Dead Pool 27th December 2015
How’s this for commitment eh? A not-so-special post-Boxing Day edition of the Dead Pool. Yup, I spent half my Crimbo writing up this piece of tat just to keep you happy. Don’t worry though, I had plenty of time spare as they overlooked my space at the dining table and I had next to no presents to open, so here we are. I hope you all got to see The Queen looking as doddery as her husband at 3pm, surely 2016 is the year for both of them, but there’s only one way to find out, list them and send your deadly thirteen to me!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Patricia Elliott, 77, American actress (A Little Night Music, One Life to Live), Tony Award winner (1973), leiomyosarcoma.
- Carol Burns, 68, Australian actress (Prisoner), cancer.
- Brooke McCarter, 52, American model and actor (The Lost Boys, Thrashin’), alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency.
- Don Howe, 80, English football player (West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal, national team) and coach.
In Other News
Singer Janet Jackson has put her Unbreakable world tour on hold until spring to have surgery. Jackson said her doctors told her she needs an operation “soon”. “Please pray for me, my family and our entire company during this difficult time,” the 49-year-old asked fans. She said she would not be giving any details of her health condition. In 2008, Jackson cancelled a string of concert dates after developing migraine-associated vertigo, which might suggest that she’s got a brain bubble. “It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable Tour,” she said, adding that fans should hold on to their tickets. “They will be honoured in a special way when the new schedule is announced.” Would that be your funeral Janet?
Former Newcastle goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering cardiac arrest in the Czech Republic. According to information received by his agent Steve Wraith, the 47-year-old collapsed while out jogging in Ostrava on Sunday, which doesn’t surprise anyone. “I spoke to his family in the Czech Republic who said his heart had stopped,” Wraith told BBC Sport. “He is in a critical condition in hospital and remains unconscious.” Srnicek became a fans’ favourite during his first spell with the Magpies between 1991 and 1998. He was signed by manager Jim Smith and played under Ossie Ardiles, Kevin Keegan and latterly Kenny Dalglish, all of which are amazing names for your list!
The downhill skiing champion Marcel Hirscher escaped unharmed after a drone carrying a camera fell from the sky and narrowly missed him on his way down the slope during a race in Italy. The Austrian, who has won the overall World Cup title for the past four seasons, was on his second run of the slalom event at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy when the machinery smashed into the snow metres behind him. Hirscher appeared not to notice and continued his run, but afterwards he said: “This is horrible. This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.” But we’re all hoping that it will!
And finally, a Montana man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to shoot a student for divulging a plot line from the newly released Star Wars epic. Police say Arthur Roy, of Helena, got “angry” with a student he had befriended on Facebook after the boy gave up a subplot to Star Wars: The Force Awakens during an online conversation last week. During the online fight that ensued, Roy is alleged to have posted a photo of himself in which he appears to brandish a gun, which he indicates is a Colt 1911 with a “hair trigger”, according to a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit also says the boy was fearful Roy was going to come to “shoot him”. Roy also said he was “coming to find” the boy, whose school was placed on security “lockdown” after officials saw the exchange. Roy was arrested on Friday on suspicion of assault with a weapon, a felony. He made an initial appearance in Lewis and Clark county justice court on Monday, after which he was ordered held on $10,000 (£6,750) bail. Such a waste of resources, I could have easily told you that Chewy dies and Yoda’s babies have infiltrated the Imperial HQ as green larvae that need seeding by Luke’s special sauce, Oh, jesus turns up with a light sabre too!! Seriously, the film is that shit!
Oh… Michael Schumacher is still alive, just about. Whatever you have heard is false.
On This Day
- 1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington‘s funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
- 1846 – Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
- 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died.
- 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
- 1982 – Time‘s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
- 2004 – A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.
Deaths
- 1972 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
- 1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
- 2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor and producer (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
- 2006 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Jane Fonda (78), Kit Harington (29), Samuel L. Jackson (67), Kiefer Sutherland (49), Jonah Hill (32), Sissy Spacek (66), Ricky Martin (44), Jared Leto (44), Annie Lennox (61), Phil Spector (76), Harry Shearer (72), July Delpy (46), Chris Evert (61), Phil Donohue (80), Ralph Fiennes (53), Vanessa Paradis (43), Lars Ulrich (52), He,ena Christensen (47), Dido (44), Stephenie Meyer (43) and Lemmy Kilmister (70).
End of year round up next folks!
Dead Pool 20th December 2015
Welcome all, to a points ridden edition of the Dead Pool. Lets start off with the only one who’s died this week, Jimmy Hill! Wendy had him down as her Cert, so 163 points, well done!! Now onto the housekeeping. Those pesky names I missed throughout the year. Luke had Ingeborg Sjöqvist, so 47 points. Barry had Denis Healey, so 52 points. Lee had Nicholas Winton, 44 points and he had Stuart Scott, 101 points. Martin also had Stuart Scott, 101 points. So there’s some movement on the leader board.
Do I need to remind you that there is only 11 days left? Which means that you have that much time to submit your list for 2016, best get your arses into gear!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Kathy Secker, 70, British television presenter. (body discovered on this date).
- Patricia Brooker, 80, British reality television personality (The Only Way Is Essex).
- Peter Dickinson, 88, British author.
- Jimmy Hill, 87, English footballer (Fulham), manager, trade union leader (Professional Footballers’ Association) and TV presenter (Match of the Day), Alzheimer’s disease.
- Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, 87, British politician, Member of Parliament for Leicester North West and later Leicester West (1970–1997), Alzheimer’s disease.
In Other News
England’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks has revealed he is suffering from kidney cancer for a second time. Having lost one kidney to the disease 10 years ago, Banks, 77, is receiving chemotherapy after blood tests showed the other is now affected. He told the media: “Last year we went on our annual holiday to Florida. A week later I couldn’t sleep and then I couldn’t even stand due to the pain. I was sent straight to hospital where they told me I had cancer. I was so shocked when they told me it was my kidney. “The last time I had the cancer it was very large but they were able to remove the kidney and take the cancer away with it. We hope medication will make this cancer small enough for them to operate and carry out electrical treatment to break it up. But if it grows they will have to remove [the kidney] and I’ll need a replacement.”
Marc Dal Maso, who was in charge of Japan’s scrum during Eddie Jones’s time there, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease and believes the blows he received during his career as a hooker are the cause. Dal Maso, who played for France 33 times, will not be part of Jones’s England regime as he resumes a consultancy role with the Highlanders in Otago in the new year. He said the illness was diagnosed in 2012 but he did not tell anyone, including Jones, until now. “The problems started when I was 30 and still playing,” said Dal Maso, who is 48, in an interview with a French newspaper. “I was not feeling well, tired all the time, and my sister, who works in medicine, suggested I had tests. A scan revealed Parkinson’s disease and I am on medication morning, noon and night.
Actor James Woods has narrowly avoided serious injury after being involved in a major car accident. The three-time Emmy award winner tweeted on Monday that a man driving “75+ in an ice storm” spun out of control. In a dramatic report of events, Woods said he “hit right wall to avoid him, spun 180, hit left wall sliding backwards going 60 mph.” “Huge drop 100 feet into river below, but the guardrail held. I managed to pull out and slide down out of oncoming traffic. Six car pileup.” The Nixon actor said there were no deaths but his car was “wrecked”. “Good to be alive. Glad everybody survived.” Woods was driving in the US state of Colorado in a 4WD jeep he described as an “old tank”. “That Jeep saved my life,” he tweeted. He also said police officers told him he was the only driver involved who didn’t hit anybody. Woods said he had only a “little concussion”. “God smiled on me today. I am so happy to be alive.”
Wilnelia Forsyth has revealed she feared for the life of her husband, Sir Bruce, after he had surgery following a fall, but said he was getting better. The veteran television presenter underwent keyhole surgery on an abdominal aortic aneurysm in mid-November and is still in recovery, forcing him to pull out of hosting the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special. The aneurysm was discovered in October after a fall, which left him in hospital with a minor concussion and abrasions on his face. The 87-year-old entertainer has been recovering at home and his wife said it had been an emotional time. She told the Daily Mail: “I’m not ready to lose him yet. This has scared me to death, particularly waiting in that hospital when he was having his operation. That felt like an eternity. Because of Bruce’s age there are so many risks involved. “You think: ‘My God, will he come out all right?’ But you have to trust the doctors. The alternative – not having surgery – was worse. It’s like you’re in a corner. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, because this is such a fatal thing.” The 58-year-old said the surgery and recovery had been “very, very hard” for her husband, who was a “proud man”. But she said: “We’ve been told with this kind of operation it will take one or two months for him to fully recover. Seeing my husband getting better is like having an early Christmas present.”
Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has made a rare public appearance, amid concerns for his ailing health. In television footage released on Monday by the palace he is seen swearing in judges at a Bangkok hospital where he has been staying. He has received treatment for a number of ailments including a lung infection. The health of the 88-year-old monarch is of public concern as he is widely revered and seen as an arbiter in the country’s divided political arena. The king, who is the world’s longest serving monarch, was last seen in September in a video released by the palace. He missed his birthday celebrations for the second consecutive year on 5th December. The event was marked by a cycling event last week in Bangkok led by his son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. Palace officials did not give any further details of the king’s health on Monday.
The former BBC broadcaster, Stuart Hall, has survived and been released from prison after serving half of his sentence for sexual abuse. The former It’s a Knockout presenter, now 85, was jailed in 2013 after he admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, one as young as nine, between 1967 and 1985. He was sentenced to 15 months, which was doubled when the court of appeal ruled the original term “inadequate”, and received an additional 30 months in jail in 2014 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting a teenage girl. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said it was unable to comment on individual cases, but added: “Public protection is our top priority and offenders automatically released on licence at the halfway point of their sentence are subject to strict controls. Either way, lock up your daughters!
And finally, the doctor of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he is in “excellent” health and has had no significant medical problems. Mr Trump had been under pressure to release his medical history after several other candidates had done so. The 69-year-old real estate tycoon would become the oldest president to be elected in US history. However, his physician said he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”. New York City-based physician Harold Bornstein said his physical strength and stamina are “extraordinary”. Promising to release it a few weeks ago, he tweeted that his medical report would show “perfection”. “I am fortunate to have been blessed with great genes,” Mr Trump wrote on Facebook. “People have been impressed by my stamina, but to me it has been easy because I am truly doing something that I love.” Mr Bornstein writes in a note that he has been Mr Trump’s personal physician since 1980, and that in 39 years, he has had no major issues. His blood pressure and laboratory tests are “astonishingly excellent” and he has lost 15 pounds (7kg) in the past year, according to Mr Bornstein. He said Mr Trump has had no forms of cancer, or joint surgery, and does not smoke or drink alcohol.
On This Day
- 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade.
- 1946 – The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
- 1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
- 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
- 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
- 2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
Deaths
- 1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
- 1968 – John Steinbeck, American author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
- 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934)
- 2010 – Brian Hanrahan, English journalist (b. 1949)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Dick Van Dyke (90), Christopher Plummer (86), Steve Buscemi (58), Ted Nugent (67), Jamie Foxx (48), Taylor Swift (26), Vanessa Hudgens (27), Don Johnson (66), Michelle Dockery (34), Billy Gibbons (66), Ernie Hudson (70), Eugene Levy (69), Bill Pullman (62), Milla Jovovich (40), Laurie Holden (46), Pope Francis (79), Keith Richards (72), Stephen Spielberg (69), Leonard Maltin (65), Ray Liotta (61), Christina Aguilera (35), Steve Austin (51), Jennifer Beals (52), Kirsty Swanson (46), Alyssa Milano (43) and Jake Gyllenhaal (35).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 13th December 2015
Good afternoon all, no points to award this week with only 18 days left to go! So no change in the league table and Paul C looks very strong there in the lead, which shows how important it is to pick successful Cert’s and Women. So far, four of us have handed in lists for 2016, so we will be continuing with the whole escaped again.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Nicholas Smith, 81, British actor (Are You Being Served?, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Doctor Who), complications from a fall.
- Holly Woodlawn, 69, Puerto Rican-born American actress and Warhol superstar, brain and liver cancer.
- Shirley Stelfox, 74, British actress (Emmerdale, Keeping Up Appearances, Coronation Street), cancer.
- Martin E. Brooks, 90, American actor (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Dallas).
- Douglas Tompkins, 72, American conservationist and businessman, co-founder of The North Face and Esprit, hypothermia following kayak accident.
In Other News
Former US president Jimmy Carter announced that he was cancer-free on Sunday, just four months after revealing that doctors had found four spots of melanoma on his brain. “My most recent MRI brain scan did not reveal any signs of the original cancer spots nor any new ones,” Carter said in a statement on Sunday. “I will continue to receive regular three-week immunotherapy treatments of pembrolizumab,” he added, referring to a common cancer drug. Carter, 91, shared the news on Sunday with worshippers at the Baptist church in Georgia where he teaches Bible study. The news was confirmed by two grandsons. When he announced the diagnosis in August, the former president’s outlook did not appear so rosy. His entire nuclear family from childhood – two sisters, a brother and both parents – died from cancer. Carter said he had been diagnosed with melanoma on his liver and that he had told his wife of 69 years, Rosalynn, 88, months earlier. An operation to remove growths on his liver had discovered the additional growths on his brain. In November, Carter told the AP he had reacted well to treatment. “I haven’t been uncomfortable or ill after the treatments were over. So that part of it has been a relief to me and I think to the doctors. But the final result of how well the treatments are combatting or controlling the cancer, we don’t know yet.” Carter has lived 34 years post-presidency, longer than any of his peers. Both presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan lived to be 93 while former president George HW Bush turned 91 in June.
An attempt by Lord Lucan’s son to obtain a death certificate for the peer who disappeared more than 40 years ago reached the high court in London, on Tuesday. The legal move by his only son, George Bingham, is at an early stage and senior official Master Teverson is expected to deal with preliminary issues about how it should proceed. Lucan vanished after Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found murdered at the family home, 46 Lower Belgrave Street, central London, on 7 November 1974. Even though he was officially declared dead by the high court in 1999, there have been reported sightings in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and even claims that he fled to India and lived life as a hippy called “Jungly Barry”. Lord Bingham has applied under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect a year ago, so he can inherit the title as eighth earl. Bingham said the 1999 declaration had not proved death “for all purposes” and the new law allowed for a more complete process. But his application in London faces an objection from Rivett’s son, Neil Berriman. Berriman, 47, has told the Daily Mail: “I don’t know if Lord Lucan is alive or not – but I want justice. “There have been too many coverups already and he should not be declared dead. If Lord Lucan is still alive, he should be prosecuted.” On the night of Lucan’s disappearance, the nanny’s attacker also turned on Bingham’s mother, Lady Lucan, beating her severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub. Lucan’s car was found abandoned and soaked in blood in Newhaven, East Sussex, and an inquest jury declared the wealthy peer the killer a year later.
Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal has been freed after being briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon, security sources say. In a video shown on Lebanese TV, the captive businessman was seen appealing for more information concerning the 1978 disappearance of the prominent Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr. He was freed in the city of Baalbek and dispatched to Beirut, police said. The 40-year-old former playboy was given sanctuary in Oman in 2012.
And finally, A burglary suspect has been attacked and killed by an 11-foot alligator while trying to escape from police officers. The remains of 22-year-old Matthew Riggins, a resident of Palm Bay, Florida, were found in a lake in Barefoot Bay on November 23rd, ten days after he was reported missing. On the evening of November 10th local residents in Barefoot Bay had called the police to report two men dressed in black who’d been acting suspiciously behind their homes. Police launched a search with a helicopter and a dog unit and, according to deputies, Riggins called his girlfriend on the phone to tell her he and an accomplice were being chased by authorities. Police believe Riggins then jumped over a fence to hide in a lake – at which point he encountered the alligator. “He probably went into the lake to hide from the officers and the dog, and came across that gator,” said Major Tod Goodyear of Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. “To hide somewhere to try and get away, and then meeting up with an animal like that, no, I’ve never had that happen before.” Riggins’ body was found by police dive teams searching the area. While they were recovering the remains, a spokesman said, they were ‘aggressively approached’ by an 11-foot alligator near the body. The animal was caught and put down by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. According to reports, forensic examination of the alligator “located remains consistent with the injuries to Riggins inside the alligator’s stomach.” Barefoot Bay resident Chuck Stotes told reporters: “I would say it’s poetic justice, you want to sit there and steal from people.”
On This Day
- 1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
- 1642 – Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.
- 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
Deaths
- 1466 – Donatello, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1386)
- 1784 – Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (b. 1709)
- 2007 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor, singer, and activist (b. 1936)
- 2008 – Kathy Staff, English actress (b. 1928)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Nicki Minaj (33), Kim Basinger (62), Teri Hatcher (51), Sinead O’Connor (49), Judi Dench (81), Kirk Douglas (99), Beau Bridges (74), Bob Barker (92), Jennifer Connelly (45), Dionne Warwick (75), Dominic Monaghan (39), Ann Coulter (54), Donny Osmond (58), John Malkovich (62), Kenneth Branagh (55) and John Kerry (72).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 6th December 2015
With little over three weeks left, it looks like a two horse race at the top of the league table, but with this game, you never know. One well placed plane crash is all we need. Now, onto next year. Same rules and your lists need to be in by 31st December. I’ll try not to hassle you too much, I bet you hate it as much as I hate doing it. I’ve added a PDF of 2015’s lists in with the email to remind you all of who was listed, and please refer to the website if you need some more juicy names.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Wayne Bickerton, 74, British songwriter (“Nothing but a Heartache“, “Sugar Baby Love“), record producer, and music executive.
- Anthony Valentine, 76, British actor (Colditz, Coronation Street, Escape to Athena).
- Scott Weiland, 48, American musician (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, The Wondergirls).
- Robert Loggia, 85, American actor (Jagged Edge, Scarface, Big), Alzheimer’s disease.
In Other News
Sir Bruce Forsyth has pulled out of hosting the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special for health reasons. The veteran presenter underwent a procedure on an abdominal aortic aneurysm last month. The Christmas Day show is set to be recorded next week, but a BBC statement said it was too soon for Sir Bruce “to have made a full recovery”. “Due to the long studio hours, he is unable to host the show, but will still play a part in the production.” The presenter underwent extensive medical tests after suffering a fall at his home in October. He had keyhole surgery in November and was expected to make “a speedy recovery”. At the time, the BBC released a statement saying the 87-year-old “will still very much be a part of the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special”. Sir Bruce, who stepped down from the role in April 2014, was last seen taking the helm of the dancing competition for a Children In Need special on 13th November, recorded ahead of his operation.
British Sailing has announced that Elliot Willis has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. The 32-year-old partner of Luke Patience in the 470 class had already qualified for the Rio Olympics but is now set to have some time off the water. “Clearly it’s pretty shocking news to receive, as I’m sure anyone who’s been affected by a similar thing would understand,” Willis said. “It’s still my dream to win Olympic gold but right now my focus and energy needs to be on getting better. “My health is my No1 concern and I will take advice and recommendations of the medical professionals as they establish the right course of treatment for me.” British Sailing has said it will find a new partner for Patience in the interim but hopes Willis will recover in time for Rio.
Psychiatrists believe Peter Sutcliffe, the man known as the Yorkshire Ripper, is no longer mentally ill and should be returned to jail, prison chiefs have confirmed. Michael Spurr, chief executive of the national offender management service, told MPs on Tuesday: “Clinicians outside make a determination about whether an individual still requires detention in a hospital. They have determined that this individual [Sutcliffe] does not. We will consider that and the decision will be made by the secretary of state on whether he should be moved back to prison.” Doctors have recommended that Sutcliffe, 69, is taken out of Broadmoor hospital, the high-security psychiatric unit, and moved into a specialist prison. Sutcliffe, who was given 20 life sentences for the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven others, was moved to Broadmoor from Parkhurst jail in 1984 after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Sutcliffe’s attacks provoked panic in the north of England between 1975 and 1980, and the police operation to catch him was the most extensive and controversial investigation of the 20th century. Let’s see how long he survives in general population…
Emma Morano, Europe’s oldest person and the second-oldest in the world, marked her 116th birthday by offering to sing her favourite song for visiting well-wishers, Italian media reported. Morano, one of only two women alive certified to have been born in the 19th century, reached the milestone on Sunday in her one-bedroom flat in Verbania, a small town in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy. Morano attributed her longevity to having left a violent husband in 1938, shortly after the death of her only child at seven months, and to eating three eggs a day – two of them raw. Susannah Mushatt Jones, the American who is the only other member of the 116 club, also attributes her longevity to many decades of living on her own, having been married for only five years between 1928-33. The Brooklyn resident is also a regular egg eater – although she prefers hers scrambled and served with four rashers of bacon.
On This Day
- 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
- 1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
- 1884 – The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed.
- 1953 – Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.
- 1967 – Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States.
- 1969 – Meredith Hunter is killed by Hells Angels during a Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
Deaths
- 1972 – Janet Munro, English actress and singer (b. 1934)
- 1988 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- 1993 – Don Ameche, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Amanda Seyfried (30), Jay-Z (46), Jeff Bridges (66), Julianne Moore (55), Ozzy Osbourne (67), Britney Spears (34), Woody Allen (80), Bette Midler (70), Ben Stiller (50), Billy Idol (60), Don Cheadle (51), Sarah Silverman (45), Daryl Hannah (55), Lucy Liu (47), Frankie Muniz (30), Tyra Banks (42), Brendan Fraser (47), Nelly Furtado (37), Tom Sizemore (54), Diane Ladd (80), Joel Cohen (61), Geena Lee Nolin (44), Ridley Scott (78), Mandy Patinkin (63), John Densmore (71) and Nick Stahl (36).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 29th November 2015
Who? Yes, that’s how it is this week. A lack of celebrity deaths has brought us down to a German voice actor and a civil servant! Let’s hope this cold weather gives us a good pool next week!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Chris Martin, 42, British civil servant, Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (since 2012), cancer.
- Norbert Gastell, 86, German actor and voice actor (Homer Simpson).
- Gerry Byrne, 77, English footballer (Liverpool and national team), Alzheimer’s disease.
In Other News
The ongoing saga of Casey Kasem’s life and death is still in the news. Three of Kasem’s children and his brother have sued the late star’s widow for wrongful death in the latest move in a bitter family feud. The lawsuit accuses Jean Kasem of elder abuse and inflicting emotional distress on Kasem’s children by restricting their access to him before his death. They claim she abused him before he died, moved him from Santa Monica to Washington without telling them and, after his death, had him buried in an unmarked grave in Norway despite his wishes to be laid to rest in Los Angeles. “What she did to my father is reprehensible,” daughter Kerri Kasem said. “It’s disgusting. It’s horrific.” She added that the family members were taking legal action after US prosecutors decided not to bring criminal charges against her. Kerri has taken out the lawsuit with siblings Julie and Michael Kasem and their uncle Mouner. They are seeking damages of $250,000 (£166,000). But Kerri said: “We would rather see her in jail than receive one dime. We don’t care about the money. We care about justice.” Casey Kasem began his career in the 1950s and found fame with the chart programme in the 1970s. He was also the voice of Shaggy in the TV animation Scooby Doo.
St Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey is in critical but stable condition after being shot in the head on Tuesday night, according to multiple reports in the media. The Rams said in a statement they were “aware Stedman Bailey was involved in an incident” in Miami Gardens late on Tuesday and that they had spoken with him. Police did not describe the nature of Bailey’s injuries, but a source confirmed that he was shot twice in the head while travelling in a car. Bailey, 25, was scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday at the Aventura Hospital Trauma Center. A Rams source said the team believes Bailey’s injuries are not life-threatening.
Idris Elba has revealed how he almost died while shooting a film in Ghana, when he slipped behind a waterfall over a 30-metre drop. The 43-year-old actor admitted he had a lucky escape when his foot slipped off a rock and the branch he held on to snapped. Recalling the incident while filming the Netflix film Beasts of No Nation, in which he plays the warlord Commandant, Elba told The Jonathan Ross Show: “I nearly died … We decided to do this waterfall scene where all these child soldiers were walking behind this massive waterfall. “Cary Fukunaga, the director, decided to shoot it for real. We went to this waterfall and in this scene my character is standing there watching all the child soldiers go past. Now in the setup of that, the stunt co-ordinator says, ‘Listen everyone, this is a waterfall, that’s a 90, 100ft drop down there and the ground is very slippery, just be careful!’ “I put my foot on this rock just to hang out and chill out while they were setting up and as I’m doing that it’s slippery, obviously. I slip … I put my hand on this tree – it’s not a tree, it’s a branch. It snaps and I go literally about six feet before I go bang over and I got caught by the security guy.” So, he slipped next to a waterfall, talk about being overdramatic!
On This Day
- 1781 – The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance.
- 1877 – Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.
- 1972 – Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game.
Deaths
- 1530 – Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal (b. 1470)
- 1924 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (b. 1858)
- 1975 – Graham Hill, English race car driver (b. 1929)
- 1981 – Natalie Wood, American actress and singer (b. 1938)
- 1986 – Cary Grant, English-American actor and singer (b. 1904)
- 1991 – Ralph Bellamy, American actor and singer (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Giant Haystacks, English wrestler (b. 1947)
- 2001 – George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (The Beatles) (b. 1943)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Scarlett Johannson (31), Jon Stewart (53), Christina Applegate (44), Ed Harris (65), Tina Turner (76), Randy Newman (72), Miley Cyrus (23), Mark Ruffalo (48), Jamie Lee Curtis (57), Judd Nelson (56), Sarah Hyland (25), Rita Ora (25), Robin Givens (51), Billie Jean King (72), Bill Nye (60), Natasha Bedingfield (34), Peter Facinelli (42), Bruno Tonioli (60), Zoe Ball (45), Kelly Brook (36), Boris Becker (48) and Terry Gilliam (75).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 22nd November 2015
Afternoon all, welcome to this weeks Dead Pool roundup in which we sadly report the shocking death of Jonah Lomu at the too young age of 40!! Although this week in history seemed unbelievably busy for deaths, none of us managed to score a point, and yet the looming end of year results are fast coming upon us! It’s almost time for me to start badgering you to begin researching your lists for 2016, as some of you newcomers have noticed, scratching the surface of celebrity does not cut the mustard. Anyhow, less procrastination, we have a busy newsletter for you!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Saeed Jaffrey, 86, Indian-born British actor (The Man Who Would Be King, Shatranj Ke Khilari, My Beautiful Laundrette).
- Vincent Margera, 59, American reality television personality (Viva La Bam, Jackass, CKY), kidney and liver failure.
- Cynthia Payne, 82, British brothel keeper.
- Michael C. Gross, 70, American graphic designer and producer (Ghostbusters, Heavy Metal, Beethoven), cancer.
- Jonah Lomu, 40, New Zealand rugby union player (All Blacks).
- Peter Dimmock, 94, British broadcaster (Sportsview).
In Other News
Former Liverpool and Rangers manager Graeme Souness has been taken to hospital in Bournemouth, but no details of the 62-year-old’s condition have been made available as of yet. Since leaving his last job in football as manager of Newcastle in 2006, Souness has worked in the media, most notably as a pundit for Sky Sports. His colleague Jeff Stelling opened the station’s Soccer Saturday broadcast by saying: “Souey, if you’re watching, get well very quickly.” He had a triple heart bypass operation in 1992, when he was 38, so one can assume that his Scottish hereditary love for deep fried pizza might have caught up with him.
Actress Kim Cattrall has pulled out of a play at London’s Royal Court Theatre, less than a week before opening night on doctors’ orders. The Sex and the City star was due to play the lead role in a new play called Linda, by Penelope Skinner. n a statement, Cattrall said “with great sadness and at the advice of my doctors” she would not be able to continue with the production. The star, 59, thanked the theatre “for allowing me to put my health first”. Royal Court artistic director, Vicky Featherstone, said the theatre was “deeply sorry that Kim is unable to continue with the production”. Again, no real details on what is occurring, so we’ll just have to make up a story next week.
Sir Bruce Forsyth is back at home after undergoing successful keyhole surgery. The former Strictly Come Dancing host underwent a procedure on an abdominal aortic aneurysm last Thursday. “It is anticipated, given the minimally invasive nature of this operation, he will make a speedy recovery,” his manager said. The 87-year-old’s condition was discovered after he had extensive medical checks following a recent fall. “It is not connected in any way with the fall itself from which Sir Bruce has made a full recovery – indeed, he recorded Strictly Come Dancing’s Children In Need Special with Tess Daly, which aired last Friday,” his manager added. Sadly, the surgery is not expected to prevent the veteran entertainer from fronting the show’s upcoming festive edition.
Charlie Sheen has disclosed that he is HIV positive, in a television interview that followed weeks of speculation about his condition. “I am here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive and I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks, of sub-truths – very harmful … stories that are threatening the health of so many others,” the actor told NBC’s Today show on Tuesday. He said he had learned about the diagnosis “roughly four years ago”, adding: “It’s a hard three letters to absorb.” Asked whether he had transmitted HIV to anyone since his diagnosis, Sheen said: “Impossible.” He also said he was “not entirely” aware of how he contracted the virus. Sheen’s doctor, Robert Huizenga, told the program the actor did not have Aids, yet. Sheen claimed that people who knew his HIV-positive status had extorted money from him to keep it a secret. And the Hollywood star said he would stop paying them now that his HIV status was public, adding: “I release myself from this prison today.”
Tony McCoy, who retired from race-riding earlier this year after 20 consecutive seasons as National Hunt’s champion jockey, escaped unhurt on Wednesday morning after the car he was driving was involved in a pile-up that closed the M4 motorway. McCoy was travelling east between junctions 14 and 15 of the M4 when a van and a car collided immediately in front of him. The van overturned, and all three lanes of the eastbound carriageway and one lane westbound were then closed as emergency services attended the scene and police cleared wreckage. “I’m fine and so is the other person in the car,” McCoy told the Racing Post on Wednesday evening. “We were involved in an accident on the M4 between junctions 14 and 15. A van and a car collided in front of us and I ended up with nowhere to go as a result. Fortunately, nobody was injured but all the vehicles were badly damaged.” However, the crash resulted in your Dead Pool Master being 10 minutes late for work, the bastard!
And finally, Argentina football legend Diego Maradona has had a second gastric bypass operation after his doctor warned that the 55-year-old fat bastard is 75kgs (11st 11lbs) over his ideal weight. Maradona had his first gastric bypass 10 years ago but has since gained weight and developed complications. “He told me he was feeling fine, that he wasn’t in any pain,” said Dr Carlos Felipe Chaux after the procedure. Maradona had surgery in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo. He will stay in the city for at least eight days before travelling to capital Caracas to complete his recovery.
On This Day
- 1718 – Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as “Blackbeard“) is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
- 1869 – In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched and is one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today.
- 1963 – In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded.
- 1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
- 1986 – Mike Tyson defeats Trevor Berbick to become youngest Heavyweight champion in boxing history.
- 1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her premiership.
- 1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
- 2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany.
