Dead Pool 1st June 2025

Unfortunately we have no points to dispense today, although I mistakenly thought a couple of you had Loretta Swit. Better luck next week.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

Phil Robertson, 79, American businessman (Duck Commander) and television personality (Duck Dynasty).
Ed Gale, 61, American stuntman (Child’s Play) and actor (Howard the Duck, Spaceballs).
Peter Kwong, 73, American actor (Big Trouble in Little China, The Golden Child, Cooties).
Valerie Mahaffey, 71, American actress (The Doctors, French Exit, Young Sheldon), cancer.
Loretta Swit, 87, American actress (M*A*S*H, Freebie and the Bean, Race with the Devil).

In Other News

Eamonn Holmes has issued an emotional health update to his followers. The former This Morning presenter, 65, has been battling health issues since an operation in 2022, and last week, he fell off his chair while presenting on GB News. Posting a throwback snap on social media, Eamonn said a picture of him broadcasting made him upset as he now can’t walk. “Great picture popped up from 3 years but it’s made me sad – I could walk,” he wrote. “Got to redouble my efforts.” The presenter suffered the fall on GB News while the camera was focused on commentator Charlie Rowley. A loud crash could be heard off-screen, prompting Holmes’ co-host Ellie Costello to exclaim: “Oh my gosh!” A visibly stunned Rowley immediately moved to help Holmes, but the veteran host quickly reassured viewers, saying: “I’m fine, I’m fine. Carry on, carry on.” Rowley attempted to continue the segment, but producers swiftly cut to an extended six-minute advert break. In March, Holmes told his followers he is in constant pain. “Even when the sun shines there’s pain,” he said, sharing a selfie to his 782,000 followers. “Sometimes I feel I’ll never beat this disc immobility but I’m determined to have a life. So pray for me, help me or get out of the way social media haters.” Holmes has frequently been pictured either in a wheelchair or relying on walking aids and turned to various therapies to aid his rehabilitation. The presenter falling off his chair on GB News comes just weeks after he fell in his bathroom, suffering the “sorest and most powerful” knock to his head. He had already revealed on Instagram that he had been hospitalised following the fall, but recalled the accident later in more details on GB News. Holmes said he was fortunate to have his phone within reach and was able to call for an ambulance.

Australian comedian Magda Szubanksi has announced her devastating diagnosis of a rare cancer that’s “very aggressive” and “very serious”. The Kath & Kim star revealed on Instagram on Thursday that she was about to undergo treatment for stage four mantle cell lymphoma. She described it as a “rare and fast-moving blood cancer”. Appearing on camera with a bald head, Szubanski said she had shaved off her hair “in anticipation of it all falling out in a couple of weeks”. “It is one of the nasty ones unfortunately,” she shared with followers. “But the good thing is I’m surrounded by beautiful friends and family and an incredible medical support team.” At one point in the video, an emotional Szubanski burst into laughter. “You know, I’ve just got to…” she said through a chuckle. “What do you do, what are you gonna do?” In her attached blurb, Szubanksi explained that she would be undergoing “one of the best treatments available” known as the Nordic protocol. “I’m lucky to be getting absolutely world-class care here in Melbourne,” she wrote. “I won’t sugar-coat it: it’s rough. But I’m hopeful. I’m being lovingly cared for by friends and family, my medical team is brilliant. Szubanski is best known for playing Sharon Strzelecki, the red-headed bowl cutt-wearing friend of Kim in the classic Australian series.

BBC and ITV sports broadcaster Steve Rider has shared that he plans to step away from TV this summer. The 74-year-old is best known for hosting BBC sports show Grandstand, seeing him cover the lives of rugby, golf, motorsports and rowing. Rider also presented Sportsnight and the Sports Personality of the Year award, along with hosting the BBC’s coverage of every Olympic Games from 1988 until 2004. In 2005, Rider left the BBC and moved to ITV, where he has since remained and has hosted coverage for Formula One and the World Cups for football and rugby. The sports legend plans to conclude his 48-year-long broadcasting career this summer and plans for a low-key exit when he has his final job in front of the camera in June. Speaking to the Flying Monkeys, Rider said: “I’ll just slide away.” Adding: “The biggest emotion as you get into the last two minutes of something like that is, ‘For God’s sake, don’t cock it up,’ because you’d be thinking about that for the next 20 years! I’ve probably outstayed my welcome. I’ve been hugely lucky with the places that the career has taken me. But it’s close to 50 years now, so the cracks are showing!” The sports broadcaster’s exit follows his previously announced prostate cancer diagnosis, which he shared while appearing on BBC Breakfast. Rider shared that he was “incredibly lucky” that the disease was found early, and he immediately had surgery to stop the cancer from spreading. He got tested after a close friend was diagnosed with prostate cancer and after his own check-up results were a “little high.” Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Rider said: “They took one look and said, ‘We’re going to operate in two weeks’. No messing around. We did Brands Hatch for ITV on the Sunday and I had the operation on the Thursday, so it slotted into the schedule quite nicely!’” Let’s see how retirements treats him.

On This Day

1974 – The Heimlich manoeuvre for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine.
2001 – Nepalese royal massacre: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shoots and kills several members of his family including his father and mother.
2008 – A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019.

Deaths

1927 – Lizzie Borden, American accused murderer (born 1860).
1962 – Adolf Eichmann, a German Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer (born 1906).
1999 – Christopher Cockerell, English engineer, invented the hovercraft (born 1910).
2008 – Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (born 1936).
2015 – Charles Kennedy, Scottish journalist and politician (born 1959).