Dead Pool 5th April 2026

A quiet week for celebrity deaths, its almost like they’ve all gone on holiday! Unsurprisingly, no points to dish out, but we can all cross our fingers in hope that the White House will blow up with the GoP and the Trump family in attendance. I may have marked myself for assassination….

Look Who You Could Have Had:

Misua, 27, Filipino drag performer.
Alex Duong, 42, American comedian and actor (Blue Bloods, Dexter, Death Valley), septic shock.
Mary Beth Hurt, 79, American actress (The World According to Garp, The Age of Innocence, Interiors), complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Dash Crofts, 87, American musician (Seals & Crofts) and songwriter (“Summer Breeze“, “Diamond Girl“), complications from heart surgery.
Suki Lahav, 74, Israeli violinist (E Street Band), singer, and lyricist

In Other News

The world’s oldest known tortoise, Jonathan, is still alive, contrary to a widely circulated social media post which has been revealed as a hoax. An account on Twitter that had purported to belong to Joe Hollins, a vet who has previously cared for Jonathan, posted that it was “heartbroken to share” that the tortoise had died on the island of St Helena at an estimated age of 193. Media outlets including the BBC, USA Today and Daily Mail published news reports about the post. “Jonathan the tortoise is very much alive,” Hollins has since told USA Today. “I believe the person purporting to be me is asking for crypto donations, so it’s not even an April Fool joke. It’s a con. To confirm – Jonathan is very much alive”, Nigel Phillips, the governor of St Helena, told the BBC via email. Jonathan’s exact age is unknown, but a photograph taken in 1882 shows that he was fully grown when he was first brought to the island – where he lived on the grounds of Plantation House, the official residence of the Governor of St Helena. Experts say this suggests he was about 50 years old by that time. Jonathan has lived through the reigns of at least eight British monarchs and met both George VI and the future Elizabeth II during their visit to the island in 1947. The giant tortoise was presented with a Guinness World Record certificate recognising him as the oldest known land animal in the world.

An undertaker was accidentally crushed to death by a faulty coffin-lifting machine at a funeral parlour, an inquest has concluded. Sally Blundell, 58, was found trapped beneath the scissor lift of a mortuary trolley after it unexpectedly descended at a branch of the East of England Co-op Funeral Services in Swaffham, Norfolk. Ms Blundell had been working alone at the branch on 1st December 2023 when the incident occurred. The grandmother’s body was discovered after a member of the public reported that no staff were present for an 11am appointment to see a deceased relative. She tried to call the celebrant she had been dealing with and a message was passed to another branch, with a colleague from the Dereham branch attending and finding Ms Blundell dead. Jurors at the Norwich inquest returned a conclusion of accidental death. They recorded that Ms Blundell was last seen on CCTV at the funeral parlour at 9.46am and found dead at 12.06pm. The inquest was earlier told that there are no CCTV cameras in sensitive areas of the funeral parlour, where bodies are kept. Norfolk area coroner Yvonne Blake said that it was unclear why Ms Blundell had “inserted herself” in the device’s frame, though her glasses were found on the floor nearby. The medical cause of death for Ms Blundell, of Great Cressingham, was recorded as “contusion and compression of the chest by an external object”. Ms Blake told jurors that expert evidence presented to the inquest indicated a fault with the hydraulic scissor lift mortuary trolley. She said the fault was that the trolley “descended unexpectedly”. The East of England Co-op confirmed through barrister Dominic Kay that the chain no longer uses this specific type of trolley.

Australian soap star Alea O’Shea is undergoing treatment for brain cancer. A GoFundMe page launched on Thursday for the 25-year-old “Home and Away” alum revealed that she recently underwent surgery for her diagnosis, which she publicly disclosed in November. “Over the past months, Alea has been bravely facing brain cancer and the many treatments that come with it,” the fundraiser’s description read. The page, which O’Shea’s friends started with her permission “after months of persuasion,” said her cancer journey “has been incredibly challenging” for the actress and her family. “Like many families navigating serious illness, they have discovered that a number of essential cancer treatments, therapy and procedures are not covered by private health insurance, creating a significant and ongoing financial burden.” The description stated that O’Shea has been helping other women facing cancer by starting her own fundraiser “to allow other young women without the funds to purchase high-quality wigs and feel good about themselves. Her generosity of spirit in the midst of such a difficult time has moved so many of us,” O’Shea’s friends shared. The page asked people to donate to “help ease the financial pressure of medical treatments and related expenses” in O’Shea’s cancer battle. The GoFundMe has raised over $82,700 from more than 600 donors as of Monday morning. O’Shea, starred as Darcy Callahan on Home and Away from 2011 to 2014 and again from 2016 to 2017.

On This Day

1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.
1974 – Carrie, the first novel by author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies.
1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.

Deaths

1923 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist (born 1866).
1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (born 1880).
1976 – Howard Hughes, American pilot, engineer, and director (born 1905).
1994 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1967).
2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (born 1940).
2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor, director, and political activist (born 1923).