Another quiet’ish week; I blame all the unusually warm weather for keeping the old un’s alive. Not to worry, the Evil Flying Monkey’s are preening their feathers and getting ready for a reaping good time this week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Tony Pike, 85, British-born Australian hotelier (Pikes Hotel), prostate and skin cancer.  
• Janet Asimov, 92, American science fiction writer, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst.  
• Mark Hollis, 64, English singer-songwriter (Talk Talk).  
• Edward Nixon, 88, American entrepreneur. 
• Doug Sandom, 89, English drummer (The Who). 
• André Previn, 89, German-born American composer and score adapter (Gigi, Elmer Gantry, My Fair Lady), Oscar winner (1959, 1960, 1964, 1965). 
• Yannis Behrakis, 58, Greek photojournalist, cancer.

In Other News

Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Riverdale, has been hospitalised after suffering what’s been described as a ‘massive stroke’. Paramedics arrived at Perry’s home Wednesday morning at around 9:40am Pacific Standard Time. The 52-year-old actor was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital where his condition reportedly worsened and he remains under observation, his representative told us, declining to elaborate on the actor’s condition. Prior to his stroke Perry was said to be experiencing “bad back problems”, which had to be surgically fixed, according to the actor’s neighbour. Perry’s last major health scare was in 2015, when precancerous growths were found in his body following a colonoscopy, prompting the actor to speak out about checking for colorectal cancer. Perry had been shooting episodes for the upcoming fourth season of The CW’s Riverdale. Fans and friends of Perry are sending out messages of support to the actor on social media. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman star Dean Cain tweeted that he was ‘praying’ for Perry’s “full and fast recovery”. Perry’s fellow 90’s star Kristy Swanson also wrote that she was praying for Perry, addressing him personally with: “by God’s Grace you will get through this”.  

More details of former glamour girl Katie Price’s drink driving charge have been released after a court hearing. She was found slumped in a “very” drunken state in the back of her vomit-covered pink Range Rover after police saw the vehicle collide with a grass verge, a court has heard. The 40-year-old was allegedly almost twice the legal limit when she was arrested in the early hours of 10 October in Shooter’s Hill, Greenwich, south-east London. Ms Price denied an additional charge of drink-driving when she appeared at Bexley Magistrates’ Court, having already entered a not-guilty plea to being in charge of a vehicle while over the limit. Police Constables Benjamin Jones and Balvinder Mann first saw her car veer off the road and hit a grass verge at 12.40am before seeing it stationary about 15 minutes later. PC Jones told the court that he approached the car to find Ms Price in the back of the vehicle with her boyfriend, Kris Boyson, in the passenger seat. “Her eyes were blurred and her speech was a bit slurred. Although she was sitting, it was in a slumped position,” PC Jones said. The car, he added, showed signs of a collision, with the bumper hanging off and pieces of shrubbery attached to its exterior. Both Ms Price and Mr Boyson said a third person had been driving and that they ran off after the trio had an argument, the court heard. The officer said Mr Boyson told Ms Price to “shut up” when she was asked who was driving.  

Roman Reigns returned to the WWE on Monday night for the first time since revealing he had been diagnosed with leukaemia to update fans that his illness is now in remission. The emotional moment came in Atlanta, Georgia, as Reigns made an emotional return to the WWE for the first time since he took a leave of absence in October last year. After winning the Universal Championship, Reigns – real name Leati Joseph Anoaʻi – was forced to relinquish the title and decided to make his illness public, having privately battled leukaemia for 11 years. Reigns revealed he had relapsed and would need to undergo further treatment, but promised to fight the illness and return to the WWE. That moment came on Monday. Reigns was given a hero’s welcome as he returned to the ring, and with a beaming smile on his face, it quickly became apparent that there was good news on the way. “When I tell you this I am so grateful, so humble and I’m so honoured to announce this,” Reigns said. “Let’s crawl before we can walk and walk before we can run, but the good news I’m in remission ya’ll.” The announcement triggered a huge cheer from the WWE fans who have for so long booed and jeered Reigns in his persona, and the moment looked to get to the 33-year-old, whose family were also ringside.

On This Day

• 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail.  
• 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. 
• 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
• 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refuelling. 

