Another week and yet more unforeseen deaths! Alas, no points for anyone, and a surprisingly high count of Welsh people amongst the deceased. I’ll not prattle on, lets get to it as there’s lots to read this week.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Howard Marks, 70, Welsh cannabis smuggler, writer and legalisation campaigner, colorectal cancer.
• David Gest, 62, American TV producer (Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special) and reality show contestant (I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!).
• Anne Jackson, 90, American actress (The Shining, Folks!, Dirty Dingus Magee).
• Balls Mahoney, 44, American professional wrestler (ECW, WWE, SMW).
• Sir Arnold Wesker, 83, British playwright.
• Gareth Thomas, 71, Welsh actor (Blake’s 7, Children of the Stones, Star Maidens), heart failure.
• Gwyn Thomas, 79, Welsh poet and academic, National Poet (2006–2008).
• Martin Fitzmaurice, 75, English darts personality. “Are you ready? Ladies and Gentlemen… Let’s… Play…. Darts”.
• Phil Sayer, 62, British voice artist, the voice of British Railway stations and the voice of the London Underground saying to passengers “Please mind the gap”, esophageal cancer.
• Melinda Rose, Lady Woodward (Linda), 75, wife of Tom Jones, cancer. Not listed on Wiki as a notable death.

In Other News

Sir Bruce Forsyth will miss the funeral of his friend Ronnie Corbett because he is  too unwell to attend, his manager has confirmed. Corbett, who died aged 85 earlier this month, will be laid to rest on Monday. The veteran entertainer was expected to attend the service but has opted to remain at his Surrey home while he recovers from keyhole surgery. Forsyth, 88, suffered a fall last October, causing a swelling of the main blood vessel from his heart, which required him to have surgery on the abdominal aortic aneurysm. Following the operation last year, which was a “complete success”, his manager, Ian Wilson, told the media that Forsyth was “two or three weeks away” from being “out and about”. LIES!!!! Corbett’s funeral, which is by invitation only, will take place at St John the Evangelist Church, Shirley, followed by a short service at Croydon crematorium.

Singer Prince has been released from a US hospital after he was admitted with the flu following an emergency plane landing. A representative for the singer told the media that Prince had performed in Atlanta on Thursday despite not feeling well from the flu, and felt worse after boarding a plane following his concert. The plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where the singer was treated and released at a local hospital. He then got back on the plane and returned home.  Seems a bit extreme for a bit of a sniffle, typically overblown from a drama queen of his stature! The 57-year-old singer then cancelled two show due to having the sniffles.

James Taylor, the Nottinghamshire and England batsman, described his world as having been turned “upside down” following his retirement from cricket because of a serious heart condition. The 26-year-old, capped 34 times and part of the Test side who won in South Africa over the winter, will undergo an operation in Nottingham this week to have a defibrillator fitted, having been diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. The condition, which medical experts have said is similar to that of the former Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba, who collapsed during a match at White Hart Lane in 2012, means the batsman is coming to terms with the fact he can no longer play professional sport. Taylor wrote on Twitter: “Safe to say this has been the toughest week of my life! My world is upside down. But I’m here to stay and I’m battling on!” He hopes…

It’s all kicking off in the West Midlands! A vigil has appeared in the middle of a Leamington Spa street in honour of some crushed chocolate digestive biscuits. Daffodils, a candle and a RIP note have been placed next to the fallen treats, left by digestive sympathisers, just days after the end to the great biscuit shortage of 2016 was announced. Warwick university students Hugh Osborn and James Taylor posted the shocking images online, with hundreds of Twitter users sharing the photos. Sadly, the vigil has since disappeared.

On This Day

• 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book’s pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• 1897 – The Aurora, Texas, UFO incident
• 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day. And they’re worried about a couple of muslims nowadays… 
• 1937 – Daffy Duck‘s first appearance, in Porky’s Duck Hunt.
• 1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom’s first National Park.
• 1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
• 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
• 1984 – Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by gunfire from the Libyan People’s Bureau (Embassy) in London during a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten others are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
• 2014 – NASA‘s Kepler confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

Deaths

• 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
• 1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
• 1998 – Linda McCartney, American singer, photographer, and activist (b. 1941)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Haley Joel Osment (28), Steven Seagal (64), Joss Stone (29), Andy Garcia (60), Claire Danes (37), Ed O’Neill (70), Saoirse Ronan (22), Al Green (70), Paul Sorvino (76), Loretta Lynn (84), Adrien Brody (43), Anthony Michael Hall (48), Robert Carlyle (55), Sarah Michelle Gellar (39), Julie Christie (76), Emma Thompson (57), Emma Watson (26), Seth Rogan (34), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (69), ex-Pope Benedict (89), Ellen Barkin (62), Martin Lawrence (51), and Lukas Haas (40).

