Dead Pool 14th December 2025

With a little over two weeks to go, I hope you are all working on your 2026 lists, we have points to award! Paul C, correctly guessed that Stanley Baxter would die in 2025, 51 points! Well done!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

Raul Malo, 60, American musician (The Mavericks) and songwriter (“All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down“, “Dance the Night Away“), colon and leptomeningeal cancer.
Jeff Garcia, 50, American comedian and actor (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Barnyard, Mr. Box Office), complications from a collapsed lung.
Sophie Kinsella, 55, English novelist (Shopaholic, Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess), glioblastoma.
Stanley Baxter, 99, Scottish actor (Crooks Anonymous, Very Important Person) and comedian (The Stanley Baxter Show).
Harold Wayne Nichols, 64, American serial rapist and convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
Joanna Trollope, 82, English novelist (A Village Affair).
Peter Greene, 60, American actor (Pulp Fiction, The Mask, Clean, Shaven).

In Other News

Ian Rush, the former Wales and Liverpool striker, has reportedly been admitted to the Countess of Chester Hospital’s intensive care unit after experiencing breathing difficulties at home. The Flying Monkeys report that the 64-year-old football legend, from Flint, spent approximately 48 hours in ICU, possibly due to the ongoing ‘superflu’ outbreak. Despite his health scare, Rush is reportedly ‘in good spirits’ and responding well to treatment. He continues to recuperate at the Countess of Chester, with hopes high he will be discharged in time for Christmas. The 64-year-old, is regarded as one of the finest British strikers of all time. He is Liverpool’s all-time leading scorer and is an ambassador at Anfield. Recent data from the NHS reveals an average of 2,660 patients being admitted to hospital with the flu each day last week. This sets a new record for flu hospitalisations for this period of the year and represents a 55% increase on the previous week. This could suggest a few celebrity deaths are incoming, especially if a former athlete has been brought low by the virus.

Dead Pool favourite Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in “Mary Poppins” and starred in his self-titled sitcom. “The funniest thing is, it’s not enough,” Van Dyke said in an interview with the Flying. Monkeys at his Malibu home. “A hundred years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to.” As part of the celebration of Van Dyke’s birthday this weekend, theatres around the U.S. are showing a new documentary about his life, “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration.” Van Dyke became one of the biggest actors of his era with “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” which ran from 1961-66 on CBS; appeared with Andrews as a chimney sweep with a ‘Cockney’ accent in the 1964 Disney classic “Mary Poppins” and, in his 70s, played a physician-sleuth on “Diagnosis: Murder.” In the 1970s, he found sobriety after battling alcoholism, and spoke out about it at a time when that was uncommon to do. Now that he has hit triple digits, Van Dyke said he’s gotten some perspective on how he used to play older characters. “You know, I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous,” he told the Flying Monkeys. “It’s not really that way. I don’t know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself.” He recently imparted wisdom about reaching the century mark in his book, “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life.” He said he and his wife Arlene Silver, whom he described as a “health nut”, go to the gym multiple times a week. “That’s good advice for anybody of course,” he said. Van Dyke said Silver, who is 46 years his junior, “keeps me young”. He explained: “She gives me energy, she gives me humour and all kinds of support.”. And what’s hard about being 100? “I miss movement,” he told the Flying Monkeys. “I’ve got one game leg from I don’t know what. I still try to dance,” he said with a laugh.

Andy Dick suffered an apparent overdose on the streets of Hollywood Tuesday, disturbing new photos show. In photos obtained by the Flying Monkeys, the controversial comedian, 59, can be seen slouched over on the cement stairs of a building. His eyes are closed and he’s wearing blue plaid pajama pants and a tan jacket. An unidentified man on his knees tries to help the star by holding him up. In one photo, what appears to be Dick’s glasses are on the ground next to a drink can. A bystander shouted for someone nearby to grab Narcan, a life-saving medication that quickly reverses opioid overdoses. Dick was reportedly administered the shot and regained consciousness. First responders from the Los Angeles Fire and Police Departments were called to the scene. However, Dick reportedly refused additional treatment or transportation to a hospital for further evaluation. Dick was spotted on Hollywood Boulevard just last month, slurring his words and drinking something from a cup. The actor has had several run-ins with the law over the years. In May 2022, he was arrested for felony sexual battery after a man named “JJ” accused Dick of molesting him in his sleep. The charges were dropped when “JJ” stopped cooperating to move the case forward. Additionally, the actor was arrested in January 2023 for public intoxication and failing to register as a sex offender. A caller reported him drunk on a street in the Los Angeles suburb of Lake Elsinore at the time. During the incident, authorities found he wasn’t up to date on his sex offender registration stemming from a 2018 incident where he grabbed an Uber driver’s crotch.

On This Day

1287 – St. Lucia’s flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1911 – Roald Amundsen’s team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
2012 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Deaths

1799 – George Washington, U.S. general & politician, 1st President of the U.S. (born 1732).
1861 – Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom (born 1819).
1943 – John Harvey Kellogg, American physician, co-invented corn flakes (born 1852).
1947 – Stanley Baldwin, English politician, Prime Minister of the U.K. (born 1867).
2013 – Peter O’Toole, British-Irish actor (born 1932).

Last Meals

Harold Wayne Nichols, dubbed the Red-Haired Stranger, was an American serial rapist and convicted murderer, who was executed on December 11th 2025, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, for the 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Karen Pulley of Chattanooga. Nichols was also convicted of a series of rapes in the Chattanooga area between 1988 and 1989.

Nichols was born on December 31st 1960, in Cleveland, Tennessee, to Mac Nichols and Nanny Lou, an abusive man and a mentally unstable woman. His childhood was marked by poverty, having to share a bedroom with his parents and older sister Deborah, while his paternal grandmother slept in the other room. The Nichols were members of the Church of God of Prophecy, and Mac didn’t allow any visitors to the house other than fellow churchgoers. In June 1961, Mac’s sister Betty Sampley and her husband drowned during a family outing. Two of the six Sampley children were taken in by the Nichols (Royce and Diana, 13 and 12 years old, respectively). For many of the years that followed, Mac exposed himself and threatened Diana with sexual violence, with police later suspecting that he also sexually assaulted the girl.

The overcrowded Nichols home began losing members in August 1966, with the death of Nichols’s grandmother. Royce and Diana subsequently became legal adults and moved out between May 1967 and January 1968. Nichols’s mother, Nanny, died in January 1971, when Nichols was ten years old. He was left to live with his abusive father and 13-year-old sister. Mac Nichols physically and sexually abused Harold and Deborah for several months, until church leaders forced Nichols to accept a deal where Harold and Deborah would be taken to an orphanage in exchange for the abuse to be covered up and avoid being criminally charged. The Nichols siblings lived at the Tomlinson Children’s Home for many years, with Deborah marrying and moving out of state in May 1976. In June 1977, Nichols, then aged 17, was returned to the custody of his father. By then, Mac Nichols was receiving disability benefits, drinking heavily, and soliciting sex workers. With a teenage Nichols at home, Mac was not abusive, except for a single incident where he propositioned young Harold, who declined his advances.

On August 30th 1984, Nichols broke into an apartment shared by two women, alleging that he had the intention to rob. When Nichols encountered one of the women, he attempted to rape her and fled. Police arrested Nichols on September 4th 1984, and he pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit rape in December of that year. Nichols was sentenced to five years in prison, of which he served 18 months before being paroled after a psychological evaluation found nothing unusual in him. Still on probation, Nichols was sent back to jail for violating parole terms and was ordered to live with his father until marrying his partner, Joanne. Nichols and his wife married in November 1986, initially living with Nichols’s father. She recalled that Mac Nichols was verbally abusive and demanding, causing her and Nichols to move out to another house after Nichols found a job at a local Godfather’s Pizza.

Nichols was arrested again in the summer of 1987, after a woman in East Ridge, Tennessee, called the police after seeing a man lurking near her house with a knife. For that arrest and his second parole violation, Nichols served a whole year in county jail, being released in June 1988. He returned to live with his wife and continued working at Godfather’s Pizza, getting a promotion to manager in September 1988. Joanne stated that Nichols was a loving and caring man who “treated her wonderfully” during their relationship.

Beginning in September 1988 and until his arrest in January 1989, Nichols raped or attempted to rape at least 12 women in the Chattanooga area. His first victim (20-year-old Karen Elise Pulley) was attacked while sleeping. Nichols, who had broken into her house, struck her with a piece of lumber and raped her. He viciously beat Pulley, who was left bleeding on her bedroom floor until one of her friends found her alive but unconscious the next morning. She died later that day. Nichols continued with his crime spree, raping, attempting to rape, and assaulting women in the Chattanooga area. He was arrested on January 5th 1989, following a tip by a man named Chris Mull, who was jealous of Nichols’s relationship with his boyfriend, Larry Kilgore, who was best friends with Nichols. He confessed to the murder of Pulley and several rapes the next day, also confessing to his wife. Nichols was indicted on February 1st, and he was found competent to stand trial by mental health professionals in July 1989. He expressed remorse for his actions, but added that he would have continued with his violent crimes if not arrested.

Nichols pleaded guilty to first degree felony murder, aggravated rape, and first-degree burglary. The judge accepted his guilty pleas and proceeded to the sentencing phase. As the state sought the death penalty against Nichols, defence counsel relied on Nichols’s cooperation and good behaviour as mitigating factors. Other witnesses for the defence were his own wife, Joanne, his best friend Larry Kilgore, and a local reverend who said that Nichols had been under the influence of an evil spirit. However. on May 12th 1990, the jury reached a verdict in less than two hours of deliberation, voting for the death sentence. The judge followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Nichols to death.

In March 2025, after 35 years on Death Row, the Tennessee Supreme Court set an execution date for Nichols on December 11th 2025. He was asked to select his method of execution between electrocution and lethal injection. Upon the expiration of the deadline in November 2025, lethal injection was chosen as his execution method per state law.

For his last meal, Nichols asked for beef brisket, coleslaw, a baked potato, onion rings, devilled eggs, and cheese biscuits with fruit tea.

On December 11th 2025, 64-year-old Nichols was put to death by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. In his final words, he said, “To everyone I’ve harmed, I’m sorry. To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going, I’m ready to go home.” Nichols was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital and was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Natascha McElhone (56), Miranda Hart (53), Steve Buscemi (68), Taylor Swift (36), Dick Van Dyke (100), Emma Corrin (30), Jamie Foxx (58), Robert Lindsay (76), Jennifer Connelly (55), Bill Nighy (76), Mädchen Amick (55), Mayim Bialik (50), Sarah Douglas (73), Kenneth Cranham (81), Hailee Steinfeld (29), Kenneth Branagh (65), John Malkovich (72), Judi Dench (91), Beau Bridges (84), Michael Dorn (73), Donny Osmond (68), Wendell Pierce (62), Dominic Monaghan (49), Teri Hatcher (61), and Kim Basinger (72).