Dead Pool 11th October 2015

My goodness! What a week for deaths! Those evil flying monkeys have certainly been very busy!! Alas, even with so many household names on todays roster, nobody managed to score. But I have to add that Liz also scored last week with Denis Healey, I missed it because his name was misspelt. So in the interest of clarity for next year, please make sure you spell their names correctly, otherwise my search will miss you out. I do sympathise though, who the hell spells Dennis as Denis!!!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Larry Brezner, 73, American film producer (Good Morning Vietnam, Throw Momma From the Train, Ride Along).
• Henning Mankell, 67, Swedish author (Kurt Wallander), cancer.
• Jim Diamond, 64, Scottish singer-songwriter (“I Should Have Known Better”).
• Hugh Scully, 72, British television presenter (Antiques Roadshow).
• Gordon Honeycombe, 79, British newscaster, author and actor, leukemia.
• Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, 88, British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1979–1983), Foreign Secretary (1983–1989), heart attack.
• Jerry Parr, 85, American Secret Service agent, extricated Ronald Reagan during assassination attempt, heart failure. 

In Other News

Sir Bruce Forsyth has suffered a fall at his home. The 87-year-old TV personality suffered cuts and a minor concussion but is otherwise unhurt. He underwent a series of scans and tests and was advised by doctors to have complete rest for at least a week. Forsyth had to pull out of hosting his BBC variety show Bruce’s Hall of Fame at London’s Dominion Theatre this weekend. The star was set to take to the stage alongside comedian Catherine Tate and Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong, who will now take on the compere role. In a statement, Kalooki Pictures, who co-produce the show, said: “This morning, Sir Bruce Forsyth slipped and fell at his home resulting in facial abrasions and minor concussion. “He attended hospital and had a series of scans and tests all of which happily proved negative. However because of his injury, he has been told by doctors he must have complete rest for at least seven days.” Speaking after his fall, Forsyth said: “I was really looking forward to this show and working with such a talented cast, and I am really sad not to be part of it. It is now in the most capable hands of Alexander Armstrong and I would like to wish him, the guests and the whole production team good luck on Sunday.”

In the first of a new series on living with leukaemia, Clive James is surprised to find he’s still here! He writes: “A whole year ago I wrote a poem called Japanese Maple, which confidently stated that when the maple tree in my garden turned to flame in autumn, that would be the end of me. The poem was published in the New Yorker, at a time when the magazine’s paywall was temporarily out of commission, so a lot of people logged on. The poem went viral and attracted many sad assurances of fond farewell. Autumn came, the tree turned red and I was still here, steadily turning red myself as I realised that I had written myself into a corner. Winter arrived, there has been a whole other summer, and now the maple is just starting to do its flaming thing all over again, with me shyly watching.” Looks like he’ll be here for a good while yet!

Britain is the best place in the world to die, according to a new survey. Finally, some good news. Britons may have terrible weather, bad teeth, an underperforming rugby team, stupid telly, no style, a countryside that consists of car parks with puddles and cities so divertingly rubbish that they look as though they were devised by drunk chimps on a bet. The UK may, in short, be an awful place to live. But, according to a survey, the UK is the best place in the world in which to die. At least we’re good at something. So the next time you’re drinking a whiskey whilst watching Countdown, take heart that your body will be found and  dealt with accordingly as Britain does Death the best!

On This Day

• 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field.
• 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
• 1975 – The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests.
• 1982 – The Mary Rose, a Tudor carrack which sank on July 19, 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth.
• 1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
• 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.

Deaths

• 1961 – Chico Marx, American actor and singer (b. 1887)
• 1963 – Jean Cocteau, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1889)
• 2000 – Donald Dewar, Scottish lawyer and politician, 1st First Minister of Scotland (b. 1937)
• 2007 – Werner von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (b. 1915)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Dakota Johnson (26), Susan Sarandon (69), Liev Schreiber (48), Alecia Silverstone (39), Brian Johnson (68), Karen Allen (64), Bob Geldoff (64), Lena Headey (45), Kate Winslet (40), Jesse Eisenberg (32), Britt Ekland (73), Elizabeth Shue (52), Simon Cowell (55), Toni Braxton (48), Thom Yorke (7), Desmond Tutu (84), Vladimir Putin (63), Paul Hogan (75), Chevy Chase (72), Sigourney Weaver (66), Matt Damon (45), Bruno Mars (30), Rev. Jesse Jackson (74), Sharon Osbourne (63), Tony Shalhoub (62), Scott Bakula (61) and Sean Lennon (40).

Next Week peeps!

11th October 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 4th October 2015

Welcome all, finally some points to award!!! With the death of the Labour giant Denis Healey, 52 points have been awarded thusly: Karen, Paul, Julie and Shan. Well done all of you, please take a look at the leader board, you will see that Paul is now cementing his lead at the top, but all it takes is the death of one of the Big Three to bring any of you back into the game!  So onwards with the newsletter, I promise not to mention the death of English rugby…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• John Guillermin, 89, British film director and producer (The Towering Inferno, King Kong, Shaft in Africa), heart attack
• Catherine E. Coulson, 71, American film and television actress (Twin Peaks), cancer.
• Donald Seawell, 103, American theatre producer and newspaper publisher.
• Denis Healey, 98, British politician, Secretary of State for Defence (1964-1970), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1974-1979).

In Other News

As everyone in their right mind knows, you’ve got to know when to walk away and when to run. And Kenny Rogers, the man who sang The Gambler, is heeding his own advice by announcing that he will retire after his next tour. The 77-year-old country legend wants to spend time with is wife and family before he dies. The country legend appeared on the Today show in the US, where he said: “I’ve done this long enough. There’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish, and I think I crossed that line when I was younger. I really want to be there with my kids and my wife. I don’t see enough of them. And I have some things on my bucket list.” Let’s hope that reversing his plastic surgery is on that list, seriously, he gives me nightmares!

In another retirement story, Ralph Lauren is giving the fashion empire he founded almost five decades ago a makeover – by stepping down as chief executive. However, Lauren is not going too far: he will remain with the company as executive chairman and chief creative officer. Born Ralph Lifshitz to Jewish immigrants from Belarus in the Bronx in 1939, Lauren changed his last name at the age of 16. He began his fashion career designing ties in 1967, with the Ralph Lauren polo shirt bearing the familiar logo following five years later. Now the 75 year old is reputed to be worth $6.4 billion, not bad for a one design wonder!

Jim Carrey has said he is shocked and deeply saddened after a former girlfriend is thought to have killed herself. Cathriona White, 30, an Irish-born makeup artist, was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment on Monday night, the deputy chief coroner Ed Winter said. Nobody blames her, I suspect shagging Carey would be a nightmare beyond all comprehension. The death was reported to authorities as a suicide but a final determination had yet to be made but a drug overdose is suspected. The celebrity website TMZ said White and Carrey, 53, met in 2012, had an on-and-off romance, and rekindled their relationship in May before splitting up last week. So it’s his fault!

The cause of death of Bobbi Kristina Brown – Whitney Houston’s daughter – has been determined, but officials say they will not reveal the post-mortem results. They say a court in the US state of Georgia ordered a medical examiner to seal the results. Bobbi Kristina, 22, died at a hospice on 26th July, six months after she was found unresponsive in a bath in her Atlanta flat. In a statement, the Fulton county medical examiner said Bobbi Kristina’s post-mortem results would not be publicly released on the order of the Fulton county superior court. “The Fulton County medical examiner has classified the cause and manner of Bobbi Kristina Brown’s death,” it said. Which now opens up many questions, was she killed and has it all been hushed up??

Harry Potter, the boy who lived, has died! Caio César Ignácio Cardoso de Melo, 27, who voiced the character in Portuguese, was reportedly killed on Thursday during an exchange of gunfire in Complexo de Alemão – one of Rio’s largest and most policed shanty towns. He provided the Portuguese voiceover for Potter in all eight films in the series, as a side venture to his main job as a police officer. According to local media reports, his death was confirmed by military police in Brazil and by Warner Bros studios. J.K. Rowling tweeted her condolences following the father-of-one’s death. Local police reported that Melo was shot in the neck when officers came under fire during a routine patrol of the sprawling shanty town. He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery but died from his injuries.

The German sports car manufacturer Porsche has issued a statement denying responsibility for the death of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, who died in a high-speed crash in November 2013. Porsche released its statement to the media in response to a wrongful death lawsuit filed on 28th September by the actor’s daughter Meadow Walker in Los Angeles. “As we have said before, we are very sad whenever anyone is hurt in a Porsche vehicle, but we believe the authorities’ reports in this case clearly establish that this tragic crash resulted from reckless driving and excessive speed,” the manufacturer said. Meadow Walker claims in her suit that Porsche knew the car model had a “history of instability and control issues”. It is understood she is also questioning police reports that suggest the Carrera GT was travelling at around 90mph when the accident happened, arguing that the top speed reached by the vehicle was in fact just 71mph, which is obviously a safe speed. Way to go to tarnish your fathers demise you tart!

And finally, in a warning to all dog walkers, an Essex man has died after his dog dragged him into the path of an oncoming car. The 67-year-old was walking his dog in the Low Road area of Dovercourt on Monday night when it suddenly bolted on to the street. A car travelling on the road then struck the man, who suffered head injuries in the incident. He went home but later felt increasingly unwell. East of England ambulance service personnel attended the man’s home and transferred him to Colchester hospital, where he later died. The dog was not harmed in the incident. A neighbour said the man, who was thought to be retired, would take the animal for a walk every morning and evening. Moral of the story, get a cat!

On This Day

• 1535 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
• 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
• 1883 – First run of the Orient Express.
• 1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.

Deaths

• 1669 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1606)
• 1947 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
• 1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (Big Brother and the Holding Company) (b. 1943)
• 1989 – Graham Chapman, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
• 2010 – Norman Wisdom, English singer-songwriter, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1915)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Gwyneth Paltrow (43), Meat Loaf (68), Lil Wayne (33), Avril Lavigne (31), Naomi Watts (47), Dita Von Tesse (43), Jerry Lee Lewis (80), Ian McShane (73), Erika Eleniak (46), Johnny Mathis (80), Monica Bellucci (51), Kieran Culkin (33), Martina Hingis (35), Julie Andrews (80), Zack Galifianakis (46), Don McLean (70), Jimmy Carter (91), Sting (64), Annie Leibovitz (66), Chubby Checker (74), Roy Horn (71), Gwen Stefani (46), Neve Campbell (42), Sean William Scott (39), Clive Owen (51), Fred Couples (56), Lena Headey (42) and Brigitte Bardot (81).

Next Week peeps!

4th October 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 27th September 2015

Welcome to the bumper two week edition of The Dead  Pool Newsletter, which isn’t as bumper as I would have liked as not many celebs have died in the last two weeks. However, we have plenty of news to get through and I have a good feeling about next week!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Max Beauvoir, 79, Haitian houngan and biochemist.
• Fred DeLuca, 67, American businessman, co-founder of Subway, leukemia.
• Jackie Collins, 77, British-American novelist, breast cancer.
• Brian Sewell, 84, British art critic.
• Jack Larson, 87, American playwright and actor (Adventures of Superman).

In Other News

The Who have been forced to postpone all 50 dates on their north American tour because frontman Roger Daltrey, 71, has viral meningitis. A statement on the Who’s website said the shows would be rescheduled for spring 2016 and added: “The band apologise to fans and realise that the postponement will cause an inconvenience for ticketholders. It wasn’t a decision taken lightly – the Who always give their fans 100% and were never going to compromise the show, but ultimately we had no alternative but to postpone.” Daltrey said: “I am now on the mend and feeling a lot better but I am going to need a considerable time to recover. The doctors tell me I will make a complete recovery, but that I should not do any touring this year.” Paedophile Pete Townshend added: “We are rescheduling all the shows for next spring 2016. Once Roger is completely well, we will come back stronger than ever and Roger and I will give you all a show to remember.”

The Dalai Lama cancelled his US appearances for  October after doctors at Minnesota’s Mayo clinic advised him to rest, his office said on Friday. The 80-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader was at the clinic in Rochester this week for what was described as a ‘routine check-up’. “The doctors have advised His Holiness to rest for the next several weeks,” his office said on its website Friday. “We deeply regret the inconvenience caused by this decision and apologise to all the people who have worked so hard in organising the visit as well as to the public.” The statement gave no more details about the Dalai Lama’s condition and representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional comment.

In what some would call a Dead Pool meeting of giants, Pope Francis met Cuba’s former President, Fidel Castro, after celebrating Mass in front of tens of thousands of people in Havana. The two men discussed world affairs, religion and who would die first, in what the Vatican called an “informal and friendly” encounter. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi described the meeting between Pope Francis and Fidel Castro, which took place at the former Cuban leader’s home, as low-key with no flying monkeys seen anywhere. Shame that…

Following the last-minute cancellation of live dates last week, the Libertines have issued an official statement explaining that Pete Doherty had suffered a serious anxiety attack before their London show. The band’s scheduled gig at the Electric Ballroom in London on 10th September was called off two hours after the band were meant to be on stage, with a Manchester gig and an appearance on BBC Radio 1 also scrapped. In a statement published on Doherty’s website Albion Rooms, the band say that the decision to cancel the shows came from management “who felt it important to ensure Peter’s welfare is a priority in line with any other ongoing treatment”.

Former Tory cabinet minister Lord Parkinson has retired from the House of Lords. Cecil Parkinson, 84, was first elected as MP for Enfield West in 1970 and served as secretary of state for trade and industry under Margaret Thatcher, who’s thankfully already dead. He was forced to resign as trade secretary in 1983 after revelations that his former secretary, Sara Keays, was pregnant with his child, but went on to serve as secretary of state for energy and transport in later years. He became a member of the House of Lords in 1992 and is the latest to take advantage of new rules allowing peers to retire from the house. And we all know what happens to men who retire!

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader has been discharged from hospital. Peter Robinson, 66, was admitted to Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital on Saturday after suffering an adverse reaction to prescribed medication. A DUP spokesman confirmed Robinson would be fit enough to attend crucial talks to resolve the political crisis engulfing the powersharing political institutions at Stormont on Monday. In May, Robinson spent four nights at the hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack and had three stents fitted to help the flow of blood. At the time, he blamed his illness on a diet of fast food and lack of exercise, rather than the stress of his job.

The billionaire founder of Phones4U has revealed that his whole family have been struck down by the potentially deadly Lyme disease. Earlier this month John Caudwell told the media of his 20-year-old son Rufus’s long struggle with the disease, which started with “panic attacks, serious agoraphobia and a terror of sickness” before being correctly diagnosed in February. Now Mr Caudwell has admitted that he, his former wife, Kate McFarlane, and their two daughters, Rebekah, 35, and Rhiannon, 27, have all tested positive for Lyme disease as well. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can spread to humans through ticks. There are around 2,000 to 3,000 new cases in England and Wales every year. His estimated £2bn fortune has allowed him to pay for private treatment, which he acknowledges others cannot afford, but his billions still didn’t stop a tick biting him on the arse.

