2026

Dead Pool 16th August 2026

A few tragic deaths this week, alas no points. I think it may be time to send out the Flying Monkeys to reap a big name for next week! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Highlander actor Christopher Lambert suffered a medical emergency while attending the Steel City Comic-Con in Pittsburgh. At the annual convention on Saturday, the French actor, 69, was signing autographs for fans when he “suddenly collapsed,” a witness the Flying Monkeys. Lambert was then placed in an ambulance and transported to a local hospital. The Steel City Con also released a statement about the incident, saying Lambert “had to leave the event due to a personal issue.” The comic book and pop culture convention also announced that Lambert’s photo op was canceled. A rep for star told us that he is “perfectly ok” and resting in his hotel room. The spokesperson claimed that Lambert did not get enough sleep the night before the convention and hadn’t eaten much during the day, which prompted his blood sugar to drop. It’s unclear whether Lambert will attend the convention on Sunday; however, the outlet was told that he will be well enough to make his scheduled appearance at FAN EXPO in Chicago next week. Last year, Lambert suffered a health scare when he injured his back after falling down a flight of stairs at his hotel. Due to the severity of the injury, the Highlander star had to drop out of an appearance at the Swedish festival SciFiWorld last March. “As an actor, filming and promoting his films are an absolute priority and has always been, and while he has the highest respect for people organising events and fans who attend,” his reps said at the time. “Unfortunately this time he will not be able to attend the comic con,” they added.  

The Office star Lucy Davis has revealed she has been diagnosed with “incurable” stage four breast cancer. The 53-year-old actor, who is the daughter of comedian Jasper Carrott, played the role of receptionist Dawn Tinsley in the BBC’s mockumentary The Office. Her character’s will-they-won’t-they romance with Martin Freeman’s office slacker Tim Canterbury contributed to the show’s global success, becoming the blueprint for similar relationships in international versions. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Davis said she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer a year and a half ago but it has since “metastasised to my bones, specifically to my spine, right hip, and my ribs. The cancer is incurable, and too late for chemo,” she continued. “The initial lump that I felt, wasn’t a ‘lump’ as such; rather a kind of hard spot. Really tiny. I almost didn’t bother getting it checked. So I guess I’m saying don’t ignore anything – get everything checked out. As of now, I’m trying to live out whatever might be left of my life in as fun a way as I possibly can. I always like to find the teachable moments in anything negative that happens. And cancer has not disappointed in that regard; there’s a lot I have learned from it, and I’m grateful for that..” Davis also said that she sometimes needs to use a wheelchair as “standing and walking for too long a time can be hard” due to the pain. “If you see me toddling around in one, feel free to give me a push!” she continued. “The thing that has been most vital to me is humour. I asked my friends and family to make fun of me as much as possible (which they’re really good at, and most importantly of all to not treat me like a sick person. There’s nothing that will make you feel more unwell than being treated as if you’re unwell… I’m not scared of whatever comes next. I’m at peace with it.” Davis added that she’ll see her late dog Gracie “sooner than expected” and that leaving her “physical body just means going home”. “Any and all grieving is for my family; it’s far harder for them than for me,” she continued. “I’m still going to keep up all my work for animal rights. It’s so important to me. And I still would like to keep working. I’m perfectly able to do so, and acting is one of the biggest joys in my life… For those of you on a similar journey to mine, I do wish you well. Cancer asks a lot from us, physically and mentally. And we all get to do it however we choose… Much love to you all.” Davis, who also appeared in 2017’s Wonder Woman, shared her diagnosis alongside a video of her ringing a hospital cancer treatment bell and reciting a rhyme common in many cancer treatment centres to celebrate the end of treatment. 

Jeanne Gibson, one of the women who came to represent the enduring legacy of the Rosie the Riveter campaign during the Second World War, has died at the  age of 100. Gibson was recognised for her work as a shipyard welder during the war, helping construct United States Navy destroyers at a time when millions of women stepped into industrial jobs to support the Allied war effort. Her death marks the passing of another member of a remarkable generation whose contributions reshaped both the workforce and the role of women in American society. In 2024, Gibson and thousands of fellow women who served as Rosie the Riveter workers were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the United States’ highest civilian honours, in recognition of their extraordinary service during the war. During the Second World War, labour shortages created by military enlistment opened opportunities for women to work in factories, shipyards and other industries traditionally dominated by men. More than six million American women answered that call, manufacturing aircraft, ships, weapons and military equipment that proved essential to the Allied victory. Gibson became one of those workers, serving as a welder in a shipyard where she helped build destroyers for the United States Navy. Welding required precision, physical endurance and technical skill, making the work both demanding and critical to wartime production. Her efforts formed part of the enormous industrial mobilisation that allowed the United States and its allies to sustain military operations across multiple fronts. 

Former gangster and Krays rival Eddie Richardson has died at the age of 90. Richardson, part of the notorious Richardson mob in Sixties London, was one of the last surviving villains of his generation. Eddie’s sister Elaine Richardson said her brother died in the Princess Royal University Hospital, Bromely, south London, having been admitted with pneumonia a few days ago. She said: “We are all very sad. He had his 90th birthday in January. Eddie was a family man and he had a lot of friends, he was very loyal to his friends. “We know he was 90 but we are all going to miss him.” Asked if Richardson had remained involved in criminality in his old age, a source said: “He was such a staunch old fella that he could have been up to something but you would never have known.” With his older brother Charlie, Eddie led the south London “Torture Gang” which feuded with the east London Kray twins more than 60 years ago. In 2015 Richardson, then 79, described the twins as “like lost sheep” in jail and added: “We never even considered them to be rivals.” He said: “They were small-timers who played up to the gangster image. They were not hard enough to take us on until we were all banged up. The Krays had watched too many US gangster films. They wanted to be like Al Capone but didn’t have the brains to do anything major league. It amazes me how much interest there is in them. They just wanted to play at being gangsters. It was all acting. There was nothing glamorous about it and by no stretch of the imagination were they ever legends.” But Eddie, who hired “Mad” Frankie Fraser as his enforcer, added: “There was no war between us, that’s a myth. The truth is they didn’t fancy us at all. The Krays didn’t dare take us on until we were all under lock and key — then they started taking liberties.” Eddie served a total of more than 23 years in jail, in two stretches, before his final release in 2002. Born in Camberwell, south London, on January 21, 1936, he used a scrap metal business and fruit machine company as fronts for a criminal empire involving drug dealing, protection and extortion rackets. But his criminal empire came crashing down on July 30, 1966, the day England won the World Cup, when the Richardson gang were rounded up during mass police raids. The following “Torture Trial” made headlines as rival criminals told how they were beaten and electrocuted. Anyone who crossed the Richardsons were said to be subjected to a kangaroo court, with Charlie presiding and then handed over to Mad Frankie for punishment. He pulled out teeth with pliers and nailed people to the floor using six-inch spikes. His specialism was torture by electrocution of the genitals.

On This Day

  • 1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, England.
  • 1906 – The 8.2 Mw Valparaíso earthquake hits central Chile, killing 3,882 people.
  • 1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico, United States, at 102,800 feet setting three records that held until 2012: High-altitude jump, free fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.

Deaths

  • 1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (born 1895). 
  • 1956 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (born 1882).
  • 1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer and actor  (born 1935). 
  • 2003 – Idi Amin, Ugandan field marshal and politician, President of Uganda (born 1928).
  • 2018 – Aretha Franklin, American singer-songwriter (born 1942). 
  • 2019 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, and screenwriter. (born 1940). 
  • 2021 – Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (born 1963).

Last Meals

On December 13th 2021, a young girl residing in Columbus, Georgia, was found murdered in Phenix City, Alabama. On the night before her death, the 5-year-old girl, Kamarie Holland, was brought out of her home in Georgia, and taken to the abandoned house of its 37-year-old former owner, Jeremy Williams. Before this, Holland’s mother Kristy Marie Siple, who had a sexual relationship with Williams, agreed to Williams’ request to rape Holland. Siple allegedly asked Williams to pay her $2,500 in exchange for raping her daughter, but they reduced the payment to $1,300 after some negotiations, although Williams never paid Siple the reduced payment of $1,300.

After Holland was taken into Williams’s vacant house, Williams raped the girl and also engaged in sodomy and oral sex, and he personally filmed the sexual acts, and also forced the girl to consume methamphetamine. After doing so, Williams used a ligature to strangle Holland and therefore killed her by asphyxiation. Even after Holland died, Williams went on to commit further sexual assaults on her corpse and similarly filmed the necrophilic acts.

Meanwhile, on the morning after the murder, Holland was reported missing by her mother, who lied to the police that she last saw Holland before she went to sleep about midnight and awoke to find her daughter gone and the front door open. An extensive search was conducted, and on that night itself, Holland’s body was found inside the same house where Williams raped, sodomised and murdered her. The police were able to identify Williams as the prime suspect and arrested him for the murder shortly after. 

In March 2022, a Russell County grand jury formally indicted both Williams and Siple for their respective charges of murder and other offences pertaining to the rape and murder of Holland. Williams was indicted on eight charges, including four counts of capital murder for kidnapping, rape, sodomy and for killing someone under the age of 14, as well as sex trafficking (two counts), producing child pornography and abuse of a corpse. Siple was indicted on three counts of felony murder and two counts of sex trafficking.  

On June 16th 2026, the Alabama Supreme Court authorised the death warrant of Williams, and the case was forwarded to the Alabama governor Kay Ivey, who was tasked with scheduling an execution date for Williams. Two days later, Governor Ivey scheduled Williams’ execution to take place by lethal injection on August 13th 2026, with a 30-hour window during which his death warrant will remain active. 

On Thursday, 42-year-old Jeremy Williams was put to death by lethal injection at 6:16 pm in Holman Correctional Facility. When asked if he had a final statement, Williams stated, “I want to thank God for forgiving me for my sins so I can meet him in peace. Goodnight.” For his final meal, Williams requested a cheese pizza. Williams is the first condemned person put to death in Alabama in 2026, as well as the first person in the United States to be executed for a murder occurring in the 2020’s.  

Last Week’s Birthdays

Steve Carell (64), James Cameron (72), Taika Waititi (51), Madonna (68), Julie Newmar (93), Evanna Lynch (35), Jennifer Lawrence (36), Ben Affleck (54), David Zayas (64), Natasha Henstridge (52), Tony Robinson (80), Jim Dale (91), Mila Kunis (43), Steve Martin (81), Halle Berry (60), James Buckley (39), Joseph Marcell (78), Sebastian Stan (44), Cara Delevingne (34), Bruce Greenwood (70), Jim Beaver (76), Chris Hemsworth (43), Anna Gunn (58), Ian McDiarmid (82), Joe Rogan (59), Antonio Banderas (66), and Rosanna Arquette (67).

16th August 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 9th August 2026

Apologies that there wasn’t an issue last week, I was myself fighting the Grim Reaper, well, maybe not that dramatic, but I was indisposed health-wise. So this means a double-bubble this week, aren’t you lucky! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Singer Carly Simon has revealed she has been diagnosed with  Parkinson’s disease and cancer. The 83-year-old You’re So Vain singer said in a statement that her most recent absence from the spotlight has been due to her ongoing health issues. Ms Simon said: “So many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing. The truth is, I’ve been learning how to live with Parkinson’s disease. It has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, to adjust to it, and to decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly.” She added: “Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable. Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.” Ms Simon, who lives on a 25-acre Martha’s Vineyard estate in Massachusetts, said her health problems started with arthritis in both knees and one hip. She said she eventually had all three joints replaced with “delicate bouquets of metal and plastic”. The Grammy-award-winning musician said after three replacement surgeries, she assumed her struggle walking was “simply an unfortunate and rather ironic part of the recovery process”. She said, however, that her mobility continued to worsen. Ms Simon said: “I had trouble standing up from low chairs and deep couches without someone offering me an arm. Overstuffed furniture became my enemy. Once seated, I could feel as though I had been swallowed by the chair and might remain there permanently, like a guest who had badly overstayed her welcome. Eventually, there were periods when I could not walk without considerable help. My family and I knew that something more was going on. After an extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.” The star said she started treatment, including taking medication to help with stiffness and other symptoms. Describing how it affects her day-to-day life, Ms Simons said that the “apathy is particularly strange”. She said: “You can find yourself lying there like a starfish drying in the sun, arms pointing in all directions, while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, write, sing, call someone, or do much of anything at all.” The artist said she had also received treatment for basal cell carcinoma, a common type of cancer that starts in the top layer of skin, on her face. She said it was removed but the surgery affected her appearance and made her more self-conscious about being seen in public. She said: “I have always been more critical of my appearance than anyone else could possibly imagine (check out the irony of having written You’re So Vain, and this gave my inner critic quite a lot of new material.” Ms Simon, who is also a children’s author, said that “between my mobility issues, the Parkinson’s diagnosis, the surgery, and the emotional effects of it all, withdrawing from public view was the most palatable reaction”. Despite health issues relating to the condition, she said she has not stopped working and began recording a new album, Comes in Waves, in the middle of it all.  

A hospital intruder dressed up as the ‘Grim Reaper’ and glared at patients, a court heard. Leon Gillespie, 26, donned an all-black hooded outfit and stood overlooking the entrance to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd hospital in Denbighshire, North Wales.  Luckily for me, I was at a different hospital or I might have had a fright! Four police cars and a fire crew were sent to apprehend Gillespie after he stayed on the roof for nearly an hour on Saturday. Hospital visitors were shocked at the sight of him standing motionless and brandishing what appeared to be a long blade. No explanation was given for the stunt when Gillespie appeared in front of magistrates in Llandudno. His outfit was also described in court as being a ‘crow’. Gillespie was fined £200 after pleading guilty to causing a nuisance at a hospital. A spokesman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: ‘The health board has previously stated it has a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, aggression or nuisance within its hospital sites.’ Gillespie also admitted separate offences of stealing £30 of cat food and cat litter from Pets at Home on March 26th, and food and drink from Sainsbury’s on May 28th. Both were committed in Llandudno. He was ordered to pay £50 in compensation, £100 in fines, and £100 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.  

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has been rushed to hospital after his TikTok followers reported a concerning livestream. Worried viewers reportedly saw Hilton, 48, self-harm in a video streamed on the social media app on Tuesday (2nd August), following which emergency services swiftly arrived at his house in Miami. He was “safely recovered” and transported by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to a local hospital, where he is receiving medical attention. Hilton’s team shared a statement Wednesday on the blogger’s website, saying: “Many of you have reached out with concern for Perez, and we are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and prayers. “We can confirm that Perez is receiving medical care, and our family’s focus right now is on his well-being,” the statement continued. “We kindly ask that you respect Perez’s privacy, as well as the privacy of his family, during this difficult time. If and when we are able to share any updates, we will do so with everyone as soon as we can. Thank you for your compassion, understanding, and continued support,” the statement concluded, signed by “The Perez Hilton Team and Family.”  

Joe Amabile revealed he underwent successful brain surgery. On Thursday, August 6th, the Bachelor alum, who is widely known to fans as “Grocery Store Joe”, posted photos from his hospital bed on Instagram after having a brain tumour removed, just weeks after revealing he was diagnosed with an early-stage glioma. “They got it all!” he captioned the post. Amabile, 40, had his wife, Serena Pitt, by his side after the procedure and called her his “rock.” She later shared a health update on her Instagram Stories.  “The best update: they were able to remove the entire tumour and Joe is recovering very well,” Pitt, 28, wrote alongside a photo of her holding her husband’s hand. “We’re feeling so grateful🤍.” Ahead of the brain surgery, Amabile said that he was feeling “pretty good” and keeping a positive mindset throughout the ordeal. He also thanked his followers for their love and support. The former reality star first revealed on July 13th that doctors discovered an early-stage glioma, a slow-growing brain tumour, after getting a full-body MRI scan with Prenuvo. The Bachelor in Paradise couple said they were remaining optimistic and hoping that sharing their journey publicly can help others.

On This Day: 2nd August

  • 1934 – Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany, doesn’t end well… 
  • 1973 – A flash fire kills 50 people at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.
  • 1990 – Iraqi invasion of Kuwait: Iraq invades Kuwait and temporarily establishes the Republic of Kuwait puppet state on the orders of Saddam Hussein, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

On This Day: 9th August

  • 1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete. 
  • 1945 – World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. Thirty-five thousand people are killed outright. 
  • 1969 – Followers of Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate. 
  • 1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first president of the United States to resign from office. 

Deaths: 2nd August

  • 1876 – “Wild Bill” Hickok, American sheriff (born 1837). 
  • 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish engineer, invented the telephone (born 1847). 
  • 1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1890).

Deaths: 9th August

  • 1948 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (born 1885). 
  • 1996 – Frank Whittle, English soldier and engineer, invented the jet engine (born 1907). 
  • 2008 – Bernie Mac, American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer (born 1957). 
  • 2016 – Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (born 1951).

Last Meals

James Aren Duckett was an American convicted child murderer, sex offender and suspected serial killer sentenced to death in Florida. Duckett, a former police officer under the Mascotte Police Department, was charged with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee on May 11th 1987. Duckett was said to have abducted the girl, who was raped and later strangled, and her body was found abandoned near a lake. Apart from McAbee’s murder, Duckett was also a suspect in the 1987 unsolved murder of 14-year-old Jeanifer Shyan Weldon and 22-year-old Ronette Lynn Peterson in 1986. Duckett was convicted of McAbee’s murder and sentenced to death. 

On the night of May 11th 1987, 29-year-old James Aren Duckett first encountered 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee. He spotted McAbee walking out of a convenience store with a 16-year-old boy. Duckett apparently asked the convenience store clerk about the girl’s age before he approached both McAbee and the boy, questioning them before he instructed McAbee to go home. 

The boy later returned to the convenience store where he was met by an uncle, and the pair witnessed Duckett and McAbee standing near Duckett’s patrol car. According to the boy and his uncle, Duckett and McAbee entered the police car and departed the scene. It was the last time McAbee was seen alive.

A fisherman discovered McAbee’s body the following day near the shore of Knight Lake. Duckett was named as a suspect because he was the last person seen with McAbee and he was also the only police officer on duty the day of the murder. As a result, Duckett was suspended from the police force and he was fired three days later, ending his seven-month employment as a police officer.

Investigators found three key pieces of circumstantial evidence that led to Duckett’s arrest and conviction. The first was a pubic hair left at the scene of the crime that matched Duckett. DNA tests on the police car showed that the palm prints of Duckett and McAbee were on the hood of his police vehicle, and investigators matched tire tracks near the crime scene to that vehicle.

Based on this circumstantial evidence, investigators deduced that Duckett had not sent McAbee home, but instead had kidnapped the child, raped her, and strangled her. 

Five months after Teresa McAbee’s death, a Lake County grand jury formally indicted Duckett for her murder. Duckett stood trial before a Lake County jury for first-degree murder, and the prosecution confirmed they would seek the death penalty.  

On June 30th 1988, Lake County Circuit Judge Jerry Lockett sentenced Duckett to death by the electric chair. 

At 1:19 pm on July 28th 2026, 68-year-old James Aren Duckett was put to death by lethal injection in Florida State Prison. Duckett declined to make a final statement, saying “No sir” when prompted. 

Duckett received a final prison visit from four family members on the night before his scheduled execution, and on the day of his scheduled execution, Duckett woke up at 4:45am in his prison cell, and was served his last meal of eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits and chocolate milk and conversed with a spiritual adviser. 

After the execution of Duckett, the family members of Teresa McAbee, whom Duckett killed back in 1987, stated that they had suffered for decades while waiting for justice to be served, and McAbee’s mother broke down as she told the press that she waited for nearly 40 years to finally see Duckett executed, while one of McAbee’s cousins expressed she was glad to see Duckett executed, and stated that Duckett “took advantage of his badge” when he murdered her cousin. McAbee’s cousin additionally stated that Duckett got off too easy and should be executed with more pain like what McAbee suffered before her death, and it should not have taken about four decades for her aunt to witness justice

Previous Week’s Birthdays

Sam Worthington (50), Kevin Smith (56), Edward Furlong (49), Charli XCX (34), Michael Biehn (70), Wesley Snipes (64), Dean Cain (60), J.K. Rowling (61), Christopher Nolan (56), Arnold Schwarzenegger (79), Terry Crews (58), Hilary Swank (52), Laurence Fishburne (65), Lisa Kudrow (63), Jean Reno (78), Frances de la Tour (82), Carel Struycken (78), Wil Wheaton (54), Hannah Waddingham (56), Anya Chalotra (31), Elizabeth Berkley (54), Harry Kane (33), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (56), Donnie Yen (63), and Taylor Schilling (42).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bill Skarsgård (36), Sam Elliott (82), Rhona Mitra (50), Eric Bana (58), Anna Kendrick (41), Gillian Anderson (58), Melanie Griffith (69), Audrey Tautou (50), Dustin Hoffman (90), Charlize Theron (51), Sasha Calle (31), Harold Perrineau (63), Michael Shannon (52), David Duchovny (66), Tobin Bell (84), M. Night Shyamalan (56), Michelle Yeoh (64), Geri Halliwell-Horner (54), Mark Strong (63), Billy Bob Thornton (71), Meghan Markle (45), Barack Obama (65), Lee Mack (58), Stephen Graham (53), Evangeline Lilly (47), Martin Sheen (86), John C. McGinley (67), and Mamie Gummer (43).

9th August 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 26th July 2026

Not much to talk about this week, the news has been a little thin on the ground.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

William Shatner has revealed that he was dealing with cancer at the same time as his daughter, Melanie Shatner Gretsch. The 95-year-old Canadian actor told the Flying Monkeys  that Gretsch, 61, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2022 after finding a lump in her breast. Shatner revealed that about a year later, in June 2023, he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer, that had spread to his lungs and brain. “I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,’” Gretsch, the youngest daughter of Shatner and first wife Gloria Rand. The father-daughter duo were both declared cancer-free by late 2024. Shatner said: “We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer.” In the year and a half after her diagnosis, Gretsch said she underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and 30 radiation therapy treatments. Gretsch said her father offered to help her financially during her treatment, saying: “I do not want you to worry. Just send me the bills.” “Then you made me laugh so hard when I was still going to the doctor a year later,” she said to the Star Trek actor. “You said, ‘You’ve got to get well. We’re going to be in the poorhouse!’” However, when she was nearly done with her treatments, her father found a lump in his cheek that turned out to be a tumour. He had surgery to remove it and underwent two years of immunotherapy to fight the cancer. Shatner opened up about the fear he felt when he was diagnosed. He recalled: “I said, ‘Stage 4?’ And someone in the room said, ‘Sorry.’ I said, ‘What are you sorry about?’ It was like, ‘Better pack your things.’ That person who said ‘sorry,’ that was very sad, like you are going to die. And I was. They said if this treatment they used did not work, I had about 5 months.”  

Singer Nivea offered an important update on her health after being diagnosed with blood cancer. “I was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year, ” the “Don’t Mess With My Man” singer, 44, revealed “I am so grateful to God. I am going through treatment.” Nivea confirmed that she started treatment for the blood cancer several months ago. Despite her diagnosis, Nivea assured the Flying Monkeys that she was maintaining a positive outlook due to her deep spirituality. “Everything is going great so far and I expect it to continue,” she said. “Amen. Amen. Amen! I’m very grateful for life. It’s so cliche to say, ‘You don’t know the time nor the hour,’ but it’s true. It just helped me put a lot of things into perspective.” The musician added, “I live in gratitude religiously. I’m just grateful for everything.” Nivea told us that she was keeping busy and even pursuing a music technology degree despite her illness. “I’m doing things I want to do,” she declared. “I’m definitely back into my music. I’m going to school for audio engineering.” The singer went on, “I’ve always wanted to learn how to engineer, how to mix and engineer, in particular. In general, I’m just doing all the things, honey! I’m loving all my children and just being grateful. I’m taking every opportunity that comes my way!” Nivea is perhaps best known for her 2003 breakthrough single “Don’t Mess with My Man,” which featured brothers Brian and Brandon Casey from R&B group Jagged Edge. The track received a Best R&B Performance Award nomination at the 2003 Grammys and ultimately reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. 

On This Day

  • 1945 – The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.
  • 1971 – Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.
  • 2005 – Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain within 24 hours, resulting in floods killing over 5,000 people.

Deaths

  • 1952 – Eva Perón,  Argentinian politician, 25th First Lady of Argentina (born 1919). 
  • 1984 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (born 1906). 
  • 2020 – Olivia de Havilland, American actress (born 1916). 
  • 2023 – Sinéad O’Connor, Irish singer and musician (born 1966). 
  • 2025 – Tom Lehrer, American singer, comedian and mathematician (born 1928). 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jason Statham (59), Sandra Bullock (62), Kate Beckinsale (53), Kevin Spacey (67), Helen Mirren (81), Eve Myles (48), Nana Visitor (69), Mick Jagger (83), Matt LeBlanc (59), Jennifer Lopez (57), Elisabeth Moss (44), Anna Paquin (44), Summer Glau (45), Danny Dyer (49), Lynda Carter (75), Woody Harrelson (65), Daniel Radcliffe (37), Ronny Cox (88), Jo Brand (69), Rhys Ifans (59), Willem Dafoe (71), Selena Gomez (34), Danny Glover (80), Juno Temple (37), Josh Hartnett (48), John Francis Daley (41), and Sandra Oh (55). 

4th August 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 19th July 2026

Another week passes by, and as death stops for no-one, here we are again with another newsletter. Truly sad to see Sam Neil on this weeks list, he’s starred in many of my favourite films. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

BBC Radio and Desert Island Discs star Lauren Laverne has revealed she as been diagnosed with a disorder that can develop into blood cancer, just years on from her cancer diagnosis. The broadcaster, 48, took to social media on Friday afternoon to reveal the ‘personal news’ to her followers that while she was feeling OK and didn’t need treatment, it was something she wanted to share as it can help other people facing the same thing. “I’m quite a private person by nature but am sharing this as one of the many things I’ve learned after going through health challenges in recent years is that talking about this stuff helps people. I’ve been diagnosed with something called smouldering myeloma (yes that is a weird name and no I’ve never heard of it either). It’s an asymptomatic blood and bone marrow disorder that in some people can develop into blood cancer. She was quite to assure fans as she wrote: “Thankfully for me the risk of this happening in my case is pretty low. At the moment I feel OK and don’t need treatment. Most people my age who have it have no idea – it tends to be cancer survivors like me who are diagnosed early as we’re so carefully monitored. It has nothing to do with my previous illness or my recent surgery, it’s just one of those things.” She added that it was an incurable ‘chronic condition’ and means that her immune system is now compromised so she will need MRI’s and bone biopsies going forward. She said it was ‘a lot’ coming just two years after her last diagnosis but wanted to be ‘upfront’ and share her story. She added that despite having ‘difficult experiences’ in the last eight years, she had learned a lot, and then thanked her doctors and 6 Music team who helped her. She added that she was now taking a couple of weeks off on holiday but would be back soon. She also joked in the caption of the post: “I call it Smouldering Mye. Sounds more like a drag queen.”  

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, the American hero who piloted the “Miracle on the Hudson” flight, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. “I recently found out I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease,” the pilot, 75, said. “It is early stage. For now, this means a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don’t sleep as well, but I am in the beginning of this long journey.” Sullenberger received his diagnosis in August 2025, and has since been learning about the condition – a type of dementia that affects a person’s memory, thinking and behaviour. Symptoms can eventually be severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily life and tasks. “My doctor, Dr. Gil Rabinovici with UCSF Medical Center, has opened my eyes to the prevalence of Alzheimer’s,” he shared. “This disease, he has told me, spares no age group and impacts millions of people around the world. It is the unwanted visitor at the door.” Sullenberger previously served in the United States Air Force before becoming a commercial airline pilot. He became a household name in January 2009, after he heroically landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River after birds hit the plane, disabling its engines.. All 155 people aboard the aircraft survived. Tom Hanks eventually portrayed Sullenberger in the 2016 biopic Sully, which detailed the incredible water landing.  

Sha Wylie, believed to be England’s oldest stand-up comedian, has sadly died at the age of 81. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival regular, who made the finals of the Leicester Comedy Festival Silver Stand-up contest for acts over 55 twice, was “surrounded by family” when she passed away on July 5 after a “brief illness”. In her incredible career, Sha was also endorsed by comedy great Ronnie Corbett. Stand-Up Marketing spokesperson Kerry Herbert said: “Sha Wylie, passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family in Brighton, following a brief illness that required her to go to the GP in her crocs and the hospital in her WTF earrings. She was 81, a regular at the Brighton Fringe and still gigging to the end, getting to venues using her bus pass and a bright yellow Alinker walking-bike.” The obituary added: “Sha once said that if she were to have a headstone, it would say: ‘Sha was fat and that was that.’ “We’d like it to say, ‘Sha was loved, by her three children, her grandchildren, her many foster children, her nieces and nephews, her friends, her penpals, and her whole comedy family.’” She added: “But that’s too many words, so we’ll just hold her in our hearts and remember her unctuous voice calling us ‘darling’, her bright pink hair, and her spectacular earrings – recent ones being Lego seagulls ready for a chip. She will be terribly missed. Rest in peace, Sha.” Tributes have flooded in for Sha, with one fan writing: “I’m so saddened to hear of the passing of Sha Wylie, the true matriarch of the Brighton comedy scene. “Sha wasn’t just a wonderful comedian; she was someone who genuinely cared about the people around her. She was always invested in her fellow comedians, encouraging, supporting and celebrating others as much as herself. That kindness made her just as special off stage as she was on it. “Thank you, Sha, for your warmth, your laughter and the legacy you’ve left behind. You’ll be deeply missed. Rest peacefully.”

On This Day

  • 1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth. 
  • 1977 – The world’s first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal was transmitted.
  • 2024 – A faulty software update by CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity company, causes global computer outages.

Deaths

  • 2013 – Mel Smith, English actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1952).
  • 2014 – James Garner, American actor (born 1928). 
  • 2019 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (born 1944). 
  • 2024 – Ray Reardon, Welsh snooker player and police officer (born 1932).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jared Padalecki (44), Benedict Cumberbatch (50), Kelly Reilly (49), Vin Diesel (59), Kristen Bell (46), Brett Goldstein (46), Eric Winter (50), David Hasselhoff (74), Alex Winter (61), Will Ferrell (59), Corey Feldman (55), Phoebe Cates (63), Diane Kruger (50), Travis Fimmel (47), Forest Whitaker (65), Celia Imrie (74), Brigitte Nielsen (63), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (41), Jackie Earle Haley (65), David Mitchell (52), Conor McGregor (38), Harrison Ford (84),  and Patrick Stewart (86).

4th August 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 12th July 2026

Quite a deadly week, with some shockingly unexpected deaths. But not all were unexpected, Christine correctly guessed that Patricia Greene would finally succumb to score her 55 points! Well done! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Millionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson has hit a major obstacle in his years-long quest to “defeat death.” The 48-year-old tech entrepreneur, who rose to fame for chronicling his extreme health routine curated to reduce his biological age, announced on social media last week that he has been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease. “My stomach is eating itself,” Johnson wrote in post on X. He explained that he has autoimmune gastritis, in which his immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy cells in his stomach lining. He wrote that for years, he had been unaware he was dealing with the disease, but said that it was likely caused by his diet of fast food and sugary beverages in the years before he  started biohacking his health routine, which included changes to his diet and sleep habits. “As a kid, I ate sugar cereal, drank sugary soda, and gobbled down fast food,” Johnson said. “I had a few healthy years in my early 20’s but then became a young father of three and began building a business. Juggling that stress and grind, I let my health slip and gained 40 lbs. Within a few years I’d fallen into a deep, chronic depression. Somewhere in that timeline, my body began developing an autoimmune process affecting my thyroid and then my stomach lining. AIG causes irreversible damage: nutritional deficiency, anaemia, and over a long horizon, elevated cancer risk. When AIG is discovered today, standard medical care concedes defeat, stating that nothing can be done except managing the condition, no matter how awful or lethal the effects.” Despite the irreversible effects, Johnson said he plans to “try and solve” the illness by monitoring several diagnostic tests, including ferritin and iron levels. His team is also planning to conduct repeated biopsies and develop treatments depending on the results. “In the age of AI, multiomics, and custom-built DNA, proteins, and cells, no condition should be presumed incurable simply because no one has yet tried to cure it with today’s stack,” he said. After selling his tech company Braintree Venmo to Paypal for $800 million in 2013, Johnson has gone to extreme financial and physical lengths — including using his teenage son’s blood plasma in hopes of resetting his body’s age to 18 — in his pursuit of eternal youth, spending roughly $2 million a year. Johnson has adopted a holistic approach to stopping the aging process and follows a 1,977-calorie vegan diet. He also takes several supplements and medicines in his journey, some of which he sells on his “blueprint” website.  

A student pilot has spoken of how she was forced to land a plane alone after her instructor ‘jumped to his death from the cockpit’ midway through the flight. The unnamed 22-year-old had been training with her instructor, 42-year-old Leandro Bertazzo, over Toledo, Argentina, on July 4th, when he reportedly opened the window of the Cessna C150 plane and jumped. The student’s account of the incident states that she watched Bertazzo plunge to his death. While she previously thought he had deployed a parachute she soon realised that was not the case. Despite witnessing such a harrowing moment — and having only limited experience in flying — the student raised the alarm before landing the plane safely and unaided at Coronel Olmedo Airport, which is based in Cordoba and commonly used by flight schools for training pilots. Reports said Mr Bertazzo’s body was found in a nearby field 20 minutes later. Eduardo Alvarez, director of flight school where Mr Bertazzo worked as an instructor, revealed details of his conversation with the student after the incident. Speaking to the Flying Monkeys he explained that she told him he had ‘jumped’, adding: ‘She said he took his headphones off, arranged his belongings including his mobile phone, took his seatbelt off, opened the door which is very difficult to open and jumped out. She sent a message informing about the situation and proceeded to return to the runway to land,’ he added, saying the student, who had a pilot’s licence but few flying hours under her belt, had been ‘very clear, decisive, mature and professional’. ‘She was very shaken, but with complete professionalism she flew the plane to the airfield and made a perfect landing,’ he added. It’s also been reported that at one point during the flight Mr Bertazzo told her: ‘You know what to do, keep moving forward.’ Mr Alvarez went on to describe him as someone who was ‘always smiling’, saying that his death had come completely out of the blue. An investigation into the instructor’s death is ongoing with officials saying the circumstances surrounding the accident are so unusual they are unable to explain how it might have happened.  

Veteran radio DJ Paul Gambaccini has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In a statement, the BBC Radio 2 and Greatest Hits Radio presenter said: “As Freddie Mercury once sang, you can’t turn back the clock, you can’t turn back the tide. Ain’t that a shame. There’s no denying it’s a serious condition with an uncertain future, but for now life goes on as normal.” Gambaccini, who was given the diagnosis in 2025, said he would continue to present his programmes on both stations. Radio 2 said it sends “our love and best wishes to Paul”, and added it would continue to support him on his “beautifully crafted weekly music show”. In his statement, Gambaccini, 77, said he would “be as open as I can as things progress”, and that he was grateful for the kindness and support he had already received. For now, I wish to be given the space to keep on broadcasting the music I love to the listeners I love even more. These are the days of our lives,” he said. Greatest Hits Radio content director Andy Ashton praised Gambaccini for “bravely sharing his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.” “We know our audience will wholeheartedly share his own desire to keep on broadcasting the music he loves to the listeners he loves even more.”

On This Day

  • 1543 – King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace. 
  • 1961 – Indian city Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams, killing at least two thousand people.
  • 1963 – Pauline Reade, 16, disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.  

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Melissa O’Neil (38), Michelle Rodriguez (48), Tamsin Greig (60), Cheryl Ladd (75), Bill Cosby (89), Stephen Lang (74), Caroline Quentin (66), Craig Charles (62), Chiwetel Ejiofor (49), Fiona Shaw (68), Peter Serafinowicz (54), Wyatt Russell (40), Sofía Vergara (54), John Simm (56), Tom Hanks (70), Pamela Adlon (60), Scott Grimes (55), Courtney Love (62), Richard Wilson (90), Kevin Bacon (68), David Corenswet (33), Maya Hawke (28), Anjelica Huston (75), Pauline Quirke (67), Jack Whitehall (38), Ringo Starr (86), Sylvester Stallone (80), Kevin Hart (47), Eva Green (46), Geoffrey Rush (75), Jennifer Saunders (68), Burt Ward (81), and Phyllida Law (94).

12th July 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 5th July 2026

We lost a few notable names last week, however nobody managed to score. Maybe the next upcoming heatwave will take its toll.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Renowned American actor Danny Glover has been living with Alzheimer’s disease for several years, he revealed. The 79-year-old told the Flying Monkeys in an interview that he received the diagnosis “not long” after an honorary Oscar designation in 2022. While his movements, speech and memories have since slowed, Glover said he is still remains active. “I can live with it in a sense,” Glover said. “I’m sure as it advances, things are going to be different and changing.” A four-time Emmy winner, Glover is best known for his role in the Lethal Weapon series and The Color Purple. Glover and members of his family said they want to help change the stigma around the disease by speaking out about his condition. “I think it’s really important for him to have control of his own narrative, of his own life story,” Glover’s daughter, Mandisa, said. “That’s really important. And the time is now. What better time but now for him to speak for himself?” Glover reflected on his acting career, which he began in his early 20s – racking up more than 170 acting credits. He rose to fame in the 1980’s with his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh alongside Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon films. Glover was also known for his role in films including Places in the Heart in 1984 and The Color Purple in 1985. With a passion for social justice, the actor launched a production company to develop and fund politically relevant films. “We have challenges in the world,” Glover said in the interview. ” I think art becomes a reframe, a way of looking at that, you know?” 

Lionel Richie’s ex-wife, Brenda Harvey Richie, shared an update on his health. Last week, the 77-year-old singer was forced to stop a show midway through after feeling “dizzy.” “Thanking everyone for their concern! Lionel is OK and will be back on the stage,” Brenda wrote on X. She and Richie were married from 1975 to 1993. Richie was taken to the hospital after falling ill on stage during his show in St. Paul, Minnesota last week. The 77-year-old singer sat down mid-performance before attempting to continue his set. He then left the stage after explaining that he felt “dizzy” and “strange.” He was treated by paramedics, before his saxophonist, Dino Soldo, told the audience that Richie would be unable to complete the show. After he was taken to the hospital, The United Center in Chicago announced that Richie would have to postpone several scheduled shows. “He and Earth, Wind & Fire will return to the stage in Pittsburgh,” their statement read. “Lionel is heartbroken to postpone these two shows and cannot wait to be back performing for his fans. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes fans who have tickets for these two shows. Rescheduled dates will be announced soon.” Back in 2017, Richie spoke about why he prioritises his health on tour and even invested in the on-demand health service Heal. “There’s a number of things that happen on the road that isn’t predictable and the problem you don’t want to risk the idea that there’s no convenient way to see a doctor except maybe through the hotel who’ll send you a doctor.

On This Day

  • 1687 – Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
  • 1945 – The United Kingdom holds its first general election in 10 years, which would be won by Clement Attlee’s Labour Party. 
  • 1946 – Micheline Bernardini models the first modern bikini at a swimming pool in Paris.
  • 1948 – National Health Service Acts create the national public health system in the United Kingdom. 
  • 1954 – The BBC broadcasts its first daily television news bulletin. 
  • 1975 – Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title.
  • 1994 – Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.
  • 1996 – Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

Deaths

The most painful ways to die, according to science 

We are all mortal, and there is nothing we can do about it, other than hope to live a long, happy life. Of course, if we pass away in a peaceful, pain-free way, that is very much welcome. But unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone. In fact, there are indeed very painful ways to die. Here we delve into what science has to say about it. 

Electrocution: Many of us have experienced small electric shocks, and they sure can be painful, but dying by electrocution is a whole different ball game. 

When a powerful enough electric charge hits a person, their muscles seize, bones break, the skin swells up, and even eyeballs can pop out of their sockets. The whole process is excruciating. Punishing someone with death by electric chair truly was a barbaric practice.

However, the same fate can be met by anyone who comes in contact with a high-voltage conductor without the proper protective measures.

Radiation: One of the scariest things about radiation is that it is invisible and, in the right doses, fatal. But what actually happens when you suffer acute radiation syndrome (ARS)? To begin with, it damages both tissue and genetic material. 

This then translates into a number of health problems that impact the immune system. These eventually lead to serious complications such as the collapse of the circulatory system and, ultimately, death. This horrific fate is common for those involved in nuclear disasters, such as the Chernobyl accident in 1986. 

Crucifixion: Most of us associate crucifixion with the death of Jesus Christ, but this type of torture goes back to about the 6th century BCE. 

While some artists depict Christ hanging from the cross in a somewhat peaceful manner, this type of death is indeed extremely painful. So much so that the word “excruciating” actually comes from “crucifixion.” 

While most images depict nails through the palms of the hands, these are historically incorrect. The nails would instead go through the wrists, hitting the median nerve, which is incredibly painful. Not to mention all the insects that would irritate the wounds even more.

Burning: If the thought of burning to death makes you cringe, there is a good reason for it: it’s absolutely horrific. Our skin has numerous nerves, so the pain felt when these burn is very intense. 

Not to mention the pain of breathing in smoke and hot air, that will not only make one choke but also burn everything on its way. It is indeed agonising. 

If you’ve ever wondered how lava might kill you, here’s a summary. Your skin would boil and you’d go into instant rigor mortis (stiffening of the body). Not to mention that your brain might also boil, cracking your skull. 

Freezing: Freezing to death is not as still and peaceful as it might sound. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Hypothermia will make a person shiver uncontrollably in the first stages. 

This will then be followed by muscle stiffness and brain malfunction. As your body tries to supply blood to your vital organs, the extremities will become painful.

Frostbite then causes a burning sensation. Overall, freezing is definitely not a pain-free way to die. 

Drowning: While it doesn’t take forever, the process of drowning can be quite painful. To begin with, a person who is drowning is usually panicking, which leads to hyperventilation. But instead of air, the person will breathe in water. 

This will lead to a vocal cord spasm known as laryngospasm. But what causes the most pain is breathing in the water. Even for those who survive, their lungs remain in a state of pain for some time. 

Heart attack: Unlike other causes of death on this list, the excruciating pain some people go through usually occurs before they have a heart attack.

The warning signs just before an attack can be very painful indeed. There is usually pain radiating to the arm, jaw, neck, and back. The worst symptom is the crushing pressure felt on the chest, which is commonly described as if an elephant was sitting on your chest. 

Pancreatic cancer: From nerve pain to bone damage, and treatment side effects, dying of cancer can be very painful, and pancreatic cancer is arguably the worst when it comes to pain. Pancreatic cancer can cause a great deal of pain when it presses against the nerves around the area. This causes agonising abdominal and back pain.

Intestinal blockages can also occur, as well as referred soft-tissue pain in other parts of the body. 

Boomslang: A boomslang is a snake, and a very poisonous one at that. This means, of course, that being bitten by one will cause a very painful death. 

