2025

Dead Pool 19th January 2025

Loads of points  to award this week, with the passing of Linda Nolan I can award 85 points to Paula H, Lara U, Paul G, and an amazing 185 points to Mark K, Mark W, Chris A, Martin G, Lee U, as they had her listed as either a Cert or a Woman. I can also award 55 points to Fiona B for correctly guessing that Joan Plowright would die in 2025. Well done everyone! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan has been stabbed after an intruder invaded his home in Mumbai. Khan, 54, was rushed to Lilavati Hospital in an auto-rickshaw where he underwent emergency surgery.  A 2.5-inch piece of the blade was removed from his spine after a five-hour-long surgery. Khan’s public representatives also confirmed the incident, calling it an “attempted burglary”, adding that “the rest of the family is doing fine”. Later on Thursday, doctors told reporters Khan was “on the path to complete recovery”. “He sustained a major injury to the thoracic spinal chord due to a lodged knife in the spine,” said Nitin Dange, one of the doctors operating on on the actor. “Surgery was performed to remove the knife and also repair the leaking spinal fluid.” A female employee at their home was also attacked and was being treated, police said. Khan lives in an apartment in the western Mumbai suburb of Bandra, along with his wife Kareena Kapoor-Khan, who is also an actor, and their two children. According to the Flying Monkeys a suspect has been detained in Chhattisgarh and the police have launched an investigation into the attack. Khan is among the country’s most bankable actors, having featured in more than 70 films and television series, in some also as a producer. He is the son of former India cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore.  

James Whale was rushed to hospital over the festive period. The 73-year-old broadcaster, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, had to be taken into intensive care after falling ill with the flu. The TV and radio veteran has been diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer that has spread to his brain, spine and lungs. Whale was hospitalised with the flu but he was discharged from the ICU and able to go back home to recover. His wife Nadine updated fans after the hospital dash, admitting he’d had another encounter with the “Grim Reaper”. She wrote: “After a worrying week I am happy to report that @THEJamesWhale is out of ICU and back at home, having batted off the Grim Reaper yet again. This time he tried with a bout of Influenza A, but without success. Our hero is home.” Whale, who was made an MBE for his services to to broadcasting, was first diagnosed with cancer back in 2000 and had one of his kidneys removed. However, in 2020, the presenter revealed the cancer had returned in his kidney, brain, spine and lungs. The Talk TV host admitted he considered euthanasia shortly after his diagnosis so he could “go and get it over with”. He said: “I came home, had a little think about things. I decided I’m just booking myself a trip to Dignitas. You might as well just go and get it over with. I’d looked into it quite some time ago because Melinda died two years ago and it’s been something in the back of my mind. But you have to make the most of it. When you’re my age – and I’ve had a good life – you say maybe you have another year left. Four years ago, we thought I had months.”  

Heart Radio presenter Jamie Theakston has revealed he is cancer-free, four months after being diagnosed with stage one laryngeal cancer. The 54-year-old broadcaster made the emotional announcement during his return to Heart Breakfast on Friday morning, following a period of absence that began in September 2024. Theakston had undergone three separate surgeries after listeners first noticed a change in his voice prior to his diagnosis. Speaking on the show, Theakston said: “Today is the four-month anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. So it’s been four months, and I’ve had enough of hospitals and operations, and it’s just lovely to be back, and I’ve got some news for you. Because I can tell you that as of today, I’m cancer-free.” The diagnosis had come as an overwhelming surprise to the presenter. “When I was told, ‘Oh, it’s probably cancer,’ just, literally, I just didn’t even know what to say. I mean, it just blew my mind,” he revealed. Theakston detailed the challenging series of procedures he underwent, with each surgery causing increased damage to his vocal cords. The presenter revealed the stark statistics he faced. “By the third one, they said, ‘Well, look, you’ve got a one in six chance you might not be able to talk again.’ And so, then you kind of think, ‘Oh, okay, that’s like rolling a dice,'” he shared. The presenter confirmed he will return to Heart Breakfast full-time on Monday, January 20th.

On This Day

  • 1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.
  • 1901 – Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, is stricken with paralysis. She dies three days later at the age of 81.
  • 1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003. 
  • 2012 – The file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI.

Deaths

  • 1983 – Ham, chimpanzee and animal astronaut, first hominid in space (b. 1957). 
  • 2000 – Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-American actress, singer, and mathematician (b. 1914). 
  • 2017 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1955).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Katey Sagal (71), Rob Delaney (48), Tippi Hedren (95), Dolly Parton (79), Michael Crawford (83), Kevin Costner (70), Dave Bautista (56), Mark Rylance (65), Jim Carrey (63), Zooey Deschanel (45), Lin-Manuel Miranda (45), Caroline Munro (76), FKA twigs (37), James May (62), Natasia Demetriou (41), James Nesbitt (60), Claudia Winkleman (53), Eddie Hall (37), Jason Bateman (56), Emily Watson (58), Kevin Durand (51), Mark Addy (61), Faye Dunaway (84), Dave Grohl (56), Michael Peña (49), Liam Hemsworth (35), Orlando Bloom (48), Natalia Dyer (30), Ruth Wilson (43), and Bill Bailey (60).

19th January 2025 | Categories: 2025 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 12th January 2025

Barely a week into the new year and we can award points already! With the welcome death of the bigoted Jean-Marie Le Pen, I can award Abi F-B and Mazurn L, 54 points, plus the 50 ‘First Death of the Year’ points to both of you.

However, we’re not stopping there! Mark K also guessed that the Wrestler Black Bart would die this year, albeit two days after Le Pen, so 74 points! Well done everyone!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Singer and former reality TV star Kelly Osbourne has been rushed into hospital, with suspected pneumonia and a high temperature. The TV personality revealed she is suffering from a temperature of 37.8C, and is currently receiving medical care in a hospital. She shared a clip of herself breathing through a tube to her Instagram Story as she wrote: “So I may have developed pneumonia.” Osbourne revealed she had started feeling unwell earlier in the evening before she later developed a fever and feeling unwell. Taking to her Instagram Stories again with a picture of her thermometer, she wrote: “How is this happening? How am I sick again?” The mother of one hasn’t shared more information on her health, apart from being in the hospital where she is receiving care. Last year Kelly made headlines for her 85-pound weight loss. She denies using Ozempic, a drug her mother Sharon has openly used for weight loss. Instead she attributes her weight loss to cutting sugar and carbs, as well as a 2018 gastric sleeve surgery. 

However Osbourne wasn’t the only one under the weather last week. Carrie Johnson has revealed she was hospitalised for almost a week after she contracted the flu and pneumonia. Boris Johnson’s wife took to social media to share her health struggle as she praised NHS nurses and doctors who cared for her as “the best people on earth”. The 36-year-old, who shares three children with the former prime minister, struggled to breathe after falling ill with a chest infection over Christmas. She said she was yet to fully recover from the illness and urged others to get the flu jab. “I didn’t expect to spend the first week of 2025 in hospital,” she said in an Instagram post. “After having a nasty chest infection for nearly 18 days at home over Christmas, it just got out of hand and I was struggling to breathe properly. Hospital confirmed I had flu and pneumonia. I was there nearly a week and I’m still not recovered. It could take another few weeks until I feel like myself again.” The caption was accompanied by a picture showing the end of a hospital bed and another of her son Wilf’s “favourite dinosaur toy ‘Greenie’”, and her daughter Romy’s princess key ring, which she said they gave her to take to hospital. Her post continued: “The reason for this post tho is 1) NHS doctors and nurses are the best people on earth. I say it a lot but they have looked after me and my family when we’ve needed it most and I will never not be enormously grateful. They are the absolute best of us. I was at the John Radcliffe and I cannot thank them enough. When I was particularly low, one nurse even serenaded me by my bed. Unbelievable kindness. 2) Obviously check with your doctor but my strong advice is to get the bloody flu jab. I really, really wish I had. It totally slipped my mind this year. No guarantee, but I very possibly wouldn’t have spent the last 3 weeks horribly, horribly ill had I got it.” She ended with an explanation about the dinosaur and princess key ring and added “health and family are everything”.  

We can’t finish this weeks newsletter without mentioning the L.A. Wildfires. Although no celebrities have lost their lives, yet… some of Hollywood’s best-known faces are among the thousands caught up in the devastating wildfires currently tearing through Southern California. With nearly 180,000 residents already evacuated, the crisis has touched everyone from ordinary families to some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. The crisis began with the Pacific Palisades fire on Tuesday morning, swiftly followed by outbreaks in neighbouring communities like Eaton, Woodley, and Hurst. The flames have been indiscriminate, and sadly, stars such as Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester are among those who have lost their homes. The area where the fire erupted, nestled between Santa Monica and Malibu in northern Los Angeles, is known for its exceptionally high property values. It boasts some of the most expensive real estate in the country, belonging to stars like Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, Adam Sandler, Miles Teller and more. Here are some of the most notable celebrities who lost their homes in the LA fire: Paris Hilton on Wednesday took to Instagram to share that she is ‘heartbroken beyond words’ as her Malibu home was burned to the ground by the California fires. The Hotel heiress learned about the destruction from TV news. In her post, she wrote, ‘Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience.’ The Oscar-winning actor and a Hollywood veteran Anthony Hopkins has reportedly lost his £6 million Pacific Palisade estate. Visuals of the charred remains of his 4-bedroom residence are a testament to fire’s destructive power. This is the exact location where he often posted videos on TikTok of him playing the piano. Actress Anna Farris lost her £5 million eco-friendly home where she lived with her family. Destroyed by the blaze, the Scary movie star’s 4000 square metres residence is a smouldering ruin now. Celebrities such as, Maria Shriver, Eugene Levy, Diane Warren, and Cobie Smulders were forced to evacuate their homes as the wildfires continued to spread. 

