Another week of relative unknowns passing away. I’ll have to release the Flying Monkeys!
Look Who You Could Have Had:
- Jochen Mass, 78, German racing driver (Formula One), complications from a stroke.
- James Foley, 71, American film director (Glengarry Glen Ross, Who’s That Girl, Fifty Shades Darker), brain cancer.
- Simon Mann, 72, British mercenary, heart attack
- Rosanna Norton, 80, American costume designer (Tron, Carrie, Airplane!), cancer.
- Greg Cannom, 73, American makeup artist (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), four-time Oscar winner.
- Sir Tom Farmer, 84, British car servicing executive, founder and CEO of Kwik-Fit.
In Other News
Former Coronation Street legend Charlie Lawson has gave a health update after he was rushed to hospital earlier this week. The 65-year-old actor revealed he was sent to A&E after suffering two falls. Giving an update from his hospital bed, the former ITV soap star, who is best known for having played Jim McDonald, took to social media to give fans a debrief. Charlie explained he was undergoing examinations after falling twice. The actor had an MRI scan and was waiting on more results. Now, after being initially sent home, Charlie is back in the hospital and shared an update with his followers. On Twitter, he said: “Well hello folks, from a rather, erm, well I’m not sure what it’s doing outside. It was rather nice when I came in, but here I am again in special day care in Macclesfield hospital waiting to see an osteopath and hopefully getting a transfer to Salford Royal to the spinal unit. That’s the plan, but I was talking to you last time from the same cubicle and I ended up back at home at half ten at night so we shall wait and see.” He then told followers he is “fine” before saying he “simply can’t walk properly”. “I’m in great pain,” he added. “I can’t stand on my tip toes now so, yeah, this is very comfortable but if I stand up I just fall over so there’s something seriously gone wrong, so i’ll keep you posted. Cheerio now!” He captioned the upload: “Encore une fois!!!,” which translates to one more time. Earlier in the week, Charlie told followers: “Hi folks, went to physio this morning and she sent me straight to A&E, which I did. They examined me. I have an MRI scan and I’m sitting waiting for the results. They’ve whisked me back in for more examinations so it’s not going awfully well at the moment. Anyway, I’ll keep you updated. They put a wristband on me and all sorts of craic. I’ve fallen over twice, so something going wrong down there.” Charlie first made his debut on the Street back in 1989 in his role as Jim, the patriarch of the McDonald family. He remained in the role for over a decade before making his exit in 2000, 11 years on.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark has been hospitalised after contracting a cold, the royal household has revealed. The 85-year-old, who abdicated in January in favour of her son, King Frederick X, was admitted to Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. The royal, a third cousin of Queen Elizabeth, is in hospital for observation as a precautionary measure. She has also cleared her schedule of upcoming engagements, including yesterday’s visit to the Sankt Lukas Foundation’s 125th anniversary celebration. ‘HM Queen Margrethe admitted to Rigshospitalet,’ the palace wrote, adding, ‘As a result of the cold that H.M. Queen Margrethe has contracted, it has been decided that the Queen will be admitted to Rigshospitalet for observation as a precaution. Her Majesty, known for her chain-smoking and love of dachshunds, was last seen on Sunday during a church service in connection with the 80th anniversary of Denmark’s liberation. Despite resigning in 2023, the monarch remains active and performs royal duties alongside her son. Margrethe shocked the nation with the announcement of her abdication during her New Year’s Eve live television segment. She said one of the reasons why she chose to give up the throne was because of her health issues, adding that she underwent surgery for her back in February 2023. Margrethe said: ‘It went well, thanks to the skilled healthcare staff who took care of me. Of course, the operation also gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation.’ She is still known as Her Majesty Queen Margrethe and can fill in as regent if King Frederik, Queen Mary and Crown Prince Christian are abroad, ill or on holiday.
Japan’s Emperor Emeritus Akihito will undergo heart tests at a hospital after an unspecified problem was detected during a routine checkup. The Imperial Household Agency did not answer calls to its office to confirm reports by the Flying Monkeys and several other Japanese media. Akihito, 91, who is retired, is the father of Emperor Naruhito. He abdicated from the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Akihito will be hospitalised, starting Tuesday, at the University of Tokyo Hospital. Other details were not immediately available. Akihito had heart bypass surgery in 2012. Akihito ascended to the throne after his father, Hirohito, died in 1989. No other emperor has abdicated in modern Japanese history. But Akihito has broken with other imperial traditions. He was the first emperor to marry a commoner, Empress Michiko.
On This Day
- 868 – A copy of the Diamond Sūtra is published, making it the earliest dated and printed book known.
- 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons.
- 1985 – Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
- 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
Deaths
- 1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman, founded the Cadbury Company (b. 1801).
- 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945).
- 1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created Dick Tracy (b. 1900).
- 2001 – Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1952).
- 2024 – Susan Backlinie, American actress and stuntwoman (b. 1946).
The ‘Worst Death in History’
History is, sadly, replete with examples of man’s cruelty towards his fellow man.
From modern-day terrorist attacks to medieval torture methods, we are constantly reminded of humankind’s propensity towards inflicting pain on others.
And yet, when it comes to the worst, or “cruellest”, death in history, one man is widely regarded as the unfortunate chart-topper, based on the sheer horror of the range of abuses he endured.
György Dózsa was a Hungarian revolutionary, born in 1470, who came to lead a peasants revolt against the country’s nobility.
He and his fellow rebels successfully killed thousands of members of the ruling classes – burning their manor houses to the ground and seizing the fortresses of Arad, Lippa, and Világos – before they were finally defeated by Hungary’s governing forces.
Dózsa was taken prisoner in July, 1514, and, according to historian Paul Freedman, of Yale University, subsequently executed in a manner “so stunningly barbarous that across Europe contemporaries, inured though they were to gruesome public spectacles, took notice.”
Freedman notes that Dózsa was forced to sit on an iron throne, which was then heated up, while a red-hot iron crown was placed on his head in a “mock coronation ceremony”.
“Still alive, the partially roasted Dózsa was then removed from the throne and his followers, who had been starved for this purpose, were forced to eat his flesh.”
What remained of the 44-year-old was then quartered and “sent around Hungary for display”.
Other accounts offer further gruesome details, with The Legends of Hungary Youtube channel claiming that “while he was still alive, Dózsa’s soldiers were forced to tear his naked body apart with their own teeth”.
Then, before he succumbed to this hellish end, he was forced to witness as his younger brother Gergely was cut into three parts and hung on the gallows.
Suffice it to say, it’s no wonder Dózsa’s death has been branded the “cruellest of all time,” however arbitrary such a title may be.
Last Week’s Birthdays
Tim Blake Nelson (61), Holly Valance (42), Jadyn Wong (40), Meg Foster (77), Bono (65), Rosario Dawson (46), Grace Gummer (39), Billy Joel (76), Stephen Amell (44), David Attenborough (99), Vicky McClure (42), Alexander Ludwig (33), MrBeast (27), Richard O’Sullivan (81), George Clooney (64), Adrianne Palicki (42), Henry Cavill (42), Lance Henriksen (85), John Rhys-Davies (81), Richard E. Grant (68), Zach McGowan (45), Michael Palin (82), and Marc Alaimo (83).
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