2019

Dead Pool 14th July 2019

Apologies for the late issue, life had to take precedence this week. However, a shorter than usual edition for you to read, even though we’ve had quite a spate of deaths over the last week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Sting has cancelled multiple European concert dates due to a mystery illness. The 67-year-old singer announced the news on Twitter on Tuesday just hours after revealing he couldn’t play his upcoming Munich concert under “doctor’s orders”. Taking to social media, the former The Police frontman apologised for “disappointing” any excited fans.  “It is with great regret that Sting’s concerts previously scheduled for Thursday, Jul 11 at Jazzopen in Stuttgart, Germany and Friday, July 12 at the Castle Garden in Slavkov u Brna, Czech Republic will be cancelled,” a statement on his Twitter read. “As reported earlier this week, Sting is under the weather and under doctor’s orders, was forced to also cancel concerts in Ghent, Belgium (Monday July 8) and Munich, Germany (Wednesday, July 10). “Sting sincerely regrets disappointing or causing any inconvenience to the fans.” he post added that fans could obtain refunds for their tickets on his website. Fans are currently none the wiser about the nature of the singer’s health issues. It comes after Sting was also forced to cancel a concert with Jamaican singer Shaggy back in 2018 due to medical reasons.  

Nell Gifford, co-founder of Giffords Circus, has revealed the sad news that she has a year to live. Giffords Circus, based at Fennells Farm in Lypiatt, is a Stroud institution, with many families returning year upon year for each new show. Nell, the creative visionary behind the circus, and also one of its glamorous performers, shared her cancer prognosis in an interview with the Evening Standard yesterday. “I have a poor outlook,” she said. “I’ve been diagnosed with a year to live and things like that and I can hardly remember the feeling of being without cancer. But I’m having loads of treatment under an incredible oncologist, ducking and diving through the NHS and private system.” Nell has kept her nine-year-old twins Red and Cecil fully informed about what’s going on. She said the circus ‘has become a lifeline’. “It always has been. It’s a support system, I’m the happiest I am here on the show. It probably props me up more than I prop it up. In the most calamitous times it’s been what I’ve turned to and what’s contained me and where I’ve felt safe. It’s the community, being by the horses; knowing you have your tribe; it’s cool.” Nell was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago and has now been told the disease has spread to her bones and lymph nodes. Last month she was advised she would need more chemotherapy and since then has been dividing her time between hospital and her circus. Nell created the circus with her former husband, Toti Gifford, in 2000. Since then, it has been at the centre of her life and brought joy to thousands of people. Low-fi and vintage in feel, Giffords is now famed for its magical performances. 

On This Day

  • 1789 – French Revolution: Citizens of Paris storm the Bastille.  
  • 1865 – First ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom die on the descent.  
  • 1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.  
  • 1992 – 386BSD is released by Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz beginning the Open Source operating system revolution. Linus Torvalds releases his Linux soon afterwards.  
  • 2002 – French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Harrison Ford (77), Patrick Stewart (79), Ken Jeong (50), Michael Mando (38), Topher Grace (41), Michelle Rodriguez (41), Anna Friel (42), Cheryl Ladd (68), Tamsin Greig (53), Bill Cosby (82), Stephen Lang (67), Mark Lester (61), Lil’ Kim (45), Caroline Quentin (59), Craig Charles (55), Chiwetel Ejiofor (42), Sofía Vergara (47), Peter Serafinowicz (47), Jessica Simpson (39), John Simm (49), Tom Hanks (63), Richard Roundtree (77), Kelly McGillis (62), Fred Savage (43), Scott Grimes (48), Brian Dennehy (81), Linda Park (41), O.J. Simpson (72), Courtney Love  (55), Richard Wilson (83), Jack White (44),  Kevin Bacon (61), Anjelica Huston (68), Jaden Smith (21), Billy Crudup (51), Jeffrey Tambor (75), Jack Whitehall (31), Shelley Duvall (70), and Ringo Starr (79).


Dead Pool 7th July 2019

After three earthquakes in California, you’d have expected a few celebrities on today’s list, however, the best we can muster is John McCririck and Vinny Jones’ wife. Luckily to fill the gap we have a guest post from Neil G. plus we have to award some points to Paul C. 71 well earned points for the aforementioned John McCririck!  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Stevie Wonder will have a kidney transplant later this year, he has announced. The singer told the crowd about his medical condition as he finished his set at British Summer Time Hyde Park. He said he had found a donor and would perform three more shows before the operation in September, saying: “I’m all good, I’m all good.” Fans greeted the news with a loud, supportive cheer, applauding the 69-year-old singer as he left the stage. He had just finished playing the song Superstition when he told the crowd he wanted to prevent “rumours” spreading about his health. “I’m all good, I’m all good, all good, I have a donor and it’s all good,” he said. “I want you to know, I came here to give you my love and thank you for your love. I love you and God bless you.”     

BBC newsreader Kate Williams has revealed she has a rare form of cancer. Williams, who works for BBC Radio 5 Live, said she was diagnosed with cystic peritoneal mesothelioma in 2017. Following surgery later that year, she said her first annual scan showed no evidence of disease, although there was a chance of reoccurrence. She was only aware of three others in the UK who have the cancer, which affects the abdominal cavity. Williams, who is married with two children, said: “If you look at the medical literature, they often quote 153 cases in the world. “And in the UK I know of three other people, mainly through a Facebook group that I joined. “If you look at mesothelioma it’s not a nice one to look at. It’s very aggressive, malignant, quite often caused by asbestos.” Having a rare disease was “really lonely”, she said. “It’s also quite traumatic because every time [I see a new doctor] I have to explain it,” she added. Describing her course of surgery, she said: “It’s called MOAS – mother of all surgeries. “They took out the cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, greater omentum, lesser omentum, pelvic peritoneum, another bit of my peritoneum.” She added: “I keep saying I’m lucky or it wasn’t too bad – my surgery was only about six hours. Williams said she still had problems with her bowels and stomach as well as weak bones following the surgery and will continue to have annual scans for the foreseeable future – although her first scan in November showed no evidence of disease.  

A ‘relieved’ Chris Froome says he will be following the Tour de France from bed after returning home to start his recovery from the crash which left him seriously injured. Froome, 34, broke his neck, femur, elbow, hip and ribs in the accident on 12th June. “It’s a huge disappointment not to be at the Tour but I’m relieved to finally be out of hospital and home,” he said. Froome hit a wall at 54km/h when he took a hand off his handlebars to blow his nose during a practice ride before stage four of the Criterium du Dauphine in Roanne, France. He would have been chasing a record-equalling fifth victory in the Tour, which starts in Brussels on Saturday. 

On This Day

  • 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.
  • 1954 – Elvis Presley makes his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right”.
  • 1992 – The New York Court of Appeals rules that women have the same right as men to go topless in public.
  • 2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London’s transport system, killing 56 people, including four suicide bombers, and injuring over 700 others.

Deaths

Tales From The Darkside by Neil G.

A cheesy title for the following ramblings, I know – but what else would you call an article for the masterpiece of macabre that is “The Dead Pool”?

I could hardly have called it “The Wistful Musings from the Meadow of My Memories – A List of Those Whom I Wish Dead”.

To be fair though I do think about death a lot, particularly on or around December the 31st when I realise I’ve done no actual research into my Dead Pool list for the following year and it’s due in just a few hours.

I often ponder how I might die, in fact just the other day my father imparted to me recently what I would be receiving as my inheritance, “High cholesterol, dodgy prostate and a stamp collection”. Which of that trio might get me first is anyone’s guess but at this point the stamp collection is the clear favourite.

I mean I’m not actually sure how things could be worse at my coronial hearing:

Dr. – He was found dead surrounded by first editions of the Postal Service Commemorative 1st class stamp depicting the Margret Thatcher years, the excitement caused a peak to his blood pressure that his weak heart just couldn’t take.

Coroner  And his prostate?

Dr. – I beg your pardon?

Coroner – His prostate, man. Did it in some way contribute to his untimely death?

Dr. – Um, no your honour. By the normal method of examination it was perfectly fine…

The normal manner of investigation, I shudder, we men folk – such delicate flowers. A one-off finger (lubed) up the clacker as opposed to a lifetime, post-adolescence, of constant examination of the holiest of holies. A poem about prostate examination…

Oh no, oh no the indignity,

For the fingerer and the fingeree.

Right. Back on track and more about death. Who else has a steaming turd of a pointless list this year?

Seriously, I’m considering leaking to the Hollywood elite the miraculous life extending power of my list, those who at a five to midnight on December the 31st are predicted by the honest news available online to soon be ex-celebrities. Imagine the money on offer to be included in my list of the lucky, guaranteed to grant you an extension of at least five years, nay, if not a complete cure even.

Oh no, not next year, oh no. For my planning has begun in earnest already…

As such I will now retreat to some wistful musings from the meadows of my memories to come up with some names. And if by chance you find yourself wandering by some beautiful field full of long grasses and wildflowers, butterflies silhouetted against the setting sun as the beautiful song of the nightingale sounds out into the void, listen closely you may hear a list being repeated in a manner not dissimilar to that of the diminutive murderess of millions Arya Stark, “Donald Trump, Borris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Benjamin Netanyahu, Simon Cowell…” 

Well you know, you will have stumbled upon the meadow of my memory, take a look around… It’s entirely at your own risk.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sylvester Stallone (73), Eva Green (39), Kevin Hart (40), Ned Beatty (82), Geoffrey Rush (68), Jennifer Saunders (61), 50 Cent (44), Burt Ward (74), Huey Lewis (69), Neil Morrissey (57), Ronni Ancona (51), Tom Cruise (57), Patrick Wilson (46), Kurtwood Smith (76), Yeardley Smith (55), Margot Robbie (29), Lindsay Lohan (33), Larry David (72), Jerry Hall (63), Pamela Anderson (52), Liv Tyler (42), Dan Aykroyd (67), Jean Marsh (85), Debbie Harry (74), David Prowse (84), Vincent D’Onofrio (60), Mike Tyson (53), Katherine Ryan (36), and Cheryl (36).


Dead Pool 30th June 2019

What’s all  this?! “Points?” I hear you say?? Yes!! With the death of the very well known Beth Chapman, our Laura has scored! Well done Laura, 99 points and a boost to fourth place!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler has been rushed to hospital after suffering a stab wound, according to reports. The Media reports that someone called emergency services on Thursday night, to report that someone had stabbed themselves. Adler was apparently found at his home in LA with a stab wound to the stomach, and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was suspected to have been involved in the incident. Adler has struggled with substance abuse for decades. He was kicked out of Guns N’Roses over his issues with addiction in 1990, after achieving worldwide success as one of the original five in the late Eighties. Adler was later inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 2012.  

Rapper Slim 400 was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, according to reports. Local law enforcement told the media that they received a call at approximately 8.30pm on Friday night for a male who had been shot in Compton. Sources say the circumstances of the shooting are unclear, though it’s believed a black vehicle seen leaving the scene may be involved. The rapper is best known for his appearance on the track “Bruisin”, alongside YG and Sad Boy Loko. Podcaster Adam Grandmaison, known as Adam22, wrote on Twitter: “Slim 400 got shot 10 times and is currently in the hospital. Pray for him.” He also posted text screenshots that claimed the rapper had been shot in the face and back.

Former deputy prime minister and Labour veteran John Prescott has been admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke, his family has said. A statement on the 81-year-old’s Twitter account said he was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary on Friday. He is “over the worst” and “talking”, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson told the BBC. A statement from the family of Lord Prescott said the hospital staff had been “remarkable and we cannot thank them enough”. “He is receiving excellent care from the NHS,” they said, praising the “swift actions” of the paramedics and A&E staff. Mr Johnson said Lord Prescott was enormously grateful for the care he had received. “Now it’s about the aftercare – it’s what comes afterwards that is as important as what happens on the day of the stroke itself,” he said. “They want him to get proper rest to get over this, that’s the number one priority, to recover and get over that important after-stage.” He said there had been no concerns for Lord Prescott’s health in the days prior to the stroke and there were “no signs of him slowing down at all”.  

Former West Indies captain Brian Lara says doctors believe his health scare is “nothing major” after he was taken to hospital in Mumbai with chest pain. Lara, 50, had tests on Tuesday after suffering the pain in the gym but hoped to be discharged on Wednesday. “A couple of the tests have come back already,” said Lara in a message on Twitter from Cricket West Indies. “The doctors were quite happy that there is nothing major. I’ll be back in full health very soon.” One of the finest batsman in the game’s history, Lara is in India to perform media duties during the World Cup. “I think I maybe just extended myself too much in the gym this morning and there’s been a bit of pain in my chest,” added Lara. “I’m just letting everyone know I’m fine, I’m recovering and I’ll be back in my hotel room tomorrow. Lara is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen the game has ever seen.  

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is “fine” following two bouts of shaking in public that have sparked concerns about her health. Speaking at the G20 summit in Osaka, she said she was convinced that “this reaction will disappear just as it has arisen”, German news agency DPA said. Asked what lay behind it and whether she had seen a doctor, she said she had “nothing in particular to report”. On Thursday she was seen shaking for two minutes at a ceremony in Berlin. The chancellor, who turns 65 next month, gripped her arms until she became steadier. She was offered a glass of water but did not drink it. The previous incident – which she later blamed on dehydration – saw her shaking while standing next to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in hot sunshine. In 2017 she had an earlier bout of shaking in hot weather on a visit to Mexico as she was attending a military honours ceremony. Reports said that subsequent medical checks had found nothing to be wrong. Mrs Merkel is now in her fourth term as chancellor, a role she began in November 2005. She has said she will leave politics when her current term ends in 2021. She has a reputation for remarkable stamina – during intensive late-night discussions at EU summits, for example. She has been in good health while in office, and even worked from home after a knee operation in 2011; she suffered a fall while skiing in 2014. Her absences were only brief on those occasions. 

On This Day

  • 1905 – Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik. 
  • 1908 – The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event on Earth in human recorded history, resulting in a massive explosion over Eastern Siberia.  
  • 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler‘s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.  
  • 1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London. 
  • 2007 – A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance at Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack.   
  • 2009 – Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300, crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, killing 152 of the 153 people on board. A 14-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survives the crash.

