Dead Pool 21st January 2024

We have a winner! Dave has correctly guessed that Joyce Randolph would pass away in 2024, so he gains 51 points! Which shoots him to first place by one point! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Joyce Randolph, 99, American actress (The Honeymooners).  
• Lynne Marta, 78, American actress (Joe Kidd, Footloose, Love, American Style), brain cancer.  
• Shawnacy Barber, 29, Canadian-American Olympic pole vaulter and world champion.  
• Charmian Abrahams, 96, British actress (Crossroads), traffic collision. 
• Mary Weiss, 75, American singer (The Shangri-Las). 

In Other News

King Charles III is set to attend hospital next week for treatment for an enlarged prostate. Buckingham Palace said the King’s condition is benign but he will undergo a “corrective procedure”. The 75 year old’s public engagements will be postponed for a short period of recuperation, the Palace said. The announcement comes shortly after it was revealed the Princess of Wales is in hospital after undergoing abdominal surgery. It is unusual for medical updates about two senior royals to be released on the same day, but it is understood it was necessary because the King had to cancel engagements scheduled for Thursday. He had been due to meet foreign dignitaries and cabinet members in Scotland on Thursday, but those meetings have been cancelled on medical grounds. It is also thought the King was keen to share his diagnosis with the public to encourage other men who may be experiencing symptoms to get checked. “In common with thousands of men each year, the King has sought treatment for an enlarged prostate,” the statement said. Benign prostate enlargement – which is non-cancerous – is common in men over 50 and is not usually a serious condition, according to the NHS website. Around one in three men over the age of 50 will have some symptoms of an enlarged prostate, which is a gland that sits just below the bladder. While it is not usually a serious threat to health, it can cause symptoms and problems, including difficulty passing urine or emptying the bladder. The condition does not mean the patient has an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. While it is unclear what corrective procedure the King will undergo, there are a few ways of managing it including surgery, lasers and even a steam treatment. The announcement from Buckingham Palace was the second significant piece of health news about senior royals to emerge on Wednesday. The Princess of Wales will spend up to two weeks in hospital recovering from abdominal surgery on Tuesday. Her procedure was planned and successful, Kensington Palace said. Further details about her condition were not disclosed, but it is understood not to be cancer-related. Details about the health of senior royals are rarely disclosed, so it is striking for two updates about two separate figures to be released on the same day. Buckingham Palace does not routinely provide a commentary on health conditions and releases limited information on the occasions when it does provide public updates.  

“Emily in Paris” star Ashley Park revealed on Instagram Friday that she went through a major health scare at the start of the new year after a case of tonsillitis turned into critical septic shock, infecting several of her organs. The actor and singer who appears in the popular television series said she was on vacation in December for the holidays through New Year’s when she fell ill.  “I hesitated to share what’s been happening as I’m still in the throes of recovery…but I now know I’m safely on the other side of the worst,” Park wrote alongside photos of her in a hospital bed. “As I sit here processing and recovering from the first few weeks of 2024, the only word I can think of is grateful.” Sepsis is a deadly condition that occurs when the body improperly over-responds to an infection, Dr. Anthony Fiore of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Flying Monkeys.  “It can be so deadly because it can lead to organ failure and death because of lack of blood flow and inflammation associated with it,” Fiore said. The condition is also time-sensitive, the longer a patient with sepsis takes to get medical treatment, the more likely it is to be fatal. Symptoms of sepsis include shivering, extreme pain, disorientation and shortness of breath. The infections that most often lead to sepsis include lung infections, urinary tract infections, gut and skin infections.  While many people can recover from the condition and go back to their normal lives, others experience long-term complications if one or more of their organs are too damaged by the infection.  In her post, Park detailed that she spent time in the ICU and several hospitals with severe pain. She thanked the medical staff that helped treat her, her family and team, and most of all her boyfriend and “Emily in Paris” cast-mate, Paul Forman, who was with her throughout the ordeal.  “You calmed my fears and held me through ambulances, three foreign hospitals, a week in the ICU, scary ERs, countless scans and tests and injections, excruciating pain, and so much confusion all while we were alone on the other side of the world far from those we know,” the 32-year-old wrote. At the end of her post, the actress assured fans that she is getting better, writing, “I’m healing and I promise I’m gonna be okay.”

On This Day

• 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
• 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
• 2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women’s march, on Donald Trump’s first full day as President of the United States.

Deaths

• 1793 – Louis XVI of France (b. 1754).
• 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1870).
• 1938 – Georges Méliès, French actor, director, and producer (b. 1861).
• 1950 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (b. 1903). 
• 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881). 
• 1984 – Jackie Wilson, American singer (b. 1934). 
• 1998 – Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920).
• 2013 – Michael Winner, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1935).
• 2020 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1942).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Geena Davis (68), Emma Bunton (48), David Lynch (78), Rainn Wilson (58), Tom Baker (90), Bill Maher (68), Katey Sagal (70), Dolly Parton (78), Tippi Hedren (94), Kevin Costner (69), Jason Segel (44), Dave Bautista (55), Mark Rylance (64), Jane Horrocks (60), Jim Carrey (62), Zooey Deschanel (44), James Earl Jones (93), Kelly Marie Tran (35), Lin-Manuel Miranda (44), John Carpenter (76), James May (61), Kate Moss (50), Natasia Demetriou (40), James Nesbitt (59), and Claudia Winkleman (52).