How does the venom kill you? Through haemorrhages. Essentially victims will bleed severely, internally. Then, uncontrollable shaking will set in, as well as nausea and high fever. It is indeed a painful death. 

Lethal injection: This form of execution is supposed to be less painful when compared to other methods, but this isn’t always the case. 

The most common protocol once included three drugs: a barbiturate and anaesthetic, a muscle relaxant, and finally a drug to stop the person’s heart. But this three-drug protocol was abandoned by some justice systems, in favour of single drugs. These, however, can make the pain last for minutes to hours, until the person dies. 

Many of these drugs will make the person relax, but they are not anaesthetics, so the pain is not addressed. For instance, extreme pulmonary oedema has been found in autopsies of executed prisoners. 

Decompression sickness: When divers go to into deep waters, they breathe compressed air that is much richer in oxygen and nitrogen than the one they’d breathe on the surface. 

The problem is that the nitrogen accumulates, and if divers return to the surface too quickly, the nitrogen will expand and form bubbles, which affect the entire body.

Decompression sickness, also known as barotrauma, or the bends, can be very painful and lead to death. 

Chlorine trifluoride (ClF3): Chlorine trifluoride (ClF3) was first discovered in the 1930’s. It’s a very reactive liquid that pretty much burns everything it comes into contact with. If you’re wondering what exposure to ClF3 would look like, scientist Paul Doherty explains: “The chlorine will turn your bones to gelatine — your fingers will turn from rods into little rounded stubs.” Ouch!

Last Week’s Birthdays

Neil Morrissey (64), Post Malone (31), Ronni Ancona (60), Eva Marie Saint (102), Tom Cruise (64), Patrick Wilson (53), Kurtwood Smith (83), Yeardley Smith (62), Bolo Yeung (80), Margot Robbie (36), Lindsay Lohan (40), Jerry Hall (70), Liv Tyler (49), Pamela Anderson (59), Dan Aykroyd (74), Vincent D’Onofrio (67), Mike Tyson (60), Katherine Ryan (43), Cheryl (43), Gary Busey (82), and Amanda Donohoe (64).

5th July 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 28th June 2026

Let’s congratulate Dave J. for scoring 50 points for the death of Alan Greenspan, which moves him up to fourth place as we hit halfway through the year. You’d have thought that the recent U.K. heatwave would have taken a few out though… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Former Wimbledon champion Chris Evert says her “relentless” cancer has returned for a third time. The 71-year-old American was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2021 and says she is hopeful of making a full recovery. Evert, who won Wimbledon three times and a total of 18 Grand Slams, has been a regular television pundit for the BBC and other broadcasters since retiring in 1989. “I have always believed in being open and honest about my health journey,” she wrote on Instagram. “This past weekend, after undergoing CT and PET scans, I learned that my ovarian cancer has returned. I have already undergone surgery as the first step in my treatment and recovery, and will begin chemotherapy in the coming weeks. Because of this, I will not be attending Wimbledon this year, and I will step back from my professional commitments over the next few months to focus on my health. Ovarian cancer is relentless, but I will stay optimistic and determined in continuing to fight this battle. I am deeply grateful to my medical team, my family, friends, and everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement. I look forward to seeing everyone again soon.” Long-time rival and friend Martina Navratilova said “My friend Chrissie is a champion of champions and as such she will slay this monster again, we are all pulling for you, and know you will come out on the other side cancer free again.”   

Trevor Nelson has announced he’s taking time away from Radio 2 while he deals with a mystery health issue. The legendary broadcaster, 62, has been off the airwaves this week as he shared a statement on Instagram explaining that he would be extending the break to focus on his health. He wrote: “I wanted to let my followers, radio listeners and all my Soul Nation party-people know that I’m going to be taking a little break from my work commitments. Some of you may already have noticed that I’ve not been on my daily Radio 2 slot this week. After a routine check-up I was advised to have some follow up tests. As a result, I will be taking some further time off. As I’m sure you can appreciate with health issues it’s important to deal with facts and not speculate. So I’m concentrating on getting better, being back to 100% me and to getting back behind the mic and the decks. Radio 2 stablemate Vernon Kay paid tribute to Trevor in his show today and revealed his feeling positive. He said: “Everyone at BBC Radio 2, including the mid-morning show are sending Trevor all the very very best wishes, we absolutely love him to bits. He’s a stalwart broadcaster within the UK. I played golf with him a couple of weeks ago and he was in a buoyant mood. And I know that this challenge is something that Trevor is gonna face head on. So Trevor we are sending you all our love and hopefully see you on the Links very soon my friend.” The BBC will announce who will deputise for Trevor on Monday. Dad-of-two Trevor is a pioneer of British radio, having been on the airwaves since the 80’s.  

A convicted rapist who faked his own death and fled to the United Kingdom in a failed bid to to escape justice has died while serving his sentence. Nicholas Rossi, 38, died in a Utah hospital on Thursday night due to ‘complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue medical treatment,’ a Utah Department of Corrections spokesperson said. It is unclear what that condition was and if Rossi decided to discontinue his care as a means of dying by suicide. Utah Department of Corrections added that Rossi’s family had been notified of his death. The Rhode Island native was last year sentenced to ten years behind bars for raping two women in northern Utah in 2008. Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, was first identified as the women’s attacker in 2018 when a decade-old DNA rape kit was investigated. But in February 2020, just months after he was charged in one of the cases, an obituary was published online claiming he had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In fact, he had been living in Bristol, in the south-west of England, for some time before then – but the exact date he fled the States for Britain is unclear. He eventually ended up in Scotland, where he lived under the radar until December 2021, when he was arrested at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. While in hospital receiving treatment for Covid, staff had recognised his distinctive tattoos and reported him to authorities. Rossi said the wrong man had been caught, claiming he was an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight who was being framed. But in November 2022, it was concluded he was in fact Nicholas Rossi and after a long court battle, he was eventually extradited to the US in January last year. Rossi became known for his theatrical court appearances, where he would attempt an English accent while denying his true identity.  It eventually emerged he had used more than a dozen aliases over the years to escape detection. 

On This Day

  • 1880 – Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is captured at Glenrowan.
  • 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo, beginning the July Crisis and providing the casus belli of World War I.
  • 1969 – Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
  • 1997 – Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round for biting off a piece Evander Holyfield’s ear.

Deaths

Last Meals

Dusty Ray Spencer was an American prisoner convicted of murdering his wife in Orange County, Florida. On January 18th 1992, Spencer, who was previously arrested in December 1991 for domestic violence, fatally stabbed his wife, 40-year-old Karen. Spencer went on the run before he was arrested days after the murder.  

Born in Pennsylvania in 1952, Dusty Ray Spencer completed his high school education at the Hopewell Area High School and graduated in 1972, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years before being discharged in 1973. After leaving the military, Spencer moved to Florida and married his first wife. Within four years, he was arrested for delivering $1,600 worth of marijuana to an undercover drug agent. While awaiting the outcome of his case, Spencer attended Valencia Community College for nearly two years, earning a 3.5 grade point average. He later pleaded guilty and served approximately 10 months in jail. Following his release, Spencer divorced his first wife and, in 1980, restarted his career as a house painter, living frugally in a converted trailer. 

In 1988, Spencer met his second wife Karen Spencer after she hired him to paint her home. The two began dating, and Spencer admired Karen’s independence, business skills, and determination in raising her three sons alone. They married in 1989, and became both life and business partners, jointly building A-Plus Painting into a successful company that earned more than $200,000 in 1990. The couple’s marriage started off as a happy one, but eventually, the economic recession placed increasing strain on both their business and their marriage, and by late 1990, the financial issues led to frequent disputes between Spencer and Karen, up until early December 1991, when Karen asked for a divorce and told her husband to move out of their Orlando, Florida house, which marked the preceding event that led to her murder in January 1992. 

In December 1991, Dusty and Karen Spencer argued about the latter’s withdrawal of money from the company’s bank account, and the argument escalated into violence, with Spencer choking and hitting Karen and threatening outright that he would kill her. Spencer was arrested and charged with spousal abuse as a result of this incident, and while he was detained in prison, Spencer called his wife and warned her that he would finish what he had started. 

Subsequently, Spencer was released after the judge granted him bail at an amount of $5,000. Although Karen initially asked Spencer to come home for the holiday season, she reiterated that her husband should move out after Christmas, and on the New Year’s Day of 1992, during a drinking session, Spencer reportedly told a friend that he wanted to throw Karen overboard once he took her out on boat, although he told the same friend two days later that his wife would not go on the boat with him. By January 1992, despite Karen filing the injunction to prevent him from coming back to their house, Spencer entered the house and assaulted Karen, and while Spencer’s younger stepson tried to intervene, he was hit with an iron by his stepfather. Spencer fled the house after the assault, and Karen would seek treatment for her injuries, which she told the doctor were caused by an iron. 

On the morning of January 18th 1992, two weeks after the attack, Spencer once again returned to the house to attack Karen, which ultimately turned out to be fatal. Spencer used a brick to hit Karen on the head several times, and the commotion awakened and alerted his 17-year-old stepson, who witnessed the attack and in response, the youth grabbed a rifle from his mother’s bedroom and tried to shoot at his stepfather, but it jammed. The boy then struck Spencer’s head with the gun, but Spencer persisted and slammed Karen’s head onto the concrete wall of the house. Although the boy tried to carry his mother to safety, he was forced to leave his mother behind and escaped the house to seek help after Spencer came after them with a knife and threatened him. Karen was stabbed several times by Spencer, and she died as a result. 

By the time the police and Karen’s son arrived at the house, Spencer had already escaped the residence, leaving behind Karen’s corpse. According to an autopsy report, Karen died due to two stab wounds that penetrated her heart and lung. In total, Karen was stabbed four or five times in the chest, and she had cuts on her face and arms, and severe blunt force trauma to her head. The wounds on her arms were certified to be defensive injuries, suggesting that Karen tried to defend herself when Spencer attacked and stabbed her. 

In the aftermath of Karen Spencer’s murder, there were concerns regarding the systematic flaws that indirectly led to her murder, including the protective measures aimed to safeguard victims of domestic violence, due to Dusty Spencer’s attempts on Karen’s life while put on bail even after he was arrested and charged with spousal abuse. As a result of the case, many judges barred suspects charged with domestic abuse from getting bail, and a no-bail policy was proposed to better protect the victims and prevent potential cases of these suspects retaliating against their victims while on bail. 

Two days after the murder of his wife, Dusty Spencer was arrested after Polk County deputies traced his whereabouts to the house of one of his friends, where he sought refuge while on the run for the killing. After his arrest, Spencer was charged with first-degree murder for the death of Karen, and he was held without bond at the Orange County jail. 

On February 6th 1992, an Orange County grand jury formally indicted Spencer for his wife’s murder and attempted murder of her younger son, as well as aggravated battery and attempted murder for the attack on Karen and her  younger son.  By a majority vote of 7–5, the jury recommended that Spencer should be sentenced to death for murdering his wife. 

On May 26th 2026, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Dusty Spencer, scheduling him to be executed on June 25th 2026. 

During the final days leading up to his execution, advocates argued for the state to spare Spencer’s life. They raised the fact that Spencer was 74 years old and was in poor health at this point, suffering from cognitive decline, heart problems and cirrhosis and other health issues, and he could no longer pose as a threat to anyone, and it was therefore inappropriate to execute him. Since 1976, only 12 inmates aged 74 and above were executed of all the 1,669 people put to death in the United States. 

On June 25th 2026, 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer was put to death by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison. For his last meal, Spencer ordered a pizza, french fries and a milkshake, and in his final statement, Spencer said, “Sorry, sorry to the family. Into thy hands I commit my spirit and my soul. I’m on my way, Lord. I’m on my way. Amen.” Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10pm, within ten minutes after the drugs were administered for him.

Given his age of 74, Spencer became the oldest person executed in the state since 1924, surpassing both Samuel Lee Smithers and R. Charlie Gifford, who were both executed for murder at age 72 in 2025 and 1951 respectively. Another 74-year-old Florida prisoner, Dennis Sochor, is also scheduled to be executed on July 14th. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

John Cusack (60), Mel Brooks (100), Kathy Bates (78), Felicia Day (47), Alice Krige (72), Elon Musk (55), Tobey Maguire (51), Emma D’Arcy (34), Meera Syal (65), Nick Offerman (56), Ariana Grande (33), Mckenna Grace (20), Ricky Gervais (65), Sheridan Smith (45), Erin Moriarty (32), Peter Weller (79), Nancy Allen (76), Iain Glen (65), Joel Edgerton (52), Frances McDormand (69), Melissa Rauch (46), Selma Blair (54), Meryl Streep (77), Bruce Campbell (68), Tim Russ (70), Cyndi Lauper (73).

28th June 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 21st June 2026

Quite a deadly week! Points need to be awarded too! Well done to me for correctly guessing that Roy Hattersley would die this year. 57 points!! Not only that, Neil G also guessed that Teddie Beverley would sing her last song; another 51 points!! 

Not sure what would happen if anyone theoretically went with the Major Oak, you’d probably end up with -850 points…. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

An 81-year-old pétanque player has been arrested after allegedly killing a 68-year-old rival with a metal boule in an apparent turf war. The alleged attack broke out in the usually peaceful resort of Mimizan in south-west France. Witnesses say a row erupted when a group who usually play at a nearby beach turned up at the local boulodrome looking for shade during a heatwave. “According to the evidence … it seems that it is the 81-year-old man who struck the victim, who is deceased, with a pétanque boule,” Alexa Dubourg, the public prosecutor in nearby Mont-de-Marsan, said. She said the incident occurred after “an argument which degenerated into a physical confrontation”. The prosecutor added that the row concerned “the use of the boulodrome habitually frequented by one of the groups”. Investigations are ongoing to “determine precisely the role played by each person”, she said. The victim and alleged attacker have not yet been named. Some reports suggest the man was hit in the face with the metal boule, while others suggest he was struck in the head. The 68-year-old victim suffered a cardiac arrest after being hit and died at the scene. The 81-year-old suspect was detained by the local Gendarmerie as soon as they arrived and put into police custody. He is due to appear before a judge as prosecutors look to bring formal charges. The petanque club in Mimizan has suspended operations and offered psychological support to the witnesses who have reportedly been left traumatised by what they saw.  

A weekend BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon has killed two people, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl. The sheriff’s office in Grand County, Utah, confirmed one of the dead was Andy Lewis, an extreme athlete known for feats in dangerous sports. The victims had been conducting a tandem jump in which two people are harnessed together, according to a social media post by Aerial Arts Moab, an acrobatics company that described Lewis as “co-owner and best friend.” The business offered tandem jumps to inexperienced customers who would be harnessed to a guide wearing the parachute. Promotional videos on the company’s website show pairs of people stepping off the edges of towering cliffs and briefly plummeting before their parachutes open. In BASE jumping circles, Lewis had a huge following and a reputation for pushing the envelope — leaping into tighter spaces or deploying his parachute later than his peers would dare, said John McEvoy, a BASE jumping instructor in Twin Falls, Idaho, who has jumped with Lewis. “He had an incredible level of athleticism and skill that was developed over years of practice,” McEvoy said. “But then he would take an incredible amount of risk.” Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins confirmed the other person who was killed was Danny Joe Kregle, a 68-year-old father and grandfather who was described by a family member as an accomplished businessman. Lewis was also a prominent figure in the niche sports of slacklining and tricklining, which combine elements of high-wire walking with aerial acrobatics, sometimes at perilous heights. In 2014, he walked a slackline suspended between two hot air balloons more than 4,000 feet above the Nevada desert. He went from obscure athlete to overnight celebrity when he appeared onstage in Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. Dressed in a Roman toga, Lewis bounced and executed tricks on his inch-wide line like it was a trampoline while Madonna sang behind him.Though there’s no official tally of BASE jumping deaths, a list compiled by the website BASEaddict.com shows 540 total fatalities worldwide since 1981, including 30 people killed last year.  

Would be farmer and television presenter Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The news was announced in an  episode of the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm, released on Wednesday. It is not clear exactly when the footage was filmed, but the series was shot in 2024 and 2025, so it can’t be that bad as the fucker is still alive. Clarkson, 66, is seen telling series regulars Kaleb Cooper and Charlie Ireland of his diagnosis, both of whom were visibly shocked by the news. The former Top Gear presenter did not clarify what stage of cancer he had been diagnosed with, but described it as “aggressive” and that a portion of his prostate had been removed as part of his treatment. “I disappeared off the other week and I had a biopsy, and it is cancer, and it’s aggressive, but it’s really early,” he said. Clarkson added that he had known “since May”. “I promise I’ll be fine,” he told the two men, adding that he would be out of action “for a little while”. Cooper told Clarkson to “look after yourself” while Ireland added: “I wish you a very speedy recovery.” In a separate discussion with Cooper in the following episode, Clarkson confirmed the type of cancer, telling him: “The prostate, 10% of it is dead, the 10% where the cancer is.” Later, Clarkson told co-star Gerald: “I had the op, and just fingers crossed it’s worked, we don’t know yet.” The episode, and series, ended with Clarkson pictured in a hospital bed following treatment. “We started season five with me in a hospital bed, and here we are at the end of season five and I’m back in the hospital bed,” he said. “Some of the treatment’s gone a bit awry, let’s say, so I’m going to be here for a little while. I’m nil by mouth, I don’t know what’s going to happen. But if this is all successful,I’ll see you for season six, and if it isn’t, I wont.” He signed off: “Take care everyone.” 

On This Day

  • 1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.
  • 1982 – John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
  • 2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Chris Pratt (47), Carrie Preston (59), Juliette Lewis (53), David Morrissey (62), Nicole Kidman (59), John Goodman (74), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (37), Miles O’Keeffe (72), Aidan Turner (43), Zoe Saldaña (48), Kathleen Turner (72), Richard Madden (40), Paul McCartney (84), Carol Kane (74), Will Forte (56), Jodie Whittaker (44), Arnold Vosloo (64), Andy Weir (54), John Cho (54), James Bolam (91), Helen Hunt (63), Courteney Cox (62), Neil Patrick Harris (53), Jim Belushi (72), and Ice Cube 57). 

21st June 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 14th June 2026

Better late than never! This week we find Tinkerbell has died, along  with Britains most overrated artist. I wonder if Peter Pan will be next… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

A man has died after reportedly using high-strength adhesive instead of a condom for contraception. Salman Mirza, 25, a drug user, is said to have sealed his cock with an ultra-strong epoxy resin during sex with his partner, with a mystery green liquid found in his abdomen. The couple were inhaling the glue “for a kick” before opting to use it as a contraceptive during a meet up at the Amber Hotel in Ahmedabad, a city in India’s western state of Gujarat. Within a day of checking into the hotel, Salman was discovered unconscious in the “shrubs” outside the hotel by an acquaintance. He was immediately rushed to hospital but sadly passed away shortly afterwards. The Flying Monkeys reported the pair decided to engage in sexual activity after consuming drugs. “Since they didn’t have any protection, they decided to apply the adhesive onto his dick to ensure that she didn’t get pregnant.” Following his death, Salman’s family alleges that it was his partner who applied the adhesive to his meat and two veg. They have lodged a complaint with the police accusing his partner of murder. Police have confirmed samples have been sent for forensic analysis to determine if this was indeed the case, and an autopsy is currently in progress. Police have declared the official cause of the 25-year-old’s death was due to “multiple organ failure”. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains a website listing different possible birth control methods. It divides them into different categories such as intrauterine contraception, hormonal methods, barrier methods, emergency contraception, and permanent methods of birth control. Notably, gluing your snake eye shut is not one of the methods listed.  

A 21-year-old woman died in Limera, Brazil, after a rope jumping crew failed to connect her to the safety rope used in the extreme sport, military police and witness accounts said. About six men were arrested following the woman’s death. Three of them were released following questioning. The other three will be investigated on charges of homicide with implied malice, local media reported. Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, a graduate of physical education and sports management, had gone rope jumping with her fiancé at the Ponte do Esqueleto (Skeleton Bridge). According to military police, people on site reported that the safety equipment was not secured on to the woman before she was launched by two men off the platform. Two videos emerged of the incident. The videos also show that the rope was not secured to the woman before the men carried her to be thrown off the bridge. Right before she was launched off the platform, someone can be heard shouting, “Guys, the rope,” after realising the woman was not connected to the safety rope. The woman fell 40 meters and suffered multiple injuries. Paramedics confirmed her death on site. Before her death, Freitas posted photographs on her Instagram. In one of the captions, she joked, “Who was the crazy person who let me jump off a bridge?” Her profile was taken down after her death. Her social media showed that she was a recent graduate and was a resident of Jandira in Greater São Paulo, where she worked at a gym. The gym posted a message mourning Freitas’s death. The company that runs the rope-jumping business, Entre Cordas, deleted its page with 80,000 followers after the incident. The Limeira City Hall said Saturday that it will sue the Federal Government in court “due to the omission regarding the Ponte do Esqueleto”, after the death of a young woman at the site. In a statement, the City Hall claimed that the responsibility for the inspection, maintenance, and access control of the bridge lay exclusively with the Federal Government. They stated that since 2025, they had already sent official letters to the responsible bodies demanding security measures on the bridge, including a request to block access and place warning sites. Despite this activities continued. The three men who were arrested are 47,32 and 27 years old. One of them is a civilian firefighter, and the other two helped on-site with the jumping. The woman’s fiancé reportedly fell ill after her death and was given medical attention. In rope jumping, the practitioner jumps from an elevated location like bridges, buildings or rock faces while attached to climbing ropes connected to an anchor. The ropes used are less elastic, giving the person a feeling that they are free-falling for a longer time. Adventure sports require rigorous planning and calculations regarding height and equipment. The founder of rope jumping, Dan Osman, died in 1998 when his anchoring system failed during a jump in Yosemite National Park, California.