Is there a London 2012 Olympics ‘curse’? By Laura Gray 

It’s been reported that 18 athletes who competed in the 2012 London Olympics have died since the Games. French-language media have begun talking about a “curse”, but is there any justification for this? It seems the first mention of “the terrible curse of the London Olympic Games” was made in November last year, when the French TV channel BFMTV reported the death of the Belarusian sprinter Yuliya Balykina. Balykina, who competed in the 2012 Games in both the 100m and 4x100m relay, was found dead and covered in plastic in a forest outside the Belarusian capital, Minsk. A 28-year-old man was charged with her murder.

“La malediction olympique” cropped up again last month, after Australian rower Sarah Tait – a silver-medallist at the London Olympics – died from cervical cancer. “Sarah Tait is just the latest in a very long list of top athletes who have died after taking part in the London Olympic Games,” wrote Gilles Festor in Le Figaro on 5th March.

“This Olympic ‘curse’ has now claimed 18 victims.” But why was it in France that this idea took hold? Maybe because of the shocking deaths of two French Olympians on 9th March 2015, says Paula Kennedy, who monitors European media for the BBC.

Swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine were among 10 people killed when two helicopters collided in Argentina, during the filming of a TV survival show, Dropped, where celebrities are dropped in rough terrain and left to find food and shelter. The story had considerable impact in France. “The sudden death of our fellow French nationals is a cause of immense sadness,” said French President Francois Hollande in a statement.

All the athletes who have known to have died after competing in the 2012 Olympics are listed at the bottom of the story.

It sounds like a lot – 18 young athletes dying in four years – but is it really, when you consider that 10,568 people took part in the Games? Based on crude mortality rates “you would expect 7.89 people in 1,000 to die,” says Rob Mastrodomenico, a sports statistician at Global Sports Statistics. So in a group of 10,568 people one could expect about 333 to die over a four-year period, he says. However, Olympic athletes are young – they have an average age of 26. Taking this into account, we should expect approximately seven deaths a year, says Mastrodomenico, or 28 deaths in four years. So the figure of 18 deaths over four years does not seem quite so out of the ordinary – and definitely not the sign of a “curse”.

London Olympians who have died 

• Keitani Graham, Micronesian wrestler (heart attack)
• Burry Stander, South African mountain biker (hit by vehicle while training)
• Andrew Simpson, British sailor (sailing accident)
• Elena Ivashchenko, Russian judoka (suicide)
• Billy Ward, Australian boxer (suicide)
• Abdelrahman el-Trabily, Egyptian wrestler (shot dead)
• Jakkrit Panichpatikum, Thai shooter (shot dead)
• Christian Lopez, Guatemalan weightlifter (pneumonia)
• Besik Kudukhov, Russian wrestler (car accident)
• Elena Baltacha, British tennis player (liver cancer)
• Camille Muffat, French swimmer (helicopter crash)
• Alexis Vastine, French boxer (helicopter crash)
• Daundre Barnaby, Canadian 400m runner (missing at sea)
• Trevor Moore, American sailor (missing at sea)
• Yuliya Balykina, Belarusian sprinter (murdered)
• Laurent Vidal, French triathlete (heart attack)
• Arnold Peralta, Honduran soccer player (shot dead)
• Sarah Tait, Australian rower (cervical cancer)

The Last Word

That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted. – Lou Costello, comedian, d. March 3, 1959

Next week peeps!

We have to start this weeks edition with a bow towards Nick M, who scores 57 points with the death of Erik Bauersfeld, talk about obscure or what! Who would have guessed that the voice of Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi would have croaked it this year!!! I’d also like to highlight the death of actress Amber Rayne, nobody sent a klaxon, even though she’d starred in over 500 films, perhaps none of you have seen any… Sadly it is thought she died at the age of 31 due to an accidental overdose after her favourite horse died, apparently she was making a name for herself in the dressage world. On another note, Hugh Hefner’s envious younger brother has died, so there is hope for Hugh to cark it sometime, immortality doesn’t run in the family.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Amber Rayne, 31, American pornographic actress.
• Erik Bauersfeld, 93, American radio dramatist (KPFA) and voice actor (Star Wars, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Crimson Peak).
• Joe Medicine Crow, 102, American Crow historian.
• Irma Bule, 29, Indonesian pop singer, snake bite.
• Merle Haggard, 79, American singer-songwriter (“Okie from Muskogee“, “The Fightin’ Side of Me“, “Carolyn“), Grammy winner (1984, 1998, 1999), complications from pneumonia.
• Rachel Johnson, 93, Scottish woman, last native of St. Kilda.

In Other News

Dead Pool favourite, Charlie Sheen, is facing a police investigation over claims he made threats against an ex-girlfriend, who is suing him for assault and battery. The National Enquirer and RadarOnline reported a 35-minute recording, apparently of the actor, making threats about former porn star Scottine Ross. Ms Ross has taken legal action against Sheen, claiming he physically abused her and had sex with her without disclosing his HIV positive status. Sheen has not commented on the reports. In a televised interview in November 2015, Sheen said he had been diagnosed with HIV four years earlier. The former star admitted his history of drink and drug abuse was a “bad decision” but said it was “impossible” he would have passed HIV on to anyone else. In December, Ms Ross – who was engaged to Sheen in 2014 before the relationship was broken off – filed a legal action against him accusing him of “physical, psychological and emotional abuse”.

Talking of Dead Pool stalwarts, Fidel Castro has made a rare public appearance, speaking to schoolchildren about his brother’s late wife and revolutionary figure Vilma Espin. The 89-year-old former president regularly writes reflections in the state media and meets with dignitaries but seldom appears in public. His last appearance at a public event was in July 2015. Wearing a white sports jacket and speaking in a scratchy voice, Castro told a room of students and teachers that Espin would be happy to see the fruits of her sacrifice at schools like theirs. Thursday’s appearance came on what would have been her 86th birthday. The revolutionary leader did not make any remarks about last month’s visit to Cuba by president Barack Obama in televised portions of the visit aired on Cuban state news media. Castro wrote a 1,500-word essay in response to Obama’s trip in his only statement about the US leader’s visit to date, reminding Cubans about a long history of US aggression against the island and stating: “we don’t need the empire to give us any presents.” Castro stepped aside in 2006 after suffering a serious illness and officially retired two years later, but his presence still casts a long shadow on Cuban government and society.

The boxer Nick Blackwell has woken from an induced coma, a week after collapsing following a domestic title fight against Chris Eubank Jr. The middleweight fighter regained consciousness on Saturday and a day later was well enough to begin talking to family and friends at his bedside, his promoters said on Monday.  Blackwell was placed in a coma after being stretchered from the ring at Wembley’s SSE Arena following his defeat to Eubank on 26th March. The fight had been stopped in the 10th round after the doctor decided he could not see from his heavily swollen left eye. In a statement, Hennessy Sports said the boxer had not been as badly injured as early reports suggested. Rather than suffering bleeding to the brain, “his bleed was outside the brain – on the skull, in fact – and was minor enough for there to be no need to operate,” it said. Speaking to reporters last week, Eubank Jr said he had realised his opponent was in trouble and reduced the ferocity of his punches after his father, who was in his corner during the bout, warned him that Blackwell could be seriously hurt.

In the first of two Darwinian award stories, two boys were taken to hospital after receiving neck wounds during an opening night performance of Sweeney Todd at a school in Auckland, New Zealand. If you don’t know, the musical features a barber who murders his customers by slitting their throats and selling their remains to a pie shop. One of the boys, both aged 16, was more seriously hurt but Auckland Hospital said both were in a stable condition. The head of the private college, Steve Cole told TVNZ, that it was an “unfortunate and isolated incident” involving “a prop that was covered in all sorts of duct tape and silver paper.” The razor did not have a sharp edge and it had been used numerous times in rehearsals, he said. The school has postponed Thursday’s performance of the play, and said the boys were expected to be discharged from hospital on Thursday. Cole admitted that, “in hindsight”, it might have been better to use a plastic prop. No shit Sherlock!!

An Indonesian singer has died after she was bitten by a cobra that was being used as a prop in her performance. Irma Bule was bitten by the cobra on her thigh during a performance in a village in Karawang, West Java in Indonesia on Sunday. An eyewitness told Indonesian news that the 29-year-old singer was bitten after she stepped on the cobra’s tail during her second song. It is believed that the singer thought the cobra was defanged, so she refused any help for the bite and continued to sing. Forty five minutes later and still performing, she began vomiting and having seizures. The singer was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was later pronounced dead. Bule, who frequently performed with snakes and cobras, was a singer of Dangdut music, a genre of popular music based on traditional Indonesian folk music. Lydia Apririasari of the Tulala Snake Research Center told Rappler that dancing with snakes is very common in Indonesian villages. In the past, Bule has also used boa constrictors and pythons in her live shows.

On This Day

• 837 – Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU.
• 1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
• 1815 – The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects Earth’s climate for the next two years.
• 1858 – After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes bell for the Palace of Westminster had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
• 1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
• 1970 – Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
• 1998 – Northern Ireland peace deal reached (Good Friday Agreement).

Deaths

• 1954 – Auguste Lumière, French director and producer (b. 1862)
• 1966 – Evelyn Waugh, English soldier, novelist, journalist and critic (b. 1903)
• 1991 – Kevin Peter Hall, American actor (b. 1955)
• 1992 – Sam Kinison, American comedian and actor (b. 1953)
• 2014 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (b. 1946)
• 2015 – Richie Benaud, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1930)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Alec Baldwin (58), Eddie Murphy (55), Leona Lewis (31), Amanda Bynes (30), Robert Downey Jr. (51), David Blaine (43), Pharrell Williams (43), Colin Powell (79), John Ratzenberger (69), Paul Rudd (47), Zack Braff (41), John Oates (67), Francis Ford Coppola (77), Jackie Chan (62), Russell Crowe (52), Robin Wright (50), Patricia Arquette (48), Julian Lennon (53), Hugh Hefner (90), Jenna Jameson (42), Dennis Quaid (62) and Kirsten Stewart (26).

The Last Word

I am about to – or I am going to – die: either expression is correct. – Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian, d. 1702

Next week peeps!

Nil points to award this week, mainly because most of the celebrity deaths last week were very unexpected. We’re only into April and we seem to have lost a host of popular names already this year, but our problem is, we never list people we actually like, so all those points go begging! Perhaps the key to winning is to be cruel.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Terry Brain, 60, English animator (The Trap Door), cancer.
• Jim Harrison, 78, American author and screenwriter (Legends of the Fall, Wolf).
• Patty Duke, 69, American actress (The Miracle Worker, The Patty Duke Show, Valley of the Dolls), Oscar winner (1962), sepsis.
• Ronnie Corbett, 85, British comedian (The Two Ronnies, The Frost Report) and actor (Casino Royale).
• Dame Zaha Hadid, 65, Iraqi-born British architect, heart attack.
• Douglas Wilmer, 96, English actor (Sherlock Holmes, Octopussy, Jason and the Argonauts).
• Denise Robertson, 83, British writer and television broadcaster (This Morning), pancreatic cancer.
• Cesare Maldini, 84, Italian football player and manager.

In Other News

Supermodel Janice Dickinson, who is currently fighting a legal battle against Bill Cosby over comments made regarding an alleged sexual assault, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Dickinson discovered what she described as a  pea-sized lump in her breast at a routine doctor’s appointment on 12th March. Following a biopsy and mammogram, she was told that she had a non-invasive ductal carcinoma – a common form of breast cancer which usually responds well to treatment. She will undergo surgery to remove the lump, as well as radiotherapy. “Initially when the doctor found the lump it hurt, it became quite painful when you touch it, that’s the point when I knew this is serious, when the doctor touched this little lump in my right breast, about the size of a pea, and I went bingo, I have cancer,” “I’m going to get through this,” she added. “I’m going to be just fine, kiddo.” “‘Don’t feel sorry for me, this is not a pity party,” she said. “I’m Janice Dickinson and I’m gonna stick around for a long, long time. You ain’t getting rid of me yet.” Dickinson, who is 61, is often described as being the world’s first supermodel – a term she claims to have invented. She was a judge on America’s Next Top Model, and owned her own modelling agency, the Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency, about which there was a reality TV show. Unsurprisingly, her cancer treatment will also be followed by cameras; a reality TV show called The Doctors will follow her through every step of her treatment.

The band Little Mix have been forced to cancel their Belfast gigs after singer Jesy Nelson became unwell. The girl band was due to play a matinee and evening show at the SSE Arena on Thursday. The cancellation was announced just minutes after the doors opened for the afternoon performance. Fans were later informed by text message that the show would not be going ahead as scheduled. Thousands of 5-8 year olds complained profusely at how the cancellation was handled. “I’m really, really annoyed. Once again they’ve waited until we got here to tell us it was cancelled,” said Tracy, “and I’m really worried the band will re-schedule for an afternoon when were back at school and mum’s back at work!” “It’s not been handled very well,” she said. “There’s absolute bedlam down here now. Surely they could have informed us before we all landed at the place? This was minutes before the show was due to begin.” The local council is somewhat relieved as the River Legan was a tad low, now it’s full of the tears of toddlers.

Singer Tulisa Contostavlos has been charged with drink driving after she allegedly crashed her Ferrari in north London. The former X Factor star’s car collided with a Saab outside Southgate Tube station. The singer was also charged with dangerous driving, a Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed. A conviction for drink driving could see the former N-Dubz singer banned from driving for up to a year, while a conviction for dangerous driving would result in an obligatory ban of one year. The crash took place at a roundabout outside the tube station shortly before midnight. Officers were called and Ms Contostavlos was breathalysed at the scene. The singer was arrested and held in custody before being released on bail pending further enquiries. Ms Contostavlos had taken possession of the sports car just days before the incident.

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed the results of his “most dangerous stunt” ever: a bloodied nose and blackened face. The former Top Gear host, who is currently filming his new Amazon Prime motoring show, told fans he was attempting a death-defying feat on Thursday night. He wrote: “Tomorrow morning, I’m doing the most dangerous stunt I’ve ever attempted. This may well be a goodbye.” Clarkson, 55, was clearly not joking. He shared a photograph with his 6 million Twitter followers on Friday evening showing blood dripping from his nose. In response to one fan, who accused him of using makeup to create the effect, he wrote: “You’re going to feel silly when you see the show. It so isn’t make-up.”

On This Day

• 1882 – American Old West: Jesse James is killed by Robert Ford.
• 1888 – The first of eleven unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.
• 1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
• 1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs, though it took ten years for the DynaTAC 8000X to become the first such phone to be commercially released.
• 1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
• 2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.

Deaths

• 1882 – Jesse James, American criminal (b. 1847)
• 1897 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (b. 1833)
• 1991 – Graham Greene, English author, playwright, and critic (b. 1904)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Quentin Tarantino (53), Mariah Carey (46), Jessie J (28), Lady Gaga (30), Dianne Wiest (68), Vince Vaughn (46), Julia Stiles (35), Brendan Gleeson (61), Christopher Lambert (59), Elle McPherson (52), Lucy Lawless (48), Eric Idle (73), Eric Clapton (71), Robbie Coltrane (66), MC Hammer (54), Piers Morgan (51), Christopher Walken (73), Ewan McGregor (45), Al Gore (68), Debbie Reynolds (84), Jimmy Cliff (68), Susan Boyle (55), Linda Hunt (71), Emmylou Harris (69) and Michael Fassbender (39).

The Last Word

Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something. – Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary, d. 1923

Next week peeps!

Welcome all to a not-so-special Easter edition of the Dead Pool where we will not be mentioning eggs nor the death some chap called Jesus, who just happened to start some kind of vicious religion that we’re all still reeling from over two thousand years later. Lets begin by awarding some points to Wombat, 82 of them to be precise! Well done for guessing that cancer riddled Johan Cruyff would bite the bullet in 2016. I was rather surprised that only one of us had him, but it is a cruel game after all.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Rob Ford, 46, Canadian politician, Mayor of Toronto (2010–2014), liposarcoma.
• Rita Gam, 88, American actress (The Thief, Klute, No Exit) and filmmaker, respiratory failure.
• Johan Cruyff, 68, Dutch football player and manager (AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona, national team), lung cancer.
• Garry Shandling, 66, American comedian, actor and writer (The Larry Sanders Show, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), heart attack.

In Other News

Hugh Jackman, the Australian actor, rescued his son and another man when they got caught in strong currents on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Saturday. Without any thought of self-preservation, Jackman, who starred in the X-Men films as Wolverine, became a real-life hero when he pulled the pair to safety, then beckoned other swimmers to shore, away from a rip current flowing out to sea. Television footage broadcast by the Nine Network shows Jackman linking hands with a man and pulling him from a fast-flowing channel on to a sandbar, where the water is shallow. Lynzey Murphy told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper that surf conditions changed quickly, but that Jackman stayed calm. “When we got in the water 20 minutes earlier it was fine. Then the water just came up suddenly,” she said. “Hugh just pulled them calmly on to the sandbar. He then said: ‘All right, we are going to walk towards the flags.’” A lifeguard told the paper that the beach was later closed because of dangerous surf.

The British boxer Nick Blackwell is in an induced coma after suffering a bleed on the brain following a domestic title fight defeat on Saturday night. The referee stopped the largely one-sided fight against Chris Eubank Jr in the 10th round after Blackwell, who had taken heavy punishment in most rounds, was deemed unable to continue by a doctor, due to swelling over his left eye. Shortly after the bout, for Blackwell’s British middleweight title, which was televised live on Channel 5, the 25-year-old, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, collapsed and had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher with oxygen. After the fight, Eubank said: “I was hitting him with some big shots and the referee saw fit to let the fight go on. Looking back now, maybe he should have stopped it earlier.” Eubank’s father, Chris Eubank Sr, who was in his son’s corner for the bout, said the incident brought back painful memories of his world title fight with Michael Watson in 1991, which left his opponent with severe brain injuries. Watson nearly died as a result of injuries sustained in the fight and the incident forced the BBBC to boost safety at bouts to ensure that boxers who suffer such injuries get speedy assistance, including oxygen. Eubank Sr said he was banging on the canvas during the Blackwell fight urging the referee to stop it, but the referee didn’t understand him.

