This year has been rather exceptional with the coronavirus picking off celebrities of all ages. However, it doesn’t seem as deadly as 2016, where it felt like anyone who wasn’t listed were dying just to spite us; I’m thinking of you David Bowie!!!  

Anyhow, we have a winner to declare! Congratulations to Louise for topping the table with 467 points from 4 deaths. If you could send me your contact details I can send off the trophy to you! Honourable mentions go to Laura for the most deaths (7) and to Stu and myself for not scoring a bean throughout the year. Well done all of you! 

Right, let’s have a quick look at who we lost in 2020. 

January:

• Derek Acorah – The self-styled spiritual medium, whose real name was Derek Johnson, died right at the beginning of the year aged 69. It was revealed he had been treated in intensive care following a “brief illness”. So far he’s refused to contact the living world since his departure.  
• Terry Jones – The Welsh actor and Monty Python star passed away aged 77. His family said he died at his home in London after battling a rare form of dementia. In a statement, the actor’s family said: “His work with Monty Python, his books, films, television programmes, poems and other work will live on forever, a fitting legacy to a true polymath.” 
• Kobe Bryant – The basketball legend and his 13-year-old daughter died in a helicopter crash that killed nine people in total. The five-time NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist was 41. 
• Nicholas Parsons – The Just a Minute host died aged 96 after a short illness. He was best known for the show, where panellists have to speak for one minute without hesitation, deviation, or repetition. He first fronted the show on its inception in 1967. BBC director general Tony Hall said: “Very few people have done so much to entertain audiences over the decades and no-one deserves to be called a broadcasting legend more than Nicholas Parsons. 

February:

• Kirk Douglas – The actor died at the age of 103. The venerated star, patriarch of an acting dynasty was one of the few remaining survivors of Hollywood’s golden age, was best known for films including Spartacus, Paths of Glory and The Vikings. His eldest son, Michael Douglas, a two-time Oscar-winner, announced his father’s death with a touching tribute that failed to address his aggressive and murderous personality and the likelihood he was a paedo rapist. 
• Caroline Flack – The former Love Island TV presenter and Strictly Come Dancing winner was found dead at the age of 40 at her London home after taking her own life. Flack, who was described as “vulnerable” by her management, had pleaded not guilty to assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton at her former flat. Her death came just weeks before the trial was due to begin. 
• Dieter Laser – The German actor who played sadistic surgeon Josef Heiter in 2009 shock horror film The Human Centipede. He died at the age of 78, with The Human Centipede director Tom Six describing him as a “force of nature, an unique human being and an iconic actor”. 

March:

• Max von Sydow – Swedish actor Max von Sydow died at home in France aged 90. He’s mostly lnown for his roles in Flash Gordon, Game Of Thrones, The Exorcist and The Seventh Seal. He once said of his most famous role “The film you hear about the most is The Exorcist. When people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, you scared me!’ I was the good guy in that film!” 
• Michel Roux – Chef Michel Roux died aged 79. He opened the first Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Gavroche, in Britain in the ’70s alongside his brother Albert. 
• Roy Hudd – Comedian and actor Roy Hudd died at the age of 83 after a short illness. His agent said he had passed away peacefully with his wife Debbie at his side. Hudd was born in Croydon and started his career as a messenger for an advertising agency, window dresser and a commercial artist before his professional debut in 1957.  
• Kenny Rogers – The Country music legend with a career that spanned six decades, with hits including Coward Of The County, The Gambler and Islands In The Stream, with Dolly Parton. The Houston-born singer, known for his trademark husky voice and silver beard, broke through into the world of pop to sell more than 100 million records. He also gained fame as an actor, starring in TV movies based on The Gambler and other songs, making him a superstar in the 1970s and 80s. He died peacefully in a hospice, surrounded by family, aged 81.

April:

• Eddie Large – Comedian Eddie Large died at the age of 78 after contracting coronavirus while in hospital. The comedian, famous for his double act with Syd Little, had a long-running comedy sketch show on BBC One in the 1970s and 1980s. 
• Lord Bath – Lord Bath of Longleat was 87 when he died after testing positive for coronavirus. The “gloriously” eccentric Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, ran Longleat Safari Park. The flamboyant aristocrat was known for his colourful dress sense and was a regular feature of the Animal Park television show about his estate.  
• Honor Blackman – Actress Honor Blackman, best-known for playing Pussy Galore, died at the age of 94. She died peacefully of natural causes at home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family. Her numerous and varied roles included Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. 
• Sir Stirling Moss – The motor racing great died at the age of 90 following a long illness. His wife Lady Moss said: “It was one lap too many. He just closed his eyes.” Though Moss famously never won the Formula One title, he finished runner-up four times and came third three times in a career during which he won 16 Grands Prix. 
• Tim Brooke-Taylor – The Goodies star died aged 79 after contracting coronavirus. The actor, best known as part of the 1970s comic trio, was survived by his wife Christine. Alongside Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, The Goodies TV show attracted millions of viewers in its heyday. 
• Bill Withers – Famous for timeless classics including Lean On Me, Lovely Day, Just The Two Of Us and Ain’t No Sunshine. His death from heart complications at the age of 81. 

May:

• Little Richard – Sir Mick Jagger led tributes to Rock ‘n’ Roll singer Little Richard following his death at the age of 87. Little Richard, who inspired musicians including The Beatles, David Bowie and Sir Elton John, was a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer and renowned for hits such as Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally. 
• Florian Schneider – Co-founded Kraftwerk alongside Ralf Hutter in 1970 after meeting as students in Dusseldorf. The band’s pioneering use of drum machines and synthesisers influenced countless musicians who came after them. Schneider died after a short cancer disease just a few days after his 73rd birthday.
• Roy Horn – Best known as part of the Las Vegas performing duo of Siegfried & Roy, who were world renowned for their shows involving white lions and tigers, alongside Siegfried Fischbacher. However, the act unravelled in October 2003 when a tiger named Mantecore mauled him during a live performance, severing his spine and inflicting several other injuries, permanently affecting his ability to move, walk and speak. Horn died at the age of 75 after contracting coronavirus. 