On This Day

  • 1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation. 
  • 1998 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning, so you’re only going to get one of me! 
  • 2010 – An earthquake in Haiti occurs, killing between 220,000 and 300,000 people and destroying much of the capital Port-au-Prince.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Rachael Harris (57), Pixie Lott (33), Mary J. Blige (54), Rachel Riley (39), Jemaine Clement (51), Rod Stewart (80), J.K. Simmons (70), Joely Richardson (60), Imelda Staunton (69), James Acaster (40), Cynthia Erivo (38), Michelle Forbes (60), Nicolas Cage (61), Jeremy Renner (54), Linda Kozlowski (67), Erin Gray (75), Helen Worth (74), Norman Reedus (56), Rowan Atkinson (70), Kate McKinnon (41), and Eddie Redmayne (43).

12th January 2025 | Categories: 2025 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 5th January 2025

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2025!! Embarrassingly I have to declare myself the winner of 2024 and award myself the coveted trophy! 

There was a run of late-declared deaths in the final days of 2024 (which did not have any effect of 2024’s result), but half of our poolers had to choose new names for 2025, causing no end of paperwork and frustration for everyone as a lot of points went up the swanny, but the DRAMA! Anyhow, here’s a lovely picture of 2024’s Dead Pool winner with his well earned trophy, quite a handsome chap indeed! 

The donations page is now up, so if you feel that you are receiving some value from participating, please donate towards the running costs of the website etc. Thank you everyone in advance. Good luck for 2025!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

2024

2025

In Other News 

This weeks big news is that Tomiko Itooka, the Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 116. Alas for our purposes, she passed away on the 29th December 2024. So as the benevolent and award winning Dead Pool Master that I am, Is have ruled that those affected by her early demise are allowed to choose another name. Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on 23 May 1908. She became the oldest person last year following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group. When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply replied, “Thank you.” When Itooka celebrated her birthday last year, she received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor. Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school, and long had a reputation for a sprightly spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3,067m (10,062ft) Mount Ontake twice. She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness. Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979. She is survived by one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata. According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.  

Sara Sharif’s father had his neck and face cut in prison as he begins a life sentence for her murder, according to reports. Urfan Sharif was allegedly jumped by two inmates in his cell at HMP Belmarsh armed with the lid of a tuna tin on New Year’s Day. The child killer, 43, is not believed to have needed hospital treatment. Sources told The Flying Monkeys: “Urfan was sliced up badly in his cell by two others who rushed in. It was planned and they used a makeshift weapon – made from the lid of a tin of tuna. “He was sliced in the neck and face, and is still in healthcare and in a very bad way. He was lucky to survive, has had to have stitches and will have scars as a permanent reminder of the attack. The guards tried to keep him safe because he obviously had a target on his back after the case was such big news. Sharif has tried to keep his head down since coming into the jail, but word quickly got round about who he was.” A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Police are investigating an assault on a prisoner at HMP Belmarsh on January 1st. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they investigate.” A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers are probing “an allegation that a prisoner was assaulted at Belmarsh”, adding that “the 43-year-old suffered non life-threatening injuries”. Sharif and Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, were jailed for life in December for years of horrific “torture” and “despicable” abuse that culminated in the 10-year-old’s murder. 

Radio presenter DJ Spoony has thanked the NHS and his family after being treated in hospital for a “small bleed to the brain”. The BBC Radio 2 presenter, whose real name  is Johnathan Joseph, held back tears as he told listeners on Monday he had been dealing with headaches for a few weeks, but had “put off” seeing a doctor until 21st December, when he decided to go to A&E. The 54-year-old went to Bedford Hospital where staff ran tests and did a CT scan before sending him to see a specialist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. He said his illness was caused by a subdural haematoma, a condition where there is bleeding in the brain. At Addenbrooke’s, Spoony was told doctors “need to operate”, and ended up spending Christmas Day in hospital. He said: “The amazing doctors and nurses at Addenbrooke’s had done the operation, they had flushed me out. I was feeling fine, 10 minutes after the operation. I was talking, looking forward to being back on the ward, eating a banana and having a ginger shot.” Breaking down, he added: “Thank you to everybody at Addenbrooke’s for looking after me; you were amazing. So, again thanks to our amazing National Health Service.”  

Annoyingly, Neighbours icon Ian Smith has shared an encouraging update on his health and treatment following his recent terminal cancer diagnosis. Smith, best known for his role as Harold Bishop on the soap, has been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer called pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma. In an interview just before Christmas, the actor had some “extremely good news” to share, explaining his recent PET scan had shown a shrinking in the size of the tumour. “I did a PET scan and the words, I believe, were ‘significant metabolic change, significant shrinkage of tumour’,” Smith told the Flying Monkeys. “I’ve gone from a threat of dying this coming March to maybe a few more months… and now, God, who knows? It’s not a cure and it won’t be a cure, but I certainly have got a year, maybe two,” he added. “That’s amazing. It really is.” After receiving his diagnosis, Smith contacted Neighbours executive producer Jason Herbison to see if he could return as Harold to say goodbye to the cast and fans. “I asked Jason if I could get Harold to say goodbye and he kindly said yes,” Smith explained. “I liked Harold. There’s not enough of his type in the world. I wouldn’t like to live next to him, I’ve got to be honest, but he’s good. He’s a nice man.” Herbison also agreed for Anne Charleston, who played Harold’s late wife Madge, to return to the soap in a new role. “That would have been hard for her to do, and she did it so successfully,” Smith said. “It was so good.” The scenes with Smith as Harold and Charleston in her new Neighbours role are set to air early next year.  

A donkey said to have provided the inspiration for the famous Shrek character, Donkey, has died aged 30. Perry – short for Pericles – a miniature donkey born in New York City in 1994, achieved fame when he apparently modelled for animators working on the Oscar-winning 2001 comedy. Voiced by Eddie Murphy, the talkative Donkey served as the sidekick to Shrek (Mike Myers) in the original film and three sequels, the most recent of which was released in 2010. “It’s evident if you know Perry and watch the movie that it’s him,” his lead handler at the time, Jenny Kiratli, told SFGate in a 2021 interview. “It’s amazing how much of our donkey is in Donkey, the way he flips his head when he’s mad at Shrek, the way he trots.” Perry was five years old when he modelled for the Shrek animators and was apparently paid $75 (£60) for his work. It was revealed that Perry had been suffering from an incurable condition called laminitis, which affects the hooves of horses, ponies and donkeys. Donkeys typically live to be between 25 and 40 years old. “In Perry’s last weeks, all of the handlers spent many hours at the pasture with him, petting him, cradling him, singing to him, and telling him that he was and always will be loved,” the statement continued. “We will miss you Perry. You were a special Donkey. We were lucky to have known you and we will never forget you.”

On This Day

  • 1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, who becomes the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering (the traditional form of capital punishment used for regicides).
  • 1941 – Amy Johnson, a 37-year-old pilot and the first woman to fly solo from London to 
  • Australia, disappears after bailing out of her plane over the River Thames, and is presumed dead. 
  • 1972 – US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.

Deaths

  • 1922 – Ernest Shackleton, Anglo-Irish sailor and explorer (b. 1874).
  • 1933 – Calvin Coolidge, American politician, 30th President of the United States (b. 1872).
  • 1998 – Sonny Bono, American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and politician (b. 1935).
  • 2004 – Norman Heatley, English biologist and chemist, co-developed penicillin (b. 1911).

Last Week’s Birthdays

January Jones (47), Bradley Cooper (50), Clancy Brown (66), Diane Keaton (79), Robert Duvall (94), Vinnie Jones (60), Marilyn Manson (56), Emma Mackey (29), Julia Ormond (60), Graham McTavish (64), Matt Frewer (67), Florence Pugh (29), Mel Gibson (69), Victoria Principal (75), Tia Carrere (58), Cuba Gooding Jr. (57), Frank Langella (87), Val Kilmer (66), Anthony Hopkins (88), Ben Kingsley (82), Eliza Dushku (45), Tracey Ullman (66), and Caity Lotz (39).

5th January 2025 | Categories: 2025 | Leave A Comment »