Eddie Izzard has completed 27 marathons in as many days for Sport Relief. But can his body recover from such a feat? The numbers are astonishing. In 27 days, Eddie Izzard ran or walked 707.4 miles (1,138 km) around South Africa, often in extreme heat, at the age of 54. On the last day, because of earlier disruption, he did a double marathon to ensure he reached his target. The comedian’s exertions for Sport Relief have raised more than £1.35m. But now, as the elation of completing his task recedes and he continues to deal with media interest in his achievement, Izzard must begin his recovery. “I can’t stand upright,” Izzard said, after he crossed the line in Pretoria, sipping from a bottle of champagne. “I have a huge blister and I’m exhausted.” Izzard has risked severe damage to the knee ligaments and there’s a strong likelihood of “massive muscle damage”, says Peter Jones, head of Staffordshire University’s school for psychology, sport and exercise. The immune system will be suppressed during the initial recovery, leading to a greater risk of infection. Izzard’s recovery should take about a month and involve plenty of low-impact, low-intensity training, such as swimming, plus stretching exercises. “What he’s done is a little bit extreme, I guess,” says Jones,” but he should be back to normal after a few weeks, so long as he hasn’t done any major damage to his body.” Many athletes report having “the blues” after completing a huge goal, such as a marathon or a triathlon. “It’s that Neil Armstrong thing, once you’ve been to the moon everything else is really dull, isn’t it?

Good Morning Britain was taken off-air on Friday as a result of a fire at the ITV building. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) confirmed that 50 people had been evacuated from the studios on London’s Southbank after a blaze began in the first floor of the building. Four fire engines and 21 firefighters were sent to tackle the “small fire” and the LFB confirmed on their Twitter account that there were “thankfully no injuries and everyone out safely”. In a statement, LFB said: “Part of a post room on the first floor was damaged by fire. Around 50 people evacuated the building before the Brigade arrived. The fire meant that Good Morning Britain was taken off air. GMB presenter Ben Shephard tweeted that it was unlikely the show would return to the air that morning as the cast and crew took refuge in a nearby restaurant that opened early to accommodate them. He tweeted: “Outlook for getting back on air not great.”

A fan at Adele’s Glasgow concert has been injured by a falling chain that possibly came from a lighting rig overhead. The singer was performing her sell-out tour at the SSE Hydro on Friday night when a chain that was part of the production came down. The injured spectator was taken to hospital and Adele, who was apparently unaware of the incident at the time, later tweeted her apologies and promised it would not happen again. A spokeswoman for the venue told the media: “A chain belonging to the production came down and hit one person who was taken to hospital as a precaution’. All we can think of at Dead Pool Towers, is where one badly fitted chain falls, many more are capable of doing so too. Adele is scheduled to perform a second show at the 13,000-capacity arena on Saturday, let’s see if she survives!

In a surprise move sure to sadden Beliebers, Justin Bieber has cancelled all meet-and-greets with his fans on his current Purpose worldwide tour. The pop star made the announcement on his Instagram, explaining that the interactions leave him “feeling so drained and filled with so much of other people’s spiritual energy that I end up so drained and unhappy”. His company indicated that Bieber’s decision to cut back on fan face-time has less to do with keeping the musician’s spirits afloat, and more with maintaining his safety. According to TMZ, that show occurred on Monday night, when a “potentially dangerous fan” got within 10 feet of Bieber during a backstage meet-and-greet. The fan in question was allegedly on the “watch list” for Bieber’s security team. The site also reports that Bieber has had his hair pulled and clothes ripped following intimate paid encounters, and that he contracted the flu from one sickly fan.

On This Day

• 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
• 1871 – The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
• 1881 – Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of teetotalism by The Salvation Army.
• 1886 – Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
• 1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
• 1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the worst aviation accident in history.
• 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.

Deaths

• 1923 – James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (b. 1842)
• 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
• 1972 – M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (b. 1898)
• 1991 – Ralph Bates, English actor (b. 1940)
• 2000 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter and actor (The Blockheads) (b. 1942)
• 2002 – Dudley Moore, English actor (b. 1935)
• 2002 – Billy Wilder, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1906)

Last Week’s Birthdays

The Queen (90), William Hurt (66), Spike Lee (59), Theresa Russell (59), Holly Hunter (58), David Thewlis (53), Timothy Dalton (70), Gary Oldman (58), Rosie O’Donnell (71), William Shatner (85), Matthew Modine (57), Reese Witherspoon (40), Chaka Khan (63), Amanda Plummer (59), Damon Albarn (48), Perez Hilton (38), Kelly LeBrock (56), Jim Parsons (43), Alyson Hannigan (42), Jessica Chastain (39), Tommy Hilfiger (65), Aretha Franklin (74), Elton John (69), Sarah Jessica Parker (51), Melanie Blatt (41), Keira Knightley (31), Alan Arkin (82), James Caan (76), Steven Tyler (68), Martin Short (66) and Larry Page (43).

The Last Word

“Let’s cool it brothers . . .”

Spoken to his assassins, three men who shot him 16 times.
– Malcolm X, Black leader, d. 1966

Next week peeps!

Firstly, apologies for being missing in action last week, I was brought low by a kidney stone, which is as painful as pushing a child out your foof I’ve been told. However my ruined innards have recovered and I feel much better than Paul Daniels does right now! Fear not, your points are still safe and valid, and as luck would have it, we have some to disperse. Debbie R, Martin G, Jemma L, Nicola R, Julie K all score 56 points for the death of Nancy Reagan last week, but Lukasz B scores a mighty 156 points for listing her as his Woman. Well done all of you!!

