found abandoned and soaked in blood in Newhaven, East Sussex, and an inquest jury declared the wealthy peer the killer a year later.
Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal has been freed after being briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon, security sources say. In a video shown on Lebanese TV, the captive businessman was seen appealing for more information concerning the 1978 disappearance of the prominent Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr. He was freed in the city of Baalbek and dispatched to Beirut, police said. The 40-year-old former playboy was given sanctuary in Oman in 2012.
And finally, A burglary suspect has been attacked and killed by an 11-foot alligator while trying to escape from police officers. The remains of 22-year-old Matthew Riggins, a resident of Palm Bay, Florida, were found in a lake in Barefoot Bay on November 23rd, ten days after he was reported missing. On the evening of November 10th local residents in Barefoot Bay had called the police to report two men dressed in black who’d been acting suspiciously behind their homes. Police launched a search with a helicopter and a dog unit and, according to deputies, Riggins called his girlfriend on the phone to tell her he and an accomplice were being chased by authorities. Police believe Riggins then jumped over a fence to hide in a lake – at which point he encountered the alligator. “He probably went into the lake to hide from the officers and the dog, and came across that gator,” said Major Tod Goodyear of Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. “To hide somewhere to try and get away, and then meeting up with an animal like that, no, I’ve never had that happen before.” Riggins’ body was found by police dive teams searching the area. While they were recovering the remains, a spokesman said, they were ‘aggressively approached’ by an 11-foot alligator near the body. The animal was caught and put down by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. According to reports, forensic examination of the alligator “located remains consistent with the injuries to Riggins inside the alligator’s stomach.” Barefoot Bay resident Chuck Stotes told reporters: “I would say it’s poetic justice, you want to sit there and steal from people.”
On This Day
- 1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
- 1642 – Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.
- 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
Deaths
- 1466 – Donatello, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1386)
- 1784 – Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (b. 1709)
- 2007 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor, singer, and activist (b. 1936)
- 2008 – Kathy Staff, English actress (b. 1928)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Nicki Minaj (33), Kim Basinger (62), Teri Hatcher (51), Sinead O’Connor (49), Judi Dench (81), Kirk Douglas (99), Beau Bridges (74), Bob Barker (92), Jennifer Connelly (45), Dionne Warwick (75), Dominic Monaghan (39), Ann Coulter (54), Donny Osmond (58), John Malkovich (62), Kenneth Branagh (55) and John Kerry (72).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 6th December 2015
With little over three weeks left, it looks like a two horse race at the top of the league table, but with this game, you never know. One well placed plane crash is all we need. Now, onto next year. Same rules and your lists need to be in by 31st December. I’ll try not to hassle you too much, I bet you hate it as much as I hate doing it. I’ve added a PDF of 2015’s lists in with the email to remind you all of who was listed, and please refer to the website if you need some more juicy names.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Wayne Bickerton, 74, British songwriter (“Nothing but a Heartache“, “Sugar Baby Love“), record producer, and music executive.
- Anthony Valentine, 76, British actor (Colditz, Coronation Street, Escape to Athena).
- Scott Weiland, 48, American musician (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, The Wondergirls).
- Robert Loggia, 85, American actor (Jagged Edge, Scarface, Big), Alzheimer’s disease.
In Other News
Sir Bruce Forsyth has pulled out of hosting the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special for health reasons. The veteran presenter underwent a procedure on an abdominal aortic aneurysm last month. The Christmas Day show is set to be recorded next week, but a BBC statement said it was too soon for Sir Bruce “to have made a full recovery”. “Due to the long studio hours, he is unable to host the show, but will still play a part in the production.” The presenter underwent extensive medical tests after suffering a fall at his home in October. He had keyhole surgery in November and was expected to make “a speedy recovery”. At the time, the BBC released a statement saying the 87-year-old “will still very much be a part of the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special”. Sir Bruce, who stepped down from the role in April 2014, was last seen taking the helm of the dancing competition for a Children In Need special on 13th November, recorded ahead of his operation.
British Sailing has announced that Elliot Willis has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. The 32-year-old partner of Luke Patience in the 470 class had already qualified for the Rio Olympics but is now set to have some time off the water. “Clearly it’s pretty shocking news to receive, as I’m sure anyone who’s been affected by a similar thing would understand,” Willis said. “It’s still my dream to win Olympic gold but right now my focus and energy needs to be on getting better. “My health is my No1 concern and I will take advice and recommendations of the medical professionals as they establish the right course of treatment for me.” British Sailing has said it will find a new partner for Patience in the interim but hopes Willis will recover in time for Rio.
Psychiatrists believe Peter Sutcliffe, the man known as the Yorkshire Ripper, is no longer mentally ill and should be returned to jail, prison chiefs have confirmed. Michael Spurr, chief executive of the national offender management service, told MPs on Tuesday: “Clinicians outside make a determination about whether an individual still requires detention in a hospital. They have determined that this individual [Sutcliffe] does not. We will consider that and the decision will be made by the secretary of state on whether he should be moved back to prison.” Doctors have recommended that Sutcliffe, 69, is taken out of Broadmoor hospital, the high-security psychiatric unit, and moved into a specialist prison. Sutcliffe, who was given 20 life sentences for the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven others, was moved to Broadmoor from Parkhurst jail in 1984 after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Sutcliffe’s attacks provoked panic in the north of England between 1975 and 1980, and the police operation to catch him was the most extensive and controversial investigation of the 20th century. Let’s see how long he survives in general population…
Emma Morano, Europe’s oldest person and the second-oldest in the world, marked her 116th birthday by offering to sing her favourite song for visiting well-wishers, Italian media reported. Morano, one of only two women alive certified to have been born in the 19th century, reached the milestone on Sunday in her one-bedroom flat in Verbania, a small town in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy. Morano attributed her longevity to having left a violent husband in 1938, shortly after the death of her only child at seven months, and to eating three eggs a day – two of them raw. Susannah Mushatt Jones, the American who is the only other member of the 116 club, also attributes her longevity to many decades of living on her own, having been married for only five years between 1928-33. The Brooklyn resident is also a regular egg eater – although she prefers hers scrambled and served with four rashers of bacon.