Deaths

  • 2012 – Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician, 7th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1915)   
  • 2017 – Barry Norman, English television presenter (b. 1933)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Gary Busey (75), Amanda Donohoe (57), John Cusack (53), Mel Brooks (93), Kathy Bates (71), Felicia Day (40), Alice Krige (65), Aileen Quinn (48), Elon Musk (48), Tobey Maguire (44),  Courtney Ford (41), J.J. Abrams (53), Meera Syal (58), Ariana Grande (26), Ricky Gervais (58), Carly Simon (74), Iain Glen (58), Nancy Allen (69), Peter Weller (72), Mick Fleetwood (72), Selma Blair (47), Frances McDormand (62), Joss Whedon (55), and Bryan Brown (72).


Dead Pool 23rd June 2019

Yet another pointless week, however loads of interesting stories, in fact, too many, so I’ve saved some for next week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has revealed that he has been diagnosed with throat cancer. Due to the diagnosis, the heavy metal band have cancelled most of their forthcoming 2019 tour. “I’ve been diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s clearly something to be respected and faced head on – but I’ve faced obstacles before. I’m working closely with my doctors, and we’ve mapped out a treatment plan which they feel has a 90 per cent success rate. Treatment has already begun,” Mustaine wrote in an Facebook post. The recently announced “Megacruise” taking place between 13-19 October will take place as scheduled, “and the band will be a part of it in some form”, Mustaine wrote. They will also continue to work in the studio on the follow-up to their 2016 album Euphoria, which Mustaine said he “can’t wait for everyone to hear”. Mustaine founded Megadeth more than 30 years ago, pioneering the sound that would become known as thrash metal.  

Angela Merkel has said she is “fine” after her body was seen shaking uncontrollably during an official ceremony. The German chancellor blamed dehydration for the episode, telling reporters: “Since then I’ve drunk at least three glasses of water, which I apparently needed, and now I’m doing very well.” The violent trembling, which raised concern about her health, took place as she welcomed the president of Ukraine to Berlin, on a hot 30 degree day. The chancellor appeared to recover as the ceremony continued, walking down the red carpet with Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukranian president Mr Zelensky said he would have come to Ms Merkel’s rescue if she had been in any danger, telling: “She was standing next to me and completely safe.” Germany’s strict privacy laws mean it is not known whether Ms Merkel has any health problems. In 2014 she postponed a television interview at the last minute after reports that she was feeling weak, though her spokesperson said was able to carry it out later after eating and drinking. The Chancellor is due to step down as Germany’s head of government when her current term runs out in 2021. She has already resigned as leader of her conservative CDU party and give the reins to her protege, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer – widely known as “AKK”.    

Alice Cooper has revealed he’s made a death pact with his wife. The 71-year-old rock star, who has been married to Sheryl Goddard, 61, for more than 40 years, suggested he will kill himself if his wife dies first in a brand new interview. “We’ve made a pact – there is no way of surviving without each other,” he said. “I couldn’t live without her. We always said there will never be a time when one of us will be mourning the other.” Cooper – whose real name is Vincent Damon Furnier – continued: “Whenever it does happen, we are going to go together. I’ve been married 43 years to the greatest girl in the world. We have never cheated on each other.” Goddard, a dancer and choreographer, performed for the rock star in the 1970s and 1980s. They married in 1976 and have three children together. Despite a brief break in the early 1980s when Goddard filed for divorce, the couple reconciled and have been together ever since. Goddard will perform with the Alice Cooper band in October this year when they come to the UK, and Cooper said: “She dances better now than she did in 1975. You would think people would want to get away from their wives but she is my best friend.” Cooper, who admitted to substance abuse in his younger years, said he weighs the same as he did when he was 30, crediting his health to not smoking and not having had an alcoholic drink for nearly 40 years. He said his mother, who is 96, is “indestructible” and that “it must be in the genes”.  

And finally, you may have noticed that I listed an obscure Indian magician in todays list, well he was lowered into a river while shackled in a bid to recreate Harry Houdini’s world-famous trick  and has managed to drown, police confirmed. Chanchal Lahiri was meant to escape and swim to safety but did not emerge from the Hooghly river in West Bengal state. Crowds who watched him take the plunge on Sunday alerted the police, who then launched a search operation. His body, which washed up some 1k from the site of the incident, was identified late on Monday. Mr Lahiri, also known as Mandrake, was lowered into the river from a boat for his trick. He was shackled with six locks and a chain as spectators on two boats watched him. Several people had also gathered by the shore and some stood on the landmark Howrah Bridge in Kolkata. According to the Press Trust of India, the crowd started to panic after Mr Lahiri did not appear after more than 10 minutes!! Jayanta Shaw, a photographer with a local newspaper, witnessed Mr Lahiri attempting the trick. He told the BBC that he spoke to him before the magician started his act. “I asked him why he risked his life for magic,” Mr Shaw said. “He smiled and said, ‘If I do it right, it’s magic. If I make a mistake, it becomes tragic.’” 

On This Day

  • 1960 – The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.  
  • 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the Watergate break-ins.  
  • 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.  
  • 1996 – The Nintendo 64 home video game console is first released in Japan, with Nintendo ultimately selling 32.93 million units worldwide.  
  • 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.

Deaths

  • 1998 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish-American actress (b. 1911)  
  • 2006 – Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, founded Spelling Television (b. 1923)
  • 2011 – Peter Falk, American actor (b. 1927)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Meryl Streep (70), Bruce Campbell (61), Kris Kristofferson (83), Lindsay Wagner (70), Stephen Chow (57), Prunella Scales (87), Cyndi Lauper (66), Tim Russ (63), Chris Pratt (40), Juliette Lewis (46), Lana Wachowski (54), Lana Del Rey (34), Prince William (37), Nicole Kidman (52), Olympia Dukakis (88), Robert Rodriguez (51), John Goodman (67), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (30), Danny Aiello (86), Lionel Richie (70), Brian Wilson (77), Zoe Saldana (41), Aidan Turner (36), Kathleen Turner (65), Paula Abdul (57), Richard Madden (33), Isabella Rossellini (67), Paul McCartney (77), Jodie Whittaker (37), and James Bolam (84).


Dead Pool 16th June 2019

A controversial week, as Trump and Macron’s symbolic friendship tree dies; we have bad news for Trish, although her pick for a Woman, Grace Jones passed away, she’s not been listed on the Wiki obituaries so I am unable to dish out the points until there’s an entry! Again, the list of deaths is rather bereft, oh how we hark back to the days of David Bowie and Robin Williams! Let’s set the flying monkeys free, carrying their suicide enabling kits and gremlin luck infusers! 

Also as a side note, Tony Berry of the Houghton Weavers has died. Nickie thought I’d instantly know who he was, but sadly I had no idea of his earthy existence, nor the band, or ever heard any of their songs. So here’s the question to you Poolers, who has heard of this chap? 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Veteran broadcaster Bob Harris is to take a break from presenting his BBC Radio 2 country show after suffering an aortic dissection. The condition occurs when there is a tear in the wall of the major artery carrying blood out of the heart. “The aorta is basically the M1 of the body and any damage is regarded as extremely serious,” said Harris. “I am not exactly sure when I will be on air again but I am on the road to recovery now,” he continued. Harris, known to fans as “Whispering Bob”, said he suffered a tear to his aorta while out walking 10 days ago. “It was an incredibly scary moment and I am massively indebted to the ambulance crew who attended so promptly,” he said. Harris, 73, also paid tribute to the Intensive Care team and consultants at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, his wife Trudie and his “wonderful” family. Paul Sexton will host the next two editions of Harris’s hour-long show, which airs on Thursdays at 21:00. Harris, who was made an OBE in 2011 for services to music broadcasting, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007.  

Chris Froome has admitted he is lucky to be alive after speaking for the first time since his horror cycling accident. The four-time Tour de France winner crashed at nearly 35mph during his fourth-stage reconnaissance of the Criterium du Dauphine on Wednesday. Lying in his hospital bed, Froome also paid tribute to cycling fans following his life-threatening crash. “I know how lucky I am to be here today and how much I owe to all the paramedics and medical staff on the race, whilst this is a setback and a major one at that, I am focusing on looking forward. There is a long road to recovery ahead, but that recovery starts now and I am fully focused on returning back to my best.” The post was issued with a picture of Froome giving the thumbs up from his bed at the University Hospital of St Etienne where he underwent a six-hour operation. It has been reported that the 34-year-old suffered a fractured neck and faces six weeks in hospital. He also has a fractured right femur, a broken hip, a fractured elbow and fractured ribs and was in intensive care following the surgery. Froome is not expected to compete again this year. Froome took his hand off his handlebars to blow his nose before a gust of wind destabilised his bike. He crashed into a wall and lost consciousness. The Briton was airlifted to hospital where he has since been joined by his wife Michelle and Team Ineos doctor Richard Usher.   

Paul Sinha, one of the professional quizzers on ITV’s The Chase, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease. “I will fight this with every breath I have,” tweeted the 49-year-old comic, going on to share further details of his diagnosis in a blog post. Sinha, a former GP, said he was told he had Parkinson’s – a degenerative brain condition – last month. He said it had been “a really, really tough two weeks” but said he did not “consider himself unlucky”. “Whatever the next stage of my life holds for me, many others have it far worse,” he continued. Sinha said he intended to “keep Chasing, keep writing and performing comedy [and] keep quizzing” while joking that appearing on Dancing on Ice was probably “out of the question”. “A lot of people have asked ‘What can I do to help?'” he concluded. “The answer is to treat me exactly the same as before.” Last month the BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones revealed he has Parkinson’s, whose symptoms include involuntary tremors. Sir Billy Connolly and actor Alan Alda have also spoken about how they deal with the illness since being diagnosed in 2013 and 2015 respectively.   

And just as you thought life wasn’t harrowing enough, a glass ledge on the 103rd floor of the tallest skyscraper in Chicago cracked under visitors’ feet on Monday night. The all-glass area of the Willis Tower, in which sightseers can view the city of Chicago from a high point, is called the Skydeck. Its protective top layer is made of laminated glass, which is built to maintain its integrity even while it cracks. On Monday, it cracked into “thousands of pieces,” according to WBBM. In a video shared on Facebook, visitors appear nervous and scared, and immediately huddle away from the glass area. The Willis Tower, which was called the Sears Tower until 2009, said no one was ever in danger. The layer is known as the “Ledge,” and was constructed in 2009, after Tower officials noticed “the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week.” Build to hold five tons, the attraction give tourists and residents an immersive view of the midwestern city. Still, tourists appeared frightened, as the incident was, of course, not supposed to happen. “There was a woman with two kids and they looked really pale and scared because the floor just cracked,” witness Jesus Pintado told WBBM. “I’m scared of heights in general so when I saw that happen, I was like nope, not going on,” Karly Pintado, who was also on the 103rd floor that day, said.  

And finally, it’s the contest Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fans never knew they wanted. On Sunday, Justin Bieber challenged Tom Cruise to join him in the octagon to solve a problem so fiendishly difficult no-one had previously bothered to think of it. Why does a 25-year-old pop star randomly decide to try to goad a 56-year-old movie star into fighting him? Needless to say, a calculation so onerous quickly won the attention of the very best minds the social media platform had to offer. Former UFC champion Conor McGregor was quick to talk up the bout’s prospects. “Does Cruise have the sprouts to fight?” he inquired, simultaneously offering his own company’s services in hosting the clash and then offering to fight actor Mark Wahlberg on the undercard. Sprouts or no sprouts, many took the view that in this match-up it’s Bieber who’s the turkey. Cruise famously performs his own stunts and the physicality exhibited in action films like the Mission Impossible series would give him the edge, many social media users argued. Others were just left confused by the whole thing. “At some point tonight Tom Cruise’s agent will have to call Tom Cruise and tell him Justin Bieber has challenged him to a fight,” another user tweeted. Tom Cruise is yet to respond. UPDATE: Justin Bieber doesn’t want to actually take on Top Gun star Tom Cruise in a fight as the pop star admitted that he wasn’t really serious about fighting the actor. Speaking recently with TMZ, Justin Bieber admitted he was only joking about the fight. Bieber also admitted that he said it almost randomly and didn’t realise the traction his challenge to Tom Crusie would get: “I don’t know him. He’s tight. The story is I saw an interview with him, and he was just on my mind. It was just a random tweet. I do that stuff sometimes.” “I think he’d probably whoop my ass in a fight.” It seems we won’t get to see a match between Tom Cruise and Justin Bieber after all. 

On This Day

  • 1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England kills 183 children.
  • 1884 – The first purpose-built roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson’s “Switchback Railway”, opens in New York’s Coney Island amusement park.
  • 1911 – IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.
  • 1944 – At age 14, George Junius Stinney, Jr. becomes the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century.
  • 1961 – Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union.
  • 1963 – Soviet Space Program: Vostok 6 Mission: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Courteney Cox (55), Helen Hunt (56), Neil Patrick Harris (46), Ice Cube (50), Jim Belushi (65), Yasmine Bleeth (51), Donald Trump (73), Boy George (58), Alan Carr (43), Stellan Skarsgård (68), Chris Evans (38), Ally Sheedy (57), Tim Allen (66), Malcolm McDowell (76), Richard Thomas (68), Simon Callow (70), Kathy Burke (55), Richard Ayoade (42), Joshua Jackson (41), Peter Dinklage (50), Shia LaBeouf (33), Adrienne Barbeau (74), Hugh Laurie (60), Jane Goldman (49), Elizabeth Hurley (54), Jürgen Prochnow (78), Johnny Depp (56), Natalie Portman (38), Michael J. Fox (58), Eddie Marsan (51), Griffin Dunne (64), and Nancy Sinatra (79).


Dead Pool 9th June 2019

We’re still stuck in the doldrums, we really need a big name to drop soon or this year is going to be a wash out! We’re halfway through the year and most of us haven’t even scored yet! Darn these healthy celebrities!    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Brian Wilson has postponed his forthcoming June tour over mental health concerns. The  Beach Boys legend, 76, issued a statement to announce that he would not be able to go ahead with the Pet Sounds and Greatest Hits Live tour as scheduled, after a recent surgery caused him to feel “mentally insecure”.  “It is no secret that I have been living with mental illness for many decades,” the statement on Wilson’s website read. “There were times when it was unbearable but with doctors and medications I have been able to live a wonderful, healthy and productive life with support from my family, friends and fans who have helped me through this journey. “As you may know in the last year or so I’ve had 3 surgeries on my back. The surgeries were successful and I’m physically stronger than I’ve been in a long time.” “However, after my last surgery i started feeling strange and it’s been pretty scary for a while,” he continued. ”I was not feeling like myself. Mentally insecure is how I’d describe it. We’re not sure what is causing it but i do know that it’s not good for me to be on the road right now so I’m heading back to Los Angeles.” He said he plans to rest, recover and work with his doctors, and that he was looking forward to recovery and “seeing everyone later in the year”.  