Deaths
- 1718 – Blackbeard, English pirate (b. 1680)
- 1963 – Aldous Huxley, English-American author and screenwriter (b. 1894)
- 1963 – John F. Kennedy, American lieutenant and politician, 35th President of the United States (b. 1917)
- 1963 – C. S. Lewis, Irish-English author, poet, and critic (b. 1898)
- 1980 – Mae West, American actress, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
- 1986 – Scatman Crothers, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Sterling Holloway, American actor and singer (b. 1905)
- 1993 – Anthony Burgess, English author, playwright, and composer (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Mark Lenard, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Michael Hutchence, Australian singer-songwriter and actor (INXS and Max Q) (b. 1960)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (70), Chad Kroeger (41), Beverley D’Angelo (64), Martha Plimpton (45), Maggie Gyllenhaal (38), Missi Pyle (43), Martin Scorcese (73), Lorne Michaels (71), Danny DeVito (71), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (57), RuPaul (55), Sophie Marceau (49), Rachel McAdams (37), Linda Evans (73), Kim Wilde (55), Owen Wilson (47), Larry King (82), Meg Ryan (54), Jodie Foster (53), Bo Derek (59), Sean Young (56), Ming-Na Wen (52), Goldie Hawn (70), Bjork (50), and Carly Rae Jepsen (30).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 15th November 2015
What a week! The flying monkeys have certainly been busy. Lets begin by dishing out the points! With the demise of Helmut Schmidt, 54 points to Paul G, Ashley and Barry, well done all of you! And with Warren Mitchell kicking the bucket, 61 points go to me!!! I scored at last!!! Woo! With little over six weeks left to go, there’s still hope for all of us!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Yitzhak Navon, 94, Israeli politician, President (1978–1983).
- Carol Doda, 78, American stripper, kidney failure.
- Andy White, 85, British drummer (The Beatles), stroke.
- Pat Eddery, 63, Irish jockey, eleven-time Champion Jockey, four-time Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, three-time Lester Award and Epsom Derby winner.
- Helmut Schmidt, 96, German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (1974–1982), complications from surgery.
- Allen Toussaint, 77, American musician, producer, songwriter (“Fortune Teller“, “Working in the Coal Mine“, “Southern Nights“) and arranger, heart attack.
- Phil Taylor, 61, English drummer (Motörhead).
- Jihadi John, 27, Kuwaiti-born British Islamic State propagandist, drone strike.
- Warren Mitchell, 89, British actor (Till Death Us Do Part, Death of a Salesman).
In Other News
Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris has been taken to hospital amid fears about his health. The 85-year-old former children’s entertainer, who is diabetic, is feared to have fallen ill after gorging on chocolate and sweets in jail. Harris was taken from Stafford prison, where he is serving nearly six years for carrying out a string of sex attacks, to Stafford hospital, and we all know how shit that hospital is! Singer Vince Hill, 81, told the newspaper that he had heard from one of Harris’s friends that he had “sort of overdosed on chocolate”. He added: “According to him, that was the scale of the problem … he didn’t know he was eating too much chocolate.” Yeah, a diabetic not knowing that too much sugar is bad for him!
Sir Terry Wogan did not host BBC1’s Children in Need appeal for the first time in its 35-year history due to poor health. The 77-year-old presenter said he missed presenting the “wonderful, inspiring evening” on Friday night. A BBC spokesman said that Wogan was having a procedure on his back and, under doctor’s orders, cannot host a six-and-a-half hour show, adding: “We are so sorry that Terry won’t be able to host the show as we know how passionate he is about Children in Need. We wish him a very speedy recovery.” The veteran presenter recently admitted that he “probably drinks too much”, but walked for 30 minutes a day and ate a lot of fruit and vegetables. Wogan told the Daily Record he had no plans to retire: “They’ll have to carry me off stage. I do seven hours on my feet of live television for Children in Need every year, so the day that I can’t stand up is when I will stop doing it. So is this it?
Former US President Jimmy Carter is responding well to cancer treatment, according to his spokeswoman. Doctors in Atlanta have told the 91-year-old the tumours in his brain are being treated successfully and there are no signs of further cancer growth. However, the spokeswoman said that doctors will continue tests. Mr Carter, who served as president of the US from 1977 to 1981 and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, announced his illness in August. He said then he would receive radiation and chemotherapy for four tumours that had formed in his brain. Media reports have suggested that Mr Carter was not experiencing any pain or discomfort during the treatments, and that his work with The Carter Centre had not been scaled back. The former president had been planning to travel to Nepal this month for volunteer work, but the trip was cancelled due to “civil unrest” in the country, so he can’t be all that bad.
Suspended Fifa president Sepp Blatter is in hospital after what has been described as a “small emotional breakdown”. Blatter, 79, who has led world football’s governing body for 18 years, was provisionally suspended for 90 days last month amid a corruption scandal. He was admitted last week, initially for a check-up, said his former publicist Klaus Stoelhker. “He is very happy and he is relaxing a few days,” he said. Last Friday, Blatter’s lawyer Richard Cullen confirmed that the Swiss had undergone stress-related health checks in hospital.
Michael Phelps, the American swimmer whose 22 Olympic medals make him the most decorated Olympian of all time, has revealed that he was “in a really dark place” after he was arrested last year for drunk-driving – and admitted to feelings of “not wanting to be alive anymore.” Shortly after his arrest, he entered a treatment facility in Arizona. He says his 45-day stint rejuvenated him, but at the time he felt frightened. “Hug-hug, kiss-kiss, turn in my phone and go to my room. It’s probably the most afraid I’ve ever felt in my life.” Phelps was pulled over in September 2014 after being clocked doing 84mph in a 45mph zone in Baltimore. He failed two sobriety tests and was charged with DUI, excessive speed and crossing double lane lines. Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, said “I had been living in fear that I was going to get a call that something had happened. Honestly, I thought, the way he was going, he was going to kill himself. Not take his own life, but something like the DUI, but worse.” However, Phelps has not drunk alcohol since his arrest, and has vowed not to drink until the Rio Olympics are finished next August. After years of enduring workouts with a hangover, Phelps is training clean. So, let’s see what happens next August…
And finally, a daughter grieved over the body of a stranger after hospital nurses mistakenly told her her mother was dead. Bernadette Walsh spent almost half-an-hour stroking and holding the hand of the dead woman – until medics revealed her mother was alive on another ward. She had not been told her mother had been moved out of the room on an orthopaedics ward, where she had been for the previous week and had been replaced by a patient who later died. The dead woman was said to bear a striking resemblance to her mother. It was only when nurses told Ms Walsh that “Roy’s on his way” that the mistake began to unravel. The 53-year-old told the staff she did not know anyone called Roy and nursing staff realised the mistake, apologised and took her to another ward where her mother Elizabeth, a 82-year-old widow from Whitefield, was recovering from a hip operation. Mother of four Ms Walsh, from Droylsden, Greater Manchester, said: “No one told me she’d been moved so I went into the room to visit her, the same room she’d been in all week. “Mum’s duffle coat was on the chair. The woman in the bed had grey hair and had thin bones like my mum. She had a pink nightie like my mum. I had no reason to think it wasn’t mum. “She didn’t look right and I didn’t think she was breathing. I went out of the room to ask one of the nurses what was wrong and they said ‘don’t you know? She died half-an-hour ago’. “Well, I just lost it then. I’d only spoken to her the previous night. I was in shock and completely hysterical. They were trying to calm me down. The nurses were saying I should stroke her hand and show her some love. So I was holding her hand and stroking her. I called my sister and told her she was dead. “Then one of them said ‘Roy’s on his way’ and I said ‘who’s Roy?’. They took me into another room and said ‘that’s not your mum’. They took me to my mum on another ward and she was sitting in a chair looking at me, saying ‘what’s up?’ I told her I’d had a shock. I couldn’t really tell her ‘they just told me you’re dead’.” Oh my days!
On This Day
- 1859 – The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece.
- 1971 – Intel releases the world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.
- 2007 – Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people and destroying parts of the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.
Deaths
- 1630 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1571)
- 1983 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (b. 1912)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Neil Young (70), Tracy Morgan (47), Whoopi Goldberg (60), Leonardo DiCaprio (41), Demi Moore (53), Ryan Gosling (35), Anne Hathaway (33), Jimmy Kimmel (48), Prince Charles (67), Calista Flockhart (51), Gerard Butler (46), Tara Reid (40), Stanley Tucci (55), Gordon Ramsay (49), Jack Osbourne (30), Gretchen Mol (43), Lou Ferrigno (64), Wallace Shawn (72) and Condoleezza Rice (61).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 8th November 2015
Afternoon all, yet another rendition of the newsletter in your inbox. Alas, no points to award this week, but some interesting deaths and plenty of news to catch up on.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Stephen Hancock, 89, English actor (Coronation Street).
- Fred Thompson, 73, American politician and actor (Die Hard 2, Law & Order, Sinister), U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1994–2003), minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, lymphoma.
- Colin Welland, 81, British actor and screenwriter (Kes, Straw Dogs, Chariots of Fire), Oscar winner (1982).
- Melissa Mathison, 65, American screenwriter (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Black Stallion, Kundun), neuroendocrine cancer.
- George Barris, 89, American custom car designer (Batmobile, Munster Koach), cancer.
- Gunnar Hansen, 68, Icelandic-born American actor (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Leatherface), pancreatic cancer.
In Other News
Andy Cole has withdrawn from an upcoming charity match at Old Trafford and the former Manchester United striker revealed he has been suffering from kidney failure. The 44-year-old, who won five Premier League titles and the Champions League during a trophy-laden spell with United, said he is not well enough to play in the Unicef Match for Children, which will take place on 14th November. “In June of this year I suffered kidney failure, caused as a result of contracting an airborne virus and I have been under medical care ever since,” Cole said in a statement. “I was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with a condition called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis.” Cole said he had spent close to three weeks in hospital undergoing a kidney biopsy and dialysis, and he is continuing on a course of steroids which has led to a slight change in his appearance. 0_o
In further football news, Tony Adams revealed he has undergone minor heart surgery in Azerbaijan, an operation the former Arsenal defender said had saved his life. Adams, who is director of football at Gabala in Azerbaijan, went under the knife after becoming unwell. “After feeling some acute chest pain while exercising in Azerbaijan, and liaising with Gabala club doctors, I went to the Medical Plaza hospital in Baku where I was admitted for an angiogram, and then following diagnosis of a severely blocked vein, an immediate angioplasty,” Adams said. “I know full well that without the brilliance of Dr Uzeyir Rahimov and his team I would not be alive now: a minor heart operation saved my life.” Adams, 49, is said to be recuperating with his family in the UK.
Trevor Noah, who took over as host of The Daily Show in September, has undergone emergency surgery to remove his appendix. Comedy Central cancelled Wednesday’s live show and aired a repeat, but said “the procedure went well” and Noah was “currently recuperating from surgery”. “We expect he and the show will be back with an original episode tomorrow,” said a statement on Twitter. However, Noah’s experience of US healthcare has already come under the microscope. Criticising the amount of paperwork he was asked to fill out before being attended to while in excruciating pain, Noah said, “I don’t know if ‘Emergency Room’ is the right term, because they make you wait … The lady’s like, ‘Can you fill out the form?’ I’m like, ‘Well, no, I’m dying.’” After Noah nearly fainted, he says the woman followed him to ask how he would be paying for the surgery, asking if he had health insurance (which he wasn’t sure about). Questioning whether he would be able to afford paying for the procedure without insurance, she answered her own question: “You know what, I’ve seen the billboards, you’re fine, you can pay for this.” Thank god for the NHS!
Trainer Gary Moore is out of intensive care as he recovers from being kicked in the back by one of his horses. The 59-year-old was helping wife Jayne onto a horse at their Cisswood Stables in Sussex on Thursday morning when another horse kicked out. Moore, whose sons Ryan, Jamie and Joshua are all jockeys, spent Thursday night in intensive care with fluid on his lungs and damaged ribs. “He’s a bit groggy, but nothing worse than that,” said Joshua Moore. “I think he’s pretty OK. He’s out of intensive care. He’s having a lot of antibiotics and painkillers, but he doesn’t need any operations or anything like that, as far as I know.”
Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is “still fighting”, almost two years after suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident, says FIA president Jean Todt. Schumacher spent six months in an induced coma after the December 2013 accident and is continuing his rehabilitation at home. “Michael’s a close friend,” said Todt. “His family is very close to me. We must keep him fighting with the family,” he added. So, no real news then…
On This Day
- 1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.
- 1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.
- 1960 – John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century to become the 35th president of the United States.
- 1965 – The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.
- 1973 – The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay US$2.9 million.
- 1987 – Remembrance Day bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded.
Deaths
- 1674 – John Milton, English poet and philosopher (b. 1608)
- 1887 – Doc Holliday, American dentist and poker player (b. 1851)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Emma Stone (27), Ethan Hawke (45), Sally Field (69), Lamar Odom (36), Matthew McConaughey (46), Roseanne Barr (58), David Schwimmer (59), Jenny McCarthy (43), Toni Collette (43), Loretta Swit (78), Ralph Macchio (54), Tatum O’Neal (52), Billy Graham (97), Joni Mitchell (72), Maria Schriver (60), Rebecca Romjin (43), Thandie Newton (43), Sam Rockwell (47), Tilda Swinton (55), Bryan Adams (56), Art Garfunkel (74), Larry Flynt (73), Lyle Lovett (58), K.D. Lang (54), Kate Capshaw (62), Adam Ant (61), Dolph Lundgren (58) and Famke Janssen (51).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 1st November 2015
Welcome all to the special “Day After Halloween” edition of the Dead Pool. Yes, we’re all partied out and have a hangover, so other than to award a few points, I’ll not ramble on too much. With the death of Al Molinaro, we award 54 points to Dave, well done that man. Which makes things very interesting at the top of the table. I shall take this opportunity to say thank you for the birthday wishes, I made it another year, with any luck I might be able to carry on with the Dead Pool next year too!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
Sam Sarpong, 40, British-born American model and actor (Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Farm House, Anchor Baby), suicide by jumping.
Al Molinaro, 96, American actor (Happy Days), complications from infected gall bladder.
In Other News
Comedian Bob Mortimer has undergone a triple bypass heart operation. The star, known for being one half of comedy duo Vic and Bob alongside Vic Reeves, has had to cancel the first leg of the pair’s upcoming tour. Mortimer, 56, had been due to take to the stage in Glasgow in early November for 25 Years of Reeves & Mortimer: the Poignant Moments. Neil Reading, Mortimer’s spokesman, said: “Bob would like to thank his consultant and all the nursing staff at the hospital for looking after him so well. “He now needs several weeks to fully recover, so unfortunately the first leg of the UK tour will be cancelled. “Bob very much hopes to be fit and well enough to perform the second leg in January next year.”
The BBC news presenter, George Alagiah, has said that his treatment for cancer is over, and expressed thanks for the “thoughts, prayers and support” he has received. The journalist, a popular face of the BBC Six O’Clock News, shared the news on Twitter on Wednesday after it emerged last April that he was to receive treatment for bowel cancer. “A long time coming but the cancer treatment is finally over. Now I can look forward again. Thank you for thoughts, prayers and support,” he said. The corporation said last year that Alagiah was to undergo treatment, but “is optimistic for a positive outcome”. The newsreader, who joined the BBC in 1989 and became a foreign correspondent specialising in Africa, is expected now to make a phased return to work.
