With little over two weeks left, we seem to have hit a quiet period for celebrity deaths. I hate to do this before Xmas, but the Flying Monkeys have been deployed! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Tom Voyce, 43, English rugby union player (Bath, Wasps, national team), drowned. 
• Sir David McMurtry, 84, Irish metrology industrialist, co-founder of Renishaw plc. 
• Arnold Yarrow, 104, British actor (Doctor Who, EastEnders), screenwriter and novelist. 
• Michael Cole, 84, American actor (The Mod Squad, General Hospital, It). 
• María Socas, 65, Argentine actress (The Warrior and the Sorceress, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, Deathstalker II). 
• Duncan Norvelle, 66, English comedian.

In Other News

The Wanted musician, Max George, will spend Christmas in hospital after medical tests have revealed problems with this heart. The 36-year-old has been a part of the band alongside Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes, Jay McGuinness, and the late Tom Parker, since 2009. George’s news comes two years after the death of Parker following an 18-month experience with brain cancer. He revealed he was rushed into hospital and some issues were found with his heart. “Hey everyone, Yesterday I felt really unwell and was taken in to hospital,” George wrote in a post on Instagram on Thursday night, wearing a hospital gown. “Unfortunately after some tests they’ve found that I have some issues with my heart.” Although he did not confirm the nature of the diagnosis, he said, “I have a lot more tests to determine the extent of the problems and what surgery I will need to get me back on my feet. It’s gonna be a difficult few weeks / months… and Christmas in a hospital bed wasn’t exactly what I had planned!” He thanked his loved ones and his girlfriend and Eastenders actor Maisie Smith for their support. “As always, I’m surrounded with love and support by my wonderful partner Maisie, her family, my family and friends.. and I’m 100 per cent in the best place. Although this is a huge shock and no doubt a setback, it’s something I’ll take on with all I’ve got! I count myself very lucky that this was caught when it was. Apologies if I bore you with updates in the coming weeks.. I’ve probably got a month in a bed and there’s not THAT much to do! Let’s do this! Much love, Max x”. 

Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke has revealed that his neighbours “saved” him from his home as he attempted to evacuate due to the devastating Malibu Franklin Fire. The Franklin Fire, another late-year wildfire fanned by fierce Santa Ana winds, left a trail of destruction in its wake. Officials confirmed nine structures were destroyed and six had been damaged. Evacuations in Malibu displaced thousands of residents, including celebrities Dick Van Dyke and Cher. According to the Flying Monkeys, the Mary Poppins star, who turned 99 on Friday, admitted that he had a lucky escape from the fire and was thankful to his neighbours. Van Dyke said: “The fire was coming from the hill, you could see it. And oh my God, and we got out of here. I was trying to crawl to the car, I had exhausted myself, I couldn’t get up.” He added: “Three neighbours came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me.” The actor had previously posted on Facebook on Tuesday to announce that he and his wife, Arlene Silver, were safe, but that they were not able to locate one of their pets. “Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo escaped as we were leaving,” he wrote about their cat at the time. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.” The actor later updated his followers when they found Bobo, writing: “We found Bobo as soon as we arrived back home this morning. There was so much interest in his disappearance that Animal Control was called in to assist. But, thankfully he was easy to find and not harmed.”  

Ian Hislop has been injured after he was struck by an electric bike as he was crossing a road. The 64-year-old hurt his head in the accident and has been seen wearing a large bandage on the place he was hit by the bike. The star was given medical attention and medics applied the dressing. According to reports, he is now said to be “OK”. The incident was confirmed in a statement from Private Eye. His bandage was on show as he went to an event that same evening with his wife of 36 years, Victoria Hislop. The incident comes just months after he was in a taxi when the rear window smashed. Ian was in the back of the vehicle at the time, but no injuries were reported. It happened on Oxford Street near where Private Eye’s office is based. The Metropolitan Police confirmed there was “no evidence of a firearms discharge at this time” after it was initially believed the taxi had been hit by a bullet. “I always say at this point I’m glad to be here, but this week I really mean it,” Ian stated during an episode of Have I Got News For You in October. Ian also shared a little about what police officers asked him during their investigation. He said: “There was one high point when a policeman investigating me said, ‘This may be a silly question, but is there anyone who might have a grudge against you?’

On This Day

• 1890 – Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre. 
• 1914 – A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hōjō coal mine, in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.
• 1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.
• 1981 – A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.

Deaths

• 1944 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (b. 1904).
• 1966 – Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1901).
• 2011 – Christopher Hitchens, English essayist, literary critic, & journalist (b. 1949).
• 2013 – Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (b. 1917).
• 2017 – Heinz Wolff, scientist and TV presenter (b. 1928).