On This Day
- 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
- 1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
- 1884 – The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed.
- 1953 – Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.
- 1967 – Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States.
- 1969 – Meredith Hunter is killed by Hells Angels during a Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
Deaths
- 1972 – Janet Munro, English actress and singer (b. 1934)
- 1988 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- 1993 – Don Ameche, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Amanda Seyfried (30), Jay-Z (46), Jeff Bridges (66), Julianne Moore (55), Ozzy Osbourne (67), Britney Spears (34), Woody Allen (80), Bette Midler (70), Ben Stiller (50), Billy Idol (60), Don Cheadle (51), Sarah Silverman (45), Daryl Hannah (55), Lucy Liu (47), Frankie Muniz (30), Tyra Banks (42), Brendan Fraser (47), Nelly Furtado (37), Tom Sizemore (54), Diane Ladd (80), Joel Cohen (61), Geena Lee Nolin (44), Ridley Scott (78), Mandy Patinkin (63), John Densmore (71) and Nick Stahl (36).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 29th November 2015
Who? Yes, that’s how it is this week. A lack of celebrity deaths has brought us down to a German voice actor and a civil servant! Let’s hope this cold weather gives us a good pool next week!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Chris Martin, 42, British civil servant, Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (since 2012), cancer.
- Norbert Gastell, 86, German actor and voice actor (Homer Simpson).
- Gerry Byrne, 77, English footballer (Liverpool and national team), Alzheimer’s disease.
In Other News
The ongoing saga of Casey Kasem’s life and death is still in the news. Three of Kasem’s children and his brother have sued the late star’s widow for wrongful death in the latest move in a bitter family feud. The lawsuit accuses Jean Kasem of elder abuse and inflicting emotional distress on Kasem’s children by restricting their access to him before his death. They claim she abused him before he died, moved him from Santa Monica to Washington without telling them and, after his death, had him buried in an unmarked grave in Norway despite his wishes to be laid to rest in Los Angeles. “What she did to my father is reprehensible,” daughter Kerri Kasem said. “It’s disgusting. It’s horrific.” She added that the family members were taking legal action after US prosecutors decided not to bring criminal charges against her. Kerri has taken out the lawsuit with siblings Julie and Michael Kasem and their uncle Mouner. They are seeking damages of $250,000 (£166,000). But Kerri said: “We would rather see her in jail than receive one dime. We don’t care about the money. We care about justice.” Casey Kasem began his career in the 1950s and found fame with the chart programme in the 1970s. He was also the voice of Shaggy in the TV animation Scooby Doo.
St Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey is in critical but stable condition after being shot in the head on Tuesday night, according to multiple reports in the media. The Rams said in a statement they were “aware Stedman Bailey was involved in an incident” in Miami Gardens late on Tuesday and that they had spoken with him. Police did not describe the nature of Bailey’s injuries, but a source confirmed that he was shot twice in the head while travelling in a car. Bailey, 25, was scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday at the Aventura Hospital Trauma Center. A Rams source said the team believes Bailey’s injuries are not life-threatening.
Idris Elba has revealed how he almost died while shooting a film in Ghana, when he slipped behind a waterfall over a 30-metre drop. The 43-year-old actor admitted he had a lucky escape when his foot slipped off a rock and the branch he held on to snapped. Recalling the incident while filming the Netflix film Beasts of No Nation, in which he plays the warlord Commandant, Elba told The Jonathan Ross Show: “I nearly died … We decided to do this waterfall scene where all these child soldiers were walking behind this massive waterfall. “Cary Fukunaga, the director, decided to shoot it for real. We went to this waterfall and in this scene my character is standing there watching all the child soldiers go past. Now in the setup of that, the stunt co-ordinator says, ‘Listen everyone, this is a waterfall, that’s a 90, 100ft drop down there and the ground is very slippery, just be careful!’ “I put my foot on this rock just to hang out and chill out while they were setting up and as I’m doing that it’s slippery, obviously. I slip … I put my hand on this tree – it’s not a tree, it’s a branch. It snaps and I go literally about six feet before I go bang over and I got caught by the security guy.” So, he slipped next to a waterfall, talk about being overdramatic!
On This Day
- 1781 – The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance.
- 1877 – Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.
- 1972 – Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game.
Deaths
- 1530 – Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal (b. 1470)
- 1924 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (b. 1858)
- 1975 – Graham Hill, English race car driver (b. 1929)
- 1981 – Natalie Wood, American actress and singer (b. 1938)
- 1986 – Cary Grant, English-American actor and singer (b. 1904)
- 1991 – Ralph Bellamy, American actor and singer (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Giant Haystacks, English wrestler (b. 1947)
- 2001 – George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (The Beatles) (b. 1943)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Scarlett Johannson (31), Jon Stewart (53), Christina Applegate (44), Ed Harris (65), Tina Turner (76), Randy Newman (72), Miley Cyrus (23), Mark Ruffalo (48), Jamie Lee Curtis (57), Judd Nelson (56), Sarah Hyland (25), Rita Ora (25), Robin Givens (51), Billie Jean King (72), Bill Nye (60), Natasha Bedingfield (34), Peter Facinelli (42), Bruno Tonioli (60), Zoe Ball (45), Kelly Brook (36), Boris Becker (48) and Terry Gilliam (75).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 22nd November 2015
Afternoon all, welcome to this weeks Dead Pool roundup in which we sadly report the shocking death of Jonah Lomu at the too young age of 40!! Although this week in history seemed unbelievably busy for deaths, none of us managed to score a point, and yet the looming end of year results are fast coming upon us! It’s almost time for me to start badgering you to begin researching your lists for 2016, as some of you newcomers have noticed, scratching the surface of celebrity does not cut the mustard. Anyhow, less procrastination, we have a busy newsletter for you!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Saeed Jaffrey, 86, Indian-born British actor (The Man Who Would Be King, Shatranj Ke Khilari, My Beautiful Laundrette).