Phil Collins has confirmed he will return to making music after a 13-year break, with new recording sessions beginning next month. Collins hasn’t released brand new music since 2002 album Testify, though did release a Motown covers album in 2010. But in a new interview in Rolling Stone, he declares: “I’m no longer officially retired. The horse is out of the stable and I’m raring to go.” In 2011 he announced his retirement, “so I can be a full time father to my two young sons on a daily basis” – this was following his third divorce in 2008, from Orianne Cevey, who eventually took their sons to live with her in Miami while he remained in Switzerland. In the Rolling Stone interview he said the period “left me with a lot of time on my hands to think about what happened. I went through a few bits of darkness; drinking too much. I killed my hours watching TV and drinking, and it almost killed me. But I haven’t had a drink in three years.” He also has had to go through surgery, after nerve damage suffered on a Genesis reunion tour in 2007 left him unable to play the drums. Let’s see how he copes with his comeback, we all know what happened to Michael Jackson!
And finally, a dog named Trigger accidentally shot his owner during a hunt in the US. The chocolate Labrador retriever stepped on top of a 12-gauge shotgun on the ground without the safety on, and shot Allie Carter in the left foot. Indiana conservation officer Jonathon Boyd says 25-year-old Allie Carter laid her shotgun on the ground without the safety on during a waterfowl hunt Saturday at Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area. Boyd says Carter’s chocolate Labrador retriever, Trigger, stepped on top of the shotgun and depressed the trigger. He says Carter was shot in the left foot at point-blank range, suffering injuries to her foot and toes. She was treated at two hospitals and released. Even American dogs are batshit crazy!
On This Day
- 1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
- 1520 – The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage.
- 1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
- 1896 – A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.
- 1951 – Operation Buster–Jangle: Six thousand five hundred American soldiers are exposed to ‘Desert Rock’ atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary.
- 1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
Deaths
- 1952 – Dixie Lee. American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
- 1979 – Mamie Eisenhower, American wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 36th First Lady of the United States (b. 1896)
- 1982 – King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
- 1985 – Phil Silvers, American actor and singer (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Meredith Kercher, English murder victim (b. 1985)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Katy Perry (31), Richard Dreyfuss (68), Julia Roberts (48), Henry Winkler (70), Caitlyn Jenner (66), Hillary Clinton (68), Winona Ryder (44), Seth McFarlane (42), Vanilla Ice (48), John Cleese (76), Emilia Clarke (29), Joaquin Phoenix (41), Simon LeBon (57), Bill Gates (60), Diego Maradona (55), Dan Castellaneta (58), Kelly Osbourne (31), Cary Elwes (53), Peter Jackson (54), Nancy Cartwright (58), Jon Heder (38), Annie Potts (53) and Rufus Sewell (48).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 25th October 2015
Welcome minions of the macabre, we have some points to award!! Congratulations to Wombat, Sophie and Sylvia, who correctly guessed that Maureen O’Hara would finally kick the bucket this year, 55 points each!! Quite surprising that only three of us listed her, she’s been a stalwart of the Dead Pool for years, perhaps many of you began to think she was going to live forever, like poor Shân mentioned in her email. Otherwise a quiet week death-wise, however it might be time to revisit Coronation Street for next year, there are plenty of ex-stars just waiting to be listed!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Michael Meacher, 75, British politician, MP for Oldham West (1970–1997) and Oldham West and Royton (since 1997).
- Cory Wells, 74, American singer (Three Dog Night).
- Peter Baldwin, 82, British actor (Coronation Street).
- Kirsty Howard, 20, British fundraiser.
- Maureen O’Hara, 95, Irish-American actress (Miracle on 34th Street, The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley).
In Other News
Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has lung cancer, according to reports in Spain. The 68-year-old – who won three successive European Cups with Ajax before going on to play for and manage Barcelona – was diagnosed last Tuesday, it was reported on Spanish radio station RAC1 and Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo on Thursday morning. A statement on his official website said the cancer had been discovered following recent tests in Barcelona. “Over the past weeks, Johan Cruyff has been undergoing medical examinations at a hospital in Barcelona. During these examinations, lung cancer has been uncovered. The examinations are still ongoing,” the statement said. “To respect the privacy of Johan and his family, and the fact that the examinations have not been finalised, further announcements cannot be made at the moment.” Formerly a heavy smoker, he had double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was still in charge of Barcelona, a role he eventually left in 1996. In his prime, Cruyff was considered one of the world’s greatest players in the world at a time when Pelé, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer could all lay claim to the title. Let’s see if his former fitness makes a difference now.
Also in Cancer news, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh says he has bladder cancer and will have to postpone concerts in California later this month. The guitarist made the announcement on the website for his restaurant in San Rafael, California. He said he was diagnosed earlier this month and has been treated at a clinic in Arizona, where he will have surgery to remove his tumours. The illness means Lesh has had to postpone his shows on the 24th and 25th October. The gigs with the former Black Crowes frontman were scheduled to take place at Lesh’s restaurant, Terrapin Crossroads. Lesh, 75, wrote: “I am very fortunate to have the pathology reports show that the tumours are all non-aggressive, and that there is no indication that they have spread.” He added that the postponed shows would be rescheduled “as soon as we can”. Lesh, one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006 but underwent surgery and made a full recovery.
The Vatican has rejected as “seriously irresponsible” an Italian newspaper report that Pope Francis has a small but curable tumour on his brain. The Quotidiano newspaper said the Pope had travelled by helicopter to Tuscany to see a world-renowned Japanese brain surgeon. The Pope was diagnosed with a small, dark spot but did not need surgery, the paper said. A Vatican spokesman said the report was totally unfounded. “As everyone can see, the Pope is carrying out his extremely intense activities in an absolutely normal manner,” Father Federico Lombardi said. Quotidiano insisted that its story was true, maintaining that the Pope had visited Prof Takanori Fukushima some months ago at the San Rossore clinic in the Barbaricina area of Pisa. It quoted an unnamed employee at the clinic saying such a small tumour could be treated and did not need any kind of surgical intervention. The paper’s editor, Andrea Cangini, said the denial was understandable and had been expected. Earlier this year, Pope Francis, 78, indicated his papacy may last only a few years, and that he might retire like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who stepped down as pontiff in 2013, which sounds like his brain tumour diagnosis may be be true!
Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker has said he offered friends $1m to kill him after a plane crash that left him badly burned. In September 2008, Barker was one of the passengers aboard a Learjet that crashed while taking off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. Four of the six people on the plane died, while the other two – Barker and Adam Goldstein, who worked together in the group TRV$DJAM – were badly burned. Goldstein died a little under a year later of a drug overdose, from a combination of cocaine and prescription drugs given to him after the crash. Barker spent four months in hospital, undergoing surgery 27 times, after being burned across 65% of his body. He appeared on ABC News and said he had pleaded with friends to take his life. “I would call friends of mine and go, ‘You know, I’ll deposit a million dollars into whoever’s bank account.’ [Hospital staff] had to take my phone out of my room.” Anyone feeling that their pockets are a bit empty should contact his agent.
For those of you who give a shit, according to search warrant records, Lamar Odom is believed to have overdosed on cocaine and other drugs before he was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. On Wednesday, Odom and the reality TV star Khloe Kardashian filed a court petition dismissing a divorce filing from December 2013. A clerk granted the request in such a way that the divorce papers can be refiled at a later date, making sure that she get’s any money due her as a wife if he dies, and making sure she can divorce I’m if he survives. Let’s hope he survives so we can see him prosecuted for soliciting prostitutes and taking Class A drugs.
On This Day
- 1415 – The army of Henry V of England defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
- 1760 – George III becomes King of Great Britain.
- 1854 – The Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
- 1917 – Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia.
Deaths
- 1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English philosopher, poet, and author (b. 1343)
- 1993 – Vincent Price, American actor and singer (b. 1911)
- 2002 – Richard Harris, Irish-English actor and singer (b. 1930)
- 2004 – John Peel, English radio host and producer (b. 1939)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Bristol Palin (25), Jean-Claude Van Damme (55), Zac Efron (28), Trey Parker (46), Evander Holyfield (53), Tom Petty (65), Viggo Mortensen (57), Snoop Dogg (44), Danni Minogue (44), Judge Judy (73), Carrie Fisher (59), Kim Kardashian (35), Ken Watanabe (56), Christopher Lloyd (77), Catherine Deneuve (72), Jeff Goldblum (63), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (40), Ang Lee (61), Weird Al Yankovic (56), Cat Deeley (39), Ryan Reynolds (39), Pele (75), Bill Wyman (79), F. Murray Abraham (76) and Kevin Kline (68).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 18th October 2015
Good afternoon minions! A reasonably quiet week to report upon, no points to award and precious few celebrities have kicked the bucket. But Winter is coming, and if previous years are anything to go by, the cold snap works wonders.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Richard Davies, 89, Welsh character actor (Please Sir!, Zulu), Alzheimer’s disease.
- Joan Leslie, 90, American actress (High Sierra, Sergeant York, Yankee Doodle Dandy).
- George Mueller, 97, American space engineer, Associate Administrator of the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight (1963–1969).
- Bruce Hyde, 74, American educator and actor (Star Trek), throat cancer.
- Sue Lloyd-Roberts, 64, British television journalist (BBC, ITN), leukaemia.
- Andrew Rubin, 69, American actor (Police Academy, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), lung cancer.
- Howard Kendall, 69, English football player and manager (Blackburn Rovers, Everton).
In Other News
Singer Dolly Parton has issued a statement denying she has stomach cancer, following reports in the US that she was rushed to hospital. The 69-year-old country star made the declaration following a story in the National Enquirer that she had been rushed to hospital. “There is absolutely no truth at all that I have stomach cancer,” the statement on her website said. “It is true that I had kidney stones,” she said. “I had them removed three weeks ago and I am doing just fine!” Parton added that she was already back at work following the operation. “I am back to work and last week I was at Dollywood filming parts for my new movie Coat of Many Colours,” she wrote. “I love and appreciate everyone’s concern.” So that’s us told!
A spokeswoman for Lamar Odom’s said that the NBA star has woken up and talked, three days after being found unconscious at a Nevada brothel. Odom had been unconscious at a Las Vegas hospital since being found Tuesday at the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada. Authorities are still retracing Odom’s $75,000, three-day visit to the brothel that started late afternoon Saturday, with blood test results to determine what caused his medical episode still pending. The brothel’s owner said that he chose two women to accompany him in a VIP suite on his first visit to the ranch. Odom had said that he had taken cocaine before his arrival, and the brothel said they saw him drink alcohol and take as many as 10 supplements sold as “herbal Viagra”. The brothel also said he became upset on Sunday following a phone call where his former wife’s television show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, was mentioned. But he was generally in a good mood, even suggesting that he stay an entire week at the brothel in the rural community. Odom was then found unconscious on Tuesday with white and reddish substances coming from his nose and mouth. He was breathing and taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Classy bloke!
Sir John Hurt has said he’s overjoyed and thrilled after being given the all-clear by doctors less than four months after he disclosed that he had pancreatic cancer. The 75-year-old actor, known for his roles in The Elephant Man, Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Harry Potter films, revealed he had overcome the disease to an audience at the Man Booker prize ceremony in London. “I had a final scan and it’s all gone brilliantly, I had the final scan yesterday and I saw my oncologist this morning. I am overjoyed, I am thrilled. It all looks great for the future, it’s fantastic.” Hurt had first revealed his cancer diagnosis in June, but said at the time he was “more than optimistic” about his future and kept working during his chemotherapy treatment.
Placido Domingo is to have surgery to have his gallbladder removed, forcing him to miss conducting engagements at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. “It is expected this minimally invasive procedure will allow him to resume his activities after a brief hospital stay,” the Met said in a statement. Domingo had been due to conduct four performances of Tosca in October, but will now return on 2nd November. The 74-year-old was admitted to hospital on Tuesday after suffering inflammation of his gallbladder and will have an operation early next week. He has had a number of health problems in recent years. In 2010, he underwent an operation to remove a cancerous polyp from his colon, returning to performing just weeks after the surgery. And in 2013 he was treated for a blood clot in his lung, forcing him to miss several concerts.
The world’s most-wanted drug boss, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, narrowly evaded security forces searching for him in the north-west of Mexico in recent days, sustaining injuries to his face and leg, the Mexican government said on Friday. Guzmán, the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, escaped from his high-security prison cell in July through a specially dug tunnel, causing a major embarrassment for the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto. In a statement, the Mexican government said it had worked with international agencies to capture Guzmán, and that in recent weeks, efforts had been focused on the north-west of the country, not far from Guzmán’s native turf of Sinaloa state. “As a result of these actions, and to avoid his capture, in recent days, the fugitive engaged in a hasty retreat, which, according to the information received, caused him injuries to one leg and the face,” the government statement said.
The BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire has thanked NHS staff in a video diary recorded soon after she underwent a mastectomy to treat cancer. In a short clip, which was posted on the Victoria Derbyshire Show’s Facebook site, Derbyshire holds up two pieces of paper with handwritten messages on them. “This morning I had breast cancer,” read on the first. “This evening I don’t,” read the second. “I feel all right. I can’t believe it. The NHS staff have been awesome. I am completely in awe of them. They are so inspiring and so caring and I feel so grateful to them,” says Derbyshire from her hospital bed. Derbyshire, who has presented on BBC radio and television, announced the news of the diagnosis in August. Doctors detected her condition the previous month.
And finally, the son of the peer Lord Lucan, who disappeared almost 41 years ago, has applied to have his father declared “presumed dead”. Lord Lucan vanished from his family home in London in 1974 following the death of family nanny Sandra Rivett. An inquest found he murdered her. There has since been speculation and stories about what happened to him. His son, George Bingham, told the West End Extra newspaper the application would provide “closure”. Despite the fact Lord Lucan was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999, there have been reported sightings of him in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and even claims he lived in India as a hippy called “Jungly Barry”. Mr Bingham, who was a child when his father disappeared, told West End Extra he was applying to the High Court under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect a year ago. He said the 1999 declaration had not proved death “for all purposes” and the new law allowed for a “more complete process”. The Presumption of Death Act was the result of a campaign supported by relatives of high-profile missing people including chef Claudia Lawrence, who disappeared in York in 2009, and Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who went missing in 1995. So, technically Lord Lucan is still alive for our purposes.
On This Day
- 1851 – Herman Melville‘s Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
- 1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
- 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
- 1945 – Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva “Evita” Duarte.
- 1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
- 1968 – The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a “Black Power” salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
Deaths
- 1931 – Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman, invented the light bulb and phonograph (b. 1847)
- 2007 – Alan Coren, English journalist and author (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model, actress, and singer (b. 1952)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Eminem (43), Angela Lansbury (90), Tim Robbins (57), Usher (37), Sacha Baron Cohen (44), Marie Osmond (56), Paul Simon (74), Hugh Jackman (47), Jane Krakowski (47), Emily Deschanel (39), Roger Moore (88), Ralph Lauren (76), Suzanne Somers (69), George Wendt (67), Wyclef Jean (46), Sarah Ferguson (56), Dominic West (46), Steve Coogan (50), Michelle Trachtenberg (30), Stephen Moyer (46), Cliff Richard (75) and Ernie Els (46).
Next week peeps!
Dead Pool 11th October 2015
My goodness! What a week for deaths! Those evil flying monkeys have certainly been very busy!! Alas, even with so many household names on todays roster, nobody managed to score. But I have to add that Liz also scored last week with Denis Healey, I missed it because his name was misspelt. So in the interest of clarity for next year, please make sure you spell their names correctly, otherwise my search will miss you out. I do sympathise though, who the hell spells Dennis as Denis!!!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Larry Brezner, 73, American film producer (Good Morning Vietnam, Throw Momma From the Train, Ride Along).
