Welcome all, to a slightly controversial start to the scoring this year. As you know, the first death of the year is a highly coveted prize that secures an extra 50 points, so when Laura messaged me that one of her choices had died, I was over the moon. However, one of the rules of the Dead Pool is that your choices must appear in the Wiki Death Pages. Laura knew from the outset that her choice, Oscar Ray Bolin, a Death Row inmate in Florida, was a dodgy listing. Strangely he has no Wiki page of his own, despite his murderous tendencies and several appeals against his execution. Perhaps someone will take it upon themselves to write one. Saying this, he did pop up briefly on the mobile version of the Wiki Deaths page, he has been subsequently removed for some reason, but we do have pictorial proof, hence my decision to award the points! In the past, the Wiki Death Page has been rather unreliable in its listings, highly notable people are missed whilst obscurities from the world of fly fishing are included. I believe the listings are changed by the demonic power of Jimmy Wales himself, so in future, if you have an obscure listing, the onus is on you to send proof that your dead star was listed on the page, be it the mobile or normal version.

Well done Laura, first death of the year and a relatively young un too. 147 points to start off the season!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Robert Stigwood, 81, Australian band manager (Bee Gees, Cream) and film producer (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Evita).
• Sian Blake, 42–43, British actress (EastEnders), head and neck injuries.
• André Turcat, 94, French aviator, first man to fly the Concorde.
• Pat Harrington, Jr., 86, American actor (One Day at a Time, The Inspector, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels), complications from a fall and Alzheimer’s.
• Otis Clay, 73, American R&B and soul singer (“Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You“, “The Only Way Is Up“), heart attack.
• Ed Stewart, 74, British broadcasting personality (Top of the Pops, Crackerjack), stroke.

In Other News

Pop star Janet Jackson has used her own lyrics to deny rumours she has throat cancer. Concerns spread earlier this week, when US media reported “sources close to the singer” saying doctors had found a growth on her vocal cords. Jackson responded by quoting her song The Great Forever on social media: “Sources say but where ya gettin’ it? Don’t create the truth you like.” In a statement, she added: “The rumours are untrue. I do not have cancer.” The singer announced just before the new year she would postpone several 2016 dates on her Unbreakable world tour, telling fans she had been advised to have surgery. “I need you to know, I learned today, from my doctors that I must have surgery soon,” she wrote. “It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable tour until the spring.” Jackson didn’t elaborate on her condition at the time, saying: “There will be no further comment.” The cancer rumour originated on US gossip site Radaronline and was rapidly reported by media outlets. The unnamed source was quoted as saying Jackson’s family were “terrified” as they awaited test results. After denying the cancer rumour, the 49-year-old stated: “I’m recovering. My doctors have approved my concerts as scheduled in Europe, and as I promised, the postponed shows will be rescheduled. Thank you for your prayers and love.”

Bob Mortimer has been cleared by doctors to go on tour with comedy partner Vic Reeves after having a triple heart bypass operation. Vic and Bob cancelled the first leg of their 25th anniversary UK tour last October because he needed surgery. Mortimer wrote on Twitter on Monday: “Doctors just passed me fit to do second leg of tour next month.” The tour, 25 Years Of Reeves And Mortimer: The Poignant Moments, was due to have started in Glasgow on 8th November. At the time, Mortimer wrote: “So sorry to those who bought tickets that we had to cancel 1st leg of tour. Three consultants said I had to have the op immediately.”

USA Paralympic silver medallist Richard Browne has sustained broken ribs and concussion in a car accident. The 24-year-old spent two nights in hospital after his car was in collision with a lorry in Florida. “Richard is badly shaken up and in a lot of pain but he was very lucky,” his manager Ian Byers said in a statement. “Doctors have advised that he should rest for three weeks, which will impact on his winter training and may mean that we have to review his early-season race plans.”

Did you know that Tony Hart, presenter of TV shows including Vision On, Take Hart and Hart Beat, died in 2009. Half the people you know on Facebook don’t. The internet apparently has an extremely short memory when it comes to children’s television icons of the 70s and 80s. Piers Morgan was one of the useless cunts that failed to check his sources when he joined in with the latest round of lamentations over the death of Mr Hart, but why would he check his sources, he never bothered when he was running The Tabloids™. The six-year-old story became the most shared page on the Telegraph website on Sunday as huge numbers of readers posted the link to Twitter and Facebook. Well done you if you saw through it!