Robot Feelings

A surprising incident happened in South Korea. For the first time in history, a robot committed suicide. The robot was found dead after it leaped down a six-and-a-half-foot flight of stairs.

Before the event, an official saw the robot “circling in one spot as if something was there.” The robot was designated as a municipal council officer and could autonomously navigate floors by utilising an elevator.

The cutting-edge bot, created by California-based Bear Robotics, was the first of its type to occupy such a role. It helped with information sharing, city promotion, and daily document deliveries. It even held a card as a civil service officer who worked regular hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

It remains unclear why the robot took the action. Authorities in Gumi City Council are looking into the event because they think the robot may have been “depressed,” presumably due to its workload. The sudden demise of the robot has spurred discussion about the mental health of even the most sophisticated technologies.

Headlines are ablaze with conjecture on whether the robot committed suicide due to “work stress” as reality begins to resemble a dystopian science fiction story. This scenario uncannily resembles the plot of the 2004 science fiction movie “I, Robot,” in which an advanced robot can “dream,” just like a human.

The robot’s alleged suicide received mixed responses on social media. One said it would be dangerous and scary if robots started to think like humans. Another suggested it was just an “accidental fall.” A different user believed it was just a technical failure and not an act comparable to human suicide.

Experts think that the incident was most likely a technological error or a bug, despite others sensationalising it as “robot suicide.” Since its deployment in August 2023, the robot, which was a member of the city hall staff, has been operating “diligently.”

It is said to have aided in routine duties like delivering documents, informing locals, and promoting the city. Investigations are ongoing to determine what caused the fall.

Officials said there could have been a programming problem, sensor failure, or navigational error. The company has collected the pieces and will analyse them.

The council is collaborating with Bear Robotics, the manufacturer, to investigate and prevent such occurrences in the future.

Gumi City Council is not considering replacing the deceased officer with another robot.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, South Korea has the highest robot density in the world, with one industrial robot for every ten human employees. The country is renowned for its quick adoption of robotic technology.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Helen Slater (61), Paul Kaye (59), Charlie Cox (42), Garrett Wang (56), Adam Brody (45), Don Johnson (75), Natascha McElhone (55), Miranda Hart (52), Vicki Michelle (74), Emma Corrin (29), Dick Van Dyke (99), Steve Buscemi (67), Jamie Foxx (57), Taylor Swift (35), Jennifer Connelly (54), Bill Nighy (75), Mädchen Amick (54), Mayim Bialik (49), Sarah Douglas (72), Connie Francis (87), Kenneth Cranham (80), Hailee Steinfeld (28), Kenneth Branagh (64), Fionnula Flanagan (83), Susanna Reid (54), John Malkovich (71), Judi Dench (90), Beau Bridges (83), Michael Dorn (72), and Donny Osmond (67).

Three weeks or so to go, I hope you’re all working on your lists for 2025!  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Terry Griffiths, 77, Welsh snooker player, world champion (1979), complications from dementia. 
• Debbie Mathers, 69, American author (My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem), complications from lung cancer. 
• Brian Thompson, 50, American insurance executive, CEO of UnitedHealthcare (since 2021), shot. 
• Thom Christopher, 84, American actor (One Life to Live, Loving, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). 

In Other News

Dick Van Dyke stars in a new music video from Coldplay, as he prepares to celebrate his 99th birthday. The clip for “All My Love” was filmed at the Mary Poppins star’s beachside home in Malibu, and follows him as he reflects on life and aging. “I’m acutely aware that I could go any day now,” Van Dyke says, “but I don’t know why it doesn’t concern me. I’m not afraid of it. I have the feeling that I’m gonna be alright.” During the video, Van Dyke recreates his famous penguin dance from Mary Poppins as well as The Twizzle, from his Sixties TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. It is interspersed with photos of Van Dyke through his decades-long career, revealing a life-size statue of his Mary Poppins character, Bert the chimney sweep. Reflecting on his storied career, Van Dyke says he believes he’s one of those “lucky people” who “got to do for a living what I would have done anyway. I got to do what I love… play and act silly,” he said. The clip ends with Martin improvising a song for Van Dyke, who laughs in astonishment: “Have we got that on film?” he asks, beaming. “Can you believe this man?” A shorter version of the video will be released on Friday 13 December to mark the actor’s 99th birthday.  

Neighbours legend Ian Smith is reportedly allowing a camera crew to follow him through his terminal cancer battle. The Harold Bishop actor, 86 – whose portrayal of the beloved Ramsay Street stalwart made him a household name – received a pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma diagnosis earlier this year. ‘I found out a few months back that I have cancer,’ he told the Flying Monkeys. ‘That I have a very aggressive non-fixable cancer and they expect me to… they expect me to die.’ Ian has undergone three rounds of chemotherapy, telling the Flying Monkeys that he ‘put his hands up to be a guinea pig’ because he doesn’t want to die. ‘I want to stay alive with quality as long as I can,’ he said. ‘If they can do that, I’m very happy. But I wake up every morning hoping there’s no pain, because I know that’s the beginning of the bad part.’ Ian has already filmed his final scenes alongside former co-star Anne Charleston, who is not reprising her Madge Bishop role but will be playing a new character. In an emotional video, cast and crew were joined alongside Kevin Harrington who played Harold’s son David to bid an emotional farewell to their friend and colleague, who first appeared on the soap almost four decades ago. 

Sum 41 have cancelled their entire Australian tour as frontman Deryck Whibley continues to battle pneumonia. The Canadian singer, 44, has been deemed too unwell to perform by Australian doctors, leading the band to make an announcement about the tour on Wednesday. “It is with deep sadness and regret that we announce our 2024 Australian tour is unable to proceed,” the statement. “We were beyond excited to deliver this tour from 4 December – 12 December, and connect with our Aussie fans once more.” The statement continued: “Now that we’re here though, and under the guidance and direction of multiple Australian doctors, it’s clear that Deryck is too unwell to perform. We understand and appreciate your disappointment – we’re gutted too. The good news is Good Things Festival is still going ahead in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane this weekend with an incredible lineup of local and international acts. We can’t be there, but get along for us and have the best time.” Sum 41 have been touring as part of their farewell run, while supporting their eighth and final album, Heaven :x: Hell, which was released in March this year. The latest cancellation comes after their earlier decision to call off their 4 December show at Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley Music Hall, after Whibley was diagnosed with pneumonia. The band said their frontman was receiving “the best possible care” Back in 2011, Sum 41 also had to cancel their planned appearance at Soundwave Festival after Whibley was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. He was also treated in hospital for the illness last year. 

On This Day

• 1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.
• 2004 – Nathan Gale opens fire at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, killing former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others before being shot dead by a police officer.
• 2013 – Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all seven continents.
• 2019 – First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China.

Deaths

• 1980 – John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist  (b. 1940).
• 1983 – Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919).
• 2016 – John Glenn, American astronaut, first American to go into orbit (b. 1921).
• 2019 – René Auberjonois, American actor (b. 1940).
• 2023 – Ryan O’Neal, American actor (b. 1941).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Teri Hatcher (60), Kim Basinger (71), Dominic Monaghan (48), David Harewood (59), Nicki Minaj (42), Kristofer Hivju (46), Nicholas Hoult (35), Jennifer Carpenter (45), Jeffrey Wright (59), C. Thomas Howell (58), Ellen Burstyn (92), Tom Hulce (71), Frankie Muniz (39), Catherine Tate (55), Marisa Tomei (60), Jeff Bridges (75), Pamela Stephenson (75), Jay-Z (55), Brendan Fraser (56, Amanda Seyfried (39), Julianne Moore (64), Daryl Hannah (64), Ozzy Osbourne (76), Lucy Liu (56), Lesley-Ann Brandt (43), Britney Spears (43), and Connie Booth (84),

I was all ready to award some points following our Telegram group revelation that the worlds oldest mad had died, alas nobody had him listed! 38+ points gone wasted! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Chuck Woolery, 83, American game show host (Wheel of Fortune, Love Connection). 
• Barbara Taylor Bradford, 91, British-American novelist (A Woman of Substance, Hold the Dream).  
• Earl Holliman, 96, American actor (Police Woman, The Rainmaker, The Twilight Zone). 
• John Tinniswood, 112, English supercentenarian, world’s oldest man. 
• Jim Abrahams, 80, American film director and screenwriter (Airplane!, The Naked Gun, Hot Shots!), leukaemia.  
• Bob Bryar, 44, American drummer (My Chemical Romance).  

In Other News

Dolph Lundgren has confirmed that he is cancer-free after previously being told he only had a few years to live by doctors. The Swedish actor, 67, has been in a nine-year battle with lung cancer but confirmed on Wednesday that he was cancer-free. The star, best known as Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, filmed from his hospital bed and told fans that he was undergoing a lung ablation. The procedure is minimally invasive and targets cancer cells with heat or cold, without surgery. In the video, he told his Instagram followers: ‘Here I am at UCLA, I’m about to go in and get rid of that last tumour,’ he said. ‘Since there are no cancer cells in my body anymore, I guess I’ll be cancer-free, so I’m looking forward to this procedure. It’s been a rough ride and really taught me how to live in the moment and enjoy every moment of life. I mean, it’s the only way to go.’ He captioned the video: ‘Health update – finally cancer free with gratefulness and excitement for a bright future. Thanks for all your support always. ’ In 2023, the actor revealed he had been privately battling cancer. Dolph was first diagnosed in 2015 but it was in 2021 – when a ‘lemon-sized’ tumour was found in his liver – that he was told he wouldn’t live longer than a few more years. During an interview on In Depth With Graham Bensinger, Dolph revealed: ‘‘The doctor kind of started talking about all these different tumours, like, in the lung and the stomach and the spine, outside the kidneys. I asked him, “How long do you think I’ve got left?” I think he said two or three years, but I could tell in his voice that he probably thought it was less. I thought it was it, for sure.’  

Veteran stage actor Julien Arnold died suddenly on Sunday, November 24th, midway through a performance of A Christmas Carol, after experiencing a medical emergency. He passed after collapsing onstage during an evening performance of the stage production at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, according to the theatre. The cause of death has not been announced. The Flying Monkeys reported that he died at the theatre “despite resuscitation attempts” from paramedics, according to a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services. He was 60, the Edmonton Journal reported. The theatre announced Arnold’s death in a statement on Instagram. “It is with heavy hearts we share the news of the sudden passing of Julien Arnold, a beloved actor and dear friend of the Citadel Theatre. A cherished member of the Edmonton theatre community, Julien was a gifted performer whose charisma and talent graced our stage in countless productions, including A Christmas Carol. Julien’s passing is a profound loss to his family, friends, fellow Carol company members, Citadel staff, and the Edmonton community he loved so dearly. His presence brought joy, heart and depth to every role, and his artistic contributions – and big hugs – will be deeply missed.” The theatre said that the remaining performances of A Christmas Carol will be dedicated to the actor, who also performed in productions of The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Once.  

Dame Esther Rantzen told the Flying Monkeys that she is “determined” to live to see the next stage of the assisted dying bill after MPs voted in favour of it on Friday. In a historic step towards backing the right for adults with less than six months to live to choose to end their own lives, a total of 330 MPs voted for the bill and 275 voted against. Speaking in the minutes after the result of the vote was read out in the House of Commons, Dame Esther’s daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, spoke to her mother on the phone. When asked if she had heard the news, Dame Esther replied: “I certainly did, my goodness me, was that thrilling.” On having to see the bill through the next stage in parliament, she said: “I’ve got to stay alive a bit longer, haven’t I?! It’s quite a responsibility. It is a very important next stage, and I’m sure it will be taken through very very carefully because some of the best judicial minds, medical minds and political minds will make sure every detail is right.” The 84-year-old broadcaster, who is terminally ill, has been a strong advocate for changing the law to allow dying adults to take their own lives in limited circumstances, without fear of their families being prosecuted for helping them. She revealed in December last year that she had joined Dignitas, to give her the choice of an assisted death in Switzerland. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those to vote in favour, along with the majority of his Cabinet, as well as former PM Rishi Sunak who was one of only 23 Tories to do so.

On This Day

• 1919 – Lady Astor becomes the first female Member of Parliament (MP) to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. 
• 1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sex reassignment surgery.
• 1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to that city’s bus boycott.
• 1958 – The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns. God remains silent… 
• 1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet beneath the seabed.
• 2019 – The outbreak of coronavirus infection began in Wuhan.
• 2020 – The Arecibo Telescope collapsed.

Deaths

• 1866 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (b. 1790).
• 1947 – Aleister Crowley, English magician, poet, and mountaineer (b. 1875).
• 2007 – Anton Rodgers, British actor (b. 1933).

Last Week’s Birthdays

Zoë Kravitz (36), Sarah Silverman (54), Bette Midler (79), Ridley Scott (87), Kaley Cuoco (39), Ben Stiller (59), Woody Allen (89), Mandy Patinkin (72), Gemma Chan (42), Jeff Fahey (72), Don Cheadle (60), Karen Gillan (37), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (40), Ed Harris (74), Martin Clunes (63), Jon Stewart (62), Ellie Taylor (41), Armando Iannucci (61), Rita Ora (34), Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (36), Christina Applegate (53), and John Larroquette (77).

Alas, no points to dispense this week. With little over five weeks left to go, one big death  could change the outcome! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Agnes Boström, 112, Swedish supercentenarian, oldest person in Sweden, cardiac arrest. 
• Charles Dumont, 95, French singer and songwriter (“Non, je ne regrette rien“). 
• Colin Petersen, 78, Australian drummer (Bee Gees, Humpy Bong) and actor (Smiley). 
• Colin Chilvers, 79, English music video director (Smooth Criminal) and special effects coordinator (Superman, X-Men). 
• Peter Maddocks, 96, English cartoonist (The Family-Ness, Penny Crayon, Jimbo and the Jet-Set).
• John Prescott, Baron Prescott, 86, British politician, deputy prime minister (1997–2007), first secretary of state (2001–2007), and MP (1970–2010), complications from Alzheimer’s disease. 
• Chuck Woolery, 83, American game show host (Wheel of Fortune, Love Connection)

In Other News

Lauren Laverne has revealed she’s cancer free and would be back presenting BBC’s The One Show on Tuesday. The broadcaster, 46, took to her Instagram with the news alongside a beaming selfie in which she proudly wore a jumper which read: ‘Life is beautiful’. The mother of-two did not reveal the type of cancer she had been diagnosed with but said when announcing the news in August had been picked up ‘unexpectedly’ during a screening test. Now in a lengthy statement she paid tribute to hospital staff and her ‘astounding’ sons and ‘absolutely extraordinary’ husband Greame Fisher. She penned: ‘Well hello there! Just a quick update from me to say that after taking some time off to get better I’ve had the all clear and will be back to work on your TV this Tuesday with the wonderful @bbctheoneshow team. I’ve also been working on some new #DesertIslandDiscs episodes (which will air soon) and am looking forward to returning to @BBC6Music in the New Year’.  She continued: I want to say a huge thank you to the brilliant medical teams who took such great care of me, to the thousands of people who sent me such beautiful and encouraging messages, the friends and acquaintances who took the time to support me after going through cancer themselves, and most of all to my family: my two astounding kids and especially my husband Graeme, who was absolutely extraordinary throughout’.  It’s been a difficult time but one that has taught me so much about what really matters. I can’t say I suddenly regretted never having hiked the Inca Trail, more that I now see more beauty in ordinary things than I could have imagined, and feel more than ever that the small things in life – the connections we make and care we take with each other – are the big things really’.

A prisoner convicted of the 1994 murder of a female hitchhiker is set to become the third person executed by controversial nitrogen gas. Alabama this year began using nitrogen gas to carry out some death sentences, the first use of a new execution method in the United States since lethal injection was introduced in 1982. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen. Critics of the method cite how the first two people executed shook for several minutes. They say the method needs more scrutiny, particularly if other states follow Alabama’s path and adopt it. Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was one of four teenagers convicted of killing Vickie Deblieux, 37, who was hitchhiking through Alabama on her way to her mother’s home in Louisiana. He is scheduled to be executed at 6pm on Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama. Deblieux’s mutilated body was found at the bottom of a bluff near Odenville, Alabama, on Feb. 26, 1994. Prosecutors said Deblieux was hitchhiking from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to her mother’s home in West Monroe, Louisiana, when four teens offered her a ride. Prosecutors said the teens took her to a wooded area and attacked and beat her. They threw her off a cliff and later returned to mutilate her body. A medical examiner testified that Deblieux’s face was so fractured that she was identified by an earlier X-ray of her spine. Her fingers had also been severed. Investigators said the four teens were identified as suspects after one of them showed a friend a severed finger and boasted about the killing. Grayson is the only one of the four facing a death sentence since the other teens were under 18 at the time of the killing. Grayson was 19. Two of the teens were initially sentenced to death but had those sentences set aside when the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of offenders who were younger than 18 at the time of their crimes. Another teen involved in Deblieux’s killing was sentenced to life in prison. Grayson’s final appeals focused on the call for more scrutiny of the new execution method. They argued that the person experiences “conscious suffocation” and that the first two nitrogen executions did not result in swift unconsciousness and death as the state promised. Attorneys for Grayson asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution to give time to weigh the constitutionality of the method. “Given this is the first new execution method used in the United States since lethal injection was first used in 1982, it is appropriate for this Court to reach the issues surrounding this novel method,” Grayson’s attorneys wrote. Lawyers for the Alabama attorney general’s office asked justices to let the execution go forward, saying a lower court found Grayson’s claims speculative. The state lawyers wrote that Alabama’s “nitrogen hypoxia protocol has been successfully used twice, and both times it resulted in a death within a matter of minutes.” 

Thomas E. Kurtz, a mathematician and inventor of the simplified computer programming language known as BASIC, which allowed students to operate early computers and eventually propelled generations into the world of personal computing, died on Tuesday in Lebanon, N.H. He was 96. The cause of his death, in a hospice, was multiple organ failure from sepsis, said Agnes Kurtz, his wife. In the early 1960s, before the days of laptops and smartphones, a computer was the size of a small car and an institution like Dartmouth College, where Dr. Kurtz taught, had just one. Programming one was the province of scientists and mathematicians, specialists who understood the nonintuitive commands used to manipulate data through those hulking machines, which processed data in large batches, an effort that sometimes took days or weeks to complete. Dr. Kurtz and John G. Kemeny, then the chairman of Dartmouth’s math department, believed that students would come to depend on computers and benefit from understanding how to use them. The language was simple. Typing the command “RUN” would start a program. “PRINT” printed a word or string of letters. “STOP” told the program to stop. Students could use other popular languages of the time like Algol and Fortran, but BASIC, which required only two one-hour seminars to master the fundamentals, became the language of choice not only for Dartmouth students but also for students learning programming around the globe. The programming language would provide the intellectual building blocks for later software and is still a fundamental tool in teaching computer programming. One student who later benefited from BASIC was Bill Gates, who used a variation of it as the foundation for the first Microsoft operating systems. Versions of BASIC still empower computer operating systems today. 

On This Day

• 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is killed by Jack Ruby on live television. 
• 1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found.
• 1974 – Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed “Lucy” (after The Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression

Deaths

• 1982 – Barack Obama, Sr., Kenyan economist and academic, father of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States (b. 1936)
• 1991 – Freddie Mercury, Tanzanian-English singer-songwriter, lead vocalist of Queen, and producer (b. 1946).
• 2005 – Pat Morita, American actor (b. 1932).

Spaced Out! 

Have you ever wondered what would happen to your body if you were to die out in space? Researchers have put their brains together to answer the difficult questions regarding the unusual scenario.

NASA are planning another space mission to send humans to the moon within the next seven years, with wilder plans to send people to Mars in the 2030s.

The journey to the red planet will require a long-distance mission and many months in space. Because of this, there’s a need to consider how humans will survive such a long time out in the ether. 

Since the beginning of human spaceflight over 60 years ago, 20 people have died. However, none of these deaths were actually in space and were due to failed launches before leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.

Though NASA hasn’t illustrated set protocols for dealing with a death that happens in space (because they haven’t had to deal with it yet), some of the world’s space researchers have come up with their own hypothesis.

One of the ways someone could die in space is by being exposed to its vacuum without having a suitably pressurised suit to protect them.

Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station, shares his thoughts on what could be the worst possible outcome.

He said: “In the worst case scenario, something happens during a spacewalk. You could suddenly be struck by a micro-meteorite, and there’s nothing you can do about that. It could puncture a hole in your suit, and within a few seconds you’re incapacitated.”

Here comes the gruesome part. You probably thought it was just a dramatic effect for films, but nope. 

Emmanuel Urquieta, professor of space medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, described the horrific death experienced by an astronaut who was exposed to the vacuum, saying that it would become impossible for them to breathe and their blood and other bodily fluids would effectively boil.

According to Popular Science, the unfortunate astronaut’s blood would vaporise, along with the water in their body, in just 10 seconds.

They would lose consciousness in 15 seconds as their body horrifically expanded and their lungs collapsed. They’d be paralysed or more likely dead in 30 seconds, most likely of asphyxiation or decompression.

Then there’s the issue of burial – or lack thereof.

If someone died on Mars, Urquieta explained burial or cremation wouldn’t be possible as they ‘could contaminate the Martian surface’.

He said ‘the crew would likely preserve the body in a specialised body bag until it could be returned to Earth’.

If the astronaut was unlucky enough to die out in space, their body would eventually enter a frozen or mummified state and float through the ether – potentially for millions of years, since there’s no oxygen to prompt decomposition – until it was destroyed by a planet or star, or perhaps heat or radiation.

A cheery thought for a Sunday.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sarah Hyland (34), Colin Hanks (47), Stephen Merchant (50), Conleth Hill (60), Billy Connolly (82), Denise Crosby (67), Dwight Schultz (77), Kayvan Novak (46), Michelle Gomez (58), Miley Cyrus (32), Scarlett Johansson (40), Mads Mikkelsen (59), Jamie Lee Curtis (66), Mark Ruffalo (57), Terry Gilliam (84), Goldie Hawn (79), Alexander Siddig (59), Björk (59), Sean Young (65), Ming-Na Wen (61), Bo Derek (68), Joe Biden (82), Adam Driver (41), Jodie Foster (62), Meg Ryan (63), Terry Farrell (61), Robert Beltran (71), Owen Wilson (56), Linda Evans (82), and Delroy Lindo (72).

Another pointless week, but time is ticking onwards with only a few weeks left to go! I know a few of you are already working on your lists for 2025, but if you are struggling to find inspiration, running through a few older newsletters will help you out.  

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Roy Haynes, 99, American jazz drummer.  
• Song Jae-rim, 39, South Korean actor (The Idle Mermaid, Our Gap-soon, Goodbye Mr. Black) and model. 
• Timothy West, 90, English actor (Hedda, EastEnders) and television presenter (Great Canal Journeys). 
• Shel Talmy, 87, American record producer (“You Really Got Me“, “My Generation“, “Friday on My Mind“), complications from a stroke. 
• Jon Kenny, 66, Irish comedian and actor (The Banshees of Inisherin, Les Misérables, Father Ted). 

In Other News

Davina McCall has announced she is undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour. The TV presenter and Masked Singer judge is having the operation to remove a 14mm benign brain tumour, which she discovered during a recent health scan. She shared the news in an Instagram post on Friday, revealing she had a colloid cyst that affects only three in a million people. In a new video posted to her Instagram account, McCall explained: “A few months ago I did a menopause talk for a company and they offered me a health scan in return, which I thought I was going to ace, but it turned out I had a benign brain tumour called a colloid cyst, which is very rare.” McCall explained that upon learning about the tumour, she put her “head in the sand for a while” but then sought out advice from neurosurgeons and got different opinions. “I realised that I have to get it taken out,” she said. “It’s big for the space – it fills the space. It’s 14mm wide. And it needs to come out because if it grows it would be bad.” The presenter will undergo a craniotomy – a surgical procedure to remove part of the skull to access the brain – to take out the cyst. “Say a prayer for me,” she said. McCall’s partner Michael Douglas then arrived in the video to assure fans he was taking care of her, and that she would be “off the grid” until she recovers. She will be in hospital for nine days in total. “I’m just letting people know that I will have my eye on her throughout the procedure,” said Douglas, before joking, “In fact, I offered to do the operation to make sure it was done properly – but they won’t let me.” McCall remarked they had both “been through a lot” but they remained in good spirits. “I’m going to be off my phone for a while, so Michael might fill you in,” she added. She assured fans that she is in good hands, and that she has total faith in her surgeon and his team. “I’m handing the reins over to my surgeon, he knows what he’s doing and I’m going to do the getting better bit after,” McCall said. “I’ll see you on the other side.” According to the London Neurology Partnership, colloid cysts are small fluid-filled sacs located in or around the lateral and third ventricle of the brain.  

Full House star Dave Coulier has revealed that he has been diagnosed with a “very aggressive” form of stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The 65-year-old actor, who starred as Joey Gladstone on the hit ABC sitcom, shared the news during an appearance on the Today show on Wednesday. Coulier said he first discovered symptoms several months ago when he got a cold and then found a large lump on his groin. “It swelled up immediately,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m either really sick, or my body’s really reacting to something.’” He visited the doctor, who shared the shocking diagnosis with him just five weeks ago. “The first thing I said to them was, ‘Wait a minute – cancer?’” he said. “I was feeling like I got punched in the stomach because it never happens to you. You always hear about it happening to someone else.” Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is a form of cancer that affects the white blood cells, causing them to grow abnormally and can form tumours throughout the body. Stage 3 typically means that the cancer is large and may have spread to surrounding tissues or lymph nodes. Coulier said he started undergoing rounds of chemotherapy two weeks ago. He shared that he has six rounds of chemo every three weeks and is expected to wrap up treatment by February. “You hear chemo, and it scares the daylights out of you,” he said. “The first round was pretty intense because you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you’re going to feel. Is this going to hit me immediately? Is it going to be devastating? Am I going to walk out of here?” Describing treatment as “a bit of a roller coaster,” he said: “There are days where I feel unbelievable. Then there’s other days where… I’m just going to lay down and let this be what it’s going to be. Some days are nauseous and dizzy, and then there’s other days where the steroids kick in, and I feel like I have a ton of energy,” he added. “I actually skated yesterday with some friends here in Detroit. We just went and skated around and shot pucks, and it was wonderful just to be out there doing something that I love and just trying to stay focused on all the great stuff that I have in my life.” Coulier praised his wife, Melissa Bring Coulier, for her support, sharing that she “organised his entire life, from nutrition to the doctor’s appointments to pills.” 

Dolly Parton’s brother, David, has died. Their sister, Stella Parton, paid tribute to him on social media. Stella announced the sad news via Twitter  on Friday, saying her wonderful brother had passed away, adding it’s never easy to lose a loved one, but she knows David is now at peace. The Farrar Funeral Home in White Pine, Tennessee posted his obituary to their website, confirming he passed away peacefully at home. No cause of death was included. While Dolly doesn’t often talk about her family, she has expressed gratitude for their continued support of her career through the years. David was the second-oldest sibling of the 11 Parton kids. His living brothers and sisters include Willadeene, 84, Coy, 81, Dolly, Robert Jr., 76, Stella, Cassie, 73, Freida, 67, and Rachel, 65. He had three other siblings, Randy, Larry and Floyd, who all died before him. It comes just under four years after the death of Randy, at the age of 67, from cancer. Dolly, aged 78, said on behalf of her family at the time: “My brother Randy has lost his battle with cancer. The family and I are grieving his loss but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time.”

On This Day

• 1894 – H. H. Holmes, one of the first modern serial killers, is arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. 
• 1947   – American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th century.
• 2019 – The first known case of COVID-19 is traced to a 55-year-old man who had visited a market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

Deaths

• 1917 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor and illustrator (b. 1840).
• 1940 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and typeface designer (b. 1882).
• 1968 – Mervyn Peake, English poet, author, and illustrator (b. 1911).

Last Words

A war criminal had some chilling final words before he drank poison in court and died by suicide.

It’s not often that you can say that you actually heard someone’s last words, especially in such a setting. But those who were in the room with Slobodan Praljak will never be able to forget.

It was on 29th November 2017 in a United Nations courtroom for an appeal hearing for Praljak’s 20-year jail sentence that he ended his own life.

The ex-commander of Bosnian Croat forces had been sent down for war crimes after being convicted of crimes against humanity in 2013. However, the appeals judge was not going to be lenient on him.  Once the judge confirmed the 72-year-old’s long and hard sentence, he took his own life, right in front of those in attendance, and the cameras.

You can see how he looked moments before he uttered his last words, as he fiddled with a bottle in his hands. Praljak went on to claim that he was innocent and then drank from the small bottle containing potassium cyanide before collapsing.

According to the Flying Monkeys, the former commander of Bosnian Croat military forces shouted for all to hear: “Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. I am rejecting the court ruling.”  He then tipped his head back and quickly drank the liquid.

All of this was streamed live from the court’s website, and anyone could have witnessed him collapsing. Praljak died two hours later in a Dutch hospital, but one questioned remained: How did he manage to get the bottle inside of court?  Nobody actually knows.

In 2018, Dutch prosecutors ended their investigation into Praljak’s suicide after an investigation had been launched into how the war criminal was able get it into the UN courtroom. The Hague Public Prosecution Service concluded in a statement that they could not find out ‘in what way and at what point in time Mr Praljak had obtained the potassium cyanide he used’.

Surveillance footage from court also led to nothing after police and prosecutors reviewed it and interviewed witnesses. The also searched his UN cell and found that there were no criminal offences committed in his bid to die by suicide.

According to reports, Praljak left a handwritten ‘farewell letter’ to his family, which was left in his cell at the UN Detention Unit, where he resided for years while he waited for the outcome of his 1992-95 Bosnian war crimes. It is said to have been written two years before he killed himself. It told his wife and step-children that he didn’t want a funeral, but did want his ashes to be scattered over a cemetery in the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

Prosecutors shared that he wrote ‘that he had already decided to put an end to his life a long time ago, should he be found guilty’.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Martin Scorsese (82), Rachel McAdams (46), Tom Ellis (46), Danny DeVito (80), Sophie Marceau (58), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (66), Kerry Godliman (51), RuPaul (64), Missi Pyle (52), Maggie Gyllenhaal (47), Pete Davidson (31), Martha Plimpton (54), Lisa Bonet (57), Gemma Atkinson (40), Jonny Lee Miller (52), Beverly D’Angelo (73), Olga Kurylenko (45), Sandahl Bergman (73), Paul McGann (65), Whoopi Goldberg (69), Gerard Butler (55), Neil Young (79), Max Grodénchik (72), Wallace Shawn (81), Ryan Gosling (44), Anne Hathaway (42), Calista Flockhart (60), Richard Dormer (55), Stanley Tucci (64), Leonardo DiCaprio (50), and Demi Moore (62).