- Henning Mankell, 67, Swedish author (Kurt Wallander), cancer.
- Jim Diamond, 64, Scottish singer-songwriter (“I Should Have Known Better”).
- Hugh Scully, 72, British television presenter (Antiques Roadshow).
- Gordon Honeycombe, 79, British newscaster, author and actor, leukemia.
- Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, 88, British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1979–1983), Foreign Secretary (1983–1989), heart attack.
- Jerry Parr, 85, American Secret Service agent, extricated Ronald Reagan during assassination attempt, heart failure.
In Other News
Sir Bruce Forsyth has suffered a fall at his home. The 87-year-old TV personality suffered cuts and a minor concussion but is otherwise unhurt. He underwent a series of scans and tests and was advised by doctors to have complete rest for at least a week. Forsyth had to pull out of hosting his BBC variety show Bruce’s Hall of Fame at London’s Dominion Theatre this weekend. The star was set to take to the stage alongside comedian Catherine Tate and Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong, who will now take on the compere role. In a statement, Kalooki Pictures, who co-produce the show, said: “This morning, Sir Bruce Forsyth slipped and fell at his home resulting in facial abrasions and minor concussion. “He attended hospital and had a series of scans and tests all of which happily proved negative. However because of his injury, he has been told by doctors he must have complete rest for at least seven days.” Speaking after his fall, Forsyth said: “I was really looking forward to this show and working with such a talented cast, and I am really sad not to be part of it. It is now in the most capable hands of Alexander Armstrong and I would like to wish him, the guests and the whole production team good luck on Sunday.”
In the first of a new series on living with leukaemia, Clive James is surprised to find he’s still here! He writes: “A whole year ago I wrote a poem called Japanese Maple, which confidently stated that when the maple tree in my garden turned to flame in autumn, that would be the end of me. The poem was published in the New Yorker, at a time when the magazine’s paywall was temporarily out of commission, so a lot of people logged on. The poem went viral and attracted many sad assurances of fond farewell. Autumn came, the tree turned red and I was still here, steadily turning red myself as I realised that I had written myself into a corner. Winter arrived, there has been a whole other summer, and now the maple is just starting to do its flaming thing all over again, with me shyly watching.” Looks like he’ll be here for a good while yet!
Britain is the best place in the world to die, according to a new survey. Finally, some good news. Britons may have terrible weather, bad teeth, an underperforming rugby team, stupid telly, no style, a countryside that consists of car parks with puddles and cities so divertingly rubbish that they look as though they were devised by drunk chimps on a bet. The UK may, in short, be an awful place to live. But, according to a survey, the UK is the best place in the world in which to die. At least we’re good at something. So the next time you’re drinking a whiskey whilst watching Countdown, take heart that your body will be found and dealt with accordingly as Britain does Death the best!
On This Day
- 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field.
- 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
- 1975 – The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests.
- 1982 – The Mary Rose, a Tudor carrack which sank on July 19, 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth.
- 1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
- 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
Deaths
- 1961 – Chico Marx, American actor and singer (b. 1887)
- 1963 – Jean Cocteau, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1889)
- 2000 – Donald Dewar, Scottish lawyer and politician, 1st First Minister of Scotland (b. 1937)
- 2007 – Werner von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (b. 1915)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Dakota Johnson (26), Susan Sarandon (69), Liev Schreiber (48), Alecia Silverstone (39), Brian Johnson (68), Karen Allen (64), Bob Geldoff (64), Lena Headey (45), Kate Winslet (40), Jesse Eisenberg (32), Britt Ekland (73), Elizabeth Shue (52), Simon Cowell (55), Toni Braxton (48), Thom Yorke (7), Desmond Tutu (84), Vladimir Putin (63), Paul Hogan (75), Chevy Chase (72), Sigourney Weaver (66), Matt Damon (45), Bruno Mars (30), Rev. Jesse Jackson (74), Sharon Osbourne (63), Tony Shalhoub (62), Scott Bakula (61) and Sean Lennon (40).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 4th October 2015
Welcome all, finally some points to award!!! With the death of the Labour giant Denis Healey, 52 points have been awarded thusly: Karen, Paul, Julie and Shan. Well done all of you, please take a look at the leader board, you will see that Paul is now cementing his lead at the top, but all it takes is the death of one of the Big Three to bring any of you back into the game! So onwards with the newsletter, I promise not to mention the death of English rugby…
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- John Guillermin, 89, British film director and producer (The Towering Inferno, King Kong, Shaft in Africa), heart attack
- Catherine E. Coulson, 71, American film and television actress (Twin Peaks), cancer.
- Donald Seawell, 103, American theatre producer and newspaper publisher.
- Denis Healey, 98, British politician, Secretary of State for Defence (1964-1970), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1974-1979).
In Other News
As everyone in their right mind knows, you’ve got to know when to walk away and when to run. And Kenny Rogers, the man who sang The Gambler, is heeding his own advice by announcing that he will retire after his next tour. The 77-year-old country legend wants to spend time with is wife and family before he dies. The country legend appeared on the Today show in the US, where he said: “I’ve done this long enough. There’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish, and I think I crossed that line when I was younger. I really want to be there with my kids and my wife. I don’t see enough of them. And I have some things on my bucket list.” Let’s hope that reversing his plastic surgery is on that list, seriously, he gives me nightmares!
In another retirement story, Ralph Lauren is giving the fashion empire he founded almost five decades ago a makeover – by stepping down as chief executive. However, Lauren is not going too far: he will remain with the company as executive chairman and chief creative officer. Born Ralph Lifshitz to Jewish immigrants from Belarus in the Bronx in 1939, Lauren changed his last name at the age of 16. He began his fashion career designing ties in 1967, with the Ralph Lauren polo shirt bearing the familiar logo following five years later. Now the 75 year old is reputed to be worth $6.4 billion, not bad for a one design wonder!
Jim Carrey has said he is shocked and deeply saddened after a former girlfriend is thought to have killed herself. Cathriona White, 30, an Irish-born makeup artist, was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment on Monday night, the deputy chief coroner Ed Winter said. Nobody blames her, I suspect shagging Carey would be a nightmare beyond all comprehension. The death was reported to authorities as a suicide but a final determination had yet to be made but a drug overdose is suspected. The celebrity website TMZ said White and Carrey, 53, met in 2012, had an on-and-off romance, and rekindled their relationship in May before splitting up last week. So it’s his fault!
The cause of death of Bobbi Kristina Brown – Whitney Houston’s daughter – has been determined, but officials say they will not reveal the post-mortem results. They say a court in the US state of Georgia ordered a medical examiner to seal the results. Bobbi Kristina, 22, died at a hospice on 26th July, six months after she was found unresponsive in a bath in her Atlanta flat. In a statement, the Fulton county medical examiner said Bobbi Kristina’s post-mortem results would not be publicly released on the order of the Fulton county superior court. “The Fulton County medical examiner has classified the cause and manner of Bobbi Kristina Brown’s death,” it said. Which now opens up many questions, was she killed and has it all been hushed up??
Harry Potter, the boy who lived, has died! Caio César Ignácio Cardoso de Melo, 27, who voiced the character in Portuguese, was reportedly killed on Thursday during an exchange of gunfire in Complexo de Alemão – one of Rio’s largest and most policed shanty towns. He provided the Portuguese voiceover for Potter in all eight films in the series, as a side venture to his main job as a police officer. According to local media reports, his death was confirmed by military police in Brazil and by Warner Bros studios. J.K. Rowling tweeted her condolences following the father-of-one’s death. Local police reported that Melo was shot in the neck when officers came under fire during a routine patrol of the sprawling shanty town. He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery but died from his injuries.
The German sports car manufacturer Porsche has issued a statement denying responsibility for the death of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, who died in a high-speed crash in November 2013. Porsche released its statement to the media in response to a wrongful death lawsuit filed on 28th September by the actor’s daughter Meadow Walker in Los Angeles. “As we have said before, we are very sad whenever anyone is hurt in a Porsche vehicle, but we believe the authorities’ reports in this case clearly establish that this tragic crash resulted from reckless driving and excessive speed,” the manufacturer said. Meadow Walker claims in her suit that Porsche knew the car model had a “history of instability and control issues”. It is understood she is also questioning police reports that suggest the Carrera GT was travelling at around 90mph when the accident happened, arguing that the top speed reached by the vehicle was in fact just 71mph, which is obviously a safe speed. Way to go to tarnish your fathers demise you tart!
And finally, in a warning to all dog walkers, an Essex man has died after his dog dragged him into the path of an oncoming car. The 67-year-old was walking his dog in the Low Road area of Dovercourt on Monday night when it suddenly bolted on to the street. A car travelling on the road then struck the man, who suffered head injuries in the incident. He went home but later felt increasingly unwell. East of England ambulance service personnel attended the man’s home and transferred him to Colchester hospital, where he later died. The dog was not harmed in the incident. A neighbour said the man, who was thought to be retired, would take the animal for a walk every morning and evening. Moral of the story, get a cat!
On This Day
- 1535 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
- 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
- 1883 – First run of the Orient Express.
- 1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
- 2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
Deaths
- 1669 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1606)
- 1947 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- 1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (Big Brother and the Holding Company) (b. 1943)
- 1989 – Graham Chapman, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
- 2010 – Norman Wisdom, English singer-songwriter, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Gwyneth Paltrow (43), Meat Loaf (68), Lil Wayne (33), Avril Lavigne (31), Naomi Watts (47), Dita Von Tesse (43), Jerry Lee Lewis (80), Ian McShane (73), Erika Eleniak (46), Johnny Mathis (80), Monica Bellucci (51), Kieran Culkin (33), Martina Hingis (35), Julie Andrews (80), Zack Galifianakis (46), Don McLean (70), Jimmy Carter (91), Sting (64), Annie Leibovitz (66), Chubby Checker (74), Roy Horn (71), Gwen Stefani (46), Neve Campbell (42), Sean William Scott (39), Clive Owen (51), Fred Couples (56), Lena Headey (42) and Brigitte Bardot (81).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 27th September 2015
Welcome to the bumper two week edition of The Dead Pool Newsletter, which isn’t as bumper as I would have liked as not many celebs have died in the last two weeks. However, we have plenty of news to get through and I have a good feeling about next week!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Max Beauvoir, 79, Haitian houngan and biochemist.
- Fred DeLuca, 67, American businessman, co-founder of Subway, leukemia.
- Jackie Collins, 77, British-American novelist, breast cancer.
- Brian Sewell, 84, British art critic.
- Jack Larson, 87, American playwright and actor (Adventures of Superman).
In Other News
The Who have been forced to postpone all 50 dates on their north American tour because frontman Roger Daltrey, 71, has viral meningitis. A statement on the Who’s website said the shows would be rescheduled for spring 2016 and added: “The band apologise to fans and realise that the postponement will cause an inconvenience for ticketholders. It wasn’t a decision taken lightly – the Who always give their fans 100% and were never going to compromise the show, but ultimately we had no alternative but to postpone.” Daltrey said: “I am now on the mend and feeling a lot better but I am going to need a considerable time to recover. The doctors tell me I will make a complete recovery, but that I should not do any touring this year.” Paedophile Pete Townshend added: “We are rescheduling all the shows for next spring 2016. Once Roger is completely well, we will come back stronger than ever and Roger and I will give you all a show to remember.”
The Dalai Lama cancelled his US appearances for October after doctors at Minnesota’s Mayo clinic advised him to rest, his office said on Friday. The 80-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader was at the clinic in Rochester this week for what was described as a ‘routine check-up’. “The doctors have advised His Holiness to rest for the next several weeks,” his office said on its website Friday. “We deeply regret the inconvenience caused by this decision and apologise to all the people who have worked so hard in organising the visit as well as to the public.” The statement gave no more details about the Dalai Lama’s condition and representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional comment.
In what some would call a Dead Pool meeting of giants, Pope Francis met Cuba’s former President, Fidel Castro, after celebrating Mass in front of tens of thousands of people in Havana. The two men discussed world affairs, religion and who would die first, in what the Vatican called an “informal and friendly” encounter. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi described the meeting between Pope Francis and Fidel Castro, which took place at the former Cuban leader’s home, as low-key with no flying monkeys seen anywhere. Shame that…
Following the last-minute cancellation of live dates last week, the Libertines have issued an official statement explaining that Pete Doherty had suffered a serious anxiety attack before their London show. The band’s scheduled gig at the Electric Ballroom in London on 10th September was called off two hours after the band were meant to be on stage, with a Manchester gig and an appearance on BBC Radio 1 also scrapped. In a statement published on Doherty’s website Albion Rooms, the band say that the decision to cancel the shows came from management “who felt it important to ensure Peter’s welfare is a priority in line with any other ongoing treatment”.
Former Tory cabinet minister Lord Parkinson has retired from the House of Lords. Cecil Parkinson, 84, was first elected as MP for Enfield West in 1970 and served as secretary of state for trade and industry under Margaret Thatcher, who’s thankfully already dead. He was forced to resign as trade secretary in 1983 after revelations that his former secretary, Sara Keays, was pregnant with his child, but went on to serve as secretary of state for energy and transport in later years. He became a member of the House of Lords in 1992 and is the latest to take advantage of new rules allowing peers to retire from the house. And we all know what happens to men who retire!
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader has been discharged from hospital. Peter Robinson, 66, was admitted to Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital on Saturday after suffering an adverse reaction to prescribed medication. A DUP spokesman confirmed Robinson would be fit enough to attend crucial talks to resolve the political crisis engulfing the powersharing political institutions at Stormont on Monday. In May, Robinson spent four nights at the hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack and had three stents fitted to help the flow of blood. At the time, he blamed his illness on a diet of fast food and lack of exercise, rather than the stress of his job.
The billionaire founder of Phones4U has revealed that his whole family have been struck down by the potentially deadly Lyme disease. Earlier this month John Caudwell told the media of his 20-year-old son Rufus’s long struggle with the disease, which started with “panic attacks, serious agoraphobia and a terror of sickness” before being correctly diagnosed in February. Now Mr Caudwell has admitted that he, his former wife, Kate McFarlane, and their two daughters, Rebekah, 35, and Rhiannon, 27, have all tested positive for Lyme disease as well. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can spread to humans through ticks. There are around 2,000 to 3,000 new cases in England and Wales every year. His estimated £2bn fortune has allowed him to pay for private treatment, which he acknowledges others cannot afford, but his billions still didn’t stop a tick biting him on the arse.
And finally, unsurprisingly there have been more ‘selfie’ related fatalities than shark attack deaths this year. Which begs the question, why are we not culling anyone who pouts into an iPhone? That seemed to be the answer towards the shark problem… This years count now stands at 12 deaths due to Darwinian intervention. One man was mangled in Spain after trying to snap a pic during a bull run, and two Russian men met their demise while photographing themselves with a live grenade. A woman even managed to shoot herself in the head while posing with a gun. Let’s hope the trend continues…
On This Day
- 1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the River Somme, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
- 1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
- 1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein‘s paper “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”, introducing the equation E=mc².
- 1998 – The Google internet search engine retrospectively claims this as its birthday.
- 2005 – After 162 episodes, Tom and Jerry airs its final episode titled, The Karate Guard.
Deaths
- 1979 – Gracie Fields, English-Italian actress and singer (b. 1898)
- 1979 – Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (One in a Million, Small Faces, Wings, Thunderclap Newman, and The Dukes) (b. 1953)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Sophia Loren (81), Stephen King (68), Bill Murray (65), Faith Hill (48), Ricki Lake (47), Alfonso Ribeiro (44), Liam Gallagher (43), Nick Cave (58), Joan Jett (57), Andrea Bocelli (44), Tom Felton (28), Julio Iglesias (72), Bruce Springsteen (66), Michael Douglas (71), Mark Hamill (64), Michael Madsen (57), Heather Locklear (54), Will Smith (47), Catherine Zeta-Jones (46), Bryan Ferry (70), Olivia Newton-John (67) and Serena Williams (34).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 13th September 2015
I’m sorry everyone, fuck all has happened during the last week. I’ll bet you a toenail shaving that you will not have heard of any of this weeks demises! Luckily we have a few news snippets to be getting along with, otherwise we might have had to cancel this weeks edition!!!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Candida Royalle, 64, American pornographic actress, producer and director, ovarian cancer.
- Dickie Moore, 89, American child actor (Our Gang, Sergeant York, Oliver Twist).
- Bryn Merrick, 56, Welsh bassist (The Damned), cancer.
- John Connell, 91, American actor (Young Doctor Malone, Fail Safe, Family Business).
In Other News
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand is on antibiotics following a fresh blood infection, the palace has revealed. The 87-year-old king, perceived as a near-deity by many Thais, has been in Bangkok’s Siriraj hospital since being readmitted in May but information on his condition has been scarce. In a statement released late on Monday the royal household said Bhumibol had come down with a high fever, chills and low blood pressure last Thursday. “The result of blood checks found that he had an infection in his blood. The result of a chest X-ray found that his right lung was inflamed,” the palace said. “As a result the doctors have given him some antibiotics and saline drip. They have also given him some oxygen.” Bhumibol has been in and out of hospital for much of the last two years and rarely makes public appearances. A day before his latest bout of illness the palace released footage of the wheelchair-bound monarch visiting a shop near the hospital where he is convalescing. Subjects on their knees chanted “Long live the King.”
Mad Men star Jon Hamm and his partner of nearly two decades, film-maker and actor Jennifer Westfeldt, have ended their relationship. Hamm, 44, and Westfeldt, 45, first met in 1997 and became known as one of Hollywood’s most stalwart couples. However, in March 2015, just before Mad Men’s eighth season finale, it emerged that Hamm had completed a course of rehab for alcoholism which must have played a part in the split. If he was drinking before, we’re pretty sure he’ll be quaffing bars dry right now. Let’s see if his liver is strong enough!
Some of you might have noticed that our beloved Queen has managed to hang on to her privileged life for longer than anyone else in British history, even longer than Queen Victoria, and she had an Age named after her! At exactly what time Elizabeth II would overtake her great-great grandmother’s reign of 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes, remained uncertain as her father, George VI, died in his sleep, but it is thought to be at around 1am. So, using that as a basis, and factoring in leap days in both reigns, Buckingham Palace’s formula plumped for around 5.30pm as a safe bet. But no parties for Queenie, it was “business as usual” as she officially opened the new £294m Scottish Borders Railway.
And finally, an escapologist, who hoped to out-manoeuvre Harry Houdini during a Buried Alive stunt, was left with a broken rib after he failed to break through to the surface almost nine minutes into the daring bid. Antony Britton hoped to escape unaided after being handcuffed and buried in a standard-size grave, under six feet of soil. But the daredevil had to be hauled out by crew members when he lost consciousness and now says he is ‘lucky to be alive’. An anxious audience at Slaithwaite Spa, West Yorks, watched as Mr Britton was rescued, taken to a waiting ambulance and given oxygen, before coming round. Mr Britton said his biggest disappointment was to discover he was just two feet from the surface when he had to be rescued. Antony is only the third person in 100 years to attempt the Buried Alive challenge. Legendary escapologist Harry Houdini, who was known around the world for his elaborate escape routines, failed in 1915 while magician Alan Alan had to be dug out in 1949. They should have left him in there in my opinion!
On This Day
- 1501 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.
- 1609 – Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.
- 1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
- 1899 – Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident.
- 1956 – The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
- 1985 – Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES
Deaths
- 81 – Titus, Roman emperor (b. 39)
- 1996 – Tupac Shakur, American rapper, producer, and actor (Digital Underground and Outlawz) (b. 1971)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Roger Waters (72), Macy Gray (48), Delores O’Riordan (44), Pippa Middleton (32), Idris Elba (43), Gloria Gaynor (66), Chrissie Hynde (64), Julie Kavner (65), Evan Rachel Wood (28), Martin Freeman (44), Hugh Grant (55), Adam Sandler (49), Rachel Hunter (46), Eric Sonestreet (44), Michael Buble (40), Colin Firth (55), Guy Richie (47), Karel Lagerfeld (82), Brian De Palma (75), Virginia Madsen (54), Moby (50), Ian Holm (84) and Linda Gray (75).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 6th September 2015
Welcome all, yet another newsletter in your inboxes! There’s a few big names in the list this week, alas no points to award. ’tis a cruel game indeed!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Wes Craven, 76, American film director, writer and producer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, The Hills Have Eyes), brain cancer.
- Joy Beverley, 91, British singer (Beverley Sisters), stroke.
- Dean Jones, 84, American actor (The Love Bug, Company, Beethoven), Parkinson’s disease.
- Sir Adrian Cadbury, 86, British businessman and rower, chairman of Cadbury.
- Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 75, Nepalese primordial dwarf, shortest man in recorded history, pneumonia.
- Rico Rodriguez, 80, Cuban-born British trombonist (The Specials).
- Alan Steel, 79, Italian bodybuilder and actor (Samson, The Rebel Gladiators, Hercules Against the Moon Men).
In Other News
Sue Perkins, the comedian and co-host of The Great British Bake Off on BBC2, has revealed that she has been living with a brain tumour for the past eight years. The broadcaster said the benign growth, which is on her pituitary gland, was found during tests which she underwent as part of another BBC show, Supersizers. Perkins, 45, who is in a relationship with the Channel 4 presenter Anna Richardson, also talked about how the tumour prevented her from having children due to its impact on the secretion of reproductive hormones. “We live in a time and place where we think everything is possible,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have gone on to have children. But as soon as someone says you can’t have something, you want it more than anything,” she said. “I’m lucky that it’s benign so it’s not in itself a worrying thing. Sometimes it’s big and makes me mad, and sometimes it’s small and is in the background. Sometimes it screws up my hormones. I have various tests now to make sure the side effects aren’t too onerous.”
Motorhead cancelled a show on Wednesday after a series of abbreviated performances amid renewed health concerns for the famously hard-living frontman, Lemmy. The English rockers left the stage in Austin, Texas, after playing three songs on Tuesday. The 69-year-old Lemmy told the crowd, “I can’t do it,” according to social media postings. The band, who also cancelled or cut short two other recent shows, said they would not perform a scheduled concert on Wednesday in San Antonio. It said Lemmy was suffering from altitude sickness after a performance in the Rocky Mountains state of Colorado. The 40-year-old metal band have won a loyal fan base for their high-decibel guitar rock and Lemmy’s instantly recognisable gravelly voice. Lemmy, also known for his lambchop sideburns and facial moles, was long synonymous with the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. He has said he used to drink a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey every day and that he has slept with more than 1000 women. But Lemmy has faced a series of health concerns including diabetes in recent years, forcing Motörhead to postpone a European tour in 2013. Lemmy has said he has cut down on drinking and quit smoking.
On Saturday evening, Markus Persson – the creator of Minecraft – overshared on Twitter. In a series of rambling and unabashed tweets, the multi-billionaire revealed that selling his independent gaming company Mojang to Microsoft has left him feeling empty inside. Many will undoubtedly scoff at Persson’s sentiments; they will find it difficult to feel sympathy for a man who cashed a $2.5 billion cheque not 12 months ago. But do Persson’s tweets prove that the age-old maxim – money can never really make you happy – is right? Is instant gratification, wealth and success not all we think it’s cracked up to be? If loneliness and depression is the outcome, then I suppose not!
Two-time major winner John Daly is out of hospital after collapsing during a minor tournament in the USA. The American, 49, was checked over by doctors who diagnosed a collapsed lung. He returned to playing less than 24 hours later and, according to the Associated Press, was smoking cigarettes on the clubhouse patio, definitely one to watch for us! Speaking about Saturday’s health scare, Daly said: “I was having a great time and then suddenly – boom – I’m falling down while on the 18th tee.” He added: “The next thing I know I’m in an ambulance. It was scary.” Not that scary, he’s not changed his smoking habits!
South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been discharged from hospital after spending more than two weeks receiving treatment for a recurring infection, his foundation has said. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate has been in and out of hospital in recent months. He was previously treated for an infection resulting from his prostate cancer treatment. The statement said Mr Tutu has expressed his thanks to staff at the Cape Town hospital. “The love, prayers and good wishes expressed by people around the world had been just as important as the medical attention in aiding the arch’s [Tutu’s] recovery,” his daughter Rev Canon Mpho Tutu said. Let’s see how long he lasts!
On This Day
- 1492 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
- 1522 – The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan‘s expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
- 1620 – The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America.
- 1803 – British scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
- 1870 – Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
- 1992 – Hunters discover the emaciated body of Christopher McCandless at his camp 20 miles (32 km) west of the town of Healy, Alaska.
- 1997 – The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Well over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television.
Deaths
- 1998 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1910)
- 2007 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1935)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Cameron Diaz (43), Richard Gere (66), Raquel Welch (75), Van Morrison (70), Salma Hayek (49), Michael Keaton (64), Keanu Reeves (51), Beyonce Knowles (34), Charlie Sheen (50), Lily Tomlin (76), Barry Gibb (69), Rose McGowan (42), Jimmy Connors (63), Gloria Estefan (58), Warren Buffett (85), Lennox Lewis (50), and Al Jardine (73).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 30th August 2015
Welcome all, to a rather lacklustre edition of the newsletter. Not much happened last week, so I’ve padded things out somewhat with interesting stories about pain and death. It might be time for me to send out the flying monkeys again!!!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Marcy Borders, 42, American 9/11 survivor, subject of “Dust Lady” photograph, stomach cancer.
- Justin Wilson, 37, British IndyCar Series driver, head injuries from race collision.
- Colin Fry, 53, British medium and television presenter, lung cancer.
- Alison Parker, 24, American news reporter (WDBJ), shot.
- Adam Ward, 27, American news cameraman (WDBJ) and photojournalist, shot.
- Nelly de Vries-Lammerts, 110, Dutch supercentenarian.
- Kyle Jean-Baptiste, 21, American actor (Les Miserables), fall.
- Oliver Sacks, 82, British neurologist and author (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), liver cancer.
In Other News
Carol Vorderman, the television presenter, has revealed she is “covered in burns” after falling off a treadmill while running naked. The former Countdown number-cruncher disclosed she tripped while using the machine and ended up trapped up against a wall. Vorderman, 54, was intending to comfort a Twitter friend over a mishap, but she managed to trump the tale with her own story “It’s hilarious. Pain? I fell off a treadmill running naked (don’t ask). Now covered in burns and doctor’s dressings!” – Thus revealing her naked exercise mishap to her more than 330,000 followers! Vorderman later told the media she was exercising in the nude because she was “hot”. However, she said she would think twice before doing so again and was “not sure it will be an Olympic sport soon”.
Two-time major winner John Daly has been taken to hospital after collapsing during a minor tournament in the USA. The American, 49, has been checked for rib and finger injuries, but a friend said his vital signs – temperature, blood pressure and heart and breathing rates – are good. Leigh Brannan of Deerfield Golf Club in Jackson, Mississippi said Daly was having breathing problems on a hot day. “He was struggling pretty badly right before he collapsed,” Brannan said. “We’re all hoping it’s nothing serious and that he was just a little dehydrated. He was even saying he still wants to play.”
Justin Gatlin could not get close to Usain Bolt in the 200m final in Beijing – but it appears he might have had better luck if he had been on a Segway and armed with a camera. Bolt completed another double at the World Athletics Championships and when he was celebrating with the crowd an overzealous cameraman got too close for comfort, lost control of his Segway and swept the Jamaican off his feet. The 10-times world champion did not appear badly injured by the incident, managed to see the funny side and was soon posing for pictures with his adoring crowd again. “It didn’t actually hit me in my Achilles, it hit me in my calf area,” Bolt said. “It’s all right, I will get over it. Never a doubt [for the relays], never a doubt. I am just going to get it massaged, ice it up a bit and I should be fine.” Bolt added: “The rumour I’m trying to start right now is that Justin Gatlin paid him off.”
An elephant in northern Thailand killed its handler before running off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists still on its back! The Police said that on Wednesday morning a Chinese family of three – a father, mother and a young child – were taking a ride on the male elephant when it turned suddenly on its new keeper. The elephant had not taken well to his new mahout and turned on him suddenly, goring him to death. The media broadcast footage of the three frightened tourists being led back to camp, still on the elephant’s back, once it had been calmed down by other mahouts and their own elephants.
And in a continuation of goring, a man has died after being struck by a bull, the 10th such death in Spain this year, making it one of the deadliest for the sport of bull running. The unidentified man in his late 40s was struck by a bull several times during a run in the north-eastern town of Borriol on Saturday and died in hospital, a local police spokesman said. This year’s toll matches the record of 10 deaths in bull runs, set in 2009. Last weekend alone four men died after being gored by half-tonne fighting bulls in four different towns. One of the victims, a 55-year-old man, was caught on video being repeatedly gored by a bull as he lay on the ground in front of a protective barrier that separated onlookers from bull run participants. And they say Cheese Rolling is dangerous!
And finally, celebrity psychic Derek Acorah has been trolled on Twitter following the death of his close friend Colin Fry. The grieving TV star was bombarded with comments after Psychic Private Eyes star Colin lost his battle with lung cancer, aged only 53. One user wrote, ”Hey Derek, he has sent a message for you, it’ll cost you 30 pound to hear it.” Another “You and Colin deal in the business of fooling the vulnerable for private gain. I couldn’t care less he’s dead.” The comments were widely condemned as fans rallied around the star. Believe what you will about psychics and mediums, but it’s rather telling that Acorah is sad at the loss if his fellow medium, surely he of all people should be able to carry on talking to his dead friend.
On This Day
- 708 – Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time.
- 1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
- 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the world’s first internal combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
- 1898 – The Goodyear tire company is founded.
- 1922 – The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City.
- 1930 – The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.
- 1949 – Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
- 2005 – Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing an estimated 1,836 people and causing over $108 billion in damage.
Deaths
- 1930 – William Archibald Spooner, English priest and author (b. 1844)
- 1968 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (b. 1881)
- 1982 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish-English actress and singer (b. 1915)
- 1987 – Lee Marvin, American actor and singer (b. 1924)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Sean Connery (85), LeAnne Rimes (33), Jason Priestley (46), Shania Twain (50), Aaron Paul (36), Billy Ray Cyrus (54), Barbara Eden (84), Steve Guttenberg (57), Elvis Costello (61), Paul Rubens (63), Shelley Long (66), Chris Pine (35), John McCain (79), Claudia Schiffer (45), Rachel Bildon (34), Rebecca DeMornay (56), Carla Gugino (44), Florence Welch (29), Jack Black (46), Gene Simmons (66), Stephen Fry (58), Rupert Grint (27), Tim Burton (57), Alexander Skarsgard (39), Barbara Bach (68) and Elliott Gould (77).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 23rd August 2015
Good afternoon everyone, a lovely day for sitting down and reading the current Dead Pool Newsletter. Not many deaths this week, however loads of deadly news to catch up on. Let’s do this!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Emma Didlake, 110, American supercentenarian, oldest veteran in the United States.
- Kitty McGeever, 48, British actress (Emmerdale).
- Goldie Steinberg, 114, American supercentenarian, oldest verified Jewish person.