June:

• Willie Thorne – The snooker legend died in hospital in Spain after a short battle with leukaemia. He was 66. He had been in an induced coma in the intensive care ward at Torrevieja Hospital, Spain, after suffering respiratory failure. Thorne was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier in the year and had several health issues while undergoing chemotherapy treatment. 
• Dame Vera Lynn – Forces’ Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn died at the age of 103. A statement said: ”The family are deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers at the age of 103.‘’  
• Ian Holm – The Lord Of The Rings star was remembered as “charming, kind and ferociously talented”, following his death at the age of 88. The actor, who was acclaimed for his roles in Chariots Of Fire, Alien and Brazil, was also a prolific and accomplished star of the Royal Shakespeare Company and was described as Harold Pinter’s favourite actor. He died peacefully in hospital after a Parkinson’s-related illness, with his family and carer at his bedside.

July:

• Ennio Morricone – The legendary movie composer died at the age of 91 after breaking his hip in a fall. The Italian composer created music for more than 400 films, but was best-known for the soundtrack to 1966 Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Morricone was rated as one of the world’s most influential composers after writing scores for cinema – including 70 award-winning films – television and 100 classical works. 
• Jack Charlton – The former Leeds and England defender who won a World Cup winner’s medal in 1966, died in July. He was 85. Charlton had been diagnosed with lymphoma in the last year and was also battling dementia. He spent his entire 21-year playing career at Leeds, making a joint club record 773 appearances, before retiring as a player in 1973 and going on to enjoy a successful and colourful career as a manager.  
• Kelly Preston – the wife of John Travolta, died aged 57 after battling breast cancer for two years. The actress starred in films such as Mischief, Twins and Jerry Maguire. Alongside a photograph of her, Travolta announced her death saying: “It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer. She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.“ The couple had been married for nearly 30 years. Their son, Jett, died at the age of just 16 after suffering a seizure during a family holiday in the Bahamas in 2009. 
• Naya Rivera – Tributes were paid to the former Glee star, after her death was confirmed at the age of 33. The actress went missing during a boating trip at Lake Piru in Southern California with her four-year-old son, Josey Hollis, and her body was found days later. Demi Lovato, who played Rivera’s on-screen girlfriend on the show, said she will “forever cherish” starring alongside her. 
• Dame Olivia de Havilland – The two-time Oscar winner and for decades the last surviving star of Gone With the Wind, died at the age of 104. The actress died of natural causes at her residence in Paris, where she had lived for more than six decades. She emerged as a star during the classic movie era – first as a romantic partner for Errol Flynn in swashbucklers such as Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood and then as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in Gone With the Wind. 

August:

• Chadwick Boseman – The actor, best known for playing superhero Black Panther, died at the age of 43 after a battle with cancer. In an announcement that stunned Hollywood, Boseman’s family said he had been diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago and died surrounded by his loved ones, including wife Taylor Simone Ledward. He never discussed the illness publicly and films including Black Panther, Da 5 Bloods and Avengers: Endgame were all filmed “during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy,” the family said. 

September:

• Dame Diana Rigg – The actress, known for roles from The Avengers to Games of Thrones, died at the age of 82. Her daughter Rachael Stirling said: “My Beloved Ma died peacefully in her sleep, at home, surrounded by family. She died of cancer diagnosed in March, and spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession. I will miss her beyond words.”  
• Jackie Stallone – The mother of Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone, died at the age of 98. The famous celebrity astrologer and women’s wrestling promoter had a memorable – although brief – stint in the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2005. A surprise contestant, Stallone entered much to the shock of co-housemate and former daughter-in-law Brigitte Nielsen, with whom she had a frosty relationship. 
• Michael Lonsdale – Best known for his role as James Bond villain Hugo Drax in 1979’s Moonraker, Lonsdale made more than 100 films and performed on stage in a career in entertainment that spanned 60 years. Lonsdale died peacefully at his home in Paris, aged 89, with his agent of 20 years saying it was simply old age. “His spirit was alive but his body was tired,” he said.

October:

• Eddie Van Halen – The world of rock and roll mourned the “Mozart for guitar” Eddie Van Halen following his death at the age of 65. The revered guitarist was Van Halen’s creative force as they blurred the line between hard rock and heavy metal on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world in the 1980s. Van Halen died after a “long and arduous” battle with cancer.  
• Frank Bough – The former TV presenter died at the age 87. A family friend told the BBC Bough died in a care home. Bough was one of the best-known TV hosts in the 1970s and 1980s and was part of the launch of the BBC’s Breakfast TV show in 1983. His career with the BBC ended in 1988 when he was sacked over a sex-related scandal. 
• Bobby Ball – The 76-year-old comedian died of coronavirus in hospital. One half of the duo Cannon & Ball, Bobby’s death was confirmed by his manager and wife Yvonne said: “I will always miss him, he was so joyful, full of fun and mischievous.” The Cannon and Ball Show ran for nine years from 1979 and in more recent times they found success on the panto circuit and cameos on TV. 
• Sean Connery – The film star, most famous for playing James Bond, passed away at the age of 90. Sean, who played 007 in the likes of Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, won an Oscar in 1988 when he was named best supporting actor for his role as an Irish cop in The Untouchables and also starred in films like The Rock and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. 
• Johnny Nash – Best known for the 1970s reggae hit I Can See Clearly Now, which sold more than a million copies and sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for four weeks. He largely dropped out of the spotlight in the late 1980s. He died of natural causes, aged 80, his son said. 

November:

• John Sessions – The actor and comedian died at the age of 67 after suffering a heart attack. He was best known for his work on Spitting Image and Whose Line Is It Anyway? 
• Des O’Connor – The much loved entertainer died at the age of 88. The TV legend passed away in hospital a week after suffering a fall in his Buckinghamshire home. He will be best remembered for shows such as Take Your Pick, Countdown, The Des O’Connor Show and Today with Des and Mel. The presenter was also a singer and recorded 36 albums as a singer, five of which made it to the UK Top 40. 
• Geoffrey Palmer – The actor, known for his roles in such sitcoms as Butterflies, As Time Goes By and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, died aged 93. Versatile and prolific, he was known and loved for his hangdog expression and the often testy demeanour he gave to his characters. 
• Ray Clemence – Former Liverpool, Tottenham and England goalkeeper Ray Clemence was hailed as a “true legend” and “a giant of a man” after his death at the age of 72. Clemence, who won three European Cups and five First Division titles during a trophy-laden spell at Anfield, was without question one of the greatest of his generation. 
• Diego Maradona – The Argentinian football legend famous for his Hand of God, died aged 60. He was regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time and helped Argentina win the World Cup in 1986, the pinnacle of an illustrious career. 
• David Prowse – The British actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, died aged 85. The weightlifter-turned-actor, who also earned an MBE for playing the Green Cross Code Man to promote road safety, died after a short illness. Prowse won the role playing Vader due to his impressive 6ft 6in physique, but with his West Country accent deemed not quite suitable, the part was instead voiced by James Earl Jones. 

December:

• Peter Alliss – The “voice of golf” died at the age of 89 after a successful playing career where he won more than 20 tournaments during and played on eight Ryder Cup teams. His move into broadcasting came about after he was overheard by the BBC’s Ray Lakeland talking to a friend on a flight back from a tournament in Ireland in 1960. 
• Dame Barbara Windsor – Babs died aged 83 in a care home. Best known for her roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, she was considered a national treasure in the UK after finding fame as a buxom blonde in the Carry On films. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014, she made the news public in 2018. Her husband Scott Mitchell said her final weeks were “typical of how she lived her life” and “full of humour, drama and a fighting spirit until the end”. 
• John le Carré – Cold War espionage author David Cornwell, known by his pen name John le Carré, died aged 89 after a battle with pneumonia. Among his 25 novels were acclaimed best-sellers including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and The Night Manager. His most well-known character was the career intelligence officer George Smiley – made even more famous by Alec Guinness in the TV series of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 
• Eileen Pollock – Was a star of stage and screen who appeared in films including Far And Away in 1992, alongside Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, and Angela’s Ashes in 1999. But she was best known for playing “tart” Lilo Lill, mistress of Freddie Boswell, in Bread, the TV comedy that centred around the working class Boswell family in Liverpool, which ran from 1986 to 1991. She died peacefully in her sleep at home in London, aged 73.

Here we are again, the last newsletter of the year. Comes around so quickly!! With just a few days to go, anything could happen! I’ve already had about a dozen 2021 lists and they’re all fantastic! You will have to think deeply if you haven’t submitted yours already. 

Just so you know, the winner will be declared on Friday 1st January, which will also be the day I’ll send out the 2020 review, a copy of everyone else’s list and a new email address list if you want to send the group a klaxon for instance. 

Donations to keep us running will be the same as usual, PayPal page on the website. The page will be opened on 1st January for four weeks, and as always, you’re not obliged to contribute as 2020 has been a shit year for all of us. But if you think a years worth of newsletters, a trophy, a few giggles and a cool website is worth a couple of quid, your contribution will be thankfully received; running costs for 2021 will be roughly £140, about the price of a pint each if we have our usual numbers taking part, although that usually ends up being the price of a night out and a taxi for me to make up the shortfall. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Pelle Alsing, 60, Swedish drummer (Roxette).  
• Rosalind Knight, 87, British actress (Carry On, Tom Jones, Gimme Gimme Gimme). 
• Eileen Pollock, 73, Northern Irish actress (Bread, Far and Away, Angela’s Ashes).  
• Margaret Tebbit, Lady Tebbit, 86, English nurse. 
• K. T. Oslin, 78, American country singer-songwriter (“80’s Ladies“, “Do Ya“, “I’ll Always Come Back“). 
• Stella Tennant, 50, British model.  
• James E. Gunn, 97, American science fiction author (The Road to Science Fiction, Star Bridge, The Listeners).  
• Rebecca Luker, 59, American actress (Mary Poppins, Show Boat, Not Fade Away), complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  
• Kay Purcell, 57, English actress (Emmerdale, Tracy Beaker Returns, Waterloo Road), liver cancer. 
• Brodie Lee, 41, American professional wrestler (AEW, WWE, ROH), lung disease.

In Other News

In a candid recent interview comedy legend  Billy Connolly confessed he feels close to death, and thinks about it “quite a lot”. Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013, “I don’t think I’ve got that long”, he said to us. “I don’t want to be a comedian you feel sorry for”, said the performer who has chosen to remain off the stage as he doesn’t feel comfortable with the symptoms of the disease showing. “There’s an American boy who says, ‘Shaking is the new cool.’ He’s got it on a T-shirt. And bless him, but I don’t want to do it,” said Connolly. In 2019, the Glaswegian comic announced his poignant, provocative last tour The Sex Life of Bandages, in which he joked about the disease “Drooling has taken over my life,” he mused. “It’s so unattractive.” The Sydney Opera House date of the final tour was released as a film. Connolly explained how his condition is getting worse. “Nothing’s working,” he said, revealing that his condition is affecting his mood. “I’m having a bit of a sad time”. The comic has tried alternative treatments to curb symptoms of the brain disorder, which causes shaking, stiffness, affects balance and causes difficulty walking. Some research suggests Cannabis helps: “but I get bombed out of my head”, said Connolly on trying the remedy in Florida, where he now lives and there is a Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act. “I don’t like it. My daughter bought me cigarettes with CBD. It helped a little, but not enough to write home about.” Voted “most influential comedian of all time” in a 2012 poll, the comic also received a special recognition National Television Award in 2016, and was knighted in 2017.   

Tom Parker, 32, has shared on Instagram that since beginning radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment, he has been suffering from “bad” memory loss. The Wanted singer explained how the brutal hospital sessions have left him forgetting what he has “just done” throughout the day. Tom said: “As some of you know, I have been through chemo and radio, haven’t I? “Which was pretty god-damn brutal, but some of the side effects from the chemo and radio are you get bad memory loss.” He then asked his wife Kelsey Harwick: “Mine was already bad, wasn’t it? His spouse responded: “Horrendous already, so now I’m like… literally, it’s even worse!” Tom elaborated that he struggled to remember daily activities, but would sometimes recall “weird” things, such as a present he bought for his daughter Aurelia. He continued: “But it’s the weirdest thing because like, I’ll go to her [Kelsey], ‘What did I just do?’ But I can remember stuff like this…” Tom is best known for being in boyband The Wanted, who achieved fame in the early 2010s with singles including All Time Low and Glad You Came. 

Australian golfer Greg Norman is in hospital after suffering from coronavirus. The 65-year-old, who won two Open championships in 1986 and 1993, confirmed  on his Instagram page that he had been admitted to hospital on Christmas Day due to contracting Covid-19. The former professional golfer posted a picture from his hospital bed, along with a second image of a doctor standing behind a protective screen that showed Norman in isolation from other patients. Norman added: “This sums it all up. My Christmas Day. On behalf of millions, fuck CoVid. This get this shit behind us never to experience it again.” Several golfers sent their best wishes to Norman, with British trio Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter among those to wish the Australian golfing great a “speedy recovery”. Norman, who earned the nickname The Great White Shark, spent more than 300 weeks at the top of the world golf rankings, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.  

Johnny Ruffo recently announced the heartbreaking news his brain cancer had returned after he experienced “an unexpected week of seizures and excruciating headaches.” The 32 year old former Home And Away actor kicks off another round of chemotherapy over the festive season. The actor and talented singer first battled the illness in 2017, and had since been given the all clear after brain surgery and multiple rounds of chemotherapy. Johnny wrote on social media “After an unexpected week of seizures and excruciating headaches it is with a heavy heart that i have to let you know i now have another huge battle ahead of me as my brain cancer has returned,”. He added: “though i will dig deep and beat this s*hit disease again #f***cancer.” The former X factor Australia’s doctors had actually discovered his first tumour by chance when he headed to hospital suffering from migraines. At the time, the star underwent life-saving surgery to have the 7cm tumour removed before undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 

On This Day

• 537 – The construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is completed. 
• 1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.  
• 1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.  
• 1939 – The 7.8 M_w  Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.  
• 2007 – Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.

Deaths

• 1923 – Gustave Eiffel, French architect, co-designed the Eiffel Tower (b. 1832)  
• 1958 – Harry Warner, Polish-American film producer, co-founded Warner Bros. (b. 1881)  
• 1982 – Jack Swigert, American pilot, astronaut, and politician (b. 1931)  
• 1994 – Fanny Cradock, English author and critic (b. 1909)  
• 2003 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934)  
• 2007 – Benazir Bhutto, 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1953) 
• 2012 – Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., American general and engineer (b. 1934)  
• 2016 – Carrie Fisher, American actress, screenwriter, author and producer (b. 1956)

Last Female on Death Row?

A ruling by a federal judge to delay the execution of the only woman on federal death row could push the new date into the early days of the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he would work to end federal capital punishment. The woman, Lisa Montgomery, had been scheduled to be executed the 8th of December, but that date was delayed after two of her lawyers tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after travelling to a federal prison in Texas to visit her in November. Should Montgomery’s life be spared as a result of the series of delays caused by the infection of her lawyers, it would be a rare reprieve for a prisoner from a virus that has swept through prisons, infecting inmates crammed into shared spaces.

But if the Department of Justice appeals the decision, a higher court would most likely overturn it. Since the Supreme Court paved the way for federal executions to proceed in June after a 17-year hiatus, the justices have been largely unreceptive to requests for reprieve from federal inmates scheduled for execution. The Justice Department had rescheduled her execution for January 12th, but Judge Randolph Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Thursday that the January execution date had been unlawfully rescheduled because a stay order, which was issued because of her lawyers’ illnesses, was still in effect. 

Montgomery, of Melvern, Kansas, was convicted in 2008 of killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was 23 years old and eight months pregnant at the time, and cutting a baby from her abdomen. She tried to pass off Stinnett’s baby as her own before admitting to the crime. A jury convicted her of kidnapping resulting in death in federal court in Missouri.

Montgomery’s lawyers have said that she has severe mental illness, which was inherited from both of her parents and worsened by the abuse she endured as a child, including being sex-trafficked by her mother and gang-raped by men. 

Federal execution rules state that a prisoner will receive notice of his or her execution date at least 20 days in advance. However, when the rescheduled date is fewer than 20 days from the earlier execution date, the prisoner must be notified only “as soon as possible.” The stay in Montgomery’s case barred the government from executing her before December 31st. How long the government will wait to execute her after that point remains unclear. Once Biden is sworn in on January 20th, the chances of Montgomery’s execution become increasingly unlikely. Representatives for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he would intervene in Montgomery’s case should her execution fall under his purview. A spokesperson for the president-elect told us that Biden “opposes the death penalty now and in the future.”

If Montgomery is executed, it would be the first federal execution of a woman since 1953, when Bonnie Heady was killed in a gas chamber for the kidnapping and murder of a 6-year-old boy in Kansas City, Missouri. The Trump administration resumed federal executions in July for the first time since 2003.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Timothée Chalamet (25), Wilson Cruz (47), Gérard Depardieu (72), John Amos (81), Maryam d’Abo (60), Jared Leto (49), Kit Harington (34), Temuera Morrison (60), Shane Meadows (48), Phil Spector (81), Sissy Spacek (71), Helena Christensen (52), Annie Lennox (66), Nadiya Hussain (36), Anil Kapoor (64), Ricky Martin (49), Finn Wolfhard (18), Harry Shearer (77), Carla Bruni (53), Ralph Fiennes (58), Vanessa Paradis (48), Samuel L. Jackson (72), Jane Fonda (83), Kiefer Sutherland (54), Steven Yeun (37), Julie Delpy (51), and Michael Horse (71).

Afternoon all. Now that Christmas has been cancelled you have even more time to think  about your list for 2021. Remember, you need to choose 13 names altogether; 1 Dead Cert,  1 Woman, and 1 Maverick (anyone under 50yo not expected to die). The rules can be seen if you click on this link. You can e-mail your submissions to mail@thedeadpool.rip With only 11 days to go, you better get your thinking caps on. Between eating sprouts and crying about not seeing your much despised siblings, the time will soon fly by. Tell all your friends if you have any!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Ann Reinking, 71, American choreographer and actress (Chicago, Fosse, Annie). 
• John le Carré, 89, British author (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager, The Little Drummer Girl), pneumonia.  
• Gérard Houllier, 73, French football manager (Liverpool, Lyon, national team), complications from heart surgery.  
• Jeremy Bulloch, 75, English actor (Star Wars, The Spy Who Loved Me, Mary, Queen of Scots).  
• Donato Bilancia, 69, Italian serial killer, COVID-19.

In Other News

Jeff Bridges has given fans an update on his health while he undergoes treatment for cancer. The 71-year-old actor revealed he had been diagnosed with Lymphoma in October. “Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good,” he wrote in a statement shared on Instagram. “I’m starting treatment and will keep you posted on my recovery,” he added. Now, Bridges has revealed that his treatment is progressing well and that he has shaved his head and bought a new puppy. On Monday, the Big Lebowski star uploaded a photograph of himself reclining on a chair on what appears to be the balcony of a beachfront flat. Dressed in a zip-up jumper, Bridges is pictured with a towel on his chest while his puppy lies on top. “Here’s the latest,” he wrote in the caption before listing a series of bullet points. “Feeling good, shaved my head, got a puppy – Monty, had a birthday – 71, man,” Bridges wrote. It’s not clear which type of lymphoma Bridges has, but around 15,000 people are diagnosed with a type of Hodgkin lymphoma in the UK each year.  

Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O have been sent to hospital after just two days of filming Jackass 4. The actors and stunt performers, known for their work on previous Jackass films, were reportedly jumping on a full speed treadmill while carrying “band equipment”, including a tuba, when they sustained injuries. Jackass star Bam Margera posted about the incident, saying in a video: “It’s the second day of filming Jackass already and Steve-O and Knoxville were hospitalised by jumping on a full-speed treadmill with band equipment – like a fucking tuba. So yeah, I’m here are the clinic now, taking a piss test. Rock’n’roll, oh yeah – I’ve got the scars too. Yeah man.” The fourth Jackass film was originally due to be released in cinemas next March, but has been pushed back until 2nd July 2021 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Jackass 4 will be the first film involving the whole Jackass cast to be made since the death of cast member Ryan Dunn in 2011, at the age of 34. Earlier this year, Jackass 3D star Stevie Lee also died “unexpectedly” at the age of 54. Yeah, I was just as surprised as you that Jackass is still a thing, but I suppose if watching a bunch of 50 year olds doing stupid things was boring, Top Gear would have been cancelled years ago.  

Ian McKellen has become one of the first prominent public figures to receive the coronavirus vaccine, with the actor getting his injection at a London hospital on Wednesday. The 81-year-old McKellen said he felt “euphoric” after rolling up his wizards sleeve and receiving his first dose, which was made possible by meeting the criteria for Britain’s eligible groups. “I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. It’s a very special day! Anyone who has lived as long as I have is alive because they have had previous vaccinations.” While technically older than the NHS, McKellen still remembered the impact that public health care had on his life, saying he “wouldn’t be alive if it hadn’t been for the NHS.” He went on to note that “we’re all equal under the vaccination.” He went on to ramble a bit and wanting to hug clinicians before he was returned to his home. Great British Baking Show judge and necklace icon Prue Leith, who is 80 years old, also received the coronavirus vaccine this week, allowing herself to be filmed and assuring people that it was a “painless jab.” Two excellent candidates for our game, possibly gambling with their futures if you are inclined to think that way? 

On This Day

• 1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison. Despite being sentenced to five years, Hitler was granted early release and ended up only serving about nine months. Possibly the worst case of early release parole ever! 
• 1946 – The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is first released, concentrating on James Stewart’s real life PTSD and suicidal tendencies! Merry Xmas! 
• 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales. Yay! 
• 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker ‘MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).  

Deaths

• 1968 – John Steinbeck, American novelist and short story writer. (b. 1902)  
• 1995 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (b. 1938)  
• 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934)  

Trump’s Legacy? 

Last Friday, child killer Alfred Bourgeois became the tenth inmate of 2020 to be executed by the federal government since the Trump administration ended a 17-year hiatus on executions earlier this year. An administration which has insisted it stands for law and order is doing all it can to bring ‘justice to victims of the most horrific crimes’ before Joe Biden, who has pledged to attempt to phase out capital punishment, takes over the reins on January 20th. Trump has scheduled more executions than any president for at least a century, after reinstating the death penalty in July. His administration has already carried out more than double the number of executions America had seen over the previous three decades. Not only that, in the last weeks of his presidency, Trump’s administration is encouraging officials to use execution methods that are widely condemned as barbaric. 

His Justice Department recently published new rules expanding permissible execution methods to include electrocution, poison gas, hanging and even death by firing squad if lethal injection is unfeasible or the necessary drugs are not available. The wording also suggests that if the state where the crime was committed does not have the death penalty, a judge can designate another state to carry out the execution. 

So many of Trump’s boasts — from his ‘record’ inauguration crowd to his ‘record’ economy — have proved to be hollow, but he looks certain to enter the record books for the number of executions he can pack into his last months in office. Most presidents spend this time finding people to pardon, but Trump — determined to execute ten people in a year, more than any president in this or the last century — seems set on doing the opposite. 

When convicted killer Orlando Hall was executed last month, it was the first federal execution during a ‘transition period’ between one president and the next since 1889.  

The federal system’s preferred execution method is lethal injection, usually by a dose of a cocktail of drugs that first sedates the prisoner and then stops the heart. However, a spate of cases of condemned prisoners apparently suffering in agony after being injected prompted the drugs’ makers to refuse to supply them and juries to be more hesitant about demanding the death penalty. The Trump administration has tried to get round drug shortages by using a single one — pentobarbital, a widely available sedative often used to euthanise pets — for executions, after all, what’s good enough for Fido is good enough for a rapist! Whatever the public’s misgivings about pentobarbital, they’re nothing on the widespread disgust among activists that the U.S. may now, once again, shoot, hang or electrocute people. 

Nine states still authorise the electric chair as an execution alternative, eleven permit lethal gas, while three have hanging and three have death by firing squad on their books. Death penalty experts say that given the locations of the current inmates of federal Death Row, the most likely of these gruesome alternatives to end up being used would be electrocution, as 17 prisoners committed their offences in states that have it as a back-up execution method. Lethal gas would be the next most likely. Oklahoma is the only firing squad state with prisoners on federal Death Row but it’s a last resort there, only to be used after the three other options have been ruled out.  

The U.S. remains the only country in the world to use the electric chair, but Tennessee is the only state that still uses ‘Old Sparky’ regularly. Since 2018, five men have died there, strapped to a wooden chair, a metal skullcap-shaped electrode covering the head and another electrode attached to an ankle. They are then given two lengthy jolts of 1,750 volts. Although death should be instantaneous, it is a notoriously grisly spectacle — sometimes with flames several feet long leaping from the condemned man’s mask-covered head as his over-heating body swells and turns bright red. Experts say it isn’t painless, chiefly because the current sends the muscles into uncontrollable and agonising spasms.

The firing-squad method started to be used in the mid-19th century. The convicted person is usually hooded and strapped to a chair, with a white cloth pinned over the heart which either five or eight riflemen must shoot at simultaneously. Up to three of the squad will be firing blanks so that none of them can be certain they discharged the fatal bullet. 

Lethal gas, allegedly a humane method, was first adopted by Nevada in 1922 and last used in 1999. The prisoner is seated inside an airtight room and hydrogen cyanide gas is pumped in. Again, unconsciousness and death should be painless, but witnesses have reported seeing eyes popping and skin turning purple. 

Opponents of capital punishment, who say that more than 70 per cent of the world’s countries have abolished the practice — including every close ally of the U.S. — had hoped America might soon follow suit. But it certainly won’t while Trump is in the White House. 

Trump’s enthusiasm for capital punishment is hardly new, going back at least as far as 1989, when five young black and Latino men were arrested for the vicious rape of a woman in New York’s Central Park. Mr Trump paid for a full-page advert in the New York Times that demanded ‘Bring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!’ In the event, the five served their prison sentences only to be exonerated after a fellow inmate confessed. 

There are currently 52 offenders on federal Death Row, most of them at Terre Haute, Indiana, each one crossing their fingers that they’ll be spared until Binden takes power in January. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Jonah Hill (37), Jenny Agutter (68), Nicole de Boer (50), Lucy Pinder (37), Annie Murphy (34), Jake Gyllenhaal (40), Kristy Swanson (51), Alyssa Milano (48), Jennifer Beals (57), Richard Hammond (51), Sarah Paulson (46), Milla Jovovich (45), Katheryn Winnick (43), Eugene Levy (74), Bill Pullman (67), Laurie Holden (51), Ernie Hudson (75), Bernard Hill (76), Krysten Ritter (39), Miranda Otto (53), Billy Gibbons (71), Michelle Dockery (39), Don Johnson (71), Charlie Cox (38), Helen Slater (57), Garrett Wang (52), Vanessa Hudgens (32), Natascha McElhone (51), Miranda Hart (48), Ted Raimi (55), and Vicki Michelle (70).

With a great sense of loss we had to say goodbye to Barbara Windsor at the good old age of 83, but for the following who listed her, a fantastic 67 points! Lee, Laura, Iwan, Nickie, Rachel, Ceri, Louise, Doug, Ron,  and Abigail. Well done all of you! But Debbie trumps you all as she had Babs down as her Woman, so 167 points! A round of applause for Debbie! Almost everyone has scored this year, apart from Stu and myself! I think both of us need to go back to the drawing board. I don’t know about you lot, but I was super surprised to learn that Chuck Yeager was still alive! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Doug Scott, 79, English mountaineer and philanthropist, cerebral lymphoma.  
• Chuck Yeager, 97, American pilot, first person to exceed the speed of sound.  
• Tom Lister Jr., 62, American actor (Friday, The Fifth Element) and professional wrestler. 
• Dame Barbara Windsor, 83, English actress (EastEnders, Carry On, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), complications from Alzheimer’s disease.  
• Kim Ki-duk, 59, South Korean film director (The Isle, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, 3-Iron), complications from COVID-19.  
• Charley Pride, 86, American Hall of Fame singer (“Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’“, “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone“) and baseball player (Memphis Red Sox), complications from COVID-19.  

In Other News

England Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson has been diagnosed with dementia at the age of 42. The former Northampton Saints and England hooker is part of a group of players taking legal action against the RFU over brain injuries they say were brought on from playing the game, obviously not taking any responsibility themselves. Thompson was part of the 2003 team that won the William Webb Ellis trophy after Jonny Wilkinson’s drop goal against Australia, but he says he no longer remembers anything about the tournament or the final itself. “I have no recollection of winning the World Cup in 2003, or of being in Australia for the tournament. Knowing what I know now, I wish that I had never turned professional,” he said. “It was not uncommon for me to be left dazed, seeing white spots and not knowing where I was for a few seconds, sometimes I would pass out completely. It was just an accepted part and parcel of training. I really wished that I had ended my career earlier, maybe my diagnosis might not be so bleak.” However, Matt Dawson, the 48 year old former England captain says he won’t be joining the negligence claim, even though he has been “worried for a while” about his cognitive functions. Speaking on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast, Dawson says it was his choice to play the game, and he “knew what he was getting into”. “No one forced me to do this,” he said. “In my era they acted with their best knowledge of the scenario. I don’t feel the game has let me down. The whole of my life is because I chose to play rugby, I’m a big boy, I made that decision. I picked my vocation and I will take the consequences, I’m owning up to them, I’m having them so I’ve got to deal with them.  

In another blatant disavowal of responsibility, Simon Cowell is reportedly considering legal action against the manufacturers of his electric bike after breaking his back in a terrifying accident back in August which was by no means his own fault. The TV mogul, 61, and his team are said to be ‘weighing up’ legal options and have been ‘pressing’ the manufacturers, Swindon Powertrain. One lawyer claimed that a successful lawsuit could see Simon get up to £10million for medical bills and loss of earnings!! It comes as a whistleblower from the manufacturers reportedly claimed the £20,000 electric bike an ‘accident waiting to happen’ due to Simon’s lack of training. The former employee claimed the Swind EB-01 bike, which can reach up to 60mph and is banned on public roads in the UK, should not be used without specialist training. Simon broke his back in August after falling from his electric bike, leaving him forced to undergo a six-hour surgery to try and fix the injuries. The accident occurred when the powerful machine ‘flew up in the air and did an accidental wheelie’ after he tired to change gears. The music boss is thought to have been ‘surprised by the power’ of the bike and knew immediately that he ‘was in trouble’ even though he knew he bought a 60mph super-electric bike! Following the accident, Simon tweeted: ‘Some good advice… If you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride it for the first time.’ More or less admitting he’s a knob. Thankfully his recent injuries and ongoing recovery saw him sit out of the resumed 2020 series of Britain’s Got Talent after it returned following England’s first lockdown.

Linda Nolan, 61, has addressed her health concerns after being diagnosed with cancer during the coronavirus pandemic. The Nolans band member has been battling the disease at the same time as her sister Anne Nolan, 70. Linda and Anne were diagnosed within days of each other, with Anne suffering from breast cancer and Linda with secondary cancer. Linda opened up after receiving a warning from her doctors saying that if she contracts Covid or the flu this winter she “will die”, as her immune system is depleted from chemotherapy. “That’s what me and my sister Anne were told, we will die because we have nothing to fight it with, because chemotherapy depletes your immune system.” Linda then took the opportunity to encourage those who are in the same position as her to get the free flu jab this year to protect themselves. She added: “So it is vitally important that you get the jab and the thing is it’s so easy, it takes 10 minutes out of your day.” The star divulged: “I’ve finished my chemo and I’ve had some scans and I’m actually getting the results of them soon. So fingers crossed the chemo’s worked and we get good news. I feel okay, I get tired, and both Anne and I are suffering with neuropathic pain in our fingers and feet, my feet are really bad actually. It doesn’t even describe it because it’s 10 times worse than ordinary pins and needles. But apart from that we’re okay, we’re doing well.”

On This Day

• 1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage. 
• 1972 – Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final EVA or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
• 2003 – Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.  

Deaths

• 1784 – Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (b. 1709)  
• 2007 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor and activist (b. 1936)  
• 2016 – Alan Thicke, Canadian-American actor and composer (b. 1947)

Festive Murders

It is supposed to be a season of goodwill and celebrating, a time to relax with the family. However for some, Christmas can be a great time to murder a relative or two just like Justin Lee Klopp who hacked his wife to death on Christmas Day – hitting her repeatedly in the head with an axe and cutting her throat with the chopper after an argument. Klopp had been married to Stephanie Kilhefner, 34, for three years when he turned to murder. After the brutal slaughter he wrapped her body in a bag, put it in an outbuilding and took their two children to his parents to celebrate Christmas. The children, aged five and two, were marking the holiday with their grandparents when he phoned police to confess to the killing. He later hanged himself in prison. 

Bruce Pardo, 45, killed nine people including his ex wife after going on the rampage dressed as Santa Claus with four handguns and a flame-thrower at a Christmas Eve party. A recording of a woman caught in the conflict calling police, revealed her saying: “He’s shooting my whole family. My mum’s house is on fire.” She goes on: “We need someone immediately. My daughter’s been shot. She was shot in the face.” Former aerospace engineer Pardo had recently gone through a bitter divorce with ex-wife Sylvia, 43, who died alongside her parents and three of her four siblings. He later shot himself dead.  

It took more than two decades for the murder of Ed, 81, and 83-year-old Minnie Maurin to be solved. The couple’s dead bodies were found in woodland on Christmas Eve 1985 after they had been shot dead. Their surviving children had worked tirelessly to find their killers, and finally got justice for their parents in 2012. The  couple were reported missing on 19th December and found five days later. It transpired they had been kidnapped and driven to a cash point by Rick and his now dead brother, John Riffe, and forced to withdraw $8500 in cash. They were then forced to drive to a rural road, shot inside their car and dragged into woodland. It is believed many witnesses remained quiet after seeing the brothers for fear of retribution from the pair, who were known drug dealers. The Riffe brothers did not know the elderly couple but targeted them because they were wealthy. Two of the couple’s surviving children got to see the killers of their parents brought to justice.    

