Dead Pool 1st February 2026

We can dish out some points this week. With the execution of Charles Thompson, I can award 95 points to Julia and Abi, well done both! Always a brave punt going for Death Row inmates, but with the Republicans in charge they do like to murder their murderers and Wiki seems to be listing them again. Plus we all get to read about their crimes and last meals. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Bryan Loren, 59, American songwriter (“Do the Bartman“). 
• Charles Victor Thompson, 55, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. 
• Catherine O’Hara, 71, Canadian-American actress (Schitt’s Creek, Beetlejuice, Home Alone). 
• Demond Wilson, 79, American actor (Sanford and Son, The New Odd Couple, Me and the Kid) and author, cancer. 

In Other News

Popular former BBC Radio DJ Andy Kershaw is “unable to walk” after being diagnosed with cancer that affected his spine. The presenter, 66, has been undergoing treatment including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, physiotherapy and “a lot of scans and painkillers”, his friend and podcast producer Peter Everett shared on Facebook this week. Kershaw, who hosted shows for Radio 1 and also co-presented the BBC’s TV coverage of Live Aid in 1985, was diagnosed last August. “Although we’ve not been able to put together any podcasts in the last six months, we are very grateful to all the patrons and supporters who have stuck with us,” Everett said. He then shared a message from Kershaw himself, who said: “I am in good spirits, feeling very positive and planning another podcast. I am determined not to die before Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Ant’n’Dec. That should keep me going for a while.” Everett said the many messages of support and good wishes sent to Kershaw were “hugely appreciated”. Born in Rochdale, Kershaw – the brother of fellow broadcaster Liz Kershaw – grew up a fan of artists such as Bob Dylan and went to university with the aim of becoming a journalist. After arriving in London in 1984, where he secured a job as roadie and driver for singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, he was enlisted as a new presenter for BBC 2’s Whistle Test. He then got his own show on Radio 1 the following year, which he presented for 15 years before being sacked, as his website states, “to be replaced by another dance music programme”. Kershaw went on to work at Radio 3 while also making travel documentaries for Channel 4. He became a tabloid fixture in 2008 after his 17-year marriage ended over infidelity on his part, which he admitted to. His ex-wife, Juliette Banner, left him and obtained a court order to keep him away from their two children; Kershaw repeatedly broke the terms of the order and was imprisoned three times before going on the run. He ended up developing an alcohol dependency and was temporarily homeless: “Nobody, not even my allies within the serious media, bothered to look at what was really going on,” he told the Flying Monkeys at the time. “All I wanted to do was see my children, so why was I in jail? Why was I on the run? It was ridiculous, insane.”  

Ray J has revealed he believes he won’t live past this year as his heart is ‘done’ from years of drug and alcohol abuse. The singer, 45, was previously treated for pneumonia but in a recent update on Instagram, he confirmed things weren’t looking up. ‘2027 is definitely a wrap for me. This [gesturing to his heart] is black. This is, like, done,’ he told fans on the livestream. He shared that he ‘almost died’ while in hospital and admitted he had messed up by thinking he had ‘more weight’. ‘I thought I was big so I could handle all the alcohol, I could handle all the Adderall, I could handle all the drugs—but I couldn’t. It curved my time here,’ he explained. The Sexy Can I singer said over the weekend his heart was ‘only beating 25%’ but he had put a recovery plan in place. Before his health scare, Ray J — who has daughter Melody, seven, and son Epik, five, with estranged wife Princess Love — was taking 10 Adderall per day. He was also drinking ‘four or five bottles’, reasoning: ‘Ain’t nothing happening to me I’m indestructible. ’ Ray J rose to fame in the 00’s with hits like One Wish and Lil’ Kim collab Wait A Minute, however, he’s more well known for his sex tape with Kim Kardashian. Since then, he’s kept fairly out of the spotlight, appearing on the 2017 series of Celebrity Big Brother, where he walked off after a week. In 2020, he and Princess appeared in the first episodes of reality TV show The Conversation and two months later, she filed for divorce. He continued: ‘As long as I stay focused and stay on the right path, everything will be all right. My health is not OK, so I thank everybody for supporting and praying for me through everything I’ve been in the hospital.’ His family have rallied around him, including parents Sonja and Willie Norwood and his sister Brandy, who is also a singer. ‘Shoutout to my momma and daddy, and shoutout to Brandy for looking out for me. My sister paid my bills for me for the rest of the year. That’s crazy.’ The I Hit It First singer was hospitalised with pneumonia in 2021, initially assuming he had coronavirus, and so he was placed in the Covid wing. Calling his time in the wing ‘terrifying’, he stated: ‘I thought it was over. I started praying and knew God is good so I just kept praying.’ He was moved to a different ward and placed on oxygen, making a full recovery at the time.

On This Day

• 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
• 2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, opens its viewing gallery to the public.

Deaths

• 1851 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (born 1797). 
• 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1895).
• 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic (born 1901).
• 1988 – Heather O’Rourke, American child actress (born 1975). 
• 2019 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio host and panelist (born 1961).

Last Meals

Charles Victor Thompson was an American convicted double murderer who was sentenced to death in April 1999 for the murder of his former girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, on April 30, 1998 in the Houston suburb of Tomball. Thompson was executed on January 28, 2026.

Thompson’s case gained nationwide attention following a November 2005 jail escape launching a manhunt that lasted 3 days; Thompson is, so far, the only American death row inmate to have successfully escaped a correctional facility in the 21st century.

On the evening of April 29, 1998, police were summoned to Hayslip’s apartment to resolve a domestic disturbance involving Thompson and Cain, who was Hayslip’s current love interest. Officers escorted Thompson from the premises, but he returned approximately three hours later, in the early morning of April 30, armed with a firearm.

Thompson gained entry to the residence by kicking in the front door, at which point he confronted Cain and Hayslip. Forensic evidence and witness statements established that Thompson fired four rounds into Cain’s neck and chest, resulting in immediate fatal trauma. Following the incapacitation of Cain, Thompson focused his attention on Hayslip. After reloading the weapon, he reportedly uttered a disparaging remark—”I can shoot you too, bitch”, before discharging a round into her face. The projectile entered through her cheek, causing catastrophic internal damage that included the destruction of her dentures and the near-total severance of her tongue. Despite these severe injuries, Hayslip survived the initial 

trauma and was transported via Life Flight to a hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery, was taken off life support days later and died.

After the shootings, Thompson fled the scene and disposed of the murder weapon in a nearby creek. He then traveled to the residence of Diane Zernia, a confidante to whom he described the shootings in detail. Following this confession, Thompson contacted his father, who facilitated his surrender to the authorities later that morning.

Following his arrest, Thompson stood trial in Harris County in 1999 on charges of capital murder. The death penalty was imposed throughout his trial.

While Thompson was in jail, he approached inmates Reid and Humphrey to arrange the murder of Diane Zernia, whom he correctly identified as the only witness capable of linking him to the homicides. Law enforcement, tipped off by Reid, orchestrated an undercover operation where Investigator Gary Johnson posed as a hitman. Johnson met with Thompson 

in a visiting booth and wore a wire to record their conversation. During this meeting, Thompson offered Johnson $1,500 to retrieve the murder weapon from Cypress Creek and to murder Zernia. Thompson displayed a hand-drawn map against the glass of the visitor’s booth depicting Zernia’s address and the weapon’s location, and he provided detailed descriptions of Zernia’s family and vehicles to facilitate the hit.

In November 3, 2005, he executed a brazen escape that exposed systemic negligence within the facility. Thompson had smuggled several items into his cell using a legal binder, which inmates are permitted to keep. These items included a handcuff key, a fake identification badge, and a set of civilian clothes consisting of khaki pants, a dark blue shirt, and white tennis shoes. Thompson later claimed that a sergeant had found a previous set of smuggled clothes but had merely confiscated them as contraband without reporting the incident to the district attorney’s office.

On the afternoon of November 3, Thompson was taken to a visitors’ room for what he claimed was a meeting with his attorney. Once alone, he slipped out of his handcuffs and changed out of his orange prison jumpsuit and into the smuggled civilian attire. Thompson then walked toward the exit, flashing his fake ID badge—which claimed he was a state investigator with the Attorney General’s office—to at least four jail employees. He bluffed his way past the final guards at the front door by walking calmly.

Thompson’s journey took him on a freight train to East Texas, where he stayed in an open boxcar, describing the experience as an “adventure” where he felt “dirty and happy”. He eventually reached Shreveport, Louisiana, where he stole a bicycle and used money obtained from “Good Samaritans” by posing as a Hurricane Katrina evacuee. His escape ended at a  pay phone outside a Shreveport liquor store. On November 6, 2005, acting on a tip, police found Thompson intoxicated while he was attempting to call friends overseas to arrange a wire transfer for a planned trip to Canada. Following his capture, Thompson was extradited back to Texas.

After exhausting his appeals, Thompson received his death warrant on September 11, 2025, scheduling him to be executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on January 28, 2026. In an October 2025 interview, he stressed that he would continue to fight his death sentence, though he acknowledged that a stay was unlikely.

55-year-old Thompson was put to death by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on January 28, 2026. He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m CT. In his final words, Thompson apologised to the victims’ families and asked for forgiveness. He went on to say that there were no winners and that it would create more trauma and victims after 28 years. 

Prior to his execution, Thompson ate a standard last meal of scrambled eggs, grape jelly, oatmeal, applesauce and biscuits for breakfast and fried chicken, pinto beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, sliced bread, swirl pudding along with beverages of punch and water for lunch.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Michael C. Hall (55), Sherilyn Fenn (61), Harry Styles (32), Minnie Driver (56), Jonathan Banks (79), Justin Timberlake (45), Olivia Colman (52), Christian Bale (52), Vanessa Redgrave (89), Phil Collins (75), Heather Graham (56), Katharine Ross (86), Tom Selleck (81), Marc Singer (78), Oprah Winfrey (72), Tim Healy (74), Elijah Wood (45), Will Poulter (33), Ariel Winter (28), Tom Hopper (41), Alan Alda (90), Alan Cumming (61), James Cromwell (86), Patton Oswalt (57), Bridget Fonda (62), Scott Glenn (87), Deep Roy (77),  and Ellen DeGeneres (68).