So, onwards to a double-bubble of deathly fun!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Joan Bates, 86, British Sealandic princess.
• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, 81, English composer and conductor, Master of the Queen’s Music (2004–2014), leukaemia.
• Sylvia Anderson, 88, British television producer and voice actress (Thunderbirds).
• Cliff Michelmore, 96, British television presenter and producer.
• Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72, American singer (That Face!) and actor (Hollywood Homicide), heart attack.
• Paul Daniels, 77, British magician (The Paul Daniels Magic Show), brain tumour.
• Larry Drake, 66, American actor (L.A. Law, Johnny Bravo, Darkman), Emmy Award winner (1988, 1989).
• Joe Santos, 84, American actor (The Rockford Files, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Last Boy Scout), heart attack.
• Tray Walker, 23, American football player (Baltimore Ravens), dirt bike collision.

Last week

• Ray Tomlinson, 74, American computer programmer, invented system to send first email and assigned use of @ sign, heart attack.
• Nancy Reagan, 94, American First Lady (1981–1989) and actress (Hellcats of the Navy, Donovan’s Brain, The Next Voice You Hear…), heart failure.
• Richard Davalos, 85, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, East of Eden, Kelly’s Heroes).
• Sir George Martin, 90, British Hall of Fame record producer (The Beatles), composer, arranger and engineer, six-time Grammy Award winner.
• Sir Ken Adam, 95, German-born British production designer (Dr. Strangelove, James Bond, The Madness of King George), Oscar winner (1975, 1994).
• Keith Emerson, 71, English progressive rock and rock keyboardist (The Nice; Emerson, Lake & Palmer), suicide by gunshot.

In Other News

Bill Wyman, the former bassist of the Rolling Stones, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The 79-year-old musician, who joined the rock band in late 1962, is expected to make a full recovery. A spokesman said: “He is undergoing treatment and is expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in the early stages. The Wyman family has asked for their privacy during this time.” Born William Perks in south-east London in October 1936, Wyman joined the Rolling Stones shortly after the band’s formation when they were beginning to play small gigs around the capital. At 25, he was the oldest member of the group, and though he was unkindly dubbed “the boring one”, he and drummer Charlie Watts provided one of the tightest rhythmical backings in rock music, including on hits such as Paint it Black and Gimme Shelter. Wyman and his wife were pictured at the wedding of Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall, the former wife of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, at St Bride’s church in London’s Fleet Street. In photographs, he showed no apparent signs of illness and mingled with other guests. Wyman is not the first band member to be diagnosed with cancer, in 2004 Watts underwent two operations to rid himself of the disease.

One of the Hatton Garden heist ringleaders has had a stroke and is being tested for suspected cancer, a court has heard. Brian Reader, 77, who was known by his fellow gang members as the Guvnor or Master, was “an extremely ill man” who was blind in one eye and hard of hearing, his defence barrister, James Scobie QC, told Woolwich crown court at the start of a three-day sentencing hearing. Reader, the oldest of the seven men convicted of the multimillion-pound burglary in London’s diamond district, had returned to Belmarsh prison’s hospital wing after a period in the critical care unit of Woolwich hospital after a stroke, Scobie said. He was unable to attend court for sentencing on Monday. Scobie said Reader had fallen over twice “ultimately ending up in critical care in Woolwich hospital having had a stroke”. He said he had visited Reader and found him unable to communicate, adding: “There were nine officers there, six armed with machine guns and three in his room, which doesn’t help recovery. “He has a history of prostate cancer, which may return. He has a mass in his face being tested for possible cancer. He has had a stroke and is blind in one eye.”

Dylan O’Brien, the lead star of the Maze Runner teen film franchise, has been injured on the set of The Death Cure. The 24-year-old actor, also known for his role in MTV’s Teen Wolf, was hit by a car while filming an action sequence. According to Variety, he may have suffered multiple broken bones in the accident. O’Brien is currently at a local hospital in British Columbia, where the film was shooting, undergoing recovery. Production has shut down in the interim on what will be the third film in the dystopian YA franchise, which is due for release next February. O’Brien stars as Thomas in the Maze Runner franchise, based on the popular book series by James Dashner. The 2014 original was a major hit in the US, grossing $102m. Its 2015 follow-up The Scorch Trials earned $82m domestically. “Our thoughts go out to Dylan for a full and speedy recovery,” a Fox representative said in a statement.