A former nurse has been convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany and handed a life sentence. Judge Sebastian Buehrmann described Niels Högel’s killing spree as “incomprehensible”. Högel, who is already serving life for two murders, administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care between 1999 and 2005. He is believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany’s modern history. Prosecutors said he attacked patients in order to impress colleagues by subsequently trying to revive them. A former colleague told the German newspaper Bild that Högel was nicknamed “Resuscitation Rambo” because of the way he “pushed everyone else aside” when patients needed to be resuscitated. On the last day of his trial, Högel, 42, asked the families of his victims for forgiveness for his “horrible acts”. “I would like to sincerely apologise for everything I did to you over the course of years,” he said. Högel had been accused of murdering 100 patients in the northern cities of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg. Police believe he may have killed far more but the cremation of bodies had destroyed any possible evidence. Högel had confessed to 55 murders and the court in Oldenburg convicted him of 85, German media reported. Högel’s killing spree was stopped when he was caught in the act of administering unprescribed medication to a patient in 2005 in Delmenhorst. Records at the Oldenburg hospital showed rates of deaths and resuscitations had more than doubled when Högel was on shift!!!  

A botched helicopter rescue (video in the link) of a hiker from a mountain in Arizona has resulted in the injured 74-year-old woman being spun round at high speed while strapped to a stretcher as she was being winched up into the aircraft. The incident, which has been captured on film, shows the aircraft crew attempting to winch the woman up into the helicopter. She had reportedly suffered a head injury from a fall while hiking on Piestewa Peak – the second highest point in the Phoenix mountains – on Tuesday morning. As the stretcher nears the belly of the aircraft, it begins to rotate faster and faster until it is a whirling blur. The winch is then lowered somewhat, and the speed of the spin falls, but as they again try to pull up the stretcher the spin goes to an even higher rate. Unable to immediately bring the stretcher on board, the helicopter flies away with the woman strapped to the stretcher on the dangling line, spinning at high speed over the mountains. Shelley Jameson, assistant chief of the Phoenix Fire Department, told us: “We carry out mountain rescues all of the time, but this one gathered quite a bit of attention because during the rescue she was packaged on a hoist in a stokes basket and it started to spin.” Captain Bobby Dubnow said: “As dramatic as it looks … she suffered no ill-effects from that spin other than being a little bit dizzy. The reports from the hospital are that she is stable and suffered no effects from the spin.”

On This Day

  • AD 68 – Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer‘s Iliad, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
  • 1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
  • 1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.

Deaths

  • AD 68 – Nero, Roman emperor (b. 37)
  • 1870 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (b. 1812)
  • 1958 – Robert Donat, English actor (b. 1905)
  • 2013 – Iain Banks, Scottish author (b. 1954)
  • 2014 – Rik Mayall, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1958)
  • 2017 – Adam West, American actor (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Liam Neeson (67), Bill Hader (41), Karl Urban (47), Anna Torv (40), Julianna Margulies (52), Griffin Dunne (63), Nancy Sinatra (78), Kanye West (41), Michael Cera (31), Helen Baxendale (49), Iggy Azalea (29), Bear Grylls (45), Tom Jones (79), Anna Kournikova (38), Jason Isaacs (56), Paul Giamatti (52), Josie Lawrence (60), Robert Englund (72), Sandra Bernhard (64), Mark Wahlberg (48), Mel Giedroyc (51), Angelina Jolie (44), Noah Wyle (48), Bruce Dern (83), Russell Brand (44), Sean Pertwee (55), Bradley Walsh (59), Imogen Poots (30), James Purefoy (55), Suzi Quatro (69), Morena Baccarin (40), Liam Cunningham (58), Zachary Quinto (42), Justin Long (41), Dominic Cooper (41), and Dana Carvey (64).


Dead Pool 2nd June 2019

Who are these dead people? Are they even Z list celebrities? Who  knows… One thing is for certain, no points have been awarded this week! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

 In Other News

Father Christmas… Sorry, Julian Assange was too ill to appear at his court hearing in London on Thursday, his lawyer said. The WikiLeaks founder, 47, is fighting against being extradited to the United States over charges related to leaking US government secrets. He had been due to appear at his case management hearing via video link from Belmarsh Prison but lawyer Gareth Peirce said he was “not very well”. According to WikiLeaks, Assange has been moved to the medical ward in jail. A spokesman for the whistleblowing website said it had “grave concerns” about Assange’s health. “During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight,” the spokesman said. “Defence lawyer for Assange, Per Samuelson, said that Julian Assange’s health state last Friday was such ‘that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him’.” The five-minute hearing on Thursday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court was the second in the Australian’s extradition case. The US Justice Department has charged Assange with receiving and publishing thousands of classified documents linked to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Thursday, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot set the next hearing for 12 June and suggested the hearing could take place in Belmarsh, adding: “It may be more convenient for everyone if it’s there.” Assange sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. He is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in south east London for bail violations. Earlier this month, Swedish prosecutors reopened their investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies.  

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has checked into a “wellness retreat” in the US, reportedly for stress. The actor – who’s known for playing Jon Snow – began getting treatment several weeks ago. His publicist told Radio 1 Newsbeat that Kit was working on “some personal issues.” In a recent interview Kit spoke of “a huge heave of emotion” after filming the final scenes of Game of Thrones, which he worked on for eight seasons. In a different interview – the 32-year-old actor told Esquire what it was like filming Jon Snow’s final scenes. He said: “The final day of shooting, I felt fine… I felt fine… I felt fine… Then I went to do my last shots and started hyperventilating a bit. “Then they called, ‘Wrap!’ And I just… broke down. It was this onslaught of relief and grief about not being able to do this again.” A documentary about the end of Game of Thrones called The Last Watch was released on Sunday. It showed Kit crying when he learned about his character’s ending. Kit – who was in Game of Thrones from the first episode until the last – told Variety about the effects of working on such an intense show for a long period. “You have these in-jokes, and these relationships that thrive for eight years,” he explained. “That’s a long time for those jokes to be going, and they never felt old or tired. In the last season, I was like, these are getting tired now. “And I think they got tired because we could see the end coming. “That’s a way of emotionally detaching from something: relationships very slightly starting to strain, just on the edges, just frayed.” Must be awful knowing your career is over at such a young age…. 

Nepal’s tourism authority has denied accusations that the rise in Mount Everest deaths is solely due to overcrowding. The department’s  director general Dandu Raj Ghimire said other factors including adverse weather conditions had also contributed. Ten climbers have been reported dead or missing this season. Photos of long queues near the summit have been widely shared as record numbers ascended the mountain in May. Mr Ghimire said 381 people had ascended Everest this spring but as periods of fine weather had been short, the number of people on the routes had been “higher than expected”. A local tour organiser told AFP that one of the climbers, Nihal Ashpak Bhagwan, died of exhaustion after being “stuck in traffic for more than 12 hours”. Mr Ghimire offered “heartfelt condolences to those who’ve passed away and prayers to those who are still missing”. “Mountaineering in the Himalayas is in itself an adventurous, complex and sensitive issue requiring full awareness yet tragic accidents are unavoidable,” he said. Basically, they don’t give a fuck, just pay your royalty fee of $11,000 and take your chances. 

And finally, there was an empty seat in the front row when Good Omens had its world premiere in London on Tuesday. But that’s not because organisers had trouble filling the gigantic (and newly reopened) Odeon in Leicester Square – quite the opposite, the event was packed out. In fact, a seat was deliberately kept vacant for Terry Pratchett, the co-writer of the original novel, who died in 2015. As a tribute, his trademark hat was placed in the front row as the premiere got under way. According to Gaiman, one of Pratchett’s last requests was that the novel be adapted for the screen. “[Pratchett said] ‘You have to make it into television because I want to see it before the lights go out,'” explained Gaiman at the premiere. “I said OK, figuring I had six or seven years of Terry left. And then he died, which suddenly turned into a last request.” Gaiman took on the task of adapting the story himself – giving the project a stamp of approval that helped it attract some stellar names to the cast. 

On This Day

  • 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
  • 1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
  • 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised.
  • 1962 – During the 1962 FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tom Holland (22), Morgan Freeman (81), Brian Cox (72), Jonathan Pryce (71), Amy Schumer (37), Rene Auberjonois (78), Heidi Klum (45), Robert Powell (74), Alanis Morissette (44), Clint Eastwood (89), Colin Farrell (43), Lea Thompson (58), Brooke Shields (54), Tom Berenger (70), Sharon Gless (76), Stephen Tobolowsky (68), Mark Sheppard (55), Colm Meaney (66), Duncan Jones (48), Keir Dullea (83), Harry Enfield (58), Leigh Francis (46), Jennifer Ellison (36), Annette Bening (61), Danny Elfman (66), Mel B (44), Kylie Minogue (51), Julie T. Wallace (58), Michelle Collins (57), Paul Bettany (48), Joseph Fiennes (49), Rachel Parris (35), Helena Bonham Carter (53), Pam Grier (70), Bobcat Goldthwait (57), Lenny Kravitz (55), and Stevie Nicks (71).


Dead Pool 26th May 2019

Nil points this week, and a lacklustre week for news too. Definitely time to send out the flying monkeys I feel… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

 In Other News

Broadcaster Bill Turnbull has spoken of living with cancer, declaring it is “out to get him”, but that since he finished chemotherapy “just feeling normal feels fantastic”. Bill, 63, was on steroids last year after having several rounds of chemo. He said: “I’ve had a holiday from it now for 10 months. I still have bad days, but I get through.” The Classic FM host was speaking at the Chelsea Flower Show, where he met up with weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, his old BBC Breakfast colleague. He said: “My hair has grown back and I’m letting my hair grow long just to celebrate. I know I looked awful last year. “I saw pictures of myself and I was, ‘Oh Lord, that was just ghastly’. I was in the middle of the treatment.” In November 2017, he was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer, which had spread to his pelvis, hips, legs and spine. He said: “I’m keeping it at bay is the best way to put it. The first prognosis I got was 10 years, then I went to a different doctor and he said 12 to 14, but his ambition was to get me to 80. “But the boundary keeps getting pushed back. You can never tell, but looking at the horizon, the horizon is getting further away with treatments and stuff, so you have to stay positive.”  

Comedian Freddie Starr lived as a recluse in Spain after falling on tough times which left him single, drowning in debt and battling health troubles. The funnyman died alone at his home in Feungirola at the age of 76 and his body was found by his carer. Subsequent reports suggest Starr had become housebound and stopped talking to his friends and neighbours after racking up massive debts in the years before his death. He’s believed to have spent most of his time alone at the two-bed £170,000 townhouse in the hills above the town of Mijas. Starr got himself into thousands of pounds-worth of debt from unpaid water bills and community fees. Also his health had been causing him troubles over the last few years and he went into a downward spiral after his appearance on I’m A Celeb back in 2011. After leaving the jungle, he was caught up in Operation Yewtree after an allegation of sex abuse but was later told he would not be prosecuted. It emerged yesterday that Starr – real name Frederick Fowell – faced being made homeless over a £500,000 debt to the woman who accused him of groping her. Lawyers acting for Karin Ward had reportedly secured a “freezing order” on his Spanish home. They had obtained a preventative embargo from a Costa del Sol court in January 2017 for £380,000. Starr had sought damages in the High Court in July 2015 for alleged slander and libel over her claims that he groped her as a 15-year-old but failed and amassed nearly £1 million legal bill.  

A convicted offender accidentally shot himself in the testicles while having drugs hidden in his anus, say police and prosecutors in Washington state. Cameron Jeffrey Wilson, 27, was forced to seek treatment at a Wenatchee city hospital after the pistol in his front pocket discharged sending a bullet through his groin. He is accused of trying to hide the gun in the aftermath of the violent mishap. A balloon full of marijuana was seen falling out of his anus while doctors operated on his gunshot wound, according to the Wenatchee World News. Police called to the hospital to investigate the unusual 5th April shooting searched Wilson’s car and discovered a bag of methamphetamine inside a pair of blood-stained jeans he had been wearing while shot, Chelan County authorities have claimed. Later that month – while Wilson was being strip-searched by police at Chelan County Regional Justice Centre following his arrest on initial drugs charges – a second balloon full of marijuana slipped out of his anus. After being booked at the county jail on 18th April, he called his girlfriend from jail to tell her to keep silent about the accidental shooting and its aftermath – a call recorded by the authorities. Wilson had allegedly told his girlfriend to hide the pistol at a friend’s house before they drove to the hospital on 5th April. The 27-year-old has been charged with unlawful drugs possession, unlawful weapons possession and tampering with a witness. Reportedly convicted 13 times, he has been detained in jail on a $110,000 (£100,000) bail. He due in court to face the charges on 18th June.

On This Day

  • 1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 23,000.
  • 1897 – Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
  • 1986 – The European Community adopts the European flag.
  • 2004 – Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Doug Jones (59), John C. Reilly (54), Jim Broadbent (70), Alfred Molina (66), Priscilla Presley (74), Gary Burghoff (76), Tommy Chong (81), Bob Dylan (78), Eric Cantona (53), Cillian Murphy (42), Octavia Spencer (46), Mike Myers (55), Ian McKellen (79), Frank Oz (74), Joan Collins (86), Melissa McBride (54), Ginnifer Goodwin (41), Naomi Campbell (49), Judge Reinhold (62), Noel Fielding (46), Mr. T (67), Jack Gleeson (27), Cher (73), Louis Theroux (49), Grace Jones (71), and James Fox (80).


Dead Pool 19th May 2019

Welcome all, as today is a points extravaganza I’ll just get on with it! With the death of Doris Day, the following have scored 53 points each! Christine, Paula, Rachel, Paul G, Dave, Julie, Louise, and a special hooray for Millie who had her listed as her Woman, so she earns a whopping 153 points!! 

Not to be outdone by such scoring, Paul C and Debbie correctly guessed Herman Wouk would die too, so 47 points each there as well! So that’s changed the league table somewhat and livens up the Dead Pool as it were… 

And a special RIP to Bob Hawke. The former Aussie PM who set a world record in 1953 by drinking a yard of ale in 11 seconds at Oxford’s Turf Tavern, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News 

Former US President Jimmy Carter has undergone surgery for a broken hip after falling at his home in Georgia, his office says. The 94-year-old, the oldest living former US president, was on his way to go turkey hunting when he fell. Mr Carter was recovering comfortably at a medical centre in Americus, near his home in Plains, with his wife, Rosalynn, a statement said. His surgeon was quoted as saying that the operation was successful. “President Carter said his main concern is that turkey season ends this week, and he has not reached his limit. He hopes the State of Georgia will allow him to rollover the unused limit to next year,” the Carter Center said. Since leaving the White House, Mr Carter has remained active, carrying out humanitarian work with his Carter Center in recent years. In 2015, Mr Carter – who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 – disclosed that cancer that had been found on his liver had also been discovered on his brain. After four months of treatment, he announced that he was cancer-free. At the time, he said: “I’ve had a wonderful life… I’ve got thousands of friends and I’ve had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence, I’ve just gotta make sure I kill all those turkeys before I go.”  

Video footage has shown Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger being attacked at an event in South Africa. The 71-year-old former California governor was interacting with fans during a skipping competition at his Arnold Classic Africa sporting event when a man drop-kicked him from behind. The attacker is seen being restrained following the incident. Schwarzenegger thanked fans on Twitter for their concern, but insisted there was “nothing to worry about”. The video footage, shared widely on social media, shows Schwarzenegger posing for photos and filming at the Johannesburg event on Saturday when the man attacks him with a flying kick. The Terminator star stumbles forward a step after the kick, while the attacker falls to the ground, where he is immediately restrained by a security guard. The man was later handed over to police officers, event officials said. Schwarzenegger tweeted to his more than four million followers: “I thought I was just jostled by the crowd, which happens a lot. I only realised I was kicked when I saw the video like all of you.” He later urged fans to focus on the athletes at the event instead of the attack. 

Jeremy Kyle has said he is “devastated”  following the death of a guest and cancellation of his TV show. The controversial long-running chat show was axed by ITV bosses after the death of guest Steve Dymond last week. MPs and broadcasting regulators are now looking into the care of participants in reality and factual TV shows. “Myself and the production team I have worked with for the last 14 years are all utterly devastated by the recent events, especially since my cash cow has suddenly evaporated” Kyle said in a statement. “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Steve’s family and friends at this incredibly sad time, fuck knows what I’ll do now, perhaps I’ll just stand outside a McDonalds or a Job Centre and belittle those who walk by.” he added. On Wednesday, MPs announced the welfare of guests on TV shows is to be scrutinised in the wake of the death of Mr Dymond. The Commons media select committee is to investigate whether TV companies give guests enough support and media regulator Ofcom is examining whether to update its code of conduct. Mr Dymond was found dead on 9th May, a week after filming the show, during which he took a lie detector test.  

And finally, two tales made better or worse by mobile phones! A man has died after his head was trapped in a freak accident with an electronic seat at a Vue cinema in Birmingham. The cinema-goer went into cardiac arrest after his head was crushed by an electric footrest while he was attempting to rescue his phone. The accident is said to have taken place when the man dropped his phone between two seats in the middle of a film at Vue cinema in Star City, which is in the north east of the city. He is thought to have got trapped when the seat’s footrest clamped down on his head. After his partner and staff at the cinema struggled to release him he was eventually liberated and taken to hospital. Birmingham City Council has begun a health and safety investigation. But he might count himself lucky compared to farmer Kurt Kaser, from Nebraska, who was unloading corn last month when he climbed out of his truck and accidentally stepped into the opening of a grain hopper. The 63-year-old said he could remember telling himself “this ain’t good, this is not good at all” as he tried and failed to pull his leg out. With no mobile phone near him to call for help and the knowledge that no one would come to his aid, the farmer of 40 years made the agonising decision to amputate his own leg. He said: “I thought ‘how long am I going to stay conscious here?’ because I didn’t know what to expect. Then I felt it jerk me again and I thought it was going to grab me again and pull me in further. I had my pocket knife and I thought ‘well, the only way I’m getting outta here is to cut it off’ so I just started sawing on it. When I was cutting it, the nerve endings I could feel them just ping every time I’d start sawing around that pipe and all at once it went and let me go so I got the heck out of there.” After freeing himself, Mr Kaser then had to crawl 150ft across the farm to the nearest phone to call for help. He said he could not remember much pain or blood but he never lost consciousness and could recall the journey to the hospital. Well done that man! 

On This Day

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Tina Fey (49), Miriam Margolyes (78), Yun-Fat Chow (64), Toyah Willcox (61), Paul Whitehouse (61), Andrea Corr (45), Megan Fox (33), Pierce Brosnan (66), Danny Trejo (75), David Boreanaz (50), Janet Jackson (53), Stephen Mangan (51), Cate Blanchett (50), Tim Roth (58), George Lucas (75), Sofia Coppola (48), Francesca Annis (74), Danny Huston (57), Greg Davies (51), Martine McCutcheon (43), Siân Phillips (86), Iwan Rheon (34), Samantha Morton (42), Robert Pattinson (33), Harvey Keitel (80), Zoë Wanamaker (70), Mark Heap (62), Stephen Colbert (55), Stevie Wonder (69), Rami Malek (38), Malin Akerman (41), Emilio Estevez (57), Catherine Tate (51), Gabriel Byrne (69), Ving Rhames (60), Jason Biggs (41), Stephen Baldwin (53), and Holly Valance (36).


Dead Pool 12th May 2019

A quick round up this week, I’m sure you all have better things to do. A few unexpected deaths this week, but aren’t they all!    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News 

For those of you who follow wrestling, you’ll be rather surprised to hear that Cesar Barron, known as Silver King, a professional wrestler and actor has died after collapsing during a bout in London. He was a star in his native Mexico and appeared alongside the comic actor Jack Black in the 2005 film Nacho Libre. The 51-year-old was performing at the Roundhouse in Camden when he reportedly fell to the canvas. A fellow Mexican wrestler paid tribute to his “great rival”, saying: “He went as he wanted: fighting!” El Hijo del Santo, aka Jorge Rodriguez, tweeted his “deep regret” at the death of his “partner in so many battles”. Barron had been in the middle of a match at the Greatest Show of Lucha Libre event on Saturday. Reports in Mexican media suggest he may have suffered a heart attack. Roberto Carrera Maldonado, who attended the fight, said it initially looked like his collapse was part of the show. “It felt like it was staged,” he told the media. “Obviously it was quite normal in the fight.” But the wrestler stayed on the floor despite the referee’s efforts to revive him. Footage posted online shows the referee and several other men coming to his aid after he collapsed. “All of us were really shocked – it wasn’t clear what was happening,” Mr Carrera said. “I had the impression they didn’t know what to do.”  

Former Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry was laid to rest in a “mushroom suit”, his daughter has revealed, but what exactly is this eco-friendly burial option? Sophie Perry spoke in an Instagram post of how mushrooms now hold an entirely new meaning for her, as she praised her late father’s alternative mode of interment. He died in March after suffering a massive stroke. “Any explanation I give will not do justice to the genius that is the mushroom burial suit, but it is essentially an eco friendly burial option via mushrooms,” she posted from the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in California. “My dad discovered it, and was more excited by this than I have ever seen him. He was buried in this suit, one of his final wishes. They are truly a beautiful thing for this beautiful planet, and I want to share it with all of you.” The mushroom suit, or infinity burial suit, was developed by Jae Rhim Lee, founder of Coeio, a California-based green burial company. The firm claims to have found a better way to reduce the body’s toxic pollutants, including lead and mercury, which are often released into the environment during decomposition and cremation. Made from organic cotton embedded with material from specially cultivated mushrooms, the firm says its infinity burial suit “delivers nutrients from body to surrounding plant roots efficiently”. The firm promises to plant two trees for every suit it sells. Its website says the mushroom suit – which costs $1,500 (£1,144) – is currently out of stock, although it does have a version for pets. Green burials are not a new concept. In Washington state compost burials have been presented as an alternative burial option by the company Recompose. The idea is that the human body composts so loved ones take home a pot of soil instead of an urn of ash. 

On This Day

  • 1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.   
  • 1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Jr., is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs’ home.  
  • 1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.  
  • 2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.  
  • 2010 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board.  
  • 2015 – Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3500.

Deaths

  • 1994 – John Smith, Scottish-English lawyer and politician (b. 1938)  
  • 2001 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (b. 1912)  
  • 2014 – H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (b. 1940)  
  • 2018 – Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer (b. 1945)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Pam Ferris (71), Holly Valance (36), Meg Foster (71), Maureen Lipman (73), Bono (59), Rosario Dawson (40), Glenda Jackson (83), Billy Joel (70), Vicky McClure (36), David Attenborough (93), Stephen Amell (38), Enrique Iglesias (44), Richard O’Sullivan (75), Adrianne Palicki (36), George Clooney (58), Alan Dale (72), Pippa Haywood (58), Henry Cavill (36), Zach McGowan (39), John Rhys-Davies (75), Richard E. Grant (62), Lance Henriksen (79), Michael Palin (76), Adele (31) and Chris Brown (30).


Dead Pool 5th May 2019

We’re now into May and the lack of celebrity deaths is starting to take its toll. Looks like wealth and an easy life does wonders for your longevity. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The unmarked grave of Joseph Merrick – who is better known as the Elephant Man – has been traced after nearly 130 years, it has been claimed. Merrick had a skeletal and soft tissue deformity which saw him as a freak show attraction, then a medical curiosity. His skeleton has been preserved at the Royal London Hospital since his death. But author Jo Vigor-Mungovin says she has now discovered Merrick’s soft tissue was buried in the City of London Cemetery after he died in 1890. After a miserable adolescence and time as a travelling exhibit, Leicester-born Merrick ended up at what was then called the London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, where he surprised staff by proving to have an intelligent and sensitive personality. He became a minor celebrity and in May 1887 was visited by Alexandra, Princess of Wales, who afterwards sent him Christmas cards. After his death, Merrick’s body was dissected and his skeleton preserved as an anatomical specimen.

Japan’s Emperor Akihito has declared his abdication in a historic ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. In his last public address as emperor, Akihito handed over the symbols of power and thanked the public for their support during his 30-year reign. The 85-year-old was given permission to abdicate after saying he felt unable to fulfil his role because of his age and declining health. He is the first Japanese monarch to stand down in more than 200 years. His eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, formally ascended the throne later on Wednesday. A new era – called Reiwa, meaning order and harmony – will begin in Japan’s unique calendar. While the emperor holds no political power, he serves as a national figurehead. Akihito has endeared himself to many Japanese people during his reign as he has interacted with those suffering from disease and disaster. The 85-year-old had surgery for prostate cancer in 2003 and a heart bypass operation in 2012. In a rare speech in 2016, he said that he feared his age would make it hard for him to carry out his duties and strongly hinted that he wanted to stand down.  

Just when you thought it was safe to enjoy Brexit once more, the death toll from the most recent Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 1,000, the health ministry says. DRC’s Ebola outbreak began in August and is the second deadliest in history. World Health Organisation deputy director Dr Michael Ryan said mistrust and violence was harming efforts to tackle the disease as it spread through the east of the country. There have been 119 documented attacks on medical centres and staff since January, Dr Ryan said. WHO staff anticipated “continued intense transmission”, he added, in a briefing to reporters in Geneva. Health workers have plenty of vaccines – more than 100,000 people have already been given the treatment. But continuing violence in the east of the country where militias are present, as well as mistrust of doctors, was hindering their programme, Dr Ryan said. The DRC is also suffering from an outbreak of measles which has killed more than 1,000 people, with 50,000 cases reported. WHO staff have confirmed measles in 14 of the country’s 26 provinces, in both rural and urban areas. Ebola is still contained within two provinces in the DRC but it is becoming harder to monitor the spread of the virus because of violence. The WHO said the risk of a global spread is low, but it was very likely cases would spread into neighbouring countries. 

On This Day

  • 1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. 
  • 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. 
  • 1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.  
  • 1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.   
  • 1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.   
  • 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.

Deaths

  • 1316 – Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of King Edward I of England (b. 1282)
  • 1821 – Napoleon, French general and emperor (b. 1769)   
  • 1985 – Donald Bailey, English engineer, designed the Bailey bridge (b. 1901)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Will Arnett (49), Randy Travis (60), Christina Hendricks (44), Rob Brydon (54), Frankie Valli (85), Ben Elton (60), Sandi Toksvig (61), Dwayne Johnson (47), Christine Baranski (67), Ellie Kemper (39), Matt Berry (45), David Suchet (73), Lily Allen (34), David Beckham (44), Donatella Versace (64), Jamie Dornan (37), Julie Benz (47), Joanna Lumley (73), Una Stubbs (82), Gal Gadot (34), Kirsten Dunst (37), Burt Young (79), Michelle Pfeiffer (61), Uma Thurman (49), Daniel Day-Lewis (62), Kate Mulgrew (64), Jerry Seinfeld (65), Willie Nelson (86), Anita Dobson (70), Jessica Alba (38), Penélope Cruz (45), Ann-Margret (78), Mary McDonnell (67), and Jay Leno (69).


Dead Pool 28th April 2019

Welcome to the last newsletter for April, the general trend of the year is still with us, no amazing surprise deaths and still no points! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

A California prisoner is accused of beheading his cellmate in an attack officials described as “heinous”. Jaime Osuna allegedly mutilated, killed and beheaded Luis Romero at Corcoran State Prison on 9th March, in an overnight murder. Fuck knows what the other inmates and the guards were up to! Osuna is accused of removing several of Romero’s body parts with a sharp metal object which was wrapped in string and attached to a handle. Officials say it is unclear how long the victim remained alive during the torture. “We do believe that [Romero] was conscious during at least a portion of the time,” Phil Esbenshade, a district attorney, said. “This is the most gruesome case that I have seen in terms of heinousness in the slaying.” Prison guards found Romero’s body in his cell at around 7.30 am. An autopsy report concluded that the 44-year-old had bled to death after suffering “multiple sharp force trauma injuries”. Osuna was initially imprisoned in 2017, without the possibility of parole, after pleading guilty to killing a 37-year-old woman in a motel in 2011.   

