Dead Pool 19th April 2015

Alas a quiet week for points, which feels rather odd after the points bonanza of the last few weeks. I’ll also refrain from making that joke about the inventor of the Sledge Hammer again, well, until M.C. Hammer bites the bullet that is…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Judith Malina, 88, German-born American actress (Dog Day Afternoon, Awakenings, The Addams Family) and director, lung disease.
• Herb Trimpe, 75, American comic book artist (The Incredible Hulk, Thor), co-creator of Wolverine. 
• Ronnie Carroll, 80, Northern Irish Eurovision singer and political candidate.
• Orma Slack, 112, Canadian supercentenarian, nation’s oldest living person.
• Percy Sledge, 74, American R&B singer (“When a Man Loves a Woman“), liver cancer.

 In Other News

Spiderman, aka Alain Robert, has been up to his old tricks again. This time the 52 year old scaled one of Dubai’s tallest skyscrapers, relying on just chalk and sticky tape on his fingertips to help him up the 75-storey high Cayan Tower in the emirate’s glitzy marina area. He completed climbing the 1007-foot (307 meter) high structure in just 70 minutes on Sunday. He had no harness and little space for his feet on the ledges of the tower, which twists as it ascends. One day we’ll see him in the previous section…

Sue Perkins has said she is taking a break from Twitter because she has received death threats after speculation she might replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear. The Great British Bake Off presenter – who also hosts an ITV chatshow with co-star Mel Giedroyc – tweeted on Tuesday to say that she was “off Twitter for a bit”. And you can’t blame her since seeing tweets wishing she would burn to death. Of course, the story of her taking over Top Gear is totally fabricated, so it makes all those people double douchebags. At least James May is of sound mind, the former presenter tweeted the trolls to ‘do the world a much bigger favour by killing yourself’ adding that ‘we don’t want them as fans’. I’ll not mention Clarkson’s cancer scare, we all know he’s pandering for sympathy.

Florence Welch has revealed she suffered a broken foot while leaping off stage during her energetic live set at Coachella last weekend. The Florence and the Machine singer promises ‘stripped back’ live performances, with her Glastonbury show only two months away! Who knows what she’ll try then, perhaps bouncing on her head? However, it’s not all bad news from Coachella, Justin Bieber and his entourage were stopped by security and denied entry to Drake’s headline show, leading to an argument with festival staff. Not even an army of Beliebers could protect the little cunt from being put in a chokehold and getting kicked out!

Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi’s fight to recover from injuries sustained in a crash last year is the equivalent of “running a marathon every day”, according to his father. Bianchi, 25, remains in a coma, six months after the accident in Japan. He sustained a severe head injury when he crashed into a recovery vehicle at the Japanese Grand Prix and is now under the care of neurosurgeons in his native Nice. His father concluded the interview by saying “From a medical point of view, his condition is stable. All of his organs are working without assistance. But, for now, he remains unconscious.

And finally a warning to all potential MP’s. A Tory councillor is recovering at home after having three fingers severed by a dog when she tried to put electoral junk mail through a letterbox. Cllr Jane Chitty was left in agony when the Staffordshire bull terrier clamped down onto her hand on Friday lunchtime in an effort to defend his home from attack. The dog is fine but Cllr Chitty was quickly rushed to the specialist plastic surgery unit at East Grinstead Hospital in West Sussex where she underwent a five-hour operation. Cllr Chitty, who represents Strood, near Rochester, Kent, was handing out lies in support of Rochester and Strood candidate Kelly Tolhurst. The councillor will be reporting the incident to the Police when she is ready, after all she shouldn’t have been trespassing and littering to begin with and the dog should be praised for its actions.

On This Day

• 1770 – Captain James Cook sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
• 1919 – Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute.
• 1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
• 1943 – Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time.
• 1987 – The Simpsons premieres as a short cartoon on The Tracey Ullman Show.
• 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.
• 2011 – Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba‘s central committee after 45 years of holding the title.

Deaths

• 1824 – Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet (b. 1788)
• 1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
• 1882 – Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (b. 1809)
• 1989 – Daphne du Maurier, English author and playwright (b. 1907)
• 1992 – Frankie Howerd, English actor (b. 1917)
• 2004 – Norris McWhirter, English author and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (b. 1925)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Samantha Fox (49), Emma Thompson (56), Adrien Brody (42), Sarah Michelle Gellar (38), Emma Watson (25), Loretta Lynn (83), Saoirse Ronan (21), David Cassidy (65), Jennifer Morrison (36), David Letterman (68), Claire Danes (36), Andy Garcia (59), Paul Sorvino (76), Ex-Pope Benedict (88), Ellen Barkin (51), Matin Lawrence (50), Sean Bean (56), Jennifer Garner (43), Rooney Mara (30), Victoria Beckham (41), Conan O’Brien (52) and James Woods (68).

Next Week peeps!

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

Dead Pool 12th April 2015

We have points to dish out again! You’re all doing very well this year! Paul guessed that Gertrude Weaver would peg it, so an amazing 34 points! Dave guessed her too, but he had her as his Cert so an even more amazing 134 points awarded!!! Awesomeness to both of you. So the league table has changed considerably at the top once again. If you’re like me, languishing at the bottom of the table with a big fat zero, don’t worry, they’ve used up their Certs and Women, all we need is a couple of deaths and we’re right up there with the best! It’s only April after all!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• James Best, 88, American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Ride Lonesome, Sounder), pneumonia.
• Dave Ulliott, 61, English professional poker player, colon cancer.
• Gertrude Weaver, 116, American supercentenarian, world’s oldest living person, pneumonia.
• Geoffrey Lewis, 79, American actor (High Plains Drifter, Maverick, The Lawnmower Man).
• Richie Benaud, 84, Australian cricket captain and television commentator, skin cancer.

In Other News

The Conservative parliamentary candidate Michael Fabricant has revealed that he has skin cancer. He has been diagnosed with melanoma and basal cell carcinoma, but says he is “optimistic” because specialists told him they have caught it in time. Mr Fabricant, well known in the Commons for his shock of blond hair, said he intended to continue campaigning with his “usual enthusiasm”. Woo! Perhaps he’d be better off staying off the sun beds from now on.

Blues guitarist BB King says he is “feeling much better” after being treated in hospital for dehydration. The 89-year-old musician was reportedly admitted after  suffering from dehydration caused by diabetes. The blues legend has had type 2 diabetes for more than two decades. In October 2014, King cancelled the remaining eight performances of a tour, owing to dehydration and exhaustion. I know the feeling, after a hard night on the whisky, I feel like I need the hospital too.

The Queen’s cousin, Prince Edward, The Duke of Kent, has been taken to hospital after suffering a hip injury, Buckingham Palace has said. It is understood the duke, 79, sustained a suspected dislocated hip while staying at the Balmoral estate in Scotland. No news on what he was up to when he managed to hurt himself, but he suffered a mild stroke in 2013, so perhaps he’s a bit doddery on his feet, nothing to do with a sex dungeon under the castle.

Talking of legs, Daniel Craig has had surgery after sustaining a knee injury while filming the new James Bond film, Spectre. Eon Productions said he had had a “minor procedure” in New York during a break in production over Easter. A spokeswoman denied reports the 47-year-old had missed several days of filming. “During a scheduled break, Daniel Craig had arthroscopic surgery to repair his knee injury. He will rejoin production on April 22nd at Pinewood,” she said. I’m sure the insurance people are already sighing in relief.

And finally, an arrest warrant has been issued for that little cunt Justin Bieber in Argentina after the singer failed to respond to summons related to an incident in 2013. Judge Alberto Julio Banos ordered the “immediate detention” of Bieber and bodyguards Hugo Alcides Hesny and Terrence Reche Smalls. Bieber is accused of sending the bodyguards to attack photographer Diego Pesoa outside a Buenos Aires nightclub. Bieber never returned to Argentina to respond to questions about the incident. Under Argentine law, Bieber would face from one month to six years in prison if convicted on a charge of causing injuries. Let’s hope he get’s a good stretch inside.

On This Day

• 1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
• 1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
• 1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
• 1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; Vice President Harry Truman, becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.
• 1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
• 1961 – The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).
• 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place – the STS-1 mission.

Deaths

• 1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer (b. 1730)
• 1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
• 1981 – Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
• 1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
• 2001 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the smiley (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Marilyn Chambers, American porn actress and model (b. 1952)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kristen Stewart (25), Pharrell Williams (42), Robin Wright (49), Russell Crowe (51), Dennis Quaid (61), Jenna Jameson (41), Paul Rudd (46), Patricia Arquette (47),  Zach Braff (40), Francis Ford Coppola (76), John Ratzenberger (68), Haley Joel Osment (27), Hugh Hefner (89), Jackie Chan (61), Steven Seagal (63), Cynthia Nixon (49), Billy Dee Williams (78), Julian Lennon (51) and Joss Stone (28).

Next week peeps!

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

Dead Pool 5th April 2015

Lets start with some housekeeping shall we? Last week a chap called Ray Douglas died, I missed him, but luckily a sharp eyed pooler noticed so we have points from last week to dispense. So, Liz and Martin get 43 points each for the death of that very well known composer Roy Douglas. Well done both of you 🙂

In other news, Dave, Julie, Lee and Paul all had Misao Okawa, the oldest person on the planet as their Cert, so 133 points each to them. Well done all of you!!

This has crowded the top of the league table somewhat, so all to play for, but for all of you who have yet to score, don’t worry, they’ve all used up their big pointers already on low scoring names, so it can all change dramatically at any moment!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Roy Douglas, 107, British composer.
• Gene Saks, 93, American stage and film director (The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, Brighton Beach Memoirs), pneumonia.
• Tuti Yusupova, 134, Uzbekistani longevity claimant, unverified world’s oldest person.
• Robert Z’Dar, 64, American film actor and producer (Maniac Cop, Tango & Cash).
• Andrew Getty, 47, American heir.
• Dave Ball, 65, British musician (Procol Harum).
• Cynthia Lennon, 75, British author, first wife of John Lennon, cancer.
• Misao Okawa, 117, Japanese supercentenarian, world’s oldest living person, heart failure.
• Rudolph R. Perz, 89, American advertising executive, creator of the Pillsbury Doughboy.
• Bob Burns, 64, American drummer (Lynyrd Skynyrd), traffic collision.

In Other News

The former Cuban president Fidel Castro,  88, appeared in public for the first time in more than a year last Monday, greeting a delegation of Venezuelans and appearing “full of vitality”. Official media showed images of a seated Castro shaking hands with the visiting Venezuelans through the window of his vehicle, wearing a baseball cap and a windbreaker. There was no explanation of why five days passed before the encounter was reported. Seems some of you might have to wait a long time for this one to drop!

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is “getting stronger each day” after being taken to hospital earlier this week, a statement published on her website says. The 71-year-old was found unconscious in her Los Angeles home on Tuesday afternoon. A statement released on her website late on Friday said the singer was “resting comfortably”. It is still not clear what she’s being treated for. In December, Mitchell told Billboard magazine that she had a rare skin condition, Morgellons disease, which prevented her from performing. Morgellons is a controversial condition and is not recognised by mainstream medical authorities, many in the medical community believe it is a psychiatric disorder. So she’s just mad as a hatter then…

The BBC’s political editor, Nick Robinson, has said an operation to remove a tumour from his lung was a “complete success”. Robinson, who announced in February that he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer, said an operation to remove it had gone well and “normal service will be resumed as soon as possible”. Writing in a blog on the BBC’s website, the 51-year-old thanked doctors and nurses at the Royal Brompton and Royal Free hospitals for looking after him. He said: “I am now beginning a course of chemotherapy to try to stop the cancer even daring to think of returning. I’m also working to restore the strength of my voice after the op.

On This Day

• 1722 – The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.
• 1792 – U.S. President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.
• 1904 – The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
• 1994 – American musician Kurt Cobain commits suicide.

Deaths

• 1976 – Howard Hughes, American pilot, engineer, and director (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter (Nirvana) (b. 1967)
• 2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor (b. 1923)

Last Weeks Birthdays

Celine Dion (47), Alec Baldwin (57), Robert Downey Jr. (50), Debbie Reynolds (83),  Eddie Murphy (54), Elle Macpherson (51), Warren Beatty (78), Susan Boyle (54), Christopher Walken (72), Rhea Perlman (67), MC Hammer (53), Eric Clapton (70), Michael Fassbender (38), Eric Idle (72), Ewan McGregor (44), Paris Jackson (16), Amanda Bynes (29), Brendan Gleeson (60), Lucy Lawless (47), Emmylou Harris (68), Piers Morgan (50), Al Gore (67), Ali MacGraw (76), Linda Hunt (70), Robbie Coltrane (65) and David Blaine (42).

Next week peeps!

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

Dead Pool 29th March 2015

Welcome all, nil points scored this week, so no movement on the board. But as usual, we have produced an amazing newsletter full of nothingness for you to peruse on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Gregory Walcott, 87, American actor (Plan 9 from Outer Space, Norma Rae, Every Which Way but Loose).
• Jackie Trent, 74, English singer-songwriter and actress. Writer of the theme song to TV show, Neighbours.
• Lee Kuan Yew, 91, Singaporean politician, Prime Minister (1959–1990), pneumonia.
• Lil’ Chris, 24, British singer-songwriter, actor and television personality.
• John Renbourn, 70, British guitarist (Pentangle), heart attack.

In Other News

Mad Men star Jon Hamm has recently completed a course of treatment for alcoholism, a spokesperson for the actor has confirmed. Hamm entered rehab to tackle his addiction with the support of his longtime partner, fellow actor and film-maker Jennifer Westfeldt, their publicist Annett Wolf said in a statement released on Tuesday. The 44-year-old actor has played Don Draper, a troubled advertising executive with a dark past and drinking problems of his own, for seven seasons. Seems life is imitating art!

Scotland Yard say they are investigating alleged threats to kill the director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, as the fallout over the decision to sack the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson took a sinister turn. The BBC’s head of security put out an urgent appeal for ex-Special Forces personnel to take part in an operation to protect Lord Hall, said to cost to licence payers more than £1,000 a day. Hall has received a death threat before. In 1999 when he was head of BBC News, he went into hiding under police protection following a call that said he would be next after the murder of Jill Dando. I bet Oisin Tymon isn’t getting the same level of protection!!

Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent her from developing ovarian cancer, the illness that killed her mother at the age of 56. Two years ago, Jolie had a double mastectomy because she had inherited the faulty BRCA1 gene, which placed her at high risk of developing breast cancer, and also gave her an elevated lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer. We’re wondering how much of the 39 year old is left after so much surgery! Is she human anymore?

Black Sabbath have announced one final show before the band bid farewell for good. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler will headline Ozzfest Japan on 22 November – while an invite to Bill Ward, the band’s original drummer, is still pending. The legendary metal group began their reunion in 2012 with the aim to tour the world following the release of their album, 13. Some of the tour dates were scrapped after Iommi was diagnosed with cancer, although they were later able to appear at festivals such as Lollapalooza and Download before headlining a series of dates. Best keep an eye on them.

Anti-UKIP protesters invaded a pub in south London where party leader Nigel Farage was having lunch. They chased Farage and his family out of the pub and jumped on the politician’s car bonnet as he drove away. Mr Farage later branded them “scum”. Mr Farage said: “I hope these ‘demonstrators’ are proud of themselves. My children were so scared by their behaviour that they ran away to hide. Perhaps Mr Farage is well suited for a listing on the Dead Pool, it’s only a matter of time before something gets out of hand, but do you feel sorry for an ardent racist and wanker? No, me neither…

This week we will also be declaring the death of humanity. Yes, comedian Russell Brand has been voted the world’s fourth most important thinker by readers of intellectual magazine Prospect. Which probably means they voted my torn and bleeding arsehole as number two! One thing’s for certain, both Brand and my arsehole have many things in common, both are hairy and produce an amazing amount of shit and neither should be on Question Time! What next? Frankie Boyle as Immigration Ambassador? FFS!

On This Day

• 1849 – The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.
• 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
• 1886 – Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1971 – A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
• 1974 – NASA‘s Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury.
• 1974 – Local farmers in Lintong District, Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China, discover the Terracotta Army that was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the third century BCE.
• 1990 – The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.
• 2004 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
• 2014 – The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed.

Deaths

• 1788 – Charles Wesley, English clergyman and poet (b. 1707)
• 1891 – Georges Seurat, French painter (b. 1859)
• 1912 – Robert Falcon Scott, English lieutenant and explorer (b. 1868)
• 1972 – J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank, English businessman, founded Rank Organisation (b. 1888)
• 1982 – Carl Orff, German composer (b. 1895)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Reese Witherspoon (39), William Shatner (84), Andrew lloyd Webber (67), Lena Olin (60), Chaka Khan (62), Amanda Plummer (58), Perez Hilton (37), R. Lee Ermey (71), Donna Pescow (61), Kelly LeBrock (55), Lara Flynn Boyle (45), Jim Parsons (42), Alyson Hannigan (41), Jessica Chastain (38), Tommy Hilfiger (63), Aretha Franklin (73), Sir Elton John (68), Sarah Jessica Parker (50), Vladamir Klitschko (39), Keira Knightley (30), Alan Arkin (81), James Caan (75), Dianna Ross (71), Steven Syler (67), Martin Short (60), Jennifer Grey (55), Larry Page (42), Quentin Tarantino (52), Mariah Carey (45), Fergie (40), Jessie J (27), Lady Gaga (29), Dianne Wiest (67), Vince Vaughn (45) and Julia Styles (34).

Next Week peeps!

29th March 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 22nd March 2015

What  have we here? More points to award! You guys are doing very well this year!  Well done to John for guessing Malcolm Fraser would peg it, 66 points! Also a well done to Lee for guessing that Leandra Becarra Limbreras would die at the age of 127, at least he had her as a Cert, so he will get some points! So the table has moved somewhat again, not by much, but at least some.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ib Melchior, 97, Danish-born American author and screenwriter (Death Race 2000, Robinson Crusoe on Mars).
• Mike Porcaro, 59, American bassist (Toto), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• Buddy Elias, 89, German-born Swiss actor (Sunshine, The Monuments Men).
• Andy Fraser, 62, British musician (John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Free) and songwriter (“All Right Now“, “Every Kinda People”).
• Shaw Taylor, 90, British actor and television presenter.
• Leandra Becerra Lumbreras, 127, Mexican longevity claimant, unverified oldest living person.
• Malcolm Fraser, 84, Australian politician, Prime Minister (1975–1983).
• A. J. Pero, 55, American drummer (Twisted Sister, Adrenaline Mob), heart attack.
• Perro Aguayo Jr., 35, Mexican professional wrestler, neck injury in bout.

In Other News

Since Vladimir Putin vanished from public view 10 days ago, the speculation surrounding the Russian president has been nothing if not dramatic. One rumour claimed he had died. Another wondered if some cosmetic surgery had gone wrong. Yet another placed him in Switzerland for the birth of a secret lovechild. The reality – two conflicting reports suggested on Sunday – may be rather less sensational and not at all at one with Putin’s virile image: while one claimed he had gone down with the flu, another suggested he had been suffering from back trouble. Nothing quite like gossip.

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of late pop singer Whitney Houston, has been moved to a rehabilitation facility from a Georgia hospital almost two months after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub. Citing an unnamed source close to the family, the news network said that Brown’s condition had not changed as doctors express their fears that she may never come out of a coma. Brown, 21, the only child of singers Bobby Brown and Houston was discovered on January 31st face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her suburban home.

The actor Adam Deacon, best known for his roles in the film Kidulthood and Channel 4 police drama Babylon, has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Deacon had been due to appear at Thames magistrates court in Bow, east London, on Friday, to face charges of affray and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. However, the court was told that Deacon was being held under section two of the Mental Health Act and was being treated in hospital.

Former rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight collapsed in a courtroom Friday shortly after a judge ordered him to be held on $25m bail in a murder case. Knight’s attorney Matthew Fletcher said his client, who is diabetic and has a blood clot, told him that he hadn’t received any medication since Thursday, so it’s hardly surprising he had a wobbly! The 49-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges.

Robert Durst, the US real estate tycoon, who is awaiting trial on a murder charge, has been moved to a mental health unit after being deemed a suicide risk. Durst was transferred on Tuesday night to a Louisiana state prison that handles severely mentally ill inmates. Mr Durst has found himself in this position after he appeared to confess to three killings while being filmed for documentary. During a break in the filming of a documentary about his life, Mr Durst can be heard saying “I don’t know what’s in the house,” just before saying he “killed them all”. Mr Durst appears to be speaking to himself in the recording, whilst wearing an active wireless microphone inside a bathroom. He has long been suspected in the disappearance of his first wife, who went missing from their country home in New York state in 1982. In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in the death of his elderly neighbour, whose dismembered body was found floating in a Texas bay. One to keep an eye on indeed!

On This Day

• 1906 – The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris.
• 1960 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• 1963 – The Beatles ’ first album, Please Please Me, is released in the United Kingdom.
• 1972 – In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.
• 1993 – The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.
• 1997 – The Comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to Earth.

Deaths

• 2001 – William Hanna, American animator, director, producer, and voice actor, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (b. 1910)
• 2009 – Jade Goody, English television personality, contestant on Big Brother (b. 1981)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Eva Longoria (40), Holly Hunter (57), William Hurt (65), Rob Lowe (51), Kurt Russell (64), Jerry Lewis (89), Judd Hirsch (80), Bruce Willis (60), Glenn Close (68), Bret Michaels (52), Will.i.am (40), Spike Lee (58), Rosie O’Donnell (53), Matthew Broderick (53), Gary Oldman (57), Fabio (56), Erik Estrada (66), Gary Sinise (60), Timothy Dalton (71), David Thewlis (52), Irene Cara (56) and Ursula Andress (79).

Next week peeps!

22nd March 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 15th March 2015

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this weeks edition of the Dead Pool. Sir Terry Pratchett has sadly passed away. I will write a little piece about him later in the newsletter, but as with all things, life does go on and there are points to distribute.

Paul and Mark both score with Sam Simon, 91 points each plus an extra 100 for Mark as he had him as a Cert. Well done both of you!

Now for the Pratchett scores: Dave J, Julia, Stu, Neil and Sophie, you all receive 84 points. I want to say well done, but I’d rather punch you in the head for having him listed at all 😛

So a lot of movement in the league table, check out who the new points leader is below!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Izola Curry, 98, American assailant, attempted to kill Martin Luther King Jr.
• Sam Simon, 59, American writer, producer and director (The Simpsons, Cheers, The Drew Carey Show), colorectal cancer.
• Windell Middlebrooks, 36, American actor (Body of Proof, The Suite Life on Deck, Scrubs).
• Richard Glatzer, 63, American director, writer and producer (Still Alice, America’s Next Top Model), ALS.

and

• Terry Pratchett, 66, British author (Discworld series), posterior cortical atrophy.

In Other News

Slipknot guitarist Mick Thomson has been hospitalised after sustaining serious injuries in a knife fight with his brother Andrew last Wednesday. Mick’s injuries included a stab wound to the back of the head. The fight took place at Mick’s home in Iowa and both siblings appeared to be under the influence of alcohol when police officers arrived. The brothers were reportedly driven to hospital in separate ambulances. Both siblings were hurt in the fight, but none of their injuries were deemed life-threatening by police and the altercation will not affect the band’s planned live dates.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has been forced to deny that the 62-year-old president is in poor health after a string of meetings were canceled and the Kremlin published old photographs to claim work was proceeding as usual. Concerns over Putin’s well-being were first raised earlier this week when he postponed a trip to Kazakhstan for talks. A source in the Kazakh government told Reuters that the visit was canceled because Putin had fallen ill. Putin has not been seen in public since a meeting and press conference with the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, on the 5th March.

Pope Francis has marked the second anniversary of his election by giving an interview in which he says he expects his time at the Vatican to be short, and that he would be ready to resign rather than ruling the Catholic church for life. “I have a feeling my pontificate will be brief,” he told Mexico’s Televisa channel. Francis, who is 78, and apparently in good health, said “It is a vague feeling I have that the Lord chose me for a short mission. I am always open to that possibility.” Well, a hot tip from the voice of God no less!

On This Day

• 44 BC – Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
• 1892 – Liverpool F.C. is founded.
• 1906 – Rolls-Royce Limited is incorporated.
• 1935 – Percy Shaw founded his company Reflecting Roadstuds Limited to make cat’s eyes.
• 1985 – The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
• 1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union.

Deaths

• 44 BC– Julius Caesar, Roman general and statesman (b. 100 BC)
• 1891 – Joseph Bazalgette, English engineer (b. 1819)
• 1937 – H. P. Lovecraft, American author (b. 1890)
• 1998 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and author (b. 1903)
• 2003 – Thora Hird, English actress (b. 1911)
• 2009 – Ron Silver, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1946)
• 2014 – Clarissa Dickson Wright, English chef, author, and academic (b. 1947)

Sir Terry Pratchett by KoA

It’s very difficult to write something about a man who has just died that you idolised, but I couldn’t let this week pass without saying a few words. Pterry was a lot of things to many people, foremost a writer and author, a defender of Orang-Utan’s, a voice for Alzheimers Disease and a pro-choice supporter for assisted dying. Personally I only ever saw him as a fantastic writer of books.

I stumbled across my first Pratchett by accident. I was a member of a book club that sent you novels by post, even if you didn’t want them. So this particular month I forgot to order a book and Moving Pictures landed on our doormat. What drew me to the book initially was the artwork of Josh Kirby, I’d never seen anything quite like it. So, as not to judge a book by its cover, I sat down to read it. I was instantly hooked and ordered all of the back catalogue. Since then I have bought every single book in hardback, even through those tough times when I was out of  work.

I was lucky enough to meet Terry on a couple of occasions , both during book signings, but one sticks out more for me as I’d been waiting patiently in line for over two hours in a queue that took the length of Bangor’s High Street. By the time I got to Terry, he must have signed at least two thousand books, but he was very charming and made conversation with this particular star-struck kid. He asked my name to sign the book and questioned me about Welsh names in general. We had a brief chat about such things and I walked away in awe. I was expecting a quick signature from a tired author, not a kind man in a hat who was genuinely interested in the people coming to see him. But from what other people have said since his untimely death, this was who he was. A year later, Soul Music was published. I rather hope that our little conversation helped him write that book, just a tiny bit, who knows…

His appeal was, and still is, very far reaching. I bring up Twitter as an example. How many of you clicked on my profile and saw that I liked Discworld? I bet you thought, he’s like me, he ‘gets’ it and pressed the follow button. We became friends off the back of a mutual love of the written word, words written by Terry Pratchett.  And let’s face it, who doesn’t like the Discworld novels?? If we go by the Top 200 Books Of All Time as defined by the BBC’s The Big Read, only two authors have five books in the top 100, Terry Pratchett and Charles Dickens. The author with most books in the top 200 was Pratchett with fifteen!

So, we still have one more book of Terry’s to read, which is earmarked to be published later this year, another instalment in the Tiffany Aching series called The Shepherd’s Crown. I’m for one looking forward to his swan song.

To finish, I’ll share with you the final words on Terry’s Twitter feed.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex (51), Juliette Binoche (51), Freddie Prinze Jr. (39), Sharon Stone (57), Chuck Norris (75), Johnny Knoxville (44), John Hamm (44), Robin Thicke (28), Emili Sande (28), Mitt Romney (68), Rupert Murdoch (84), Ron Jeremy (62), Aaron Eckhart (47), William H. Macy (65), Didier Drogba (37), Liza Minnelli (69), Pete Doherty (36), Billy Crystal (67) and Michael Caine (82).

Next week peeps!

15th March 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 8th March 2015

Afternoon Poolers. A relatively quiet week has just passed and nil points to all of us. I’ll not waffle, let’s get on with it!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Daniel von Bargen, 64, American actor (Malcolm in the Middle, Philadelphia, Super Troopers), complications from diabetes.
• Mal Peet, 67, British author and illustrator, cancer.
• Jim McCann, 70, Irish musician (The Dubliners).
• Lynn Borden, 77, American actress (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Hazel).
• Dirk Shafer, 52, American model, actor and director (Man of the Year).

In Other News 

US actor Harrison Ford is expected to make a full recovery from injuries suffered when crashing his plane on to a golf course in Los Angeles. The 72-year-old star of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films reported engine failure and crash-landed his vintage plane on a Venice golf course. He was breathing and alert when medics arrived and took him to hospital in a “fair to moderate” condition. His son Ben, a chef in Los Angeles, said later from the hospital: “Dad is OK. Battered but OK! The nature of Ford’s injuries have not been disclosed but website TMZ, which first reported the story, said he suffered “multiple gashes to his head”. Film producer Ryan Kavanaugh, who also witnessed the accident from his office, told The Hollywood Reporter: “He literally had five seconds, and 99% of pilots would have turned around to go back to the runway and would have crashed.” “Harrison did what the best pilots in the world would do,” he continued. “He made the correct turn that the plane was designed for with an engine out.” What more could you expect from the pilot of the Millennium Falcon??

Misao Okawa, born in 1898, is said to be in remarkably  good health and says she is ‘very happy’ to be 117. Okawa, the world’s oldest person, celebrated her 117th birthday at a nursing home in Osaka, western Japan, last week, and despite her longevity she remarked how short her life seemed. The year Okawa was born, Queen Victoria was on the throne and the Spanish-American war was in its infancy. Her life spans three centuries, which have included six British monarchs, four Japanese emperors and 20 US presidents. She was five when the Wright brothers achieved the first powered flight. She married almost a century ago and has been a widow for more than 80 years. At a televised event on Wednesday, a day before her birthday, she disappointed any who hoped she would reveal the secret to a long life. “Well, I wonder about that too,” she said. Previously she has attributed her longevity to plenty of sleep and a varied diet. While she has spoken of her love of mackerel sushi, which she eats at least once a month, Okawa says she is not particularly fussy when it comes to food. When he asked how she felt about the past 117 years, she replied: “It seemed rather short.”  According to government figures, Japan is home to more than 58,000 people aged 100 or over, 87% of whom are women. Experts attribute Japan’s longevity statistics to a traditional low-fat diet, affordable healthcare and generous pensions.

Singer Shania Twain has announced her final tour. The star, whose 1997 album Come On Over remains the best-selling country album ever, will play 48 dates across the US and Canada, kicking off in June. The Canadian singer became a massive star in the mid-1990s, with hits such as Man! I Feel Like A Woman and That Don’t Impress Me Much. She’s sold more than 75 million albums worldwide and became the best-selling female artist in the history of country music, but largely disappeared from the limelight between 2004 and 2009, citing personal issues and creative inertia. Bit early to think of retirement we feel, at 50 she should be in her prime, maybe she knows something we don’t…

On This Day

• 1618 – Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.
• 1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes “African Slavery in America”, the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
• 1817 – The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
• 1910 – French aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot’s license.
• 1971 – The Fight of the Century between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali commences. Frazier wins in 15 rounds via unanimous decision.
• 1974 – Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.
• 1978 – The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.
• 1979 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
• 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The aircraft is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia with the loss of all 239 people aboard.

Deaths

• 1874 – Millard Fillmore, American politician, 13th President of the United States (b. 1800)
• 1930 – William Howard Taft, American politician, 27th President of the United States (b. 1857)
• 1999 – Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Adam Faith, English singer and actor (b. 1940)
• 2007 – John Inman, English actor and singer (b. 1935)
• 2008 – Carol Barnes, English journalist (b. 1944)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Justin Bieber (21), Jessica Biel (33), Bryan Cranston (59), Jon Bon Jovi (53), Daniel Craig (47), Julie Bowen (45), Brooklyn Beckham (16), Bobbi Kristina Brown (22), Laura Prepon (35), Ron Howard (61), Roger Daltrey (71), Javier Bardem (46), Rachel Weisz (45), Harry Belafonte (88), Chris Martin (38), Eva Mendes (41), Tom Arnold (56), Rob Reiner (68), Catherine O’Hara (61), Bryce Dallas Howard (34), Miranda Richardson (57), Patsy Kensit (47), Fred Williamson (77), Penn Jillette (60) and Jensen Ackles (37).

Next Week peeps!

8th March 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 1st March 2015

Good afternoon poolers. A sad day indeed when we have to report that one of the greatest icons of our screens has sadly died. Yes, Leonard Nimoy aka Mr Spock has left this mortal coil for the greatest journey known to mankind. If, like me, you were glued to all things science fiction when you were a child, this man’s portrayal of the logical alien in Star Trek is what cemented your lifelong love for all things sci-fi. However, this is the Dead Pool and one of you did list him. Ashley, you have scored! 67 points awarded!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Johanna Klink, 112, German supercentenarian, was oldest living German.
• Terry Gill, 75, British-born Australian actor (“Crocodile” Dundee, Prisoner, The Flying Doctors), lung cancer.
• Leonard Nimoy, 83, American actor and director (Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Fringe), COPD.
• Boris Nemtsov, 55, Russian politician, Deputy Prime Minister (1998), shot.

In Other News

The BBC’s political editor, Nick Robinson, is undergoing treatment after a tumour was found in his lung and will shortly undergo surgery to remove it. Robinson, 51, hopes to be well enough to be back at work full-time to cover the general election campaign in the run-up to voting on 7th May. Carcinoid tumours, a type of neuroendocrine cancer, are rare and tend to be slow growing, sometimes not  causing any symptoms for several years. Around a quarter start in the lung and typically do not spread to other parts of the body and are not thought to be linked to smoking. In a statement, his agent said that Robinson, who is married with three children, would be “taking a short time off work” over the next few weeks.

Fernando Alonso has assured his fans that he is okay in his first public comments since crashing heavily in Formula One testing for McLaren last weekend. Alonso spent three nights in hospital after the crash before being released on Wednesday. “As you can see, I am completely fine,” said the Spaniard in a video message posted on YouTube. “I would like to be at the test this week in Barcelona but the doctors’ recommendations are to wait a little bit, a couple of days,” added the double world champion. “I will rest this weekend and keep you updated next week with progress.”

As you may have seen, Madonna fell off the stage during her performance at the 2015 Brit Awards. Madonna, 56, tumbled down a set of stairs and landed like a  hunk of raw pork on a slab, apparently after a dancer tried to remove a cape she was wearing at the start of her routine. But she recovered and returned to continue her song, Living For Love. The pure outpouring of hatred for the woman was instantly seen on social media, everyone tittering with mirth like school children.

A player with the Serbian top-flight club Novi Pazar has been threatened by the team’s own supporters at gunpoint after missing a penalty. Describing the incident  as “a new low in Serbian professional football“, the world players’ union Fifpro said that Novi Pazar’s Zarko Udovicic sent his penalty over the crossbar in the 85th minute of last Saturday’s game at FK Rad, who won 1-0. Two days later, several hooligans burst into the dressing-room at the club’s training ground, drew a gun and held it in Udovicic’s face, Fifpro said. The player has since left the club. Mirko Poledica, president of the Serbian professional footballers’ association Nezavisnost, said neither the Serbian Football Association nor the league had taken any action. He said: “Must we wait until some hooligan actually kills one of our players? What worries me is that there is no reaction from the football association. They remain quiet.

On This Day

• 1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials.
• 1873 – E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York begins production of the first practical typewriter.
• 1893 – Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity.
• 1912 – Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
• 1953 – Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later.
• 1954 – Nuclear testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.
• 1966 – Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet‘s surface.
• 1998 – Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Deaths

• 1244 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr, Welsh son of Llywelyn the Great (b. 1200)
• 1620 – Thomas Campion, English poet and composer (b. 1567)
• 1757 – Edward Moore, English playwright (b. 1712)
• 2006 – Johnny Jackson, American drummer (The Jackson 5) (b. 1951)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Chelsea Clinton (35), Peter Fonda (75), Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38), Drew Barrymore (40), Michael Bolton (62), Tea Leoni (49), Fats Domino (87), John Turturro (58), Kelly Macdonald (39), Emily Blunt (32), Mario Andretti (75), Billy Zane (49), Rick Flair (66), Sean Astin (41), Abe Vigoda (94), Kyle MacLachlan (56), Jeri Ryan (47), Thomas Jane (46), James Blunt (41), George Thorogood (65), Edward James Olmos (68), Adam Baldwin (53) and Donal Logue (49).

Next week peeps!

1st March 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 22nd February 2015

Good afternoon my morbid minions. Sadly no points again this week so we are still at the status quo we have been for weeks :/ The evil flying monkeys I sent out last week failed miserably but they did seed some cancer and madness along the way.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Pamela Cundell, 95, English actress (Dad’s Army, EastEnders, A Fantastic Fear of Everything).
• Alan Howard, 77, English actor, pneumonia.
• Louis Jourdan, 93, French actor (Letter from an Unknown Woman, Gigi, Octopussy).
• John Davies, 76, Welsh historian.
• Brett Ewins, 59, British comic book artist (Judge Dredd, 2000 AD), emphysema.
• Lesley Gore, 68, American singer (“It’s My Party“, “Judy’s Turn to Cry“, “You Don’t Own Me“), lung cancer.
• Harris Wittels, 30, American television producer and writer (Parks and Recreation, The Sarah Silverman Program).

In Other News

The name Tony Hart has not reverberated around the social media echo chamber for years. Certainly not since the popular children’s television presenter died in 2009. His name, however, became one of the most heavily discussed topics on Sunday and Monday as a wave of people spread the news of his demise in the mistaken belief that it was news, including your intrepid Dead Pool Master, who forgot he’d died. That was followed by a second wave rightly mocking the first one. So it turns out I’m the dickhead. Tony Hart died in 2009. Fuck the internet. Ha!

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has  revealed he is battling cancer. A statement on the band’s official website said the 56-year-old rocker has undergone treatment for a cancerous tumour on his tongue. The cancer was diagnosed during a routine check-up just before Christmas and Dickinson has just completed a seven-week course of chemotherapy and radiology. The statement said: “As the tumour was caught in the early stages, the prognosis thankfully is extremely good. Bruce’s medical team fully expect him to make a complete recovery with the all-clear envisaged by late May. It will then take a further few months for Bruce to get back to full fitness.

The scientist and writer Oliver Sacks has said his “luck has run out” after revealing that he has terminal cancer. Sacks, whose book Awakenings inspired the Oscar-nominated film of the same name, disclosed his illness in an article in the New York Times. The London-born academic, made a CBE in the 2008 birthday honours, said: “A month ago, I felt that I was in good health, even robust health. At 81, I still swim a mile a day. But my luck has run out – a few weeks ago I learned that I have multiple metastases in the liver.” He wrote: “It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to me. I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can.”

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery, his office has revealed. The 63-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer last month, he will take medical leave for a whole week! He was diagnosed with lymphoma in the 1990’s but recovered. The urologist who will operate on Mr Lee said that his prostate cancer had “no relationship” to the lymphoma. Should be a straight forward procedure it seems, but you never know…

Two fading/faded rappers have been in the news. Afroman was arrested for assault after he was caught on camera punching a female fan on stage at a concert and Vanilla Ice was arrested on suspicion of burglary and theft. Times must be very hard for them but one thing is for sure, a stint in the penal system will not be a smooth thing for either of them. I can see both of them demanding some ice, ice baby because something got too high for comfort…

Robert Mugabe has celebrated his 91st birthday. By the time you have read this his lavish $1 million party will be over and the menu of two elephants, two buffaloes, two sable antelopes, five impalas and a lion will have been eaten. There have been reports that poor villagers throughout the country have been forced to donate money and goods towards the lavish ball. I’m sure they would rather donate a timely death for the evil bastard.

On This Day

• 1797 – The Last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
• 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and dime Woolworth stores.
• 1974 – Samuel Byck tries and fails to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon.
• 1997 – In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
• 2006 – At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

Deaths

• 1797 – Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, German nobleman and storyteller (b. 1720)
• 1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Paris Hilton (34), John Travolta (61), Cybill Shepherd (65), Matt Dillon (51), Dr. Dre (50), Molly Ringwald (47), Kelsey Grammer (60), Cindy Crawford (49), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (34), Rihanna (27), John McEnroe (56), Rene Russo (61), Ice T (57), Jane Seymour (64), Smokey Robinson (75), Jennifer Love Hewitt (36), Ed Sheeran (24), Benicio del Toro (47), Michael Jordan (52), Jeff Daniels (60), Yoko Ono (82), Ivana Trump (66), Patricia Hearst (61), William Baldwin (52), Matt Groening (61), LeVar Burton (58), Hal Holbrook (90), Lou Diamond Phillips (53), Prince Andrew, Duke of York (55), Sidney Poitier (88), Brenda Blethyn (69), Tyne Daly (69) and Alan Rickman (69).

Next Week peeps!

22nd February 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 15th February 2015

Afternoon Poolers, yet another quiet week so no points to award. I think it may be time to send out the flying monkeys once again, so watch this space as a dearly beloved notable will undoubtedly be stricken down, most likely someone that none of us has listed. Without further ado…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Gary Owens, 80, American television announcer (Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In) and voice actor (Space Ghost, Garfield and Friends), diabetes.
• Steve Strange, 55, British musician (Visage), heart attack.
• Bob Simon, 73, American television journalist (60 Minutes), traffic collision.
• Michele Ferrero, 89, Italian businessman (Ferrero SpA, makers of Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tacs and Kinder Eggs).
• Kenji Ekuan, 85, Japanese industrial designer (Kikkoman soy sauce dispenser), heart disorder.

In Other News

Television presenter Carol McGiffin has revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer last year. The former member of ITV’s Loose Women said that she discovered a lump in her breast while on holiday in Malaysia last February. The 54-year-old says she has now “got through it” after a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. Although she seems to have won her battle, these things do have a tendency to flare up again. One to watch out for.

Sir Michael Gambon has decided to stop working in the theatre, bringing down the curtain on an illustrious stage career, after struggling to remember his lines. The 74-year-old said in an interview that it was time to admit defeat. “It’s a horrible thing to admit but I can’t do it. It breaks my heart. It’s when the script’s in front of me and it takes forever to learn. It’s frightening,” he said. He put his forgetfulness down to age and was worried it was a sign of encroaching Alzheimer’s, although doctors gave him the all-clear and his long-term memory remained sharp.

James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan’s home in Malibu has been damaged in a fire, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Around 50 Los Angeles County firefighters responded to the scene but no injuries were reported. A shocked-looking Brosnan was pictured outside the house, probably wondering if SPECTRE had something to do with it. A close call for Bond, we’re wondering if he spilt his vodka martini onto an open fireplace. Arson investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are looking into the cause.

Until recently, Black Tongue were just a little-known heavy metal band from Hull, purveyors of an obscure brand of rock known as “doom core”. Now, though, the five-strong ensemble have ensured themselves a place among the pantheons of rock legend, after an incident on a tour coach that could have come straight from the spoof rock movie This is Spinal Tap. In a mishap that police believe was alcohol-related, a member of the band apparently stepped out the tour bus door as it was speeding along a motorway in Poland, having mistaken it for the door to the bus’s toilet. Alex Teyen, 23, the band’s singer, was taken to hospital after suffering head and face injuries, but is understood not to have been badly hurt. He would most likely have never made the Wiki Death List, but he will next time!

Serial killer Charles Manson’s supposed budding romance with a woman 53 years his junior has been allegedly exposed as a money-making scheme. Apparently, 27-year old Afton Elaine Burton, now known as Star, was hoping that she would gain possession of Manson’s corpse through marriage so she and a couple of friends could put it on display in a glass case in L.A. They thought a Lenin’s Tomb-esque attraction would draw a huge number of visitors and make them a lot of money. But Manson, 80, apparently got wind of the plan and now no longer wants to marry Burton. The tourist attraction was also something of a non-starter because Manson believes he is immortal.

On This Day

• 1923 – Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
• 1933 – In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
• 1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
• 1971 – The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.
• 2001 – First draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.
• 2013 – A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings.

Deaths

• 1928 – H. H. Asquith, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1852)
• 1965 – Nat King Cole, American singer and pianist (b. 1919)
• 1984 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Elizabeth Banks (41), Nick Nolte (74), Jennifer Aniston (46), Burt Reynolds (79), Mia Farrow (70), Josh Brolin (47), Joe Pesci (72), Christina Ricci (35), Glenn Beck (51), Sarah Palin (51), Chloe Grace Moretz (18), Arsenio Hall (59), Laura Dern (48), Peter Gabriel (65), Sheryl Crow (53), Natalie Dormer (33), Robbie Williams (41), Rose Leslie (28), John Grisham (60), Seth Green (41), Damian Lewis (44), Mena Suvari (36), Jerry Springer (71), Prince Jackson (18), Darren Aronofsky (46), Stockard Channing (71), Peter Tork (73), Kim Novak (82), Meg Tilly (54) and Robert Wagner (85).

Next Week peeps!

15th February 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 8th February 2015

Afternoon all, yet another dearth of deaths last week so no points to award. Just to kick us whilst we’re down, Zsa Zsa Gabor was celebrating her 98th birthday as well!  To be fair, I’ve not heard of any of last week’s demises, so I took a punt on the few I have listed just to fill up some space. Lets hope that this week gives us a few bucket kickers!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Richard Bonehill, 67, British actor and stuntman (Doctor Who, Return of the Jedi).
• Norman Yemm, 81, Australian actor (Homicide, Number 96, The Sullivans).
• Robert Gavron, Baron Gavron, 84, British businessman and philanthropist, Labour life peer, heart attack.
• Billy Casper, 83, American golfer, seventh all-time in career PGA Tour wins.
• Roy Little, 83, English footballer (Manchester City).

In Other News

Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of singer Bobby Brown and his late wife, Whitney Houston, is fighting for her life and is surrounded by immediate family, the Houston family said in a statement. Bobbi Kristina, 21, was rushed to a hospital in Roswell, Georgia, on Saturday morning after her husband and a friend found her in the tub and her husband performed CPR. We’re told Bobbi Kristina’s condition has remained the same since Monday morning and that her brain functions are minimal and there has been no improvement. Her father, Bobby Brown is adamant that he doesn’t want to take his daughter off life support because he believes in God-driven miracles. Looks like the future is grim.

Dionne Warwick has also been in the wars. The 74 year old slipped in the shower and damaged her ankle which left her in hospital for two weeks! As she is the cousin of  Whitney Huston, it seems rather peculiar that the whole family seem unable to wash without dying or seriously hurting themselves. I’d suggest that they stick to bed baths from now on.

Police in Los Angeles have confirmed reality TV star Bruce Jenner has been involved in a car crash in which one woman died. Jenner himself wasn’t hurt, but seven others were taken to hospital. An LA police spokesman said there was no indication that Jenner, the stepfather of Kim Kardashian, was being chased by nearby paparazzi, although the whole incident seems to have been captured scene by scene by media photographers.

In another kick to the gnashers for us, Harper Lee is apparently releasing another book. Lee, 88, famous as the writer of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird is renowned for writing only one book 55 years ago, so why all of the sudden has she managed to produce another? Smells a bit fishy to us at Dead Pool Towers, not that we are envious of her $9,249 a day earnings for writing one book at all… Let’s see if the style of writing is similar upon release, or will we find out someone is riding the cash cow?

Retired footballer and ex-PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle says he was trying to take his own life when he was hit by a lorry in December. Carlisle told The Sun newspaper he had been left severely depressed by the end of his football career, financial problems and the loss of a TV punditry role. The 35-year-old left hospital six weeks after being struck in North Yorkshire, although he managed to fuck up the suicide, he still did a good job of hurting himself. Best keep an eye on him.

On This Day

• 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
• 1855 – The Devil’s Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
• 1915 – D. W. Griffith‘s controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
• 1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
• 1952 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom.
• 1963 – The first full color television program in the world, publicly advertised, is broadcast in Mexico City by XHGC-TV, Channel 5, due to technical breakthrough advances made by Mexican engineer Guillermo González Camarena.

Deaths

• 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542)
• 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
• 1998 – Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician (b. 1912)
• 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Harry Styles (21), James Spader (55), Shakira (38), Axl Rose (53), Bobby Brown (46), Chris Rock (50), Garth Brooks (53), Morgan Fairchild (65), Rebel Wilson (30),  Alice Cooper (67), Cristiano Ronaldo (30), Lisa Marie Presley (47), Ashton Kutcher (37), Isla Fisher (39), Michael C. Hall (44), Michael Sheen (46), Natalie Imbruglia (40), Christopher Guest (67), Tom Wilkinson (67), Jennifer Jason Leigh (43), Zsa Zsa Gabor (98), Rip Torn (84), Brent Spiner (66) and Rick Astley (49).

Next Week peeps!

8th February 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 1st February 2015

Sadly no points to award this week, even though a few well known oldies have managed to kick the bucket. Funny thing, I didn’t see any of you rushing out to buy any Demis Roussos albums when he was reported dead, I thought this was one of the things you had to do when a singer dies. We all managed to miss Geraldine McEwan too, maybe a couple of us should have dropped Dame Maggie Smith for her. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Michael Lambert, 107, Irish centenarian, oldest man in Ireland.
• Demis Roussos, 68, Egyptian-born Greek singer (“Forever and Ever”).
• Bernice Gordon, 101, American crossword writer (The New York Times), heart failure.
• Colleen McCullough, 77, Australian author (The Thorn Birds), renal failure.
• Rod McKuen, 81, American poet, singer and songwriter (“Jean“, “Seasons in the Sun“), respiratory arrest.
• Charles H. Townes, 99, American Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1964), inventor of the laser.
• Geraldine McEwan, 82, English actress (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Agatha Christie’s Marple), stroke.
• Richard von Weizsäcker, 94, German politician, President (1990–1994), President of West Germany (1984–1990), Governing Mayor of West Berlin (1981–1984).

In Other News

The daughter of late American singer Whitney Houston has been found unresponsive in a bathtub at a home in Georgia. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 21, was found by her husband and a friend. They immediately started resuscitating her until police and medics arrived. She was taken to a hospital in Roswell where she was said to be breathing. Her mother, Whitney Houston was found dead in very similar circumstances on February 2012, aged only 48.

Ted Robbins has collapsed on stage at Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights on the opening night in Manchester. Reports from the theatre suggest he was in the middle of a solo part of the show and appeared to clutch his chest. The curtains were then drawn and an announcement was made to the crowd and everyone was asked to leave the 20,000-capacity venue. A Manchester Evening News reporter – who was at the show – eloquently described what happened: “Ted Robbins, who plays Den Perry in the hit show, was in the middle of a solo bit. He clutched his chest and stumbled a bit. They then closed the curtain immediately, with people rushing to the stage to the help, with medical equipment”. Robbins, 59, is carrying a bit of lard on him, so it’s no stretch of the imagination to think his heart gave out with the stress of the first night and a lump of adipose floating around. Lets hope he makes a recovery so we can list him next year.

Radio DJ Chris Evans revealed live on air that he’s in the middle of a prostate scare. Evans disclosed that he was currently having tests carried out after showing symptoms since Christmas. The father-of-three, 48, told millions of listeners about his condition on the The Breakfast Show on Radio 2 on Friday. After scaring himself to death self-diagnosing on the internet, he finally went to see a doctor and underwent the ‘finger of truth’ test and is now awaiting the outcome. Watch this space, maybe Terry Wogan will make it back onto Radio 2!!

Harry Potter actor Robbie Coltrane has been admitted to hospital in Orlando, Florida, after falling ill with flu-like symptoms during a flight. Paramedics met him off the flight from London and rushed him to hospital where doctors said he would remain overnight and not once mentioned Ebola. Coltrane’s agent told the BBC the actor was “resting” and would “be fine”, but that more information on his condition was not yet available. Coltrane’s UK agent, Belinda Wright, told the BBC that US reports that an eyewitness had tweeted about the actor drinking heavily in a Heathrow Airport lounge before boarding his flight were “not correct” and “completely untrue”. After all, a Scot drinking heavily is unheard of and hangovers never need hospitalisation…

Brian Blessed has withdrawn from the production of King Lear in which he collapsed on stage shortly after speaking his first lines, yet managed  to return to finish the epic production last week. The 78-year-old actor has admitted that his heart condition ‘is more serious than he was aware’ and has therefore been compelled to withdraw from the production. Sounds like the loudmouth is at deaths door!

On This Day

• 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
• 1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
• 1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.
• 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
• 1924 – The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR.
• 1953 – North Sea flood of 1953 (Dutch, Watersnoodramp, literally “flood disaster”) was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.
• 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
• 1978 – Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the United States to France after pleading guilty to charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107 disintegrates during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
• 2004 – Janet Jackson‘s breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.

Deaths

• 1851 – Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797)
• 1944 – Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872)
• 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895)
• 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• 1988 – Heather O’Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Alicia Keys (34), Christian Bale (41), Ellen DeGeneres (57), Alan Alda (79), Justin Timberlake (34), Oprah Winfrey (61), Elijah Wood (36), Tom Selleck (70), Heather Graham (45), Phil Collins (64), Gene Hackman (85), Minnie Driver (45), John Lydon (59), Vanessa Redgrave (78), Scott Glenn (74), James Cromwell (75), Carol Channing (94), Eddie Van Halen (60), Dick Cheney (74), Bridget Fonda (51), Mimi Rogers (59), Dexter Fletcher (49), Olivia Coleman (41), Marc Singer (67), Frabk Darabont (56) and Tobe Hooper (72).

Next Week peeps!

1st February 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 25th January 2015

A very busy week for deaths, as you may have surmised from the Klaxon e-mails. Alas nobody scored, so the league table remains the same for the time being. Without further ado…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ena Baxter, 90, Scottish food manufacturer (Baxters Soup).
• Tony Verna, 81, American television producer, invented instant replay, leukemia.
• Philippe Vocanson, 110, French supercentenarian, oldest living man in Europe.
• Anne Kirkbride, 60, British actress (Coronation Street), breast cancer.
• Robert Manzon, 97, French Formula One driver, last surviving racer from the first World Championship.
• Bob Symes, 90, British inventor and television presenter.
• Edgar Froese, 70, German musician (Tangerine Dream), pulmonary embolism.
• Leon Brittan, 75, British politician, Home Secretary (1983–1985), Vice-President of the European Commission (1999), cancer.
• Pauline Yates, 85, English actress (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin).
• Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, 90, Saudi King, complications from pneumonia.

In Other News

Poor old Tiger Woods, his career is in free fall and his love life in turmoil, but whilst trying to surprise his girlfriend Linsey Vonn at an Alpine Ski Competition, he manages to lose a tooth after being hit in the face by a camera! His agent later explained “During a crush of photographers at the awards’ podium, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged towards the stage, turned and hit Tiger in the mouth, his tooth was knocked out by the incident.” Oops! I bet that poor cameraman will be much poorer once the legal team get hold of him.

Veteran actor Brian Blessed collapsed on stage with an apparent heart problem while playing King Lear – but, to the audience’s astonishment, returned to the stage 20 minutes later and  continued to act. The 78-year-old had just begun his lines at the start of the Shakespearean tragedy when he fainted, falling off a raised platform with his crown rolling to a halt at the front of stage. Fellow actor Noel White, playing the Earl of Kent, announced quietly “Ladies and gentlemen this is not part of the play. Is there a doctor in the house?” But after a brief inspection backstage and in the true spirit of “the show must go on”, Mr Blessed returned to the stage 20 minutes later to apologise to the final-preview audience for the interruption. He’s a tough old nut!

Howard Marks, the notorious former dope smuggler known as Mr Nice, has told the the media that he has been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer. Marks, 69, said this weekend. “It’s impossible to regret any part of my life when I feel happy and I am happy now, so I don’t have any regrets and have not had any for a very long time.” The cancer was diagnosed last autumn and Marks was told nothing could be done to stop the disease, which has now spread to his liver and lungs. As a drug smuggler in the 1980s, Marks had 43 aliases, 89 phone lines and 25 companies trading worldwide as fronts for money laundering. Sentenced to 25 years for drug smuggling, he was released in 1995, after seven years, for good behaviour. His 1996 autobiography, Mr Nice, sold more than a million copies and was made into a film starring fellow Welshman Rhys Ifans. Sounds like he’s not going to last…

Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper has been told he could lose what remains of his sight within a year. The murderer, who is already blind in one eye after a prison attack, was said to be “extremely upset” when he was told he has a severe condition linked to diabetes. Sutcliffe, now 68, killed 13 women (and attempted to kill seven more) between 1975 and 1980; he’s serving 20 life sentences at a high-security psychiatric hospital. Such shame that.

Another bad week for cartoonists; legendary Indian cartoonist RK Laxman, 94, is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering multiple-organ failure. Best known for his iconic “Common Man” character, he is credited with holding a mirror to Indian society with his satirical works targeting politicians. He’s currently in intensive care and on ventilator support.

Another failing cartoonist is Norm Breyfogle, who was one of the artists who changed Batman forever. He’s suffered a stroke that affected the left side of his body, including his drawing arm. His family is raising money to help pay his medical expenses, such a shame that he lives in the States where they couldn’t give a fuck about people who need medical help.

On This Day

• 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
• 1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria‘s daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding recessional.
• 1947 – Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”, the first ever electronic game.
• 1971 – Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.
• 1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the USA.

