Another week flies by, more vaguely famous die. No points this week, so I best send out the monkeys.
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Alon Abutbul, 60, Israeli actor (The Dark Knight Rises, London Has Fallen, Rambo III).
- Allan Ahlberg, 87, British children’s author (Burglar Bill, The Jolly Postman).
- Paul Mario Day, 69, English singer (Iron Maiden, More, The Sweet), cancer.
- David Argue, 65, Australian actor (Razorback, Hercules Returns, Gallipoli), cancer.
- Sylvia Young, 86, British theatre teacher, founder of the Sylvia Young Theatre School.
- Edward Zakrzewski, 60, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
- Jeannie Seely, 85, American singer (“Don’t Touch Me“, “I’ll Love You More (Than You Need)“, “Wish I Didn’t Have to Miss You“), intestinal infection.
In Other News
Phil Collins has been hospitalised – but not for a terminal illness. Despite swirling rumours online that sparked concern among fans, the legendary Genesis frontman, 74, is currently recovering from knee surgery and is not in hospice care, his representative told the Flying Monkeys. Any speculation that Collins is in hospice is “completely incorrect,” his rep clarified. The rumours of Collins being admitted to hospice care come after he opened up about his health challenges earlier this year. In February, Collins shared in an interview that he isn’t “hungry” to make new music due to his ongoing health issues – in 2022, the legendary musician revealed he could no longer play the drums because it was too difficult to pick up his drumsticks. “I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens. But I’m not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I’ve been sick. I mean very sick,” Collins said. Collins was forced to step back from drumming back in 2007 when he suffered a serious spinal injury that led to lasting nerve damage. “My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in,” Collins said in 2009.
Jessie J has revealed she has been in hospital with an infection, six weeks after she underwent surgery to treat breast cancer. The 37-year-old musician shared her early-stage cancer diagnosis in April this year and had a mastectomy to remove the disease, followed by breast reconstruction surgery. However, in an update to her followers on Sunday morning she explained she had fallen ill unexpectedly and had spent time hospitalised in the same ward in which she had recovered just weeks earlier. “How I spent the last 24 hours,” she wrote in a caption, alongside a picture of a cannula inserted into her arm. “Six weeks post surgery and I was back in the same ward I was after my surgery,” she said. “Not expected or planned.” She explained: “I had and still have symptoms that pointed towards a blood clot on the lung. IT IS NOT A BLOOD CLOT THANK GOD. But they ran a lot tests, which ended up showing I have an infection (still trying to figure out what) and a little fluid on my lungs.” The “Bang Bang” singer, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, said she is still unwell, but has discharged herself from hospital. “Finding it hard to breathe in, but I discharged myself last night (I hate being in hospital) and will continue the investigation as an outpatient,” she explained. “I know many people who will have gone through this or similar may or may not agree with me on this or not, and that’s OK. But I know for me, the true hard journey of this whole thing physically was the day I went into surgery.” Reflecting on the impact of the recovery process, the musician explained how the illness had impacted her personal life, parenting, and career, in a follow-up post. “The recovering physically is far from quick or easy, and mentally it’s been the most challenging time for me,” she continued. “Especially as a Mum with a toddler and being unable to be the mother I usually am. And having to change the plans for my career for this year has been frustrating after working so hard to get to the point and excited to do it all. But it’s life. I know that. “And don’t get me wrong, getting the all clear was an is incredible, but that result didn’t speed up or make the recovery from the surgery any easier physically.” In her final post she said the emergency had reminded her to “slow down” in future.
President Trump’s mysterious hand bruise has reappeared, but this time, it appeared to be caked in even more makeup. The commander in chief, 79, was snapped by the media while boarding Marine One at the White House ahead of his trip to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, when his off-color hand was noticed. A zoomed-in shot of Trump’s hand appeared to be flaking with a layer of makeup – a shade that did not match his tangerine skin, plastered over the top. One area of his hand buried beneath the concealer looked like an incision or scar of some kind. The mark on his right hand was first noticed months earlier, in February, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. At the time, his right hand appeared yellow and bruised, and it seemed to be covered in concealer. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed a statement she gave to the Flying Monkeys in February: “President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history. “His commitment is unwavering, and he proves that every single day.” Dr Stuart Fischer, an internal medicine physician in New York, told the Flying Monkeys in February that the bruises were concerning. He said that while an “aggressive handshake” may contribute, the president’s age, which naturally weakens his blood vessels, can make bruising more severe. Fischer noted that the president is the second-oldest in US history. Equally, Osteoarthritis – a degenerative joint disease – could also be a cause, the doctor speculated. Ultimately, “I think it’s probably all of those things together,” he said. Plus we have to remember the last few days of The Queen, her hands looked very bruised, but we probably have to put that down to Liz Truss clawing at her before she died.
On This Day
- 1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
- 1958 – The world’s first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.
- 1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers.
Deaths
- 1966 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1925).
- 2011 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (born 1945).
- 2023 – Mark Margolis, American actor (born 1939).
Last Meals
Edward James Zakrzewski II, a Technical Sergeant of the U.S. Air Force first met his South Korean wife Pun Im in 1986 when he was stationed in Montana. After Im became pregnant, Zakrzewski married her, who then adopted the American name Sylvia. The couple went on to have two children together: Kim and Anna. Subsequently, Zakrzewski was stationed in South Korea for three years between 1989 and 1992, and later transferred to the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and his family relocated to Mary Esther in Florida’s Okaloosa County.
According to court documents, Sylvia faced discrimination while in South Korea for being married to an American and having a mixed-race child, and her relationship with her husband was also strained after she moved to the U.S. with him and their children.
By 1994, due to various marital issues, Sylvia planned to divorce her husband, and also wanted to take custody of her two children and take them back to South Korea with her, a matter that she deliberated for some time. Kim informed his father by telephone about this plan while Zakrzewski was in the midst of his work. Purportedly, due to his wife’s intention to divorce him, Zakrzewski was angered, and during his lunch break, he purchased a machete from a local store and took it home. There, he also gathered up a crowbar and rope, hiding the weapons in the bathroom.
During that evening, upon the arrival of his wife and children back home, Zakrzewski first attacked his wife. He struck Sylvia multiple times with the crowbar, then used the rope to strangle her. Afterwards, Zakrzewski targeted his children, and firstly, he called Kim into the bathroom to brush his teeth, before he struck the seven-year-old boy repeatedly with the machete. Next, he summoned his five-year-old daughter, Anna, to brush her teeth and killed her in similar fashion.
Autopsy results showed that both the children had wounds on their arms and hands, which were consistent with defensive wounds; Kim died from severe head, neck, and back injuries while Anna sustained fatal machete wounds as well. Zakrzewski later dragged Sylvia’s body into the bathroom, where he further mutilated her with the machete to ensure she was dead. Sylvia also died from both sharp-force and blunt-force injuries. Furthermore, the medical examiner, Dr. Edward Harvard, found that when Sylvia was strangled with the rope, she was still alive despite sustaining a fractured skull and at least eight machete blows to her back.
After murdering his family, Zakrzewski drove to Orlando and flew to Hawaii, changed his name to Michael Green, and lived with the family of a minister who ran a religious commune; the minister allowed Zakrzewski to stay in a shack in return for performing maintenance work. Meanwhile, during his time on the run, the police discovered the murders, and had charged Zakrzewski in absentia with the murders of his children and wife, after they named him a suspect in the case (as a result of Zakrzewski being listed as AWOL).
Four months later, the Zakrzewski family murders were publicised by American crime documentary series Unsolved Mysteries, and Zakrzewski was also featured on the show, with the authorities seeking information of his whereabouts from the public. Reportedly, the minister recognised Zakrzewski as the alleged killer wanted by the police, and commented to Zakrzewski that the killer resembled him. A day later, Zakrzewski surrendered himself to the police.
Zakrzewski was extradited from Hawaii to Florida to face charges for killing his family. While he was pending trial for murder, Zakrzewski and another inmate attempted to escape from the Okaloosa County Jail in August 1995, but their attempt ultimately failed after the guards caught them trying to get through the prison fence.
On March 19th 1996, before he could officially claim trial, Zakrzewski pleaded guilty to all three counts of murdering his wife and two children in the first degree.
A sentencing trial was subsequently conducted before an Okaloosa County jury, and the prosecution sought the maximum sentence of death for all three counts of first-degree murder, citing that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, while the defence sought life imprisonment on the basis that due to Zakrzewski’s choice of weapons, the family died painlessly and quickly during the attack.
The jury returned with their verdict on sentence, recommending the death penalty twice for Zakrzewski on charges of killing his wife and son, while they settled on a life sentence for the murder of Zakrzewski’s daughter.
On July 1st 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Edward Zakrzewski, scheduling his execution to be carried out by the end of the month.
After losing his final appeal, Zakrzewski was executed via lethal injection at 6:12 p.m. in Florida State Prison on July 31st 2025. He was the ninth person to be executed in Florida in 2025, which thus marked a record year for executions in Florida; the previous highest number was eight in 2014. For his last meal, Zakrzewski ordered fried pork chops, fried onions, potatoes, bacon, toast, root beer, ice cream, pie and coffee. He had one visitor, who was not identified, and did not take advantage of meeting with a spiritual advisor.
In his final statement, Zakrzewski said, “I want to thank the good people of the Sunshine State for killing me in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible. I have no complaint.”
Last Week’s Birthdays
Mamie Gummer (42), Stephen Graham (52), Evangeline Lilly (46), John C. McGinley (66), Martin Sheen (85), Steven Berkoff (88), Sam Worthington (49), John Carroll Lynch (62), Jason Momoa (46), Daisy May Cooper (39), Dean Cain (59), Michael Biehn (69), Wesley Snipes (63), J.K. Rowling (60), Christopher Nolan (55), Arnold Schwarzenegger (78), Laurence Fishburne (64), Hilary Swank (51), Lisa Kudrow (62), Jean Reno (77), Terry Crews (57), Carel Struycken (77), Frances de la Tour (81), Sian Gibson (49), Wil Wheaton (53), Hannah Waddingham (51), Elizabeth Berkley (53), and Anya Chalotra (30).
A very quiet week for celebrity deaths, we will have to release the flying monkeys! 
Gordon Ramsay has revealed he has undergone surgery to remove basal cell carcinoma, a type of non-melanoma skin cancer. The 58-year-old TV chef shared pictures of a stitched-up area below his ear on Instagram on Saturday, telling his followers he was “grateful and so appreciative” of his medical team for their “fast reactive work”. He wrote: “Grateful and so appreciative for the incredible team at The Skin Associates and their fast reactive work on removing this Basal Cell Carcinoma thank you!” The chef reminded fans: “Please don’t forget your sunscreen this weekend,” adding that the stitches were not from any cosmetic procedures. “I promise you it’s not a face lift! I’d need a refund,” he quipped. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common type of skin cancer that starts in the top layer of skin, and can often be easily treated. According to the NHS, the main cause is ultraviolet light, which comes from the sun and is used in sun-beds. Risk can be increased by age, having pale skin and having had a history of skin cancer in the past. Basal cell carcinomas can occur anywhere on the body, but most commonly grow in areas that are exposed to the sun, including the face, head, neck, and ears. It can be removed surgically before a biopsy is performed for the results to be examined. 
Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome has undergone “successful” surgery after a serious training accident in France that left him with a fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung and five broken ribs. Froome, 40, crashed while on a training ride on Wednesday and was airlifted to hospital in Toulon, around 100 miles from his home in Monaco. A statement from his Israel Premier-Tech team said: “We can confirm that Chris has successfully undergone surgery following his recent injuries. The procedures went as planned, and Chris is currently recovering in hospital under the care of his medical team. “He is in good spirits and grateful for the excellent medical support he has received. Chris and his family would like to thank fans, friends, and the cycling community for their concern and kind messages during this time.” Froome’s injuries will end his season and could therefore mean the end of one of the most successful Grand Tour careers in cycling’s history, with Froome in the final months of the five-year contract he signed when he left the Ineos Grenadiers to join Israel Premier-Tech ahead of the 2021 campaign. Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, also winning the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a Espana in both 2011 and 2017 – all with Team Sky. However, Froome has never recovered the form he enjoyed before a serious crash he suffered during the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine, which left him in intensive care with a fractured femur, elbow, ribs and pelvis. 
Madness star Chris Foreman has revealed he has incurable cancer in a heartbreaking post to fans. The ’80s pop legend wrote about his shock diagnosis on the Madness Facebook page. The 69-year-old guitarist and backing vocalist said his first symptom was “severe pain” across his upper back and shoulders that became “unbearable”. He went for checks in June and was told he had myeloma, an incurable blood cancer that occurs in the bone marrow. Known to Madness fans as Chrissy Boy, explained they found a tumour on his spine, writing: “Earlier this year I had severe pain in my upper back and shoulders. On the 28th of June we played a show in France and it had become unbearable. I had an MRI scan at the end of June and they found a tumour on my spine. On the 4th of July I went to the Royal Sussex and had all sorts of stuff done to me. I had radiotherapy which blasted it and stopped the pain. I actually had a Spinal Tap too – rock n roll! I wasn’t in good shape, to say the least. My kidneys were only at 14% function, which has greatly improved since then.” Despite the diagnosis, he ended on a positive note, telling fans: “What I’ve got is a form of cancer called myeloma. It’s treatable but not curable. When I get it into remission (I will!) I should be able to get back to normal life.” He’s hoping to be well enough to perform again next year, and thanked his tour crew and family for their unwavering support. He’s also adopted a healthier lifestyle – ditching booze in favour of non alcoholic Margaritas. He added: “Some people have had this for 20 years or more. I have a long way to go before I get back onstage but I aim to be back next year. The band, my family, my road crew family and my management team have all been very loving and supportive. One of the worst side effects is that I can’t drink alcohol but I’ve mastered a non alcoholic Margarita and those Zero alcohol beers ain’t too bad these days.”
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