Deaths

• 1959 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)  
• 1983 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1907)
• 1987 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
• 2003 – Horst Buchholz, German actor (b. 1933)  
• 2010 – Michael Foot, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Employment (b. 1913)  
• 2012 – Ralph McQuarrie, American conceptual designer and illustrator (b. 1929)  
• 2018 – Roger Bannister, English middle-distance athlete, first man to run a four-minute mile (b. 1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Bryce Dallas Howard (38), Daniel Craig (51), Rebel Wilson (39), Gates McFadden (70), Jon Bon Jovi (57), Chris Martin (42), Alexander Armstrong (49), Javier Bardem (50), Lupita Nyong’o (36), Jensen Ackles (41), Ron Howard (65), Harry Belafonte (92), Dirk Benedict (74), Justin Bieber (25), Roger Daltrey (75), Paul Hollywood (53), John Turturro (62), Rae Dawn Chong (58), Mercedes Ruehl (71), Stephanie Beacham (72), Kate Mara (36), Adam Baldwin (57), Timothy Spall (62), Richard Coyle (47), Bill Duke (76), Chase Masterson (56), Michael Bolton (66), Téa Leoni (53), Sean Astin (48), Lee Evans (55), Edward James Olmos (72), and Dennis Waterman (71).

No change to the leader board this week, however some interesting demises and again, some unusual news as nothing much has happened over the last week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• John Stalker, 79, British police officer, Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (1984–1987).  
• Ross Lowell, 92, American photographer and inventor of gaffer tape.  
• Karl Lagerfeld, 85, German fashion designer (Chloé, Fendi, Chanel), pancreatic cancer.  
• Vinny Vella, 72, American actor (Casino, Analyze This, The Sopranos) and comedian, liver cancer.  
• Peter Tork, 77, American musician and actor (The Monkees), complications of adenoid cystic carcinoma.  
• Morgan Woodward, 93, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, Gunsmoke, Dallas), cancer.  
• Stanley Donen, 94, American film director (Singin’ in the Rain, On the Town, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers).

In Other News

The US sailor famously photographed kissing a stranger in New York’s Times Square to celebrate the end of World War Two has died aged 95. Although personally not famous enough for our needs, the picture of George Mendonsa bending over and kissing 21-year-old Greta Zimmer Friedman on VJ Day (Victory over Japan) became one of the most enduring images of the period. It was one of four photographs taken by Alfred Eisenstadt as a round-up of celebration pictures for Life magazine. Ms Friedman died in 2016 aged 92. Mr Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur, said her father suffered a seizure and died on Sunday after a fall at a care home in Middletown, Rhode Island. Alfred Eisenstadt did not give the names of the kissing strangers and it was years before Mr Mendonsa and Ms Friedman were confirmed as the featured couple. The photographer described how he watched the sailor running along the street on 14 August 1945, grabbing any girl in sight. “Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture.” Ms Friedman, who had been working as a dental assistant, said she had not been aware of the photo until the 1960s. “It wasn’t much of a kiss,” she later recalled. “It was just somebody celebrating. It wasn’t a romantic event.” Mr Mendonsa had served in the Pacific and was on home leave when the picture was taken. However, not everyone sees the photograph as something to celebrate. Although it was widely lauded as an expression of the joy felt across the US on the day Japan surrendered, in more recent times some have considered it, as Time Magazine wrote, “as little more than the documentation of a very public sexual assault”. 

Former England midfielder Glenn Hoddle says he realises how “lucky” he is after surviving a cardiac arrest. Hoddle collapsed at the BT Sport studios in October on his 61st birthday and had a quadruple heart bypass before returning home to recuperate. “When doctors said it was a quadruple I realised I was a lucky man,” he said. “Not just because of the synchronisation of the timing on the day, but there was something going on for some time.” Hoddle, who was speaking to former footballer Robbie Savage on his BT Sport show, said the day of the incident was “a bit of a blur”. Sound engineer Simon Daniels used CPR treatment to keep the ex-Spurs player alive before paramedics arrived. “I just thank God that I was in the studios at that time with Simon there and a defibrillator,” Hoddle added. “I could’ve gone and taken a phone call and been on my own and I wouldn’t be sitting here today. “What a time to do it, on your birthday as well – some present I gave myself.” Hoddle banged the back of his head on the floor when he collapsed and said it was “still quite tender” when he tapped it more than three months on.  