Deaths

• 1947 – Al Capone, American mobster (b. 1899)
• 1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Kim Manners, American director and producer (b. 1951)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jason Segel (35), Kevin Costner (60), Dolly Parton (69), Rainn Wilson (49), Neil Diamond (74), Emma Bunton (39), Katey Sagal (61), Geena Davis (59), Bill Maher (59), Buzz Aldrin (85), Jack Nicklaus (75), John Hurt (75), Rutger Hauer (71), Piper Laurie (83), Linda Blair (56), DJ Jazzy Jeff (50), Placido Domingo (74), Billy Ocean (65), Gil Gerard (72), Martin Shaw (70), Tom Baker (81), David Lynch (69), and Dave Bautista (46).

2015 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

25th January 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 18th January 2015

Points! Yes!! Points!!! With the sad departing of Britain’s oldest person, Ethel Lang, Stu has managed to score 136 points as he had her sown as his Cert. Fair play to him. We seem to be doing better than last year already! Also this week, we have a contribution from Julia, so remember to show your appreciation and extol her talents unless you think you can do better and submit your own contribution next week. Most people who have contributed in the past will admit, this ain’t as easy as it looks…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Taylor Negron, 57, American comedian and actor (Angels in the Outfield, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Bio-Dome), cancer.
• Brian Clemens, 83, British screenwriter (Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) and television producer (The Avengers, The Professionals).
• Anita Ekberg, 83, Swedish-Italian actress (La Dolce Vita, Paris Holiday, Back from Eternity).
• Trevor Ward-Davies, 70, British bassist (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich), cancer.
• Darrell Winfield, 85, American rancher and model, Marlboro Man (1968–1989).
• Sir Jack Hayward, 91, English businessman, property developer and philanthropist, president of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
• Ethel Lang, 114, British supercentenarian, nation’s oldest person.

In Other News

Crime writer Ruth Rendell is in a critical but stable condition after suffering a stroke. The 84-year-old, who also has a seat in the House Of Lords as a Labour peer, is best known for her series of novels featuring Chief Inspector Wexford. With more than 60 titles to her name, Rendell’s last book was The Girl Next Door, which came out last year. It was published along with a 50th anniversary edition of her debut novel From Doon With Death, which saw Inspector Wexford make his debut. In a statement released, the author is said to have experienced a “serious stroke” last week and is being looked after in hospital by her son. No doctors available?

In what we can only call an act of Darwinism in action, a man who accidentally shot his friend dead while testing if his bullet-proof vest worked has been jailed. Philip Harper, 46, died from a gunshot wound to the chest after his friend Ian Catley shot him. Mr Harper had bought what he believed to be a bullet-proof vest from an army surplus store the day before, Cambridgeshire Police said. It obviously wasn’t as bullet-proof as they expected. Sentencing him to seven years in jail at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC told Catley: “You shot Mr Harper at a distance of less than 20 feet, causing him catastrophic injuries and immediate death.” He should have added that he was a stupid cunt and could have quite easily tested the vest by shooting it without his friend inside it.

A woman has been arrested after she reportedly chopped off her cheating husband’s penis, twice. The woman flew into a rage once she discovered her 32-year-old husband, father of five children, had been having an affair. His wife Feng, 30, found an image on his phone and in a rage grabbed a pair scissors and stormed into the room where he was sleeping, and attacked him. He was taken to hospital and emergency surgery was performed – but the wife returned to the hospital and cut it off for a second time, reportedly throwing it out of the window where it was lost. Doctors and police officers combed the area outside but failed to find the man’s missing member. They believed it may have been taken by a stray dog or cat. Yum yum!

On This Day

• 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
• 1884 – Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom.
• 1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H.L. Smith.
• 1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt sends a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.
• 1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
• 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler“, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Deaths

• 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• 1980 – Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
• 2009 – Tony Hart, English television host (b. 1925)

Obituary by JuliaB

Ethel Lang, quite literally, the last Victorian, has died. Mrs Lang was the only living British person to have been born during the reign of Queen Victoria and she lived to see six UK monarchs and 22 Prime Ministers. She was 114 years and 233 days. At age 22 she married young plumber William Lang and a year later the couple had a daughter, Margaret Bates, who is now 91 years old herself.

Her Grandmother lived till she was 92 and her great grandmother lived until she was 91. So, theoretically, if you shook her hand, you were 3 degrees of separation away from someone born in the late 17th, early 18th century!

The skilled cook regularly made her own bread and never smoked, rarely touching alcohol.

Her death means that 111-year-old Gladys Hooper, who lives on the Isle of Wight, is now Britain’s oldest person. Gladys will celebrate her 112th birthday on Dead Pool Sunday. (Hope she made it!) *Ed

It has left Jamaican Violet Brown, also 114 years of age, as the only surviving subject of Queen Victoria.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Faye Dunaway (74), Muhammad Ali (73), Howard Stern (61), Zooey Dechanel (35),  Kirstie Alley (64), James Earl Jones (84), Mary J. Blige (44), Melanie Chisholm (41), Jason Bateman (46), Michelle Obama (51), Jim Carrey (53), Kate Moss (41), Orlando Bloom (38), Betty White (93), Rush Limbaugh (64), Dave Grohl (46), LL Cool J (47), Carl Weathers (67), Mario Van Peebles (58), John Carpenter (67), James May (52), James Nesbitt (50), Jason Bateman (46), Mark Addy (51), Bill Bailey (50), John Sessions (62), Jason Connery (52), Evan Handler (54), Rod Stewart (70), and Traci Bingham (47).

2015 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

18th January 2015 | Categories: 2015 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 11th January 2015

A very busy week for deaths, rather helped along by a couple of nutters in France. Also we saw the daughter of Zsa Zsa Gabor kick the bucket before her mother, much to the disappointment of many of you! There’s a long list of notables below, none of which we managed to score with.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Roger Kitter, 64, British actor (‘Allo ‘Allo!).
• Bernice Madigan, 115, American supercentenarian, world’s fifth-oldest person.
• Khan Bonfils, 42, English actor (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Batman Begins, Skyfall).
• Francesca Hilton, 67, American actress and media personality, daughter of Zsa Zsa Gabor, heart attack and stroke.
• Lance Percival, 81, British actor (The Beatles) and singer (“Shame and Scandal in the Family”).
• Vlastimila Češková, 109, Czech centenarian, nation’s oldest living person.
• Tim Roberts, 38, American professional wrestler (WWE, ECW).
• Rod Taylor, 84, Australian actor (The Time Machine, The Birds, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Inglourious Basterds), heart attack.
• Notable French people killed in the Charlie Hebdo shooting:
  • Cabu, 76, cartoonist
  • Elsa Cayat, 54, psychoanalyst and columnist
  • Charb, 47, caricaturist and journalist
  • Philippe Honoré, 73, cartoonist
  • Bernard Maris, 68, economist and journalist
  • Tignous, 57, cartoonist
  • Georges Wolinski, 80, cartoonist
• Curtis Lee, 75, American singer (“Pretty Little Angel Eyes“), cancer.
• Ray McFall, 88, British nightclub owner (The Cavern Club).
• Richard Meade, 76, British equestrian, three-time Olympic champion, cancer.
• Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., 88, American film producer (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), heart failure.

In Other News

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has been discharged from a hospital after being admitted last month with a severe urinary tract infection. The three-time world heavyweight champion and cultural icon, is now back home after being discharged on Tuesday night, much to the disappointment of most of you! At 72, Ali’s health has been declining of late, it’s only a matter of time before you get a few points from him!

Richie Benaud is unlikely to make a hoped-for return to the commentary box for the Sydney Cricket Ground Test. The former Australian captain has not returned to the commentary box since a car crash left him with two crushed vertebrae 15 months ago and after he revealed that he was also undergoing treatment for skin cancer in early December. The 84 year old commentator has not been in touch with the Nine Network in Australia and they have now accepted he wouldn’t be turning up. Sounds a bit serious!

A Belgian man serving a life sentence for rape and murder will not be allowed to have doctors end his life as he has requested, the justice minister says. Van den Bleeken will be moved to a new psychiatric treatment centre instead. Van den Bleeken, 52, was convicted in the 1980s of multiple sexual assaults and murder. He had argued that he preferred to die rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. “I’m in my cell 24 hours a day. That’s my life. I don’t feel human here. What do I have to do? Do I have to sit here and waste away? What’s the point in that?” The point sir, is that you are a fucking danger to society and you deserve to rot in jail, so stop trying to get out of it!

On This Day

• 1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
• 1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
• 1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
• 1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
• 1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
• 1960 – Henry Lee Lucas, once listed as America’s most prolific serial killer, commits his first known murder.

Deaths

• 1928 – Thomas Hardy, English author and poet (b. 1840)
• 2008 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (b. 1919)
• 2009 – David Vine, English sportscaster (b. 1935)
• 2013 – Tom Parry Jones, Welsh scientist, invented the breathalyzer (b. 1935)
• 2013 – Aaron Swartz, American computer programmer and activist (b. 1986)
• 2014 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kate Middleton (33), Nicolas Cage (51), Bradley Cooper (40), Robert Duvall (84), Diane Keaton (69), Stephen Hawking (73), Jimmy Page (71), David Bowie (68), Jeremy Renner (44), Julia Ormond (50), Pat Benetar (62), Marilyn Manson (46), Kenny Loggins (67), Rod Stewart (70), George Foreman (66), Lewis Hamilton (30), Michael Stipe (55) and Rowan Atkinson (60).

2015 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

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

Dead Pool 4th January 2015

Welcome all to the all new 2015 edition the Dead Pool! And what have we here? A point scorer already??? Yes, newcomer Sarai correctly guessed that Little Jimmy Dickens would pop his clogs in 2015 and lo he did. But not only does she score his normal points, she marked him as a Cert and got the first death of the year bonus which propels her to first place with 206 points!! Don’t you just hate beginners luck!?!?!

Anyhow, I’d like to also welcome the rest of the newbies, I think you already know what you’ve let yourself in for, and of course, to the regulars. Some of you have been taking part for years now, so I must be doing something right if you keep coming back for more! Anyhow, let’s get 2015 going…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Little Jimmy Dickens, 94, American country music singer (“May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose“), cardiac arrest.
• Donna Douglas, 82, American actress (The Beverly Hillbillies, Frankie and Johnny, The Twilight Zone), pancreatic cancer.
• Géry Leuliet, 104, French Roman Catholic prelate, world’s oldest Catholic bishop, Bishop of Amiens (1963–1985).
• Mario Cuomo, 82, American politician, Governor of New York (1983–1994), heart failure.

From 2014

• Bernard Kay, 86, British actor (Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Doctor Zhivago).
• Luise Rainer, 104, German-born American actress (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth), Academy Award winner (1936, 1937), pneumonia.
• Edward Herrmann, 71, American actor (Gilmore Girls, Richie Rich, The Lost Boys), brain cancer.
• Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, 99, British aristocrat and Army officer.

In Other News 

In a seriously good news story, U2 frontman Bono has said he may never play guitar again as a result of his bike accident last year. Millions of Apple fanboys are said to be in rapturous joy over the news. In an emotional post on the band’s website, the singer said: “Recovery has been more difficult than I thought … As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again. The band have reminded me that neither they nor western civilisation are depending on this.” Which sort of implies that he hopes that Africa gives a shit. The singer underwent surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital for an arm broken in six places and a broken eye socket after an accident in New York’s Central Park in November.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah was hospitalised this week but is in a stable condition, the royal court has said. The king, believed to be around 90 years old, was admitted to the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh on Wednesday for checks. Examination revealed pneumonia, which required the provisional insertion of a tube on Friday evening. In recent years Abdullah’s advanced age and poor health have raised concerns about the country’s future leadership. Abdullah’s half-brother Salman, 77, is next in line to the throne, but at 77 he’s no spring chicken himself!

Two unnamed adult film actors have contracted HIV, with one most likely infecting the other during unprotected sex at a film shoot in Nevada where testing was less stringent than industry standards, officials said. One of the actors had previously tested negative for the virus that causes Aids before a pair of film shoots, but then began showing symptoms during the second shoot and was later found to be HIV-positive. The infections came amid a major decline in porn filming in Los Angeles after the 2012 passage of a law requiring porn actors to use condoms during filming. The number of porn filmmakers applying for shooting permits in the county declined from 485 in 2012 to 40 in 2013.

Former US President George Bush Sr has been released from hospital in Texas more than a week after being admitted suffering from a shortness of breath. The 90-year-old left Houston’s Methodist Hospital, and is now resting at home and is “grateful to the doctors and nurses for their superb care.” Bush, the oldest living former US president, was taken by ambulance to the hospital a week ago for what was described then as a ‘precaution’ after experiencing shortness of breath. His hospital stay included Christmas yet again, he’s now spent two out of three Christmases in hospital, which bodes well for many of you Poolers.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has cancelled her planned trips to Brazil and the Vatican after breaking her ankle on Friday. A spokesman said that Ms Fernandez had slipped on liquid spilled on the floor of her home in Patagonia, in southern Argentina. I reckon she spilt her wine… With her continued ill health and and now what seems to be a penchant for being accident prone, one wonders how long she will continue to survive.

Former Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher is now able to recognise his wife and two children, a year after he sustained severe head injuries in a skiing accident, a friend has said. Philippe Streiff, also a former Formula One driver, suggested in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday that Schumacher might eventually walk again with the help of crutches. It was the most optimistic assessment since a doctor who had treated the multiple world champion in hospital in Grenoble told the media two months ago that he had made “some progress”. Streiff said that Schumacher “had yet to recover the power of speech” but was “nevertheless starting to recognise those close to him”.

On This Day

• 1847 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
• 1903 – Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. Thomas Edison‘s movie company shoots the film Electrocuting an Elephant of the execution.
• 1958 – Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from orbit.
• 1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
• 1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, England.
• 1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
• 2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars.
• 2010 – Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, is officially opened.

Deaths

• 1882 – John William Draper, English-American physician, chemist, and photographer (b. 1811)
• 1961 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887) Ahh, but is he dead though??
• 1965 – T. S. Eliot, American-English poet, playwright, and critic Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 1967 – Donald Campbell, English racer (b. 1921)
• 2011 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (The Humblebums and Stealers Wheel) (b. 1947)

2014 – In Memoriam by KoA

Yes, it was a rather unsuccessful year for us on the Dead Pool, but there were plenty of celebrities who passed away that we could have guessed. Some were tragically taken from us far too soon, others we cheered to the grave. Here are some of the famous faces that we now miss.

Let’s take a look back on some of the biggest names to have died in 2014.

• Eusébio, 71: Portuguese footballer, top goal scorer at the 1966 World Cup (January 25, 1942 – January 5, 2014)
• Ariel Sharon, 85: 11th Prime Minister of Israel (February 26, 1928 – January 11, 2014)
• Roger Lloyd-Pack, 69: British actor, best known as Trigger in Only Fools And Horses (February 8, 1944 – January 15, 2014)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46: American actor (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014)
• Shirley Temple, 85: American actress and diplomat (April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014)
• Harold Ramis, 69: American writer, director and actor (November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014)
• Tony Benn, 88: British politician and diarist (April 3, 1925 – March 14, 2014)
• Clarissa Dickson Wright, 66: English celebrity chef, notably for Two Fat Ladies, and TV personality (March 15, 2014 – March 15, 2014)
• L’Wren Scott, 49: American fashion designer and model (April 28, 1964 – March 17, 2014)
• Kate O’Mara, 74: English actress, best known for her role in Dynasty (August 10, 1939 – March 30, 2014)
• Mickey Rooney, 93: American actor (September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014)
• Peaches Geldof, 25: English TV presenter and model (March 13, 1989 – April 7, 2014)
• Sue Townsend, 68: British novelist and playwright, best known for the Adrian Mole series (April 2, 1946 – April 10, 2014)
• Gabriel García Márquez, 87: Colombian author – One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Love In The Time Of Cholera (March 6, 1927 – April 17, 2014)
• Bob Hoskins, 71: British actor (October 26, 1942 – April 29, 2014)
• H.R. Giger, 74: Swiss Oscar-winning surrealist artist, best known for designing the creature in the 1979 film Alien (February 5, 1940 – May 12, 2014)
• Sir Jack Brabham, 88: Australian racing driver, triple Formula One world champion, race car designer (April 2, 1926 – May 19, 2014)
• Malcolm Glazer, 85: American executive and sports franchise owner, including Manchester United (August 15, 1928 – May 28, 2014)
• Rik Mayall, 56: English comedian, writer and actor, best known for The Young Ones (March 7, 1958 – June 9, 2014)
• Casey Kasem, 82: Legendary American radio DJ – and the original voice of ‘Shaggy’ Rogers in Scooby-Doo cartoons (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014)
• Patsy Byrne, 80: English actress, best known as Nursie in the Blackadder II TV series (July 13, 1933 – June 17, 2014)
• Eli Wallach, 98: American actor, best known for being ‘The Ugly’ in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014)
• Bobby Womack, 70: American singer-songwriter (March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014)
• Tommy Ramone, 65: Hungarian-born producer and drummer for The Ramones (January 29, 1952 – July 11, 2014)
• James Garner, 86: American actor (April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014)
• Robin Williams, 63: American actor and comedian (July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014)
• Lauren Bacall, 89: American actress (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014)
• Richard Attenborough, 90: British actor and film director, Baron Attenborough (August 29, 1923 – August 24, 2014)
• Joan Rivers, 81: American comedienne, actress and television host (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014)
• Richard Kiel, 74: American actor, best known as Jaws in James Bond films (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014)
• John Bardon, 75: English actor, best known as Jim Branning on EastEnders (August 25, 1939 – September 12, 2014)
• Ian Paisley, 88: British politician and First Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Bannside (April 6, 1926 – September 12, 2014)
• Sir Donald Sinden, 90: Veteran English actor (October 9, 1923 – September 12, 2014)
• Lynda Bellingham, 66: Canadian-born British actress (May 31, 1948 – October 19, 2014)
• Alvin Stardust, 72: English singer (September 27, 1942 – October 23, 2014)
• Acker Bilk, 85: British jazz clarinetist (January 28, 1929 – November 2, 2014)
• Rebekah Gibbs, 41: English actress, best known as Nina Farr in Casualty (March 17, 1973 – November 11, 2014)
• Warren Clarke, 67: English actor (April 26, 1947 – November 12, 2014)
• Mike Nichols, 83: German-born American director (The Graduate) and Oscar winner (November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014)
• Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 88: 18th Duchess of Alba, Spanish aristocrat (March 28, 1926 – November 20, 2014)
• Frankie Fraser, 90: Notorious British gangster (December 13, 1923 – November 26, 2014)
• P.D. James, 94: English crime novelist, Baroness James of Holland Park (August 3, 1920 – November 27, 2014)
• Mandy Rice-Davies, 70: British model, figure in the Profumo affair (October 21, 1944 – December 18, 2014)
• Billie Whitelaw, 82: English actress, best known as the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror film The Omen (June 6, 1932 – December 21, 2014)
• Christine Cavanaugh, 51: English actress, best known as the voice of ‘Babe’ the pig in the 1995 film Babe (August 16, 1963 – December 22, 2014)
• Joe Cocker, 70: British singer (May 20, 1944 – December 22, 2014)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jude Law (42), Mel Gibson (59), Cuba Gooding Jr. (47), Anthony Hopkins (77), Val Kilmer (55), Tiger Woods (39), Sienna Miller (33), Denzel Washington (60), Jon Voight (76), Ted Danson (67), LeBron James (30), Ben Kingsley (71), Psy (37), Maggie Smith (80), Victoria Principal (65), Danny McBride (38), Dabney Coleman (83), Tia Carrere (48), Grandmaster Flash (57), Verne Troyer (46), Heidi Fleiss (49), Eliza Dushku (35), Tracey Ulman (55) and Stan Lee (92).

2015 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

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

Dead Pool 28th December 2014

Welcome one and all to the last Dead Pool Newsletter of 2014. Some of you will be saying thank god, no more emails, some of you will be kicking yourselves for not listing that one name, some of you will be shitting yourselves because you haven’t got your list for 2015 submitted yet! This will be your final reminder, if you’re stuck for names, a quick search through the archives on the website will give you some ideas, hell, I was surprised Phil Donahue was still alive, but I’ve already submitted my list!

If nothing amazingly drastic occurs between now and midnight on the 31st, I am provisionally declaring Lee the winner with a paltry 323 points and three deaths, albeit those deaths being a Cert, Woman and a norm.  Also, congratulations to Stu for actually getting a Maverick! First one ever, who’d have guessed that Manuel Uribe would have pegged it!! We will also congratulate Rebecca and Paul for getting Ariel Sharon as the first death of 2014, both have consistently been high scorers in the past, let’s see if they can challenge us in 2015.

So, if no other deaths are declared, the standings are as follows:

• 1st Lee
• 2nd Stu
• 3rd Paula

Obviously, do get on my case if I have missed one of your names, although many of you think I’m not, I am fallible.

Just another reminder, this will be the last email from the Dead Pool if you have not submitted a list for next year. Thank you for taking part and please carry on sending your Klaxxxxons when someone ‘of note’ dies, the emails and the community that we have built is the most fun part of the whole thing. Without you taking part and being sick little puppies, none of this would be possible.

Let’s hope we get stronger and stronger for 2015!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Gino Pellegrini, 73, Italian scenic designer (2001: A Space Odyssey, Mary Poppins, The Birds) and painter.
• Udo Jürgens, 80, Austrian composer and singer (“Reach for the Stars“), winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1966.
• Anna Stoehr, 114, American supercentenarian.
• Billie Whitelaw, 82, English actress (The Omen, The Dark Crystal, Hot Fuzz).
• Joe Cocker, 70, British singer (“With a Little Help from My Friends“, “You Are So Beautiful“, “Up Where We Belong“), lung cancer.
• Jeremy Lloyd, 84, British screenwriter (Are You Being Served?, ‘Allo ‘Allo!), pneumonia.
• Joseph Sargent, 89, American film director (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, MacArthur, Jaws: The Revenge), heart disease.
• Mike Elliott, 68, British comedian and actor (Goal!, Billy Elliot), cancer.
• Conrad Johnson, 110, Swedish-American supercentenarian, oldest man in the United States, stroke.
• David Ryall, 79, English actor (The Singing Detective, Harry Potter, The Elephant Man).

In Other News

Former three-time heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali has been taken to hospital with a mild case of pneumonia! Ali, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, is in a stable condition, his spokesman Bob Gunnell told the media. “The prognosis is good,” he added, saying the 72-year-old’s stay in hospital was likely to be brief. And true to his word, Ali has improved and it’s hoped he’s going to be discharged soon.

Talking about pneumonia, the Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury seems to have caught it too, a day after he pulled out of his Christmas Day sermon with a “severe cold”. *cough cough* Serious stuff this pneumonia, did Richard Whitley in, remember? Lambeth Palace had said the 58-year-old archbishop had been ill for several days and decided on the morning of the service that he was too unwell to make his address. Nothing to do with a few too many communion wines and a bed littered with small boys.

The former US president George HW Bush was due to remain in hospital after being admitted experiencing shortness of breath, a family spokesman said. Bush, 90, had been taken by ambulance to Houston Methodist Hospital on Tuesday evening as a precaution, but had a “good day” and his prognosis “remains positive.” Bush spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care at the same hospital while being treated for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues. Bush is the oldest living former president, bet that keeps Jimmy Carter happy at night!

And finally, director Tim Burton and actress Helena Bonham Carter have announced that they have “separated amicably” after 13 years together. Knowing the darkness that flows through their emo souls, one would expect the imminent death of one, or at least the crushing demise of a career at least. For years the film director and actress lived in separate homes right next door to each other, something Carter said worked well for them. “It really is a great idea, you never have to compromise emotionally or feel invaded.” She said. Which somehow makes you wonder what their sex life was like…

On This Day

• 1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
• 1612 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.
• 1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema.
• 1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.

Deaths

• 1983 – Dennis Wilson, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)
• 1984 – Sam Peckinpah, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kiefer Sutherland (48), Jared Leto (43), Annie Lennox (60), Sissy Spacek (65), Ricky Martin (43), Ralph Fiennes (52), Samuel L. Jackson (66), Jane Fonda (77), Gerard Depardieu (66), Kit Harrington (28), Chris Evert (60), Phil Donahue (79), Lars Ulrich (51), Dido (43) and John Amos (74).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

28th December 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st December 2014

Welcome all to the penultimate newsletter of the year!! Yes, we’re very close to declaring the winner for 2014 and unless something drastic happens it looks like Lee is taking the crown this year! I’m sure that all of you are busy working on your lists for next year, I’ve already got five submitted so far, feel free to submit yours too. Also, please take the time to pass on the rules to your friends, the more the merrier, hopefully we can break the 50 members mark this year.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Norman Bridwell, 86, American author and cartoonist (Clifford the Big Red Dog).
• Phil Stern, 95, American photographer, emphysema and heart failure.
• Booth Colman, 91, American actor (Planet of the Apes, Norma Rae, Intolerable Cruelty).
• Larry Henley, 77, American singer (The Newbeats) and songwriter (“Wind Beneath My Wings”).
• Mandy Rice-Davies, 70, British model, figure in the Profumo affair, cancer.
• Larry Smith, 63, American record producer (Run–D.M.C., King of Rock).

In Other News

Ali Carter has been given the all-clear seven months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The 35-year-old, twice a World Championship runner-up, recovered from testicular cancer last year and is aiming to resume his career. “Two beautiful words that I’ve been waiting for ‘all clear’,” Carter tweeted on Friday. “I can now concentrate on getting my life and career back. I will be glad when this year is over. Some better things to come in 2015 … #hopefully” Fair play to him, but with two bouts of cancer behind him, we’d best keep an eye out for the third.

Anthony Crolla, the WBO inter-continental lightweight title  holder, was taken to hospital after confronting burglars who were raiding a neighbour’s house in Chadderton near Oldham on Tuesday evening. The 28-year-old is understood to have broken an ankle and suffered a serious head injury after chasing the two burglars. Crolla caught one of the intruders, according to the Manchester Evening News, but was then attacked by the other with a brick or a lump of concrete. Known as ‘Million Dolla Crolla’, the WBO inter-continental lightweight title holder had been due to face the Cuban Richard Abril on 23rd January for the WBA world title, but due to his  injuries, the fight will no longer take place.

The rock band The Who have postponed two concerts in London as frontman Roger Daltrey is suffering from a throat infection. The singer has been ordered to rest by doctors. The shows, due to take place on Wednesday and Thursday at the O2 Arena, have been pushed back to March. The band are currently on their The Who Hits 50 tour, celebrating their 50th anniversary. Daltrey, 70, admitted that touring was “incredibly tough on the body” and suggested these could be The Who’s last major live shows. “This is the beginning of the long goodbye,” he said.

A judge has refused to delay Tracy Morgan’s legal action against retail giant Walmart over a car crash in which the 30 Rock comedian was injured. He is claiming compensation from the retailer for negligence in requiring the driver to drive while fatigued. He had not slept for more than 24 hours when he collided with Morgan’s limousine according to court papers. Comedian James McNair died in the crash, while Morgan suffered a traumatic brain injury and broken bones. Morgan’s attorney, Benedict Morelli has said the 46-year-old is “fighting to get better” but it is uncertain whether he will fully recover.

On This Day

• 1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• 1913 – Arthur Wynne‘s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
• 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
• 1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.
• 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
• 1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
• 2012 – The world was predicted to end on December 21, 2012 according to some calendars.

Deaths

• 1907 – Klara Hitler, mother of Austrian-born German dictator Adolf Hitler (b. 1860)
• 1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American author and poet (b. 1896)
• 1945 – George S. Patton, American general (b. 1885)
• 2013 – David Coleman, English sportscaster and game show host (b. 1926)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Brad Pitt (51), Jonah Hill (31), Keith Richards (71), Ray Liotta (60), Don Johnson (65), Milla Jovovich (39), Steven Spielberg (68), Katie Holmes (35), Jake Gyllenhaal (34), Christina Aguilera (34), Pope Francis (78), Alyssa Milano (42), Kristy Swanson (45), Bill Pullman (61), Jennifer Beals (51), Steve Austin (50), Patty Duke (68), Eugene Levy (68), Leonard Maltin (64) and Billy Bragg (57).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

21st December 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 14th December 2014

Ok  peeps, I’m officially taking in lists for next year, so if you want to email me yours, feel free to do so on deadpool@kingofankh.co.uk As you know, this year has been a disaster, hardly any points scored with a record number of participants taking part as well, so let’s try to be more sneaky this year, really look into those terminal illnesses, weigh the chances of those sportspeople surviving another year in their dangerous sports, try to find out if the 89 year old is in fact doddery or fighting fit. As always, if you need to remind yourself of the rules, head over to the website for a look. http://thedeadpool.rip/the-rules/ You can also read through the old newsletters for ideas, they are all archived on the site.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ralph H. Baer, 92, American video game pioneer, inventor and engineer, developed the Magnavox Odyssey.
• Stella Young, 32, Australian comedian and disability advocate.
• Ken Weatherwax, 59, American actor (The Addams Family), heart attack.
• Mary Ann Mobley, 77, American actress (Diff’rent Strokes, Falcon Crest) and television personality, Miss America (1959), breast cancer.
• Tom Adams, 76, English actor (The Great Escape, Licensed to Kill, Doctor Who), cancer.