And finally, in a slightly overthought suicide, a man strangled and dismembered his wife, encased her head in concrete and then used the concrete block to help drown himself in an Austrian lake. Officials said the couple were a 72-year-old man and his 71-year-old wife from near Frankfurt in Germany, but did not identify them further. The corpse and a bag were recovered by police divers from the waters of Traunsee on Monday. A day earlier, two suitcases containing the woman’s remains were found floating close to the lake’s shore near the town of Gmunden. Postmortem examinations suggested that the woman was strangled between 25th December and 1st January and that the man drowned some time later. There was no indication of involvement by a third party. “We believe first and foremost that [the man’s death] was suicide,” state prosecutor Birgit Ahamer said.

On This Day

• 1810 – Napoleon Bonaparte divorces his first wife Joséphine.
• 1863 – The London Underground, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington station and Farringdon station.
• 1927 – Fritz Lang‘s futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
• 1929 – The Adventures of Tintin, one of the most popular European comic books, is first published in Belgium.
• 1985 – Sir Clive Sinclair launches the Sinclair C5 personal electric vehicle, which became a notorious commercial failure and later a cult collector’s item.
• 2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involves beer that was deliberately contaminated with crocodile bile leaving at least 56 dead and nearly 200 hospitalised.

Deaths

• 1862 – Samuel Colt, American businessman; founded Colt’s Manufacturing Company (b. 1814)
• 1917 – Buffalo Bill, American soldier and hunter (b. 1846)
• 1971 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (b. 1883)

Last Week’s Birthdays 

Victoria Principal (66), Mel Gibson (60), Michael Stipe (56), Julia Ormond (51), Robert Duvall (85), Diane Keaton (70), Marilyn Manson (47), Bradley Cooper (41), Rowan Atkinson (61), Jeremy Renner (45), Nicholas Cage (52), Kenny Loggins (68), Lewis Hamilton (31), Shirley Bassey (79), Joely Richardson (51), Jimmy Page (72) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (34).

Ceri’s Grisly Corner

Hello Deadpoolers, I’m attempting to do my bit for our weekly death page by bringing you a weekly peek at the horrible, disgusting and terrifying diseases and conditions that will hopefully prove the downfall of those on your list.

This week we’re looking at a fairly recent threat to our genitals, that is, super gonorrhoea.  Super gonorrhoea (or as I prefer to call it ‘mutant clap’) has been in the news recently, as it emerged amongst some amorous feckers who aren’t sensible enough to wear a raincoat when making the beast with 2 backs.

The clap has been around since at least the 1600’s. It causes yellow or green discharge from yer bits, tummy ache and burny pee.  Obviously it’s a complete bugger to have running riot in your nethers and early treatments included various metals including mercury and weirdly an Indonesian pepper! Ultimately it became less serious and more treatable once penicillin was introduced.  While it isn’t strictly fatal by itself, the associated complications really can be, if not treated in time.

Right, back to the super in super gonorrhoea. In 2015, 16 cases of antibiotic resistant clap were reported in Northern England. This was probably helped by people not sticking to their treatment regimes.  The UK chief medical officer said that ‘gonorrhoea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease’ and has ‘rapidly acquired resistance’ to the drugs we are using and as there are few alternative options for treatment we may soon be screwed.  Complications can range from sterility to sores on your nads (which if infected can kill).

I don’t know about you guys, but I know I don’t fancy getting gross, green genitals. I think I’ve just killed my libido. Shame that wasn’t on my list, eh?’

Next week peeps!

Welcome all to the brand new 2016 Dead Pool!! Please welcome all the new players and nod your head towards the old guard. We have now fully migrated to the new domain www.TheDeadPool.rip, so please update your bookmarks. Also the email has changed to mail@TheDeadPool.rip. After some teething trouble earlier this week, everything is now fully operational, pretty much like The Death Star!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

2015

• John Bradbury, 62, English drummer (The Specials). 
• Meadowlark Lemon, 83, American Hall of Fame basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters).
• Lemmy, 70, English rock musician (Motörhead, Hawkwind), cancer.
• Ian Murdock, 42, American software engineer, founder of the Debian Project. 
• Pavel Srníček, 47, Czech footballer (Newcastle United, national team), complications from heart attack
• Natalie Cole, 65, American Grammy-winning singer (“This Will Be“, “Sophisticated Lady“, Unforgettable… with Love) and actress, heart failure.
• Steve Gohouri, 34, Ivorian footballer (Wigan Athletic, national team).
• Wayne Rogers, 82, American actor (M*A*S*H, Cool Hand Luke, House Calls), complications from pneumonia.

2016

• Nimr al-Nimr, 56, Saudi Shia religious leader, executed
• Faris Ahmed Jamaan al-Showeel al-Zahrani, 38, Saudi al-Qaeda member, executed

In Other News

Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne is said to be feeling better  after suffering a heart attack earlier this week and has thanked members of the public for their support. The 81-year-old was taken to hospital on Tuesday. He is best known for presenting The Late Late Show on Irish television between 1962 and 1999. Since then, he has continued to work for the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ, working on television and radio shows. “I’m feeling better and on the road to recovery. Thanks to all for the well wishes,” he said. High-profile RTÉ colleagues have expressed relief at news of the improvement in his condition, and the station said “all his friends and colleagues across RTÉ are thinking of him and wish him all the best with his recovery”. Despite cutting back on his workload in recent times, Byrne continues to host a weekly show on RTÉ Lyric FM as well as the ‘Meaning of Life’ television series on RTÉ One. The family have requested privacy following the incident.

Nigel Farage has said police suspected sabotage after a wheel on his Volvo fell off while he was driving on a motorway. The Ukip leader claimed nuts on all of the wheels of his V70 were found to be loose after the “frightening” crash on a road near Dunkirk in France. He described how he was forced to stop after losing control on the motorway, fleeing the car and darting over a barrier to avoid oncoming traffic. “It was in the middle of bloody nowhere, and I was caught in a very bad position. There was a huge section of roadworks with cars going back and forth on the same side of the carriageway. “I suddenly realised I was losing steering but there was no hard shoulder to pull on to. I slowed down, put the hazards on and then one of the wheels came off. I jumped over the wall as quickly as I bloody well could to get away from lorries and everything.” When police arrived, they reportedly told him the cause was a malicious act but he decided not to take action. He has received death threats in the past but, when asked who he thought might be responsible, said: “I haven’t got a clue. Quite frankly, the way my life’s been over the past two and a half years, nothing surprises me.”

The favourite dog of Thailand’s ailing monarch has died. The dog, called Tongdaeng (Copper), became both a household name and a publishing sensation in Thailand after King Bhumibol Adulyadej adopted her as a stray puppy and penned a heartfelt book about her attributes in 2002. She was praised for her loyalty and obedience, with the book widely interpreted at the time as a parable about how Thais should live and remember their place within the kingdom’s rigid society. Her death was announced in a statement from the veterinary faculty of Kasetsart University late Monday. “While Khun Tongdaeng was sleeping and relaxing, she died peacefully on 26th December 2015 at 11:10pm at Klai Kangwon Palace,” the statement read. The statement added that she had been ill for the last few years and was just over 17 years old when she passed away. An unnamed official at the university confirmed that the statement was genuine. She regularly featured in palace photographs while the book about her outsold bestsellers such as Harry Potter in Thailand.

A clip shared by boxing legend Mike Tyson on Twitter shows the moment he tried out his daughter Milan’s ‘hoverboard’. At first, he manages to ride and spin the self-balancing scooter, however, he soon appears to lose control and ends up crashing to the floor. His daughter may have seen it coming, as she is heard saying: “Daddy, I don’t want you to fall.” Tyson, 49, posted the video on Twitter and said: “Seemed like a good idea to ride my daughter #milantyson #cyboard #hoverboard but guess not…” His fall, which sounded like a pound of wet flesh splatting on a hard concrete floor, proved popular on social media with thousands of shares.

A man died on Christmas Day in Germany after he was hit in the head by a flying piece of metal from a condom machine that he and two accomplices blew up in an apparent robbery attempt, police said on Monday. The 29-year-old man was taken to hospital in the western town of Schöppingen, near the Dutch border, by the two other men who fled the scene of the explosion in a car, leaving behind condoms and money scattered around the gutted vending machine. The two men told hospital officials that their friend had fallen down the stairs, injuring his head. Suspicious of their story, the officials called the police. During questioning, police said, one of them admitted that the three had blown up the condom machine, and that their fellow conspirator was hit in the head by metal as he tried to take cover. They should have taken precautions…

On This Day

• 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
• 1996 – The Motorola StarTAC, the first flip phone and one of the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption, goes on sale.
• 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Deaths

• 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (b. 1730)
• 1903 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
• 1967 – Jack Ruby, American murderer (b. 1911)
• 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (b. 1887)
• 2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (The Everly Brothers) (b. 1939)

Last Week’s Birthdays

John Amos (76), Gerard Depardieu (67), Masi Oka (41), Stan Lee (93), Maggie Smith (81), Denzel Washington (61), Sienna Miller (34), Noomi Rapace (36), Marianne Faithfull (68), Ted Dansen (68), Jude Law (43), Danny McBride (39), Fred Ward (73), Patti Smith (69), Tracey Ullman (56), Jay Kay (46), Eliza Dushku (35), Ellie Goulding (29), Heidi Fleiss (50), LeBron James (31), Anthony Hopkins (78), Ben Kingsley (72), Val Kilmer (56), Verne Troyer (47), Tia Carrera (49), Cuba Gooding Jr. (48) and Kate Bosworth (33).

Next week peeps!

How’s this for commitment eh? A not-so-special post-Boxing Day edition of the Dead Pool. Yup, I spent half my Crimbo writing up this piece of tat just to keep you happy. Don’t worry though, I had plenty of time spare as they overlooked my space at the dining table and I had next to no presents to open, so here we are. I hope you all got to see The Queen looking as doddery as her husband at 3pm, surely 2016 is the year for both of them, but there’s only one way to find out, list them and send your deadly thirteen to me!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Patricia Elliott, 77, American actress (A Little Night Music, One Life to Live), Tony Award winner (1973), leiomyosarcoma.
• Carol Burns, 68, Australian actress (Prisoner), cancer.
• Brooke McCarter, 52, American model and actor (The Lost Boys, Thrashin’), alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency.
• Don Howe, 80, English football player (West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal, national team) and coach.

In Other News

Singer Janet Jackson has put her Unbreakable world tour on hold until spring to have surgery. Jackson said her doctors told her she needs an operation “soon”. “Please pray for me, my family and our entire company during this difficult time,” the 49-year-old asked fans. She said she would not be giving any details of her health condition. In 2008, Jackson cancelled a string of concert dates after developing migraine-associated vertigo, which might suggest that she’s got a brain bubble. “It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable Tour,” she said, adding that fans should hold on to their tickets. “They will be honoured in a special way when the new schedule is announced.” Would that be your funeral Janet?

Former Newcastle goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek is in a critical  condition in hospital after suffering cardiac arrest in the Czech Republic. According to information received by his agent Steve Wraith, the 47-year-old collapsed while out jogging in Ostrava on Sunday, which doesn’t surprise anyone. “I spoke to his family in the Czech Republic who said his heart had stopped,” Wraith told BBC Sport. “He is in a critical condition in hospital and remains unconscious.” Srnicek became a fans’ favourite during his first spell with the Magpies between 1991 and 1998. He was signed by manager Jim Smith and played under Ossie Ardiles, Kevin Keegan and latterly Kenny Dalglish, all of which are amazing names for your list!

The downhill skiing champion Marcel Hirscher escaped unharmed after a drone carrying a camera fell from the sky and narrowly missed him on his way down the slope during a race in Italy. The Austrian, who has won the overall World Cup title for the past four seasons, was on his second run of the slalom event at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy when the machinery smashed into the snow metres behind him. Hirscher appeared not to notice and continued his run, but afterwards he said: “This is horrible. This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.” But we’re all hoping that it will!

And finally, a Montana man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to shoot a student for divulging a plot line from the newly released Star Wars epic. Police say Arthur Roy, of Helena, got “angry” with a student he had befriended on Facebook after the boy gave up a subplot to Star Wars: The Force Awakens during an online conversation last week. During the online fight that ensued, Roy is alleged to have posted a photo of himself in which he appears to brandish a gun, which he indicates is a Colt 1911 with a “hair trigger”, according to a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit also says the boy was fearful Roy was going to come to “shoot him”. Roy also said he was “coming to find” the boy, whose school was placed on security “lockdown” after officials saw the exchange. Roy was arrested on Friday on suspicion of assault with a weapon, a felony. He made an initial appearance in Lewis and Clark county justice court on Monday, after which he was ordered held on $10,000 (£6,750) bail. Such a waste of resources, I could have easily told you that Chewy dies and Yoda’s babies have infiltrated the Imperial HQ as green larvae that need seeding by Luke’s special sauce, Oh, jesus turns up with a light sabre too!! Seriously, the film is that shit!

Oh… Michael Schumacher is still alive, just about. Whatever you have heard is false.

On This Day

• 1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington‘s funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
• 1846 – Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
• 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died.
• 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
• 1982 – Time‘s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
• 2004 – A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.

Deaths

• 1972 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
• 1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
• 2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor and producer (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2006 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 2012 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jane Fonda (78), Kit Harington (29), Samuel L. Jackson (67), Kiefer Sutherland (49), Jonah Hill (32), Sissy Spacek (66), Ricky Martin (44), Jared Leto (44), Annie Lennox (61), Phil Spector (76), Harry Shearer (72), July Delpy (46), Chris Evert (61), Phil Donohue (80), Ralph Fiennes (53), Vanessa Paradis (43), Lars Ulrich (52), He,ena Christensen (47), Dido (44), Stephenie Meyer (43) and Lemmy Kilmister (70).

End of year round up next folks!

Welcome all, to a points ridden edition of the Dead Pool. Lets start off with the only one who’s died this week, Jimmy Hill! Wendy had him down as her Cert, so 163 points, well done!! Now onto the housekeeping. Those pesky names I missed throughout the year. Luke had Ingeborg Sjöqvist, so 47 points. Barry had Denis Healey, so 52 points. Lee had Nicholas Winton, 44 points and he had Stuart Scott, 101 points. Martin also had Stuart Scott, 101 points. So there’s some movement on the leader board.

Do I need to remind you that there is only 11 days left? Which means that you have that much time to submit your list for 2016, best get your arses into gear!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Kathy Secker, 70, British television presenter. (body discovered on this date).
• Patricia Brooker, 80, British reality television personality (The Only Way Is Essex).
• Peter Dickinson, 88, British author.
• Jimmy Hill, 87, English footballer (Fulham), manager, trade union leader (Professional Footballers’ Association) and TV presenter (Match of the Day), Alzheimer’s disease.
• Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, 87, British politician, Member of Parliament for Leicester North West and later Leicester West (1970–1997), Alzheimer’s disease.

 In Other News

England’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks has revealed he is suffering from kidney cancer for a second time. Having lost one kidney to the disease 10 years ago, Banks, 77, is receiving chemotherapy after blood tests showed the other is now affected. He told the media: “Last year we went on our annual holiday to Florida. A week later I couldn’t sleep and then I couldn’t even stand due to the pain. I was sent straight to hospital where they told me I had cancer. I was so shocked when they told me it was my kidney. “The last time I had the cancer it was very large but they were able to remove the kidney and take the cancer away with it. We hope medication will make this cancer small enough for them to operate and carry out electrical treatment to break it up. But if it grows they will have to remove [the kidney] and I’ll need a replacement.”

Marc Dal Maso, who was in charge of Japan’s scrum during Eddie Jones’s time there, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease and believes the blows he received during his career as a hooker are the cause. Dal Maso, who played for France 33 times, will not be part of Jones’s England regime as he resumes a consultancy role with the Highlanders in Otago in the new year. He said the illness was diagnosed in 2012 but he did not tell anyone, including Jones, until now. “The problems started when I was 30 and still playing,” said Dal Maso, who is 48, in an interview with a French newspaper. “I was not feeling well, tired all the time, and my sister, who works in medicine, suggested I had tests. A scan revealed Parkinson’s disease and I am on medication morning, noon and night.

Actor James Woods has narrowly avoided serious injury after being involved in a major car accident. The three-time Emmy award winner tweeted on Monday that a man driving “75+ in an ice storm” spun out of control. In a dramatic report of events, Woods said he “hit right wall to avoid him, spun 180, hit left wall sliding backwards going 60 mph.” “Huge drop 100 feet into river below, but the guardrail held. I managed to pull out and slide down out of oncoming traffic. Six car pileup.” The Nixon actor said there were no deaths but his car was “wrecked”. “Good to be alive. Glad everybody survived.” Woods was driving in the US state of Colorado in a 4WD jeep he described as an “old tank”. “That Jeep saved my life,” he tweeted. He also said police officers told him he was the only driver involved who didn’t hit anybody. Woods said he had only a “little concussion”. “God smiled on me today. I am so happy to be alive.”

Wilnelia Forsyth has revealed she feared for the life of her husband, Sir Bruce, after he had surgery following a fall, but said he was getting better. The veteran television presenter underwent keyhole surgery on an abdominal aortic aneurysm in mid-November and is still in recovery, forcing him to pull out of hosting the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special. The aneurysm was discovered in October after a fall, which left him in hospital with a minor concussion and abrasions on his face. The 87-year-old entertainer has been recovering at home and his wife said it had been an emotional time. She told the Daily Mail: “I’m not ready to lose him yet. This has scared me to death, particularly waiting in that hospital when he was having his operation. That felt like an eternity. Because of Bruce’s age there are so many risks involved. “You think: ‘My God, will he come out all right?’ But you have to trust the doctors. The alternative – not having surgery – was worse. It’s like you’re in a corner. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, because this is such a fatal thing.” The 58-year-old said the surgery and recovery had been “very, very hard” for her husband, who was a “proud man”. But she said: “We’ve been told with this kind of operation it will take one or two months for him to fully recover. Seeing my husband getting better is like having an early Christmas present.”

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has made a rare public appearance, amid concerns for his ailing health. In television footage released on Monday by the palace he is seen swearing in judges at a Bangkok hospital where he has been staying. He has received treatment for a number of ailments including a lung infection. The health of the 88-year-old monarch is of public concern as he is widely revered and seen as an arbiter in the country’s divided political arena. The king, who is the world’s longest serving monarch, was last seen in September in a video released by the palace. He missed his birthday celebrations for the second consecutive year on 5th December. The event was marked by a cycling event last week in Bangkok led by his son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. Palace officials did not give any further details of the king’s health on Monday.

The former BBC broadcaster, Stuart Hall, has survived and been released from prison after serving half of his sentence for sexual abuse. The former It’s a Knockout presenter, now 85, was jailed in 2013 after he admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, one as young as nine, between 1967 and 1985. He was sentenced to 15 months, which was doubled when the court of appeal ruled the original term “inadequate”, and received an additional 30 months in jail in 2014 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting a teenage girl. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said it was unable to comment on individual cases, but added: “Public protection is our top priority and offenders automatically released on licence at the halfway point of their sentence are subject to strict controls. Either way, lock up your daughters!

And finally, the doctor of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he is in “excellent” health and has had no significant medical problems. Mr Trump had been under pressure to release his medical history after several other candidates had done so. The 69-year-old real estate tycoon would become the oldest president to be elected in US history. However, his physician said he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”. New York City-based physician Harold Bornstein said his physical strength and stamina are “extraordinary”. Promising to release it a few weeks ago, he tweeted that his medical report would show “perfection”. “I am fortunate to have been blessed with great genes,” Mr Trump wrote on Facebook. “People have been impressed by my stamina, but to me it has been easy because I am truly doing something that I love.” Mr Bornstein writes in a note that he has been Mr Trump’s personal physician since 1980, and that in 39 years, he has had no major issues. His blood pressure and laboratory tests are “astonishingly excellent” and he has lost 15 pounds (7kg) in the past year, according to Mr Bornstein. He said Mr Trump has had no forms of cancer, or joint surgery, and does not smoke or drink alcohol.

On This Day

• 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade.
• 1946 – The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
• 1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
• 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
• 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
• 2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

Deaths

• 1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
• 1968 – John Steinbeck, American author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• 1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
• 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934)
• 2010 – Brian Hanrahan, English journalist (b. 1949)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Dick Van Dyke (90), Christopher Plummer (86), Steve Buscemi (58), Ted Nugent (67), Jamie Foxx (48), Taylor Swift (26), Vanessa Hudgens (27), Don Johnson (66), Michelle Dockery (34), Billy Gibbons (66), Ernie Hudson (70), Eugene Levy (69), Bill Pullman (62), Milla Jovovich (40), Laurie Holden (46), Pope Francis (79), Keith Richards (72), Stephen Spielberg (69), Leonard Maltin (65), Ray Liotta (61), Christina Aguilera (35), Steve Austin (51), Jennifer Beals (52), Kirsty Swanson (46), Alyssa Milano (43) and Jake Gyllenhaal (35).

Next week peeps!