And finally, unsurprisingly there have been more ‘selfie’ related fatalities than shark attack deaths this year. Which begs the question, why are we not culling anyone who pouts into an iPhone? That seemed to be the answer towards the shark problem… This years count now stands at 12 deaths due to Darwinian intervention. One man was mangled in Spain after trying to snap a pic during a bull run, and two Russian men met their demise while photographing themselves with a live grenade. A woman even managed to shoot herself in the head while posing with a gun. Let’s hope the trend continues…

On This Day

• 1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the River Somme, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
• 1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
• 1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein‘s paper “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”, introducing the equation E=mc².
• 1998 – The Google internet search engine retrospectively claims this as its birthday.
• 2005 – After 162 episodes, Tom and Jerry airs its final episode titled, The Karate Guard.

Deaths

• 1979 – Gracie Fields, English-Italian actress and singer (b. 1898)
• 1979 – Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (One in a Million, Small Faces, Wings, Thunderclap Newman, and The Dukes) (b. 1953)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sophia Loren (81), Stephen King (68), Bill Murray (65), Faith Hill (48), Ricki Lake (47), Alfonso Ribeiro (44), Liam Gallagher (43), Nick Cave (58), Joan Jett (57), Andrea Bocelli (44), Tom Felton (28), Julio Iglesias (72), Bruce Springsteen (66), Michael Douglas (71), Mark Hamill (64), Michael Madsen (57), Heather Locklear (54), Will Smith (47), Catherine Zeta-Jones (46), Bryan Ferry (70), Olivia Newton-John (67) and Serena Williams (34).

Next Week peeps!

27th September 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 13th September 2015

I’m sorry everyone, fuck all has happened during the last week. I’ll bet you a toenail shaving that you will not have heard of any of this weeks demises! Luckily we have a few news snippets to be getting along with, otherwise we might have had to cancel this weeks edition!!!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Candida Royalle, 64, American pornographic actress, producer and director, ovarian cancer.
• Dickie Moore, 89, American child actor (Our Gang, Sergeant York, Oliver Twist).
• Bryn Merrick, 56, Welsh bassist (The Damned), cancer.
• John Connell, 91, American actor (Young Doctor Malone, Fail Safe, Family Business).

In Other News

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand is on antibiotics following a fresh blood infection, the palace has revealed. The 87-year-old king, perceived as a near-deity by many Thais, has been in Bangkok’s Siriraj hospital since being readmitted in May but information on his condition has been scarce. In a statement released late on Monday the royal household said Bhumibol had come down with a high fever, chills and low blood pressure last Thursday. “The result of blood checks found that he had an infection in his blood. The result of a chest X-ray found that his right lung was inflamed,” the palace said. “As a result the doctors have given him some antibiotics and saline drip. They have also given him some oxygen.” Bhumibol has been in and out of hospital for much of the last two years and rarely makes public appearances. A day before his latest bout of illness the palace released footage of the wheelchair-bound monarch visiting a shop near the hospital where he is convalescing. Subjects on their knees chanted “Long live the King.”

Mad Men star Jon Hamm and his partner of nearly two decades, film-maker and actor Jennifer Westfeldt, have ended their relationship. Hamm, 44, and Westfeldt, 45, first met in 1997 and became known as one of Hollywood’s most stalwart couples. However, in March 2015, just before Mad Men’s eighth season finale, it emerged that Hamm had completed a course of rehab for alcoholism which must have played a part in the split. If he was drinking before, we’re pretty sure he’ll be quaffing bars dry right now. Let’s see if his liver is strong enough!

Some of you might have noticed that our beloved Queen has managed to hang on to her privileged life for longer than anyone else in British history, even longer than Queen Victoria, and she had an Age named after her! At exactly what time Elizabeth II would overtake her great-great grandmother’s reign of 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes, remained uncertain as her father, George VI, died in his sleep, but it is thought to be at around 1am. So, using that as a basis, and factoring in leap days in both reigns, Buckingham Palace’s formula plumped for around 5.30pm as a safe bet. But no parties for Queenie, it was “business as usual” as she officially opened the new £294m Scottish Borders Railway.

And finally, an escapologist, who hoped to out-manoeuvre Harry Houdini during a Buried Alive stunt, was left with a broken rib after he failed to break through to the surface almost nine minutes into the daring bid. Antony Britton hoped to escape unaided after being handcuffed and buried in a standard-size grave, under six feet of soil. But the daredevil had to be hauled out by crew members when he lost consciousness and now says he is ‘lucky to be alive’. An anxious audience at Slaithwaite Spa, West Yorks, watched as Mr Britton was rescued, taken to a waiting ambulance and given oxygen, before coming round. Mr Britton said his biggest disappointment was to discover he was just two feet from the surface when he had to be rescued. Antony is only the third person in 100 years to attempt the Buried Alive challenge. Legendary escapologist Harry Houdini, who was known around the world for his elaborate escape routines, failed in 1915 while magician Alan Alan had to be dug out in 1949. They should have left him in there in my opinion!

On This Day

• 1501 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.
• 1609 – Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.
• 1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
• 1899 – Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident.
• 1956 – The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
• 1985 – Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES

Deaths

• 81 – Titus, Roman emperor (b. 39)
• 1996 – Tupac Shakur, American rapper, producer, and actor (Digital Underground and Outlawz) (b. 1971)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Roger Waters (72), Macy Gray (48), Delores O’Riordan (44), Pippa Middleton (32), Idris Elba (43), Gloria Gaynor (66), Chrissie Hynde (64), Julie Kavner (65), Evan Rachel Wood (28), Martin Freeman (44), Hugh Grant (55), Adam Sandler (49), Rachel Hunter (46), Eric Sonestreet (44), Michael Buble (40), Colin Firth (55), Guy Richie (47), Karel Lagerfeld (82), Brian De Palma (75), Virginia Madsen (54), Moby (50), Ian Holm (84) and Linda Gray (75).

Next Week peeps!

13th September 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 6th September 2015

Welcome all, yet another newsletter in your inboxes! There’s a few big names in the list this week, alas no points to award. ’tis a cruel game indeed!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Wes Craven, 76, American film director, writer and producer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, The Hills Have Eyes), brain cancer.
• Joy Beverley, 91, British singer (Beverley Sisters), stroke.
• Dean Jones, 84, American actor (The Love Bug, Company, Beethoven), Parkinson’s disease.
• Sir Adrian Cadbury, 86, British businessman and rower, chairman of Cadbury.
• Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 75, Nepalese primordial dwarf, shortest man in recorded history, pneumonia.
• Rico Rodriguez, 80, Cuban-born British trombonist (The Specials).
• Alan Steel, 79, Italian bodybuilder and actor (Samson, The Rebel Gladiators, Hercules Against the Moon Men).

In Other News 

Sue Perkins, the comedian and co-host of The Great British Bake Off on BBC2, has revealed that she has been living with a brain tumour for the past eight years. The broadcaster said the benign growth, which is on her pituitary gland, was found during tests which she underwent as part of another BBC show, Supersizers. Perkins, 45, who is in a relationship with the Channel 4 presenter Anna Richardson, also talked about how the tumour prevented her from having children due to its impact on the secretion of reproductive hormones. “We live in a time and place where we think everything is possible,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have gone on to have children. But as soon as someone says you can’t have something, you want it more than anything,” she said. “I’m lucky that it’s benign so it’s not in itself a worrying thing. Sometimes it’s big and makes me mad, and sometimes it’s small and is in the background. Sometimes it screws up my hormones. I have various tests now to make sure the side effects aren’t too onerous.”

Motorhead cancelled a show on Wednesday after a series of abbreviated performances amid renewed health concerns for the famously hard-living frontman, Lemmy. The English rockers left the stage in Austin, Texas, after playing three songs on Tuesday. The 69-year-old Lemmy told the crowd, “I can’t do it,” according to social media postings. The band, who also cancelled or cut short two other recent shows, said they would not perform a scheduled concert on Wednesday in San Antonio. It said Lemmy was suffering from altitude sickness after a performance in the Rocky Mountains state of Colorado. The 40-year-old metal band have won a loyal fan base for their high-decibel guitar rock and Lemmy’s instantly recognisable gravelly voice. Lemmy, also known for his lambchop sideburns and facial moles, was long synonymous with the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. He has said he used to drink a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey every day and that he has slept with more than 1000 women. But Lemmy has faced a series of health concerns including diabetes in recent years, forcing Motörhead to postpone a European tour in 2013. Lemmy has said he has cut down on drinking and quit smoking.

On Saturday evening, Markus Persson – the creator of Minecraft – overshared on Twitter. In a series of rambling and unabashed tweets, the multi-billionaire revealed that selling his independent gaming company Mojang to Microsoft has left him feeling empty inside. Many will undoubtedly scoff at Persson’s sentiments; they will find it difficult to feel sympathy for a man who cashed a $2.5 billion cheque not 12 months ago. But do Persson’s tweets prove that the age-old maxim – money can never really make you happy – is right? Is instant gratification, wealth and success not all we think it’s cracked up to be? If loneliness and depression is the outcome, then I suppose not!

Two-time major winner John Daly is out of hospital after collapsing during a minor tournament in the USA. The American, 49, was checked over by doctors who diagnosed a collapsed lung. He returned to playing less than 24 hours later and, according to the Associated Press, was smoking cigarettes on the clubhouse patio, definitely one to watch for us! Speaking about Saturday’s health scare, Daly said: “I was having a great time and then suddenly – boom – I’m falling down while on the 18th tee.” He added: “The next thing I know I’m in an ambulance. It was scary.” Not that scary, he’s not changed his smoking habits!

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been discharged from hospital after spending more than two weeks receiving treatment for a recurring infection, his foundation has said. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate has been in and out of hospital in recent months. He was previously treated for an infection resulting from his prostate cancer treatment. The statement said Mr Tutu has expressed his thanks to staff at the Cape Town hospital. “The love, prayers and good wishes expressed by people around the world had been just as important as the medical attention in aiding the arch’s [Tutu’s] recovery,” his daughter Rev Canon Mpho Tutu said. Let’s see how long he lasts!

On This Day

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
• 1522 – The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan‘s expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
• 1620 – The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America.
• 1803 – British scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
• 1870 – Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
• 1992 – Hunters discover the emaciated body of Christopher McCandless at his camp 20 miles (32 km) west of the town of Healy, Alaska.
• 1997 – The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Well over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television.

Deaths

• 1998 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1910)
• 2007 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1935)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Cameron Diaz (43), Richard Gere (66), Raquel Welch (75), Van Morrison (70), Salma Hayek (49), Michael Keaton (64), Keanu Reeves (51), Beyonce Knowles (34), Charlie Sheen (50), Lily Tomlin (76), Barry Gibb (69), Rose McGowan (42), Jimmy Connors (63), Gloria Estefan (58), Warren Buffett (85), Lennox Lewis (50), and Al Jardine (73).

Next Week peeps!

6th September 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 30th August 2015

Welcome all, to a rather lacklustre edition of the newsletter. Not much happened last week, so I’ve padded things out somewhat with interesting stories about pain and death. It might be time for me to send out the flying monkeys again!!!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Marcy Borders, 42, American 9/11 survivor, subject of “Dust Lady” photograph, stomach cancer.
• Justin Wilson, 37, British IndyCar Series driver, head injuries from race collision.
• Colin Fry, 53, British medium and television presenter, lung cancer.
• Alison Parker, 24, American news reporter (WDBJ), shot.
• Adam Ward, 27, American news cameraman (WDBJ) and photojournalist, shot.
• Nelly de Vries-Lammerts, 110, Dutch supercentenarian.
• Kyle Jean-Baptiste, 21, American actor (Les Miserables), fall.
• Oliver Sacks, 82, British neurologist and author (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), liver cancer.

In Other News

Carol Vorderman, the television presenter, has revealed she is “covered in burns” after falling off a treadmill while running naked. The former Countdown number-cruncher disclosed she tripped while using the machine and ended up trapped up against a wall. Vorderman, 54, was intending to comfort a Twitter friend over a mishap, but she managed to trump the tale with her own story “It’s hilarious. Pain? I fell off a treadmill running naked (don’t ask). Now covered in burns and doctor’s dressings!” – Thus revealing her naked exercise mishap to her more than 330,000 followers! Vorderman later told the media she was exercising in the nude because she was “hot”. However, she said she would think twice before doing so again and was “not sure it will be an Olympic sport soon”.

Two-time major winner John Daly has been taken to hospital after collapsing during a minor tournament in the USA. The American, 49, has  been checked for rib and finger injuries, but a friend said his vital signs – temperature, blood pressure and heart and breathing rates – are good. Leigh Brannan of Deerfield Golf Club in Jackson, Mississippi said Daly was having breathing problems on a hot day. “He was struggling pretty badly right before he collapsed,” Brannan said. “We’re all hoping it’s nothing serious and that he was just a little dehydrated. He was even saying he still wants to play.”

Justin Gatlin could not get close to Usain Bolt in the 200m final in Beijing – but it appears he might have had better luck if he had been on a Segway and armed with a camera. Bolt completed another double at the World Athletics Championships and when he was celebrating with the crowd an overzealous cameraman got too close for comfort, lost control of his Segway and swept the Jamaican off his feet. The 10-times world champion did not appear badly injured by the incident, managed to see the funny side and was soon posing for pictures with his adoring crowd again. “It didn’t actually hit me in my Achilles, it hit me in my calf area,” Bolt said. “It’s all right, I will get over it. Never a doubt [for the relays], never a doubt. I am just going to get it massaged, ice it up a bit and I should be fine.” Bolt added: “The rumour I’m trying to start right now is that Justin Gatlin paid him off.”

An elephant in northern Thailand killed its handler before running off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists still on its back! The Police said that on Wednesday morning a Chinese family of three – a father, mother and a young child – were taking a ride on the male elephant when it turned suddenly on its new keeper. The elephant had not taken well to his new mahout and turned on him suddenly, goring him to death. The media broadcast footage of the three frightened tourists being led back to camp, still on the elephant’s back, once it had been calmed down by other mahouts and their own elephants.

And in a continuation of goring, a man has died after being struck by a bull, the 10th such death in Spain this year, making it one  of the deadliest for the sport of bull running. The unidentified man in his late 40s was struck by a bull several times during a run in the north-eastern town of Borriol on Saturday and died in hospital, a local police spokesman said. This year’s toll matches the record of 10 deaths in bull runs, set in 2009. Last weekend alone four men died after being gored by half-tonne fighting bulls in four different towns. One of the victims, a 55-year-old man, was caught on video being repeatedly gored by a bull as he lay on the ground in front of a protective barrier that separated onlookers from bull run participants. And they say Cheese Rolling is dangerous!

And finally, celebrity psychic Derek Acorah has been trolled on Twitter following the death of his close friend Colin Fry. The grieving TV star was bombarded with comments after Psychic Private Eyes star Colin lost his battle with lung cancer, aged only 53. One user wrote, ”Hey Derek, he has sent a message for you, it’ll cost you 30 pound to hear it.” Another “You and Colin deal in the business of fooling the vulnerable for private gain. I couldn’t care less he’s dead.” The comments were widely condemned as fans rallied around the star. Believe what you will about psychics and mediums, but it’s rather telling that Acorah is sad at the loss if his fellow medium, surely he of all people should be able to carry on talking to his dead friend.

On This Day

• 708 – Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time.
• 1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
• 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the world’s first internal combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
• 1898 – The Goodyear tire company is founded.
• 1922 – The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City.
• 1930 – The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.
• 1949 – Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing an estimated 1,836 people and causing over $108 billion in damage.

Deaths

• 1930 – William Archibald Spooner, English priest and author (b. 1844)
• 1968 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (b. 1881)
• 1982 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish-English actress and singer (b. 1915)
• 1987 – Lee Marvin, American actor and singer (b. 1924)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sean Connery (85), LeAnne Rimes (33), Jason Priestley (46), Shania Twain (50), Aaron Paul (36), Billy Ray Cyrus (54), Barbara Eden (84), Steve Guttenberg (57), Elvis Costello (61), Paul Rubens (63), Shelley Long (66), Chris Pine (35), John McCain (79), Claudia Schiffer (45), Rachel Bildon (34), Rebecca DeMornay (56), Carla Gugino (44), Florence Welch (29), Jack Black (46), Gene Simmons (66), Stephen Fry (58), Rupert Grint (27), Tim Burton (57), Alexander Skarsgard (39), Barbara Bach (68) and Elliott Gould (77).

Next Week peeps!

30th August 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 23rd August 2015

Good afternoon everyone, a lovely day for sitting down and reading the current Dead Pool Newsletter. Not many deaths this week, however loads of deadly news to catch up on. Let’s do this!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Emma Didlake, 110, American supercentenarian, oldest veteran in the United States.
• Kitty McGeever, 48, British actress (Emmerdale).
• Goldie Steinberg, 114, American supercentenarian, oldest verified Jewish person.
• Yvonne Craig, 78, American actress (Batman, Star Trek, Olivia), breast cancer.
• Anna Kashfi, 80, British actress (The Mountain, Cowboy, Adventures in Paradise).
• Arthur Morris, 93, Australian Test cricketer.

In Other News

Former US President Jimmy Carter has revealed he is to be treated for cancerous tumours on the brain, in his first public comments on his illness. Mr Carter said he would start his radiation treatment on Thursday. Mr Carter, 90, was recently treated for liver cancer, after which it was discovered the disease had spread. He said he would “cut back fairly dramatically” on public works. “It is in the hands of God and I am prepared for anything that comes,” he said. Mr Carter told a press conference on Thursday he had at first thought the cancer was confined to his liver and that an operation this month had completely removed it. But an MRI scan the same afternoon showed four spots of melanoma on the brain. “I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease. I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I have got thousands of friends and I have had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence.” Mr Carter said it was likely doctors would find cancer elsewhere in his body as his treatment continued. But he said: “I feel very good. I have had no pain or debility.”

Broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire has announced that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The award-winning radio and TV journalist, 46, announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening that she would undergo a mastectomy as part of her treatment in the coming weeks and that she hoped to continue broadcasting her Victoria Derbyshire TV programme “as much as possible” while she recovered. Derbyshire said friends, family and colleagues were offering support and the NHS staff looking after her “were being brilliant”.

Terence Stamp was involved in a near-death experience on the set of his new film, according to an interview with the actor in the Daily Mail. The 77-year-old actor was involved in a near-fatal accident involving a horse during the shoot of Bitter Harvest. “My horse had a habit, when I brought it to a stop, of lifting its front legs up,” he said. “On my last day, I brought it to a stop but slid off the back … I looked up and saw that this horse, which weighed half a ton, had lost its balance and was going to fall directly on me.” Stamp went on to say that the horse fell on his chest and pelvis, leading to multiple injuries. “If it had landed any further up, it would have killed me,” he said. “It broke my pelvis in six places, two ribs and ripped a tendon in my arm. “I always imagined that my last thoughts would be somehow profound, but what went through my mind was, “Distinguished actor killed by horse’s arse.’” He joked that if he had been American, he might have considered legal action but he “couldn’t be bothered”.

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu is to spend the next two weeks in hospital, according to a family statement. The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation said he was on a new course of antibiotics to treat an inflammation. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate “is in good spirits and not in any pain,” the family said. This is his third stay in hospital in recent weeks. He was previously treated for an infection resulting from his prostate cancer treatment. Details of his current condition have not been released. The archbishop deeply appreciate the prayers and good wishes of so many, said his daughter, Reverend Mpho Tutu. “While my father was very grateful to the media for its concern, he had humbly requested journalists not to anticipate daily updates on his condition so that he could rest peacefully while receiving treatment,” his daughter added.

Diego Maradona has revealed he has been  clean from drugs for almost 12 years in a video released on his Facebook page, adding he has “chosen to live life for my daughters, grandchildren and those still to come”. Maradona has blamed his past drug use on failing to realise his true potential as a player who failed a doping test at the 1994 World Cup. Signing off the video from inside his swimming pool, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Maradona goes on to reveal his clean living. “I think there is nothing more to prove. I think my environment is my people. I’m about to be 12 years clean from drugs because it does not let me wake up every morning the way I do today. I have chosen to live life for my daughters, grandchildren and those still to come. And be careful, I still haven’t closed the factory.”

And finally, every year for more than 50 years, Japan’s new centenarians have been honoured with a silver sake cup and a congratulatory letter from the prime minister. But as the country prepares to mark Respect for the Aged Day next month, the latest crop of citizens who turned 100 in the past 12 months face disappointment, as the soaring number of centenarians puts a new strain on the government’s coffers. The saucer-like sakazuki, a gift from the government since 1963, could be replaced by a cheaper version or be scrapped altogether this year after the health and welfare ministry complained it could not afford to keep up with the number of new recipients. In 1963 Japan had just 153 centenarians, and as recently as 1998 the number stood at just 10,000. At the last count Japan’s 100-plus age group numbered almost 59,000, and that figure is expected to rise when the government
releases new population data before Seniors’ Day on 15th September. Last year the ministry spent 260 million yen (£1.3m) on giving the cups – each worth about 8,000 yen – to almost 30,000 people, including 25,000  women. Local media pointed out that some people die before the
gifts can be distributed, forcing them to be scrapped. Demographers predict that Japan’s centenarian population
will continue to grow as the general population ages – the result of regular medical examinations, universal healthcare and, among Japanese over a certain age, a fastidious attachment to the traditional low-fat diet of fish, tofu, vegetables and rice.

On This Day

• 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield in London.
• 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
• 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term “Stockholm syndrome”.
• 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee opens the WWW, World Wide Web to new users.
• 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia’s last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Deaths

• 1305 – William Wallace, Scottish commander (b. 1272)
• 1926 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian-American actor (b. 1895)
• 1960 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American producer, and composer (b. 1895)
• 2005 – Brock Peters, American actor and producer (b. 1927)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Robert DeNiro (72), Amy Admas (41), Sean Penn (55), Madonna (57), Steve Carell (53), Kristen Wiig (42), Robert Redford (79), Valerie Harper (76), Bill Clinton (69), Ty Burrell (48), Hayden Panettiere (26), Usain Bolt (29), Robert Plant (67), Kim Cattrall (59), Kenny Rogers (77), Andrew Garfield (32), Donnie Wahlberg (46), Edward Norton (46), Matthew Perry (46), Kevin Dillon (50), Christian Slater (46), Madeline Stowe (57), Denis Leary (58), Belinda Carlisle (57), James Cameron (61), Carrie-Anne Moss (48), Tori Amos (52), GZA (49), Julie Newmar (82), Ulrika Jonsson (48) and Jim Carter (67).

Next Week peeps!

23rd August 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 16th August 2015

Afternoon Poolers! Firstly, I have to apologise, I didn’t notice that Liz had George Cole on her list from last week, so I have to belatedly add 60 points to her tally and grovel for her forgiveness. Hopefully, I haven’t missed anyone else, so let’s get on with it.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jack Gold, 85, British film director (The Naked Civil Servant, Aces High, The Medusa Touch).
• David Nobbs, 80, British novelist and comedy writer (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Two Ronnies, Fairly Secret Army).
• Susan Sheridan, 68, British voice actress (The Black Cauldron, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Noddy’s Toyland Adventures).
• Stephen Lewis, 88, British comedy actor (On the Buses, Last of the Summer Wine, Don’t Drink the Water). 
• Jazz Summers, 71, English music manager (Scissor Sisters, The Verve, Snow Patrol), lung cancer.

In Other News

Former US President Jimmy Carter says recent liver surgery revealed he has cancer and it has spread to other parts of his body. The 90-year-old statesman underwent surgery to remove a small mass in his liver earlier this month. He said he would reveal more “when facts are known, possibly next week”. President Barack Obama wished Mr Carter “a full and fast recovery” in a statement released on Wednesday. Carter was America’s 39th president. He was in office from 1977 to 1981, before being defeated for re-election by Ronald Reagan.

Elton John’s lawyer has said that he is pursuing three  French media outlets for publishing what he called “unfounded rumours” about the British pop singer’s health and that of his husband. “Sir Elton John and David Furnish … have instructed my office to pursue through the justice system the violation of the right to respect for their private life due to the publishing of unfounded rumours about their health,” Vincent Toledano said in a statement on Friday. John and his husband “will no longer tolerate the violation of their privacy and the exploitation of their renown and their image for commercial ends in France,” the lawyer added. What does the French media know that we don’t??

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej is recovering from treated for hydrocephalus, an excessive build-up of fluid on the brain, say authorities. The 87-year-old, who has been in hospital since 31st May, also had a lung inflammation which has since subsided. Last October he had his gallbladder removed. He was in Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital for seven months, and was discharged in May this year, only to return to the hospital a few weeks later for medical tests.

A prominent Spanish matador was in serious but stable condition in hospital after being gored in the groin by a bull. Francisco “Paquirri” Rivera Ordóñez suffered the injury while fighting the bull in the town of Huesca and was in intensive care. The bull’s horn sank some 25cm (10in) into Paquirri’s groin but did not threaten any vital organs, doctors said. Television footage showed the bull hoisting Paquirri into the air for a few seconds on one of his horns. His father, of the same name, was gored to death in Andalucia in 1984. His grandfather was Antonio Ordóñez, considered one of the greatest bullfighters of all time. Obviously this ‘talent’ is not hereditary.

And finally, the Jack Russell terrier, who narrowly avoided a life in the dog pound to be raised for show business, was put down after a battle with prostate cancer. Uggie the dog, the canine star of Oscar-winning film The Artist, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 13. Starting out, as so many stars before him, in commercials, Uggie’s breakout role came as “The Dog” – loyal companion to George Valentin in Michel Hazanavicius’s ode to silent cinema, The Artist. The film won five Academy awards, including best picture in 2012, and Uggie himself was honoured with a Palm Dog award at Cannes film festival. He was also the first dog to leave his paw prints outside Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood.

On This Day

• 1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, England.
• 1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
• 1906 – An estimated 8.2 M_W earthquake hits Valparaíso, Chile, killing 3,886 people.
• 1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.

Deaths

• 1888 – John Pemberton, American chemist, invented Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
• 1899 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (b. 1811)
• 1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (b. 1895)
• 1956 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1882)
• 1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (b. 1935)
• 2003 – Idi Amin, Ugandan field marshal, 3rd President of Uganda (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jennifer Lawrence (25), Ben Affleck (43), Hulk Hogan (62), Chris Hemsworth (32), Antonio Banderas (55), Mila Kunis (32), Steve Martin (70), Anna Kendrick (30), Halle Berry (49), Debra Messing (47), David Crosby (74), Natasha Henstridge (41), Magic Johnson (56), Gillian Anderson (47), George Hamilton (76), Rosanna Arquette (56), Princess Anne (65), Eric Bana (47), Audrey Tautou (39), Mark Knopfler (66), Pete Sampras (44) and Fidel Castro (89).

Next Week peeps!

16th August 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 9th August 2015

Afternoon all, sorry for the epic size of this week’s edition of the newsletter, it seems I didn’t know when to stop. So make a cup of tea, sit down and relax, this one might take a while to read.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Coleen Gray, 92, American actress (Nightmare Alley, Kiss of Death, The Killing).
• Giovanni Riggi, 90, American mobster, inspiration for The Sopranos.
• Arnold Scaasi, 85, Canadian fashion designer.
• Les Munro, 96, New Zealand pilot, last surviving pilot of Operation Chastise.
• George Cole, 90, English actor (Minder, St Trinian’s, Mary Reilly).
• Terrence Evans, 81, American actor (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
• Neville Neville, 65, English cricketer and football club director (Bury F.C.).
• Sean Price, 43, American rapper (Heltah Skeltah, Boot Camp Clik).

In Other News

Cilla Black was ailing and “willed herself to die”, according to a long-time friend. Childhood friend Terry McCann said Black told him she knew she was going to die and her beloved late husband Bobby Willis was “waiting for me”. “I wasn’t surprised when I found out she had died,” he told BBC News. “The last thing she said to me was she was going blind, she showed me her hands, she had arthritis,” he said. “She willed herself to die. She said, ‘Bobby’s waiting for me.’ “She just said, ‘Look at me, I’m a wreck.’ I was trying to cheer her up. She knew something we didn’t. The singer and TV star died of a stroke after falling over at her Spanish home on Saturday last week. The 72-year-old was sunbathing at her villa in Estepona when she stood up, lost her balance and fell, hitting her head, which knocked her unconscious and caused a stroke. Her body has now been flown back to the UK, but no details of Black’s funeral have yet been made public.

The British band Supertramp have announced the cancellation of their European  concert tour, due to start in November, because of an “aggressive” cancer treatment co-founder and vocalist Rick Davies is undergoing. The group, famous for 1970s and 80s hits such as Bloody Well Right, Dreamer, The Logical Song and It’s Raining Again, had been planning to take their Supertramp Forever tour through 25 European cities over five weeks. But in a statement they said the concerts “have been cancelled due to health issues affecting the band’s founder, Rick Davies”. Davies, 71, has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma – a cancer concentrated in bone marrow that affects white blood cells – “and has begun aggressive treatment to combat the disease,” they said. Davies, who also plays keyboards, is the only original member of the band after co-founder Roger Hodgson departed in 1983 to pursue a solo career.

Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram’s car has been fired at in Karachi, the country’s commercial capital, police say. The shooting took place near the National Stadium in Karachi’s Karsaz area on Wednesday, reports said. The ex-bowler was not hurt in the attack. Police said the incident appeared to be a case of road rage. Gun violence is not uncommon in Karachi, with much of it linked to militant groups. Wasim told the Express News channel: “A car hit mine, I stopped him and then his guy stepped out and fired at my car.” The cricket legend, who retired in 2003, is massively popular in Pakistan. Many in Pakistan, including politician and former cricketer Imran Khan, were quick to condemn the attack and express relief that Wasim was unhurt.

French police are investigating whether anaesthetic gas was used during a burglary on Formula One driver Jenson Button and his wife Jessica in a rented villa on the French Riviera. Two men, who stole jewellery reportedly worth £300,000, including an engagement ring, may have pumped gas through the air conditioning system before the break-in on Monday in St Tropez where the couple were holidaying with friends, the racing driver’s spokesman claimed. Personally I’m finding it hard to sympathise with them, it would take me nearly 20 years to earn £300k, and they spent it on sparkly things they took on holiday.

A jury in the US state of Colorado has spared gunman James Holmes the death penalty for killing 12 people at a screening of a Batman film in 2012. He will serve life in jail without the possibility of parole. I’m sure if he was black, he’d been straight on Death Row. The defence team had argued that the former neuroscience graduate student, now 27, was insane at the time. The jury agreed with prosecutors that Holmes, though mentally ill, was responsible for his actions. But it was not unanimous on the death penalty. That lack of agreement meant the jury accepted he would receive an automatic life sentence without parole. District Attorney George Brauchler said: “I still think death is justice for what that guy did, but the system said otherwise. I honour that, and I’ll respect that outcome.” Let’s hope that the same system will see the guy shanked in the goolies, nobody likes people who disturb a film in a cinema…

And finally, a woman who has just celebrated her 110th birthday says she has a daily dose of three beers and a shot of whisky to thank for her astonishing longevity. Agnes Fenton, from New Jersey, turned 110 on Saturday and is now among the small group of supercentenarian around the world. For nearly seventy years she has knocked back three Miller High Lifes and a shot of scotch every day, following the advice of a doctor who treated her for a benign tumour back in the 1930s. Her whisky of choice is Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which costs up to $150 (£96) per bottle. However, Ms Fenton has now been urged to abandon her daily tonic as she eats so little that her carers fear she can no longer handle alcohol. Ms Fenton is in remarkably good shape for a 110-year-old and is yet to have lost her hearing or eyesight. She spends her days reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, praying and enjoying plenty of naps. Amen to that!

On This Day

• 1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.
• 1483 – Opening of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with the celebration of a Mass.
• 1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
• 1907 – The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in southern England, many young boys bottoms were never the same again.
• 1930 – Betty Boop makes her cartoon debut in Dizzy Dishes.
• 1945 – World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. 35,000 people are killed outright, including 23,200-28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.
• 1965 – Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.
• 1969 – Followers led by Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men’s hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.
• 1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.

Deaths

• 1948 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (b. 1885)
• 1969 – Sharon Tate, American actress (b. 1943)
• 1996 – Frank Whittle, English soldier and engineer, invented the jet engine (b. 1907)
• 2008 – Bernie Mac, American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1957)

Why do wrestlers so often die young?  By David Rhodes BBC World Service

Mr Perfect, The Ultimate Warrior and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper may sound like names from a comic book, but the cognoscenti will recognise them as former superstars of the world of professional wrestling. All of them also died unexpectedly and at a relatively young age.

Mr Perfect died in 2003 of acute cocaine intoxication at the age of 44. The Ultimate Warrior died last year of a heart attack, aged 54. Most recent to go was “Rowdy” Roddy Piper who died suddenly on 31 July of a heart attack. He was 61.

So do former wrestlers die younger than athletes who take part in other sports?

“Yes the statistical evidence is quite strong when we look at the mortality rate for wrestlers compared to other sports and the general population,” says John Moriarty of Manchester University.

Researchers like Moriarty face some difficulties getting hold of data, as no official body collects statistics about the deaths of those who have spent a career in the ring. His approach has been to aggregate the findings of others who have studied the problem. He points to research by academics at the University of Eastern Michigan who studied a group of 557 former wrestlers.

Of the 62 wrestlers in this group who died between 1985 and 2011, 49 died before the age of 50. Furthermore, 24 of the 49 died  before the age of 40, and two even died before the age of 30. Mortality rates for wrestlers aged between 45 and 54 were 2.9 times greater than the rate for men in the wider US population, the study found. Cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death.

But how does this compare with other American sports?

In 2014 Benjamin Morris investigated this for the statistical blog FiveThirtyEight, looking at a group of wrestlers whose careers had ended in 1998 or earlier. He found that 20% of those who in 2010 would have been aged between 50 and 55 had died, compared with just 4% of former American footballers of a similar age. Both activities involve their competitors exposing themselves to physical harm, and the training regimes for both wrestling and American football are punishing. But New York-based wrestling journalist Eric Cohen points to two important differences. “There is no off season in pro-wrestling. American footballers play, what, 16 a games a season? And then get half a year off. Wrestlers can be in the ring five to six times a week,” he says. The other difference concerns the activities  outside the ring and off the field.

“Wrestlers who competed in the 1970s and 80s were also living and partying like rock stars,” Cohen says. “In the past the business has had a lot of issues with its stars abusing steroids and recreational drugs.” Piper admitted taking steroids and cocaine, and drinking heavily while competing as a wrestler. The WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.) accepts that the culture of some of its former employees contributed to the problems they experienced in later life.

“Unfortunately, some past performers were part of a generation of wrestlers who made unhealthy and poor personal lifestyle choices, which in some cases continued beyond their years in the ring,” a spokesman said in a statement.

“Today’s athletes take great pride and personal responsibility for their overall health and well-being.

“Notwithstanding, WWE talent are subject to random drug testing and expected to live healthy lifestyles, reinforced through our Talent Wellness Program, which was instituted in 2006.”

Cohen believes things are broadly are getting better.

“Thankfully we don’t have nearly as many wrestlers in their 20s or 30s dying any more,” he says. “But as crazy as this may sound there was an incident in Mexico recently where a wrestler died in the ring.”

The hope among wrestling fans is that today’s crop of superstars will live longer than their predecessors.But the deaths of Roddy Piper and others serve as dark reminders of the journey that professional wrestling has been on.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Charlize Theron (40), Barak Obama (54), Loni Anderson (70), Dustin Hoffman (78), Martin Sheen (75), Martha Stewart (74), Tony Bennett (89), David Duchovny (55), Billy Bob Thornton (60), Geri Halliwell (43), Sam Worthington (39), Edward Furlong (38), The Edge (54), Roger Federer (34), Princess Beatrice (27), Abbie Cornish (33), Kevin Smith (45), John Landis (65), Evangeline Lilly (36), M. Night Shyamalan (45), Michelle Yeoh (53), Michael Shannon (41), Tobin Bell (73), Barbara Windsor (78) and Mark Strong (52).

Next Week peeps!

9th August 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 2nd August 2015

Welcome all, we have a lorra lorra stuff to get through today, so get your reading glasses on. Yes, it was a huge Surprise! Surprise! to find out that Cilla Black has passed away, but even more so because John had her listed! 78 points awarded!

The last week really has been a week of shocking deaths, some very unexpected indeed and at too young an age. Shame we don’t have access to the future, a fuckload of points have just gone to the ether!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, American media personality and singer.
• Sir Peter O’Sullevan, 97, Irish-born British horse racing commentator, cancer.
• Lynn Anderson, 67, American country singer (“Rose Garden“), heart attack.
• Stuart Baggs, 27, Manx reality television contestant and businessman (The Apprentice).
• Roddy Piper, 61, Canadian professional wrestler (WWE, NWA, WCW); Hall of Fame (2005, 2007) and actor (They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Body Slam), heart attack.
• Cilla Black, 72, British singer, television presenter and actress.

In Other News 

Joe Jackson, the father of late singer Michael Jackson, has suffered a stroke. The Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo said Jackson, 87, was admitted on Sunday afternoon and is being treated in the intensive care unit. A statement from the hospital also said he was suffering from an irregular heartbeat. Apparently he was in Brazil to celebrate his 87th birthday, but he missed his own party due to being in hospital.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, has been sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli. Saif, once seen as  his father’s heir apparent, was condemned to death along with eight other figures from the former dictatorship, including the former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and Gaddafi’s last prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi. There is uncertainty about whether the sentence will be carried out, as Gaddafi is being held by a militia in the mountain town of Zintan that is opposed to Libya Dawn, the militia coalition in control of Tripoli. Yes, you can list him next year, these death sentences can take forever to be upheld so you might have a long wait.

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has returned to hospital just a week after being discharged. He has what has only been described as a “persistent infection” which his foundation says is unrelated to the prostate cancer he has had for 15 years. Tutu was first hospitalised by the infection on 14th July. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate also continues to battle prostate cancer, first diagnosed 15 years ago, but his foundation said the current infection was unrelated. The foundation said the veteran rights campaigner would undergo bed rest while his doctors determine further treatment, and remain in the hospital at least for the weekend. Tutu survived an illness believed to be polio as a baby, and battled tuberculosis as a teenager. He has been in and out of hospital for minor complaints since 2011.

And now on to Cecil the Lion. One would believe that Walter Palmer, the dentist that shot the lion with an bow and arrow, missing his mark so the lion escaped for 40 hours until shot by a marksman in his hunting group, is on plenty of death lists by now. Having paid $50k for the ‘privilege’ of killing a lion, Palmer is now in hiding and his dental practice has closed down. Sadly, court records have shown that Mr Palmer has a felony record in the US after killing a black bear in the state of Wisconsin in 2006. The dentist was given a one-year probation and fined $3,000, having shot the creature outside an authorised zone and then tried to pass it off as having been killed elsewhere, so this is not the first time he’s tried it on. I should offer an extra 200 points for the death of Palmer, alas this would contravene the rules of the Dead Pool.

Finally, a Texas man was hospitalised this week, after being hit in the head by a ricocheting bullet he had aimed at an armadillo. The man decided to  shoot the armadillo after seeing it on his property, near the east Texas town of Marietta, just before 3am on Thursday, Cass County sheriff’s officials said. He fired three shots at the armadillo. At least one rebounded and hit the man in the jaw. The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where his jaw was wired shut. It is not known whether the armadillo survived, but we can hope. The incident is the second this year in which a person has been injured in the southern US by a bullet ricocheting off an armadillo. In April, a Georgia man wounded his mother-in-law after he fired a pistol at an armadillo and the bullet bounced off the animal, traveled through the back door of a mobile home and struck the 74-year-old woman in the back. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Americans should not be allowed to own guns!

On This Day

• 1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
• 1790 – The first United States Census is conducted.
• 1869 – Japan‘s samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinōkōshō) is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.
• 1870 – Tower Subway, the world’s first underground tube railway, opens in London, England, United Kingdom.
• 1932 – The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
• 1934 – Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
• 1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
• 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
• 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

Deaths

• 1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (b. 1727)
• 1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
• 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, invented the telephone (b. 1847)
• 1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1890)
• 1997 – William S. Burroughs, American author and painter (b. 1914)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sandra Bullock (51), Kate Beckinsale (42), Arnold Schwarzenegger (68), Taylor Schilling (31), Mick Jagger (72), Helen Mirren (70), Wesley Snipes (53), Lisa Kudrow (52), Jason Statham (48), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (45), Dean Cain (49), J.K. Rowling (50), Laurence Fishburne (54), Jonathan Rhys Mayers (38), Paul Anka (74), Jean Reno (67) and Christopher Nolan (45).

Next Week peeps!

2nd August 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 26th July 2015

Apologies this week, a rather quick and perfunctory edition of the Dead Pool, not much has happened anyhow, so have a quick perusal and we’ll catch up for real next week.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Nova Pilbeam, 95, British actress (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Young and Innocent, Tudor Rose).
• Alex Rocco, 79, American actor (The Godfather, The George Carlin Show, The Facts of Life), Emmy winner (1990), cancer.
• Van Alexander, 100, American big band leader, songwriter-arranger (“A-Tisket, A-Tasket“), film and television composer (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Donna Reed Show), heart failure.
• Josh Greenberg, 28, American technology executive, co-founder of Grooveshark.
• Wayne Carson, 72, American songwriter (“The Letter“, “Always on My Mind“, “Neon Rainbow”).
• Dieter Moebius, 71, Swiss-German electronic musician (Cluster, Harmonia, Moebius & Plank).
• Theodore Bikel, 91, Austrian-born American actor (The Defiant Ones, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof), folk singer and composer.
• E. L. Doctorow, 84, American author (Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The March), complications from lung cancer.

In Other News

Brazil legend Pelé has been released from hospital after successfully undergoing back surgery. The 74-year-old was suffering from a trapped nerve and has had surgery to relieve pain in his back and hip at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo. Also, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has returned home after a week-long treatment in hospital for an unspecified infection, his foundation said. Doctors have asked him to rest, and “we’ll be doing our best not to disappoint them,” his daughter Reverend Mpho Tutu said in a statement.

Miles Frost, the eldest son of Sir David Frost has died at the age of 31 while out jogging. Mr Frost is believed to have collapsed during a run at the family’s holiday home in Oxfordshire on Sunday. Friends said he had appeared fit and healthy and was in “great form” over the past few weeks, with no signs of any health problems. His father Sir David died of a heart attack aged 74 two years ago on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. Just goes to show, being a couch potato isn’t that bad for you.

Sergio Pérez walked away unscathed from a high-speed crash in Friday’s opening practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mexican driver suffered a rear suspension failure and lost control of his Force India on the exit of turn 11 before hitting the barriers on the opposite side of the track. Pérez’s right-front wheel then appeared to get caught underneath his Force India which flipped his car. The former McLaren driver was prompt to inform his team he was “OK” before clambering out of his car. The harrowing incident, which happened one hour into the 90-minute session, comes with the Formula One community mourning the loss of Jules Bianchi who died last week.

On This Day

• 1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.
• 1953 – Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement.
• 1971 – Apollo program: launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission“, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.

Deaths

• 1952 – Eva Perón, Argentinian actress and politician, 25th First Lady of Argentina (b. 1919)
• 1984 – Ed Gein, American murderer (b. 1906)
• 1994 – Terry Scott, English actor (b. 1927)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jennifer Lopez (46), Prince George (2), Woody Harrelson (54), Gisele Bundchen (35), Benedict Cumberbatch (39), Monica Lewinsky (42), Slash (50), Willem Dafoe (60), Daniel Radcliffe (26), Lynda Carter (64), Anna Paquin (33), Danny Glover (69), Summer Glau (34), Kim Carnes (70), Carlos Santana (68) and Rhys Ivans (48).

Next Week peeps!

26th July 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 19th July 2015

Welcome all, to a points laden newsletter! Ash, Mark and Paula each get 125 points for correctly guessing that Jules Bianchi would die! Fair play to them all, that’s a huge score for someone that wasn’t one of the Big Three!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Satoru Iwata, 55, Japanese game programmer (Super Smash Bros., Pokémon), president and CEO of Nintendo (since 2002), bile duct cancer.
• Aubrey Morris, 89, British actor (A Clockwork Orange, Love and Death, The Wicker Man).
• Alan Kupperberg, 62, American comic book artist (The Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man), thymus cancer.
• Jules Bianchi, 25, French Formula One driver, head injuries sustained in a race collision.

In Other News

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu is in “good spirits” after his admission to hospital on Tuesday for an unspecified infection, his family says. His daughter Reverend Mpho Tutu said the infection was “below the belt” but was not in his prostate, where his cancer lies dormant and was being well cared for. It is going to take a few days before he returns home, she said in Cape Town. He retired from public life in 2011 but continues to travel widely. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate cancelled a planned trip to Rome in December following another infection. His hospitalization comes a few days after he renewed his wedding vows to his wife Leah Tutu to mark their 60th wedding anniversary.

Pelé has undergone surgery on his back in São Paulo,  according to reports. Local media reports say the 74-year-old was suffering from a trapped nerve and has had back surgery at the Albert Einstein hospital. Poor old Pelé underwent prostate surgery at the same hospital in May. The procedure was to treat a condition that creates urinary problems because of an enlarged prostate, doctors said at the time. Tests conducted after that surgery showed there were no tumours.

George HW Bush is in “fair condition” in a hospital after falling and breaking a bone in his neck and is expected to recover from the injury without surgery, his spokesman said. The former US president, who is 91, sustained the injury during a fall at his family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, on Wednesday. Bush’s spokesman was quick to downplay concerns, tweeting that the 41st president was “fine” but likely to be placed in a neck brace. He later added that Bush’s wife, Barbara, was said to have said: “A slip and fall is not going to take out a World War II pilot.” Bush – the oldest living former US president – was hospitalised in Houston over the Christmas period last year for treatment of shortness of breath. In 2012, he spent a lengthy spell in hospital to be treated for bronchitis and other complications. Bush also has lower-body Parkinsons, which causes a loss of balance, and has used wheelchairs since at least 2011. Think I’ll disagree with Barbara!

Cheering news from Buckingham Palace. The Queen has decided to stop breeding corgis or having any more young dogs, because she’s now 88 and can’t bear to leave them behind when she dies. If that’s not a glaring admission that she feels that she’s on the way out, then I don’t know what is!! I’ll not mention the Hitler salute…

And finally, a 101-year-old woman has said she felt no fear as she broke her own world record for being the oldest abseiler, by descending 94m down the side of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Wind and rain did not deter Doris Long, who has been honoured with an MBE for her charity fundraising, as she abseiled down the tower. She last performed the feat on her 100th birthday in May 2014. Long said she was “living in hope” to be able to repeat the challenge next year, when she will be 102.

On This Day

• 1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
• 1843 – Brunel’s steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.
• 1900 – The first line of the Paris Métro opens for operation.
• 1983 – The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.

Deaths

• 2013 – Mel Smith, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1952)
• 2014 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Donald Sutherland (80), Brigitte Nielsen (52), Harrison Ford (73), Kirsten Bell (35), Bill Cosby (78), Diane Kruger (39), Will Farrell (48), Elizabeth McGovern (54), Vin Diesel (48), Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (68), Forest Whitaker (54), David Hasselhoff (63), Corey Feldman (44), Phoebe Cates (52), Cheech Marin (69), Richard Branson (65), John Glenn (94), Cheryl Ladd (64), Richard Simmons (67), Patrick Stewart (75), Harry Dean Stanton (89), Jackie Earle Haley (54), Matthew Fox (49), Michael Flatley (57), Fatboy Slim (52) and Jesse Ventura (64).

Next Week peeps!

19th July 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 12th July 2015

Welcome all,  we have points to award!!! Paul C. correctly guessed that Sakari Momoi would peg it, and so he has, plus he had him down as a Cert! 138 points awarded! Well done sir! Paul C. now takes the lead!

I was rather surprised no one had Omar Sharif, but you all know how cruel this game can be…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Diana Douglas, 92, British Bermudian-American actress (The Indian Fighter, Days of Our Lives, Planes, Trains and Automobiles), cancer.
• Amanda Peterson, 43, American actress (Can’t Buy Me Love, Explorers).
• Archduchess Dorothea of Austria, 95, Bavarian princess.
• Sakari Momoi, 112, Japanese supercentenarian, world’s oldest living man, kidney failure.
• Kathleen Snavely, 113, Irish supercentenarian, oldest ever Irish-born person.
• Jerry Weintraub, 77, American film producer (Ocean’s Eleven, Diner, The Karate Kid), chairman and CEO of United Artists, heart attacks.
• Irwin Keyes, 63, American actor (House of 1000 Corpses, The Jeffersons, The Flintstones).
• Roger Rees, 71, Welsh-American actor (Cheers, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, The West Wing), stomach cancer.
• Omar Sharif, 83, Egyptian actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl), heart attack.

In Other News

Guitarist Wilko Johnson has revealed he remains clear of cancer after a pioneering and complex operation he underwent last year. The former Dr Feelgood star, who had pancreatic cancer, had a nine-hour procedure to remove a large tumour and extensive sections of his digestive system. “I still can’t believe this. They got the cancer. They got it all. I’ve been for regular check-ups. Nothing.” I was supposed to be dead, but here I am doing things like walking up the road to meet me mate for lunch. Enjoying a fry-up in the caff, looking out over the Thames Delta, watching the sun dancing on the water. Ha. Every day is filled with wonderful feelings.” Johnson, 67, had previously chosen to avoid treatment after being told he had a terminal illness when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has appeared in public for the first time in more than a month. State television showed images of Mr Castro at a meeting with cheese experts near the capital, Havana. Castro, 88, handed power to his younger brother Raul in 2006 after struggling to recover from illness and is now rarely seen in public, and secrecy about his health means his public appearances are scrutinised by the media. Personally I think he looks like he’s on borrowed time, so keep your eye on him.

Ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt is mentally unfit to be tried again on genocide charges, Guatemala’s forensic authority declared on Tuesday. Due to cognitive deterioration the 89-year-old would not be able to defend himself against charges that he was responsible for the killings of nearly 2,000 indigenous Maya during a particularly brutal stretch of the country’s 36-year civil war, the National Forensic Science Institute determined. The institute said: “He does not have full use of his mental faculties and he is not capable of correctly understanding the charges against him.” A convenient happenstance or awesome lawyers? You decide!

One Direction star Harry Styles let his effortlessly cool exterior drop for a moment at a concert last week. During the band’s show in San Diego, USA, Harry stumbled and fell, prompting screams from concerned fans. Unfortunately the singer emerged unscathed from the tumble. Sadly, the ‘band’ will be touring the UK in September.

On This Day

• 927 – Æthelstan, King of England, secures a pledge from Constantine II of Scotland that the latter will not ally with Viking kings, beginning the process of unifying Great Britain.
• 1543 – King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace.
• 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London, England, United Kingdom.
• 1963 – Pauline Reade, who was 16-years-old, disappears on her way to a dance at the British Railways Club in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.

Deaths

• 1910 – Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (b. 1887)
• 1973 – Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (b. 1906)
• 1999 – Bill Owen, English actor (b. 1914)
• 2013 – Alan Whicker, Egyptian-English journalist (b. 1925)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sofia Vergara (43), Kevin Bacon (57), Tom Hanks (59), Ringo Starr (75), Anjelica Huston (64), Sylvester Stallone (69), Courtney Love (51), O.J. Simpson (68), Fred Savage (39), Edie Falco (52), Dalai Lama (80), George W. Bush (69), Nancy Reagan (94), Kelly McGillis (58), Geoffrey Tambor (71), Huey Lewis (65), Suzanne Vega (56), RZA (46), Ned Beatty (78), Geoffrey Rush (64), Brian Dennehy (77), Richard Roundtree (73), Neil Tennant (61) and Jake LaMotta (94).

Next Week peeps!

12th July 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 5th July 2015

Afternoon all, a quick update on the happenings of last week, alas not a lot happened and without the death of Val Doonican, we would be in a terrible state. I’ll not waffle on, let’s get to the non-existent news!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Chris Squire, 67, English bass guitarist (Yes), acute erythroid leukemia.
• Matti Makkonen, 63, Finnish telecommunications engineer, inventor of the SMS.
• Kauto Star, 15, French-born British-trained racehorse, dual winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, euthanized.
• Bruce Rowland, 74, British rock drummer (Fairport Convention).
• Edward Burnham, 98, English actor (To Sir, with Love, 10 Rillington Place, Doctor Who).
• Leonard Starr, 89, American cartoonist (ThunderCats).
• Val Doonican, 88, Irish singer and television presenter.

In Other News

Former children’s television presenter John Noakes has been found after disappearing during a walk on the island of Mallorca early on Tuesday morning in 35C heat. The former Blue Peter presenter, who has Alzheimer’s disease, was taken to hospital after he was found in a field. When located, the 81 year old was found to have a weak heartbeat and was suffering from dehydration, but is expected to recover. Noakes, who joined Blue Peter in 1965, was known for both his adventurous physical exploits, including what was at the time the longest free-fall parachute jump by a British civilian, and his association with one of the show’s resident dogs, border collie Shep, which died in 1987.

Sonia Manzano, who has played Maria on the US children’s programme Sesame Street for more than four decades, is retiring. Manzano, 65, joined the show in  1971 and became a series regular in 1974, giving helpful advice to characters like Big Bird and Elmo. She was also a writer on the show, winning 15 Emmy Awards for her work. We all know what happens when active people retire don’t we Poolers…

Joni Mitchell did have an aneurysm in March but is able to speak, a friend who acts as her conservator has said. Leslie Morris’s update on the Canadian singer’s condition follows an interview with US musician David Crosby, in which he said she was still unable to speak. “The truth is that Joni is speaking, and she’s speaking well,” said Morris on Mitchell’s official website. “She is resting comfortably in her own home and she’s getting better each day. A full recovery is expected.” Mitchell, 71, was found unconscious in her Los Angeles home on 31 March and taken to hospital.

On This Day

• 1687 – Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
• 1841 – Thomas Cook organises the first package excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough.
• 1937 – Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation.
• 1946 – The bikini goes on sale after debuting during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris, France.
• 1948 – National Health Service Acts creates the national public health systems in the United Kingdom.
• 1954 – The BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin.
• 1975 – Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title.
• 1996 – Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

Deaths

For the first time ever, nobody of any importance, or I’d heard of, died on this day in the past!!!

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tom Cruise (53), Lindsey Lohan (29), John Cusack (49), Pamela Anderson (48), Mike Tyson (49), Debbie Harry (70), Dan Aykroyd (63), Mel Brooks (89), Kathy Bates (67), Katherine Jenkins (35), Gary Busey (71), Michael Phelps (30), Liv Tyler (38), Larry David (68), Ashley Tisdale (30), Cheryl Cole (32), Missy Elliott (44), Carl Lewis (54), Jerry Hall (59), Montel Williams (59) and Yardley Smith (51).

Next Week peeps!

5th July 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 28th June 2015

Welcome all,  we have points to distribute!!  Well done to Julie and Liz for correctly guessing that Patrick Mcnee would die this year, 57 points each! We almost had more to hand out, but it was Dick Van Patten who died, not Dick Van Dyke! I bet you all nearly shat yourselves when you saw that! So, a slight change in the league table, with six months to go.

Now we’re at the halfway point, some of us are doing quite well, some of us not so well. I personally thought my list was the bomb this year, but seeing I’m yet to score, I’m slightly mistaken. Oh well, you never know what will happen, one minute you’re enjoying a Tunisian holiday… Too soon?

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Earl Norem, 91, American comic book artist (Silver Surfer, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe).
• Nazar Singh, 111, Indian-born British longevity claimant, unverified oldest man in Europe.
• Tony Longo, 53, American character actor (Mulholland Drive, Angels in the Outfield, Eraser).
• Carl Thompson, 33, British record holder, nation’s heaviest man.
• Don Featherstone, 79, American artist and inventor of the plastic pink flamingo, Lewy body dementia.
• James Horner, 61, American composer (Titanic, Field of Dreams, Apollo 13), Oscar winner (1998), plane crash.
• Magali Noël, 83, French actress (Amarcord, La Dolce Vita) and singer.
• Dick Van Patten, 86, American actor (Eight Is Enough, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights), complications from diabetes.
• Sir Chris Woodhead, 68, British educationalist, Chief Inspector for Ofsted (1994–2000), motor neurone disease.
• Patrick Macnee, 93, English-American actor (The Avengers, This Is Spinal Tap, A View to a Kill).

In Other News 

The UK’s heaviest man has been found dead in his Dover flat. Carl Thompson, who weighed 65 stone, had been housebound for more than a year. The fire brigade, police and ambulance staff took several hours to remove the 33 year old from his home. His body was removed using a small crane. Consuming 10,000 calories every day – four times the usual daily amount for a man – he reportedly spent about £200 a week on takeaways and online food shopping. Unable to walk or dress himself, Thompson was bathed and cooked for by a team of NHS carers. The owner of Thompson’s favourite takeaway – who would deliver food to his bedside using a key to his flat – spoke of sending him what may have been his final food order. Merdad Mohebbi, owner of nearby Q Pizza, told the Sun: “I can’t believe it. He had cut right down on what he was eating. He was only ordering one or two things a day. When I took the order he seemed happy enough. He was talking about how he was going to the hospital and they were going to do tests for him. He was full of life.”

The Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has apologised to his victims as he returned to court to be formally sentenced to death. “I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering that I have caused you,” he told the injured and bereaved. Tsarnaev and his brother killed three and injured 264 when they bombed the finish line of the marathon in 2013. What we are now concerned with is, how long will he be on Death Row? Are you confident that swift justice will be upheld? At 21 years old there’s a potential points windfall for anyone who lists him, but as with all Death Row inmates, appeals upon appeals tend to drag on over years.

Bobbi Kristina Brown’s condition has worsened and her family say she is now in a hospice to die. A statement released on behalf of the Houston family said that “despite the great medical care at numerous facilities, Bobbi Kristina Brown’s condition has continued to deteriorate, as of today, she has been moved into hospice care.” The news comes as a court case against Brown’s boyfriend, Nick Gordon is filed. The legal case accuses Gordon of only marrying Brown after she inherited a substantial amount of money and alleges that Gordon’s behaviour “caused, among other things, substantial bodily harm to Brown.” It also claimed that since Brown’s hospitalisation in January, Gordon has accessed her accounts and stole more than $11,000 (£7,000). Nice chap…

And finally, TV presenter Michelle Watt has been  found dead in her home at the age of 38, sadly she wasn’t famous enough to feature on the main list as she does not have a Wiki entry under her own name. Police discovered her body on Wednesday evening after being called to an address in Airth, near Falkirk. The former 60 Minute Makeover host had also worked on programmes including the Scottish dating show Club Cupid and STV’s The Hour. Apparently there are no suspicious circumstances to report, other than she died.

On This Day

• 1838 – Coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom.
• 1880 – The Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is captured at Glenrowan.
• 1914 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by Bosnia Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I.
• 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I.
• 1948 – Boxer Dick Turpin beats Vince Hawkins at Villa Park in Birmingham to become the first black British boxing champion in the modern era.
• 1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
• 1969 – Stonewall Riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
• 1997 – Holyfield–Tyson II: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the 3rd round for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield‘s ear.

Deaths

• 1914 – Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (b. 1868)
• 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1863)
• 1976 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (b. 1927)
• 2001 – Joan Sims, English actress (b. 1930)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bernie Kopell (82), Lana Del Rey (30), Kris Kristofferson (79), Meryl Streep (66), Cyndi Lauper (62), Randy Couture (52), Francis McDormand (58), Selma Blair (43), KT Tunstall (40), Melissa Rauch (35), Zinedine Zidane (43), Jeff Beck (71), Mick Fleetwood (68), Lionel Messi (28), Carly Simon (70), Ricky Gervais (54), George Michael (52), Chris Isaak (59), Jason Schwartzman (35), JJ Abrams (49) and Tobey Maguire (40).

Next Week peeps!

28th June 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st June 2015

Afternoon my morbid minions, we have points to disburse! Well done Dave and Paul C. for correctly guessing that Jeralean Talley, the worlds oldest living person (now not so much), would kick the bucket this year. 34 points each. I know, not many points, but it’s still 34 more than most of us have.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Rick Ducommun, 62, Canadian actor (The ‘Burbs, Scary Movie, Die Hard), complications from diabetes.
• Blaze Starr, 83, American stripper, burlesque comedienne and club owner, subject of Blaze.
• Ron Clarke, 78, Australian long distance runner, Olympic bronze medalist (1964), Mayor of the Gold Coast (2004–2012), kidney failure.
• Nelson Doubleday, Jr., 81, American publisher (Doubleday) and Major League Baseball team owner (New York Mets), pneumonia.
• Jeralean Talley, 116, American supercentenarian, world’s oldest living person.

In Other News

Veteran actor Sir John Hurt has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The 75-year-old, who was Oscar-nominated for his role in 1980’s The Elephant Man, said he would continue working despite the diagnosis. “I am undergoing treatment and am more than optimistic about a satisfactory outcome, as indeed is the medical team,” he told the Press Association. “I am continuing to focus on my professional commitments and will shortly be recording Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (one of life’s small ironies!) for BBC Radio 4,” he said.

In the same vein, Tommy Chong, one half of the 1970s comedy duo Cheech and Chong, reveals he has rectal cancer. “I have good news and bad news. First the bad  news, the cancer came back and it is a real pain in the butt,” the 77-year-old comedian tweeted. “The good news is I now have to use more marijuana to treat the cancer.” Chong was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago, and cited marijuana as a key player in his recovery. It can’t have helped that much if it came back!

Leading on, we have reports of former dance-pop singer George Michael being in rehab over marijuana use. The 51-year-old has checked in to the Switzerland-based Kusnacht Practice to receive treatment for substance abuse, after having “admitted to have consumed up to 25 joints per day”. Once described as “the world’s most expensive rehab clinic”, the facility near to Zurich charges around €100,000 (£72,000) for treatment and has previously been used by other famous clients, including designer John Galliano. The clinic released a statement saying: “We can neither confirm nor deny that George Michael is a patient with us.” In March last year, Michael said he had not used cannabis for “well over a year-and-a-half”, so he must be making up for lost time…

Colin Montgomerie checked into hospital due to chest pains early on Sunday but was cleared in time to play his final round at the Senior Players Championship in Massachusetts. The Briton, considered one of the best players never to have landed a regular major title, has won three major championships in the over-50s ranks since joining the tour in 2013. The Scot said he felt discomfort at the end of his third round but returned to the course on Sunday after treatment. “I decided the prudent thing was to go in and get checked,” Montgomerie said. “I had all these CAT scans and all this stuff. I had two hours to do it this morning and the staff of the hospital was superb.”At 51 years of age, Montgomorie has at least won one major title, that of Oldest Living Scotsman. Anyone feeding him deep fried battered pizza will be disqualified.

In more golfing drama, Australian golfer Jason Day has collapsed on the final hole of his second round at the US Open Championship in Washington with a bout of vertigo! Day was walking down the ninth, his final hole of the day, when he collapsed. After a delay of several minutes, he got back to his feet and made a bogey. Day has been suffering from fatigue and dizzy spells for the better part of a year, withdrawing from last year’s World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational after a bout and once again having issues in 2015. The 27-year-old has taken a series of tests over the last month to try to pinpoint the problem but has yet to get an answer. Brain tumour anyone?

Writer and artist Alasdair Gray has been seriously injured after a fall at his home. An ambulance was called to the 80 year old’s house in the West End of Glasgow at around 2am on Thursday, and he was taken to hospital for treatment. He is best known as author of the novel Lanark, but is also regarded for his artwork – including a series of murals. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening at this time but we all know what a fall does to an 80 year old!!

And finally, if you go down to the woods today, you might be in for a huge surprise, like a man taking his regular morning stroll who was killed by an elephant that had escaped from a nearby circus. The 65-year-old was walking in the woods near Buchen, a town in south-west Germany, when the African elephant attacked him shortly after 5am local time. What the fuck he was doing in the woods at 5am wasn’t explained and Police declined to say what injuries the unnamed man suffered. The 34-year-old female elephant, called Baby, was captured and returned to the circus. Police are now investigating whether someone let the elephant out of its secure enclosure, and why the animal acted aggressively toward the man.

On This Day

• 1854 – The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund in the Åland Islands.
• 1948 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, New York.
• 1982 – John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

Deaths

• 1377 – Edward III of England (b. 1312)
• 1652 – Inigo Jones, English architect (b. 1573)
• 2001 – John Lee Hooker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1916)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Donald Trump (69), Boy George (54), Steffi Graf (46), Jim Belushi (61), Helen Hunt (52), Courtney Cox (51), Ice Cube (46), Neil Patrick Harris (42), Barry Manilow (72), Newt Gingrich (72), Venus Williams (35), Paul McCartney (73), Isabella Rossellini (63), Alison Moyet (54), Richard Madden (29), Kathleen Turner (61), Paula Abdul (53), Mia Sara (48), Zoe Saldana (37), Olympia Dukakis (84), Martin Landau (87), Danny Aiello (82), Brian Wilson (73), Lionel Richie (66), John Goodman (63), Nicole Kidman (48) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (26).

Next Week peeps!

21st June 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 14th June 2015

What a week! It seemed like there was a mass extinction of celebrities, but for us here at Dead Pool Towers, the only death that mattered was Christopher Lee. Many of you had him listed, but strangely none of you saw fit to declare him a Cert, which is usually a sign of a well loved celebrity.

So, 57 points are awarded thusly: Luke, Ashley, Liz, Julie, Kirsty, Paul G, & Nickie, well done to all of you, especially those of you who have scored for the first time this year.

This week I’ve taken the liberty of adding the lists to the email so you can refresh your memory on who you and everyone else has on their lists of doom. After all, its been over six months and I bet you’re wondering why you’re still part of this abominable endeavour.

So take a quick look, correct me if I’ve gone wrong or missed a death and remember that there’s months to go yet, so if like me you’ve yet to score, all is not lost, who knows what will happen! Maybe a plane crash at the Oscars….

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Vincent Bugliosi, 80, American attorney and author (Helter Skelter), cancer.
• Ronnie Gilbert, 88, American singer-songwriter (The Weavers) and actress (Running on Empty).
• Sir Christopher Lee, 93, British actor, voice artist, and singer (Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars), heart failure.
• James Last, 86, German composer and big band leader.
• Robert Chartoff, 81, American film producer (Rocky, Raging Bull, Ender’s Game), Oscar winner (1977), pancreatic cancer.
• Igor Kostin, 78, Romanian-born Ukrainian photographer, took first pictures of Chernobyl disaster, traffic collision.
• Ron Moody, 91, British actor (Oliver!, The Animals of Farthing Wood, EastEnders).
• Dusty Rhodes, 69, American Hall of Fame professional wrestler (NWA, WCW, WWE).

In Other News 

The Foo Fighters have cancelled two gigs after frontman Dave Grohl sustained “at least one fracture” when he fell off the stage during a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band were two songs into their set at the Ullevi stadium when Grohl went to jump on a ramp but missed and fell into the security area. “I think I just broke my leg,” the singer told the crowd as he lay on the ground. “I’m going to go to hospital. I’m going to fix my leg. And then I’m going to come back.” Eyewitnesses told the media that the band continued the concert, playing cover versions whilst Grohl sought medical attention. A fan said, “He reappeared after an hour to continue the concert, sitting in a chair with his leg bandaged. It was surreal to see him perform on stage with a medic holding his leg. The crowd was just amazed that he was carrying on. He was just phenomenal. I can’t see how he will make the next gig in Holland but then he’s more of a man than I am so I wouldn’t put it past him.”

This year has seen several musicians injured on stage. Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine broke her foot leaping off stage at the Coachella Music Festival in April, while U2 guitarist The Edge misjudged his step and fell off the stage during the opening night of the band’s Innocence and Experience tour. Madonna also fell off stage during a live performance at the Brit Awards. The pop star continued her performance, but said she suffered “a little bit of whiplash”. It’s a perilous old game being a musician these days!

The former England and Tottenham striker Jimmy Greaves has left hospital just over a month after suffering a severe stroke. The 75-year-old was admitted into intensive care on 3 May but his friend and agent Terry Baker has now confirmed Greaves “has left hospital and entered a rehabilitation unit for the next few weeks”. Baker added in a statement on Facebook: “He has improved considerably but there is still a very long way to go.” Which suggests that Greavesy is now struggling with soup and incapable of wiping his own arse.

Paul Gascoigne has revealed that he is “happy in life” in a Radio 5 interview. Gascoigne, 48, knew something was wrong during his playing days and spoke of his relief at finally being diagnosed as an alcoholic and admits that he’s spent £300,000 on rehab clinics. Although he still manages to go on a bender now and again, he denied that he’s a piss addled sot and the media has totally blown up the whole situation. He still reckons he’s the best footballer ever to have played for England, which may be true, but is a sad statement about English football. 2/1 he dies during a xmas binge of sadness.

A Spanish bullfighter gored in the testicles by a bull he was fighting has left hospital. Marco Galan underwent surgery after Sunday’s incident where he was lifted into the air after black fighting bull thrust its left horn into his groin. The infirmary said in its medical report that he had suffered a “bull horn wound in the scrotum which caused bruising and evisceration of the left testicle”. Sadly the brutal bastard will survive, unlike the poor bull. At least he managed to get some kind of restitution before he was killed for ‘entertainment’.

And finally, if you think you’re having a bad day, think about this poor fucker who has survived after being stung up to 1,000 times by tens of thousands of bees near Kingman in north-western Arizona after he disturbed a large hive in a shed in his backyard. “The number of bees in the shed was unbelievable,” a spokesman said. “The deputy who arrived said it was it was like something you’d see in the movies. It was just amazing.” Authorities said the man was working on the property when he was stung and ran to his vehicle, getting help from two passersby who were also stung. A beekeeper called to the scene was also stung 23 times. He told authorities it would probably take several days to fully contain the bees. A particular strain of bee has been menacing people and animals in Arizona in recent weeks, with some being hurt badly enough to require a hospital stay. Nature is finally turning on us!

On This Day

• 1404 – Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr, having declared himself Prince of Wales, allies himself with the French against King Henry IV of England.
• 1777 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.
• 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
• 1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
• 1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables”.
• 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart from St. John’s, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.
• 1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.
• 1962 – The European Space Research Organisation is established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency.
• 1966 – The Vatican announces the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (“index of prohibited books”), which was originally instituted in 1557.
• 1967 – The People’s Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.
• 1982 – Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces.
• 2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Deaths

• 1927 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author (b. 1859)
• 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist (b. 1857)
• 1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish-English engineer (b. 1888)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tom Jones (75), Liam Neeson (53), Bear Grylls (41), Bill Hader (37), Michael Cera (27), Anna Kournikova (34), Jerry Stiller (88), Nancy Sinatra (75), Griffin Dunne (60), Kayne West (38), Barbara Bush (90), Michael J. Fox (54), Johnny Depp (52), Natalie Portman (34), Elizabeth Hurley (50), Gene Wilder (81), Hugh Laurie (56), Shia LeBeouf (29), George H. W. Bush (91), Malcolm McDowell (72), Tim Allen (62), Ally Sheedy (53), Steve-O (41),

Next Week peeps!

14th June 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 7th June 2015

Afternoon all, another fun packed edition of the Dead Pool Newsletter to keep you amused on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Alas no listed deaths this week, but plenty of news, in fact so much news I’ve had to leave out more than I put in.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Katherine Chappell, 29, American visual effects editor (Game of Thrones, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Godzilla), lioness attack.
• Charles Kennedy, 55, British politician, Leader of the Liberal Democrats (1999–2006), MP (1983–2015), internal haemorrhage.
• Tiffany Two, 27, American cat, world’s oldest living cat.
• Tariq Aziz, 79, Iraqi politician, Foreign Minister (1983–1991).
• Paolo Tullio, 65, Italian-born Irish Michelin Star-winning chef (Armstrong’s Barn) and resident food critic (The Restaurant).
• Jerry Collins, 34, Samoan-born New Zealand rugby union player (national team), traffic collision.
• Richard Johnson, 87, English actor (The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders, Julius Caesar, The Haunting).

In Other News

The former snooker player Willie Thorne has announced he is suffering from prostate cancer. Thorne, 61, told the media that the cancer was discovered at an early stage and said he was hopeful of making a full recovery. Thorne, a former UK Championship runner-up who has forged a career as a snooker commentator with the BBC since retiring from playing, has been battling gambling problems. He said: “I feel numb with everything that has gone on. But I am determined to summon the strength and fight. “I’m scared because I’ve spent two years living a lie with the gambling, depression and debts – I do wonder if this has been brought on by the stress.” Sounds like a good bet for next year!

Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role as Lieutenant Uhura  in TV’s Star Trek, has suffered a stroke. In an updated post on Facebook, her agent reported that Nichols was “awake, eating, in good spirits and able to have full conversations.” “Her right side has shown minor signs of mobility loss but she is not showing any signs of paralyses. The 82-year-old was handpicked by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry to appear in the original 1960s TV series. Her casting as fourth in command of the USS Enterprise broke many racial barriers, with Nichols becoming the first black woman to share a kiss with a white man (William Shatner) on US television in 1966.

