Dead Pool 16th August 2015

Afternoon Poolers! Firstly, I have to apologise, I didn’t notice that Liz had George Cole on her list from last week, so I have to belatedly add 60 points to her tally and grovel for her forgiveness. Hopefully, I haven’t missed anyone else, so let’s get on with it.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jack Gold, 85, British film director (The Naked Civil Servant, Aces High, The Medusa Touch).
• David Nobbs, 80, British novelist and comedy writer (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Two Ronnies, Fairly Secret Army).
• Susan Sheridan, 68, British voice actress (The Black Cauldron, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Noddy’s Toyland Adventures).
• Stephen Lewis, 88, British comedy actor (On the Buses, Last of the Summer Wine, Don’t Drink the Water). 
• Jazz Summers, 71, English music manager (Scissor Sisters, The Verve, Snow Patrol), lung cancer.

In Other News

Former US President Jimmy Carter says recent liver surgery revealed he has cancer and it has spread to other parts of his body. The 90-year-old statesman underwent surgery to remove a small mass in his liver earlier this month. He said he would reveal more “when facts are known, possibly next week”. President Barack Obama wished Mr Carter “a full and fast recovery” in a statement released on Wednesday. Carter was America’s 39th president. He was in office from 1977 to 1981, before being defeated for re-election by Ronald Reagan.

Elton John’s lawyer has said that he is pursuing three  French media outlets for publishing what he called “unfounded rumours” about the British pop singer’s health and that of his husband. “Sir Elton John and David Furnish … have instructed my office to pursue through the justice system the violation of the right to respect for their private life due to the publishing of unfounded rumours about their health,” Vincent Toledano said in a statement on Friday. John and his husband “will no longer tolerate the violation of their privacy and the exploitation of their renown and their image for commercial ends in France,” the lawyer added. What does the French media know that we don’t??

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej is recovering from treated for hydrocephalus, an excessive build-up of fluid on the brain, say authorities. The 87-year-old, who has been in hospital since 31st May, also had a lung inflammation which has since subsided. Last October he had his gallbladder removed. He was in Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital for seven months, and was discharged in May this year, only to return to the hospital a few weeks later for medical tests.

A prominent Spanish matador was in serious but stable condition in hospital after being gored in the groin by a bull. Francisco “Paquirri” Rivera Ordóñez suffered the injury while fighting the bull in the town of Huesca and was in intensive care. The bull’s horn sank some 25cm (10in) into Paquirri’s groin but did not threaten any vital organs, doctors said. Television footage showed the bull hoisting Paquirri into the air for a few seconds on one of his horns. His father, of the same name, was gored to death in Andalucia in 1984. His grandfather was Antonio Ordóñez, considered one of the greatest bullfighters of all time. Obviously this ‘talent’ is not hereditary.

And finally, the Jack Russell terrier, who narrowly avoided a life in the dog pound to be raised for show business, was put down after a battle with prostate cancer. Uggie the dog, the canine star of Oscar-winning film The Artist, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 13. Starting out, as so many stars before him, in commercials, Uggie’s breakout role came as “The Dog” – loyal companion to George Valentin in Michel Hazanavicius’s ode to silent cinema, The Artist. The film won five Academy awards, including best picture in 2012, and Uggie himself was honoured with a Palm Dog award at Cannes film festival. He was also the first dog to leave his paw prints outside Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood.

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.
• 1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
• 1906 – An estimated 8.2 M_W earthquake hits Valparaíso, Chile, killing 3,886 people.
• 1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.

Deaths

• 1888 – John Pemberton, American chemist, invented Coca-Cola (b. 1831)
• 1899 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (b. 1811)
• 1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (b. 1895)
• 1956 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1882)
• 1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (b. 1935)
• 2003 – Idi Amin, Ugandan field marshal, 3rd President of Uganda (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jennifer Lawrence (25), Ben Affleck (43), Hulk Hogan (62), Chris Hemsworth (32), Antonio Banderas (55), Mila Kunis (32), Steve Martin (70), Anna Kendrick (30), Halle Berry (49), Debra Messing (47), David Crosby (74), Natasha Henstridge (41), Magic Johnson (56), Gillian Anderson (47), George Hamilton (76), Rosanna Arquette (56), Princess Anne (65), Eric Bana (47), Audrey Tautou (39), Mark Knopfler (66), Pete Sampras (44) and Fidel Castro (89).

Next Week peeps!