X-Men star Tyler Mane has revealed a “super rare” breast cancer diagnosis. This week, the 59-year-old, who starred as Sabretooth in X-Men and Deadpool & Wolverine, opened up about the “bad news” regarding his health. “Yep. I have breast cancer. And yep, it’s super rare. Only one per cent of breast cancers are men,” he shared on Instagram. “I’ll be honest, my first reaction was to keep it secret. I mean it’s kind of embarrassing. But then I found out that men are more likely to be diagnosed in advance stages BECAUSE it’s not talked about and not looked for. In fact, my doctors all dismissed it and it was only because my wife pushed me to get the lump removed that I got in early.” Breast cancer in men is rare and accounts for less than one per cent of all cancers in men. Mane, a former professional wrestler, promised to share his treatment journey on social media, hoping to raise awareness. He said breast cancer in men was normally detected later and therefore led to poorer prognoses than in women. In footage from his first chemotherapy session, Mane flipped the bird and quietly said “fuck cancer”. Mane said thankfully, the cancers had not spread to his lymph nodes and he would undergo four rounds of chemotherapy over 12 weeks.

On This Day

  • 1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
  • 1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first mammal and first monkey in space.
  • 2017 – The Grenfell Tower fire, a catastrophic fire in a high-rise apartment building in North Kensington, London, UK, leaves 72 people dead and another 74 injured.

Deaths

  • 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist and academic (born 1857). 
  • 1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish-English physicist and engineer (born 1888). 
  • 1949 – Albert II, rhesus macaque, animal astronaut, and first mammal in space. 
  • 1977 – Alan Reed, American actor, original voice of Fred Flintstone (born1907).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Will Patton (72), Donald Trump (80), Alan Carr (50), Stellan Skarsgård (75), Chris Evans (45), Ally Sheedy (64), Malcolm McDowell (83), Tim Allen (73), Richard Thomas (75), Simon Callow (77), Kathy Burke (62), Shia LaBeouf (40), Hugh Laurie (67), Joshua Jackson (48), Peter Dinklage (57), Adrienne Barbeau (81), Jane Goldman (56), Gina Gershon (64), DJ Qualls (48), Elizabeth Hurley (61), Bill Burr (58), Jürgen Prochnow (85), Johnny Depp (63), Natalie Portman (45), Michael J. Fox (65), Eddie Marsan (58), Griffin Dunne (71), and Ye (49).

14th June 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 7th June 2026

Quite a deadly week, but no scoring though. Think I’ll go get a Nescafe and bother my next door neighbour…. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Jon Snow, the lead presenter of Channel 4 News for 32 years, has revealed he has Alzheimer’s disease. The 78-year-old journalist and his wife Precious Lunga will be seen navigating his diagnosis in a film that will receive its premiere next week. “At the beginning I wanted to hide it, there’s so much prejudice,” he says in the film. “Any sort of hint of mental decay, you’re sort of dead. There are moments when it pops up but it’s not an all day every day condition, and that’s what I cling onto.” Snow was the lead presenter on Channel 4 News from 1989 to 2021, after serving as ITN’s Washington correspondent and diplomatic editor in the 80s. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described him as “a true giant in journalism” who is now “helping others feel less alone and raising awareness of a condition that affects so many families”. In an interview with the Flying Monkeys to support an Alzheimer’s Society campaign, Snow said: “If I don’t speak out, who will?” Asked about the impact of the disease, he said: “I don’t know really. I don’t feel disabled in any way.” He said he still questions the diagnosis. “I mean sometimes I doubt whether I’ve really got it. I don’t know if it’s widespread knowledge.” Snow’s wife, an epidemiologist, told us he was initially reluctant to see a doctor, but he saw a specialist in 2023. “He was given what’s called a mini-mental state exam and he aced it. He got 29 out of 30,” she said. “It was only later, when they did a brain scan, that we got a diagnosis.”   

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant, the country’s royal household has said. Mette-Marit, who suffers from an incurable lung disease, has suspended official duties and will have the operation as soon as a donor becomes available, it said. The princess, who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, has been battling the illness while facing revelations about her association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the rape trial of her son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby. Høiby, who denies the charges, has requested release from custody because his mother is seriously ill, Norwegian media report. Mette-Marit, 52, was diagnosed in 2018 with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis that causes breathing difficulties and creates scar tissue that stiffens the lungs making it difficult to breathe and for oxygen to enter the bloodstream. It has repeatedly forced her to take sick leave or scale back official duties. In December, Mette-Marit told the Flying Monkeys that her illness had developed “faster than I’d hoped” and that activities she enjoyed with her husband – like hiking and skiing – were no longer possible. Over the past six months, her condition has deteriorated significantly, Prof Are Holm, a lung specialist at Oslo University Hospital, was quoted by the royal household as saying. “We can see that there has been a significant increase in scar tissue in her lungs over the past year – and lung function tests show that her lung function has declined considerably in the last three months alone,” Holm told reporters at a news conference on Friday. He said the deterioration was “dangerous”, which was why she has been placed on the transplant list. A successful transplant hinges on several factors, including finding the right match and ensuring the body does not reject the new organ once implanted. Holm explained that the process was viewed as a last resort, and that individuals must be considered significantly ill and have a limited life expectancy before a lung transplant could be deemed appropriate.  

Marion Fossett, a ringmistress who was known as “one of the best” in circus entertainment, has died at the age of 71. Her family said she died in hospital in Dublin last night after being ill for some time. “She loved what she did,” said her brother Eddie Fossett. “She was the face of Fossett’s Circus…we are so proud of her.” Her niece Sonya Fossett described her as a showgirl who loved her feathers and sequins. “She was a singer, an actress…she was a star to be shared,” Sonya said. The family-run Fossett’s Circus, which has been touring since the late 1880s, was set up by Marion’s great-grandfather after he returned from America. In her childhood, Marion made her debut in the ring at just 18 months old in a basket on an elephant. She went on to master many skills, becoming an aerialist, contortionist and a sword balancer. Marion was once quoted as saying “you can shake the sawdust from your feet, but you never shake it from your blood”. Her friend Charles O’Brien recalls a woman who was at the “top of her craft” and adored the enjoyment she provided to large crowds. “She was very much aware of the fact she brought a smile to people’s faces around the country,” he said. “Marion would stand in the middle of the ring twice a day, six days a week and she could see every single face. She effectively was born on the show as the entire family were,” said Mr O’Brien. “That was the heyday of circus.” He described how Marion made a “rare” move from the circus into mainstream entertainment in the 1970s. While living in London, she played all the main cabaret venues and featured on prime Saturday night television programmes including Seaside Special. Her broad career included acting in a feature film and on stage. For a certain generation she will be remembered for her part in the girl group Sheeba alongside Maxi and Frances Campbell. They represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. “This predated the Spice Girls,” said Mr O’Brien. “They were the number one.”

On This Day

  • 1975 – Sony launches Betamax, the first videocassette recorder format.
  • 1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
  • 1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.

Deaths

  • 1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (born 1274).
  • 1937 – Jean Harlow, American actress and singer (born 1911).
  • 1954 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (born 1912).
  • 1970 – E. M. Forster, English novelist, short story writer, essayist (born 1879).
  • 1980 – Henry Miller, American novelist and essayist (born 1891).
  • 2015 – Christopher Lee, English actor (born 1922).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Liam Neeson (74), Karl Urban (54), Michael Cera (38), Anna Torv (47), Bill Hader (48), Helen Baxendale (56), Bear Grylls (52), Tom Jones (86), Jason Isaacs (63), Paul Giamatti (59), Robert Englund (79), Sandra Bernhard (71), Mark Wahlberg (55), Mel Giedroyc (58), Noah Wyle (55), Oona Chaplin (40), Angelina Jolie (51), Bruce Dern (90), Russell Brand (51), Sean Pertwee (62), Bradley Walsh (66), James Purefoy (62), Imogen Poots (37), Suzi Quatro (76), Morena Baccarin (47), Jewel Staite (44), Justin Long (48), Awkwafina (38), Zachary Quinto (49), Dominic Cooper (48), Liam Cunningham (65), Dana Carvey (71), Tom Holland (30), Brian Cox (80), Morgan Freeman (89), Jennifer Coolidge (65), Jonathan Pryce (79), Robert Powell (82), Amy Schumer (45), Heidi Klum (53), and Alanis Morissette (52).

7th June 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 31st May 2026

We have points to give! Unbelievably, Dave guessed that Ilie Ciocan would be a wiki notable death, so 38 points!!! Obviously none of would have heard of him, but in todays celebrity culture, not dying for a long time makes you famous. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Barry Manilow has offered new insight into his lung cancer diagnosis and recovery. The 82-year-old “Copacabana” crooner revealed his diagnosis in December, saying it was “found early.” He underwent surgery to remove a spot on his left lung, postponing his Las Vegas residency and several planned tour dates to recover. But part of his post-surgery recovery was a seven-day ICU stay during which he unknowingly had pneumonia. “I didn’t know about pneumonia,” the singer told the Flying Monkeys “I was in the ICU for seven days, because they couldn’t grasp this pneumonia that was just about killing me.” However, Manilow says he’s on the mend. “I’m doing good. I’m doing good,” Manilow said when asked about his health. “It took longer than I thought it was gonna take to get past this lung cancer thing.” Since the start of the year, Manilow has announced multiple rounds of show postponements as he continues his recovery. He described a February visit to the surgeon ahead of his anticipated return to the stage as “very depressing.” Despite “using the treadmill three times a day” to prepare for his upcoming arena tour dates, his surgeon advised against him resuming the previously postponed concerts. The entire ordeal has forced Manilow to take stock of his life. “This made me stop and think about: Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend?” he mused. “All of those cornball things that I’ve read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too. It really did stop me in my tracks. And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought.” 

Lord Tom Watson, the former Labour deputy leader, has announced he is taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords following the recurrence of his cancer. The Labour peer was initially diagnosed with non-aggressive prostate cancer in March 2023, from which he later received the all clear. However, the former minister, who served under both Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, revealed in a Substack post on Friday that he was informed earlier this year that the disease had returned. While initial tests have suggested this second bout of cancer has “gone”, Lord Watson is scheduled to undergo further checks later this summer. His announcement comes as the government recently advised against a population-wide prostate cancer screening programme, instead recommending testing for only a “few thousand” high-risk men. In his Substack post, Lord Watson, who previously resigned as a minister under Sir Tony Blair, also detailed his renewed struggle with weight. He had previously shed more than 125 pounds but admitted to regaining weight in recent years after ceasing exercise following his initial diagnosis. The former MP for West Bromwich East wrote: “I knew the weight was piling on because my clothes no longer fitted me. Not only was I obese again, but the cancer came back earlier this year. Is it weird to say this was the wake-up call I needed to choose life again? Perhaps it is. But it is true. So I have taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords for treatment and recuperation. Initial tests suggest the cancer has gone, though I will not know for certain until more tests in the summer. Despite the uncertainty, I feel good. Chipper, in fact.”  

Police responding to reports of a shotgun blast at a convenience store sounds like the opening of countless American crime movies, but when cops in Nebraska responded to a recent such call they found an unusual culprit: a dog. Local TV station KNOP News 2 reported that police in the town of Scottsbluff were called out to a local store recently after reports of a blast involving a shotgun. Upon arrival they found a truck with blast damage in one of its doors and a woman who had been struck in the arm by a pellet from a shotgun. However, investigation showed a canine cause behind the shooting when it was revealed the blast happened as the vehicle had pulled up to the store as a dog had been moving from one side of its back seat to another. Somehow, the dog had triggered the shotgun – which had a live round chambered – to fire, damaging the vehicle and striking a female passerby. The victim was taken to hospital though not seriously injured, she’s now probably bankrupt. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Nebraska to drive with a loaded shotgun in your vehicle. As of the first quarter of 2026, there have been 3,103 shooting deaths in the United States. Amazingly, this figure represents the lowest number of shooting deaths recorded for that period in the last twelve years! 

On This Day

  • 1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
  • 2003 – Air France retires its fleet of Concorde aircraft.
  • 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat”.

Deaths

  • 2009 – Danny La Rue, Irish-British drag queen performer and singer (born 1927).
  • 2016 – Carla Lane, English television writer (born 1928). 
  • 2024 – Robert Pickton, Canadian serial killer (born 1949).

How would YOU choose to be executed?

Late one Friday afternoon in March last year, the curtain in the ‘witness room’ of South Carolina’s state execution chamber opened to reveal convicted murderer Brad Sigmon strapped to a chair.

A large metal basin had been fitted underneath it to collect his blood and he was dressed all in black to hide the bloodstains that would soon soak through his clothes.

With straps around his ankles, lap, waist and even his chin, he could barely move an inch. A black-and-white target had been Velcroed to his clothes over his heart.

A black hood was then placed over his head, before another curtain was pulled back to reveal three square gun ports cut into a wall 15ft away from him. Standing behind each was a volunteer prison guard holding a loaded rifle.

Without any countdown, they suddenly fired together, the three special bullets, designed to fragment as much as possible on impact – opening up a fist-sized hole where his heart once was. Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead three minutes later.

He had been sentenced to death for murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat in 2001.

He’d had the dubious privilege of becoming the first US death row inmate in 15 years to be executed by firing squad, choosing it over lethal injection and the electric chair. Sigmon didn’t pick the chair because it would ‘burn and cook him alive’, said his attorney Gerald King, adding that lethal injection was ‘just as monstrous’.

Convicted Alabama murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith, on the other hand, became the first American prisoner ever to be executed by nitrogen asphyxiation in 2024. Two years earlier, three executioners had spent 90 awful minutes trying to kill him by lethal injection but had given up after they couldn’t find the two veins they needed. 

When I interviewed him a few months before he died, Smith, who had languished on death row for three decades, said he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of being executed a second time and felt he’d been punished enough.

His protests were in vain. He was strapped to a bed wearing a full-face mask that forced pure nitrogen into his lungs. Witnesses said he thrashed violently in panic and terror before losing consciousness, suffocating some five minutes after the deadly gas began to fill his airways.

An autopsy later revealed that his lungs had been  flooded with ‘dark maroon blood’ – a sign of a so-called ‘negative-pressure pulmonary oedema’. Experts believe that, because he hadn’t been sedated, he automatically panicked when he couldn’t breathe.

The authorities had given both Smith and Sigmon the grim choice of how they would die and both rejected lethal injection – for decades America’s de facto execution ‘protocol’.

Now many more death row residents face the same grisly decision. Donald Trump’s administration has just revealed plans to add firing squads, nitrogen gas and electrocution as permissible ways of executing people convicted of the most serious federal crimes.

Some US states already have these alternative execution methods on their books to punish state crimes but rarely use them.

The President, who has reportedly even mused about broadcasting executions live, is keen to expand not only the methods available but also the number of criminals meeting their end in these ways.

To some, this will signal a chilling return to a more barbaric age. To others, it is merely fitting retribution for the worst of the worst criminals.

Trump has long been an enthusiast for the ultimate sanction. In the final six months of his first term, he hastily signed the death warrants of 13 federal inmates by lethal injection – more than had been executed by the previous ten presidents combined.

His successor, Joe Biden, then placed a moratorium on federal executions, commuting (or reducing to life imprisonment) the death sentences of all but three of the 40 people on death row. (The remaining trio were 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; Dylann Roof, convicted in 2016 of killing nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pennsylvania in 2018.) 

Trump is not quite so merciful, and a new report from the Department of Justice (DoJ), which ultimately reports to him, not only says that it is clearing the way for firing squads, electrocutions and lethal gas for federal crimes but, with many death row cases taking decades to complete every permissible appeal, it is intent on ‘streamlining internal processes’ to ‘expedite’ the killings.

Trump has reportedly even considered trying to introduce the guillotine (which has never been used in the US), hold ‘group executions’ and ‘mused about televising footage of executions, including showing condemned prisoners in the final moments of their lives’, according to Rolling Stone magazine.  

A White House official said: ‘Trump has a particular affinity for the firing squad, because it seemed more dramatic, rather than… putting a syringe in people and putting them to sleep’, adding that the ‘eye-for-an-eye’ President enjoyed fantasising publicly about ‘lining up criminals and drug dealers before a firing squad’.

At a campaign rally in 2022, Trump won roars of approval when he suggested copying hardline leaders in China, Iran – and, it might be added, Nazi Germany – in sending the executioner’s bullet to the condemned’s family along with a bill for it.

Trump also considered a ‘flashy, government-backed video ad campaign that would accompany a federal revival of these execution methods’, including ‘footage from these new executions’, said Rolling Stone.

An administration official said: ‘The President believes this would help put the fear of God into violent criminals.’ A Trump spokesman denied the claim. The law as it stands is  messy, patchy and inconsistently applied.

It’s further complicated by the fact that some capital crimes are federal offences, over which Trump and the DoJ have jurisdiction, and others are state offences.

Some 27 states theoretically carry out capital punishment, although six of them have passed moratoriums on the practice. Nine US states authorise the electric chair, nine permit death by gassing, five allow inmates to be executed by firing squad, while three states allow hanging – a method that went out of fashion in America in the 19th century.

The 48-page DoJ report stresses that the move to expand execution methods for federal crimes has been driven by difficulties obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injections – which remain by far the most common execution method in the US, authorised in all death penalty states. 

Experts have argued that Trump’s ‘favourite’ method – firing squad – may, somewhat ironically, be by far the most humane. Doctors say that almost everyone shot in the heart loses consciousness in seconds.

In 2010, Deborah Denno, a law professor at New York’s Fordham University who had studied various execution methods, called the firing squad a ‘dignified execution’ despite ‘its brutal image and roots’.

Four years later, Court of Appeals judge Alex Kozinski echoed that view, adding that while the guillotine was ‘probably best’ [that is, most reliable], it was ‘inconsistent with our national ethos’.

‘The firing squad strikes me as the most promising,’ he said. ‘Eight or ten large-calibre rifle bullets fired at close range can inflict massive damage, causing instant death every time. There are plenty of people employed by the state who can pull the trigger and have the training to aim true.’ 

Indeed, America’s last recorded botched execution by firing squad dates all the way back to 1879, when Utah riflemen missed murderer Wallace Wilkerson’s heart entirely. He hadn’t been tied down and stiffened at the last moment, dislodging the target pinned to his chest.

Wilkerson reportedly leapt up, screaming: ‘Oh my God! They’ve missed it!’ and then took 27 minutes to die. Anti-death-penalty campaigners claimed that sadistic shooters missed his heart on purpose to prolong his agony.

Utah has since attempted to prevent similar mishaps by ensuring the inmate’s head is immobilised by a strap and the chest, shins and arms similarly held in place. Sandbags are stacked around the chair and wooden boards erected behind it to prevent the bullets from ricocheting around the room. Ceiling lights glare down on the prisoner to further guide the riflemen’s aim while a small square of white cloth, bearing a black target, is placed over the heart.

In Utah, one of the Winchester rifles used by the firing squad is usually loaded with a wax round so nobody knows if they fired a fatal shot. (Experienced shooters insist they can tell the difference as a dummy round produces less recoil.)

Until Brad Sigmon was shot dead last year in South Carolina, the firing squad had been used only three times since 1976 and always in Utah. Many dismissed it as barbaric and even a former Utah governor, Gary Herbert, conceded it was ‘a little bit gruesome’.

Killer Gary Gilmore, the first person to be executed after the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, famously growled ‘Let’s do it’ before he was shot by a firing squad in 1977. His words are said to have inspired the creator of the Nike slogan ‘Just do it’.

The US remains the only country in the world to retain the use of the electric chair, or ‘Old Sparky’, but South Carolina is the only state that still prefers it as the default execution method.

The inmate is usually shaved and strapped to a wooden chair. A metal electrode in the shape of a skullcap is attached to the scalp, another to an ankle. The inmate receives a blast of up to 2,000 volts for 30 seconds and, if their heart is still beating, another one.

Although death should be almost instantaneous, it is a notoriously grisly spectacle – sometimes with flames leaping from the condemned’s mask-covered head as their overheating body swells and turns scarlet. Experts say it isn’t painless, either, because the current sends the muscles into uncontrollable and agonising spasms. 

Nine states permit inmates to be gassed. Before the introduction of nitrogen, the condemned were usually dispatched by having a pail of sulphuric acid placed under the execution chair, with crystals of sodium cyanide then released into the pail. The prisoner slowly loses consciousness as they breathe in the gas and eventually die from hypoxia, the cutting off of oxygen to the brain.

Experts say it is unquestionably painful and nerve-racking, comparing it to the experience of having a heart attack. A former prison warden recalled: ‘At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain and strangling. The eyes pop, the skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool.’

And as for the time-honoured tradition of permitting inmates to choose their last meal, this hasn’t survived the attention of money-conscious officials. In Oklahoma, the cost is now limited to $25, compared with $40 in Florida.

In 2011, Texas – by far the biggest executioner of any state – stopped the practice after racist killer Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a vast feast including two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, three fajitas, a ‘meat lover’s’ pizza, a pint of ice cream and peanut butter fudge. He didn’t eat any of it.

Then again, who would have much of an appetite nowadays when facing the daunting execution alternatives on offer in Trump’s America?

Last Week’s Birthdays

Clint Eastwood (96), Colin Farrell (50), Brooke Shields (61), Lea Thompson (65), Tom Berenger (77), Colm Meaney (73), Stephen Tobolowsky (75), Keir Dullea (90), Harry Enfield (65), Ted Levine (69), Annette Bening (68), Laverne Cox (54), Sarah Millican (51), Carey Mulligan (41), Kylie Minogue (58), Michelle Collins (64), Joseph Fiennes (56), Paul Bettany (55), Jack McBrayer (53), Helena Bonham Carter (60), Pam Grier (77), Bobcat Goldthwait (64), Lenny Kravitz (62), and Stevie Nicks (78).

31st May 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 24th May 2026

A few interesting stories this week, alas no points to award.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

A radio station has issued an apology after mistakenly announcing that King Charles has died. Radio Caroline, which broadcasts across the south of England and the Midlands made the announcement and played God Save the King. One online listener said that the usual broadcast abruptly stopped before the hosts said that normal programming had been suspended, before the broadcast ceased for 15 minutes. After the hosts apologised for the confusion, it emerged that the announcement had been made due following a “computer error”. The station manager Peter Moore wrote on Facebook: “Due to a computer error at our main studio the Death of a Monarch procedure, which all UK stations hold in readiness while hoping not to require, was accidentally activated on Tuesday afternoon, mistakenly announcing that HRH the King had passed away. Radio Caroline then fell silent as would be required, which alerted us to restore programming and issue an on-air apology. Caroline has been pleased to broadcast Her Majesty the Queen’s, and now the King’s, Christmas Message and we hope to do so for many years to come. We apologise to HM the King and to our listeners for any distress caused.” One person commented: “It was a shock, but after telling my wife and neighbours I realised it was a mistake – and perhaps it was the relief, but then the laughter set in.” While others referred to it as an “honest mistake”, another wrote: “I heard this while working in our garage. I dashed indoors shouting to the missus ‘He’s dead ! Charlie is bloody dead!’. She looked puzzled and said ‘Well he was just at the flower show yesterday’. After much perusal of news websites we concluded that perhaps I should lay off the sauce for a while.”   

Number 16 – the world’s longest-lived known spider – has died, likely killed by a wasp at the ripe old age of 43 years. She outlived the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico. Previously, researchers believed trapdoor spiders lived for about 25 years. However, more important than setting a record, Number 16 offers a life-lesson on sustainability.  Number 16 built her burrow in the North Bungulla Reserve in southwestern Australia, when she was young. Like all female trapdoor spiders (mygalomorph spiders), she was a homebody, never leaving her burrow. She had to protect and maintain her burrow, because if it were damaged, mature trapdoor spiders cannot easily rebuild or relocate. Trapdoor spiders are hairy tropical spiders up to 4cm long that nest underground. Their bites can cause pain and swelling in humans. They cleverly camouflage their trapdoor and lay out trip lines so that when an insect triggers it, they leap out in surprise attack, dragging their prey into their burrow. In 1974, Australian arachnologist Barbara York Main included Number 16 in a study of how trapdoor spiders live in native bushland to learn about their sedentary nature and low metabolisms. As part of the study, all active burrows were checked every six months. Researchers discovered the lid of Number 16’s burrow had been pierced by a parasitic wasp and was in disrepair. Parasitic wasps implant eggs inside other insects, and when the eggs hatch the larvae feed on their host, in this case Number 16. All of her contemporaries were long gone by this time. Number 16 offers an example of a long life with low-level impact and frugal resource use, the study concluded. Moreover, she – and trapdoor spiders generally – cannot up and move if their home is destroyed or too badly damaged. This may offer humans a lesson in sustainable living, says lead author of the new study Leanda Mason from Curtin University in Perth.  

Russell Andrews, a veteran actor who appeared in major shows like Better Caul Saul and Grey’s Anatomy, has shared his diagnosis with ALS. The 64-year-old revealed the news live on The Story Is with Elex Michaelson Saturday alongside his fiancée, Justified actor Erica Tazel. ALS is the most common type of Motor Neurone Disease. It is a rare, degenerative disease that affects motor neuron’s in the brain and spinal cord, impacting movement, speech, and independence. The condition has been in the spotlight recently after another Grey’s Anatomy star, Eric Dane, announced his diagnosis in April 2025 and died in February this year. “I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year,” Andrews told Michaelson in the interview. “And it’s been humbling, but there’s… Elex, there’s also something in the fact that I walked into a family of very caring people I did not know a year ago — the cliché family, but they have not let us miss a step in terms of care, the attention, the awareness and the ability to get me here today.” Andrews said he initially feared he’d suffered a stroke during the Covid pandemic, before later recognising what may have been early signs of ALS. “It was a stressful time. We didn’t work for three years, about, and then we had the back-to-back strikes and so a lot was going on,” he said, referring to the 2023 actors’ strikes and writers’ strikes in Hollywood. There were twitches… I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck and they were quite frequent,” he continued. “I was not able to do things that I normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses at night. It felt like things were running up and down my arm at different times and it was the nerves.” “It took him longer to clean the pool,” Tazel said of the early signs of ALS in her fiancé. “The way he walked, there was just the subtle little things like that and I had questions. I was like, ‘Something is definitely wrong.’”

On This Day

  • 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5th for the 11,000 mile flight).
  • 1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
  • 2019 – Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7th.

Deaths

  • 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (born 1473).
  • 1974 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (born 1899). 
  • 1995 – Harold Wilson, English politician, Prime Minister of the U.K. (born 1916). 
  • 1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (born 1923). 
  • 2015 – Tanith Lee, English author (born 1947).
  • 2023 – Tina Turner, American-Swiss rock and pop singer, dancer, and actress (born 1939).

America’s Scientists Are Disappearing, And Nobody Can Agree  On Why

It started, as all great conspiracy theories do, with a YouTuber.

In early 2026, a man named Daniel Liszt posted a video suggesting that a Portuguese nuclear physicist had been assassinated because of his work in advanced fusion research. The physicist in question was Nuno Loureiro, an MIT professor and director of the university’s Plasma Science and Fusion Centre, who was shot dead at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts in December 2025. The shooting has been attributed to a rivalry with another scientist. Dramatic, certainly. A secret government hit? Probably not. A jealous colleague with a gun? Apparently yes.

But then people started looking around. And the more they looked, the more names they found.

JPL space researcher Frank Maiwald died in July 2024; his cause of death was not publicly disclosed. Anthony Chavez, a retired engineer who had worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in nuclear weapons research, disappeared from his New Mexico home in May 2025. An administrative assistant from the same lab named Melissa Casias went missing in June 2025, last seen walking along a highway a few miles from her home.

Then there’s Monica Reza, which is where things get properly eerie. The 60-year-old aerospace engineer and co-creator of a nickel-based alloy for rocket engines disappeared on June 22, 2025, while hiking with a friend in the Angeles National Forest. The friend was about 30 feet ahead, turned around to check on her, and she smiled and waved. He turned back to continue hiking, and when he looked again moments later, she was gone. No trace has ever been found. She simply ceased to exist on a well-travelled trail on a sunny morning in California. 

The story that really got Washington paying attention, though, was retired Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland. He went missing from his Albuquerque home on February 27, 2026. His phone, prescription glasses and wearable devices were all found at home. Missing: his hiking boots, his wallet, and a .38-calibre revolver. McCasland had commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — the facility famously rumoured to house debris from the Roswell UFO crash. This detail, naturally, sent the internet absolutely feral. 

Two Los Alamos employees vanished weeks apart in 2025 under nearly identical circumstances, each leaving behind their car, keys, wallet, and phone. A Novartis pharmaceutical researcher named Jason Thomas disappeared in December 2025 and was found dead in a Massachusetts lake three months later. Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair — known for his work searching for water around exoplanets — was shot dead on his front porch in February 2026. A suspect was arrested, but there is no clear motive, and the two men didn’t appear to know each other.

By April, the White House was involved. Trump, when asked whether the cases were connected, said: “I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half. I just left a meeting on that subject.” The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation. The FBI announced it was “spearheading the effort to look for connections.” NASA said nothing related to its work “indicates a national security threat,” which is exactly what NASA would say either way. 

So what’s actually going on? The sceptics have a point. Science writer Mick West noted that more than 700,000 people work in top-secret-cleared positions in the US aerospace and nuclear sectors — which would suggest around 250 would normally die from homicides and suicides across any given multi-year period, with thousands more from natural causes. In other words: when you go looking for dead scientists, you will find dead scientists. That’s just statistics. 

Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic, explained that conspiracy theorists were “digging around to find anyone who died for any reason, then scraping through their bio to see if they have any connection whatsoever to UFOs, military, defence, space, aerospace, propulsion” — inevitably discovering “patterns in random noise.” 

And yet. A woman who vanishes mid-wave on a hiking trail. A general who walks out of his house with only a revolver. Two Los Alamos workers gone within weeks of each other, leaving everything behind. The rational explanation is almost certainly the correct one. Almost certainly.

Last Meals

An Arizona prisoner who killed a man by throwing gasoline at him and lighting him on fire has been executed by lethal injection, marking the first of three planned executions across the United States this week.

Leroy Dean McGill, 63, was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. PT Wednesday at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. McGill had been sentenced to death for the murder of Charles Perez, who was attacked alongside his girlfriend in a north Phoenix apartment in 2002.

John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, stated that McGill’s last meal consisted of onion rings, bread and butter, chocolate cake, and a green salad.

His final words were quoted as: “I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice.”

Media witness Josh Kelety from The Associated Press reported hearing McGill say at one point: “I’m going home soon.” 

McGill threw gasoline and a lit match at Perez and his girlfriend, Nova Banta, as they sat on a sofa on July 13th 2002. The attack followed an accusation by the couple that McGill had stolen a gun from their apartment.

At the time, McGill was reportedly using methamphetamine and had not slept for several days. While Banta survived the ordeal, Perez died from his injuries.

During the trial, Banta testified that McGill had told her and Perez not to talk behind people’s backs before igniting them. Perez died in hospital after suffering what prosecutors described as extreme pain while Banta sustained third-degree burns over three-quarters of her body.

Jurors deliberated for less than an hour in October 2004 before convicting McGill of murder in Perez’s death, as well as attempted murder for the attack on Banta, arson, and endangerment.

McGill’s legal team had sought leniency, presenting evidence of childhood abuse, mental impairment, and psychological immaturity, but the jury ultimately returned a death sentence. A last-ditch bid for resentencing this spring was rejected by a lower-court judge, and the Arizona Supreme Court also declined a request to postpone the execution. McGill, who declined an interview request, waived his right to seek clemency.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office pursued the execution, said: “My  thoughts today are with the family and the loved ones of Charles Perez and Nova Banta.”

Media witness Sean Rice from Phoenix television station KPNX observed that the “process went swimmingly. I didn’t see any issue at all finding a vein on either arm,” noting a slight twitching on the right side of McGill’s head approximately four minutes before his death.

Twelve people have been executed in the United States so far this year, with Tennessee and Florida each scheduled to carry out further executions on Thursday.

The state of Arizona carried out several executions in 2025, including those of Richard Kenneth Djerf for the 1993 killings of four members of a Phoenix family and Aaron Gunches for the 2002 fatal shooting of his girlfriend’s ex-husband.

This follows a nearly eight-year hiatus in Arizona’s use of capital punishment, prompted by difficulties in obtaining execution drugs and criticism surrounding a botched 2014 execution where Joseph Wood was injected 15 times over two hours, leading to repeated snorting and gasping before his death.

The state’s current execution protocol involves administering two syringes of the sedative pentobarbital. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kristin Scott Thomas (66), John C. Reilly (61), Alfred Molina (73), Doug Jones (66), Jim Broadbent (77), James Cosmo (78), Priscilla Presley (81), Bob Dylan (85), Richard Ayoade (49), Joan Collins (93), Bob Mortimer (67), Melissa McBride (61), Ginnifer Goodwin (48), Sara Pascoe (45), Graham Linehan (58), Fairuza Balk (52), Mr. T (74), Noel Fielding (53), Louis Theroux (56), Jack Gleeson (34), Cher (80), Grace Jones (78), Tina Fey (56), Chow Yun-Fat (71), and Miriam Margolyes (85).

24th May 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 17th May 2026

Quite a few familiar faces from last week, sadly nobody scored. A few names even missed being called out in the Telegram Group, you lot are slipping!  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The Hoff is falling apart, but don’t count him out just yet. The man who once ran in slow motion across Baywatch’s beaches is now navigating parking lots with a walker, spotted shuffling through West Hills, Los Angeles with wife Hayley Roberts. His people were quick to reassure everyone that he’s “doing well and feeling good”, which is exactly what you say when you’re 73 and have just had both your knee AND hip replaced. This isn’t his first mobility-related media moment either. Back in May 2025, airport staff were wheeling him through LAX after a Cancun holiday, at which point he cheerfully informed waiting paparazzi that he had knee surgery booked for the following week. Ever the showman, he reportedly flashed a thumbs-up and a grin from the wheelchair. The Hoff does not do undignified. The tabloids, naturally, have been less charitable. Unnamed “insiders” are lining up to declare that decades of hard living are “finally catching up with him,” that he’s “living on borrowed time,” and that his body is basically held together with surgical staples and optimism. Apparently he even has a defibrillator fitted. To top it all off, 2025 was already a rough year before the joint replacements kicked in; his ex-wife Pamela Bach tragically passed away in March. He’s patched up, in physio, and apparently in good spirits. The Hoff has survived Knight Rider, Baywatch, a very public battle with alcohol, and whatever the German pop music scene did to him. A hip replacement isn’t taking him down anytime soon, probably… 

Ray J says his days are numbered — and the number he’s citing is 2027. “Just almost died!! I’m alive because of your prayers and support!!” the singer wrote in an Instagram caption posted Sunday. “I wanna thank everyone for praying for me. I was in the hospital,” he said in the accompanying video. “My heart is only beating like 25%, but as long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, then everything will be all right, so thank you for all your prayers.” It was a different story in another livestream, however, captured in clips on the @Livebitez Instagram page. “2027 is definitely a wrap for me,” the 45-year-old, real name William Ray Norwood Jr., said in one video posted Tuesday, making a “cut off” motion across his neck. “No, don’t say that, brother,” a friend says off camera. “That’s what the doctor says,” Ray J replied meekly, then seemingly grew frustrated as his friend talked loudly over him and insisted he was going to live long enough to see his children’s children. In the next clip, the singer says, “It don’t matter if my days are counted. But guess what — my baby mama gonna be straight. My kids are gonna be straight. If they want to spend all the money they can spend it, but I did my part here.” Then he looks up and tells his friend, “I shouldn’t have went this hard, bro. I shouldn’t have went hard. And then, when it’s all done, burn me, don’t bury me.” In clips assembled on the next Livebitez post, Ray J admits heavy alcohol and drug use and says that messed up his heart “on the right side, here, it’s like, black. It’s like done.” He said he might go to Haiti to “do some voodoo” because he thinks “they got the cure.” He also said he thought he was “bigger” and “had more weight” to put up against the onslaught of substances. “I thought I could handle all the alcohol, I could handle all the Adderall.” Cut to the next clip where he says he thought he “could handle all the drugs, but I couldn’t. … And it curbed my time here.” The R&B singer was hospitalised in early January in Las Vegas, sidelined by heart pain and pneumonia, according to the Flying Monkeys. Four years ago, he battled pneumonia as well.  

It was supposed to be a feel-good moment. A chance for long-time American Idol fans to see one of the show’s most beloved original judges back where he belonged. Instead, within hours of the episode airing, fan concern about Randy Jackson’s health had spread across social media. Jackson, 69, sat in a chair throughout the mentoring sessions, speaking with the remaining contestants as they prepared for their live performances. Viewers described him as frail and soft-spoken, moving more slowly than in previous appearances, with a voice some called hoarse. He did not stand up during the sessions. To be fair, Randy Jackson’s body has been through a lot. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2002 and underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003, losing more than 100 pounds. Then came spinal surgery in 2019 for a back injury. Decades of diabetes management, neuropathy, and the long-term effects of bariatric surgery. The man has been quietly fighting a whole series of battles while the rest of us were just watching him say “dawg” on television. His team has offered no statement. No new diagnosis has been announced. Jackson has not announced any new illness and says he remains focused on managing his health. One UCLA bariatric surgeon offered a more measured take: “Fifteen to twenty years post-bypass, muscle mass naturally declines with age. That can look like frailty.” In other words, this might just be a 69-year-old man who has had a lot of surgeries, sitting down because sitting down is comfortable, and the internet catastrophising accordingly. 

On This Day

  • 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
  • 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. 
  • 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armoury in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.

Deaths

  • 1922 – Dorothy Levitt, English racing driver and journalist (born 1882).
  • 2012 – Donna Summer, American singer-songwriter (born 1948). 
  • 2022 – Vangelis, Greek musician, composer (born 1943).

Last Meals

Raymond Eugene Johnson was an American convicted murderer who killed his ex-girlfriend and her infant daughter in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2007, shortly after being paroled from a previous manslaughter conviction in 1995. For the latter crimes, Johnson was sentenced to death. 

On September 11th 1995, the 21-year-old Johnson was in the company of 25-year-old Clarence Ray Oliver in Oklahoma City when the pair got into an argument. In the ensuing scuffle, Johnson pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot Oliver, who got into his car and attempted to drive away, and was then shot through the passenger side window. The car crashed into a nearby ditch, where it was found the following day.

About two weeks later, Johnson was questioned by detectives regarding the killing and was soon arrested for the murder. In the ensuing trial, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

After being paroled in 2005, Johnson moved to Tulsa, where he entered a relationship with a woman named Brooke Whitaker, a mother of four children. Their relationship quickly deteriorated as Johnson became physically abusive, stalked her, and even threatened to kill her on more than ten occasions. Due to this, she eventually filed a restraining order against him in April 2007, but the order was dropped the following month when neither party attended a court hearing scheduled for May 21st.

On June 23rd, Johnson went to Whitaker’s home, where he brutally beat her with a hammer, almost to the point of cracking her skull. He then doused her in gasoline, lit her on fire, and fled. Whitaker suffered severe burns, and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, burned to death. Firefighters brought Whitaker to Hillcrest Medical Center, where she died of her injuries. Shortly after the discovery of the crime, an arrest warrant was issued for Johnson. He was arrested later that same day in Coweta and extradited to Tulsa, where he was charged with  two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson. According to the arrest report submitted by the Tulsa Police Department, Johnson admitted to both slayings. 

Jury selection for Johnson’s trial took place in June 2009, with prosecutors announcing that they would seek the death penalty against him. Not long after, Johnson was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death for each of the murder charges and to life imprisonment on the arson charge. He did not offer a statement after the verdict, and the verdict itself was welcomed by the victims’ family members.

Following his incarceration on death row, all of Johnson’s appeals were rejected by the respective courts. His final appeal was denied by the Supreme Court in November 2019, allowing for an execution date to be set. 

On May 14th 2026, Johnson was executed by lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. CDT. Johnson’s last meal consisted of chicken, a pint of gizzards, and fried pickles with hot sauce and ranch dressing. In his final statement, Johnson apologised to the victims family and asked for forgiveness stating he “hopes people can speak their names without his name attached to it”. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Paul Whitehouse (68), Pierce Brosnan (73), Megan Fox (40), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (36), David Boreanaz (57), Danny Trejo (82), Debra Winger (71), Stephen Mangan (58), Tim Roth (65), Cate Blanchett (57), Francesca Annis (81), Danny Huston (64), George Lucas (82),  Siân Phillips (93), Greg Davies (58), Martine McCutcheon (50), Bonnie Blue (27), Robert Pattinson (40), Harvey Keitel (87), Samantha Morton (49), Stephen Colbert (62), Iwan Rheon (41), Zoë Wanamaker (78), Mark Heap (69), Rami Malek (45), Malin Akerman (48), Rhea Seehorn (54), Domhnall Gleeson (43), Emilio Estevez (64), Gabriel Byrne (76), Ving Rhames (67), Jason Biggs (48), Jeffrey Donovan (58), Coby Bell (51), Tim Blake Nelson (62),  and Holly Valance (43).

17th May 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 10th May 2026

Woohoo! Points! Lets congratulate Mark W. For correctly guessing  that Ted Turner would pass away this year. 63 points awarded. I think we can award Jake Hall the stupidest death of the year as well. Head-butting hard things whilst off his head on drugs seems such a waste. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been released from intensive care and continues recovering in the hospital after being admitted last Sunday with pneumonia. Giuliani, 81, was hospitalised after becoming ill while returning from a trip to Paris, according to his doctor, Maria Ryan. His condition reportedly worsened rapidly, leading doctors to place him on a ventilator. A priest also administered last rites, according to those close to the former mayor. By Tuesday Giuliani was breathing and speaking on his own and was transferred from the intensive care unit to a standard hospital room. Spokesman Ted Goodman said complications may have been linked to restrictive airway disease Giuliani developed years after his response to the September 11th terrorist attacks while serving as mayor of New York City. According to the CDC, restrictive lung disease limits the lungs’ ability to fully expand, reducing oxygen intake and causing shortness of breath. “This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilise his condition,” Goodman said. “The mayor and his family appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers sent his way,” Goodman said in a social media update Wednesday. Sadly Giuliani is expected to make a full recovery. 

Bonnie Tyler is in a medically induced coma after being rushed to a hospital in Portugal. “Bonnie has been put into an induced coma by her Doctors to aid her recovery. We know that you all wish her well and ask for privacy at this difficult time please,” a statement from Tyler’s manager reads. “We will issue a further statement when we are able to.” On Wednesday, the singers official website and social media pages revealed her hospitalisation. “We are very sorry to announce that Bonnie has been admitted to hospital in Faro, Portugal, where she has a home, for emergency intestinal surgery,” the statement read. “The surgery went well, and she is now recuperating. We know that all of her family, friends, and fans will be concerned about this news and will be wishing her well for a full and swift recovery.” Tyler, whose real name is Gaynor Hopkins, achieved international fame in the 1980s with the release of her single Total Eclipse Of The Heart, which shot to the top of the charts in the UK and US. Recognisable for her husky voice, Tyler has released many hit songs over the years including Holding Out For A Hero, It’s A Heartache and If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man). The Grammy-nominated star is due to tour Europe later this year to mark 50 years since the release of her 1976 breakthrough hit Lost In France, which entered the charts across Europe.  

The British wife of a death row inmate screamed “I love you” before her husband was executed for a fatal shooting he claimed he didn’t commit. James Broadnax, 37, was pronounced dead on Thursday after a dose of lethal injection in Huntsville, around 70 miles north of Houston, Texas. Broadnax had said prosecutors misused rap lyrics he wrote to secure his death sentence. His emotional British wife, named in various reports as Tiana Krasniqi, screamed “I love you” before Broadnax stopped breathing. During the execution, she leaned up to the death chamber window with arms spread and had to be helped out of the prison. Earlier in the day, the US Supreme Court had denied a request by Broadnax’s attorneys to stop his execution. He was convicted for the fatal 2008 shootings of two men outside a Dallas music studio. Prosecutors said he and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, had shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio in Garland. Cummings was sentenced to life without parole. In his final statement, Broadnax protested his innocence but asked for forgiveness from the victims’ relatives, some of whom, including the parents of each of the victims, were present. He said: “I prayed to God for your forgiveness. Despite what you think about me, I hope to God that prayer was answered. But no matter what you think about me, Texas got it wrong. I’m innocent. The facts of my case should speak for itself. Period.” As the lethal dose of the sedative, pentobarbital, began, Broadnax urged his supporters to keep fighting, saying “don’t give up”. He was stopped in the middle of another sentence by a gasp. He also shook his head briefly and all movement stopped, before he was pronounced dead 21 minutes later. Prosecutors said he had confessed to the shooting and told reporters during jailhouse interviews that “I pulled the trigger” and that he had no remorse. Broadnax was the tenth person put to death in the US this year, and the third in Texas, which has historically held more executions than any other state. Since Texas abolished the traditional last meal in 2011, Broadnax did not receive a special last meal.

On This Day

  • 1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120. 
  • 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States. 
  • 1940 – Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. 
  • 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk. 
  • 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Meg Foster (78), Sally Phillips (56), Bono (66), Grace Gummer (40), Rosario Dawson (47), Stephen Amell (45), David Attenborough (100), Vicky McClure (43), Alexander Ludwig (34), MrBeast (28), Richard O’Sullivan (82), George Clooney (65), Adrianne Palicki (43), Gabourey Sidibe (43), Henry Cavill (43), John Rhys-Davies (82), Richard E. Grant (69), Lance Henriksen (86), Zach McGowan (46), Michael Palin (83), and Will Arnett (56),

10th May 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 3rd May 2026

Alas, no points to award this week, but plenty to read on this damp, sunny, rainy, hot and cold bank holiday weekend.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

A notorious fraudster wanted by the Met has died after falling from a window in the capital. Swindler Karl Cronin was found fatally injured on the pavement along the King’s Road in Chelsea, west London. It is believed he fell out of a second-storey window, although police do not suspect third-party involvement. The Flying Monkeys have been told the victim was Cronin, who was wanted by police over his role in a large-scale multi-million-pound property scam. He was even the subject of a police appeal on BBC series Crimewatch in 2008, as detectives sought to question the elusive criminal. It is not known how the fraudster was able to return to London under the noses of the Met. One friend said: ‘He did a lot of bad things in his life and destroyed many, many lives. He lived through lies and deceit and he had a ruthless streak. All he cared about was money, dating young women, and having a good time. It did not matter who got hurt along the way. There have been a lot of people laughing that his life has ended this way. There’s the feeling that he got what he deserved.’ Another friend told us: ‘He was a loveable rogue, almost like an Arthur Daley figure. He was always good company, the life and soul of a party and someone who was living life to the full. But he caused a lot of damage, there is no doubt about that.’ Sources said Cronin had been living in the rented apartment since November last year, having flown into London Heathrow. He became wanted for defrauding landlords and property owners in the Chelsea and Fulham areas in the early 2000s. It is believed he made in excess of £5 million out of the scam. He was also implicated in a high-profile 2017 fraud trial which led to a model and her mother being jailed. Laylah de Cruz and her mother Dianne Moorcroft conned a 91 year-old heiress – who has since died – to raise cash against her home. Investigations are continuing into how Cronin met his death. One person who knew Cronin well said: ‘There is no way Karl killed himself. None of the people who knew him believe that is what happened. One thing is for sure – he had a lot of enemies.’  

All Elite Wrestling aired a tribute to wrestler Tanea “Rebel” Brooks following her announcement that she has been diagnosed with “terminal” amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “You probably know by social media that one of our fine athletes has some very serious health problems,” announcer Tony Schiavone told viewers on the Saturday episode of AEW Collision. “We want Tanea to know you are big part of AEW and we are thinking about you right now and we are praying for you, that you will pull through.” Brooks shared with her social media followers on Friday that she was recently diagnosed with “terminal ALS,” a nervous system disease that impacts the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS — which is alternatively known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or Motor Neurone Disease — causes a gradual loss of ability to control speech, breathing and eating. There is no known cure. The wrestler has been on a longterm health journey, having battled primary pulmonary lymphoma, a rare type of lung cancer, since 2024. In Friday’s vlog, Brooks explained that recent developments in her cancer fight led doctors to discover that she has ALS. “The thing is, sometimes we don’t want to hear that answer to our prayers. And so, while I was waiting to have lung surgery for the masses on my lung, the doctors at Mayo Clinic finally found what’s going on,” she told viewers. Brooks admitted that her medical team “does not know how long” she has to live since “there is not a lot of research behind ALS.” “It explains why I have trouble walking and talking and all my functions will soon decline. But now, we can prepare for the future and what is to come,” she acknowledged. The 12-year pro wrestling veteran personally thanked All Elite Wrestling owner Tony Khan for supporting her through her health problems. “I want to say thank you to Tony Khan and AEW for supporting me on this medical journey,” a tearful Brooks said. “It has been a blessing that is unheard of and, from the bottom of my heart, thank you and thank you to all of you for your prayers.” She asked fans to keep her in their thoughts, saying, “Please continue to pray for a peaceful journey and a peaceful passing. I love you.” B

Bryan Murray, best known for his role in Brookside, has been placed into “full-time care” following his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Bryan’s wife, Una Crawford O’Brien, disclosed the  news at the Alzheimer’s Tea Day 2026 last month regarding her husband’s deteriorating condition. She said: “Over the past year, Bryan’s needs became far greater, and he has now moved into full time care. Up until now, I didn’t have time to think. My day was completely focused on Bryan and his needs. Now I have time to miss him. The 76-year-old former actor portrayed Trevor Jordache in 1993.  He was equally well recognised for his portrayal of Bob Charles in the soap opera, Fair City. Bryan continued to feature in the Irish soap until last year, when he stepped down after two decades of portraying Bob Charles. The Dublin-born actor was initially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019, though he kept his diagnosis private for several years. Bryan featured in just 24 episodes of Brookside, yet his character became one of the show’s most notorious, as a violent and abusive murderer. Throughout his career, he also made appearances in a host of popular British television programmes, including Casualty, Holby City, The Bill, Silent Witness, and The Tudors. 

On This Day

  • 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
  • 1979 – Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election.
  • 2007 – The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.

Deaths

Last Meals

James Ernest Hitchcock was an American convicted child murderer. On July 31st 1976, Hitchcock raped and murdered his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers, at her home in Winter Garden, Florida. Hitchcock was found guilty of Driggers’s murder and sentenced to death in 1977, although his death sentence was overturned thrice before it was reinstated after each re-sentencing trial. Hitchcock’s death sentence was ultimately upheld and finalised, and he was executed at the Florida State Prison on April 30th 2026, nearly 50 years after he had killed Driggers. 

James Ernest Hitchcock was born in Arkansas on April 5th 1956, and he grew up together with six siblings in Manila, Arkansas. During Hitchcock’s childhood, his family stayed in a shack and lived in poverty, and his parents made a living by picking cotton. When Hitchcock was six years old, his father contracted skin cancer and died. Hitchcock’s mother later remarried, but his stepfather was often abusive towards his mother. At the age of 13, Hitchcock ran away from home after he could no longer tolerate his stepfather’s abuse of his mother. Despite his difficult upbringing, Hitchcock was the first in his family to complete and receive a high school diploma. At one point in his life, Hitchcock was convicted of a burglary offence in Arkansas, but was released on parole by 1976. 

On August 5th 1976, James Hitchcock was charged with the rape and murder of his 13-year-old step-niece, which occurred five days earlier on July 31st 1976.

About two to three weeks before the murder, Hitchcock, who was then jobless and out on parole for his burglary conviction, moved to Orlando, Florida, where he stayed with his brother and his family, with one of the members being his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter, Cynthia Ann Driggers. On the eve of Driggers’s murder, Hitchcock watched television with his brother’s family until 11pm, before he went out drinking and smoking marijuana with his friends in Winter Garden. Hitchcock only returned home at about 2:30am, and he entered the house through the dining room window before he went back to his bedroom.

Afterwards, Hitchcock entered the room of Driggers, where he raped her. After the rape, Driggers reportedly stated that she was hurt and she wanted to tell her mother about it. Hitchcock proceeded to grab her by the neck, brought her outside and tried to convince her to not tell anyone about the rape. However, Driggers resisted and yelled, and hence, Hitchcock choked and hit his step-niece before he strangled her. After the murder, Hitchcock left the body inside the bushes before he went back to the house to shower and go to bed. The body was later found, and Hitchcock was arrested as a suspect the day after the murder. 

Less than a year after he was arrested, James Hitchcock was put on trial and convicted of the first-degree murder of Cynthia Driggers. During the trial itself, Hitchcock recanted his confession and claimed that Driggers voluntarily had sex with him, and that this was discovered by his brother, who killed Driggers in a fit of rage, and Hitchcock claimed he only confessed in order to cover up for his brother. This defence was rejected by the jury that convicted him. Hitchcock was later sentenced to death by the electric chair after the jury recommended the death penalty based on a majority vote. 

On March 31st 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Hitchcock, scheduling his execution date as April 30th 2026. 

Upon receiving the news of Hitchcock’s death warrant, Cynthia Driggers’s family reportedly felt a mixed sense of relief and recalling of the tragedy. Driggers’s younger sister stated that the decades of legal processes dragged on in her sister’s murder were an “inescapable loop”, and a female cousin of Driggers stated that the family had waited 50 years for justice to be served, and implied that two of their surviving family members hoped to live longer than Hitchcock. St. Lucie County Judge Robert Meadows, who was Driggers’s cousin, revealed that his background in the judiciary made him often hear questions about why there was a lengthy delay in Driggers’s case and he found it hard to give a reply. Driggers’s mother stated her wish for Hitchcock to be executed for murdering her daughter. 

Come April 30th, 70-year-old James Ernest Hitchcock was put to death by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison. He was pronounced dead at 6:12pm. Hitchcock was one of two offenders executed on the same date in the United States; the other was James Broadnax, who was convicted in 2008 of killing two music producers in Texas. Prior to his execution, Hitchcock received a final visit from a family member, and he also requested for a last meal of salad, chicken, ice cream, pie and soda.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bobby Cannavale (56), Christina Hendricks (51), Rachel Zegler (25), Pom Klementieff (40), Rob Brydon (61), Frankie Valli (92), Sandi Toksvig (68), Dwayne Johnson (54), Mae Martin (39), Kumail Nanjiani (48), Ellie Kemper (46), Christine Baranski (74), Matt Berry (52), Lily Allen (41), David Beckham (51), Jamie Dornan (44), Julie Benz (54), Joanna Lumley (80), Ana de Armas (38), Kirsten Dunst (44), Gal Gadot (41), Sam Heughan (46), Michelle Pfeiffer (68), Daniel Day-Lewis (69), Uma Thurman (56), Kate Mulgrew (71), Willie Nelson (93), Mary McDonnell (74), Jessica Alba (45), Penélope Cruz (52), and Jenna Coleman (40).

3rd May 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 26th April 2026

Sorry, this one ran away with me, loads to read, but no points this week.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Trump has sadly survived another assassination attempt. Gunshots rang out inside the Washington Hilton shortly after 8:30pm Saturday evening, prompting scenes of panic as Secret Service agents rushed the president and other Cabinet officials out of the ballroom, while others took cover beneath tables. A male assailant shot and injured one law enforcement officer, before being detained near the hotel screening area, officials said. The man in custody has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California. Following the incident, the annual black-tie dinner was canceled. Trump then hosted a press conference at the White House where he applauded law enforcement for their swift response. Still dressed in his tuxedo from the dinner, Trump called the assailant a “thug” and a “lone wolf,” while Justice Department officials said the suspect has been charged with firearms and assault charges. Apparently, those in charge are looking for a motive for the assassination attempt, as the rest of the world shakes their head in disbelief that the guy failed to pop one into the fascist. Trump has now survived THREE assassination attempts, including two high-profile incidents during his 2024 campaign. In July 2024, he was shot and wounded in the ear during a rally in Pennsylvania, an attack that shocked the nation. Just months later, another armed individual was intercepted near Trump’s golf course in Florida in what authorities confirmed as a planned assassination attempt.Security experts say the frequency of such incidents is unprecedented in modern U.S. history. While several American presidents have faced threats, the number of direct attempts targeting Trump places him among the most frequently targeted leaders in the country’s history. 

One of Spain’s top bullfighters has been left seriously injured after being gored in the arsehole. Jose Antonio Morante Camacho suffered the horrific injury after he collided with the raging animal at an event in Seville on Sunday. Dubbed the “king of the bullfighters”, Camacho sustained a “very serious” injury when the bull’s horn perforated his rectum. The 46-year-old was competing with the fourth bull of the afternoon at La Maestranza bullring as part of popular April celebrations. According to reports, Camacho was trying to control the bull which had positioned itself in a notoriously treacherous spot in the arena. Camacho attempted a daring manoeuvre but failed to raise his arms in time, leaving him exposed. The bull charged at him, catching him at hip level and driving its horn into his rusty sheriffs badge. Camacho instantly dropped to the floor as he reached for his arse in agony. Moments later, he was carried out of the ring by fellow giggling bullfighters. Camacho was then rushed to a nearby hospital and placed under general anaesthetic for an emergency two-hour surgery. Doctors confirmed he had suffered a devastating internal injury, with the bull’s horn penetrating his balloon knot. The medical report said: “It’s a bull horn wound on the posterior anal margin with a trajectory of about 10cm, partially damaging the anal sphincter muscles with a perforation of the posterior wall of the rectum of 1.5cm The intervention consisted of washing the wound, repairing the rectal wall and the sphincter apparatus, leaving a suction drain in the post-anal and retro-rectal space.” Camacho now remains under close observation while his condition has been described as “very serious”. This is not the first time tragedy has struck one of Spain‘s leading matadors. Earlier this month, a retired bullfighter was gored to death as he prepared for a sold-out show. Ricardo Ortiz, 51, was attacked as he helped handle several raging beasts inside their enclosures.  

A millionaire big-game hunter was tragically trampled to death by a herd of five enraged elephants deep within the African jungle. Armed with a shotgun and tracking a rare species of antelope, Ernie Dosio, 75, was killed after stumbling across the animals in dense vegetation in Gabon. The carcass collector had been moving through thick undergrowth with a professional hunter when the pair unknowingly walked into the herd. The animals were said to be so well hidden that it was like they appeared “as if from nowhere”. The startled beasts then charged at the pair without warning. Dosio was horrifically trampled under the weight of the herd as his companion was hurled to the side. A retired game hunter who knew Dosio said: “Whilst in the forest Ernie and his PH (professional hunter) surprised five forest elephant cows with young and feeling under threat the elephants immediately attacked them. The professional hunter was attacked first and seriously injured losing his rifle which was knocked from him and lost in the undergrowth leaving Ernie with his shotgun. I would rather not go into details but it is safe to assume it would have been quick.” Safari company Collect Africa confirmed their client died after encountering the herd in central Gabon. Dosio’s body is now being repatriated to his home in California by the US embassy. Hopefully they’ll stuff him and put him on display.   

New Zealand Parkrunner Colin Thorne made international headlines when he became the oldest Parkrunner in history to join the 100 Club at the age of 98. Sadly he has just passed away at 102 years of age. Colin first joined the parkrun family in January 2017, already in his early nineties, quietly showing the world that it is never too late to begin something extraordinary. Over the next nine years, he completed an incredible 265 Parkruns across 21 locations and volunteered 16 times, proof not only of his commitment, but of his belief that Parkrun is about community as much as it is about movement. To see Colin at Parkrun was to be reminded of what really matters. He greeted everyone with that cheeky smile, a dry sense of humour, and a genuine warmth that made first-timers and regulars alike feel instantly welcome. He listened, he encouraged, and he inspired, often without needing to say very much at all. What made Colin truly special wasn’t just his age, remarkable though that was. It was his perseverance. Week after week, year after year, Colin kept showing up, determined to keep Parkrunning for as long as he possibly could. Even at 102, he embodied the very best of parkrun: turning up, doing what you can, and doing it with heart. Running had been part of Colin’s life long before parkrun. He took it up at 64, went on to complete numerous marathons and half marathons, and even ran the New York Marathon at the age of 89, a feat few of us could imagine at any age. Yet despite these astonishing achievements, Colin always wore his success lightly, choosing kindness and connection over accolades. Colin touched the lives of Parkrunners throughout New Zealand and far beyond. His story travelled, but his impact was deeply personal. He showed us that ageing does not have to mean slowing your spirit, that perseverance can be joyful, and that community is built one smile, one step, one Saturday morning at a time. 

Colombian professional cyclist Cristian Camilo Muñoz, a former teammate of Tadej Pogačar at UAE Team Emirates, has died in hospital, just six days after suffering a serious knee injury in a crash at the Tour du Jura. The 30-year-old, racing for the NU Colombia team, was treated in hospital after crashing out of the French one-day race on Saturday. According to the Flying Monkeys, Muñoz required 20 stitches to one of his knees, before leaving the hospital on Sunday night. He then joined up with his teammates in Spain for the Vuelta Asturias, which began in Oviedo on Thursday. However, the 30-year-old – a former winner of a stage at the U23 Giro d’Italia – began to feel unwell on Tuesday and was taken to another hospital in Valladolid, hours after posting a video birthday message to his wife on Instagram. There, his condition deteriorated and he underwent surgery, before being placed in an induced coma. Tragically, he failed to respond to treatment and he passed away on Friday, his team confirmed. According to reports in Spain, doctors at the hospital have indicated that the cause of Muñoz’s death was a hospital-acquired infection. His NU Colombia squad have withdrawn from the Vuelta Asturias as a mark of respect, while a minute’s silence was held before today’s second stage, where black ribbons were placed by officials on race vehicles.

On This Day

  • 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.
  • 1986 – The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
  • 1989 – The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.

Deaths

  • 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, striptease dancer, and writer (born 1911).
  • 1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (born 1913).
  • 1989 – Lucille Ball, American model, actress, comedian, and producer (born 1911).
  • 1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist and television personality (born 1961).
  • 2017 – Jonathan Demme, American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (born 1944).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Channing Tatum (46), Tom Welling (49), Pablo Schreiber (48), Stana Katic (48), Giancarlo Esposito (68), Kevin James (61), Jet Li (63), Karim Diane (24), Melania Trump (56), Joan Chen (65), Al Pacino (86), Gina Torres (58), Renée Zellweger (57), Hank Azaria (62), Jack Quaid (34), Aidan Gillen (58), Shirley MacLaine (92), Djimon Hounsou (62), Rory McCann (57), Barbra Streisand (84), John Cena (49), Dev Patel (36), John Hannah (64), Lee Majors (87), Gemma Whelan (45), John Oliver (49), Jack Nicholson (89), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (60), Amber Heard (40), Sheryl Lee (59), Michelle Ryan (42), James McAvoy (47), Andie MacDowell (68), Toby Stephens (57), Rob Riggle (56), Tony Danza (75), Iggy Pop (79), Andy Serkis (62), Veronica Cartwright (77), Jessica Lange (77), Clint Howard (67), Carmen Electra (54), George Takei (89), and Nicholas Lyndhurst (65).

26th April 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 19th April 2026

Well, what do we have here?! Points!! With the passing of renowned zoologist Desmond Morris, I can award 52 points to myself, well done me! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

With the death of Valerie Lee Shepard, see above, we are now left with one surviving Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz. Priscilla Montgomery Clark played a Munchkin child in The Wizard of Oz when she was nine years old. Now 96, she’s one of two surviving stars from the 1939 film. Along with Caren Marsh Doll — the oldest of the two at 107 years old (she just celebrated her birthday on April 6th, 2026). She served as Judy Garland’s stand-in and was notably the model for the iconic ruby slipper heel-clicking scene. Clark says by far she receives the most fan mail these days for her role as a Munchkin. For Oz, which experienced a deficit of female little people to portray Munchkins, Clark was one of a dozen talented young girls of typical height chosen from the Bud Murray Dance Studio in Los Angeles to fill out the cast of 124. The child actors worked on the set part of the day and were whisked away for their schooling the rest of the day. When the cameras rolled, some of the young girls were relegated to the background, however director Victor Fleming seemingly noticed Clark’s talent and infectious smile and placed her in key shots where she was clearly visible. “I never wanted to be an actress, I always loved dancing and that was a big part of my childhood,” says Clark. “I didn’t have an agent, but I was lucky to be cast in several films that miraculously have survived over time.” It’s not difficult to find her in the crowd, either: In the climax of the Munchkinland scene, when Glinda directs Dorothy to “follow the yellow brick road,” Clark can be seen next to the good witch briefly spiking the lens — a no-no in movie-making where the actor looks directly into the camera. “I never realised I did that until someone pointed it out many years later,” she admits. Today, Clark is a widow who struggles with a few health concerns but keeps a positive attitude and busy “surrounded by the love of my family.”  

Zayn Malik’s release day for his new album Konnakol didn’t exactly go as planned. The singer, 33, revealed that he’s on the mend from a mystery illness by sharing a photo from a hospital bed to his Instagram Stories last Friday, the same day as his album release. “To my fans – Thank you to all of you for your love & support now & always – been a long week and am still unexpectedly recovering,” he wrote atop the photo. “Heartbroken that I can’t see you all this week, I wouldn’t be in the place I am today without you guys and am so thankful for your understanding.” The “Die for Me” singer went on to thank his “incredible” hospital staff, including doctors, nurses, cardiologists and more. “You are all legends! Big big love xx z,” he wrote. Malik did not reveal a diagnosis or reason for his hospitalisation, and it remains unclear just how long he’s been hospitalised. A rep for Malik did not immediately return the Flying Monkeys request for comment. Malik is set to embark on his first solo headline arena tour later this year, which he’ll bring to North America starting in June and running through November. In announcing his new record, Malik described the title as “the act of creating percussive sounds with one’s voice but what it means to me lies somewhere much deeper.” Sounds… amazing?   

Social media influencer Clavicular has been rushed to hospital in Miami for a suspected overdose. No, none of the Flying Monkeys have heard of him either… The controversial streamer had been live-streaming on the site Kick on Tuesday when the broadcast suddenly ended. ‘Fans’ became concerned after video footage, appearing to show the influencer being carried into an ambulance by his security team, began circulating online. The ‘influencer’ confirmed on Wednesday that he had been released from hospital, writing on Twitter: “Just got home, that was brutal. All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution. The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask.” He shared the statement alongside a photograph of himself with what appeared to be bloody marks on his face. During the livestream on Tuesday, Clavicular could be seen telling a woman: “Holy shit dude, I’m trying my best, but I’m fucking destroyed right now.” He then sat down in a bar with friends, with one asking him: “When did you last take blue?” as the influencer slumped over. The friend then asked if he wanted an “addy” – referring to the stimulant Adderall. The broadcast cut out shortly after that. Clavicular rose to fame within the manosphere circles as a so-called “looksmaxxer” – a viral trend where boys try to maximise their physical attractiveness. He’s become a popular figure among teenage boys, with Chloe Combi writing in The Independent that he has “a huge and growing Gen A boy following” thanks to his “belief that a young man’s highest priority is to be hot”. Personally I think he’s a cunt, and I will be listing him as a Maverick once James Corden turns 50! 

On This Day

  • 1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
  • 1943 – Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16th an event commonly known and celebrated as Bicycle Day. 
  • 1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with “Good Night“. 
  • 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire. 
  • 2021 – The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.

Deaths

  • 1824 – Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (born 1788). 
  • 1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, English politician, Prime Minister of the U.K. (born 1804). 
  • 1882 – Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (born 1809).  
  • 1992 – Frankie Howerd, English actor and screenwriter (born 1917).  
  • 2004 – Norris McWhirter, English author co-founded the Guinness World Records (born 1925).

Last Week’s Birthdays

James Franco (48), Kate Hudson (47), Ashley Judd (58), Tim Curry (80), Hayden Christensen (45), Simu Liu (37), David Tennant (55), Rick Moranis (73), James Woods (79), Hayley Mills (80), Conan O’Brien (63), Jennifer Garner (54), Sean Bean (67), Rooney Mara (41), David Bradley (84), Anya Taylor-Joy (30), Sadie Sink (24), Ellen Barkin (72), Claire Foy (42), Emma Watson (36), Seth Rogen (44), Emma Thompson (67), Luke Evans (47), Maisie Williams (29), Sarah Michelle Gellar (49), Adrien Brody (53), Robert Carlyle (65), Anthony Michael Hall (58), Peter Capaldi (68), Peter Davison (75), Edward Fox (89), and Ron Perlman (76).

20th April 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 12th April 2026

No  disrespect to any of this weeks ‘notable’ deaths, however, I’ve never heard of any of them. Some bit part actors, barely more than extras, a nut job and a couple of outdoorsy types. One of them doesn’t even have a proper Wiki Page, I just added him to bulk out this weeks edition. Unsurprisingly, no points to award… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

GB News presenter Eamonn Holmes is “doing okay given the circumstances” after suffering a stroke, his eldest son Declan has confirmed. Declan Holmes added his father’s medical issue “came as a real shock”, and he thanked those who have sent messages of support, saying: “It means a lot to us as a family.” In a statement on Sunday, his son shared: “What happened came as a real shock, but dad is doing okay given the circumstances and we’re taking it one step at a time. I just wanted to share a quick message to say we hugely appreciate all the messages, it means a lot to us as a family. For now, we’re focused on him and keeping things steady around him. We’d really value a bit of privacy as we navigate it, and what lies ahead, but thank-you again for the support as it means so much to dad and the rest of the family.” GB News announced on Saturday that Holmes, 66, had suffered a stroke last week and was recovering in hospital. A spokesperson said Holmes “was taken ill last week and it was later confirmed he had suffered a stroke”. The statement added: “He is currently responding well to treatment. Eamonn has asked for privacy as he focuses on getting better. His colleagues and everyone at GB News wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming him back to the people’s channel when he is ready to return.” Alex Armstrong will present in his absence this week, the broadcaster added. Holmes, from Northern Ireland, who presents GB News Breakfast with his co-host Ellie Costello, is Britain’s longest-serving breakfast news presenter, with a career spanning more than 40 years. Holmes has long battled health issues after dislodging discs in his back which he said previously impinged on his sciatic nerve and affected the mobility of his right leg. He previously spoke about going through spinal surgery, a double hip replacement, and his struggles walking and using a mobility scooter. Holmes had two falls in May last year which seem to have taken place only weeks apart. The former This Morning host was taken to hospital after a first fall at his home, then fell from his chair live on-air. 

Hacks star Jean Smart has revealed she underwent a triple bypass heart procedure after experiencing chest pressure on set. Smart opened up about the heart procedure, confirming she underwent a triple bypass in 2023, a particularly frightening ordeal for her following the death of her husband, Richard Gilliland, from a heart condition. While filming a Season 3 episode of Hacks, Smart began experiencing pressure in her chest and fatigue, but she attributed it to a lack of exercise, she told the Flying Monkeys. “After several takes, I was like, ‘Did you get it? Was that enough?’ I was feeling a little tired. But I didn’t think anything of it,” Smart, 74, said. “I had gotten used to feeling a little pressure, like if I’d go up a couple of flights of stairs. But it would always just go away. And I would always think, ‘Jean, you’re in such crappy shape.’” Days passed with the Emmy winner still in discomfort. In the interview, she said the fear of leaving her 17-year-old son Forrest and 36-year-old son Connor without either of their parents was motivation to see a doctor. “I thought, ‘You haven’t seen your cardiologist in a long time. Don’t be stupid. Your kids just lost their dad!’” Smart thought she may just need a stress test – which detects how the heart functions during physical stress – but when her doctor returned her phone call, the physician urged her to go to the emergency room. She was in the middle of filming a scene at the time, so she waited until after the shoot to have her driver take her to the hospital. “It was so stressful. Her children had just lost their father, and I think she didn’t want to scare them, so they weren’t there,” Smart consulted three heart surgeons before undergoing the triple bypass. The fear set in after the procedure. “I wasn’t really scared until I woke up the next day, and I’m thinking about what they had to do. You start to feel so fragile,” she said. 

On This Day

  • 1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships. 
  • 1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death. 
  • 1961 – The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight on Vostok 1. 
  • 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Claire Danes (47), Saoirse Ronan (32), Ed O’Neill (80), Milly Alcock (26), Jeremy Clarkson (66), Matt Ryan (45), David Harbour (51), Charlie Hunnam (46), Daisy Ridley (34), Haley Joel Osment (38), Steven Seagal (74), Peter MacNicol (72), Elle Fanning (28), Dennis Quaid (72), Kristen Stewart (36), Cynthia Nixon (60), Patricia Arquette (58), Robin Wright (60), Katee Sackhoff (46), Dean Norris (63), Russell Crowe (62), Jackie Chan (72), Francis Ford Coppola (87), Paul Rudd (57), Zach Braff (51), Michael Rooker (71), John Ratzenberger (79), Gina Yashere (52), and Billy Dee Williams (89).

12th April 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 5th April 2026

A quiet week for celebrity deaths, its almost like they’ve all gone on holiday! Unsurprisingly, no points to dish out, but we can all cross our fingers in hope that the White House will blow up with the GoP and the Trump family in attendance. I may have marked myself for assassination…. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The world’s oldest known tortoise, Jonathan, is still alive, contrary to a widely circulated social media post which has been revealed as a hoax. An account on Twitter that had purported to belong to Joe Hollins, a vet who has previously cared for Jonathan, posted that it was “heartbroken to share” that the tortoise had died on the island of St Helena at an estimated age of 193. Media outlets including the BBC, USA Today and Daily Mail published news reports about the post. “Jonathan the tortoise is very much alive,” Hollins has since told USA Today. “I believe the person purporting to be me is asking for crypto donations, so it’s not even an April Fool joke. It’s a con. To confirm – Jonathan is very much alive”, Nigel Phillips, the governor of St Helena, told the BBC via email. Jonathan’s exact age is unknown, but a photograph taken in 1882 shows that he was fully grown when he was first brought to the island – where he lived on the grounds of Plantation House, the official residence of the Governor of St Helena. Experts say this suggests he was about 50 years old by that time. Jonathan has lived through the reigns of at least eight British monarchs and met both George VI and the future Elizabeth II during their visit to the island in 1947. The giant tortoise was presented with a Guinness World Record certificate recognising him as the oldest known land animal in the world. 

An undertaker was accidentally crushed to death by a faulty coffin-lifting machine at a funeral parlour, an inquest has concluded. Sally Blundell, 58, was found trapped beneath the scissor lift of a mortuary trolley after it unexpectedly descended at a branch of the East of England Co-op Funeral Services in Swaffham, Norfolk. Ms Blundell had been working alone at the branch on 1st December 2023 when the incident occurred. The grandmother’s body was discovered after a member of the public reported that no staff were present for an 11am appointment to see a deceased relative. She tried to call the celebrant she had been dealing with and a message was passed to another branch, with a colleague from the Dereham branch attending and finding Ms Blundell dead. Jurors at the Norwich inquest returned a conclusion of accidental death. They recorded that Ms Blundell was last seen on CCTV at the funeral parlour at 9.46am and found dead at 12.06pm. The inquest was earlier told that there are no CCTV cameras in sensitive areas of the funeral parlour, where bodies are kept. Norfolk area coroner Yvonne Blake said that it was unclear why Ms Blundell had “inserted herself” in the device’s frame, though her glasses were found on the floor nearby. The medical cause of death for Ms Blundell, of Great Cressingham, was recorded as “contusion and compression of the chest by an external object”. Ms Blake told jurors that expert evidence presented to the inquest indicated a fault with the hydraulic scissor lift mortuary trolley. She said the fault was that the trolley “descended unexpectedly”. The East of England Co-op confirmed through barrister Dominic Kay that the chain no longer uses this specific type of trolley.  

Australian soap star Alea O’Shea is undergoing treatment for brain cancer. A GoFundMe page launched on Thursday for the 25-year-old “Home and Away” alum revealed that she recently underwent surgery for her diagnosis, which she publicly disclosed in November. “Over the past months, Alea has been bravely facing brain cancer and the many treatments that come with it,” the fundraiser’s description read. The page, which O’Shea’s friends started with her permission “after months of persuasion,” said her cancer journey “has been incredibly challenging” for the actress and her family. “Like many families navigating serious illness, they have discovered that a number of essential cancer treatments, therapy and procedures are not covered by private health insurance, creating a significant and ongoing financial burden.” The description stated that O’Shea has been helping other women facing cancer by starting her own fundraiser “to allow other young women without the funds to purchase high-quality wigs and feel good about themselves. Her generosity of spirit in the midst of such a difficult time has moved so many of us,” O’Shea’s friends shared. The page asked people to donate to “help ease the financial pressure of medical treatments and related expenses” in O’Shea’s cancer battle. The GoFundMe has raised over $82,700 from more than 600 donors as of Monday morning. O’Shea, starred as Darcy Callahan on Home and Away from 2011 to 2014 and again from 2016 to 2017.

On This Day

  • 1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.
  • 1974 – Carrie, the first novel by author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies.
  • 1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.

Deaths

  • 1923 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist (born 1866).
  • 1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (born 1880).
  • 1976 – Howard Hughes, American pilot, engineer, and director (born 1905).
  • 1994 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1967).
  • 2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (born 1940).
  • 2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor, director, and political activist (born 1923).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Warren Beatty (89), John Astin (96), Céline Dion (58), Eric Clapton (81), Ewan McGregor (55), Christopher Walken (83), Daniel Mays (48), William Daniels (99), Annette O’Toole (74), Mackenzie Davis (39), Asa Butterfield (29), Ali MacGraw (87), Jesse Plemons (38), Pedro Pascal (51), Michael Fassbender (49), Emma Myers (24), Linda Hunt (81), Eddie Murphy 65), Alec Baldwin (68), Paris Jackson (28), Robert Downey Jr. (61), Hugo Weaving (66), Natasha Lyonne (47), Graham Norton (63), Lily James (37), Hayley Atwell (44), and Mitch Pileggi (74). 

5th April 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 29th March 2026

A few familiar faces among the dead this week, no points though, so perhaps the Flying Monkeys need to be released….  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Perez Hilton has revealed the mystery illness that sent him to the hospital for three weeks. On Monday, the 47-year-old blogger took to social media to share the news with his fans. ‘My stupidity landed me in the hospital for 21 days… It was the worst and best thing that’s ever happened to me,’ he began. Perez said he had the flu for a week and took his medication, but did not take the medication with food. ‘Because I have been taking all of this medication without food for a week, I developed an ulcer then a perforation and then Sepsis. People die of Sepsis.’ He also said he had intense stomach pain then could not walk causing him to have to be taken to the emergency room by ambulance. Hilton thanked the hospital that took care of him as he added he had ultrasounds before they could figure out the problem. ‘Finally after five days I ended up having laparoscopic surgery,’ he added. He also said the infection was very serious and he had fluid in his lungs which led to another major procedure. At that point he developed a heart problem. But the surgery was complicated as he developed another infection in the hospital, which he said was common. The star broke down in tears several times as he detailed he had many accidents after he started eating food following weeks on a feeding tube. And the worst part was a tube that was placed in him to suck up the infection and a Foley catheter. ‘That was intense,’ he added, as he said he lost ‘a lot of weight.’ ‘Now that I am home, I am not 100 percent,’ he also shared as he showed a pick line into his arm. ‘It’s like a scary IV with two lines, and one goes to my heart.’  

Barry Manilow is officially cancer-free months after revealing his diagnosis. “You just don’t even think about how fragile life is. And suddenly, you have lung cancer. But I’m still here,” Manilow, 82, told the Flying Monkeys on Tuesday, while detailing his health battle and recovery. He continued: “I’m still here. I’m not all here, there’s part of me that isn’t here,  they took out a part of me, and now I’ve got to figure out, ‘What do I do?’” Manilow originally announced in December 2025 that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and needed to undergo surgery to remove “a cancerous spot” on his left lung. He elaborated on Tuesday about how having an MRI for a separate issue with his hips led to his cancer being discovered. “If he hadn’t done that, man,” he said. “That doctor saved my life, because there’s no symptoms for what I had. I could go on, nothing hurt but they found the dot in my lung. They called me and said, ‘Could be cancer.’ That’s a bad word. ‘Not me. Fuck you. I can’t have cancer.’” Manilow recalled the moment he was told he had Stage I Lung Cancer. “They don’t even know how long I had this thing sitting on me. It could have been years,” he continued. “If it had gone any further, then I would be up shit’s creek. It just so happened that it hadn’t spread, and boy, oh boy, I thought I might be dying.” After his lobectomy, a procedure which removed part of his lung, Manilow spent seven days in the ICU. “I don’t remember it, thank goodness, because it was a nightmare,” Manilow shared of his hospital stay. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t have to have chemo, radiation and all that stuff.” Manilow was forced to postpone concert dates while on the mend, noting that the experience has “really rocked him.” “But I’m getting stronger. It has really, really made me take stock of my life. This made me stop and think about: Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend?” he concluded. “All of those cornball things that I’ve read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too. It really did stop me in my tracks. And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought.”  

Princess Michael of Kent, 81, is “bedridden” after suffering a stroke, according to the Flying Monkeys. Princess Michael, who is married to Prince Michael of Kent, a first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth, has dealt with a number of health issues in recent years. After undergoing heart surgery in 2023, she broke both of her wrists in a fall down the stairs of her home at Kensington Palace. She was carrying an armful of overcoats at the time when the accident happened. Luckily, she fell into the coats, but broke multiple small bones. About her fall, she previously stated: “So many things that you rely on being able to do, like cleaning your teeth, are impossible.” “I can type with one finger on a mobile, but I can’t use a laptop. I am told that, after an accident like this, if you do one wrong movement on top of the unhealed bones, you are back where you started.” It’s been a difficult few years for the family, Princess Michael’s son-in-law, Thomas Kingston, took his own life at the age of 45 in February 2024. He died from a “catastrophic head injury” and a gun was found near his body at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds.

On This Day

  • 1968 – The funeral of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, started in Moscow, with thousands of people in attendance. 
  • 1974 – Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi province, China.
  • 2014 – The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed.
  • 2017 – Prime Minister Theresa May invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, formally beginning the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Brendan Gleeson (71), Lucy Lawless (58), Ed Skrein (43), Christopher Lambert (69), Marina Sirtis (71), Thaddea Graham (29), Eric Idle (83), Elle Macpherson (62), Nick Frost (54), Vince Vaughn (56), Julia Stiles (45), Dianne Wiest (78), Lady Gaga (40), Chris Barrie (66), Quentin Tarantino (63), Nathan Fillion (55), Julian Glover (91), Mariah Carey (57), Keira Knightley (41), Jennifer Grey (66), Martin Short (76), Jess Bush (34), Diana Ross (82), Lee Pace (47), Sarah Jessica Parker (61), Richard O’Brien (84), Elton John (79), Jessica Chastain (49), Alyson Hannigan (52), Tig Notaro (55), Jim Parsons (53), Lara Flynn Boyle (56), Kelly LeBrock 66), Michelle Monaghan (50), Amanda Plummer (69), and Joanna Page (49).

29th March 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 22nd March 2026

What a week it’s been, and what a week to be alive, which is more than can be said for the people listed below. Meanwhile, somewhere in the cosmos, God is presumably checking his insurance policy now that Chuck Norris has apparently decided to make things personal. The smart money, as always, is on Chuck. But the real hero of the week? Step forward Dave, who has waltzed off with 53 points by plucking Len Deighton from the dusty corner of his Waiting Room. Len Deighton. Not your obvious answer. Not your safe answer. A choice that required either extraordinary foresight or an extremely specific magazine collection. Either way, Dave, the points are yours and the rest of us can only stare at our own picks and quietly question our life choices. Well done that man. Well done indeed.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News 

In news that has prompted an outpouring of absolutely zero public sympathy, Gary Glitter, the man who spent decades demanding we remember his name, is apparently finding that prison life at 81 isn’t quite the glamorous rock and roll lifestyle he once enjoyed. Glitter, born Paul Francis Gadd, is currently residing at HMP Channings Wood in Devon, where he is serving a 16-year sentence for abusing three schoolgirls. He is reportedly deaf, can barely move, and is largely unrecognisable, which, given the circumstances, one might argue is the least the universe could do. A source has revealed that fellow inmates and prison officers believe he is “on his last legs, with his body giving up.” We shall pause here to allow the world’s smallest violin to finish its performance. Remarkably, and one must admire the consistency here, Glitter is apparently regarded by fellow prisoners as “arrogant,” which is a quite extraordinary achievement in a wing full of people who are themselves not exactly pillars of the community. He must be working very hard at that. For his own safety, Glitter is kept on a Vulnerable Prisoners Unit and spends up to 23 hours a day in his cell, which does raise the philosophical question of whether a man who spent years destroying the childhoods of others is perhaps not owed a great deal of sympathy about his recreational time. Lest we forget the greatest act of his post-prison career: upon being released in February 2023, having only served eight years, Glitter managed to last precisely six weeks before using a mobile phone to access footage of young girls on the dark web from a bail hostel. Six weeks. The man couldn’t even make it to half time. He was promptly returned to prison, where he has since been refused parole not once but twice, in February 2024 and again in June 2025. The Parole Board, displaying what might be described as a firm grasp of the obvious, noted that their decisions are “solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released.” Given that Glitter used his first six weeks of freedom to immediately violate his parole conditions in the most predictable way imaginable, one can only admire the Board’s gift for understatement. He is, the source assures us, spending his days in considerable discomfort, largely ignored, and universally disliked even by the people locked up alongside him. Rock and roll! 

The Only Way Is Essex star Jordan Brook, 31, revealed he’s been diagnosed with both viral meningitis and encephalitis. He insisted to his followers to not listen to rumours online, as he’s caught wind of speculation on his health as he spoke in the video shared on his Instagram page. Jordan, who is expecting his first child with Sophie Kasaei, remains in hospital and is receiving round-the-clock care and is being monitored for seizures. He spoke out sharing details around his current health battle in a candid video from his hospital bed. He is seen sat up in his hospital bed in the clip as he begins: “This is the first time I’ve really been able to speak strong enough about what’s going on. There’s been a lot of speculations as to why I’m here and what’ going on and there’s a few comments and people saying things that this is my diagnosis that I got yesterday. I’ve been diagnosed with not one but two joining viruses that are attacking a similar part of my body. I have got viral meningitis and encephalitis together. That’s the inflammation of the brain and the lining around it.” He added: “So this isn’t something small or minor.” According to the NHS, Meningitis “is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord (meninges).” However, it can be very serious if not treated quickly as meningitis can cause life-threatening sepsis and result in “permanent damage to the brain or nerves”. Meanwhile, the NHS states that encephalitis “is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed”. The condition can be life-threatening and requires urgent treatment in hospital. Jordan continued to explain the extensive tests he’s had as he said: “I had CT scans, MRI scans, lumbar punctures. With round-the-clock care since I’ve been in this hospital. I’m on IV drips, everything antiviral, pain management, physio, seizure monitoring, to minor seizure risk at the minute. But unfortunately the swelling on my brain is getting worse. It’s really, really tough. Even the simple day-to-day activities and normal things that aren’t easy right now so this is what I’m dealing with day-today. I’m on day 11 of treatment and I’d like to reach out to everyone and say just be careful what you read online and be conscious of some things that people are writing. Commenting this isn’t like a joke or people are writing that I’m a lot worse than I am and there’s big C-words being dropped and things like that – it isn’t that – but there’s swelling on my brain it’s really bad they’ve upped my meds, my steroids to try and get the swelling down. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be in hospital. My focus right now is simple I need to get healthy. My Sophie’s been amazing and she’s growing my precious baby boy. I just want to be a young, healthy dad, home for my family, with my baby – that’s the goal. This won’t beat me. I will get out of this,” he added before sharing thanks for support he’s received. “Thank you to all my family and my friends, everyone’s messages that have been coming through and keep the support going.”   

In what can only be described as the most shocking non-event of the century, the self-proclaimed peak of human physical perfection, Donald J. Trump, who once assured us all he could do press-ups until the cows came home, was spotted yesterday performing the Herculean feat of walking down some stairs. Badly. The footage shows America’s self-declared healthiest president gripping the Air Force One railing like it personally owes him money, descending at the kind of pace that would have a sloth checking its watch. The internet, naturally, lost its mind, not because it was surprising, but because we’ve all been watching this slow-motion car crash for years and nobody in a position of power will acknowledge the windscreen is missing. This is, lest we forget, the same man who had his personal doctor declare him the healthiest human being to ever occupy the Oval Office. The same man who threw a tantrum every time anyone suggested his cognitive or physical health deserved even a cursory glance. “Nobody is even close!” he boasted, which makes the white-knuckle stair descent all the more spectacular to witness. A separate video from the day before showed Trump gripping a table with both hands just to lower himself into a chair, his face contorting in what supporters will insist was steely presidential determination and absolutely nothing else whatsoever. The man who mocked Hillary Clinton for having pneumonia. The man who made Joe Biden’s age a cornerstone of his entire campaign. That man. Gripping furniture to sit down. Commenters online were, shall we say, not entirely sympathetic. “It’s time to come clean about his health,” wrote one optimist who still believes honesty is something this administration is capable of. Others were somewhat more direct in their assessments, though we shall draw a tasteful veil over those. His defenders, ever reliable, rushed to point out that walking carefully down stairs is completely normal and that everyone grips railings sometimes and that short clips can be misleading, all observations that were notably absent from their vocabulary between 2020 and 2024 when a different elderly president was the subject of such scrutiny. Trump will reportedly spend the weekend in Florida, returning to Washington next week, presumably via elevator, golf cart, or whatever mode of transport requires the least navigating of steps. His schedule, we are told, remains unchanged, because acknowledging anything would require a level of transparency that this particular administration treats as a communicable disease. The healthiest president. By far. Nobody even close.

On This Day

  • 1312 – Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar.
  • 1933   – Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.
  • 1960 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser. 
  • 1963 – The Beatles release their debut album Please Please Me.
  • 1972 – In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives. 
  • 1978 – Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
  • 1995 – Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns to earth after setting a record of 438 days in space. 
  • 2024 – At least 145 people are killed and 551 injured in a bombing and mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.

Deaths

  • 1144 – William of Norwich, child murder victim.
  • 1978 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker (born 1905).
  • 2001 – William Hanna, American animator, director, producer, and voice actor, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (born 1910).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Reese Witherspoon (50), William Shatner (95), Matthew Modine (67), Lena Olin (71), Carter Wong (79), Gary Oldman (68), Matthew Broderick (64), Timothy Dalton (80), Scott Eastwood (40), Rhys Darby (52), Sonequa Martin-Green (41), Rosie O’Donnell (64), Holly Hunter (68), David Thewlis (63), Ruby Rose (40), John de Lancie (78), Theresa Russell (69), Freema Agyeman (47), Bruce Willis (71), Glenn Close (79), Ursula Andress (90), Harvey Weinstein (74), Brad Dourif (76), Queen Latifah (56), Kurt Russell (75), Rob Lowe (62), Morfydd Clark (37), Gary Sinise (71), John Boyega (34), Patrick Duffy (77), Alexandra Daddario (40), Alan Tudyk (55), Jerome Flynn (63), Erik Estrada (77), Jimmy Nail (72), and Aisling Bea (42).

22nd March 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 15th March 2026

A quiet week for us, no ‘mega stars’ pegged it, but a few familiar faces to mourn over, or maybe not for one of our notable deaths. Looks like prison is a dangerous place to be right now… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Married At First Sight star and dating coach Mel Schilling has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The TV star was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2023 and has now been told at the age of 54 that there is nothing more doctors can do. Mel quit MAFS Australia recently and has now revealed to fans that doctors had told her cancer had spread to the left side of her brain, which was causing her headaches and numbness – and that they couldn’t do anymore. She wrote in a lengthy and emotional post to her fans and friends: “In December 2023 I was diagnosed with colon cancer after a tumour the size of a lemon was discovered during a scan. “Terry,” as I called him, was successfully removed and I was initially given the all clear – that much many of you already know. Unfortunately, in late February 2024 during a routine scan, small nodules were discovered in my lungs. The cancer had metastasised and my world changed again in an instant. Over the past two years, while filming MAFS, I underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and was later told I was eligible for a ground-breaking clinical trial specific to my gene type, due to start in March 2026. Once again, my optimism soared that I might beat this thing.” Mel then tragically revealed she had been given more bad news and said she wasn’t sure how long she had left. She explained: “Over Christmas, however, I began experiencing blinding headaches and numbness down my right side. After many tests I was told the cancer had spread to the left side of my brain and, despite subsequent radiotherapy sessions, my oncology team have now told me there is nothing further they can do. Hearing those words changes everything. So that’s where I am now. My light is starting to fade — and quickly. But I am still here, still fighting, and surrounded by the most incredible love.” She added: “Simple tasks have become incredibly difficult and I am relying on my beautiful family to look after me. I honestly don’t know how long I have left, but I do know I will fight to my last breath and will be surrounded by the love and support of my people. At the outset of this journey, so many of you sent the most wonderful messages of support. They have meant more than I can ever properly express and have helped shape the mindset I’ve needed to keep fighting.” She concluded her post: “Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. If I could leave you with one thing, it would simply be this: if something doesn’t feel right, please get it checked out. It might just save your life. These two beside me are my everything.”  

A longtime TV host revealed on air that she was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer, despite having never smoked before. Mel McLaughlin, a 46-year-old sports broadcaster from Australia, tearfully made the health admission during a segment on Channel 7 with her colleagues, sharing the reason for her recent absence from work. “I was diagnosed with lung cancer in December. So that led to surgery. I had half my lung cut out,” she said. “It’s just very traumatic. It’s very triggering. It’s a lot of emotions.” McLaughlin said it was even more difficult coming to terms with her diagnosis and breaking the news to her family because her older sister Tara died in 2015 at age 39 from the same disease. Neither of them were smokers. “You don’t want to worry anyone,” she said. “In our family lung cancer meant death. We had one example and we lost her.” McLaughlin underwent surgery in January at Sydney’s North Shore Private Hospital to remove the tumour and half of her lung. She admitted that it was daunting being treated in the same hospital and ICU where she witnessed her sister suffer from the disease. “I cried and then I laughed because it’s like, is this a joke?” she said. It’s been weeks since her surgery and McLaughlin said her recovery has been “slow but good.” She recognised that she’s lucky because her disease was caught early, unlike her sister’s.  “I think that was my big sister. Maybe I got lucky. I don’t know. I definitely think  she’s with me,” she said. “That’s what they do, big sisters.” 

The best-selling author Jane Fallon, the longtime partner of comedian Ricky Gervais, shared that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, though the disease was caught in a “very early stage thankfully” and “the prognosis is excellent. I had a routine mammogram a week before Christmas,” Jane wrote on Instagram. “I had no symptoms but the brilliant radiographer spotted something iffy & sent me for further tests & eventually a biopsy.” According to the 65-year-old, she’s since had “more mammograms, more biopsies and an MRI so they can pinpoint the problem area precisely.” “It’s been a lot, I’m not going to lie,” the TV producer said, “But, my surgery is scheduled for the week after next and I just want to get it over with now.” Jane assured fans she was receiving “incredible care” and that “all will be fine.” However, she did admit that she wasn’t interested in “engaging with much beyond audiobooks & jigsaws.” Giving her beloved cat Pickle a shoutout, she jokingly added, “Nurse Pickle wondering when lunch is.” Ricky hasn’t spoken publicly about Jane’s diagnosis, the couple have been together since 1982 after meeting at the University College London.

On This Day

  • 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic, by a group of senators takes place on the Ides of March. 
  • 1626 – A dam failure causes the sudden flooding of the mining city of Potosí in present-day Bolivia leading to the death of thousands and the massive release of toxic mercury into the environment.
  • 1877 – First ever official cricket test match is played: Australia vs England at the MCG Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

David Cronenberg (83), Eva Longoria (51), Judd Hirsch (91), Michael Caine (93), Jamie Bell (40), Billy Crystal (78), Harry Melling (37), William H. Macy (76), Aaron Eckhart (58), Lesley Manville (70), Jaimie Alexander (42), Liza Minnelli (80), Titus Welliver (64), Jodie Comer (33), Johnny Knoxville (55), Alex Kingston (63), John Barrowman (59), Bad Bunny (32), Jon Hamm (55), Olivia Wilde (42), Sharon Stone (68), Chuck Norris (86), Oscar Isaac (47), and Juliette Binoche (62). 

15th March 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 8th March 2026

As the whole world rejoices at the brutal death of Ian Huntley, only one of us saw fit to include him on our lists. Congratulations to Trish, who listed Huntley as a Cert, she cores 198 points! Sometimes wishful thinking works 😀  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell has shared a “shock” health update. The American actor and filmmaker posted the statement on his social media on Tuesday, revealing he has been diagnosed with a type of cancer that is “treatable” but not “curable”. “The good news is, I’m not gonna go into any more details,” Campbell wrote. “I’m posting this, because professionally, a few things will have to change — appearances and cons and work in general need to take a back seat to treatment.” The 67-year-old actor explained his priority is to get as well as possible so he can join the tour for his upcoming road-trip comedy Ernie & Emma about a widowed pear salesman’s journey to scatter his wife’s ashes. “There are several cons this year summer that I have to cancel,” Campbell confirmed. “Big regrets on my part. Treatment needs and professional obligations don’t always go hand-in-hand.” He emphasised the statement was not meant to elicit sympathy or advice but simply to set the record straight regarding his health. Despite the diagnosis, Campbell said he is determined to fight the cancer. “Fear not, I am a tough son-of-a-bitch and I have great support, so I expect to be around a while,” he said. “As always, you’re the greatest fans in the world and I hope to see you soon!”  

BBC star Finnian Garbutt has issued a heartfelt appeal to raise funds to support his wife and child after his death. The 28-year-old actor, best known for his role as PC Ryan Power in the Irish BBC drama Hope Street, was diagnosed with Stage 3 skin cancer, which has since spread to his neck. Just days after revealing he is now in the “last stages” of the disease, he has launched a GoFundMe campaign. At the time of writing, it had raised a whopping £27,500 so far. Finnian, who has also featured in Casualty, spoke candidly to Belfast Live about his diagnosis and confessed that his world had been “crashing down”. Disclosing that doctors warned him he might not survive, he revealed: “It was almost as if they accidentally had diagnosed me with cancer and were treating me by mistake. I was told I could die; my plastic surgeons had warned me about how ill I could be following surgery. “It kept being communicated to me that I was really sick, that I was one step away from being a terminal patient. I was just waiting to hear that I had tumours elsewhere throughout my body. I had already come to terms with the fact that I was going to die young. My defence mechanism was to expect the worst. I thought it was only going to be a matter of time.” Four years ago, Finnian discovered a lump behind his ear, initially believing it to be an ingrown hair. However, when his barber informed him that the lump had grown significantly, he received his devastating diagnosis. He subsequently underwent a gruelling 12-hour surgery to remove 75 lymph nodes from his face and neck. He concluded: “Unfortunately, the scans have shown that the cancer has progressed rapidly in my body and I am now entering the last stages of life. I’m putting this out there as it is really difficult to tell people individually and I hope now that it’s in the open I can enjoy the time with my amazing family and friends.”  

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi shared she was diagnosed with Stage I adenocarcinoma, a type of cervical cancer. A star of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore, which launched in 2009 and ran for six seasons, Snooki told her story through a TikTok video posted February 20th. She has updated fans about her health journey, including during doctors’ visits, in subsequent posts, using her platform to emphasise the importance of routine cancer screening. “I’m 38 years old, and I’ve been struggling with abnormal Pap smears for three or four years now, and now look at me,” Snooki said when announcing her diagnosis. “Instead of putting it off because I didn’t want to go because I was hurt and scared, I just went and did it. And it was there, cancer is in there. But it’s Stage I, and it’s curable. A lot of women go through it silently without anyone to talk to and they’re scared by themselves. And that was me until I decided to upload the video about what was happening with me,” Snooki said. 

On This Day

  • 1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot’s license.
  • 1950 – The iconic Volkswagen Type 2 “Bus” begins production.
  • 1979 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
  • 2014 – In one of aviation’s greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains unknown.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Cynthia Rothrock (69), Micky Dolenz (81), Bryan Cranston (70), Rachel Weisz (56), Alan Davies (60), Shaquille O’Neal (54), Eva Mendes (52), Matt Lucas (52), Fred Williamson (88), Paul Blackthorne (57), Penn Jillette (71), Patsy Kensit (58), Brooklyn (Nepo) Beckham (27), Jessica Biel (44), Julie Bowen (56), Miranda Richardson (68), Charlie Brooker (55), Daniel Craig (58), Bryce Dallas Howard (45), Nathalie Emmanuel (37), Rebel Wilson (46), Ethan Peck (40), Gates McFadden (77), Jon Bon Jovi (64), and Chris Martin (49).

8th March 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

Dead Pool 1st March 2026

Unbelievably, nobody scored this week. Surely one of us should have listed Ali Khamenei!!! With the dementia addled ginger nut in charge, this was surely on the cards! Anyhow, a missed opportunity for us, and the beginning of WWIII perhaps? Maybe this year could be the best scoring year ever! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

A silverback western lowland gorilla has died days after he was moved to a new home. Jock, 42, who spent the majority of his life at Bristol Zoo Project’s Clifton site, had a number of known conditions, but his health deteriorated 10 days after his relocation to a site near Cribbs Causeway. Sarah Gedman, curator of mammals at Bristol Zoo Project, said the “difficult decision” to peacefully euthanise Jock is a “testament to the deep bonds between him and the people who cared for him”. He was one of the oldest silverbacks in the UK and was part of a troop of eight at the zoo. “Jock’s legacy at Bristol Zoo, as a leader, father, and ambassador for his species, will live on through the gorillas he helped raise and the countless people he inspired,” she added. “His life was a reminder of both the beauty and fragility of wildlife, and the importance of conservation efforts everywhere.” Jock arrived at Clifton’s Bristol Zoo Gardens in 2003 and was a central figure in the zoo’s troop throughout his time there. He fathered several infants both at the zoo and through the European co-ordinated breeding programme for Critically Endangered western lowland gorillas. The gorillas had been looked after by keepers at the Clifton site since its closure in 2022. Just under two weeks ago, they moved into a new purpose-built African rainforest enclosure at the site near Cribbs Causeway. Vets and zookeepers have continued to monitor the gorillas since the move, but say a full review is needed to determine the cause of Jock’s illness. “The remaining members of our gorilla troop are safe and in good health, and our dedicated veterinary and animal care teams are closely monitoring their welfare, as the troop adjusts to Jock’s absence. Our entire team of colleagues and volunteers are devastated by this news,” Gedman added. Jock’s species typically lives between 35 and 40 years in the wild and is classified as critically endangered, largely due to threats such as poaching and habitat loss.  

Soham killer Ian Huntley remains in a serious condition in hospital, two days after he was attacked with a metal bar by another inmate at a maximum security prison. Durham Constabulary confirmed on Saturday morning that his condition had not changed overnight. A spokesperson stated: “The 52-year-old man remains in hospital in a serious condition, there have been no changes overnight.” The assault took place in the jail’s workshop. According to reports, triple killer Anthony Russell allegedly shouted “I’ve done it, I’ve done it” after Huntley, 52, was repeatedly smashed over the head at HMP Frankland, Durham, on Thursday morning. The force declined to identify the suspect but said on Thursday that a man in his mid-40s had been detained in the prison, but had not yet been arrested. Former caretaker Huntley killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4 2002, then dumped their bodies in a ditch. Russell was sentenced to a whole life tariff in 2021 for the murders of Julie Williams, 58, and her son David Williams, 32, at separate flats in Coventry, and pregnant 31-year-old Nicole McGregor, who was found in woodland near Leamington Spa three days later. Russell also raped Ms McGregor. Thursday’s assault was the latest attempt on Huntley’s life and he was thought to have been kept under close observation to prevent similar attacks. In 2010, robber Damien Fowkes slashed him with a home-made weapon, causing a “severe, gaping cut to the left side of his neck” with a 7in (18cm) wound which required 21 stitches. Fowkes asked a prison officer: “Is he dead? I hope so.” He described Huntley as a “notorious child killer, both inside prison and in society in general”. Huntley is serving a life sentence with a recommendation that he serves at least 40 years for the Soham murders. 

Bhad Bhabie, real name Danielle Bregoli, has given a concerning update on her cancer as she told fans her doctor hadn’t given her good news. The rapper, 22,  announced in 2024 she’d been diagnosed with cancer after people started speculating about her weight loss and she wanted to head off the ‘worst narratives’ that were being whipped up around her. Now she’s posted an update on social media saying: “Bad news from my doctor yesterday, god has the last say so not my cancer.” She didn’t provide any further details on her condition. Back in November 2024 when she confirmed she had been diagnosed with cancer she had faced speculation over whether she had changed her eating habits or started taking weight loss drugs. However, Bregoli instead explained that her weight loss was as a result of treatment for cancer. “I’m sorry my cancer medicine made me lose weight,” she wrote on her Instagram story, before telling her millions of followers she was ‘slowly gaining it back’. Her mum Barbara also took aim at trolls who had suggested Danielle had been faking cancer, going on Instagram to tell them what was what. She wrote: “I pray to God one of your children never get cancer. I’ve had it twice. How dare you say my daughter’s faking this.” The mum also shared images of her own experience with cancer as she told people to ‘stop with your assumptions’. “For all those individuals commenting on cancer and cancer meds just bloating you this was me one year after my 1st diagnosis,” she had said as she shared a past image of herself. Bhad Bhabie first became famous at the age of 13 when she went on the talk show Dr Phil and became known as the girl who said ‘cash me outside’. She and her mum appeared on the episode titled ‘I Want to Give Up My Car-Stealing, Knife-Wielding, Twerking 13-Year-Old Daughter Who Tried to Frame Me for a Crime’. That’s quite a mouthful. Anyhow, Danielle said she hadn’t realised she’d become a meme as she was sent to a camp for troubled teens after her appearance on Dr Phil and was not thrilled to discover she was all over the internet. Speaking on the HighLowWithEmRata podcast, she said: “Imagine you get home from being in this fucking fucked up place for fucking six months and then you open your phone and go on Facebook and all you see is yourself, and you’re 13.”

On This Day

  • 1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials. 
  • 1910 – The deadliest avalanche in United States history buries a Great Northern Railway train in northeastern King County, Washington, killing 96 people.
  • 1953 – Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later.
  • 1966 – Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface. 
  • 1998 – Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Deaths

Last Week’s Birthdays

Javier Bardem (57), Jensen Ackles (48), Ron Howard (72), Lupita Nyong’o (43), Dirk Benedict (81), Justin Bieber (32), John Turturro (69), Rae Dawn Chong (65), Kate Mara (43), Timothy Spall (69), Adam Baldwin (64), Bill Duke (83), Sean Astin (55), Anson Mount (53), Lee Evans (62), Edward James Olmos (79), Dakota Fanning (32), Emily Blunt (43), Josh Gad (45), Aziz Ansari (43), and Kelly Macdonald (50).

1st March 2026 | Categories: 2026 | Leave A Comment »

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