In Other News

Phil Collins was forced to back out of his first headlining concert in about five years, stating that he was unwell. Apologising to the audience at a benefit concert in Miami Beach, Collins claimed that doctors had told him to rest his vocal cords. The 63-year-old’s performance had been expected as the grand finale for the charity concert, which was a fundraiser for his Little Dreams Foundation. Although the singer went through with soundcheck, he said it hadn’t gone well. He had been seeing doctors for the past two days, receiving treatment for “some sort of neurological affliction that he said strikes every now and then.”

Green Day guitarist Jason White has been diagnosed with  tonsil cancer. Since his doctors “caught it early”, the musician is expected to make a “full and speedy recovery”, although, with cancer, who knows… The band wrote in a Facebook statement, “Jason recently underwent a routine tonsillectomy, and his doctors discovered a treatable form of tonsil cancer … Please join us in sending him love and positive healing vibes during this time.” Unbelievably, hundreds of people cared and left comments!

If you have Christopher Lee on your list for next year, maybe you should reconsider as the 92 year old is still fighting fit and is releasing a heavy metal Christmas single. This year’s effort is entitled Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing. This is a followup to last years attempt, Jingle Hells and 2012’s Heavy Metal Christmas, with interpretations of The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night. Amazingly Jingle Hells made it to No.18 in the charts which made Lee the oldest musician to ever make the chart!

And finally, new research prompted by the deaths of Rik Mayall and Robin Williams suggests that the best comedians often lead shorter lives. The funnier you are, the more likely you are to die young, so I’m safe then! Researchers studied 53 comedians and found that, of the 23 ranked the funniest, 78 per cent died relatively young. Tony Hancock was 44 when he committed suicide, while Peter Sellers and Tommy Cooper died of heart attacks aged 54 and 63 respectively. The “funny” man in comedy double acts were three times as likely to die first. Eric Morecambe died in 1984 aged 58, but his straight man counterpart Ernie Wise survived him by 15 years, dying aged 73. Similarly, Peter Cook was 57 when he died, but his partner Dudley Moore lived to 66. I knew there was a reason why I decided to base my list on comedians next year!

On This Day

• 1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Mary, Queen of Scots.
• 1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
• 1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• 1911 – Roald Amundsen ’ s team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
• 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission.
• 1994 – Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river.
• 2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi throws his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
• 2012 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Deaths

• 1799 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (b. 1732)
• 1861 – Albert, Prince Consort, German husband of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)
• 1943 – John Harvey Kellogg, American physician and businessman, co-invented corn flakes (b. 1852)
• 1947 – Stanley Baldwin, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
• 2012 – Kenneth Kendall, Indian-English journalist and game show host (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Peter O’Toole, Irish-English actor, singer, and producer (b. 1932)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Taylor Swift (25), Jamie Foxx (47), Steve Buscemi (57), Christopher Plummer (85), Dick Van Dyke (89), Jennifer Connelly (44), Dionne Warwick (74), Bob Barker (91), Donna Mills (74), Mos Def (41), Kenneth Branagh (54), Judi Dench (80), John Malkovich (61), Beau Bridges (73), Kirk Douglas (98), Donny Osmond (57), Nicki Minaj (32), Ann Coulter (53), Dominic Monaghan (38), Sinead O’Connor (48), Teri Hatcher (50) and Kim Basinger (61).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next Week peeps!

14th December 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 7th December 2014

Afternoon all, welcome to this weeks edition of the Dead Pool Newsletter. Last week we saw the death of the Worlds Fattest Man™, who at his heaviest weighed in at a whopping 70 stone! How did he get this fat? Well, he would gorge on 20,000 calories a day – almost 10 times the recommended amount – by having six-egg fry-ups for breakfast then pizzas, kebabs, Chinese takeaways and Big Macs for lunch and dinner, all washed down with six pints of coffee, two litres of fizzy drinks and a wafer thin mint. Apparently he leaves behind two sisters who cared for him, if they cared that much they wouldn’t have fed so much shit to a bedridden fatty. Anyhow…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Bobby Keys, 70, American saxophonist (The Rolling Stones), cirrhosis.
• Ian McLagan, 69, English keyboardist (Small Faces), stroke.
• Jeremy Thorpe, 85, British politician, Leader of the Liberal Party (1967–1976), MP for North Devon (1959–1979), central figure in the Thorpe affair, Parkinson’s disease.
• Queen Fabiola of Belgium, 86, Spanish-born Belgian royal, queen consort (1960–1993).
• Jackie Healy-Rae, 83, Irish politician, TD for Kerry South (1997–2011).
• Keith Martin, 44, British record holder, formerly world’s fattest man, pneumonia.

In Other News

US President Barack Obama has briefly visited a Washington hospital for tests following a persistent sore throat, the White House says. Obama had experienced a sore throat over “the past couple weeks”, which appeared to be caused by acid reflux, his doctor said. Apparently he has undergone a fibre optic exam, followed by a CT scan, only for doctors to say that he’s got a bit of a sore throat. Toughen up you big girls blouse!

Sadly, the Brazil legend Pelé is showing further signs of improvement as he continues his recovery from a kidney condition. However the three-times World Cup winner still remains in “semi-intensive care” at the Albert Einstein hospital in São Paulo. Pelé, 74, only has one kidney, having had one removed towards the end of his playing career. So following an operation to remove stones from his remaining kidney, it seems to haves fucked him up somewhat. A video was posted on the former Santos star’s official Facebook page where he appeared in good spirits and was even playing the guitar. Maybe listing him for next year is a tad too premature.

Wilko Johnson says he has found it “difficult” coming to terms with still being alive after being told he had terminal cancer. The former Dr Feelgood guitarist, 67, was given 10 months to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but was given the all clear in April. Johnson, who lives in Southend, says he now hopes to fulfil ambitions including playing with Bob Dylan, woo! Aim high why don’t ya! Johnson underwent 11 hours of radical surgery at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to take out a 3kg tumour. The operation also involved removing his pancreas, parts of his stomach, spleen and small and large intestines, so fuck knows how he’s still breathing!

Thailand’s revered but ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej has cancelled an annual appearance to mark his 87th birthday on the advice of doctors. The world’s longest-serving monarch has spent most of the last few months in hospital as fears over his health mount. A team of royal physicians examined the king on Thursday evening and agreed that he is not ready to grant a royal audience therefore they have recommended he cancels royal activities. In October the king had an operation to remove his gall bladder after tests revealed it was swollen. He was last seen in public in early November, so he might be dead already as far as we know.

It has been pointed out that Rebecca Farnworth died of cancer last month at the age of 49. Who the hell is she? Well, some of you may have read her books as she was a prolific ghostwriter, mainly for that big boobed bag of gas, Katie Price aka Jordan. Katie lamented in The Sun that she was ‘terribly terribly sad’ to hear of her death, I’m sure she was, I bet she made millions from the talent of this particular writer. Sadly Rebecca wasn’t famous enough for our needs, so we do wish her the very best on her travels into the great unknown.

Devon and Cornwall Police say a weapon, believed to have been  owned by the notorious wife-killer Hawley Harvey Crippen, was one of 446 weapons surrendered to police as part of a gun amnesty. Dr Crippen, who was born in the United States, is believed to have used hyoscine to kill Cora at his London home before attempting to flee to Canada, so it seems that the tiny pistol is practically worthless anyway. Crippen was hanged at London’s Pentoville Prison in 1910.

A hundred brains have gone missing in Texas! I would argue that there are no brains in Texas to go missing, but apparently The University of Texas at Austin had a specimen collection preserved in jars of formaldehyde that was donated to them over thirty years ago. Could it be an outbreak of zombies? Or are average Texans getting clued up to the fact that they need brains to function correctly. Who knows what has happened to them. Best guess, students pilfering them for Halloween pranks. Oh, how I wished I lived in Texas!

And finally, a tale of warning to all the golfers out there. A crocodile has killed a man while he was retrieving golf balls from Lake Panic in South Africa’s flagship wildlife reserve. Officials at Kruger National Park said the animal grabbed 29-year-old Jacques van der Sandt and disappeared under the water at a golf course next to a staff residential area. Sadly the rangers killed the crocodile after a two-hour search on Wednesday night and the body of Van der Sandt, the son of a park employee, was recovered. I doubt this is going to happen any time soon at Gleneagles, but it would make me watch the golf on the telly box if this was a possible outcome….

On This Day

• 43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated.
• 1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.
• 1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.
• 1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr., becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.

Deaths

• 43 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (b. 106 BC)
• 1985 – Robert Graves, English author and poet (b. 1895)
• 2011 – Harry Morgan, American actor and director (b. 1915)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Amanda Seyfried (29), Billy Idol (59), Julianne Moore (54), Ben Stiller (49), Woody Allen (79), Bette Midler (69), Jeff Bridges (65), Britney Spears (33), Jay-Z (45), Daryl Hannah (54), Little Richard (82), Sarah Silverman (44), Marisa Tomei (50), Frankie Muniz (29), Tyra Banks (41), Ozzy Osbourne (66), Judd Apatow (47), Brendan Fraser (46), Nelly Furtado (36), Lucy Liu (46), Mandy Patinkin (62), John Terry (34), Nicole Appleton (40), C. Thomas Howell (48), Stan Boardman (74), Ellen Burstyn (82) and Noam Chomsky (86).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next Week peeps!

7th December 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 30th November 2014

Afternoon all, welcome once again to your weekly edition of the Dead Pool, I promise there will be no cricket jokes about bouncers not fucking about here! Remember, there’s only a month to go now so keep working on next years list, because it has to be more inspired than this year!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Merle Barwis, 113, American-born Canadian supercentenarian, was nation’s oldest resident.
• Frankie Fraser, 90, British gangster, complications from surgery.
• Phillip Hughes, 25, Australian cricketer, vertebral artery dissection leading to subarachnoid haemorrhage.
• P. D. James, 94, English crime novelist (Adam Dalgliesh series, The Children of Men, Death Comes to Pemberley).
• Chespirito, 85, Mexican playwright, actor and screenwriter (El Chavo del Ocho, El Chapulín Colorado), heart failure.

In Other News

Lars von Trier says he is worried that he will not be able to make any more films now that he has quit drinking alcohol and no longer uses drugs. The Danish film director told the newspaper Politiken: “No creative expression of artistic value has  ever been carried out by former alcoholics and drug addicts.” Von Trier, who has directed graphic films such as Antichrist and Nymphomaniac, said he will be sober for 90 days as of Sunday and is going to meetings at Alcoholics Anonymous every day. We reckon he’ll fall off the wagon and make more movies, much to the disappointment of all.

Actor Mickey Rourke returned to the boxing ring last Friday at the age of 62, defeating a fighter less than half his age in an exhibition bout. Rourke sent 29-year-old Pasadena native Elliot Seymour to the canvas twice in the second round before the referee stopped the fight. The bout at a Moscow concert hall was Rourke’s first fight in 20 years. He took a break from acting in the early 1990s, finishing a three-year pro boxing career with six wins and two draws. He hinted that the return to the ring has helped him cope with unspecified personal issues. Those issues were the death of his pet Chihuahua, not so tough now is he…

Pelé “is in better condition” though he remains in a special care unit being treated  for a urinary tract infection. The 74-year-old is in hospital in São Paulo receiving renal support treatment, which helps kidneys to filter waste products from the blood, after surgery to remove kidney stones earlier this month. He is not on vasoactive drugs or other supportive therapies, the hospital said. Pelé, often called the greatest player in history, has suffered a long list of health problems in the past decade, including emergency eye surgery for a detached retina and a hip replacement.

Burt Reynolds is having to sell off hundreds of items of personal memorabilia in an attempt to pay outstanding mortgage payments. The actor, known for Smokey and the Bandit and Boogie Nights, is selling off over 600 items in a Las Vegas auction because he’s failed to pay his outstanding $700,000 mortgage since 2010 and is in danger of losing everything. We’d better keep an eye on him in case he goes Robin Williams on us!

And finally, The Office for National Statistics have confirmed that last year had the lowest ever number of winter deaths since records began. An estimated 18,200 excess winter deaths occurred in 2013-14, the lowest number since records began in 1950-51, which sort of bolsters why our scoring has been very low this year. Last winter was notably warmer than in previous years and had a relatively mild flu season which contributed to the lower number of deaths. Unsurprisingly, of the 18,200 excess deaths, 14,000 were in the over-75s, so best keep that in mind for your list for next year.

On This Day

• 1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.
• 1934 – The LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman becomes the first steam locomotive to be authenticated as reaching 100 mph.
• 1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.
• 1940 – Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.
• 1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap in the only documented case of a human being hit by a rock from space.
• 1982 – Michael Jackson‘s second solo album, Thriller is released worldwide. It will become the best-selling record album in history.
• 1998 – Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world’s largest company.

Deaths

• 1900 – Oscar Wilde, Irish author and poet (b. 1854)
• 1979 – Zeppo Marx, American actor and singer (b. 1901)
• 2007 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle rider and stuntman (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Paul Walker, American actor and producer (b. 1973)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Miley Cyrus (22), Ed Harris (64), Christina Applegate (43), Jon Stewart (52), Don Cheadle (50), Tina Turner (75), Sarah Hyland (24), Tom Sizemore (53), Robin Givens (50), Judd Nelson (55), Randy Newman (71), Diane Ladd (79), Natasha Bedingfield (33), Stephen Merchant (40) and Bruno Tonioli (59).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

30th November 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 23rd November 2014

Welcome minions of the moribund, I can this week say that we have a point scorer! Congratulations to Julia for correctly guessing that the Duchess of Alba would depart us this year, 62 points awarded and the joy of not being on a big fat zero, like myself, with only five weeks to go. Lets hope that the cold weather catches a few for the rest of us ‘nil point’ players before this year is out!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jimmy Ruffin, 78, American soul singer (“What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”).
• Pete Harman, 95, American businessman, opened first KFC franchise.
• Mike Nichols, 83, German-born American director (The Graduate, Angels in America, Spamalot), Oscar winner (1968), cardiac arrest.
• Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, 88, Spanish aristocrat.