More than 270 election staff have died in Indonesia, ten days after the country held the world’s biggest single-day vote, officials say. The workers have mostly died of fatigue-related illnesses caused by long hours spent counting millions of ballot papers by hand, according to one official. A further 1,878 workers involved in overseeing the ballot have fallen ill, Indonesia’s General Elections Commission (KPU) spokesperson said. Voting is still ongoing but concern is growing over the number of deaths. The country’s health ministry has also urged medical facilities to care for sick election staff. Indonesia’s elections commission has been criticised for its treatment of workers. The country held elections on 17th April, marking the first time it had combined a presidential ballot with national and regional parliamentary ones. Officials estimated that around 80 per cent of 193 million people participate. Each person cast up to five ballot papers in more than 800,000 polling stations across eight hours. If any of the Poolers have any idea how you can die from counting bits of paper, please send your answer on a postcard to the usual address…  

Last week we said farewell to Geoffrey Servante at the age of 99. I’d forgive you for not knowing who he was, however he was almost certainly the last surviving British member of the legendary International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War. Geoffrey joined the fight against General Franco’s fascist-backed rebellion in Spain in June 1937, 11 months after the outbreak of the war. As an 18-year-old merchant seaman, he jumped ship in Valencia and caught a train to the International Brigades’ main base in Albacete. Because he was not yet 21 he was refused admission into the British Battalion and was instead assigned to an Anglo-American artillery unit known as the John Brown Battery. Initially deployed in Extremadura in south-west Spain, the battery was transferred to the Toledo front south of Madrid in December 1937. There Geoffrey remained until the final months of the Spanish Civil War, which ended with Franco declaring victory in April 1939. Thanks to Millie for finding this one! 

On This Day

  • 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
  • 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
  • 1869 – Chinese and Irish labourers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
  • 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
  • 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.
  • 1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane’s fuselage rips open in mid-flight.

Deaths

  • 1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian journalist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1883)
  • 1992 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter (b. 1909)
  • 1999 – Alf Ramsey, English footballer and manager (b. 1920)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jenna Coleman (33), Sheena Easton (60), Russell T. Davies (56), Pablo Schreiber (41), Channing Tatum (39), Giancarlo Esposito (61), Kevin James (54), Jet Li (56), Joan Chen (58), Melania Trump (49), Renée Zellweger (50), Al Pacino (79), Hank Azaria (55), Talia Shire (73), Gina Torres (50), William Roache (87), Rory McCann (50), Aidan Gillen (51), Djimon Hounsou (55), Barbra Streisand (77), Shirley MacLaine (85), Rebecca Mader (42), Richard Donner (89), Gemma Whelan (38), John Cena (42), John Hannah (57), Lee Majors (80), John Oliver (42), Amber Heard (33), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (53), Jack Nicholson (82), Sheryl Lee (52), and John Waters (73).


Dead Pool 21st April 2019

A quick writeup this week, I know you’re all enjoying the holidays and can’t be bothered to read up on dead people. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Actress Joan Collins has praised the NHS and fire crews after a “terrifying” blaze at her flat in central London. The London Fire Brigade said they were called to a seven-storey building on Eaton Place, Belgravia, at about 16:30 on Saturday. About 10 firefighters tackled the blaze which was brought under control by about 17:35. The actress needed treatment for smoke inhalation and praised her “hero” husband. In a tweet, posted on Sunday, Collins thanked the NHS and ambulance service, as well as the Metropolitan Police for blocking off the street and the fire brigade for putting out the fire. She also thanked her husband Percy Gibson, who “doused the flames consuming the entire wall with handheld extinguisher.” A spokeswoman for the fire brigade said: “Part of a flat on the first floor of the seven-storey building was damaged by the fire. “Two people left the property before the brigade arrived.” A Metropolitan Police spokesman said two people were treated by the London Ambulance Service but did not require hospital treatment, adding that the fire was deemed non-suspicious.  

In an apparently Frankensteinian effort, US scientists have partially revived pig brains four hours after the animals were slaughtered. The findings could fuel debate about the barrier between life and death, thus provoke arguments over points, and also provide a new way of researching diseases like Alzheimer’s. The study showed the death of brain cells could be halted and that some connections in the brain were restored. However, there were no signals from the brain that would indicate awareness or consciousness. The surprise findings challenge the idea that the brain goes into irreversible decline within minutes of the blood supply being cut off. How was it done? Thirty-two pig brains were collected from an abattoir. Four hours later the organs were connected to a system made by the team at Yale University. It rhythmically pumped (to mimic the pulse) a specially designed liquid round the brain, which contained a synthetic blood to carry oxygen and drugs to slow or reverse the death of brain cells. 10 hours after the pigs were decapitated, there was no sign of the brain-wide electrical activity in an electroencephalogram (EEG brain scan) that would signal awareness or perception. Fundamentally they were still dead brains. The Yale scientists were so concerned the pigs might become conscious that they gave drugs to the disembodied brains to reduce any brain activity. And the team were constantly monitoring the brains to see if there was any sign of higher brain functions. 

On This Day

  • 753 BC – Romulus founds Rome. 
  • 1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.  
  • 1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.  
  • 1934 – The “Surgeon’s Photograph”, the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).  
  • 1989 – Nintendo launched the original Game Boy in Japan. The portable video game system had four Japanese launch titles; Super Mario Land, Alleyway, Baseball, and Yakuman.

Deaths

  • 1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835)  
  • 2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933) 
  • 2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958)  
  • 2018 – Verne Troyer, American actor (b. 1969)

Last Week’s Birthdays

James McAvoy (40), Toby Stephens (50), Andie MacDowell (61), Tony Danza (68), Iggy Pop (72), Queen Elizabeth II (93), Veronica Cartwright (70), Andy Serkis (55), Jessica Lange (70), Clint Howard (60), Carmen Electra (47), Ryan O’Neal (78), George Takei (82), Nicholas Lyndhurst (58), Leslie Phillips (95), Michael Brandon (74), James Franco (41), Ashley Judd (51), Hayden Christensen (38), Tim Curry (73), David Tennant (48), Eli Roth (47), Rick Moranis (66), James Woods (72), Hayley Mills (73), Conan O’Brien (56), Sean Bean (60), Rooney Mara (34), Jennifer Garner (47), David Bradley (77), Victoria Beckham (45), Claire Foy (35), Ellen Barkin (65), Maisie Williams (22), Seth Rogen (37), Emma Watson (29), Luke Evans (40), Emma Thompson (60), Samantha Fox (53), Sarah Michelle Gellar (42), Adrien Brody (46), Robert Carlyle (58), Julie Christie (79) and Peter Capaldi (61).


Dead Pool 14th April 2019

Another week passes, so do a few more celebrities. Again, all of them are little known to most of us. Never mind, next week promises an endless stream of deaths for us to look forward to. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The Dalai Lama has been discharged from a Delhi hospital, three days after being admitted with a chest infection. The Tibetan spiritual leader, 83, had suffered from a “light cough” but was “doing very well”, his spokesman said. “He was discharged from the hospital at eight o’clock in the morning,” his spokesman Tenzin Taklha told us on Friday. The Dalai Lama is expected to spend several days resting in Delhi before returning to Dharamsala. China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. The question of who will succeed him when he dies is highly contentious. In Tibetan Buddhist belief, the soul of its most senior lama is reincarnated into the body of a child, so this poses a little problem when awarding points when the elder lama dies/lives again.  

As you saw from the list above, the veteran stand-up comedian Ian Cognito has died on stage during a performance. The 60-year-old comic sat down on a stool while breathing heavily, before falling silent for five minutes during his show on Thursday. Compere Andrew Bird said the crowd at the The Atic bar in Bicester had thought it was a joke, and continued to laugh, unaware something was wrong. South Central Ambulance Service confirmed Cognito was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Bird, who runs the Lone Wolf Comedy Club event at the venue, said Cognito had not been feeling well before the gig started, but insisted on going on stage. “He was like his old self, his voice was loud. I was thinking ‘he’s having such a good gig’,” Mr Bird said. Mr Bird said Cognito had even joked about his health during his set, telling the audience: “Imagine if I died in front of you lot here.” It was Mr Bird who first went on stage to check if his fellow comedian was ok. “Everyone in the crowd, me included, thought he was joking,” he said. “Even when I walked on stage and touched his arm I was expecting him to say ‘boo’.” Once it became clear something was wrong, two off-duty A&E nurses and a police officer began chest compressions and an ambulance was called. Audience member John Ostojak said: “Only 10 minutes before he sat down he joked about having a stroke. “He said, ‘imagine having a stroke and waking up speaking Welsh’.” Mr Ostojak said: “We came out feeling really sick, we just sat there for five minutes watching him, laughing at him.” Mr Bird said dying on stage would have been the way the veteran comic “would have wanted to go”, “except he’d want more money and a bigger venue”.  

I hope you’re not feeling squeamish! A Taiwanese woman was found by doctors to have four small sweat bees living inside her eye, the first such incident on the island. The 28-year-old woman, identified only as Ms He, was pulling out weeds when the insects flew into her eyes. Dr Hong Chi Ting of the Fooyin University Hospital told the BBC he was “shocked” when he pulled the 4mm insects out by their legs. Ms He has now been discharged and is expected to make a full recovery. Sweat bees, also known as Halictidae, are attracted to sweat and sometimes land on people to imbibe perspiration. They also drink tears for their high protein content, according to a study by the Kansas Entomological Society. Ms He was weeding around her relatives’ graves when the insects flew into her left eye. She was visiting the grave as part of the annual Chinese Qing Ming tomb-sweeping festival, which is traditionally observed by sprucing up loved ones’ graves. When a gust of wind blew into her eyes she assumed it was dirt that had entered, she told reporters. But hours later, her eyes were still swollen and in pain, leading her to seek medical help at the hospital in southern Taiwan. “She couldn’t completely close her eyes. I looked into the gap with a microscope and saw something black that looked like an insect leg,” Dr Hong, an ophthalmology professor at the hospital told us. “I grabbed the leg and very slowly took one out, then I saw another one, and another and another. They were still intact and all alive.” “These bees don’t usually attack people but they like drinking sweat, hence their name,” he said. Dr Hong added that Ms He was “lucky” that she did not rub her eyes while the bees were inside. “She was wearing contact lenses so she didn’t dare to rub her eyes in case she broke the lens. If she did she could have induced the bees to produce venom… she could have gone blind.” But what’s happened to the bees? “They are still alive, they’ve been sent as specimens to another organisation and will be studied,” said Dr Hong. “This is the first time in Taiwan we’ve seen something like this.” 

On This Day

  • 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial UFO battle.
  • 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day.  
  • 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th).  
  • 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbour kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.  
  • 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lbs)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.  
  • 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.

Deaths

  • 1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)  
  • 2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, created the zip file format (b. 1962)
  • 2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1940)

Last Week’s Birthdays

William Sadler (69), Ron Perlman (69), Edward Fox (82), Erick Avari (67), Peter Davison (68), Saoirse Ronan (25), Jennifer Morrison (40), Andy Garcia (63), Claire Danes (40), Ed O’Neill (73), Shannen Doherty (48), Nicholas Brendon (48), David Letterman (72), Matt Ryan (38), Joss Stone (32), Jeremy Clarkson (59), Lisa Stansfield (53), Jill Gascoine (82), David Harbour (44), Charlie Hunnam (39), Haley Joel Osment (31), Daisy Ridley (27), Steven Seagal (67), Max von Sydow (90), Peter MacNicol (65), Kristen Stewart (29), Dennis Quaid (65), Cynthia Nixon (53), Patricia Arquette (51), Robin Wright (53), Dean Norris (56), Russell Crowe (55), Jackie Chan (65), and Francis Ford Coppola (80).


Dead Pool 7th April 2019

Although the flying monkeys were sent to do their worst, they have failed miserably to give us some point scoring, however they have ensured that there is plenty of news to read. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News 

EastEnders veteran June Brown has said she can no longer recognise her friends as she deals with age-related macular degeneration at the age of 92. The actress, who plays Dot in the BBC One show, says she has lived with the condition for 10 years. The sight-losing condition is common and can first affect people in their 50s and 60s. Brown said she has no central vision at all and can no longer respond to fan mail. “I haven’t driven for years and I can’t really go out socially due to my eyesight,” said the actress. Brown has starred in EastEnders since 1985 and revealed in 2018 that this will be her last year on the show. The actress said her condition was getting worse despite undergoing eye surgery in 2017. “I never go to soap awards or suchlike now.” she said. “I don’t recognise people that I know and they would think I was snubbing them. “Just pray for your health and strength, hearing and eyesight, and an active mind,” she added. 

The Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger has said he is “on the mend” and “feeling much better” after receiving hospital treatment. The singer has  reportedly undergone heart valve replacement surgery. In a tweet Jagger, 75, thanked hospital staff “for doing a superb job” as well as fans for their messages of support. The band postponed their tour of the US and Canada after Jagger was advised by doctors that he needed medical treatment. Jagger previously apologised to fans for postponing the tour, writing that he was “devastated” and would be “working very hard to be back on stage as soon as I can”. 

Ozzy Osbourne has postponed all of his 2019 tour dates after aggravating an old injury while falling at his Los Angeles home. Osbourne, 70, will remain under doctor’s care in L.A as he “recovers from an injury sustained while dealing with pneumonia.” The illness forced the metal legend to axe large parts of his No More Tours 2 tour earlier this year. It’s the latest in a serious of health issues for the rocker, who – according to his wife Sharon – stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating after a quad bike accident in 2003. In a statement on Facebook, Osbourne said: “I can’t believe I have to reschedule more tour dates. “Words cannot express how frustrated, angry and depressed I am not to be able to tour right now.” He added: “I’m grateful for the love and support I’m getting from my family, my band, friends and fans, it’s really what’s keeping me going. Just know that I am getting better every day… I will fully recover… I will finish my tour…I will be back!”  

Britney Spears has checked into a mental health facility after suffering from emotional  distress. The pop star is expected to be in treatment for a month after being admitted more than a week ago. It’s believed that Spears, who announced a hiatus from music in January, has been concerned by her father’s health crisis over the past year. The singer halted her Las Vegas residency to look after her parent, writing on Instagram: “A couple of months ago, my father was hospitalised and almost died. We’re all so grateful that he came out of it alive, but he still has a long road ahead of him. I had to make the difficult decision to put my full focus and energy on my family at this time.”  A source said, “Her dad being sick has taken a toll on her. He nearly died and actually had another surgery a few weeks ago. He’s not doing well. They’re so close and it has been a lot. There is nothing dramatic going on with her, she just realised she needs to make sure to take time to care for herself.”  

Pele has fallen ill again, this time in Paris but is not in a life-threatening condition. The 78-year-old recently met up with Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe in the French capital for a promotional campaign. There are conflicting reports on whether Pele was admitted to hospital, as was initially claimed by French radio station RMC Sports. But the Brazilian’s team claim he was treated in his hotel after suffering from a fever.

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has revealed he has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. The former BBC Breakfast host said he was undergoing chemotherapy after noticing “funny pains in my legs and in my back” whilst in Iraq last May. April is bowel cancer awareness month and Bowen shared his diagnosis to encourage others to get tested. Doctors initially believed the veteran journalist’s pain was due to scarring from previous surgery, he told BBC Breakfast, the show which he presented alongside Sophie Raworth between 2000 and 2002. “I had no symptoms – none of the classic bowel cancer symptoms. Nothing at all. But I thought I should get a test,” the 59-year-old said. Bowen said he received a positive result and had a colonoscopy – a camera inserted into his colon to look for signs of cancer. Surgeons found a tumour, which they removed, and he started chemotherapy, he said. Bowen, born in Cardiff, and a BBC journalist for 35 years, said his diagnosis “could have been earlier, but had it been later it would have been much more serious”. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with 42,000 people diagnosed every year.

On This Day

  • 1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year, arsonists rejoice!  
  • 1968 – Motor racing world champion Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim.  
  • 1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is cancelled by President Jimmy Carter. 
  • 1999 – The World Trade Organization rules in favour of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.

Deaths

  • AD 30 – Jesus Christ of Nazareth, (possible date of the crucifixion) (b. circa 4 BC) 
  • 1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705) 
  • 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman and politician, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810) 
  • 1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863) 
  • 2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Paul Rudd (50), Zach Braff (44), John Ratzenberger (72), Billy Dee Williams (82), Mitch Pileggi (67), Jane Asher (73), Pharrell Williams (46), Robert Downey Jr. (54), Hugo Weaving (59), Xenia Seeberg (51), Eddie Murphy (58), Alec Baldwin (61), Amanda Bynes (33), Paris Jackson (21), Pedro Pascal (44), Michael Fassbender (42), Linda Hunt (74), Clark Gregg (57), Penelope Keith (79), Mackenzie Davis (32), Ali MacGraw (80), Annette O’Toole (67), Ewan McGregor (48), Christopher Walken (76), Rhea Perlman (71), and Richard Chamberlain (85).


Dead pool 31st March 2019

Another week, no points. I hate to say it, but we need the evil flying monkeys out and about this week. Look out for some big names dropping from Monday onwards, last time we sent them out we got a good crop! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

 In Other News

The Rolling Stones have postponed their latest tour of the US and Canada so that Mick Jagger can receive medical treatment. The band announced on Saturday that Jagger was told by doctors “he cannot go on tour at this time”. Jagger, 75, “is expected to make a complete recovery so that he can get back on stage as soon as possible,” the group added. The singer-songwriter tweeted: “I’m devastated for having to postpone the tour but I will be working very hard to be back on stage as soon as I can. I’m so sorry to all our fans in America and Canada with tickets. I really hate letting you down like this.” A rep for the band declined to elaborate on Jagger’s medical condition. The band’s No Filter world tour officially started in September 2017 with a concert in Hamburg, Germany.

Keith Duffy of Boyzone was rushed to hospital in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday 29th March, leading to him missing out on the band’s show. Keith, 44, is currently on tour with Ronan Keating, 42, Shane Lynch, 42, and Mikey Graham, 42, as they perform their final series of concerts. Boyzone have now given an update on Keith’s health, revealing that he is still receiving care in hospital and will not be able to fly to Australia with the band. A post on the band’s Instagram account read: “@officialkeithduffy remains in hospital in Bangkok where doctors will continue overnight with treatment of a viral infection. “Keith will now be unable to fly to Perth in time to join the Boyz for the first night of their Australian tour. As difficult as Ronan, Shane & Mikey find it to perform without their brother, they are determined that the show must go on and look forward to seeing everyone at the HBF Stadium, Perth on Saturday night. The update comes after Ronan opened up on the hospitalisation, claiming that Keith was on a “downward spiral.” “He came to the gig, he had a really high temperature, the doctors arrived at the gig and they said it wasn’t possible for him to go on in the state he was in.” “We assumed it was food poisoning or something like that but there may be something else going on.

Britain’s two oldest men are marking their 111th birthdays. Alf Smith, from St Madoes, Perthshire, and Bob Weighton, from Alton, Hampshire, were both born on 29th March 1908. Mr Weighton, who grew up in Hull, said he had requested not to have a birthday card from the Queen in order to save public funds. The men have never met but have exchanged birthday cards in recent years. It is not known which of them was born first. Mr Weighton is celebrating his birthday by officially launching his new book of poems, to raise funds for elderly people in Alton. The former teacher and engineer has two sons and a daughter, 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. He said the world had changed “enormously” in his lifetime but people had mostly stayed the same. Mr Weighton said the most common question he was asked was about the secret of his longevity. But his only advice on the matter was “to avoid dying”, he said. 

On This Day

  • 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.  
  • 1985 – The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York City.  
  • 1990 – Approximately 200,000 protesters take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.  

Deaths

  • 1837 – John Constable, English painter and educator (b. 1776)  
  • 1855 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1816)  
  • 1913 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier (b. 1837)  
  • 1993 – Brandon Lee, American actor and martial artist (b. 1965)  
  • 2002 – Barry Took, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1928)  
  • 2003 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (b. 1918)  
  • 2016 – Ronnie Corbett, Scottish comedian, actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Robbie Coltrane (69), Warren Beatty (82), Donna D’Errico (51), Céline Dion (51), Eric Clapton (74), Piers Morgan (54), Lucy Lawless (51), Christopher Lambert (62), Marina Sirtis (64), Brendan Gleeson (64), Elle Macpherson (55), Eric Idle (76), Lady Gaga (33), Julia Stiles (38), Vince Vaughn (49), Nick Frost (47), Dianne Wiest (71), Chris Barrie (59), Quentin Tarantino (56), Nathan Fillion (48), Julian Glover (84), Michael York (77), Mariah Carey (49), Fergie (44), Jessie J (31), Keira Knightley (34), Jennifer Grey (59), James Caan (79), Martin Short (69), Billy Warlock (58), Diana Ross (75), Steven Tyler (71), Lee Pace (40), Sarah Jessica Parker (54), Paul Michael Glaser (76), Elton John (72), Richard O’Brien (77), Jessica Chastain (42), Lara Flynn Boyle (49), Alyson Hannigan (45), Jim Parsons (46), Kelly LeBrock (59), and Mary Berry (84).


Dead Pool 24th March 2019

Another slow week where you’d be pardoned for not knowing who the listed are. A bad week for mathematicians it seems, but listing them would have been as useful as me trying to figure out Pi to twenty decimal points using only a pencil and paper. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Former East 17 frontman Brian Harvey has been arrested on suspicion of sending “malicious communications” during a live-stream. The singer was taken to a hospital after threatening to self-harm. He did not suffer any injuries. “At approximately 18:09 on Thursday, 21 March police were alerted to man threatening self-harm,’ the Metropolitan Police said. “Officers subsequently attended an address in Walthamstow to complete a welfare check. A man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications. Following a mental health assessment at hospital, the man has been taken into police custody where he remains. He did not suffer any injuries.” Harvey spoke about financial struggles and said he has been living on benefits on the live-stream. The footage also showed the police arriving at the property and arresting Harvey. In a previous video, Harvey discussed his battles with his own mental health, saying he had not left his house for years. “I’ve been a prisoner in my own home now for about five years. Four to five years,’ he said. Well, he’s now had a little trip to a cell in the centre of London.  

Global warming has contributed to greater numbers of bodies of dead climbers emerging from thinning snow and ice on Mount Everest in recent years, authorities have said. Since it was first conquered by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 almost 300 people have died during the attempt. Removing bodies from the mountain is difficult and very expensive, so the vast majority of those who have died while trying to reach the summit remain on the mountain. Around two-thirds of the corpses are currently believed to be buried beneath ice and snow. But Ang Tshering Sherpa, the former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association said that “the ice sheet and glaciers are fast melting and the dead bodies that remained buried all these years are now becoming exposed”. He said: “We have brought down dead bodies of some mountaineers who died in recent years, but the old ones that remained buried are now coming out.” This was backed up by a government officer who worked in the region, who said: “I myself have retrieved around 10 dead bodies in recent years from different locations on Everest and clearly more and more of them are emerging now.” Several studies have indicated the Himalayas are in the grip of considerable loss of ice from glaciers and the trend is forecast to accelerate.  

And finally, twat of the week goes to a woman in China who almost died after injecting herself with a cocktail of more than 20 different fruit juices. In an effort to improve improve her health the 51-year-old from Guiyang County in Chenzhou, Hunan province, gave herself an intravenous infusion by drip. After injecting herself with the mixture, the woman had itchy skin and a rising temperature. The woman, who was interested in unconventional health treatments, suffered liver, kidney, heart and lung damage and was put into intensive care for five days. “I had thought fresh fruits were very nutritious and it would not do me harm by injecting them into my body,” she said. “I had no idea that would get me into such trouble.” Doctors at the Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University in Hunan removed toxins from her blood using dialysis, injected clotting agents and gave her antibiotics. After five days her condition improved and she was transferred from intensive care to the hospital’s kidney unit and eventually discharged. 

On This Day

  • 1603 – James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.  
  • 1896 – A. S. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history.  
  • 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatised in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.  
  • 1989 – In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.  
  • 1999 – A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The resulting inferno kills 38 people.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Michelle Monaghan (43), Keri Russell (43), Catherine Keener (60), Marin Hinkle (53), Hope Davis (55), Amanda Plummer (62), Joanna Page (41), John Wayne Bobbitt (52), Chaka Khan (66), Reese Witherspoon (43), William Shatner (88), Lena Olin (64), Carter Wong (72), Andrew Lloyd Webber (71), Sonequa Martin-Green (34), Gary Oldman (61), Timothy Dalton (73), Matthew Broderick (57), Jaye Davidson (51), Rosie O’Donnell (57), Ruby Rose (33), Holly Hunter (61), Freema Agyeman (40), Spike Lee (62), David Thewlis (56), William Hurt (69), Carl Reiner (97), Bruce Willis (64), Glenn Close (72), Ursula Andress (83), Harvey Weinstein (67), Brad Dourif (69), Luc Besson (60), Vanessa Williams (56), Irene Cara (60), Kurt Russell (68), Rob Lowe (55), Gary Sinise (64), John Boyega (27), and Patrick Duffy (70), 


Dead Pool 17th March 2019

You are forgiven for not knowing who this weeks deaths are, we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ‘celebrities’. Unless you are an F1 fan or actually watched Love Island, you might remember the horny milkman from Father Ted. It goes without saying, no points this week…    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Katie Price has been criticised by a judge for not “bothering” to turn up at court. The 40-year-old, from West Sussex, was due to appear before magistrates in Crawley accused of  two charges of using threatening and abusive words or behaviour in Shipley last September. District judge Amanda Kelly said Ms Price’s failure to appear showed a lack of respect for the court system. The court heard Ms Price, of Dial Post, near Horsham, was out of the country. At the hearing, which was adjourned to 20 March, the judge said: “She hasn’t bothered to turn up today. “Apparently she has something more important to do.” The court heard Ms Price would have been notified of the need to attend in a postal requisition sent in February and would have known about the case. Ms Kelly said: “This shows a lack of respect for the whole court system.” She said it would be “tempting” to consider an arrest, but she would “reluctantly” adjourn the hearing. 

Police in Slovenia have accused a woman of cutting  off her hand with a circular saw – with the help of her family – to make a fraudulent insurance claim. The 21-year-old and a relative have been detained and face up to eight years in prison if convicted. The suspects recently took out injury insurance, police say. The woman allegedly stood to gain about €400,000 (£340,000; $450,000) in compensation and monthly payments of about €3,000 from the policy. Four members of the family were initially detained earlier this year, but two were later released. Police say the group deliberately cut the woman’s hand above the wrist with a circular saw 1at their home in the capital Ljubljana. Relatives took her to hospital, saying she had injured herself while sawing branches. Officials say the group left the severed hand behind rather than bring it to hospital, to ensure the disability was permanent. But the authorities recovered it in time to sew it back on.  

A fox has died in extraordinary circumstances after losing the ultimate game of chicken during a night-time raid on a henhouse. Students at Gros-Chene secondary school in Brittany were shocked to discover the dead body of the fox riddled with peck marks during their morning rounds last week. The school maintains their brood of free-range chickens ganged up on the animal, attacking it in large numbers and overcoming it. “There, in the corner, we found this dead fox,” Pascal Daniel, head of farming at the school, told news agency AFP. “There was a herd instinct and they attacked him with their beaks.” The animal was reportedly surrounded, then killed in a corner of the building home to 3,000 chickens. “It was a juvenile of five or six months, about 60cm long. He did not seem sick and in any case, he did not have scabies,” Mr Daniel said. Apparently no chickens were found to have been injured during the incident. It is thought the fox entered at dusk and then become trapped inside by light-controlled automatic doors that close when the sun goes down. 

On This Day

  • 1963 – Mount Agung erupted on Bali killing more than 1,100 people. 
  • 1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.  
  • 1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the “Night Stalker”, commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Alexandra Daddario (33), Alan Tudyk (48), Jerome Flynn (56), Erik Estrada (70), Judah Friedlander (50), Jimmy Nail (65), Eva Longoria (44), David Cronenberg (76), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (86), Will.i.am (44), Lynda La Plante (76), Jamie Bell (33), Michael Caine (86), Billy Crystal (71), Quincy Jones (86), William H. Macy (69), Danny Masterson (43), Annabeth Gish (48), Jaimie Alexander (35), Titus Welliver (58), Aaron Eckhart (51), Liza Minnelli (73), Alex Kingston (56), Johnny Knoxville (48), John Barrowman (52), Jon Hamm (48), Olivia Wilde (35), Sharon Stone (61), Chuck Norris (79), and Robert Llewellyn (63).