On death row in Malawi, Byson Kaula was nearly executed three times – but on each occasion the hangman stopped work before hanging all the prisoners on his list. So he survived… until the country stopped executing people altogether. Byson Kaula says jealous neighbours were responsible for him being found guilty of murder. It was 1992 and murder in those days carried a mandatory death sentence. Neighbours attacked one of his employees, Byson says, leaving him badly injured. The man couldn’t walk without assistance, and while helping him get to the toilet – navigating steps that were slippery after heavy rain – Byson fell and dropped him. The man died later in hospital, and Byson – then in his 40s – was charged with murder. This was towards the end of the totalitarian government of Hastings Banda, which had controlled the country since 1964. Byson vividly remembers the horror of waiting for his turn at what he calls “the killing machine”. “When I was told: ‘You can go now to the condemned section waiting for your time to be hanged’ – oh, I felt as if I was already dead.” At that time, there was just one executioner – a South African who travelled between several countries in the region, carrying out hangings. When he arrived in Malawi, once every couple of months, the prisoners on death row knew that time, for some of them, had run out. One day Byson remembers being told that his name was on the list of 21 people to be hanged within hours. A guard told him that executions would begin at 13:00 and that he should “just start praying”. They continued until 15:00, when the executioner stopped work. But he had not reached the end of the list. Three people, including Byson, would have to wait until he returned. The same thing happened twice more, Byson says. The list was drawn up, but the hangman didn’t finish it – and each time, by chance, Byson was among those left alive at the end of the day. On the third occasion, all the prisoners on the list were executed except him, he says. In a way he was lucky, but the experience took its toll on him and he attempted suicide twice – only to survive this too. 

On This Day

• 1854 – A Penny Red with perforations was the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.  
• 1920 – Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.  
• 1981 – The 6.7 M_s Gulf of Corinth earthquake affected Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people were killed, 400 were injured, and damage totalled $812 million.  
• 1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa and offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.  

Deaths

• 1993 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)  
• 2006 – Octavia E. Butler, American author and educator (b. 1947)   
• 2014 – Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Emily Blunt (36), Dakota Fanning (25), Kelly Macdonald (43), Aziz Ansari (36), Thomas Jane (50), Drew Barrymore (44), Jeri Ryan (51), Kyle MacLachlan (60), Julie Walters (69), James Hong (90), Nigel Planer (66), Ellen Page (32), Sophie Turner (23), Kelsey Grammer (64), William Baldwin (56), Tyne Daly (73), Anthony Daniels (73), Sidney Poitier (92), Brenda Blethyn (73), Rihanna (31), Cindy Crawford (53), Anthony Head (65), Trevor Noah (35), Millie Bobby Brown (15), Benicio Del Toro (52), Jeff Daniels (64), Ray Winstone  (62), Leslie Ash (59), Seal (56), John Travolta (65), Molly Ringwald (51), Matt Dillon (55), Cybill Shepherd (69), Dr. Dre (54), Yoko Ono (86), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (38), Rene Russo (65), Bonnie Wright (28), Dominic Purcell (49), Ed Sheeran (28), Paris Hilton (38), Rory Kinnear (43), Patricia Routledge (90), Michael Jordan (56), Brenda Fricker (74), and Barry Humphries (85).

We have a winner!!! With the sad passing of Gordon Banks, Martin and Julia both score 69 points! Not a vast change in the leader board, but two more people up and running! Some interesting names in the list this time around, however a somewhat dry news week. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• John Haynes, 80, British publisher (Haynes Publishing Group).  
• Carmen Argenziano, 75, American actor (Stargate SG-1, Booker, Angels & Demons).  
• Betty Ballantine, 99, British-born American book publisher (Ballantine Books, Bantam Books).  
• Gordon Banks, 81, English footballer (Leicester City, Stoke City, national team), world champion (1966).  
• Bruno Ganz, 77, Swiss actor (Downfall, Wings of Desire, Nosferatu the Vampyre), colorectal cancer.  
• Serge Merlin, 86, French actor (Amélie, The City of Lost Children).

In Other News

Holly Willoughby called in sick to This Morning for two days due to illness! She left fans concerned after she called in sick on Wednesday after complaining about feeling unwell earlier in the week. Her co-presenter Phillip Schofield revealed the news during the opening of the show! He said: ‘Hello, Holly is still poorly, unfortunately, thankfully we have got Rochelle with us again today.’ Rochelle, 29, who is frequently used as a stand-in on the long-running show, took to her Instagram to share a picture of the ITV studios hours before going live. Phillip explained the unexpected change on Wednesday’s show, admitting that his co-host was stricken with the flu after complaining about feeling unwell while presenting the show throughout the week. ‘Holly is poorly today, if you’ve been watching through the week you’d know she’s been on a sort of downward spiral,’ he told viewers as the show got underway. ‘It started on Dancing On Ice and she wasn’t really brilliant on Sunday and it’s kind of got worse and worse and worse.’ He added: ‘Finally, she’s fallen over. She’s staying home today. Get well soon. She’s not going to be watching but get well soon.’