- Yvonne Craig, 78, American actress (Batman, Star Trek, Olivia), breast cancer.
- Anna Kashfi, 80, British actress (The Mountain, Cowboy, Adventures in Paradise).
- Arthur Morris, 93, Australian Test cricketer.
In Other News
Former US President Jimmy Carter has revealed he is to be treated for cancerous tumours on the brain, in his first public comments on his illness. Mr Carter said he would start his radiation treatment on Thursday. Mr Carter, 90, was recently treated for liver cancer, after which it was discovered the disease had spread. He said he would “cut back fairly dramatically” on public works. “It is in the hands of God and I am prepared for anything that comes,” he said. Mr Carter told a press conference on Thursday he had at first thought the cancer was confined to his liver and that an operation this month had completely removed it. But an MRI scan the same afternoon showed four spots of melanoma on the brain. “I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease. I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I have got thousands of friends and I have had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence.” Mr Carter said it was likely doctors would find cancer elsewhere in his body as his treatment continued. But he said: “I feel very good. I have had no pain or debility.”
Broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire has announced that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The award-winning radio and TV journalist, 46, announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening that she would undergo a mastectomy as part of her treatment in the coming weeks and that she hoped to continue broadcasting her Victoria Derbyshire TV programme “as much as possible” while she recovered. Derbyshire said friends, family and colleagues were offering support and the NHS staff looking after her “were being brilliant”.
Terence Stamp was involved in a near-death experience on the set of his new film, according to an interview with the actor in the Daily Mail. The 77-year-old actor was involved in a near-fatal accident involving a horse during the shoot of Bitter Harvest. “My horse had a habit, when I brought it to a stop, of lifting its front legs up,” he said. “On my last day, I brought it to a stop but slid off the back … I looked up and saw that this horse, which weighed half a ton, had lost its balance and was going to fall directly on me.” Stamp went on to say that the horse fell on his chest and pelvis, leading to multiple injuries. “If it had landed any further up, it would have killed me,” he said. “It broke my pelvis in six places, two ribs and ripped a tendon in my arm. “I always imagined that my last thoughts would be somehow profound, but what went through my mind was, “Distinguished actor killed by horse’s arse.’” He joked that if he had been American, he might have considered legal action but he “couldn’t be bothered”.
South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu is to spend the next two weeks in hospital, according to a family statement. The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation said he was on a new course of antibiotics to treat an inflammation. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate “is in good spirits and not in any pain,” the family said. This is his third stay in hospital in recent weeks. He was previously treated for an infection resulting from his prostate cancer treatment. Details of his current condition have not been released. The archbishop deeply appreciate the prayers and good wishes of so many, said his daughter, Reverend Mpho Tutu. “While my father was very grateful to the media for its concern, he had humbly requested journalists not to anticipate daily updates on his condition so that he could rest peacefully while receiving treatment,” his daughter added.
Diego Maradona has revealed he has been clean from drugs for almost 12 years in a video released on his Facebook page, adding he has “chosen to live life for my daughters, grandchildren and those still to come”. Maradona has blamed his past drug use on failing to realise his true potential as a player who failed a doping test at the 1994 World Cup. Signing off the video from inside his swimming pool, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Maradona goes on to reveal his clean living. “I think there is nothing more to prove. I think my environment is my people. I’m about to be 12 years clean from drugs because it does not let me wake up every morning the way I do today. I have chosen to live life for my daughters, grandchildren and those still to come. And be careful, I still haven’t closed the factory.”
And finally, every year for more than 50 years, Japan’s new centenarians have been honoured with a silver sake cup and a congratulatory letter from the prime minister. But as the country prepares to mark Respect for the Aged Day next month, the latest crop of citizens who turned 100 in the past 12 months face disappointment, as the soaring number of centenarians puts a new strain on the government’s coffers. The saucer-like sakazuki, a gift from the government since 1963, could be replaced by a cheaper version or be scrapped altogether this year after the health and welfare ministry complained it could not afford to keep up with the number of new recipients. In 1963 Japan had just 153 centenarians, and as recently as 1998 the number stood at just 10,000. At the last count Japan’s 100-plus age group numbered almost 59,000, and that figure is expected to rise when the government
releases new population data before Seniors’ Day on 15th September. Last year the ministry spent 260 million yen (£1.3m) on giving the cups – each worth about 8,000 yen – to almost 30,000 people, including 25,000 women. Local media pointed out that some people die before the
gifts can be distributed, forcing them to be scrapped. Demographers predict that Japan’s centenarian population
will continue to grow as the general population ages – the result of regular medical examinations, universal healthcare and, among Japanese over a certain age, a fastidious attachment to the traditional low-fat diet of fish, tofu, vegetables and rice.
On This Day
- 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield in London.
- 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
- 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term “Stockholm syndrome”.
- 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee opens the WWW, World Wide Web to new users.
- 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia’s last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Deaths
- 1305 – William Wallace, Scottish commander (b. 1272)
- 1926 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian-American actor (b. 1895)
- 1960 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American producer, and composer (b. 1895)
- 2005 – Brock Peters, American actor and producer (b. 1927)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Robert DeNiro (72), Amy Admas (41), Sean Penn (55), Madonna (57), Steve Carell (53), Kristen Wiig (42), Robert Redford (79), Valerie Harper (76), Bill Clinton (69), Ty Burrell (48), Hayden Panettiere (26), Usain Bolt (29), Robert Plant (67), Kim Cattrall (59), Kenny Rogers (77), Andrew Garfield (32), Donnie Wahlberg (46), Edward Norton (46), Matthew Perry (46), Kevin Dillon (50), Christian Slater (46), Madeline Stowe (57), Denis Leary (58), Belinda Carlisle (57), James Cameron (61), Carrie-Anne Moss (48), Tori Amos (52), GZA (49), Julie Newmar (82), Ulrika Jonsson (48) and Jim Carter (67).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 16th August 2015
Afternoon Poolers! Firstly, I have to apologise, I didn’t notice that Liz had George Cole on her list from last week, so I have to belatedly add 60 points to her tally and grovel for her forgiveness. Hopefully, I haven’t missed anyone else, so let’s get on with it.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Jack Gold, 85, British film director (The Naked Civil Servant, Aces High, The Medusa Touch).
- David Nobbs, 80, British novelist and comedy writer (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Two Ronnies, Fairly Secret Army).
- Susan Sheridan, 68, British voice actress (The Black Cauldron, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Noddy’s Toyland Adventures).
- Stephen Lewis, 88, British comedy actor (On the Buses, Last of the Summer Wine, Don’t Drink the Water).
- Jazz Summers, 71, English music manager (Scissor Sisters, The Verve, Snow Patrol), lung cancer.
In Other News
Former US President Jimmy Carter says recent liver surgery revealed he has cancer and it has spread to other parts of his body. The 90-year-old statesman underwent surgery to remove a small mass in his liver earlier this month. He said he would reveal more “when facts are known, possibly next week”. President Barack Obama wished Mr Carter “a full and fast recovery” in a statement released on Wednesday. Carter was America’s 39th president. He was in office from 1977 to 1981, before being defeated for re-election by Ronald Reagan.
Elton John’s lawyer has said that he is pursuing three French media outlets for publishing what he called “unfounded rumours” about the British pop singer’s health and that of his husband. “Sir Elton John and David Furnish … have instructed my office to pursue through the justice system the violation of the right to respect for their private life due to the publishing of unfounded rumours about their health,” Vincent Toledano said in a statement on Friday. John and his husband “will no longer tolerate the violation of their privacy and the exploitation of their renown and their image for commercial ends in France,” the lawyer added. What does the French media know that we don’t??
Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej is recovering from treated for hydrocephalus, an excessive build-up of fluid on the brain, say authorities. The 87-year-old, who has been in hospital since 31st May, also had a lung inflammation which has since subsided. Last October he had his gallbladder removed. He was in Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital for seven months, and was discharged in May this year, only to return to the hospital a few weeks later for medical tests.
A prominent Spanish matador was in serious but stable condition in hospital after being gored in the groin by a bull. Francisco “Paquirri” Rivera Ordóñez suffered the injury while fighting the bull in the town of Huesca and was in intensive care. The bull’s horn sank some 25cm (10in) into Paquirri’s groin but did not threaten any vital organs, doctors said. Television footage showed the bull hoisting Paquirri into the air for a few seconds on one of his horns. His father, of the same name, was gored to death in Andalucia in 1984. His grandfather was Antonio Ordóñez, considered one of the greatest bullfighters of all time. Obviously this ‘talent’ is not hereditary.
And finally, the Jack Russell terrier, who narrowly avoided a life in the dog pound to be raised for show business, was put down after a battle with prostate cancer. Uggie the dog, the canine star of Oscar-winning film The Artist, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 13. Starting out, as so many stars before him, in commercials, Uggie’s breakout role came as “The Dog” – loyal companion to George Valentin in Michel Hazanavicius’s ode to silent cinema, The Artist. The film won five Academy awards, including best picture in 2012, and Uggie himself was honoured with a Palm Dog award at Cannes film festival. He was also the first dog to leave his paw prints outside Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood.
On This Day
- 1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, England.
- 1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
- 1906 – An estimated 8.2 MW earthquake hits Valparaíso, Chile, killing 3,886 people.
- 1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.
Deaths
- 1888 – John Pemberton, American chemist, invented Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
- 1899 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (b. 1811)
- 1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (b. 1895)
- 1956 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1882)
- 1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (b. 1935)
- 2003 – Idi Amin, Ugandan field marshal, 3rd President of Uganda (b. 1928)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Jennifer Lawrence (25), Ben Affleck (43), Hulk Hogan (62), Chris Hemsworth (32), Antonio Banderas (55), Mila Kunis (32), Steve Martin (70), Anna Kendrick (30), Halle Berry (49), Debra Messing (47), David Crosby (74), Natasha Henstridge (41), Magic Johnson (56), Gillian Anderson (47), George Hamilton (76), Rosanna Arquette (56), Princess Anne (65), Eric Bana (47), Audrey Tautou (39), Mark Knopfler (66), Pete Sampras (44) and Fidel Castro (89).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 9th August 2015
Afternoon all, sorry for the epic size of this week’s edition of the newsletter, it seems I didn’t know when to stop. So make a cup of tea, sit down and relax, this one might take a while to read.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Coleen Gray, 92, American actress (Nightmare Alley, Kiss of Death, The Killing).
- Giovanni Riggi, 90, American mobster, inspiration for The Sopranos.
- Arnold Scaasi, 85, Canadian fashion designer.
- Les Munro, 96, New Zealand pilot, last surviving pilot of Operation Chastise.
- George Cole, 90, English actor (Minder, St Trinian’s, Mary Reilly).
- Terrence Evans, 81, American actor (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
- Neville Neville, 65, English cricketer and football club director (Bury F.C.).
- Sean Price, 43, American rapper (Heltah Skeltah, Boot Camp Clik).
In Other News
Cilla Black was ailing and “willed herself to die”, according to a long-time friend. Childhood friend Terry McCann said Black told him she knew she was going to die and her beloved late husband Bobby Willis was “waiting for me”. “I wasn’t surprised when I found out she had died,” he told BBC News. “The last thing she said to me was she was going blind, she showed me her hands, she had arthritis,” he said. “She willed herself to die. She said, ‘Bobby’s waiting for me.’ “She just said, ‘Look at me, I’m a wreck.’ I was trying to cheer her up. She knew something we didn’t. The singer and TV star died of a stroke after falling over at her Spanish home on Saturday last week. The 72-year-old was sunbathing at her villa in Estepona when she stood up, lost her balance and fell, hitting her head, which knocked her unconscious and caused a stroke. Her body has now been flown back to the UK, but no details of Black’s funeral have yet been made public.
The British band Supertramp have announced the cancellation of their European concert tour, due to start in November, because of an “aggressive” cancer treatment co-founder and vocalist Rick Davies is undergoing. The group, famous for 1970s and 80s hits such as Bloody Well Right, Dreamer, The Logical Song and It’s Raining Again, had been planning to take their Supertramp Forever tour through 25 European cities over five weeks. But in a statement they said the concerts “have been cancelled due to health issues affecting the band’s founder, Rick Davies”. Davies, 71, has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma – a cancer concentrated in bone marrow that affects white blood cells – “and has begun aggressive treatment to combat the disease,” they said. Davies, who also plays keyboards, is the only original member of the band after co-founder Roger Hodgson departed in 1983 to pursue a solo career.
Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram’s car has been fired at in Karachi, the country’s commercial capital, police say. The shooting took place near the National Stadium in Karachi’s Karsaz area on Wednesday, reports said. The ex-bowler was not hurt in the attack. Police said the incident appeared to be a case of road rage. Gun violence is not uncommon in Karachi, with much of it linked to militant groups. Wasim told the Express News channel: “A car hit mine, I stopped him and then his guy stepped out and fired at my car.” The cricket legend, who retired in 2003, is massively popular in Pakistan. Many in Pakistan, including politician and former cricketer Imran Khan, were quick to condemn the attack and express relief that Wasim was unhurt.
French police are investigating whether anaesthetic gas was used during a burglary on Formula One driver Jenson Button and his wife Jessica in a rented villa on the French Riviera. Two men, who stole jewellery reportedly worth £300,000, including an engagement ring, may have pumped gas through the air conditioning system before the break-in on Monday in St Tropez where the couple were holidaying with friends, the racing driver’s spokesman claimed. Personally I’m finding it hard to sympathise with them, it would take me nearly 20 years to earn £300k, and they spent it on sparkly things they took on holiday.
A jury in the US state of Colorado has spared gunman James Holmes the death penalty for killing 12 people at a screening of a Batman film in 2012. He will serve life in jail without the possibility of parole. I’m sure if he was black, he’d been straight on Death Row. The defence team had argued that the former neuroscience graduate student, now 27, was insane at the time. The jury agreed with prosecutors that Holmes, though mentally ill, was responsible for his actions. But it was not unanimous on the death penalty. That lack of agreement meant the jury accepted he would receive an automatic life sentence without parole. District Attorney George Brauchler said: “I still think death is justice for what that guy did, but the system said otherwise. I honour that, and I’ll respect that outcome.” Let’s hope that the same system will see the guy shanked in the goolies, nobody likes people who disturb a film in a cinema…
And finally, a woman who has just celebrated her 110th birthday says she has a daily dose of three beers and a shot of whisky to thank for her astonishing longevity. Agnes Fenton, from New Jersey, turned 110 on Saturday and is now among the small group of supercentenarian around the world. For nearly seventy years she has knocked back three Miller High Lifes and a shot of scotch every day, following the advice of a doctor who treated her for a benign tumour back in the 1930s. Her whisky of choice is Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which costs up to $150 (£96) per bottle. However, Ms Fenton has now been urged to abandon her daily tonic as she eats so little that her carers fear she can no longer handle alcohol. Ms Fenton is in remarkably good shape for a 110-year-old and is yet to have lost her hearing or eyesight. She spends her days reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, praying and enjoying plenty of naps. Amen to that!
On This Day
- 1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.
- 1483 – Opening of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with the celebration of a Mass.
- 1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
- 1907 – The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in southern England, many young boys bottoms were never the same again.
- 1930 – Betty Boop makes her cartoon debut in Dizzy Dishes.
- 1945 – World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. 35,000 people are killed outright, including 23,200-28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.
- 1965 – Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.
- 1969 – Followers led by Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men’s hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.
- 1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.