Dead Pool 10th March 2019

No points this week, even though the evil flying  monkeys were very busy! Big thanks to Nickie for finding a couple of this weeks stories, saving me time and effort is what makes me very happy 🙂 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

And back in February…  

 In Other News

Britain’s popular former world heavyweight champion Frank Bruno is recovering after being hospitalised with pneumonia. The much-loved 57-year-old was left ‘in agony’ over the weekend and took himself to hospital on the back of two meet-and-greets with fans in Bristol and Guiseley. He was seen by doctors in the early hours of Monday morning and should soon be released from hospital with heavy medication. Bruno will then take a few days to rest and recuperate. ‘Frank has contracted pneumonia,’ his agent Dave Davies confirmed on Monday. Davies continued: ‘He did two gigs over the weekend – he was in a bit of pain on Saturday but didn’t want to let the people down in Bristol, then (Sunday) morning he had an afternoon job in Guiseley and he was in agony then. ‘But ever the professional, he wanted to do the job, so went and did the job and went straight to hospital.’ Bruno has been out of the ring since defeat by Mike Tyson in 1996. Alongside his public speaking appearances, the 57-year-old is a regular at British fight nights.   

Whoopi Goldberg has revealed she came close to dying due to pneumonia, in a new video message about her health. The actor and TV host shared the update on Friday in order to explain why she has been absent from the ABC talk show The View for a month. “I am here, I am up and moving around, not as fast as I’d like to be, but I am OK. I’m not dead,” Goldberg said. She explained that she contracted pneumonia in both lungs then was “septic”, meaning “there was fluids, there was all kinds of stuff going on”. Sepsis and septic shock can surface as complications from any infection, including pneumonia, which is an infection affecting one or both lungs. “Yes, I came very, very close to leaving the Earth,” Goldberg added. “Good news, I didn’t. Thank you for all of your good wishes, all of the wonderful things that people have been saying.” She quipped: “Even people who are not huge fans of mine have actually said nice things about me. We all know that’s going to change when I get back, but for right now, it’s brilliant!”    

Apparently poetry fans are beginning to take things rather seriously. Scottish actor Tam Dean Burn is recovering at home after being stabbed in a street attack. Dead Pool Towers understands the 60-year-old had finished speaking at an event at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh when he was assaulted outside the venue. The actor, whose credits include Outlander and Fortitude, was initially treated in hospital but later released. Police said a man had been arrested in connection with the incident. The 42-year-old was arrested outside the city’s Crichton Close at about 16:00 on Saturday, a police spokesman said. The incident happened after a tribute event to the Scottish poet Tom Leonard, who died last year. About 60 people – including Mr Burn, Liz Lochhead, Joy Hendry, Kevin Williamson and George Gunn – attended the event, which began at 13:30. Mr Burn was reportedly attacked outside the venue shortly after the event concluded at 15:30.

And finally, a billionaire diamond trader has died after ‘suffering a heart attack’ during a penis enlargement operation in Paris. Ehud Arye Laniado, 65, was at an unidentified private clinic on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in the French capital on Saturday when complications during surgery proved fatal. The experienced diamond expert’s heart attack happened when a substance was injected into his penis, Belgian media reported. Mr Laniado’s company Omega Diamonds, which is based in the Belgian city of Antwerp, confirmed his passing. A statement from the firm said: ‘Farewell to a visionary businessman. It is with great sadness that we confirm that our founder Ehud Arye Laniado has passed away.’ A friend of Mr Laniado’s, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was ‘always focused on his appearance and how others perceived him’. Mr Laniado reportedly owned the most expensive penthouse in Monaco worth more than £30million, as well as a house in the plush LA suburb of Bel Air, where he was said to have loved to drink bottles of Chateau Margaux with models and celebrities. In all likelihood, he could only pleasure these models when he pulled out his American Express. 

On This Day

  • 1629 – Charles I of England dissolves Parliament, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule; which is what we need right now.
  • 1876 – The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell.
  • 1977 – Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus. Tee hee…

Deaths

  • 1913 – Harriet Tubman, American nurse and activist (b. 1820) 
  • 1942 – Wilbur Scoville, American pharmacist and chemist (b. 1865)
  • 1988 – Andy Gibb, Manx-Australian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1958)
  • 1998 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor and director (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Dave Allen, Irish-English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
  • 2016 – Keith Emerson, English keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1944)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Juliette Binoche (55), Freddie Prinze Jr. (43), Micky Dolenz (74), Cynthia Rothrock (62), Rachel Weisz (49), Bryan Cranston (63), Rob Reiner (72), Shaquille O’Neal (47), Tom Arnold (60), Alan Davies (53), Fred Williamson (81),  Jolene Blalock (44), Eva Mendes (45), Matt Lucas (45), Dean Stockwell (83), Paul Blackthorne (50), Penn Jillette (64), Patsy Kensit (51), Dominique Pinon (64), Jessica Biel (37), Julie Bowen (49), Miranda Richardson (61), Charlie Brooker (48), and Brian Cox (51).

If you got this far, fair play to you! I thought I’d share this little tweet from James Blunt which I blatantly stole off Jemm’s Fb.  


Dead Pool 3rd March 2019

Another quiet’ish week; I blame all the unusually warm weather for keeping the old un’s alive. Not to worry, the Evil Flying Monkey’s are preening their feathers and getting ready for a reaping good time this week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Riverdale, has been hospitalised after suffering what’s been described as a ‘massive stroke’. Paramedics arrived at Perry’s home Wednesday morning at around 9:40am Pacific Standard Time. The 52-year-old actor was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital where his condition reportedly worsened and he remains under observation, his representative told us, declining to elaborate on the actor’s condition. Prior to his stroke Perry was said to be experiencing “bad back problems”, which had to be surgically fixed, according to the actor’s neighbour. Perry’s last major health scare was in 2015, when precancerous growths were found in his body following a colonoscopy, prompting the actor to speak out about checking for colorectal cancer. Perry had been shooting episodes for the upcoming fourth season of The CW’s Riverdale. Fans and friends of Perry are sending out messages of support to the actor on social media. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman star Dean Cain tweeted that he was ‘praying’ for Perry’s “full and fast recovery”. Perry’s fellow 90’s star Kristy Swanson also wrote that she was praying for Perry, addressing him personally with: “by God’s Grace you will get through this”.  

More details of former glamour girl Katie Price’s drink driving charge have been released after a court hearing. She was found slumped in a “very” drunken state in the back of her vomit-covered pink Range Rover after police saw the vehicle collide with a grass verge, a court has heard. The 40-year-old was allegedly almost twice the legal limit when she was arrested in the early hours of 10 October in Shooter’s Hill, Greenwich, south-east London. Ms Price denied an additional charge of drink-driving when she appeared at Bexley Magistrates’ Court, having already entered a not-guilty plea to being in charge of a vehicle while over the limit. Police Constables Benjamin Jones and Balvinder Mann first saw her car veer off the road and hit a grass verge at 12.40am before seeing it stationary about 15 minutes later. PC Jones told the court that he approached the car to find Ms Price in the back of the vehicle with her boyfriend, Kris Boyson, in the passenger seat. “Her eyes were blurred and her speech was a bit slurred. Although she was sitting, it was in a slumped position,” PC Jones said. The car, he added, showed signs of a collision, with the bumper hanging off and pieces of shrubbery attached to its exterior. Both Ms Price and Mr Boyson said a third person had been driving and that they ran off after the trio had an argument, the court heard. The officer said Mr Boyson told Ms Price to “shut up” when she was asked who was driving.  

Roman Reigns returned to the WWE on Monday night for the first time since revealing he had been diagnosed with leukaemia to update fans that his illness is now in remission. The emotional moment came in Atlanta, Georgia, as Reigns made an emotional return to the WWE for the first time since he took a leave of absence in October last year. After winning the Universal Championship, Reigns – real name Leati Joseph Anoaʻi – was forced to relinquish the title and decided to make his illness public, having privately battled leukaemia for 11 years. Reigns revealed he had relapsed and would need to undergo further treatment, but promised to fight the illness and return to the WWE. That moment came on Monday. Reigns was given a hero’s welcome as he returned to the ring, and with a beaming smile on his face, it quickly became apparent that there was good news on the way. “When I tell you this I am so grateful, so humble and I’m so honoured to announce this,” Reigns said. “Let’s crawl before we can walk and walk before we can run, but the good news I’m in remission ya’ll.” The announcement triggered a huge cheer from the WWE fans who have for so long booed and jeered Reigns in his persona, and the moment looked to get to the 33-year-old, whose family were also ringside.

On This Day

  • 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail.  
  • 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. 
  • 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
  • 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refuelling. 

Deaths

  • 1959 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)  
  • 1983 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1907)
  • 1987 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
  • 2003 – Horst Buchholz, German actor (b. 1933)  
  • 2010 – Michael Foot, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Employment (b. 1913)  
  • 2012 – Ralph McQuarrie, American conceptual designer and illustrator (b. 1929)  
  • 2018 – Roger Bannister, English middle-distance athlete, first man to run a four-minute mile (b. 1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bryce Dallas Howard (38), Daniel Craig (51), Rebel Wilson (39), Gates McFadden (70), Jon Bon Jovi (57), Chris Martin (42), Alexander Armstrong (49), Javier Bardem (50), Lupita Nyong’o (36), Jensen Ackles (41), Ron Howard (65), Harry Belafonte (92), Dirk Benedict (74), Justin Bieber (25), Roger Daltrey (75), Paul Hollywood (53), John Turturro (62), Rae Dawn Chong (58), Mercedes Ruehl (71), Stephanie Beacham (72), Kate Mara (36), Adam Baldwin (57), Timothy Spall (62), Richard Coyle (47), Bill Duke (76), Chase Masterson (56), Michael Bolton (66), Téa Leoni (53), Sean Astin (48), Lee Evans (55), Edward James Olmos (72), and Dennis Waterman (71).


Dead Pool 24th February 2019

No change to the leader board this week, however some interesting demises and again, some unusual news as nothing much has happened over the last week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The US sailor famously photographed kissing a stranger in New York’s Times Square to celebrate the end of World War Two has died aged 95. Although personally not famous enough for our needs, the picture of George Mendonsa bending over and kissing 21-year-old Greta Zimmer Friedman on VJ Day (Victory over Japan) became one of the most enduring images of the period. It was one of four photographs taken by Alfred Eisenstadt as a round-up of celebration pictures for Life magazine. Ms Friedman died in 2016 aged 92. Mr Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur, said her father suffered a seizure and died on Sunday after a fall at a care home in Middletown, Rhode Island. Alfred Eisenstadt did not give the names of the kissing strangers and it was years before Mr Mendonsa and Ms Friedman were confirmed as the featured couple. The photographer described how he watched the sailor running along the street on 14 August 1945, grabbing any girl in sight. “Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture.” Ms Friedman, who had been working as a dental assistant, said she had not been aware of the photo until the 1960s. “It wasn’t much of a kiss,” she later recalled. “It was just somebody celebrating. It wasn’t a romantic event.” Mr Mendonsa had served in the Pacific and was on home leave when the picture was taken. However, not everyone sees the photograph as something to celebrate. Although it was widely lauded as an expression of the joy felt across the US on the day Japan surrendered, in more recent times some have considered it, as Time Magazine wrote, “as little more than the documentation of a very public sexual assault”. 

Former England midfielder Glenn Hoddle says he realises how “lucky” he is after surviving a cardiac arrest. Hoddle collapsed at the BT Sport studios in October on his 61st birthday and had a quadruple heart bypass before returning home to recuperate. “When doctors said it was a quadruple I realised I was a lucky man,” he said. “Not just because of the synchronisation of the timing on the day, but there was something going on for some time.” Hoddle, who was speaking to former footballer Robbie Savage on his BT Sport show, said the day of the incident was “a bit of a blur”. Sound engineer Simon Daniels used CPR treatment to keep the ex-Spurs player alive before paramedics arrived. “I just thank God that I was in the studios at that time with Simon there and a defibrillator,” Hoddle added. “I could’ve gone and taken a phone call and been on my own and I wouldn’t be sitting here today. “What a time to do it, on your birthday as well – some present I gave myself.” Hoddle banged the back of his head on the floor when he collapsed and said it was “still quite tender” when he tapped it more than three months on.  

On death row in Malawi, Byson Kaula was nearly executed three times – but on each occasion the hangman stopped work before hanging all the prisoners on his list. So he survived… until the country stopped executing people altogether. Byson Kaula says jealous neighbours were responsible for him being found guilty of murder. It was 1992 and murder in those days carried a mandatory death sentence. Neighbours attacked one of his employees, Byson says, leaving him badly injured. The man couldn’t walk without assistance, and while helping him get to the toilet – navigating steps that were slippery after heavy rain – Byson fell and dropped him. The man died later in hospital, and Byson – then in his 40s – was charged with murder. This was towards the end of the totalitarian government of Hastings Banda, which had controlled the country since 1964. Byson vividly remembers the horror of waiting for his turn at what he calls “the killing machine”. “When I was told: ‘You can go now to the condemned section waiting for your time to be hanged’ – oh, I felt as if I was already dead.” At that time, there was just one executioner – a South African who travelled between several countries in the region, carrying out hangings. When he arrived in Malawi, once every couple of months, the prisoners on death row knew that time, for some of them, had run out. One day Byson remembers being told that his name was on the list of 21 people to be hanged within hours. A guard told him that executions would begin at 13:00 and that he should “just start praying”. They continued until 15:00, when the executioner stopped work. But he had not reached the end of the list. Three people, including Byson, would have to wait until he returned. The same thing happened twice more, Byson says. The list was drawn up, but the hangman didn’t finish it – and each time, by chance, Byson was among those left alive at the end of the day. On the third occasion, all the prisoners on the list were executed except him, he says. In a way he was lucky, but the experience took its toll on him and he attempted suicide twice – only to survive this too. 

On This Day

  • 1854 – A Penny Red with perforations was the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.  
  • 1920 – Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.  
  • 1981 – The 6.7 Ms Gulf of Corinth earthquake affected Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people were killed, 400 were injured, and damage totalled $812 million.  
  • 1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa and offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.  

