Dead Pool 15th February 2026

Let’s kick off with some points! Congratulations to Abi, Dave and Lee, all three correctly predicted that Marie-Rose Tessier would die this year, 35 and 135 points awarded accordingly. We can also award 102 to Ian and Paula for the early demise of James Van Der Beek. Well done all!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

Shelly Desai, 90, American actor (Men of a Certain Age, Here Comes the Boom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).
Andrew Ranken, 72, English drummer (The Pogues).
Marie-Rose Tessier, 115, French supercentenarian.
Bud Cort, 77, American actor (Harold and Maude, Brewster McCloud, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), pneumonia.
James Van Der Beek, 48, American actor (Dawson’s Creek, Varsity Blues, The Rules of Attraction), colorectal cancer.
Palmerston, 11–12, British cat, chief mouser to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (2016–2020).

In Other News

A royal decorator who painted the Prince and Princess of Wales’ bedroom was found hanged after ‘King Charles’ reportedly criticised one of his paint jobs, an inquest has heard. Self-employed Chris Eadie, 63, had worked at the Sandringham estate for more than 30 years and took great pride in carrying out projects for the late Queen and later King Charles, Norfolk Coroner’s Court heard. His brother Mark Eadie said he had been left upset after being tasked with painting a pagoda over a Buddha in the gardens of Sandringham House in colours requested by the King. Mark said his highly skilled brother felt the colours were ‘a bit garish’, but painted it exactly as instructed. However, the King was said to be unhappy with how it looked and ordered it be repainted. Father-of-two Mr Eadie dutifully stripped the structure and prepared it ready for new colours chosen by the King, only for the final painting work to be handed to another contractor, he said. Mark added: ‘After all that detailed preparation, someone else was given the job. He was devastated.’ The court heard that around the same time, Mr Eadie had begun losing weight and suffering from a lack of appetite, becoming convinced he might have cancer. Phone conversations with his brother revealed his mental health was deteriorating as his worries mounted over both his health and the declining amount of work at Sandringham. Mark said that his brother’s ‘perfectionism’ meant he was frequently appointed for ‘the top jobs’ within the Royal household, including painting William and Kate’s bedroom.But in recent years, he was said to have become deeply affected as work from the estate became less frequent following management changes and the introduction of new contractors. Mark told the hearing that his brother was a ‘talented perfectionist’ who lived for his work, and was immensely proud about carrying out jobs discreetly for the Royal family. He said: ‘My brother was absolutely brilliant at his job. He had incredible attention to detail and wouldn’t let anything go unless it was perfect. ‘He was loyal and wouldn’t talk about what he did, but I know he painted William and Kate’s bedroom and even met their children once in the garden. He said they were lovely.’ Mr Eadie’s partner Joanna described him as a loving father to his two sons who took huge pride in his career and his long service to the royals. But she said the reduction in work from Sandringham after decades of loyalty deeply upset him with the pagoda incident becoming a particular source of angst. Six weeks before his death she found him sitting in the dark at home and later feared he had been considering harming himself. In the days before he died, she told the hearing that he became unusually affectionate, something she now believes was part of saying goodbye. She found him dead in the garden of his home on the Sandringham estate on October 10th last year. PC David Norris of Norfolk Police told the inquest that Mr Eadie was found hanging in a small garden space between sheds. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate him after cutting him down but were unable to save him. Officers found a bottle of open spirits and a handwritten note inside the house. Mr Eadie apologised to loved ones in the note, writing: ‘Tell everyone I love them so much. I am sorry.’ Toxicology tests later showed only a small amount of alcohol in his system, along with raised levels of paracetamol, though not enough to have caused death. A post-mortem examination concluded he died by hanging.

A Strictly Come Dancing star who left a suicide note saying the BBC ‘destroyed me’ after he was dropped from the show was ‘vulnerable to rejection both emotionally and professionally’, an inquest jury has concluded. Robin Windsor, a professional Latin and ballroom dancer who featured in four series from 2010 and 2013, took an overdose while staying at The Hoxton Hotel in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, on February 19th 2024. Windsor’s body was discovered by a receptionist after he failed to check out of his room – with police later finding two suicide messages. The first, to a friend, said: ‘This all really started when I lost my job on Strictly. The way they treated me destroyed me. It started me on the road I’m still on. All I wanted from life was to be happy. I loved my job more than anyone else.’ He went on to say he was permanently in a ‘dark place’ and couldn’t go on ‘living like this any more’. Windsor’s second note, to his ex-partner actor Ollie Augustin, said: ‘I need you to understand that this is not your fault.’ After two hours of deliberations, jurors at West London Coroner’s Court recorded Windsor’s death as suicide on Thursday, adding he was ‘vulnerable to rejection both emotionally and professionally’. The inquest, overseen by Dr Anton van Dellen, concluded Windor’s medical cause of death as a combination of consuming alcohol and drug gamma-butyrolactone (GBH).

On This Day

1933 – In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate US President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6th.
1952 – King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.
1970 – Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603 crashes into the Caribbean Sea after takeoff from Las Américas International Airport, killing 102, including members of the Puerto Rico women’s national volleyball team and lightweight boxer Carlos Cruz.
1971 – The decimalisation of the currencies of the United Kingdom and Ireland is completed on Decimal Day.
1992 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced in Milwaukee to 15 terms of life in prison.
2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.
2013 – A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings.