Afternoon Poolers, yet another quiet week so no points to award. I think it may be time to send out the flying monkeys once again, so watch this space as a dearly beloved notable will undoubtedly be stricken down, most likely someone that none of us has listed. Without further ado…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Gary Owens, 80, American television announcer (Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In) and voice actor (Space Ghost, Garfield and Friends), diabetes.
• Steve Strange, 55, British musician (Visage), heart attack.
• Bob Simon, 73, American television journalist (60 Minutes), traffic collision.
• Michele Ferrero, 89, Italian businessman (Ferrero SpA, makers of Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tacs and Kinder Eggs).
• Kenji Ekuan, 85, Japanese industrial designer (Kikkoman soy sauce dispenser), heart disorder.

In Other News

Television presenter Carol McGiffin has revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer last year. The former member of ITV’s Loose Women said that she discovered a lump in her breast while on holiday in Malaysia last February. The 54-year-old says she has now “got through it” after a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. Although she seems to have won her battle, these things do have a tendency to flare up again. One to watch out for.

Sir Michael Gambon has decided to stop working in the theatre, bringing down the curtain on an illustrious stage career, after struggling to remember his lines. The 74-year-old said in an interview that it was time to admit defeat. “It’s a horrible thing to admit but I can’t do it. It breaks my heart. It’s when the script’s in front of me and it takes forever to learn. It’s frightening,” he said. He put his forgetfulness down to age and was worried it was a sign of encroaching Alzheimer’s, although doctors gave him the all-clear and his long-term memory remained sharp.

James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan’s home in Malibu has been damaged in a fire, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Around 50 Los Angeles County firefighters responded to the scene but no injuries were reported. A shocked-looking Brosnan was pictured outside the house, probably wondering if SPECTRE had something to do with it. A close call for Bond, we’re wondering if he spilt his vodka martini onto an open fireplace. Arson investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are looking into the cause.

Until recently, Black Tongue were just a little-known heavy metal band from Hull, purveyors of an obscure brand of rock known as “doom core”. Now, though, the five-strong ensemble have ensured themselves a place among the pantheons of rock legend, after an incident on a tour coach that could have come straight from the spoof rock movie This is Spinal Tap. In a mishap that police believe was alcohol-related, a member of the band apparently stepped out the tour bus door as it was speeding along a motorway in Poland, having mistaken it for the door to the bus’s toilet. Alex Teyen, 23, the band’s singer, was taken to hospital after suffering head and face injuries, but is understood not to have been badly hurt. He would most likely have never made the Wiki Death List, but he will next time!

Serial killer Charles Manson’s supposed budding romance with a woman 53 years his junior has been allegedly exposed as a money-making scheme. Apparently, 27-year old Afton Elaine Burton, now known as Star, was hoping that she would gain possession of Manson’s corpse through marriage so she and a couple of friends could put it on display in a glass case in L.A. They thought a Lenin’s Tomb-esque attraction would draw a huge number of visitors and make them a lot of money. But Manson, 80, apparently got wind of the plan and now no longer wants to marry Burton. The tourist attraction was also something of a non-starter because Manson believes he is immortal.

On This Day

• 1923 – Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
• 1933 – In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
• 1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
• 1971 – The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.
• 2001 – First draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.
• 2013 – A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings.

Deaths

• 1928 – H. H. Asquith, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1852)
• 1965 – Nat King Cole, American singer and pianist (b. 1919)
• 1984 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Elizabeth Banks (41), Nick Nolte (74), Jennifer Aniston (46), Burt Reynolds (79), Mia Farrow (70), Josh Brolin (47), Joe Pesci (72), Christina Ricci (35), Glenn Beck (51), Sarah Palin (51), Chloe Grace Moretz (18), Arsenio Hall (59), Laura Dern (48), Peter Gabriel (65), Sheryl Crow (53), Natalie Dormer (33), Robbie Williams (41), Rose Leslie (28), John Grisham (60), Seth Green (41), Damian Lewis (44), Mena Suvari (36), Jerry Springer (71), Prince Jackson (18), Darren Aronofsky (46), Stockard Channing (71), Peter Tork (73), Kim Novak (82), Meg Tilly (54) and Robert Wagner (85).

Next Week peeps!

Afternoon all, yet another dearth of deaths last week so no points to award. Just to kick us whilst we’re down, Zsa Zsa Gabor was celebrating her 98th birthday as well!  To be fair, I’ve not heard of any of last week’s demises, so I took a punt on the few I have listed just to fill up some space. Lets hope that this week gives us a few bucket kickers!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Richard Bonehill, 67, British actor and stuntman (Doctor Who, Return of the Jedi).
• Norman Yemm, 81, Australian actor (Homicide, Number 96, The Sullivans).
• Robert Gavron, Baron Gavron, 84, British businessman and philanthropist, Labour life peer, heart attack.
• Billy Casper, 83, American golfer, seventh all-time in career PGA Tour wins.
• Roy Little, 83, English footballer (Manchester City).

In Other News

Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of singer Bobby Brown and his late wife, Whitney Houston, is fighting for her life and is surrounded by immediate family, the Houston family said in a statement. Bobbi Kristina, 21, was rushed to a hospital in Roswell, Georgia, on Saturday morning after her husband and a friend found her in the tub and her husband performed CPR. We’re told Bobbi Kristina’s condition has remained the same since Monday morning and that her brain functions are minimal and there has been no improvement. Her father, Bobby Brown is adamant that he doesn’t want to take his daughter off life support because he believes in God-driven miracles. Looks like the future is grim.

Dionne Warwick has also been in the wars. The 74 year old slipped in the shower and damaged her ankle which left her in hospital for two weeks! As she is the cousin of  Whitney Huston, it seems rather peculiar that the whole family seem unable to wash without dying or seriously hurting themselves. I’d suggest that they stick to bed baths from now on.

Police in Los Angeles have confirmed reality TV star Bruce Jenner has been involved in a car crash in which one woman died. Jenner himself wasn’t hurt, but seven others were taken to hospital. An LA police spokesman said there was no indication that Jenner, the stepfather of Kim Kardashian, was being chased by nearby paparazzi, although the whole incident seems to have been captured scene by scene by media photographers.

In another kick to the gnashers for us, Harper Lee is apparently releasing another book. Lee, 88, famous as the writer of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird is renowned for writing only one book 55 years ago, so why all of the sudden has she managed to produce another? Smells a bit fishy to us at Dead Pool Towers, not that we are envious of her $9,249 a day earnings for writing one book at all… Let’s see if the style of writing is similar upon release, or will we find out someone is riding the cash cow?

Retired footballer and ex-PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle says he was trying to take his own life when he was hit by a lorry in December. Carlisle told The Sun newspaper he had been left severely depressed by the end of his football career, financial problems and the loss of a TV punditry role. The 35-year-old left hospital six weeks after being struck in North Yorkshire, although he managed to fuck up the suicide, he still did a good job of hurting himself. Best keep an eye on him.

On This Day

• 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
• 1855 – The Devil’s Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
• 1915 – D. W. Griffith‘s controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
• 1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
• 1952 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom.
• 1963 – The first full color television program in the world, publicly advertised, is broadcast in Mexico City by XHGC-TV, Channel 5, due to technical breakthrough advances made by Mexican engineer Guillermo González Camarena.

Deaths

• 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542)
• 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
• 1998 – Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician (b. 1912)
• 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Harry Styles (21), James Spader (55), Shakira (38), Axl Rose (53), Bobby Brown (46), Chris Rock (50), Garth Brooks (53), Morgan Fairchild (65), Rebel Wilson (30),  Alice Cooper (67), Cristiano Ronaldo (30), Lisa Marie Presley (47), Ashton Kutcher (37), Isla Fisher (39), Michael C. Hall (44), Michael Sheen (46), Natalie Imbruglia (40), Christopher Guest (67), Tom Wilkinson (67), Jennifer Jason Leigh (43), Zsa Zsa Gabor (98), Rip Torn (84), Brent Spiner (66) and Rick Astley (49).

Next Week peeps!

Sadly no points to award this week, even though a few well known oldies have managed to kick the bucket. Funny thing, I didn’t see any of you rushing out to buy any Demis Roussos albums when he was reported dead, I thought this was one of the things you had to do when a singer dies. We all managed to miss Geraldine McEwan too, maybe a couple of us should have dropped Dame Maggie Smith for her. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Michael Lambert, 107, Irish centenarian, oldest man in Ireland.
• Demis Roussos, 68, Egyptian-born Greek singer (“Forever and Ever”).
• Bernice Gordon, 101, American crossword writer (The New York Times), heart failure.
• Colleen McCullough, 77, Australian author (The Thorn Birds), renal failure.
• Rod McKuen, 81, American poet, singer and songwriter (“Jean“, “Seasons in the Sun“), respiratory arrest.
• Charles H. Townes, 99, American Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1964), inventor of the laser.
• Geraldine McEwan, 82, English actress (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Agatha Christie’s Marple), stroke.
• Richard von Weizsäcker, 94, German politician, President (1990–1994), President of West Germany (1984–1990), Governing Mayor of West Berlin (1981–1984).

In Other News

The daughter of late American singer Whitney Houston has been found unresponsive in a bathtub at a home in Georgia. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 21, was found by her husband and a friend. They immediately started resuscitating her until police and medics arrived. She was taken to a hospital in Roswell where she was said to be breathing. Her mother, Whitney Houston was found dead in very similar circumstances on February 2012, aged only 48.

Ted Robbins has collapsed on stage at Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights on the opening night in Manchester. Reports from the theatre suggest he was in the middle of a solo part of the show and appeared to clutch his chest. The curtains were then drawn and an announcement was made to the crowd and everyone was asked to leave the 20,000-capacity venue. A Manchester Evening News reporter – who was at the show – eloquently described what happened: “Ted Robbins, who plays Den Perry in the hit show, was in the middle of a solo bit. He clutched his chest and stumbled a bit. They then closed the curtain immediately, with people rushing to the stage to the help, with medical equipment”. Robbins, 59, is carrying a bit of lard on him, so it’s no stretch of the imagination to think his heart gave out with the stress of the first night and a lump of adipose floating around. Lets hope he makes a recovery so we can list him next year.

Radio DJ Chris Evans revealed live on air that he’s in the middle of a prostate scare. Evans disclosed that he was currently having tests carried out after showing symptoms since Christmas. The father-of-three, 48, told millions of listeners about his condition on the The Breakfast Show on Radio 2 on Friday. After scaring himself to death self-diagnosing on the internet, he finally went to see a doctor and underwent the ‘finger of truth’ test and is now awaiting the outcome. Watch this space, maybe Terry Wogan will make it back onto Radio 2!!

Harry Potter actor Robbie Coltrane has been admitted to hospital in Orlando, Florida, after falling ill with flu-like symptoms during a flight. Paramedics met him off the flight from London and rushed him to hospital where doctors said he would remain overnight and not once mentioned Ebola. Coltrane’s agent told the BBC the actor was “resting” and would “be fine”, but that more information on his condition was not yet available. Coltrane’s UK agent, Belinda Wright, told the BBC that US reports that an eyewitness had tweeted about the actor drinking heavily in a Heathrow Airport lounge before boarding his flight were “not correct” and “completely untrue”. After all, a Scot drinking heavily is unheard of and hangovers never need hospitalisation…

Brian Blessed has withdrawn from the production of King Lear in which he collapsed on stage shortly after speaking his first lines, yet managed  to return to finish the epic production last week. The 78-year-old actor has admitted that his heart condition ‘is more serious than he was aware’ and has therefore been compelled to withdraw from the production. Sounds like the loudmouth is at deaths door!

On This Day

• 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
• 1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
• 1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.
• 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
• 1924 – The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR.
• 1953 – North Sea flood of 1953 (Dutch, Watersnoodramp, literally “flood disaster”) was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.
• 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
• 1978 – Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the United States to France after pleading guilty to charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107 disintegrates during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
• 2004 – Janet Jackson‘s breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.

Deaths

• 1851 – Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797)
• 1944 – Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872)
• 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895)
• 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• 1988 – Heather O’Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Alicia Keys (34), Christian Bale (41), Ellen DeGeneres (57), Alan Alda (79), Justin Timberlake (34), Oprah Winfrey (61), Elijah Wood (36), Tom Selleck (70), Heather Graham (45), Phil Collins (64), Gene Hackman (85), Minnie Driver (45), John Lydon (59), Vanessa Redgrave (78), Scott Glenn (74), James Cromwell (75), Carol Channing (94), Eddie Van Halen (60), Dick Cheney (74), Bridget Fonda (51), Mimi Rogers (59), Dexter Fletcher (49), Olivia Coleman (41), Marc Singer (67), Frabk Darabont (56) and Tobe Hooper (72).

Next Week peeps!

A very busy week for deaths, as you may have surmised from the Klaxon e-mails. Alas nobody scored, so the league table remains the same for the time being. Without further ado…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ena Baxter, 90, Scottish food manufacturer (Baxters Soup).
• Tony Verna, 81, American television producer, invented instant replay, leukemia.
• Philippe Vocanson, 110, French supercentenarian, oldest living man in Europe.
• Anne Kirkbride, 60, British actress (Coronation Street), breast cancer.
• Robert Manzon, 97, French Formula One driver, last surviving racer from the first World Championship.
• Bob Symes, 90, British inventor and television presenter.
• Edgar Froese, 70, German musician (Tangerine Dream), pulmonary embolism.
• Leon Brittan, 75, British politician, Home Secretary (1983–1985), Vice-President of the European Commission (1999), cancer.
• Pauline Yates, 85, English actress (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin).
• Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, 90, Saudi King, complications from pneumonia.

In Other News

Poor old Tiger Woods, his career is in free fall and his love life in turmoil, but whilst trying to surprise his girlfriend Linsey Vonn at an Alpine Ski Competition, he manages to lose a tooth after being hit in the face by a camera! His agent later explained “During a crush of photographers at the awards’ podium, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged towards the stage, turned and hit Tiger in the mouth, his tooth was knocked out by the incident.” Oops! I bet that poor cameraman will be much poorer once the legal team get hold of him.

Veteran actor Brian Blessed collapsed on stage with an apparent heart problem while playing King Lear – but, to the audience’s astonishment, returned to the stage 20 minutes later and  continued to act. The 78-year-old had just begun his lines at the start of the Shakespearean tragedy when he fainted, falling off a raised platform with his crown rolling to a halt at the front of stage. Fellow actor Noel White, playing the Earl of Kent, announced quietly “Ladies and gentlemen this is not part of the play. Is there a doctor in the house?” But after a brief inspection backstage and in the true spirit of “the show must go on”, Mr Blessed returned to the stage 20 minutes later to apologise to the final-preview audience for the interruption. He’s a tough old nut!

Howard Marks, the notorious former dope smuggler known as Mr Nice, has told the the media that he has been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer. Marks, 69, said this weekend. “It’s impossible to regret any part of my life when I feel happy and I am happy now, so I don’t have any regrets and have not had any for a very long time.” The cancer was diagnosed last autumn and Marks was told nothing could be done to stop the disease, which has now spread to his liver and lungs. As a drug smuggler in the 1980s, Marks had 43 aliases, 89 phone lines and 25 companies trading worldwide as fronts for money laundering. Sentenced to 25 years for drug smuggling, he was released in 1995, after seven years, for good behaviour. His 1996 autobiography, Mr Nice, sold more than a million copies and was made into a film starring fellow Welshman Rhys Ifans. Sounds like he’s not going to last…

Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper has been told he could lose what remains of his sight within a year. The murderer, who is already blind in one eye after a prison attack, was said to be “extremely upset” when he was told he has a severe condition linked to diabetes. Sutcliffe, now 68, killed 13 women (and attempted to kill seven more) between 1975 and 1980; he’s serving 20 life sentences at a high-security psychiatric hospital. Such shame that.

Another bad week for cartoonists; legendary Indian cartoonist RK Laxman, 94, is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering multiple-organ failure. Best known for his iconic “Common Man” character, he is credited with holding a mirror to Indian society with his satirical works targeting politicians. He’s currently in intensive care and on ventilator support.

Another failing cartoonist is Norm Breyfogle, who was one of the artists who changed Batman forever. He’s suffered a stroke that affected the left side of his body, including his drawing arm. His family is raising money to help pay his medical expenses, such a shame that he lives in the States where they couldn’t give a fuck about people who need medical help.

On This Day

• 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
• 1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria‘s daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding recessional.
• 1947 – Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”, the first ever electronic game.
• 1971 – Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.
• 1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the USA.

Deaths

• 1947 – Al Capone, American mobster (b. 1899)
• 1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Kim Manners, American director and producer (b. 1951)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jason Segel (35), Kevin Costner (60), Dolly Parton (69), Rainn Wilson (49), Neil Diamond (74), Emma Bunton (39), Katey Sagal (61), Geena Davis (59), Bill Maher (59), Buzz Aldrin (85), Jack Nicklaus (75), John Hurt (75), Rutger Hauer (71), Piper Laurie (83), Linda Blair (56), DJ Jazzy Jeff (50), Placido Domingo (74), Billy Ocean (65), Gil Gerard (72), Martin Shaw (70), Tom Baker (81), David Lynch (69), and Dave Bautista (46).

2015 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!

Points! Yes!! Points!!! With the sad departing of Britain’s oldest person, Ethel Lang, Stu has managed to score 136 points as he had her sown as his Cert. Fair play to him. We seem to be doing better than last year already! Also this week, we have a contribution from Julia, so remember to show your appreciation and extol her talents unless you think you can do better and submit your own contribution next week. Most people who have contributed in the past will admit, this ain’t as easy as it looks…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Taylor Negron, 57, American comedian and actor (Angels in the Outfield, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Bio-Dome), cancer.
• Brian Clemens, 83, British screenwriter (Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) and television producer (The Avengers, The Professionals).
• Anita Ekberg, 83, Swedish-Italian actress (La Dolce Vita, Paris Holiday, Back from Eternity).
• Trevor Ward-Davies, 70, British bassist (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich), cancer.
• Darrell Winfield, 85, American rancher and model, Marlboro Man (1968–1989).
• Sir Jack Hayward, 91, English businessman, property developer and philanthropist, president of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
• Ethel Lang, 114, British supercentenarian, nation’s oldest person.

In Other News

Crime writer Ruth Rendell is in a critical but stable condition after suffering a stroke. The 84-year-old, who also has a seat in the House Of Lords as a Labour peer, is best known for her series of novels featuring Chief Inspector Wexford. With more than 60 titles to her name, Rendell’s last book was The Girl Next Door, which came out last year. It was published along with a 50th anniversary edition of her debut novel From Doon With Death, which saw Inspector Wexford make his debut. In a statement released, the author is said to have experienced a “serious stroke” last week and is being looked after in hospital by her son. No doctors available?

In what we can only call an act of Darwinism in action, a man who accidentally shot his friend dead while testing if his bullet-proof vest worked has been jailed. Philip Harper, 46, died from a gunshot wound to the chest after his friend Ian Catley shot him. Mr Harper had bought what he believed to be a bullet-proof vest from an army surplus store the day before, Cambridgeshire Police said. It obviously wasn’t as bullet-proof as they expected. Sentencing him to seven years in jail at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC told Catley: “You shot Mr Harper at a distance of less than 20 feet, causing him catastrophic injuries and immediate death.” He should have added that he was a stupid cunt and could have quite easily tested the vest by shooting it without his friend inside it.

A woman has been arrested after she reportedly chopped off her cheating husband’s penis, twice. The woman flew into a rage once she discovered her 32-year-old husband, father of five children, had been having an affair. His wife Feng, 30, found an image on his phone and in a rage grabbed a pair scissors and stormed into the room where he was sleeping, and attacked him. He was taken to hospital and emergency surgery was performed – but the wife returned to the hospital and cut it off for a second time, reportedly throwing it out of the window where it was lost. Doctors and police officers combed the area outside but failed to find the man’s missing member. They believed it may have been taken by a stray dog or cat. Yum yum!

On This Day

• 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
• 1884 – Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom.
• 1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H.L. Smith.
• 1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt sends a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.
• 1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
• 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler“, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Deaths

• 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• 1980 – Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
• 2009 – Tony Hart, English television host (b. 1925)

Obituary by JuliaB

Ethel Lang, quite literally, the last Victorian, has died. Mrs Lang was the only living British person to have been born during the reign of Queen Victoria and she lived to see six UK monarchs and 22 Prime Ministers. She was 114 years and 233 days. At age 22 she married young plumber William Lang and a year later the couple had a daughter, Margaret Bates, who is now 91 years old herself.

Her Grandmother lived till she was 92 and her great grandmother lived until she was 91. So, theoretically, if you shook her hand, you were 3 degrees of separation away from someone born in the late 17th, early 18th century!

The skilled cook regularly made her own bread and never smoked, rarely touching alcohol.

Her death means that 111-year-old Gladys Hooper, who lives on the Isle of Wight, is now Britain’s oldest person. Gladys will celebrate her 112th birthday on Dead Pool Sunday. (Hope she made it!) *Ed

It has left Jamaican Violet Brown, also 114 years of age, as the only surviving subject of Queen Victoria.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Faye Dunaway (74), Muhammad Ali (73), Howard Stern (61), Zooey Dechanel (35),  Kirstie Alley (64), James Earl Jones (84), Mary J. Blige (44), Melanie Chisholm (41), Jason Bateman (46), Michelle Obama (51), Jim Carrey (53), Kate Moss (41), Orlando Bloom (38), Betty White (93), Rush Limbaugh (64), Dave Grohl (46), LL Cool J (47), Carl Weathers (67), Mario Van Peebles (58), John Carpenter (67), James May (52), James Nesbitt (50), Jason Bateman (46), Mark Addy (51), Bill Bailey (50), John Sessions (62), Jason Connery (52), Evan Handler (54), Rod Stewart (70), and Traci Bingham (47).

2015 League Table

[confidential]

Next week peeps!