A BBC journalist is facing disciplinary action for killing off the Queen on Twitter after apparently mistaking a rehearsal of the announcement of her death for the real thing. The Corporation apologised after Ahmen Khawaja, a broadcast journalist, sent a tweet saying: “‘Queen Elizabrth has died [sic]’:@BBCWorld”. It was sent during one of the corporation’s regular rehearsals for royal deaths, but insiders said Ms Khawaja was not taking part in the exercise and appeared to have overheard the rehearsal and tweeted what she thought was breaking news. Ms Khawaja, 31,had previously sent a tweet saying: “BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly: @BBCWorld.” By sheer coincidence the Queen was, in fact, at the very same hospital for her annual check-up at the time, but sources said Ms Khawaja did not know that.

The former German chancellor Helmut Kohl is reported to be in a critical condition in the intensive-care unit of a German hospital. Kohl, 85, who served as chancellor between 1982 and 1998 and is known as the architect of German reunification, was admitted to the Heidelberg’s university hospital in south-west Germany following an operation on his intestines. Neither his office nor the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has responded to requests by German media for information about his condition. The hospital said his family might release a statement.

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has gone back into hospital, only a few weeks after being discharged. A statement from the palace on Sunday said he was undergoing tests at the Siriraj  Hospital in Bangkok but did not say when he was likely to return to his home in the coastal city of Hua Hin. As you know, the 87-year-old monarch has been in poor health for some years and is a good shout for next years lists.

Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias has been receiving treatment after two of his fingers were injured by a drone camera during a concert in Mexico. The singer had been attempting to grab the drone, apparently in an attempt to give fans a point-of-view shot from the stage. At the time the 40 year old singer was “semi-treated” at the side of the stage to stop the bleeding, and was advised to end the show. However, he performed for another 30 minutes before seeking further treatment where he found his mangled hand was worse than expected. Following reconstructive surgery on Monday, it was announced he would need several weeks to recover.

And finally, Stephen Hawking has said he would consider ending his own life if he became a burden to others or if he had “nothing more to contribute”. But the physicist and cosmologist told a forthcoming BBC programme he knows he has much more scientific work to do, despite his advanced motor neurone disease. “To keep someone alive against their wishes is the ultimate indignity,” Hawking, 73, told his interviewer, the comedian Dara O’Briain. “I would consider assisted suicide only if I were in great pain or felt I had nothing more to contribute but was just a burden to those around me.” Let’s see what he does!

On This Day

• 1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, was hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people were killed and 3,000 were seriously injured.
• 1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
• 1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree to suppress the slave trade.
• 1893 – Mohandas Gandhi commits his first act of civil disobedience.
• 1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
• 1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier was kept off-limits.

Deaths

• 1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (b. 1274)
• 1937 – Jean Harlow, American actress and singer (b. 1911)
• 1954 – Alan Turing, English mathematician, cryptanalyst, & computer scientist (b. 1912)
• 1970 – E. M. Forster, English author (b. 1879)
• 1980 – Henry Miller, American author (b. 1891)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Angelina Jolie (40), Clint Eastwood (85), Brooke Shields (50), Mark Wahlberg (44), Heidi Klum (42), Colin Farrell (39), Alanis Morissette (41), Morgan Freeman (78), Russell Brand (40), Dana Carvey (60), Lea Thompson (54), Ronnie Wood (58), Jonathan Pryce (68), Charlie Watts (74), Paul Giamatti (48), Robert Englund (68), Bruce Dern (79), Rafael Nadal (29), Justin Long (37), Zachary Quinto (38), Tom Berenger (66), Sandra Bernhard (60) and Jason Isaacs (52).

Next Week peeps!

7th June 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 31st May 2015

Sadly, no points again this week, but a plethora of other deaths and plenty of death related news for you to enjoy nevertheless. Without further ado:

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Hugh Ambrose, 48, American historian and author (The Pacific), cancer.
• Anne Meara, 85, American comedian (Stiller and Meara) and actress (Archie Bunker’s Place, The Boys from Brazil).
• John Forbes Nash, Jr., 86, American mathematician, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economics (1994), subject of A Beautiful Mind, traffic collision.
• Tanith Lee, 67, British science fiction, horror and fantasy writer (Blake’s 7).
• Dennis Sheehan, 68, Irish music tour manager (U2), heart attack.
• Christer Jansson, 51, Swedish drummer (Roxette), cancer.
• Doris Hart, 89, American Hall of Fame tennis player.
• Beau Biden, 46, American politician, Attorney General of Delaware (2007–2015), brain cancer.

In Other News 

Actor , who starred in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago in the 1960s, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The 83-year-old star’s agent confirmed the news, just in case you didn’t believe him. His son Tarek told us “He still knows he’s a famous actor. The loss of memory affects above all specific things, details like when he was in a specific place or who he acted with in a specific film, he remembers, for example, that it was Doctor Zhivago but he’s forgotten when it was filmed. He can talk about the film but he forgets its name or he calls it something else instead like Lawrence of Arabia.” Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, or did he? I’m not so sure anymore…

Scottish artist Jack Vettriano has announced he is giving up painting for the foreseeable future due to a recent accident. He has released a statement  saying that he has dislocated his shoulder and is facing a long recovery period. The statement from Mr Vettriano said: “As a result of a recent accident my right shoulder was dislocated and the reality is that I am going to be unable to paint in the foreseeable future. “I am undertaking a course of physiotherapy but am facing a long recovery period. In the meantime I would like to thank the public for their continued support and interest.” Paintings by the 61-year-old Fife artist, including The Singing Butler, have fetched huge sums and his prints and postcards sell in vast quantities for some reason.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, was in a stable condition in a Geneva hospital after being injured in an accident while cycling near Scionzier, France. Kerry, 71, was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Geneva, where he was being examined for a broken leg after hitting a kerb. X-rays at a Swiss hospital confirmed that Kerry fractured his right femur. “The secretary is stable and never lost consciousness, his injury is not life-threatening and he is expected to make a full recovery,” a spokesman said in a statement. The question arrises, WTF was a 71 year old doing on a bicycle??? Twat…

Northern Ireland’s first minister, Peter Robinson, has been discharged from hospital as he recovers from a suspected heart attack. The Democratic Unionist party leader was admitted to the Ulster hospital in Dundonald on Monday, before being moved to Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital (RVH), where he was fitted with a heart stent. After leaving the RVH on Friday the 66-year-old paid tribute to the hospital’s staff. “Happy to be discharged and back home. Thanks to the wonderful RVH cardiac team – everyone a star,” he tweeted. Can’t be that serious if he can tweet.

Comic and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan has settled his legal case against Walmart over a crash which left him seriously injured, and killed his friend. A Walmart truck crashed in to the back of Morgan’s limo in June 2014, with prosecutors alleging the driver had not slept for more than 24 hours. Morgan’s lawyer, Benedict Morelli, said Walmart “took full responsibility for the accident”. Morgan, 46, was left in a critical condition following the crash, suffering a traumatic head injury, a broken leg, nose and ribs. In March, his lawyer said the star had not yet been able to get back to work but was “working very hard to get better, physically, emotionally and mentally.” Which is lawyer speak for ‘he’s absolutely fine’. Morgan will be interviewed tomorrow on NBC’s Today program by Matt Lauer, so you can see for yourself the extent of his injuries.

Actor and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard was arrested Monday on suspicion of drunken driving after a Santa Fe restaurant’s security complained about a possibly intoxicated driver. The 71-year-old Shepard told a police officer that he had two tequila drinks and was planning to drive home, Santa Fe police lieutenant Andrea Dobyns said Tuesday. “Our officer could smell alcohol on his breath, and he had bloodshot, watery eyes,” she said. Shepherd declined to take a breath test, but he did perform a field sobriety test, which he failed! Monday’s arrest appears to be Shepard’s second on charges of drunken driving. In January 2009, he was arrested on charges of speeding and drunken driving in the central Illinois town of Normal. Shepard was driving 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit, police said. A breath test then indicated his blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit. The actor told police then that he had been at a tavern in nearby Bloomington and was heading to a hotel. I’m taking bets on liver failure..

And finally, Britain’s oldest twins have died just weeks apart after being inseparable for 103 years. Glenys Thomas died in April before her heartbroken sister Florence Davies passed away within a month. The great-great-grandmothers were born in 1911, the year before the Titanic sunk. They lived through two world wars, the civil rights movement and huge advances in technology, but they always lived in the small mining village of Abertridwr, in Caerphilly, South Wales, where they had homes next to each other. The twins – believed to be the oldest identical twins in the world – built an interior door joining the two kitchens of their homes to make it easier to see each other. The pair did everything together before Mrs Thomas died on April 23, followed by Mrs Davies last Wednesday, May 20. Their family put their great age down to a “nice, quiet life”.

On This Day

• 1279 BC – Ramesses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
• 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
• 1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
• 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
• 1929 – The first talking Mickey Mouse cartoon, “The Karnival Kid“, is released.
• 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat.
• 2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.

Deaths

• 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
• 1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, English comedian and actor, created the clown (b. 1779)
• 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
• 2009 – Danny La Rue, Irish-born English drag entertainer and singer (b. 1927)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Laverne Cox (31), Priscilla Presley (70), Bob Dylan (74), Stevie Nicks (67), Mike Myers (52), Lauren Hill (40), Annette Bening (57), Todd Bridges (50), Mel B (40), Lenny Kravitz (51), Helena Bonham Carter (49), Anne Heche (46), Tommy Chong (77), John C. Reilly (50), Sir Ian McKellen (76), Frank Oz (71), Pam Grier (66), Bobcat Goldthwait (53), Louis Gossett Jr. (79), Cilla Black (72), Siouxie Sioux (58), Paul Bettany (44), Andre 3000 (40), Joseph Finnes (45), Gladys Knight (71), La Toya Jackson (59), Rupert Everett (56), Stephen Gerrard (35), Colm Meaney (62), Noel Gallagher (48), Kylie Minogue (47), Jamie Oliver (40), Denise Van Outen (41) and Jim Broadbent (66).

Next Week peeps!

31st May 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 24th May 2015

In a week where nothing seems to have happened in the celebrity death scene, I’ve managed to cobble together a small write up whilst pissed on Eurovision wine. Count yourselves lucky that anything at all was written! I best send out the evil flying monkeys again, otherwise next week will be just as dismal!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Dean Potter, 43, American rock climber, BASE-jumping accident.
• Charlotte Klamroth, 111, German supercentenarian, nation’s oldest person.
• State of Bengal, 50, Bangladeshi-born British DJ and music producer.
• Twinkle, 66, British singer-songwriter (“Terry“), cancer.
• Terry Sue-Patt, 50, British actor (Grange Hill).

In Other News

Sadly, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has been given the all clear from cancer. Diagnosed during a routine check-up just before Christmas in 2014, a seven-week course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for a cancerous tumour on his tongue has been successful: “We are very happy to announce that following his recent MRI scan, Bruce was today officially given the all-clear by his specialists,” the band said in a statement. In a post on the Iron Maiden website, the 56-year-old artist thanked his fans, family and his medical team for their support and treatment which has led to this “amazing outcome.” There’s always a chance for a relapse isn’t there?

The family of F1 driver Jules Bianchi are still hoping for miracle but admit the situation has become “stagnant”, very much like the bowl of piss under my  bed. Bianchi, 25, has been unconscious since crashing into a recovery vehicle during last October’s Japanese Grand Prix. “While there’s life, there’s hope, even though after a while you are hoping for a miracle,” Philippe Bianchi said. He added: “We have to think about death because we are in a situation where we know a lot of things can happen. It’s terrible. In neurological terms, I’m not sure he is able to do much now.”

Saudi Arabia is advertising for eight new executioners, recruiting extra staff to carry out an increasing number of death sentences usually done by public beheading. No special qualifications are needed for the jobs whose main role is “executing a judgment of death” but also involve performing amputations on those convicted of lesser offences. The Islamic kingdom is in the top five countries in the world for putting people to death, so you should keep this in mind when you make your next list! It ranked third in 2014, after China and Iran, and ahead of Iraq and the United States, according to Amnesty International figures. If you’re interested, a downloadable pdf application form is available. The job is classified as “religious functionary” and that it would be at the lower end of the civil service pay scale.

And finally, a Singaporean man has died after falling off a cliff and into the sea while attempting to take a selfie on an island off the coast of Bali in Indonesia. Mohamed Aslam Shahul, 21, was killed after losing his balance and falling into the sea from a two-metre high cliff, during a holiday with eight friends at the Sandy Bay Beach in Nusa Lembongan. Apparently he couldn’t swim… The news of his death emerged as another selfie-related incident was reported in Russia, a young woman accidentally shot herself in the head while taking a photograph of herself. The 21-year-old was said to have been posing while pointing a 9mm handgun to her head. She had found the gun at her Moscow office left behind by a security guard. While taking a selfie with one hand, she accidentally pressed the gun’s trigger instead of the shutter, shooting herself in the temple at close range, according to reports. The woman was in a “serious condition” today, a spokeswoman for Moscow’s Sklifosovsky hospital told RIA Novosti state news agency. Darwinism is not a theory people!

On This Day

• 1607 – One hundred English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first English colony in America.
• 1895 – Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted.
• 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
• 1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
• 1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
• 1960 – Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.

Deaths

• 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (b. 1473)
• 1963 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1918)
• 1974 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (b. 1899)
• 1995 – Harold Wilson, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tina Fey (45), Sam Smith (23), Joan Collins (82), Pete Townshend (70), Naomi Campbell (45), Mr. T (63), Cher (69), Grace Jones (67), Jack Gleeson (23), Bill Paxton (60), Judge Reinhold (58), Morrissey (56), Enya (54), Trent Reznor (50), Jordan Knight (45), Sugar Ray Leonard (59), Busta Rhymes (43), Marvin Hagler (61), Andrea Corr (41) and Chow Yun Fat (60).

Next Week peeps!

24th May 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 17th May 2015

Points!!! Points have  been scored!!! Woo!!! Well done to Sylvia, Kaz and Stu, all guessing that B.B. King would play his last riff this year. But extra props to Sylvia who had him as her Cert. Well done all of you!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Elizabeth Wilson, 94, American actress (The Birds, The Graduate, 9 to 5), Tony Award winner (1972).
• Isobel Varley, 77, British tattooed woman, world’s most tattooed senior, Alzheimer’s disease.
• Olympe Amaury, 113, French supercentenarian, nation’s oldest person.
• B.B. King, 89, American Hall of Fame blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (“The Thrill Is Gone“), complications from diabetes.

In Other News

Rob Ford, the former Toronto mayor, has undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumour in his abdomen. Doctors removed the growth in an intensive operation that kept him under anaesthesia for about 10 hours, Ford’s chief of staff said. “There were no new growths, the cancer had not spread beyond what they were already aware of, and they were able to remove all the existing growths without causing damage to any internal structures.” Ford’s surgery comes after several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation that he said had shrunk his tumour to an operable size. He has said he could be out of commission for four months. Ford, whose admitted drug and alcohol abuse and outrageous behaviour earned him international notoriety, was forced out of his mayoral re-election bid in September 2014 when doctors discovered his rare, aggressive malignant liposarcoma. He ran successfully for his old city council seat instead.

