Dead Pool 7th March 2021

I bet those of you who listed Jimmy Greaves are kicking yourselves now that his commentating partner Ian St John has died! Anyhow, a news light edition this week, everyone must have been keeping their heads down. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

In Other News

The Duke of Edinburgh has undergone a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition but will stay in hospital for a few more days to recuperate. The 99-year-old was treated at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in central London on Wednesday. He has now spent 16 nights since he first went to hospital last month, his longest ever stay. In a brief statement, Buckingham Palace said Prince Philip’s procedure was to treat a “pre-existing heart condition” but did not give any further details as to his condition. “His Royal Highness will remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days,” the statement added. The Queen’s husband was first admitted to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London more than two weeks ago as a “precautionary measure” after feeling unwell. However, on Monday he was transferred to the NHS St Bartholomew’s Hospital – which is a specialist cardiac centre – for “testing and observation” on his heart condition, the Palace reported. On Wednesday his daughter-in-law Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, said he had “slightly improved” but still “hurt at moments”. He has also been visited by his eldest son Prince Charles, who made a 200-mile round trip and stayed for around 30 minutes. The Duke of Edinburgh has been rarely seen in public after he retired from royal duties in 2017. He has however been treated at hospital for various ailments, most recently spending four nights in December 2019 at King Edward VII’s Hospital for what was only described as a “pre-existing condition”.  

The Wanted singer Tom Parker’s life fell apart last year when he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour at the age of just 32, but after a number of months of treatment, his wife Kelsey has given some positive news. Appearing on an episode of Loose Women, Kelsey confirmed the amazing news that Tom’s tumour has shrunk, revealing ‘we’ve had a significant reduction’. Chatting to the panel via a video stream, mum-of-two Kelsey said, “Tom’s doing really well. We had a meeting last Thursday and he’s just had another stable scan, so he’s doing so well. We’ve only just started our second round of chemotherapy, so we’ve had radio and chemo, we’ve had a bit of a break, because he had a bit of a dodgy liver, and now we’ve just started the second round of chemo. The tumour has shrunk, we’ve had a significant reduction. We were all just in tears when we got that news in January.” Speaking about her positivity, and how it’s hard to keep up, she said: “Not so much now, in the beginning yes because Tom had lost so much weight, he wasn’t eating, he was down to 8 and a half stone, Tom’s a slight person anyway, him losing weight, he couldn’t afford to. It was more the frustration, that’s what made me upset. I found it really hard to remain positive then. Now, after we’ve had this good news as well, we’re on this rollercoaster, we’re going forward and we’ve just to remain as positive as we possibly can.” 

On This Day

  • 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the “telephone”.   
  • 1965 – Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers is brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.
  • 1989 – Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a fight over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses. 

Deaths

  • 1809 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, pioneer in balloon flight (b. 1753). 
  • 1988 – Divine, American drag queen and film actor (b. 1945). 
  • 1999 – Stanley Kubrick, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928). 
  • 2004 – Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1941). 

Last Woman Executed in Canada 

Marguerite Ruest-Pitre, was a Canadian conspirator in a mass murder carried out when Albert Guay bombed an airliner, killing all 23 people on the plane. She was the 13th and last woman to be hanged in Canada, she was executed on 9th January 1953 in Montreal, Quebec. 

Pitre was born in Saint-Octave-de-Métis, Quebec. She ran a boarding house at Saint-Roch, and became known by her neighbours and later by the press as “Madame le Corbeau” (“Madame Raven”) because she always wore black clothes. 

Self-described jeweller and watchmaker Albert Guay—although at his trial it was suggested that he was actually a watch and jewellery salesman—was having an extramarital affair with 19-year-old waitress Marie-Ange Robitaille. Marguerite Pitre helped to arrange liaisons between them. Guay decided to murder his wife, the former Rita Morel; after he considered poisoning her, he finally decided to kill her by bombing an airliner on which she was embarked as a passenger. He asked Pitre’s brother, clockmaker Généreux Ruest, to manufacture a bomb using dynamite, batteries, and an alarm clock. Pitre purchased the dynamite at a hardware store, claiming it was to be used to clear a field. 

On 9th September 1949, Rita Guay was scheduled to board Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, at L’Ancienne-Lorette, a suburb of Quebec City, where it made a scheduled stopover during a flight from Montreal to Baie-Comeau. On the day of the flight, Albert Guay purchased a $10,000 insurance policy on his wife, which he would attempt to collect three days later. Pitre delivered the package containing the bomb to the plane, supposedly for mail delivery, Albert secreted it in Rita’s luggage, and Rita boarded the plane for the flight to Baie-Comeau, unaware of the danger. 

The flight was delayed five minutes at takeoff; this apparently thwarted Guay’s desire to have the explosion take place over the Saint Lawrence River, which would have made forensic examination of the crash impossible with the technology then available to forensic scientists. The bomb instead exploded over Cap Tourmente near Sault-au-Cochon in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, causing the plane to crash and killing Rita Guay and all of the other 22 people on board.  

Guay was arrested two weeks after the crash and put on trial in February 1950; he was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, and was executed in Montreal on 12th January 1951.  

After his conviction, Guay issued a statement, claiming that Ruest and Pitre had knowingly abetted his plans; it has been speculated that Guay’s motive in denouncing his accomplices was to buy time to delay his own execution, believing that he would be called to testify at their trials. As a result, Ruest was arrested on 6th June 1950, and Pitre on 14th June 1950. Ruest maintained his innocence, claiming that he thought the bomb was to be used to clear tree stumps from a field. He was tried, with Guay testifying against him, and convicted in November 1950; sentenced to death by hanging, and he was executed in Montreal on 25th July 1952. 

Pitre attempted suicide, but failed. Her trial began on 6th March 1951. She, too, maintained her innocence, claiming that Albert Guay had told her that the package she was transporting on the day of the bombing contained a statue. Albert Guay already had been executed and therefore could not testify against her, but she was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.  

Marguerite Pitre arrived at Bordeaux Prison in Montreal at midnight on 8/9th January 1953, accompanied by two nuns, and climbed to the prison’s third floor. After a few moments with her escorts, she entered the ante-room where the hangman was waiting for her. She walked to the gallows at 12:35 a.m. on 9th January 1953, and was pronounced dead 15 minutes later. Jail authorities said she displayed no fear and that “everything was normal.”. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bryan Cranston (65), Tobias Menzies (47), Rachel Weisz (51), Ellen Muth (40), Tom Arnold (62), Amy Okuda (32), Shaquille O’Neal (49), Alan Davies (55), Jolene Blalock (46), Eva Mendes (47), Dean Stockwell (85), Jake Lloyd (32), Matt Lucas (47), Paul Blackthorne (52), Fred Williamson (83), Penn Jillette (66), Catherine O’Hara (67), Patsy Kensit (53), Dominique Pinon (66), Julie Bowen (51), Jessica Biel (39), Miranda Richardson (63), Charlie Brooker (50), Bryce Dallas Howard (40), Daniel Craig (53), Nathalie Emmanuel (32), Rebel Wilson (41), Gates McFadden (72), Jon Bon Jovi (59), Chris Martin (44), Alexander Armstrong (51), Zack Snyder (55), Jensen Ackles (43), Ron Howard (67), Javier Bardem (52), Lupita Nyong’o (38), Jack Davenport (48), Dirk Benedict (76), Justin Bieber (27), Paul Hollywood (55), Roger Daltrey (77), and Harry Belafonte (94).

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