Sarah Palin’s husband Todd has been seriously injured in a snowmobile accident, it emerged on Monday. The former Alaska governor canceled a planned campaign appearance with Donald Trump on Monday morning, the Trump campaign announced. However, a non-caring Palin appeared at an afternoon rally in Tampa, Florida, where she told the crowd that her husband was in intensive care. A previous Trump campaign statement had said that Palin was returning to Alaska “to be with her husband and looks forward to being back on the campaign trail soon”. Apparently, Todd Palin, 51, is a champion snow machine, or snowmobile, racer.

Fantasy author George RR Martin was moved to reassure his fans that rumours buzzing around the web that he had died following the passing of The Beatles producer George Martin had panicked come hasty readers. As tributes poured in for producer Martin, who died aged 90 last week, some readers mistakenly believed that Martin, author of the Game of Thrones novels, was no more. But writing on his blog, the novelist told his fans that he was “not dead yet”. “While it is strangely moving to realise that so many people around the world care so deeply about my life and death, I have to go with Mark Twain and insist that the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” he wrote, referring to the novelist’s comment to a reporter in 1897 following rumours that he had died. Martin the author said that the Beatles producer would be missed. “I never met Sir George (I did meet Paul McCartney once, for about a minute, while waiting for the valet to bring my rental car up at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills), but like many millions of others, I loved the Beatles, and Martin’s contribution to their music is worthy of recognition and honour,” wrote Martin. “As for me, I am still here, still writing, still editing, still going to movies and reading books, and I expect to hang around for quite a while yet, thank you very much. But thank you all for caring.”

And finally, a great-granddad from Derbyshire is set to become the oldest person in the world to get a tattoo to celebrate his 104th birthday. Chesterfield resident Jack Reynolds appeared on Good Morning Britain, with host Susanna Reid describing him as her “all-time favourite guest”. The centenarian, who two years ago became the oldest person to complete the Ice Bucket Challenge, has also revealed where he would like to get it. “On my bum. I’d prefer to see it on my arm, but I’ve got skinny arms. I’ve got weights to try and make them bigger, but we’ll see,” he said. Asked if he was nervous about getting the tattoo done, he replied: “I’m a big strong lad – and I’ve have plenty of needles in me in my time, in various places.” The silver surfer’s daughter Jayne, who says Guinness World Records have confirmed it would be a new record, explained he is very much young at heart and an avid internet user who is active on Facebook. She told the Ilkeston Advertiser: “Dad wanted to do something to raise money for charity again and I suggested he have a tattoo which he agreed to. We all think it’s great. Asked what the secret to living a long life is, Mr Reynolds said it was a shot of whisky in the morning and another before going to bed. “Work hard, always smile, get plenty of fresh air and last but not least have a tot of Grouse whisky in your tea in the morning and a tot before bed,” he explained.

On This Day

• 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
• 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.
• 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe‘s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published.
• 1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
• 1974 – An unsuccessful attempt is made by a lone perpetrator to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
• 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries (the UK, Australia and Poland) begin military operations in Iraq.

Deaths

• 1413 – Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
• 1726 – Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1642)
• 2013 – James Herbert, English author (b. 1943)

Last Week’s Birthdays

William H. Macy (66), Quincy Jones (83), Billy Crystal (68), Michael Caine (83), Judd Hirsch (81), Eva Longoria (41), Will.I.Am (41), Eric Estrada (67), Judah Friedlander (47), Patrick Duffy (67), Kurt Russell (65), Gary Sinise (61), Rob Lowe (52), Queen Latifah (46), Ursula Andress (80), Glenn Close (69) and Bruce Willis (61).

The Australian Woman Who Skinned and Cooked Her Partner 

The story of an Australian former abattoir worker who decapitated and skinned her de facto husband before trying to serve his flesh to his children is set to be told in a new film. Katherine Knight lived a seemingly ordinary life until the day she stabbed John Price 37 times and mutilated him in their home in Aberdeen, in New South Wales’s Hunter Valley, 16 years ago.

The Australian screenwriters Dane Millerd and Ross Murray have been enlisted to find a global audience for the tale of the 60-year-old, who was jailed for life for the killing. Millerd spent almost a decade trying to get the rights to the book, Blood Stains, by journalist Peter Lalor, which details the horrifying crime, and succeeded last year.

Price’s headless body was found by police in the home the couple shared on 1st  March 2000, a day after he was murdered. His skin was hanging from a butcher’s hook in the lounge room, his head was cooking in a stew on the stove, and slices of his buttocks had been cooked and served alongside vegetables and gravy in a meal intended for his adult children. Bloodstains showed Price had tried to escape the house, and had even been briefly successful, but was dragged back inside by Knight, who had a borderline personality disorder.

When Knight was sentenced in 2001, the supreme court justice, Barry O’Keefe, said: “The last minutes of his life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her.” Knight, the first Australian woman to receive a life-without-parole sentence, lost an appeal against the sentence in 2006.

The Last Word

I’m bored with it all. – Winston Churchill, statesman, d. January 24, 1965

Next week peeps!