As Mad Max: Fury Road debuts across the globe, actor Tom Hardy has opened up about his struggle with drugs. Hardy spoke about his addictions to both alcohol and drugs, stating: “I would have sold my mother for a rock of crack.” Alas the actor has now been clean and sober since 2003 and claims that it was a very clear statement that got him back to a better place. But there is every chance of a remission, amirite?

The man once dubbed the world’s fattest has had between three and four stone (22 to 27kg) of skin removed. Paul Mason, 54, from Ipswich, used to weigh 70 stone (440kg) but has lost about 45 stone (285kg). He is currently in New York recuperating after a nine-hour operation to remove his loose skin. Asked by BBC Radio Suffolk about the removal of so much tissue, he said: “I just think ‘good riddance’.” About half of the skin removed was from Mr Mason’s right leg with further significant surgery to what he described as his “apron”, which covered his midriff. Mr Mason, who used to have £75-worth of takeaways and chocolate delivered to his door daily, had the operation thanks to a donation of time by Dr Jennifer Capla.

U2’s latest world tour got off to an unsteady start in Vancouver on Thursday night, when lead guitarist The Edge fell off the edge of the stage. The guitarist fell during the last song of the night, which the rest of his caring bandmates continued to play while he was helped up by security guards. The Edge later posted on Instagram a picture of his grazed and cut right arm, with the message: “Didn’t see the edge, I’m OK!!” Twat!

And finally, a family was left waiting in torrential rain at their mother’s graveside after an “amazing coincidence” saw fellow mourners follow the wrong hearse for nine miles. A group of relatives lost the right hearse, belonging to 71-year-old Mair Howard, after getting stuck in traffic at a roundabout and becoming separated from the rest of the cortege. The three cars, containing Mrs Howard’s nephews and pall-bearers, proceeded to trail the wrong coffin along the A50 in Wales for nine miles, only realising their mistake when family members waiting at the graveside called to ask where they were. Mrs Howard’ son Gareth said his mother would have found the mix-up amusing. He said: “It was, of course, a sad occasion but despite getting soaking wet everyone had a good laugh – and I know Mam would have as well.”

On This Day

• 1536 – The annulment of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s marriage.
• 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement.
• 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
• 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.
• 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”, sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture.
• 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
• 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts.

Deaths

• 1886 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded the Deere & Company (b. 1804)
• 2012 – Donna Summer, American singer-songwriter (b. 1948)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bono (55), Linda Evangelista (50), Burt Bacharach (87), Emilio Estevez (53), Gabriel Byrne (65), Jason Biggs (37), Stephen Baldwin (49), Steve Winwood (67), Tony Hawk (47), Ving Rhames (56), Harvey Keitel (76), Stevie Wonder (65), Stephen Colbert (51), Robert Pattinson (29), Dennis Rodman (54), George Lucas (71), Tim Roth (54), Cate Blanchett (46), Natalie Appleton (42), Mark Zuckerberg (31), Zara Phillips (34), Pierce Brosnan (62), Debra Winger (60), Janet Jackson (49), Megan Fox (29) and George Clooney (54).

Next Week peeps!

17th May 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 10th May 2015

Alas no points this week, even with a few big names on this weeks listing, one of those evil flying monkeys must have been still about, either that or Orville and Chuckles decided to bring some in on their way to their final destination. Without further ado…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Grace Lee Whitney, 85, American actress (Star Trek, Some Like It Hot).
• Blanche Cobb, 114, American supercentenarian.
• Michael Blake, 69, American author and screenwriter (Dances with Wolves).
• Ellen Albertini Dow, 101, American actress (The Wedding Singer, Patch Adams, Wedding Crashers), pneumonia.
• Errol Brown, 71, Jamaican-born British singer (Hot Chocolate), liver cancer.
• Nigel Terry, 69, British actor (The Lion in Winter, Excalibur, Troy), emphysema.

In Other News

The former Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Jimmy Greaves is out of intensive care following a severe stroke on Sunday and is able to sit up in bed, according to his family. Greaves was admitted to intensive care on Sunday and on Tuesday his wife Irene disclosed that he was conscious and aware of the seriousness of his condition but that he was unable to speak. He suffered a minor stroke in 2012 but appeared to have made a full recovery. Greaves was due to be inducted into the Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame on 13th May at a sellout ceremony at White Hart Lane, but we doubt he’s going to be fit enough.

In more footballing news, Brazil legend and three-time World Cup winner Pele has left hospital in Sao Paolo after undergoing prostrate surgery. The  74-year-old was admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paolo on Tuesday for the second time in six months. Pele, the three-time World Cup winner, was treated for a urinary infection in November 2014 after having kidney stones removed, which was a wordy because he only one kidney, having had one removed towards the end of his playing career. I suspect he hasn’t got half his asshole now either.

Another guy leaving hospital is King Bhumibol Adulyadej, after recovering from a gall bladder operation since last October. He must have really liked hospital food or the nurses were super friendly. However, crowds lined the streets and cheered as the 87-year-old king was driven from the capital, Bangkok, to the royal palace in the coastal town of Hua Hin. It is not the first time he has had a long stay in hospital – he spent four years getting treatment before being released in 2013, those nurses must be something else!

Blues guitarist BB King has told fans he is receiving hospice care at his home following a short stay in hospital. The 89-year-old has lived with type II diabetes for more than 20 years, and has had several spells in hospital in recent months. A message on his website said: “I am in home hospice care at my residence in Las Vegas. Thanks to all for your well wishes and prayers.” He was forced to cancel the remainder of a tour last October when he fell ill during a show, and was later diagnosed with dehydration and exhaustion, so there’s no wonder he’s in need of a sexy hospice nurse to look after him.

And finally a nice little tale to sweeten your afternoon. You might not have heard of Ryan McHenry, but he died last week at the age of 27 of bone cancer. He was the genius that created the ‘Ryan Gosling won’t eat his cereal’ meme. Look them up, it’s hilarious. However, upon hearing of McHenry’s death, Ryan Gosling Vined himself eating cereal to honour his passing. Well done sir!

On This Day

• 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike.
• 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
• 1893 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883.
• 1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
• 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
• 1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets release “Rock Around the Clock“, the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.
• 1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
• 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
• 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder in Japan.
• 1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.

Deaths

• 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (b. 1824)
• 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed)
• 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American criminal (b. 1942)
• 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Adele (27), George Clooney (54), Christina Hendricks (40), Will Arnett (45), Candice Bergen (69), Don Rickles (89), Rosario Dawson (36), Billy Joel (66), Enrique Iglesias (40), Chris Brown (26), Frankie Valli (81), Traci Lords (47), Roy McIlroy (26), Michael Palin (72), Henry Cavill (32), Richard E. Grant (58), Albert Finney (79),  James L. Brooks (75), Glenda Jackson (79), David Attenborough (89),  Alan Dale (68), John Rhys-Davies (71), Lance Henriksen (75) and Rob Brydon (50).

Next Week peeps!

10th May 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 3rd May 2015

I said last week that I’d be sending out the evil flying monkeys and they haven’t disappointed in supplying a few big names. Alas, none of us managed to score. How on earth did we all fail to name any of them astounds me! I’m a bit reticent to send out the monkeys again this week, but I shall if you moribund minions demand it!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jayne Meadows, 95, American actress (I’ve Got a Secret, Undercurrent, Song of the Thin Man).
• Suzanne Crough, 52, American actress (The Partridge Family).
• Jack Ely, 71, American singer (“Louie Louie”).
• Andrew Lesnie, 59, Australian cinematographer (The Lord of the Rings, I Am Legend, The Water Diviner), Oscar winner (2002), heart attack.
• Keith Harris, 67, British ventriloquist (Orville the Duck, Cuddles the Monkey), cancer.
• François Michelin, 88, French businessman, CEO of Michelin (1955–1999).
• Jean Nidetch, 91, American businesswoman, founder of Weight Watchers.
• Ben E. King, 76, American soul and R&B singer (“Stand by Me“, “Spanish Harlem“), coronary heart disease.
• Ruth Rendell, 85, English author.

In Other News

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is “alert and… has her full senses” and is “not in a coma”, a statement on her official website says. The statement followed reports the 71-year-old, hospitalised last month after being found unconscious at home, was not able to care for herself. A friend filed a petition this week to become Mitchell’s guardian, in which the singer was said to be unresponsive. The petition was reportedly accompanied by a doctor’s declaration stating that the singer would be unable to attend a court hearing for four to six months. All sounds very contrived…

In a creepy, ‘I can’t let go of my ex’ story, Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara is in a legal battle with her former fiancé, who wants to have children from the couple’s frozen embryos. Nick Loeb said he wants a surrogate to carry and give birth to two embryos he and Vergara created through in vitro fertilisation before they split up. He said the actress, who plays Gloria in the ABC comedy, has refused. Vergara, who has been named the highest-earning actress on TV for the last three years, declined to comment. So, we’re in a position now to finally solve the eternal case of ‘is an egg a person’. Are embryos allowed to be counted on the Dead Pool?? Over to you!

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year, including several who complained about his policies. Those executed include two vice-ministers, both were punished for opposing or complaining about Kim’s directives, the legislators confirmed, adding that a vice-minister from the forestry department was executed for complaining about Kim’s forestation plan. Four members of North Korea’s Unhasu orchestra, where Ri Sol-ju, Kim’s wife, once worked as a singer, were also executed in March. They were killed by firing squad on spying charges. Now, if only we could find out who is close to Kim, we could rake in the points!!

Alain Robert has been at it again. The self-styled French ‘Spiderman’ who has climbed some of the world’s tallest buildings without permission, scaled Paris’s tallest building, the 210-metre-high Montparnasse Tower, on Tuesday. Robert says he did the stunt to express support for the victims of the earthquake in Nepal. Robert reached the top of the tower in less than 50 minutes, putting up a Nepal flag en route, before being met by police. The guy can’t keep this up, he’s bound to slip one day…

On This Day

• 1913 – Raja Harishchandra the first full-length Indian feature film is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
• 1937 – Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
• 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as “spam“) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
• 1979 – After the general election, Margaret Thatcher forms her first government as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.

Deaths

• 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
• 1969 – Zakir Hussain, Indian politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
• 1972 – Leslie Harvey, Scottish guitarist (Stone the Crows) (b. 1944)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jessica Alba (34), Dwayne Johnson (43), Kirsten Dunst (33), Daniel Day-Lewis (58), Willie Nelson (82), Penelope Cruz (41), Jerry Seinfeld (61), Uma Thurman (45), Jay Leno (65), Michelle Pfeiffer (57), Channing Tatum (35), David Beckham (40), Ellie Kemper (35), Jamie Dornan (33), Ann-Margret (74), Kevin James (50), Sheena Easton (56), Harper Lee (89), Andre Agassi (45), Mary McDonnell (63), Lily Allen (30), Julie Benz (43), Wes Anderson (46), Burt Young (75), Jet Li (52), Joan Chen (54) and Giancarlo Esposito (57).

Next Week peeps!

3rd May 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 26th April 2015

Short and sweet this week, not many notables have died and hardly any news of worth, but hopefully we’ve managed to put something together that will tickle your fancy on a Sunday afternoon. No points this week as you may have surmised, so with a certain amount of trepidation, we shall let loose the evil flying monkeys, you all know what happens when we do that!!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Betty Willis, 91, American graphic designer (Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign).
• Peter Howell, 96, British actor (Emergency – Ward 10).
• Rex Robinson, 89, British actor (Doctor Who, Yes Minister, Only Fools and Horses).
• Sawyer Sweeten, 19, American actor (Everybody Loves Raymond), suicide by gunshot.
• Władysław Bartoszewski, 93, Polish politician and resistance fighter, Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner.

In Other News

Bobby Brown has said that his daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown is “awake” nearly three months after the 21-year-old was found unconscious in a bath. At a concert in Dallas on Saturday, Brown told the audience that “Bobbi is awake” and that “she is watching me”. Few details have been released about Bobbi Kristina’s health since she was taken to hospital on 31st January. There were unconfirmed reports at the time that Bobbi Kristina had been put in a medically-induced coma to reduce swelling on the brain but it’s believed she was released from hospital last month.

comedian, actress and TV star Roseanne Barr has revealed that she is suffering from glaucoma and macular degeneration and is slowing going blind. The outspoken, Emmy award-winning star of the 1990s hit comedy show Roseanne said that her vision “is closing now”. Barr, 62, said she smokes marijuana to help relieve the pressure she suffers in her eyes and also believes it opens her mind. Let’s hope the weed also helps her from tripping at the top of the stairs…

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has revealed that he is undergoing treatment for back  pain after speculation about his health. He insisted he was in good enough shape to fight the general election despite being on Temazepam, 65 pints of ale and 200 fags whilst receiving hospital treatment twice a week for the recurrence of serious back pain. In his recent autobiographical book, Purple Revolution, he revealed that several health scares including testicular cancer, a car accident and a light aircraft crash had left him with the body of a 70-year-old. So claiming to be as “fit as a flea” and accusing his political rivals of spreading untruths about his wellbeing was a lie as well…

And finally, The Queen spent her 89th birthday on Tuesday celebrating quietly with members of the Royal family at Windsor Castle as she took a rare week off from official engagements. Her Majesty still went through her daily quota of government red boxes, as she does every day except Christmas Day, but was otherwise able to relax with the Duke of Edinburgh as she entered her 90th year, much to the disappointment of many of the Poolers. Looks like she’s here to stay folks!

On This Day

• 1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L’Aigle, France; the event convinces European science that meteors exist.
• 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.
• 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
• 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
• 1989 – The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.

Deaths

• 1717 – Samuel Bellamy, English pirate (b. 1689)
• 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
• 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and playwright (b. 1911)
• 1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (b. 1913)
• 1989 – Lucille Ball, American actress and producer (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist (b. 1961)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kate Hudson (36), Jack Nicholson (78), Jessica Lange (66), Al Pacino (75), Carmen Electra (43), Tony Danza (64), Queen Elizabeth II (89), Andie MacDowell (57), Lee Majors (76), Shirley MacLaine (81), Renee Zellweger (46), George Takei (78), Maria Sharapova (28), James Franco (37), Hayden Christensen (34), Andy Serkis (51), Ryan O’Neal (74), Iggy Pop (68), James McAvoy (36), Charles Grodin (80), Michael Moore (61), Hank Azaria (51), Talia Shire (69), Bjorn Ulvaeus (70), Djimon Hounsou (50), John Waters (69), Glenn Campbell (79) and Tim Curry (69).

Next Week peeps!

26th April 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »