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:

Sir Sam Neill, 78, Northern Irish-born New Zealand actor (Jurassic Park, The Piano, Event Horizon), pneumonia.
Hal Williams, 91, American actor (227, Sanford and Son, Private Benjamin).
Brenda Fricker, 81, Irish actress (My Left Foot, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York), Oscar winner.
Sir Garfield Sobers, 89, Barbadian cricketer (Nottinghamshire, South Australia, West Indies).
Terence Donovan, 90, British-Australian actor (Home and Away, Neighbours, Breaker Morant).
Tony Thorpe, 80, English guitarist and singer (The Rubettes).

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