In Other News

Bono has undergone five hours of surgery after breaking his arm in six places and suffering a broken eye socket after falling off his bike in New York. Bono’s injuries are a result of what doctors called a “high-energy bicycle accident” were much more severe than the band let on in an earlier statement. Multiple x-rays showed that Bono had suffered numerous serious injuries, including a “facial fracture involving the orbit of his eye” and three separate fractures of his left shoulder blade. The fracture of the left humerus bone in his upper arm was said to be particularly serious, as it broke in six places and pierced the skin. Bono had just returned to New York after recording Band Aid 30 in London on Saturday, advocating that us poor fuckers pay an extortionate amount for a crap song to save Africans from themselves whilst he’s hiding millions in an offshore account. Karma…

Cher has cancelled the remainder of her Dressed to Kill tour after doctors advised she needed more time to recover from an ongoing viral infection. The singer said she was “devastated”. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me,” she lamented, in a statement. “I sincerely hope that we can come back again next year and finish what we started,” added the 68-year-old star. The second leg of the tour was due to kick off in New York on 11th September, but was postponed after the singer was “felled by an infection that affected her kidney function”. You can’t really complain, I doubt my granny would get up on stage dressed in fishnets to sing ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’…

Craig Charles has became the second person to leave the reality show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! after reports that his brother had died of a heart attack. After being made aware that his older brother had passed away at the age of 52, the Red Dwarf actor returned to Croc Creek to tell his fellow celebrities that he was heading home to be with his family. As yo know, heart disease runs in families, let’s keep a close eye on the Corrie star!

Jeremy Vine, the Radio 2 presenter, has been stopped by police for speeding on his bike at more than three times the limit. The reckless radio personality was caught cycling at 16mph through Hyde Park while on his way to work by an officer with a hand-held radar gun. Vine came to a halt in the cycle lane as the Metropolitan Police officer held up his hand and showed him the speed reading. He said he did not realise the limit was 5mph and apologised. With such death defying traits, he could end up like Bono, so we really should be listing him next year, or perhaps the Police should actually do some proper policing for a change.

American mass murderer Charles Manson, 80, has been granted a licence to marry a 26-year-old woman who has been visiting him in prison. The bride-to-be, Afton Elaine Burton, says she loves Manson. As a life prisoner with no parole date, Manson is not entitled to conjugal visits, so she will be spared the killers dusty sperms and the chance to get murdered herself. Luckily for his wife to be, Manson is not eligible to apply for parole again until 2027, hopefully by then the cunt will be dead and she’ll have moved on to a less media chasing life and a normal relationship.

Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi is no longer in an artificial coma and is breathing unaided, his parents have said in a statement. However, his condition is still “critical” and he remains unconscious. They said they were “relieved” to confirm their son had been transferred to Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice. Bianchi suffered a diffuse axonal injury when he crashed into a tractor at Suzuka that was recovering Adrian Sutil’s Sauber.

And finally, still on the F1 vein, it has been confirmed that Michael Schumacher is paralysed and has memory and speech problems from the brain injuries he sustained in a skiing accident, according to Philippe Streiff, a friend and ex-Formula One driver who was himself left in a wheelchair by a crash. Streiff, who was paralysed by a crash in 1989, said: “He is getting better but everything is relative. It’s very difficult. He can’t speak. Like me he is in a wheelchair, paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems.” A spokeswoman for Schumacher said Streiff’s comments were “his opinions”.

On This Day

• 534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage.
• 1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.
• 1889 – The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
• 1910 – Johan Alfred Ander becomes the last person to be executed in Sweden.
• 1924 – Edwin Hubble‘s scientific discovery that Andromeda, previously believed to be a nebula within our galaxy, is actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe, was first published in a newspaper.
• 1963 – The BBC broadcasts the first episode of Doctor Who (starring William Hartnell), which is now the world’s longest running science fiction drama.
• 1979 – In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
• 1992 – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 2004 – World of Warcraft, the largest MMORPG in the world was first released to the public.

Deaths

• 1910 – Hawley Harvey Crippen, American physician and murderer (b. 1862)
• 1990 – Roald Dahl, Welsh-English pilot, author, and screenwriter (b. 1916)
• 1991 – Klaus Kinski, German-American actor and director (b. 1926)
• 2001 – Mary Whitehouse, English educator and activist (b. 1910)
• 2006 – Alexander Litvinenko, Russian spy (b. 1962)
• 2010 – Ingrid Pitt, Polish-English actress and author (b. 1937)
• 2012 – Larry Hagman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1931)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Scarlett Johansson (29), Danny Devito (70), Jodi Foster (52), Mark Ruffalo (47), Rachel McAdams (36), Owen Wilson (46), Goldie Hawn (69), Carly Rae Jepsen (29), Meg Ryan (63), Joe Biden (72), Maggie Gyllenhaal (37), Martin Scorsese (72), Bo Derek (58), Jamie Lee Curtis (56), Larry King (81), Lorne Michaels (70), Delroy Lindo (62), Sean Young (55), Billie Jean King (71), Missi Pyle (42), Martha Plimpton (44), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (56), RuPaul (54) and Linda Evans (72).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

23rd November 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 16th November 2014

Afternoon Poolers! Yet another week goes by and we have failed yet again to guess a single celebrity death! I’m starting to rethink my strategy for next year as these famous types are far outlasting us normal people, perhaps their longevity has something to do with how ridiculously rich they are. Back in my day an 80 year old celebrity was a cert! Anyhow, we have little over six weeks ’til the end of this years pool, so if you haven’t got your thinking cap on, you’d best drag it out from under the bed and give it a good dusting!

As always, I will be hassling you continuously during the month of December to get your lists in, I know what you lot are like, I have no idea how you managed to get an ‘O’ Level without doing your homework. If you would rather drop out for next year, please let me know and I’ll remove you from my hassle list.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Luke Dolan, 108, Irish centenarian, oldest man in the Republic of Ireland.
• Joe Walsh, 71, Irish politician, Minister for Agriculture and Food (1992–1994, 1997–2004).
• Steve Dodd, 86, Australian actor (Gallipoli, The Matrix, Quigley Down Under).
• Ernest Kinoy, 89, American writer (Roots, Dimension X, X Minus One), pneumonia.
• Big Bank Hank, 58, American rapper (The Sugarhill Gang), kidney complications of cancer.
• Carol Ann Susi, 62, American actress (The Big Bang Theory, Cats & Dogs, Death Becomes Her), cancer.
• Warren Clarke, 67, British actor (Dalziel and Pascoe, A Clockwork Orange, Top Secret!).
• Rebekah Gibbs, 41, British actress (Casualty), breast cancer.
• Mike Burney, 70, English saxophonist (Wizzard), cancer.
• Glen A. Larson, 77, American television writer and producer (Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I.), esophageal cancer.

In Other News 

Richie Benaud has revealed he is undergoing radiation treatment for skin cancer. The revered broadcaster has been absent from his commentary duties since a car accident near his Sydney home in 2013. Benaud said he was paying the price for a cricket career in which he did not wear a hat or sunscreen. “When I was a kid we never ever wore a cap. I wish I had. You live and learn as you go along,” he said. “I recommend to everyone they wear protection on their heads. Eighty-four-year-olds don’t seem to mend as well as they used to.” Ain’t that the truth!!

Pete Doherty is back in a Thai rehab centre. Two years after he was kicked out of a similar facility, the Libertines frontman is hoping to finally quit heroin and to begin helping other struggling addicts. Doherty is also receiving support from his Libertines bandmate Carl Barât. After a long hiatus the band reunited for gigs this summer and they are now working on a new album. Woo!

The Brazil legend Pelé was taken to hospital on Wednesday with a stomach complaint which forced him to miss an event at the museum honouring his career. The 74-year-old was taken to São Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital as a precaution, according to the TV station Globo. Other media quoted a spokesman as saying Pelé was not believed to be seriously ill.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been discharged from hospital after being treated for the latest in a series of medical problems. President Fernandez, who is 61, was hospitalised a week ago with fever and stomach pains. Doctors diagnosed an intestinal infection but have allowed her to leave hospital and ordered 10 days’ bed rest. This is the third time in less than a year that the president has suffered health issues. Best keep a very close eye on her.

An Argentinian magistrate has called on Interpol to use all necessary means to summon Justin Bieber to a Buenos Aires court. The singer has been accused of assault by a photographer, and magistrate Facundo Cubas said Bieber will face arrest if he does not submit his testimony about the incident within the next 60 days. If Bieber does return, a guilty verdict could result in up to a year in jail. I for one would like to see his face when a guilty verdict is read, imagine the state of his arsehole after a year in an Argentinian jail!!

And finally, a Polish woman who spent 11 hours in cold storage in a mortuary after being declared dead has returned to her family, complaining of feeling cold. Officials say Janina Kolkiewicz, 91, was declared dead after an examination by the family doctor. However, mortuary staff were astonished to notice movement in her body bag while it was in storage. The police have launched an investigation. Back home, Ms Kolkiewicz was warmed up with a bowl of soup and two pancakes and luckily has no inkling of what happened since she has late-stage dementia.

On This Day

• 1904 – English engineer John Ambrose Fleming receives a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube).
• 1914 – The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens.
• 1965 – The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, which will be the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

Deaths

• 1960 – Clark Gable, American actor and singer (b. 1901)
• 1982 – Arthur Askey, English comedian, actor, and singer (b. 1900)
• 2008 – Reg Varney, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1916)
• 2009 – Edward Woodward, English actor and singer (b. 1930)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Anne Hathaway (32), Ryan Gosling (34), Whoopi Goldberg (59), Neil Young (68), Demi Moore (52), Leonardo Dicaprio (40), Prince Charles (65), Ed Asner (85), Lou Ferrigno (63), Calista Flockhart (50), Gerard Butler (45), Beverly D’Angelo (63), Condoleezza Rice (60) and Chad Kroeger (40).

2014 League Table

[Confidential]

Next Week peeps!

16th November 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 9th November 2014

Not a good week  to be a musician it seems,  they’ve been dropping like flies and  our list of potentials only contains people of note from the music industry this week. How we missed out on Acker Bilk I’ll never know!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Acker Bilk, 85, British jazz clarinetist (“Stranger on the Shore”).
• Wayne Static, 48, American singer and musician (Static-X).
• Manitas de Plata, 93, French flamenco guitarist.
• Rick Rosas, 65, American session musician (Etta James, Joe Walsh, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young).

In Other News

Following revelations by his family a couple of weeks ago, Muhammad Ali’s doctor has played down fears over the former world heavyweight champion’s health. Ali, 72, has had Parkinson’s disease since 1984 and there have been rumours his health has been deteriorating. “I don’t see anything immediately that leads me to think that he is going to die in six months or a year,” Dr. Abraham Lieberman said. “People do not die of Parkinson’s. They develop trouble swallowing, they develop pneumonia, fall and bang their heads. His family take extraordinary care of him.” Even with such comments, all it takes is a small trip…

The six-times world championship finalist Jimmy White has told of his battle with crack cocaine addiction. The Whirlwind, 52, became a fans’ favourite in the 1980s and 90s, reaching the Crucible final in 1984 and in every year from 1990 to 1994 but losing on each occasion. White, though, was hiding a drug habit which cost him up to £10,000 a month, moving from cocaine to its stronger form. “I’m lucky to be alive” he admitted, “drugs probably cost me 10 world titles.”

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is  being treated for an “infectious fever” in a hospital in the capital, Buenos Aires, officials say. Ms Fernandez, 61, checked herself into the clinic after feeling ill Sunday afternoon, an official statement explained. The president has had a series of health problems, some of which have forced her to cancel official trips. Last year she had an operation to treat bleeding on the brain. She also missed this year’s independence day celebrations due to a throat infection. Could it be Ebola?

The Olympic champion, Dani King is recovering in hospital after a training accident left the 23-year-old with five broken ribs and a punctured lung. The team pursuit Olympic champion crashed on a regular cycling training route in Wales after a member of her group hit a pothole. King, who is in intensive care, wrote on Twitter: “Crashed whilst out training yesterday resulting in 5 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Being looked after by the amazing NHS ICU in Wales.”

Thailand’s 86-year-old king remains in hospital after surgery to remove his gallbladder, the palace has said. Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, was admitted to Siriraj hospital in Bangkok on 3rd October and hasn’t been well since. Previously he’s spent four years in a special suite after being admitted for a lung infection! The guy seems to be falling apart, surely a contender for next years lists!

And finally, two little tales of stupidity. A 26-year-old Australian man who risked his life by diving into shark-infested waters to climb onto a rotting whale carcass has confessed that even his parents think he is an idiot. “One of my mates said it would be pretty funny to surf the whale, so I did it.” He was not put off by the fact that several hungry tiger sharks and a massive great white, were circling around the carcass at the time. Twat!

Secondly, American wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie, 26, who describes himself as “Indiana Jones with a green twist”, is planning to be eaten alive by a snake. Wearing a spacial suit, breathing apparatus and a rope tied around his foot, he plans to be swallowed whole for a TV show. I sincerely hope it goes wrong and the stupid cunt dies, but what will most likely happen is that they will have to cut him out and kill the poor snake. Bigger twat!

On This Day

• 1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
• 1872 – The Great Boston Fire of 1872.
• 1888 – Mary Jane Kelly is murdered in London, widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper.
• 1907 – The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday.
• 1967 – The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published.
• 1989 – Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany, and fall of communism in eastern Europe including Russia.

Deaths

• 1888 – Mary Jane Kelly, Irish-English victim of Jack the Ripper (b. 1863)
• 1937 – Ramsay MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1866)
• 1940 – Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
• 1953 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (b. 1914)
• 1970 – Charles de Gaulle, French general and politician, 18th President of France (b. 1890)
• 2003 – Art Carney, American actor and singer (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Emlyn Hughes, English footballer and manager (b. 1947)
• 2004 – Stieg Larsson, Swedish journalist and author (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Bill Tarmey, English actor and singer (b. 1941)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Emma Stone (26), Matthew McConaughey (45), Roseanne Barr (62), Lorde (18), Ethan Hawke (44), Sally Field (68), David Schwimmer (48), Ralph Macchio (54), Dolph Lundgren (57), Gordon Ramsay (48), Joni Mitchell (71), Bryan Adams (55), Maria Shriver (59), Sam Rockwell (46), Tatum O’Neal (51), Art Garfunkel (72), Mike Nichols (83), Loretta Swit (77), Anna Wintour (65), Thandie Newton (42), Rebecca Romijn (42), Famke Janssen (49), Tilda Swinton (54), Adam Ant (61), Kate Capshaw (61) and K.D. Lang (53).

2014 League Table

[confidential]

Next Week peeps!

9th November 2014 | Categories: 2014 | Leave A Comment »