- Vincent Margera, 59, American reality television personality (Viva La Bam, Jackass, CKY), kidney and liver failure.
- Cynthia Payne, 82, British brothel keeper.
- Michael C. Gross, 70, American graphic designer and producer (Ghostbusters, Heavy Metal, Beethoven), cancer.
- Jonah Lomu, 40, New Zealand rugby union player (All Blacks).
- Peter Dimmock, 94, British broadcaster (Sportsview).
In Other News
Former Liverpool and Rangers manager Graeme Souness has been taken to hospital in Bournemouth, but no details of the 62-year-old’s condition have been made available as of yet. Since leaving his last job in football as manager of Newcastle in 2006, Souness has worked in the media, most notably as a pundit for Sky Sports. His colleague Jeff Stelling opened the station’s Soccer Saturday broadcast by saying: “Souey, if you’re watching, get well very quickly.” He had a triple heart bypass operation in 1992, when he was 38, so one can assume that his Scottish hereditary love for deep fried pizza might have caught up with him.
Actress Kim Cattrall has pulled out of a play at London’s Royal Court Theatre, less than a week before opening night on doctors’ orders. The Sex and the City star was due to play the lead role in a new play called Linda, by Penelope Skinner. n a statement, Cattrall said “with great sadness and at the advice of my doctors” she would not be able to continue with the production. The star, 59, thanked the theatre “for allowing me to put my health first”. Royal Court artistic director, Vicky Featherstone, said the theatre was “deeply sorry that Kim is unable to continue with the production”. Again, no real details on what is occurring, so we’ll just have to make up a story next week.
Sir Bruce Forsyth is back at home after undergoing successful keyhole surgery. The former Strictly Come Dancing host underwent a procedure on an abdominal aortic aneurysm last Thursday. “It is anticipated, given the minimally invasive nature of this operation, he will make a speedy recovery,” his manager said. The 87-year-old’s condition was discovered after he had extensive medical checks following a recent fall. “It is not connected in any way with the fall itself from which Sir Bruce has made a full recovery – indeed, he recorded Strictly Come Dancing’s Children In Need Special with Tess Daly, which aired last Friday,” his manager added. Sadly, the surgery is not expected to prevent the veteran entertainer from fronting the show’s upcoming festive edition.
Charlie Sheen has disclosed that he is HIV positive, in a television interview that followed weeks of speculation about his condition. “I am here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive and I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks, of sub-truths – very harmful … stories that are threatening the health of so many others,” the actor told NBC’s Today show on Tuesday. He said he had learned about the diagnosis “roughly four years ago”, adding: “It’s a hard three letters to absorb.” Asked whether he had transmitted HIV to anyone since his diagnosis, Sheen said: “Impossible.” He also said he was “not entirely” aware of how he contracted the virus. Sheen’s doctor, Robert Huizenga, told the program the actor did not have Aids, yet. Sheen claimed that people who knew his HIV-positive status had extorted money from him to keep it a secret. And the Hollywood star said he would stop paying them now that his HIV status was public, adding: “I release myself from this prison today.”
Tony McCoy, who retired from race-riding earlier this year after 20 consecutive seasons as National Hunt’s champion jockey, escaped unhurt on Wednesday morning after the car he was driving was involved in a pile-up that closed the M4 motorway. McCoy was travelling east between junctions 14 and 15 of the M4 when a van and a car collided immediately in front of him. The van overturned, and all three lanes of the eastbound carriageway and one lane westbound were then closed as emergency services attended the scene and police cleared wreckage. “I’m fine and so is the other person in the car,” McCoy told the Racing Post on Wednesday evening. “We were involved in an accident on the M4 between junctions 14 and 15. A van and a car collided in front of us and I ended up with nowhere to go as a result. Fortunately, nobody was injured but all the vehicles were badly damaged.” However, the crash resulted in your Dead Pool Master being 10 minutes late for work, the bastard!
And finally, Argentina football legend Diego Maradona has had a second gastric bypass operation after his doctor warned that the 55-year-old fat bastard is 75kgs (11st 11lbs) over his ideal weight. Maradona had his first gastric bypass 10 years ago but has since gained weight and developed complications. “He told me he was feeling fine, that he wasn’t in any pain,” said Dr Carlos Felipe Chaux after the procedure. Maradona had surgery in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo. He will stay in the city for at least eight days before travelling to capital Caracas to complete his recovery.
On This Day
- 1718 – Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as “Blackbeard“) is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
- 1869 – In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched and is one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today.
- 1963 – In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded.
- 1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
- 1986 – Mike Tyson defeats Trevor Berbick to become youngest Heavyweight champion in boxing history.
- 1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her premiership.
- 1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
- 2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany.
Deaths
- 1718 – Blackbeard, English pirate (b. 1680)
- 1963 – Aldous Huxley, English-American author and screenwriter (b. 1894)
- 1963 – John F. Kennedy, American lieutenant and politician, 35th President of the United States (b. 1917)
- 1963 – C. S. Lewis, Irish-English author, poet, and critic (b. 1898)
- 1980 – Mae West, American actress, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
- 1986 – Scatman Crothers, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Sterling Holloway, American actor and singer (b. 1905)
- 1993 – Anthony Burgess, English author, playwright, and composer (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Mark Lenard, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Michael Hutchence, Australian singer-songwriter and actor (INXS and Max Q) (b. 1960)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (70), Chad Kroeger (41), Beverley D’Angelo (64), Martha Plimpton (45), Maggie Gyllenhaal (38), Missi Pyle (43), Martin Scorcese (73), Lorne Michaels (71), Danny DeVito (71), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (57), RuPaul (55), Sophie Marceau (49), Rachel McAdams (37), Linda Evans (73), Kim Wilde (55), Owen Wilson (47), Larry King (82), Meg Ryan (54), Jodie Foster (53), Bo Derek (59), Sean Young (56), Ming-Na Wen (52), Goldie Hawn (70), Bjork (50), and Carly Rae Jepsen (30).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 15th November 2015
What a week! The flying monkeys have certainly been busy. Lets begin by dishing out the points! With the demise of Helmut Schmidt, 54 points to Paul G, Ashley and Barry, well done all of you! And with Warren Mitchell kicking the bucket, 61 points go to me!!! I scored at last!!! Woo! With little over six weeks left to go, there’s still hope for all of us!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Yitzhak Navon, 94, Israeli politician, President (1978–1983).
- Carol Doda, 78, American stripper, kidney failure.
- Andy White, 85, British drummer (The Beatles), stroke.
- Pat Eddery, 63, Irish jockey, eleven-time Champion Jockey, four-time Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, three-time Lester Award and Epsom Derby winner.
- Helmut Schmidt, 96, German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (1974–1982), complications from surgery.
- Allen Toussaint, 77, American musician, producer, songwriter (“Fortune Teller“, “Working in the Coal Mine“, “Southern Nights“) and arranger, heart attack.
- Phil Taylor, 61, English drummer (Motörhead).
- Jihadi John, 27, Kuwaiti-born British Islamic State propagandist, drone strike.
- Warren Mitchell, 89, British actor (Till Death Us Do Part, Death of a Salesman).
In Other News
Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris has been taken to hospital amid fears about his health. The 85-year-old former children’s entertainer, who is diabetic, is feared to have fallen ill after gorging on chocolate and sweets in jail. Harris was taken from Stafford prison, where he is serving nearly six years for carrying out a string of sex attacks, to Stafford hospital, and we all know how shit that hospital is! Singer Vince Hill, 81, told the newspaper that he had heard from one of Harris’s friends that he had “sort of overdosed on chocolate”. He added: “According to him, that was the scale of the problem … he didn’t know he was eating too much chocolate.” Yeah, a diabetic not knowing that too much sugar is bad for him!
Sir Terry Wogan did not host BBC1’s Children in Need appeal for the first time in its 35-year history due to poor health. The 77-year-old presenter said he missed presenting the “wonderful, inspiring evening” on Friday night. A BBC spokesman said that Wogan was having a procedure on his back and, under doctor’s orders, cannot host a six-and-a-half hour show, adding: “We are so sorry that Terry won’t be able to host the show as we know how passionate he is about Children in Need. We wish him a very speedy recovery.” The veteran presenter recently admitted that he “probably drinks too much”, but walked for 30 minutes a day and ate a lot of fruit and vegetables. Wogan told the Daily Record he had no plans to retire: “They’ll have to carry me off stage. I do seven hours on my feet of live television for Children in Need every year, so the day that I can’t stand up is when I will stop doing it. So is this it?
Former US President Jimmy Carter is responding well to cancer treatment, according to his spokeswoman. Doctors in Atlanta have told the 91-year-old the tumours in his brain are being treated successfully and there are no signs of further cancer growth. However, the spokeswoman said that doctors will continue tests. Mr Carter, who served as president of the US from 1977 to 1981 and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, announced his illness in August. He said then he would receive radiation and chemotherapy for four tumours that had formed in his brain. Media reports have suggested that Mr Carter was not experiencing any pain or discomfort during the treatments, and that his work with The Carter Centre had not been scaled back. The former president had been planning to travel to Nepal this month for volunteer work, but the trip was cancelled due to “civil unrest” in the country, so he can’t be all that bad.
Suspended Fifa president Sepp Blatter is in hospital after what has been described as a “small emotional breakdown”. Blatter, 79, who has led world football’s governing body for 18 years, was provisionally suspended for 90 days last month amid a corruption scandal. He was admitted last week, initially for a check-up, said his former publicist Klaus Stoelhker. “He is very happy and he is relaxing a few days,” he said. Last Friday, Blatter’s lawyer Richard Cullen confirmed that the Swiss had undergone stress-related health checks in hospital.
Michael Phelps, the American swimmer whose 22 Olympic medals make him the most decorated Olympian of all time, has revealed that he was “in a really dark place” after he was arrested last year for drunk-driving – and admitted to feelings of “not wanting to be alive anymore.” Shortly after his arrest, he entered a treatment facility in Arizona. He says his 45-day stint rejuvenated him, but at the time he felt frightened. “Hug-hug, kiss-kiss, turn in my phone and go to my room. It’s probably the most afraid I’ve ever felt in my life.” Phelps was pulled over in September 2014 after being clocked doing 84mph in a 45mph zone in Baltimore. He failed two sobriety tests and was charged with DUI, excessive speed and crossing double lane lines. Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, said “I had been living in fear that I was going to get a call that something had happened. Honestly, I thought, the way he was going, he was going to kill himself. Not take his own life, but something like the DUI, but worse.” However, Phelps has not drunk alcohol since his arrest, and has vowed not to drink until the Rio Olympics are finished next August. After years of enduring workouts with a hangover, Phelps is training clean. So, let’s see what happens next August…
And finally, a daughter grieved over the body of a stranger after hospital nurses mistakenly told her her mother was dead. Bernadette Walsh spent almost half-an-hour stroking and holding the hand of the dead woman – until medics revealed her mother was alive on another ward. She had not been told her mother had been moved out of the room on an orthopaedics ward, where she had been for the previous week and had been replaced by a patient who later died. The dead woman was said to bear a striking resemblance to her mother. It was only when nurses told Ms Walsh that “Roy’s on his way” that the mistake began to unravel. The 53-year-old told the staff she did not know anyone called Roy and nursing staff realised the mistake, apologised and took her to another ward where her mother Elizabeth, a 82-year-old widow from Whitefield, was recovering from a hip operation. Mother of four Ms Walsh, from Droylsden, Greater Manchester, said: “No one told me she’d been moved so I went into the room to visit her, the same room she’d been in all week. “Mum’s duffle coat was on the chair. The woman in the bed had grey hair and had thin bones like my mum. She had a pink nightie like my mum. I had no reason to think it wasn’t mum. “She didn’t look right and I didn’t think she was breathing. I went out of the room to ask one of the nurses what was wrong and they said ‘don’t you know? She died half-an-hour ago’. “Well, I just lost it then. I’d only spoken to her the previous night. I was in shock and completely hysterical. They were trying to calm me down. The nurses were saying I should stroke her hand and show her some love. So I was holding her hand and stroking her. I called my sister and told her she was dead. “Then one of them said ‘Roy’s on his way’ and I said ‘who’s Roy?’. They took me into another room and said ‘that’s not your mum’. They took me to my mum on another ward and she was sitting in a chair looking at me, saying ‘what’s up?’ I told her I’d had a shock. I couldn’t really tell her ‘they just told me you’re dead’.” Oh my days!
On This Day
- 1859 – The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece.
- 1971 – Intel releases the world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.
- 2007 – Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people and destroying parts of the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.
Deaths
- 1630 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1571)
- 1983 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (b. 1912)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Neil Young (70), Tracy Morgan (47), Whoopi Goldberg (60), Leonardo DiCaprio (41), Demi Moore (53), Ryan Gosling (35), Anne Hathaway (33), Jimmy Kimmel (48), Prince Charles (67), Calista Flockhart (51), Gerard Butler (46), Tara Reid (40), Stanley Tucci (55), Gordon Ramsay (49), Jack Osbourne (30), Gretchen Mol (43), Lou Ferrigno (64), Wallace Shawn (72) and Condoleezza Rice (61).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 8th November 2015
Afternoon all, yet another rendition of the newsletter in your inbox. Alas, no points to award this week, but some interesting deaths and plenty of news to catch up on.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Stephen Hancock, 89, English actor (Coronation Street).
- Fred Thompson, 73, American politician and actor (Die Hard 2, Law & Order, Sinister), U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1994–2003), minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, lymphoma.
- Colin Welland, 81, British actor and screenwriter (Kes, Straw Dogs, Chariots of Fire), Oscar winner (1982).
- Melissa Mathison, 65, American screenwriter (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Black Stallion, Kundun), neuroendocrine cancer.
- George Barris, 89, American custom car designer (Batmobile, Munster Koach), cancer.
- Gunnar Hansen, 68, Icelandic-born American actor (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Leatherface), pancreatic cancer.
In Other News
Andy Cole has withdrawn from an upcoming charity match at Old Trafford and the former Manchester United striker revealed he has been suffering from kidney failure. The 44-year-old, who won five Premier League titles and the Champions League during a trophy-laden spell with United, said he is not well enough to play in the Unicef Match for Children, which will take place on 14th November. “In June of this year I suffered kidney failure, caused as a result of contracting an airborne virus and I have been under medical care ever since,” Cole said in a statement. “I was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with a condition called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis.” Cole said he had spent close to three weeks in hospital undergoing a kidney biopsy and dialysis, and he is continuing on a course of steroids which has led to a slight change in his appearance. 0_o
In further football news, Tony Adams revealed he has undergone minor heart surgery in Azerbaijan, an operation the former Arsenal defender said had saved his life. Adams, who is director of football at Gabala in Azerbaijan, went under the knife after becoming unwell. “After feeling some acute chest pain while exercising in Azerbaijan, and liaising with Gabala club doctors, I went to the Medical Plaza hospital in Baku where I was admitted for an angiogram, and then following diagnosis of a severely blocked vein, an immediate angioplasty,” Adams said. “I know full well that without the brilliance of Dr Uzeyir Rahimov and his team I would not be alive now: a minor heart operation saved my life.” Adams, 49, is said to be recuperating with his family in the UK.
Trevor Noah, who took over as host of The Daily Show in September, has undergone emergency surgery to remove his appendix. Comedy Central cancelled Wednesday’s live show and aired a repeat, but said “the procedure went well” and Noah was “currently recuperating from surgery”. “We expect he and the show will be back with an original episode tomorrow,” said a statement on Twitter. However, Noah’s experience of US healthcare has already come under the microscope. Criticising the amount of paperwork he was asked to fill out before being attended to while in excruciating pain, Noah said, “I don’t know if ‘Emergency Room’ is the right term, because they make you wait … The lady’s like, ‘Can you fill out the form?’ I’m like, ‘Well, no, I’m dying.’” After Noah nearly fainted, he says the woman followed him to ask how he would be paying for the surgery, asking if he had health insurance (which he wasn’t sure about). Questioning whether he would be able to afford paying for the procedure without insurance, she answered her own question: “You know what, I’ve seen the billboards, you’re fine, you can pay for this.” Thank god for the NHS!
Trainer Gary Moore is out of intensive care as he recovers from being kicked in the back by one of his horses. The 59-year-old was helping wife Jayne onto a horse at their Cisswood Stables in Sussex on Thursday morning when another horse kicked out. Moore, whose sons Ryan, Jamie and Joshua are all jockeys, spent Thursday night in intensive care with fluid on his lungs and damaged ribs. “He’s a bit groggy, but nothing worse than that,” said Joshua Moore. “I think he’s pretty OK. He’s out of intensive care. He’s having a lot of antibiotics and painkillers, but he doesn’t need any operations or anything like that, as far as I know.”
Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is “still fighting”, almost two years after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident, says FIA president Jean Todt. Schumacher spent six months in an induced coma after the December 2013 accident and is continuing his rehabilitation at home. “Michael’s a close friend,” said Todt. “His family is very close to me. We must keep him fighting with the family,” he added. So, no real news then…
On This Day
- 1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.
- 1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.
- 1960 – John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century to become the 35th president of the United States.
- 1965 – The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.
- 1973 – The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay US$2.9 million.
- 1987 – Remembrance Day bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded.
Deaths
- 1674 – John Milton, English poet and philosopher (b. 1608)
- 1887 – Doc Holliday, American dentist and poker player (b. 1851)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Emma Stone (27), Ethan Hawke (45), Sally Field (69), Lamar Odom (36), Matthew McConaughey (46), Roseanne Barr (58), David Schwimmer (59), Jenny McCarthy (43), Toni Collette (43), Loretta Swit (78), Ralph Macchio (54), Tatum O’Neal (52), Billy Graham (97), Joni Mitchell (72), Maria Schriver (60), Rebecca Romjin (43), Thandie Newton (43), Sam Rockwell (47), Tilda Swinton (55), Bryan Adams (56), Art Garfunkel (74), Larry Flynt (73), Lyle Lovett (58), K.D. Lang (54), Kate Capshaw (62), Adam Ant (61), Dolph Lundgren (58) and Famke Janssen (51).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 1st November 2015
Welcome all to the special “Day After Halloween” edition of the Dead Pool. Yes, we’re all partied out and have a hangover, so other than to award a few points, I’ll not ramble on too much. With the death of Al Molinaro, we award 54 points to Dave, well done that man. Which makes things very interesting at the top of the table. I shall take this opportunity to say thank you for the birthday wishes, I made it another year, with any luck I might be able to carry on with the Dead Pool next year too!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
Sam Sarpong, 40, British-born American model and actor (Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Farm House, Anchor Baby), suicide by jumping.
Al Molinaro, 96, American actor (Happy Days), complications from infected gall bladder.
In Other News
Comedian Bob Mortimer has undergone a triple bypass heart operation. The star, known for being one half of comedy duo Vic and Bob alongside Vic Reeves, has had to cancel the first leg of the pair’s upcoming tour. Mortimer, 56, had been due to take to the stage in Glasgow in early November for 25 Years of Reeves & Mortimer: the Poignant Moments. Neil Reading, Mortimer’s spokesman, said: “Bob would like to thank his consultant and all the nursing staff at the hospital for looking after him so well. “He now needs several weeks to fully recover, so unfortunately the first leg of the UK tour will be cancelled. “Bob very much hopes to be fit and well enough to perform the second leg in January next year.”
The BBC news presenter, George Alagiah, has said that his treatment for cancer is over, and expressed thanks for the “thoughts, prayers and support” he has received. The journalist, a popular face of the BBC Six O’Clock News, shared the news on Twitter on Wednesday after it emerged last April that he was to receive treatment for bowel cancer. “A long time coming but the cancer treatment is finally over. Now I can look forward again. Thank you for thoughts, prayers and support,” he said. The corporation said last year that Alagiah was to undergo treatment, but “is optimistic for a positive outcome”. The newsreader, who joined the BBC in 1989 and became a foreign correspondent specialising in Africa, is expected now to make a phased return to work.
Phil Collins has confirmed he will return to making music after a 13-year break, with new recording sessions beginning next month. Collins hasn’t released brand new music since 2002 album Testify, though did release a Motown covers album in 2010. But in a new interview in Rolling Stone, he declares: “I’m no longer officially retired. The horse is out of the stable and I’m raring to go.” In 2011 he announced his retirement, “so I can be a full time father to my two young sons on a daily basis” – this was following his third divorce in 2008, from Orianne Cevey, who eventually took their sons to live with her in Miami while he remained in Switzerland. In the Rolling Stone interview he said the period “left me with a lot of time on my hands to think about what happened. I went through a few bits of darkness; drinking too much. I killed my hours watching TV and drinking, and it almost killed me. But I haven’t had a drink in three years.” He also has had to go through surgery, after nerve damage suffered on a Genesis reunion tour in 2007 left him unable to play the drums. Let’s see how he copes with his comeback, we all know what happened to Michael Jackson!
And finally, a dog named Trigger accidentally shot his owner during a hunt in the US. The chocolate Labrador retriever stepped on top of a 12-gauge shotgun on the ground without the safety on, and shot Allie Carter in the left foot. Indiana conservation officer Jonathon Boyd says 25-year-old Allie Carter laid her shotgun on the ground without the safety on during a waterfowl hunt Saturday at Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area. Boyd says Carter’s chocolate Labrador retriever, Trigger, stepped on top of the shotgun and depressed the trigger. He says Carter was shot in the left foot at point-blank range, suffering injuries to her foot and toes. She was treated at two hospitals and released. Even American dogs are batshit crazy!
On This Day
- 1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
- 1520 – The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage.
- 1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
- 1896 – A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.
- 1951 – Operation Buster–Jangle: Six thousand five hundred American soldiers are exposed to ‘Desert Rock’ atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary.
- 1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
Deaths
- 1952 – Dixie Lee. American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
- 1979 – Mamie Eisenhower, American wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 36th First Lady of the United States (b. 1896)
- 1982 – King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
- 1985 – Phil Silvers, American actor and singer (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Meredith Kercher, English murder victim (b. 1985)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Katy Perry (31), Richard Dreyfuss (68), Julia Roberts (48), Henry Winkler (70), Caitlyn Jenner (66), Hillary Clinton (68), Winona Ryder (44), Seth McFarlane (42), Vanilla Ice (48), John Cleese (76), Emilia Clarke (29), Joaquin Phoenix (41), Simon LeBon (57), Bill Gates (60), Diego Maradona (55), Dan Castellaneta (58), Kelly Osbourne (31), Cary Elwes (53), Peter Jackson (54), Nancy Cartwright (58), Jon Heder (38), Annie Potts (53) and Rufus Sewell (48).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 25th October 2015
Welcome minions of the macabre, we have some points to award!! Congratulations to Wombat, Sophie and Sylvia, who correctly guessed that Maureen O’Hara would finally kick the bucket this year, 55 points each!! Quite surprising that only three of us listed her, she’s been a stalwart of the Dead Pool for years, perhaps many of you began to think she was going to live forever, like poor Shân mentioned in her email. Otherwise a quiet week death-wise, however it might be time to revisit Coronation Street for next year, there are plenty of ex-stars just waiting to be listed!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Michael Meacher, 75, British politician, MP for Oldham West (1970–1997) and Oldham West and Royton (since 1997).
- Cory Wells, 74, American singer (Three Dog Night).
- Peter Baldwin, 82, British actor (Coronation Street).
- Kirsty Howard, 20, British fundraiser.
- Maureen O’Hara, 95, Irish-American actress (Miracle on 34th Street, The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley).
In Other News
Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has lung cancer, according to reports in Spain. The 68-year-old – who won three successive European Cups with Ajax before going on to play for and manage Barcelona – was diagnosed last Tuesday, it was reported on Spanish radio station RAC1 and Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo on Thursday morning. A statement on his official website said the cancer had been discovered following recent tests in Barcelona. “Over the past weeks, Johan Cruyff has been undergoing medical examinations at a hospital in Barcelona. During these examinations, lung cancer has been uncovered. The examinations are still ongoing,” the statement said. “To respect the privacy of Johan and his family, and the fact that the examinations have not been finalised, further announcements cannot be made at the moment.” Formerly a heavy smoker, he had double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was still in charge of Barcelona, a role he eventually left in 1996. In his prime, Cruyff was considered one of the world’s greatest players in the world at a time when Pelé, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer could all lay claim to the title. Let’s see if his former fitness makes a difference now.
Also in Cancer news, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh says he has bladder cancer and will have to postpone concerts in California later this month. The guitarist made the announcement on the website for his restaurant in San Rafael, California. He said he was diagnosed earlier this month and has been treated at a clinic in Arizona, where he will have surgery to remove his tumours. The illness means Lesh has had to postpone his shows on the 24th and 25th October. The gigs with the former Black Crowes frontman were scheduled to take place at Lesh’s restaurant, Terrapin Crossroads. Lesh, 75, wrote: “I am very fortunate to have the pathology reports show that the tumours are all non-aggressive, and that there is no indication that they have spread.” He added that the postponed shows would be rescheduled “as soon as we can”. Lesh, one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006 but underwent surgery and made a full recovery.
The Vatican has rejected as “seriously irresponsible” an Italian newspaper report that Pope Francis has a small but curable tumour on his brain. The Quotidiano newspaper said the Pope had travelled by helicopter to Tuscany to see a world-renowned Japanese brain surgeon. The Pope was diagnosed with a small, dark spot but did not need surgery, the paper said. A Vatican spokesman said the report was totally unfounded. “As everyone can see, the Pope is carrying out his extremely intense activities in an absolutely normal manner,” Father Federico Lombardi said. Quotidiano insisted that its story was true, maintaining that the Pope had visited Prof Takanori Fukushima some months ago at the San Rossore clinic in the Barbaricina area of Pisa. It quoted an unnamed employee at the clinic saying such a small tumour could be treated and did not need any kind of surgical intervention. The paper’s editor, Andrea Cangini, said the denial was understandable and had been expected. Earlier this year, Pope Francis, 78, indicated his papacy may last only a few years, and that he might retire like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who stepped down as pontiff in 2013, which sounds like his brain tumour diagnosis may be be true!
Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker has said he offered friends $1m to kill him after a plane crash that left him badly burned. In September 2008, Barker was one of the passengers aboard a Learjet that crashed while taking off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. Four of the six people on the plane died, while the other two – Barker and Adam Goldstein, who worked together in the group TRV$DJAM – were badly burned. Goldstein died a little under a year later of a drug overdose, from a combination of cocaine and prescription drugs given to him after the crash. Barker spent four months in hospital, undergoing surgery 27 times, after being burned across 65% of his body. He appeared on ABC News and said he had pleaded with friends to take his life. “I would call friends of mine and go, ‘You know, I’ll deposit a million dollars into whoever’s bank account.’ [Hospital staff] had to take my phone out of my room.” Anyone feeling that their pockets are a bit empty should contact his agent.
For those of you who give a shit, according to search warrant records, Lamar Odom is believed to have overdosed on cocaine and other drugs before he was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. On Wednesday, Odom and the reality TV star Khloe Kardashian filed a court petition dismissing a divorce filing from December 2013. A clerk granted the request in such a way that the divorce papers can be refiled at a later date, making sure that she get’s any money due her as a wife if he dies, and making sure she can divorce I’m if he survives. Let’s hope he survives so we can see him prosecuted for soliciting prostitutes and taking Class A drugs.
On This Day
- 1415 – The army of Henry V of England defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
- 1760 – George III becomes King of Great Britain.
- 1854 – The Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
- 1917 – Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia.
Deaths
- 1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English philosopher, poet, and author (b. 1343)
- 1993 – Vincent Price, American actor and singer (b. 1911)
- 2002 – Richard Harris, Irish-English actor and singer (b. 1930)
- 2004 – John Peel, English radio host and producer (b. 1939)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Bristol Palin (25), Jean-Claude Van Damme (55), Zac Efron (28), Trey Parker (46), Evander Holyfield (53), Tom Petty (65), Viggo Mortensen (57), Snoop Dogg (44), Danni Minogue (44), Judge Judy (73), Carrie Fisher (59), Kim Kardashian (35), Ken Watanabe (56), Christopher Lloyd (77), Catherine Deneuve (72), Jeff Goldblum (63), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (40), Ang Lee (61), Weird Al Yankovic (56), Cat Deeley (39), Ryan Reynolds (39), Pele (75), Bill Wyman (79), F. Murray Abraham (76) and Kevin Kline (68).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 18th October 2015
Good afternoon minions! A reasonably quiet week to report upon, no points to award and precious few celebrities have kicked the bucket. But Winter is coming, and if previous years are anything to go by, the cold snap works wonders.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Richard Davies, 89, Welsh character actor (Please Sir!, Zulu), Alzheimer’s disease.
- Joan Leslie, 90, American actress (High Sierra, Sergeant York, Yankee Doodle Dandy).
- George Mueller, 97, American space engineer, Associate Administrator of the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight (1963–1969).
- Bruce Hyde, 74, American educator and actor (Star Trek), throat cancer.
- Sue Lloyd-Roberts, 64, British television journalist (BBC, ITN), leukaemia.
- Andrew Rubin, 69, American actor (Police Academy, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), lung cancer.
- Howard Kendall, 69, English football player and manager (Blackburn Rovers, Everton).
In Other News
Singer Dolly Parton has issued a statement denying she has stomach cancer, following reports in the US that she was rushed to hospital. The 69-year-old country star made the declaration following a story in the National Enquirer that she had been rushed to hospital. “There is absolutely no truth at all that I have stomach cancer,” the statement on her website said. “It is true that I had kidney stones,” she said. “I had them removed three weeks ago and I am doing just fine!” Parton added that she was already back at work following the operation. “I am back to work and last week I was at Dollywood filming parts for my new movie Coat of Many Colours,” she wrote. “I love and appreciate everyone’s concern.” So that’s us told!
A spokeswoman for Lamar Odom’s said that the NBA star has woken up and talked, three days after being found unconscious at a Nevada brothel. Odom had been unconscious at a Las Vegas hospital since being found Tuesday at the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada. Authorities are still retracing Odom’s $75,000, three-day visit to the brothel that started late afternoon Saturday, with blood test results to determine what caused his medical episode still pending. The brothel’s owner said that he chose two women to accompany him in a VIP suite on his first visit to the ranch. Odom had said that he had taken cocaine before his arrival, and the brothel said they saw him drink alcohol and take as many as 10 supplements sold as “herbal Viagra”. The brothel also said he became upset on Sunday following a phone call where his former wife’s television show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, was mentioned. But he was generally in a good mood, even suggesting that he stay an entire week at the brothel in the rural community. Odom was then found unconscious on Tuesday with white and reddish substances coming from his nose and mouth. He was breathing and taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Classy bloke!
Sir John Hurt has said he’s overjoyed and thrilled after being given the all-clear by doctors less than four months after he disclosed that he had pancreatic cancer. The 75-year-old actor, known for his roles in The Elephant Man, Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Harry Potter films, revealed he had overcome the disease to an audience at the Man Booker prize ceremony in London. “I had a final scan and it’s all gone brilliantly, I had the final scan yesterday and I saw my oncologist this morning. I am overjoyed, I am thrilled. It all looks great for the future, it’s fantastic.” Hurt had first revealed his cancer diagnosis in June, but said at the time he was “more than optimistic” about his future and kept working during his chemotherapy treatment.
Placido Domingo is to have surgery to have his gallbladder removed, forcing him to miss conducting engagements at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. “It is expected this minimally invasive procedure will allow him to resume his activities after a brief hospital stay,” the Met said in a statement. Domingo had been due to conduct four performances of Tosca in October, but will now return on 2nd November. The 74-year-old was admitted to hospital on Tuesday after suffering inflammation of his gallbladder and will have an operation early next week. He has had a number of health problems in recent years. In 2010, he underwent an operation to remove a cancerous polyp from his colon, returning to performing just weeks after the surgery. And in 2013 he was treated for a blood clot in his lung, forcing him to miss several concerts.
The world’s most-wanted drug boss, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, narrowly evaded security forces searching for him in the north-west of Mexico in recent days, sustaining injuries to his face and leg, the Mexican government said on Friday. Guzmán, the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, escaped from his high-security prison cell in July through a specially dug tunnel, causing a major embarrassment for the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto. In a statement, the Mexican government said it had worked with international agencies to capture Guzmán, and that in recent weeks, efforts had been focused on the north-west of the country, not far from Guzmán’s native turf of Sinaloa state. “As a result of these actions, and to avoid his capture, in recent days, the fugitive engaged in a hasty retreat, which, according to the information received, caused him injuries to one leg and the face,” the government statement said.
The BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire has thanked NHS staff in a video diary recorded soon after she underwent a mastectomy to treat cancer. In a short clip, which was posted on the Victoria Derbyshire Show’s Facebook site, Derbyshire holds up two pieces of paper with handwritten messages on them. “This morning I had breast cancer,” read on the first. “This evening I don’t,” read the second. “I feel all right. I can’t believe it. The NHS staff have been awesome. I am completely in awe of them. They are so inspiring and so caring and I feel so grateful to them,” says Derbyshire from her hospital bed. Derbyshire, who has presented on BBC radio and television, announced the news of the diagnosis in August. Doctors detected her condition the previous month.
And finally, the son of the peer Lord Lucan, who disappeared almost 41 years ago, has applied to have his father declared “presumed dead”. Lord Lucan vanished from his family home in London in 1974 following the death of family nanny Sandra Rivett. An inquest found he murdered her. There has since been speculation and stories about what happened to him. His son, George Bingham, told the West End Extra newspaper the application would provide “closure”. Despite the fact Lord Lucan was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999, there have been reported sightings of him in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and even claims he lived in India as a hippy called “Jungly Barry”. Mr Bingham, who was a child when his father disappeared, told West End Extra he was applying to the High Court under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect a year ago. He said the 1999 declaration had not proved death “for all purposes” and the new law allowed for a “more complete process”. The Presumption of Death Act was the result of a campaign supported by relatives of high-profile missing people including chef Claudia Lawrence, who disappeared in York in 2009, and Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who went missing in 1995. So, technically Lord Lucan is still alive for our purposes.
On This Day
- 1851 – Herman Melville‘s Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
- 1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
- 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
- 1945 – Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva “Evita” Duarte.
- 1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
- 1968 – The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a “Black Power” salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
Deaths
- 1931 – Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman, invented the light bulb and phonograph (b. 1847)
- 2007 – Alan Coren, English journalist and author (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model, actress, and singer (b. 1952)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Eminem (43), Angela Lansbury (90), Tim Robbins (57), Usher (37), Sacha Baron Cohen (44), Marie Osmond (56), Paul Simon (74), Hugh Jackman (47), Jane Krakowski (47), Emily Deschanel (39), Roger Moore (88), Ralph Lauren (76), Suzanne Somers (69), George Wendt (67), Wyclef Jean (46), Sarah Ferguson (56), Dominic West (46), Steve Coogan (50), Michelle Trachtenberg (30), Stephen Moyer (46), Cliff Richard (75) and Ernie Els (46).
Next week peeps!
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