Deaths
- 1948 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (b. 1885)
- 1969 – Sharon Tate, American actress (b. 1943)
- 1996 – Frank Whittle, English soldier and engineer, invented the jet engine (b. 1907)
- 2008 – Bernie Mac, American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1957)
Why do wrestlers so often die young? By David Rhodes BBC World Service
Mr Perfect, The Ultimate Warrior and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper may sound like names from a comic book, but the cognoscenti will recognise them as former superstars of the world of professional wrestling. All of them also died unexpectedly and at a relatively young age.
Mr Perfect died in 2003 of acute cocaine intoxication at the age of 44. The Ultimate Warrior died last year of a heart attack, aged 54. Most recent to go was “Rowdy” Roddy Piper who died suddenly on 31 July of a heart attack. He was 61.
So do former wrestlers die younger than athletes who take part in other sports?
“Yes the statistical evidence is quite strong when we look at the mortality rate for wrestlers compared to other sports and the general population,” says John Moriarty of Manchester University.
Researchers like Moriarty face some difficulties getting hold of data, as no official body collects statistics about the deaths of those who have spent a career in the ring. His approach has been to aggregate the findings of others who have studied the problem. He points to research by academics at the University of Eastern Michigan who studied a group of 557 former wrestlers.
Of the 62 wrestlers in this group who died between 1985 and 2011, 49 died before the age of 50. Furthermore, 24 of the 49 died before the age of 40, and two even died before the age of 30. Mortality rates for wrestlers aged between 45 and 54 were 2.9 times greater than the rate for men in the wider US population, the study found. Cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death.
But how does this compare with other American sports?
In 2014 Benjamin Morris investigated this for the statistical blog FiveThirtyEight, looking at a group of wrestlers whose careers had ended in 1998 or earlier. He found that 20% of those who in 2010 would have been aged between 50 and 55 had died, compared with just 4% of former American footballers of a similar age. Both activities involve their competitors exposing themselves to physical harm, and the training regimes for both wrestling and American football are punishing. But New York-based wrestling journalist Eric Cohen points to two important differences. “There is no off season in pro-wrestling. American footballers play, what, 16 a games a season? And then get half a year off. Wrestlers can be in the ring five to six times a week,” he says. The other difference concerns the activities outside the ring and off the field.
“Wrestlers who competed in the 1970s and 80s were also living and partying like rock stars,” Cohen says. “In the past the business has had a lot of issues with its stars abusing steroids and recreational drugs.” Piper admitted taking steroids and cocaine, and drinking heavily while competing as a wrestler. The WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.) accepts that the culture of some of its former employees contributed to the problems they experienced in later life.
“Unfortunately, some past performers were part of a generation of wrestlers who made unhealthy and poor personal lifestyle choices, which in some cases continued beyond their years in the ring,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“Today’s athletes take great pride and personal responsibility for their overall health and well-being.
“Notwithstanding, WWE talent are subject to random drug testing and expected to live healthy lifestyles, reinforced through our Talent Wellness Program, which was instituted in 2006.”
Cohen believes things are broadly are getting better.
“Thankfully we don’t have nearly as many wrestlers in their 20s or 30s dying any more,” he says. “But as crazy as this may sound there was an incident in Mexico recently where a wrestler died in the ring.”
The hope among wrestling fans is that today’s crop of superstars will live longer than their predecessors.But the deaths of Roddy Piper and others serve as dark reminders of the journey that professional wrestling has been on.
Last Week’s Birthdays
Charlize Theron (40), Barak Obama (54), Loni Anderson (70), Dustin Hoffman (78), Martin Sheen (75), Martha Stewart (74), Tony Bennett (89), David Duchovny (55), Billy Bob Thornton (60), Geri Halliwell (43), Sam Worthington (39), Edward Furlong (38), The Edge (54), Roger Federer (34), Princess Beatrice (27), Abbie Cornish (33), Kevin Smith (45), John Landis (65), Evangeline Lilly (36), M. Night Shyamalan (45), Michelle Yeoh (53), Michael Shannon (41), Tobin Bell (73), Barbara Windsor (78) and Mark Strong (52).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 2nd August 2015
Welcome all, we have a lorra lorra stuff to get through today, so get your reading glasses on. Yes, it was a huge Surprise! Surprise! to find out that Cilla Black has passed away, but even more so because John had her listed! 78 points awarded!
The last week really has been a week of shocking deaths, some very unexpected indeed and at too young an age. Shame we don’t have access to the future, a fuckload of points have just gone to the ether!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, American media personality and singer.
- Sir Peter O’Sullevan, 97, Irish-born British horse racing commentator, cancer.
- Lynn Anderson, 67, American country singer (“Rose Garden“), heart attack.
- Stuart Baggs, 27, Manx reality television contestant and businessman (The Apprentice).
- Roddy Piper, 61, Canadian professional wrestler (WWE, NWA, WCW); Hall of Fame (2005, 2007) and actor (They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Body Slam), heart attack.
- Cilla Black, 72, British singer, television presenter and actress.
In Other News
Joe Jackson, the father of late singer Michael Jackson, has suffered a stroke. The Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo said Jackson, 87, was admitted on Sunday afternoon and is being treated in the intensive care unit. A statement from the hospital also said he was suffering from an irregular heartbeat. Apparently he was in Brazil to celebrate his 87th birthday, but he missed his own party due to being in hospital.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, has been sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli. Saif, once seen as his father’s heir apparent, was condemned to death along with eight other figures from the former dictatorship, including the former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and Gaddafi’s last prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi. There is uncertainty about whether the sentence will be carried out, as Gaddafi is being held by a militia in the mountain town of Zintan that is opposed to Libya Dawn, the militia coalition in control of Tripoli. Yes, you can list him next year, these death sentences can take forever to be upheld so you might have a long wait.
South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has returned to hospital just a week after being discharged. He has what has only been described as a “persistent infection” which his foundation says is unrelated to the prostate cancer he has had for 15 years. Tutu was first hospitalised by the infection on 14th July. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate also continues to battle prostate cancer, first diagnosed 15 years ago, but his foundation said the current infection was unrelated. The foundation said the veteran rights campaigner would undergo bed rest while his doctors determine further treatment, and remain in the hospital at least for the weekend. Tutu survived an illness believed to be polio as a baby, and battled tuberculosis as a teenager. He has been in and out of hospital for minor complaints since 2011.
And now on to Cecil the Lion. One would believe that Walter Palmer, the dentist that shot the lion with an bow and arrow, missing his mark so the lion escaped for 40 hours until shot by a marksman in his hunting group, is on plenty of death lists by now. Having paid $50k for the ‘privilege’ of killing a lion, Palmer is now in hiding and his dental practice has closed down. Sadly, court records have shown that Mr Palmer has a felony record in the US after killing a black bear in the state of Wisconsin in 2006. The dentist was given a one-year probation and fined $3,000, having shot the creature outside an authorised zone and then tried to pass it off as having been killed elsewhere, so this is not the first time he’s tried it on. I should offer an extra 200 points for the death of Palmer, alas this would contravene the rules of the Dead Pool.
Finally, a Texas man was hospitalised this week, after being hit in the head by a ricocheting bullet he had aimed at an armadillo. The man decided to shoot the armadillo after seeing it on his property, near the east Texas town of Marietta, just before 3am on Thursday, Cass County sheriff’s officials said. He fired three shots at the armadillo. At least one rebounded and hit the man in the jaw. The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where his jaw was wired shut. It is not known whether the armadillo survived, but we can hope. The incident is the second this year in which a person has been injured in the southern US by a bullet ricocheting off an armadillo. In April, a Georgia man wounded his mother-in-law after he fired a pistol at an armadillo and the bullet bounced off the animal, traveled through the back door of a mobile home and struck the 74-year-old woman in the back. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Americans should not be allowed to own guns!
On This Day
- 1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
- 1790 – The first United States Census is conducted.
- 1869 – Japan‘s samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinōkōshō) is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.
- 1870 – Tower Subway, the world’s first underground tube railway, opens in London, England, United Kingdom.
- 1932 – The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
- 1934 – Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
- 1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
- 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
- 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
Deaths
- 1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (b. 1727)
- 1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, invented the telephone (b. 1847)
- 1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1890)
- 1997 – William S. Burroughs, American author and painter (b. 1914)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Sandra Bullock (51), Kate Beckinsale (42), Arnold Schwarzenegger (68), Taylor Schilling (31), Mick Jagger (72), Helen Mirren (70), Wesley Snipes (53), Lisa Kudrow (52), Jason Statham (48), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (45), Dean Cain (49), J.K. Rowling (50), Laurence Fishburne (54), Jonathan Rhys Mayers (38), Paul Anka (74), Jean Reno (67) and Christopher Nolan (45).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 26th July 2015
Apologies this week, a rather quick and perfunctory edition of the Dead Pool, not much has happened anyhow, so have a quick perusal and we’ll catch up for real next week.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Nova Pilbeam, 95, British actress (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Young and Innocent, Tudor Rose).
- Alex Rocco, 79, American actor (The Godfather, The George Carlin Show, The Facts of Life), Emmy winner (1990), cancer.
- Van Alexander, 100, American big band leader, songwriter-arranger (“A-Tisket, A-Tasket“), film and television composer (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Donna Reed Show), heart failure.
- Josh Greenberg, 28, American technology executive, co-founder of Grooveshark.
- Wayne Carson, 72, American songwriter (“The Letter“, “Always on My Mind“, “Neon Rainbow”).
- Dieter Moebius, 71, Swiss-German electronic musician (Cluster, Harmonia, Moebius & Plank).
- Theodore Bikel, 91, Austrian-born American actor (The Defiant Ones, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof), folk singer and composer.
- E. L. Doctorow, 84, American author (Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The March), complications from lung cancer.
In Other News
Brazil legend Pelé has been released from hospital after successfully undergoing back surgery. The 74-year-old was suffering from a trapped nerve and has had surgery to relieve pain in his back and hip at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo. Also, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has returned home after a week-long treatment in hospital for an unspecified infection, his foundation said. Doctors have asked him to rest, and “we’ll be doing our best not to disappoint them,” his daughter Reverend Mpho Tutu said in a statement.
Miles Frost, the eldest son of Sir David Frost has died at the age of 31 while out jogging. Mr Frost is believed to have collapsed during a run at the family’s holiday home in Oxfordshire on Sunday. Friends said he had appeared fit and healthy and was in “great form” over the past few weeks, with no signs of any health problems. His father Sir David died of a heart attack aged 74 two years ago on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. Just goes to show, being a couch potato isn’t that bad for you.
Sergio Pérez walked away unscathed from a high-speed crash in Friday’s opening practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mexican driver suffered a rear suspension failure and lost control of his Force India on the exit of turn 11 before hitting the barriers on the opposite side of the track. Pérez’s right-front wheel then appeared to get caught underneath his Force India which flipped his car. The former McLaren driver was prompt to inform his team he was “OK” before clambering out of his car. The harrowing incident, which happened one hour into the 90-minute session, comes with the Formula One community mourning the loss of Jules Bianchi who died last week.
On This Day
- 1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.
- 1953 – Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement.
- 1971 – Apollo program: launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission“, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.
Deaths
- 1952 – Eva Perón, Argentinian actress and politician, 25th First Lady of Argentina (b. 1919)
- 1984 – Ed Gein, American murderer (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Terry Scott, English actor (b. 1927)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Jennifer Lopez (46), Prince George (2), Woody Harrelson (54), Gisele Bundchen (35), Benedict Cumberbatch (39), Monica Lewinsky (42), Slash (50), Willem Dafoe (60), Daniel Radcliffe (26), Lynda Carter (64), Anna Paquin (33), Danny Glover (69), Summer Glau (34), Kim Carnes (70), Carlos Santana (68) and Rhys Ivans (48).
Next Week peeps!
Dead Pool 19th July 2015
Welcome all, to a points laden newsletter! Ash, Mark and Paula each get 125 points for correctly guessing that Jules Bianchi would die! Fair play to them all, that’s a huge score for someone that wasn’t one of the Big Three!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Satoru Iwata, 55, Japanese game programmer (Super Smash Bros., Pokémon), president and CEO of Nintendo (since 2002), bile duct cancer.
- Aubrey Morris, 89, British actor (A Clockwork Orange, Love and Death, The Wicker Man).
- Alan Kupperberg, 62, American comic book artist (The Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man), thymus cancer.
- Jules Bianchi, 25, French Formula One driver, head injuries sustained in a race collision.
In Other News
South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu is in “good spirits” after his admission to hospital on Tuesday for an unspecified infection, his family says. His daughter Reverend Mpho Tutu said the infection was “below the belt” but was not in his prostate, where his cancer lies dormant and was being well cared for. It is going to take a few days before he returns home, she said in Cape Town. He retired from public life in 2011 but continues to travel widely. The 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate cancelled a planned trip to Rome in December following another infection. His hospitalization comes a few days after he renewed his wedding vows to his wife Leah Tutu to mark their 60th wedding anniversary.
Pelé has undergone surgery on his back in São Paulo, according to reports. Local media reports say the 74-year-old was suffering from a trapped nerve and has had back surgery at the Albert Einstein hospital. Poor old Pelé underwent prostate surgery at the same hospital in May. The procedure was to treat a condition that creates urinary problems because of an enlarged prostate, doctors said at the time. Tests conducted after that surgery showed there were no tumours.
George HW Bush is in “fair condition” in a hospital after falling and breaking a bone in his neck and is expected to recover from the injury without surgery, his spokesman said. The former US president, who is 91, sustained the injury during a fall at his family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, on Wednesday. Bush’s spokesman was quick to downplay concerns, tweeting that the 41st president was “fine” but likely to be placed in a neck brace. He later added that Bush’s wife, Barbara, was said to have said: “A slip and fall is not going to take out a World War II pilot.” Bush – the oldest living former US president – was hospitalised in Houston over the Christmas period last year for treatment of shortness of breath. In 2012, he spent a lengthy spell in hospital to be treated for bronchitis and other complications. Bush also has lower-body Parkinsons, which causes a loss of balance, and has used wheelchairs since at least 2011. Think I’ll disagree with Barbara!
Cheering news from Buckingham Palace. The Queen has decided to stop breeding corgis or having any more young dogs, because she’s now 88 and can’t bear to leave them behind when she dies. If that’s not a glaring admission that she feels that she’s on the way out, then I don’t know what is!! I’ll not mention the Hitler salute…
And finally, a 101-year-old woman has said she felt no fear as she broke her own world record for being the oldest abseiler, by descending 94m down the side of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Wind and rain did not deter Doris Long, who has been honoured with an MBE for her charity fundraising, as she abseiled down the tower. She last performed the feat on her 100th birthday in May 2014. Long said she was “living in hope” to be able to repeat the challenge next year, when she will be 102.
On This Day
- 1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
- 1843 – Brunel’s steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.
- 1900 – The first line of the Paris Métro opens for operation.
- 1983 – The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.
Deaths
- 2013 – Mel Smith, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1952)
- 2014 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1928)
Last Week’s Birthdays
Donald Sutherland (80), Brigitte Nielsen (52), Harrison Ford (73), Kirsten Bell (35), Bill Cosby (78), Diane Kruger (39), Will Farrell (48), Elizabeth McGovern (54), Vin Diesel (48), Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (68), Forest Whitaker (54), David Hasselhoff (63), Corey Feldman (44), Phoebe Cates (52), Cheech Marin (69), Richard Branson (65), John Glenn (94), Cheryl Ladd (64), Richard Simmons (67), Patrick Stewart (75), Harry Dean Stanton (89), Jackie Earle Haley (54), Matthew Fox (49), Michael Flatley (57), Fatboy Slim (52) and Jesse Ventura (64).
Next Week peeps!
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