In 2011 Aziz Yazdanpanah is believed to have killed seven members of his own family while dressed in a Santa suit. He targeted his family, which included his children and his wife, just after they had opened their presents and then turned the gun on himself. It is believed Yazdanpanah turned up at the apartment in the morning because he hadn’t been invited to the party, after separating from his wife in March of that year. Ho Ho Ho! 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Steve Buscemi (63), Jamie Foxx (53), Christopher Plummer (91), Dick Van Dyke (95), Taylor Swift (31), Tony Curran (51), Robert Lindsay (71), Jennifer Connelly (50), Mädchen Amick (50), Bill Nighy (71), Sarah Douglas (68), Kenneth Cranham (76), Ben Browder (58), Kenneth Branagh (60), John Malkovich (67), Judi Dench (86), Beau Bridges (79), Michael Dorn (68), Donny Osmond (63), Kim Basinger (67), Teri Hatcher (56), Dominic Monaghan (44), Nicki Minaj (38), Jennifer Carpenter (41), Ellen Burstyn (88), C. Thomas Howell (54), Jeffrey Wright (55), and Kristofer Hivju (42).

A quiet week on the deaths front, plus a bad week if you co-founded a major chain of  restaurants. Apologies for the briefness of this weeks newsletter, I’ve been a bit busy and there’s been a lack of worthy deadly news. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Betty Bobbitt, 81, American-born Australian actress (Prisoner, Crocodile Dundee II, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles), stroke.  
• Ben Bova, 88, American science fiction writer (Grand Tour), complications from COVID-19.
• Hugh Keays-Byrne, 73, English-Australian actor (Mad Max: Fury Road, Stone, Farscape).  
• Warren Berlinger, 83, American actor (The Joey Bishop Show, The Cannonball Run, The World According to Garp).  
• Bill Palmer, 70, American restaurateur, co-founder of Applebee’s, pancreatic cancer.  
• Frank Carney, 82, American restaurateur, co-founder of Pizza Hut, pneumonia. 
• Peter Alliss, 89, English professional golfer, television presenter and commentator. 

In Other News

Everyone’s favourite tax dodger, Lewis Hamilton, is “not great”, according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, as the F1 world champion battles with ‘mild’ symptoms of coronavirus. Hamilton was ruled out of this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix earlier this week after testing positive for Covid-19 and has been self-isolating ever since. His Mercedes seat has been taken up by fellow Briton George Russell, the young Williams driver, who was the fastest man in Bahrain during Friday practice, which makes you wonder if it’s talent or machine that makes a winner. “He is not great,” Wolff said. Covid-19 is something you mustn’t take lightly and he is in safe hands. That is the most important. But it is those early days that are always not so nice.” He added: “Mild symptoms and then obviously, as you can imagine, a race driver out of his car and combine it with Covid, he would rather sit in there [the team garage].” I think the rest of us would rather he paid the £3.3m in tax he owes from buying his own private jet for £16.5m amongst other dodges he’s thought to have made.  

Staying in the world of F1, I’m sure most of you would have seen the amazing scenes as Romain Grosjean suffered a work related accident. Grosjean’s accident at Bahrain was horrific. His Haas car crashed at 137mph, with an impact force of 53G. It split in two and speared through the metal barriers. The halo cockpit protection device had been decisive in keeping him alive but he was swiftly engulfed in a huge fireball. Incredibly, he ultimately escaped with only burns to his hands. On Friday, Grosjean related how time appeared to slow down for him as the events, which lasted 28 seconds, unfolded. He had undone his seatbelt, and attempted to extricate himself from the wreckage but could not do so. “I sat back down and then thought about Niki Lauda, his accident, thought it couldn’t end like this, it couldn’t be my last race, couldn’t finish like this. No way,” he said. “I tried again and I’m stuck. So I go back and then there is the less pleasant moment where my body starts to relax. I am at peace with myself and I am going to die. I ask the question: ‘Is it going to burn my shoes or my hand? Is it going to be painful? Where is it going to start?’. To me, that felt like two, three, four seconds. I guess it was milliseconds at the time. Then I think about my kids and they cannot lose their dad today.” The 34-year-old tried again and, finally able to raise himself, had to push up and out of the twisted metal. As Grosjean climbed from the car he was helped by the occupants of the medical car. taken to hospital, he was examined and discharged on Wednesday. “What is the hardest is not what I went through but what I put people through: my family, my parents, my wife and kids, my friends,” he said. “For two minutes 43 seconds they thought their friend, their father and husband was dead and that is what makes me cry, that I made people suffer to that extent.” 

On This Day

• 1897 – London becomes the world’s first city to host licensed taxicabs.  
• 1917 – Halifax Explosion: A munitions explosion near Halifax, Nova Scotia kills more than 1,900 people in the largest artificial explosion up to that time.  
• 1953 – Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.  

Deaths

• 1988 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)  
• 1993 – Don Ameche, American actor (b. 1908)  
• 2015 – Nicholas Smith, British actor (b. 1934) 
• 2016 – Peter Vaughan, British actor (b.1923)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Noel Clarke (45), Nick Park (62), Andrew Flintoff (43), Frankie Muniz (35), Jeff Bridges (71), Marisa Tomei (56), Tony Todd (66), Tyra Banks (47), Pamela Stephenson (71), Jay-Z (51), Amanda Seyfried (35), Brendan Fraser (52), Julianne Moore (60), Daryl Hannah (60), Holly Marie Combs (47), Jean-Luc Godard (90), Ozzy Osbourne (72), Lucy Liu (52), Britney Spears (39), Nelly Furtado (42), Bette Midler (75), Woody Allen (85), Emily Mortimer (49), Sarah Silverman (50), Riz Ahmed (38), Elisha Cuthbert (38), Ridley Scott (83), Ben Stiller (55), Richard Brake (56), and Mandy Patinkin (68).