Deaths

  • 1993 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)  
  • 2006 – Octavia E. Butler, American author and educator (b. 1947)   
  • 2014 – Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Emily Blunt (36), Dakota Fanning (25), Kelly Macdonald (43), Aziz Ansari (36), Thomas Jane (50), Drew Barrymore (44), Jeri Ryan (51), Kyle MacLachlan (60), Julie Walters (69), James Hong (90), Nigel Planer (66), Ellen Page (32), Sophie Turner (23), Kelsey Grammer (64), William Baldwin (56), Tyne Daly (73), Anthony Daniels (73), Sidney Poitier (92), Brenda Blethyn (73), Rihanna (31), Cindy Crawford (53), Anthony Head (65), Trevor Noah (35), Millie Bobby Brown (15), Benicio Del Toro (52), Jeff Daniels (64), Ray Winstone  (62), Leslie Ash (59), Seal (56), John Travolta (65), Molly Ringwald (51), Matt Dillon (55), Cybill Shepherd (69), Dr. Dre (54), Yoko Ono (86), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (38), Rene Russo (65), Bonnie Wright (28), Dominic Purcell (49), Ed Sheeran (28), Paris Hilton (38), Rory Kinnear (43), Patricia Routledge (90), Michael Jordan (56), Brenda Fricker (74), and Barry Humphries (85).


Dead Pool 17th February 2019

We have a winner!!! With the sad passing of Gordon Banks, Martin and Julia both score 69 points! Not a vast change in the leader board, but two more people up and running! Some interesting names in the list this time around, however a somewhat dry news week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Holly Willoughby called in sick to This Morning for two days due to illness! She left fans concerned after she called in sick on Wednesday after complaining about feeling unwell earlier in the week. Her co-presenter Phillip Schofield revealed the news during the opening of the show! He said: ‘Hello, Holly is still poorly, unfortunately, thankfully we have got Rochelle with us again today.’ Rochelle, 29, who is frequently used as a stand-in on the long-running show, took to her Instagram to share a picture of the ITV studios hours before going live. Phillip explained the unexpected change on Wednesday’s show, admitting that his co-host was stricken with the flu after complaining about feeling unwell while presenting the show throughout the week. ‘Holly is poorly today, if you’ve been watching through the week you’d know she’s been on a sort of downward spiral,’ he told viewers as the show got underway. ‘It started on Dancing On Ice and she wasn’t really brilliant on Sunday and it’s kind of got worse and worse and worse.’ He added: ‘Finally, she’s fallen over. She’s staying home today. Get well soon. She’s not going to be watching but get well soon.’

Leeds winger Jack Clarke is “responsive” in hospital after being taken ill during his side’s 1-1 Championship draw at Middlesbrough. The 18-year-old, who had been substituted at half-time, complained of feeling unwell in the dugout and was then carried away on a stretcher while being given oxygen. Leeds said in a statement: “Jack Clarke began to feel unwell during the second half of our Sky Bet Championship fixture with Middlesbrough and received medical attention. After the lengthy delay, manager Marcelo Bielsa revealed after the game that the player had shown signs of improvement. Bielsa said: “What we know is that he didn’t feel well. We don’t know the reasons yet, but when he was taken to the dressing room he was feeling better.  

And finally, a group of scientists has called for a ban on the development of weapons controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). It says that autonomous weapons may malfunction in unpredictable ways and kill ‘innocent’ people, but it’s ok if the people are ‘bad’ and maybe have some oil that we want.. Ethics experts also argue that it is a moral step too far for AI systems to kill without any human intervention. “We are not talking about walking, talking terminator robots that are about to take over the world; what we are concerned about is much more imminent: conventional weapons systems with autonomy, they are beginning to creep in. Drones are the obvious example, but there are also military aircraft that take off, fly and land on their own; robotic sentries that can identify movement. These are precursors to autonomous weapons.” The new motto should be: Keep Killing Human!

On This Day

  • 1978 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants. Welcome to the new Brexit Britain.  
  • 2006 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.  
  • 2011 – Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime begin.  
  • 2015 – Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi Gras parade in Haiti.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Christopher Eccleston (55), LeVar Burton (62), Amanda Holden (48), John McEnroe (60), Alex Borstein (48), Jane Seymour (68), Matt Groening (65), Danai Gurira (41), Simon Pegg (49), Andrew Robinson (77), Zach Galligan (55), Teller (71), Mena Suvari (40), Neal McDonough (53), Stockard Channing (75), Kim Novak (86), Robbie Williams (45), Peter Gabriel (69), Josh Brolin (51), Christina Ricci (39), Michael Ironside (69), Arsenio Hall (63), Annette Crosbie (85), Jennifer Aniston (50), Natalie Dormer (37), Damian Lewis (48), Thomas Turgoose (27), Sheryl Crow (57), Elizabeth Banks (45), Chloë Grace Moretz (22), Keeley Hawes (43), Laura Dern (52), and Philip Glenister (56).


Dead Pool 10th February 2019

Last  week I missed out a scoring death, on purpose of course, just to see if you were all paying attention. Luckily Abi pointed it out to me and of course she now scores a fantastic 89 points with the death of a horrible murderer, which makes a change from the nice people we normally list. On a personal note, I was saddened to hear of the death of Albert Finney, he starred in many great films but one in particular I have loved from a very early age, Scrooge, which I have probably seen well over two hundred times by now. Anyhow, less pontificating, let’s get on with it! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Ozzy Osbourne has been taken to hospital suffering with complications from the flu, his wife Sharon has said. The former X Factor judge posted a statement about her husband’s health on Twitter, after the rocker was forced to cancel his European tour last month due to ill health. She revealed he had been advised to seek further medical treatment after his condition worsened. Sharon wrote: “As some of you may have heard, Ozzy was admitted to hospital following some complications from the flu. His doctors feel this is the best way to get him on a quicker road to recovery. Thanks to everyone for their concern and love.” The former Black Sabbath frontman was forced to postpone the UK and European legs of his No More Tours 2 tour last month after taking advice from doctors. He had been suffering from flu and was diagnosed with a severe upper-respiratory infection, according to a statement on his website. Doctors feared the infection could develop into pneumonia had he gone on the tour, which was due to kick off in Dublin this week. Ozzy said at the time: “It just seems that since October everything I touch has turned to shit. “First the staph infection in my thumb and now coming down with the flu and bronchitis. We all know these things come in threes, I wonder what the next calamity will be?  

Sam Lloyd, best known for his role on Scrubs, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The 55-year-old actor received the diagnosis last month, weeks after his wife, Vanessa, gave birth to their first child together. A GoFundMe page for Lloyd has been set up by Tim Hobert, who was an executive producer on Scrubs, in order to raise funds for his medical expenses as America is shit that way. According to the Lloyd’s GoFundMe, the actor began to experience regular headaches and lost 10 pounds, but dismissed them as side effects of his busy schedule, caring his new baby son and ailing mother. However, when the headaches continued, he visited the doctor, who ordered a CT which revealed a brain tumour. Surgeons attempted to remove the mass, but were unsuccessful. Days later, he was told the cancer had metastised from his lungs, while further scans showed the cancer was also in his liver, spine, and jaw, which makes us wonder what we’ll be funding, a coffin?  

Money saving expert Martin Lewis had said he has had to pull out of his TV appearances because of a throat ulcer. Writing on Facebook on Thursday, he said “eating and speaking” had become “truly agonising”. Lewis was meant to appear on ITV’s Good Morning Britain but said the thought of leaving the house had left him “literally shaking with nerves” In a later update, the 46-year-old said he had managed some filming with the help of an anaesthetic spray. He has been posting about his ill health since Monday, saying it was the “first time in years” he had had to call in sick. Lewis said there was no cure for the ulcer and that he would have to wait it out until he started to feel better. It has been a stressful few weeks for the consumer finance journalist, who revealed in late January he was dropping a legal action against Facebook. He originally sued the social media network over ads running on its platform that falsely claimed he had put his name to a number of investment schemes. Lewis dropped the case after Facebook agreed to introduce a scam ads reporting button and promise to give £3m to Citizens Advice. 

And finally, just as all those militant vegans want you to stop eating bacon, it has been revealed that a woman has been eaten alive by pigs after suffering a seizure at a farm. The 56-year-old woman is believed to have suffered an epileptic seizure while feeding the animals, Russian state media reported. She is said to have suffered severe bites to her face, ears and shoulders and died of blood loss. The woman was found by her husband early in the morning at their farm in a village in the Malopurginsky district of Udmurtia, western Russia. He had gone to bed early because he felt unwell and did not find his wife until the next day, according to Moscow-based news website Newstes. It did not say how many pigs were in the sty. It is not the first time a farmer has been consumed by his own pigs. A man in the US state of Oregon was eaten by his animals in 2012. Authorities found Terry Vance Garner’s dentures and pieces of his body in the enclosure in which he had been feeding the livestock. Investigators said the 69-year-old may have been knocked over by the 50-stone animals before they ate him. So never feel guilty about your bacon sandwich, pigs enjoy us as much as we enjoy them. 

On This Day

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Rose Leslie (32), Michael B. Jordan (32), Tom Hiddleston (38), Joe Pesci (76), Ciarán Hinds (66), Ziyi Zhang (40), Mia Farrow (74), Mary Steenburgen (66), Seth Green (45), Nick Nolte (78), John Williams (87), John Grisham (64), Deborah Ann Woll (34), James Spader (59), Ashton Kutcher (41), Chris Rock (54), Eddie Izzard (57), Rip Torn (88), Kevin Whately (68), Axl Rose (57), Jennifer Jason Leigh (57), Charlotte Rampling (73), Michael Sheen (50), Christopher Guest (71), Cristiano Ronaldo (34), Gabrielle Anwar (49), Natalie Imbruglia (44), Jim Jefferies (42), Alice Cooper (71), Isla Fisher (43), Bridget Regan (37), Warwick Davis (49), and Morgan Fairchild (69).


Dead Pool 3rd February 2019

As the world is diving into a freezing apocalyptic shit hole, the following people have decided enough was enough. Lucky them! Alas none of them scored any of us points, but we can rest assured they won’t care what happens after Brexit and if Trump manages to find the big red button. 

Thank you all who donated to the running costs this year, I’ll be closing the contributions page when I get around to it this week. Although we didn’t get anywhere near what was needed, I’ll make sure that the evil flying monkeys are fed and also ask them to ‘borrow’ the odd celebrity keepsake whilst they are about their business that we can flog on eBay.    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Anna Kendrick has written a heartfelt note to the hospital staff who treated her for kidney stones in Atlanta, Georgia. The Pitch Perfect actor revealed that she’d been hospitalised on Friday and penned a series of Tweets dedicated to the medical professionals who cared for her when she was at her “most vulnerable and terrified”. “So, I need to give a shout out to the Atlanta doctors and nurses who helped me through my first experience with kidney stones,” the 33-year-old began before proceeding to name the “truly wonderful ladies” involved. Kendrick’s tweets have been widely shared by her fans, with  many offering messages of support and wishing her a speedy recovery. Kidney stones are common in men and women between the ages of 30 and 60 and can be excruciatingly painful. Symptoms vary depending on the size of the stones, but they can cause nausea, restlessness and intense pain in the back or side of your abdomen. As someone who is susceptible to stones, I can vouch to the pain and the wishing to die part. 

Ozzy Osbourne’s team confirmed the news this morning, which sees three of his 3Arena  2019 concerts with Judas Priest postponed. The Prince of Darkness is believed to be suffering from a “very bad case of flu”, according to the announcement by his special guests. It is believed the gigs in Dublin, Nottingham, Manchester and Newcastle have all been postponed until a later date. Meanwhile, Judas Priest wrote on Twitter in view of their 103,000 followers and their own website: “It is with great regret we have to announce that the first four UK shows on the Ozzy Osbourne/Judas Priest tour have been postponed due to Ozzy having a very bad case of flu. They continued: “We are very sorry that this has happened and to disappoint so many fans – we wish Ozzy well and look forward to the Glasgow, Birmingham  and London shows together – and to the rescheduled ones in the future.” A few days ago, Ozzy took to his Twitter account to give his 5.27 millions an update on his health. The star, who is married to Sharon Osbourne, revealed he had burst a blood vessel in his eye from coughing. Ozzy uploaded a picture of his eye along with the caption: “Coughed so hard I burst a blood vessel in my eye.” 

A woman who was diagnosed with a terminal cancer decided to attend her own wake. Samanda Ford, from Beccles in Suffolk, was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2017.  In June 2018 doctors said she had just months to live. Calling the event her “awake-wake”, everyone dressed in her favourite leopard-print style. The 58-year-old, known by friends as “the queen of positivity” told party guests: “I wanted to actually be here in the flesh rather than… you know, have to do it afterwards.” As well as celebrating her life, she wanted to share how the cancer has affected her physically after losing her two front teeth as well as her hair. Fifty guests attended the party at the pub in Beccles and while the tone of the event was sombre, some party-goers left feeling positive about death and would attend their own wake. She said: “It was emotional – you have a tear in the back of your eyes but I was more worried about them and how they were feeling. But we are all here to help each other. “At the end of the day, we are all terminal. If you are lucky enough to know you are going to die why not create something positive,” she added,““Why should they party and I’m not going to be there?”

On This Day

  • 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.  
  • 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.  
  • 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.  
  • 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

Deaths

  • 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)  
  • 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856) 
  • 1959 – The Day the Music Died
    • The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
    • Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
    • Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
  • 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
  • 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b.1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Gemma Arterton (32), Brent Spiner (69), David Jason (78), Shakira (41), Sherilyn Fenn (54), Michael C. Hall (48), Terry Jones (77), Lisa Marie Presley (51), Jonathan Banks (72), Justin Timberlake (38), Dexter Fletcher (53), Minnie Driver (49), Marcus Mumford (32), Christian Bale (45), Olivia Colman (45), Gene Hackman (89), Vanessa Redgrave (82), Phil Collins (68), Dick Cheney (78), Katharine Ross (79), Heather Graham (49), Tom Selleck (74), Oprah Winfrey (65), Marc Singer (71), Tim Healy (67), Will Poulter (26), Ariel Winter (21), Elijah Wood (38), Alan Alda (83), Frank Darabont (60), Rosamund Pike (40), James Cromwell (79), Bridget Fonda (55), Patton Oswalt (50), Alan Cumming (54), and Frank Miller (62).