Leeds winger Jack Clarke is “responsive” in hospital after being taken ill during his side’s 1-1 Championship draw at Middlesbrough. The 18-year-old, who had been substituted at half-time, complained of feeling unwell in the dugout and was then carried away on a stretcher while being given oxygen. Leeds said in a statement: “Jack Clarke began to feel unwell during the second half of our Sky Bet Championship fixture with Middlesbrough and received medical attention. After the lengthy delay, manager Marcelo Bielsa revealed after the game that the player had shown signs of improvement. Bielsa said: “What we know is that he didn’t feel well. We don’t know the reasons yet, but when he was taken to the dressing room he was feeling better.  

And finally, a group of scientists has called for a ban on the development of weapons controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). It says that autonomous weapons may malfunction in unpredictable ways and kill ‘innocent’ people, but it’s ok if the people are ‘bad’ and maybe have some oil that we want.. Ethics experts also argue that it is a moral step too far for AI systems to kill without any human intervention. “We are not talking about walking, talking terminator robots that are about to take over the world; what we are concerned about is much more imminent: conventional weapons systems with autonomy, they are beginning to creep in. Drones are the obvious example, but there are also military aircraft that take off, fly and land on their own; robotic sentries that can identify movement. These are precursors to autonomous weapons.” The new motto should be: Keep Killing Human!

On This Day

• 1978 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants. Welcome to the new Brexit Britain.  
• 2006 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.  
• 2011 – Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime begin.  
• 2015 – Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi Gras parade in Haiti.

Deaths

• 1909 – Geronimo, American tribal leader (b. 1829)  
• 1982 – Thelonious Monk, American pianist and composer (b. 1917)  
• 2013 – Richard Briers, English actor (b. 1934)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Christopher Eccleston (55), LeVar Burton (62), Amanda Holden (48), John McEnroe (60), Alex Borstein (48), Jane Seymour (68), Matt Groening (65), Danai Gurira (41), Simon Pegg (49), Andrew Robinson (77), Zach Galligan (55), Teller (71), Mena Suvari (40), Neal McDonough (53), Stockard Channing (75), Kim Novak (86), Robbie Williams (45), Peter Gabriel (69), Josh Brolin (51), Christina Ricci (39), Michael Ironside (69), Arsenio Hall (63), Annette Crosbie (85), Jennifer Aniston (50), Natalie Dormer (37), Damian Lewis (48), Thomas Turgoose (27), Sheryl Crow (57), Elizabeth Banks (45), Chloë Grace Moretz (22), Keeley Hawes (43), Laura Dern (52), and Philip Glenister (56).

Last  week I missed out a scoring death, on purpose of course, just to see if you were all paying attention. Luckily Abi pointed it out to me and of course she now scores a fantastic 89 points with the death of a horrible murderer, which makes a change from the nice people we normally list. On a personal note, I was saddened to hear of the death of Albert Finney, he starred in many great films but one in particular I have loved from a very early age, Scrooge, which I have probably seen well over two hundred times by now. Anyhow, less pontificating, let’s get on with it! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Robert Mitchell Jennings, 61, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection. 
• William Davis, 85, German-born British journalist (BBC).
• Julie Adams, 92, American actress (Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bend of the River, Murder, She Wrote).
• Carmen Duncan, 76, Australian actress (Harlequin, Another World, Turkey Shoot), cancer. 
• Albert Finney, 82, English actor (Tom Jones, Erin Brockovich, Murder on the Orient Express), chest infection.

In Other News

Ozzy Osbourne has been taken to hospital suffering with complications from the flu, his wife Sharon has said. The former X Factor judge posted a statement about her husband’s health on Twitter, after the rocker was forced to cancel his European tour last month due to ill health. She revealed he had been advised to seek further medical treatment after his condition worsened. Sharon wrote: “As some of you may have heard, Ozzy was admitted to hospital following some complications from the flu. His doctors feel this is the best way to get him on a quicker road to recovery. Thanks to everyone for their concern and love.” The former Black Sabbath frontman was forced to postpone the UK and European legs of his No More Tours 2 tour last month after taking advice from doctors. He had been suffering from flu and was diagnosed with a severe upper-respiratory infection, according to a statement on his website. Doctors feared the infection could develop into pneumonia had he gone on the tour, which was due to kick off in Dublin this week. Ozzy said at the time: “It just seems that since October everything I touch has turned to shit. “First the staph infection in my thumb and now coming down with the flu and bronchitis. We all know these things come in threes, I wonder what the next calamity will be?  

Sam Lloyd, best known for his role on Scrubs, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The 55-year-old actor received the diagnosis last month, weeks after his wife, Vanessa, gave birth to their first child together. A GoFundMe page for Lloyd has been set up by Tim Hobert, who was an executive producer on Scrubs, in order to raise funds for his medical expenses as America is shit that way. According to the Lloyd’s GoFundMe, the actor began to experience regular headaches and lost 10 pounds, but dismissed them as side effects of his busy schedule, caring his new baby son and ailing mother. However, when the headaches continued, he visited the doctor, who ordered a CT which revealed a brain tumour. Surgeons attempted to remove the mass, but were unsuccessful. Days later, he was told the cancer had metastised from his lungs, while further scans showed the cancer was also in his liver, spine, and jaw, which makes us wonder what we’ll be funding, a coffin?  

Money saving expert Martin Lewis had said he has had to pull out of his TV appearances because of a throat ulcer. Writing on Facebook on Thursday, he said “eating and speaking” had become “truly agonising”. Lewis was meant to appear on ITV’s Good Morning Britain but said the thought of leaving the house had left him “literally shaking with nerves” In a later update, the 46-year-old said he had managed some filming with the help of an anaesthetic spray. He has been posting about his ill health since Monday, saying it was the “first time in years” he had had to call in sick. Lewis said there was no cure for the ulcer and that he would have to wait it out until he started to feel better. It has been a stressful few weeks for the consumer finance journalist, who revealed in late January he was dropping a legal action against Facebook. He originally sued the social media network over ads running on its platform that falsely claimed he had put his name to a number of investment schemes. Lewis dropped the case after Facebook agreed to introduce a scam ads reporting button and promise to give £3m to Citizens Advice. 

And finally, just as all those militant vegans want you to stop eating bacon, it has been revealed that a woman has been eaten alive by pigs after suffering a seizure at a farm. The 56-year-old woman is believed to have suffered an epileptic seizure while feeding the animals, Russian state media reported. She is said to have suffered severe bites to her face, ears and shoulders and died of blood loss. The woman was found by her husband early in the morning at their farm in a village in the Malopurginsky district of Udmurtia, western Russia. He had gone to bed early because he felt unwell and did not find his wife until the next day, according to Moscow-based news website Newstes. It did not say how many pigs were in the sty. It is not the first time a farmer has been consumed by his own pigs. A man in the US state of Oregon was eaten by his animals in 2012. Authorities found Terry Vance Garner’s dentures and pieces of his body in the enclosure in which he had been feeding the livestock. Investigators said the 69-year-old may have been knocked over by the 50-stone animals before they ate him. So never feel guilty about your bacon sandwich, pigs enjoy us as much as we enjoy them. 

On This Day

• 1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 
• 1940 – Tom and Jerry make their debut with Puss Gets the Boot.
• 1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.

Deaths

• 1912 – Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, English surgeon and academic (b. 1827) 
• 1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize (b. 1845)  
• 2008 – Roy Scheider, American actor and boxer (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (b. 1928)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Rose Leslie (32), Michael B. Jordan (32), Tom Hiddleston (38), Joe Pesci (76), Ciarán Hinds (66), Ziyi Zhang (40), Mia Farrow (74), Mary Steenburgen (66), Seth Green (45), Nick Nolte (78), John Williams (87), John Grisham (64), Deborah Ann Woll (34), James Spader (59), Ashton Kutcher (41), Chris Rock (54), Eddie Izzard (57), Rip Torn (88), Kevin Whately (68), Axl Rose (57), Jennifer Jason Leigh (57), Charlotte Rampling (73), Michael Sheen (50), Christopher Guest (71), Cristiano Ronaldo (34), Gabrielle Anwar (49), Natalie Imbruglia (44), Jim Jefferies (42), Alice Cooper (71), Isla Fisher (43), Bridget Regan (37), Warwick Davis (49), and Morgan Fairchild (69).

As the world is diving into a freezing apocalyptic shit hole, the following people have decided enough was enough. Lucky them! Alas none of them scored any of us points, but we can rest assured they won’t care what happens after Brexit and if Trump manages to find the big red button. 

Thank you all who donated to the running costs this year, I’ll be closing the contributions page when I get around to it this week. Although we didn’t get anywhere near what was needed, I’ll make sure that the evil flying monkeys are fed and also ask them to ‘borrow’ the odd celebrity keepsake whilst they are about their business that we can flog on eBay.    

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• James Ingram, 66, American R&B singer-songwriter (“Baby, Come to Me“, “I Don’t Have the Heart“, “Yah Mo B There“), Grammy winner (1982, 1985), brain cancer.  
• Martha Ross, 79, British actress (EastEnders, Grange Hill) and radio presenter, mother of Jonathan and Paul Ross.  
• Stewart Adams, 95, British chemist, developed ibuprofen.  
• Dick Miller, 90, American actor (Gremlins, The Little Shop of Horrors, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm). 
• Jeremy Hardy, 57, English comedian (The News Quiz, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation), cancer.  
• Clive Swift, 82, English actor (The National Health, Keeping Up Appearances, The Old Guys) and songwriter.  
• Alex Brown, 52, American painter and punk rock musician (Gorilla Biscuits, Project X, Side by Side), brain aneurysm.
• Carmen Duncan, 76, Australian actress (Harlequin, Another World, Turkey Shoot), cancer.

In Other News

Anna Kendrick has written a heartfelt note to the hospital staff who treated her for kidney stones in Atlanta, Georgia. The Pitch Perfect actor revealed that she’d been hospitalised on Friday and penned a series of Tweets dedicated to the medical professionals who cared for her when she was at her “most vulnerable and terrified”. “So, I need to give a shout out to the Atlanta doctors and nurses who helped me through my first experience with kidney stones,” the 33-year-old began before proceeding to name the “truly wonderful ladies” involved. Kendrick’s tweets have been widely shared by her fans, with  many offering messages of support and wishing her a speedy recovery. Kidney stones are common in men and women between the ages of 30 and 60 and can be excruciatingly painful. Symptoms vary depending on the size of the stones, but they can cause nausea, restlessness and intense pain in the back or side of your abdomen. As someone who is susceptible to stones, I can vouch to the pain and the wishing to die part. 

Ozzy Osbourne’s team confirmed the news this morning, which sees three of his 3Arena  2019 concerts with Judas Priest postponed. The Prince of Darkness is believed to be suffering from a “very bad case of flu”, according to the announcement by his special guests. It is believed the gigs in Dublin, Nottingham, Manchester and Newcastle have all been postponed until a later date. Meanwhile, Judas Priest wrote on Twitter in view of their 103,000 followers and their own website: “It is with great regret we have to announce that the first four UK shows on the Ozzy Osbourne/Judas Priest tour have been postponed due to Ozzy having a very bad case of flu. They continued: “We are very sorry that this has happened and to disappoint so many fans – we wish Ozzy well and look forward to the Glasgow, Birmingham  and London shows together – and to the rescheduled ones in the future.” A few days ago, Ozzy took to his Twitter account to give his 5.27 millions an update on his health. The star, who is married to Sharon Osbourne, revealed he had burst a blood vessel in his eye from coughing. Ozzy uploaded a picture of his eye along with the caption: “Coughed so hard I burst a blood vessel in my eye.” 

A woman who was diagnosed with a terminal cancer decided to attend her own wake. Samanda Ford, from Beccles in Suffolk, was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2017.  In June 2018 doctors said she had just months to live. Calling the event her “awake-wake”, everyone dressed in her favourite leopard-print style. The 58-year-old, known by friends as “the queen of positivity” told party guests: “I wanted to actually be here in the flesh rather than… you know, have to do it afterwards.” As well as celebrating her life, she wanted to share how the cancer has affected her physically after losing her two front teeth as well as her hair. Fifty guests attended the party at the pub in Beccles and while the tone of the event was sombre, some party-goers left feeling positive about death and would attend their own wake. She said: “It was emotional – you have a tear in the back of your eyes but I was more worried about them and how they were feeling. But we are all here to help each other. “At the end of the day, we are all terminal. If you are lucky enough to know you are going to die why not create something positive,” she added,““Why should they party and I’m not going to be there?”

On This Day

• 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.  
• 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.  
• 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.  
• 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

Deaths

• 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)  
• 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856) 
• 1959 – The Day the Music Died
  • The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
  • Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
  • Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
• 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
• 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b.1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Gemma Arterton (32), Brent Spiner (69), David Jason (78), Shakira (41), Sherilyn Fenn (54), Michael C. Hall (48), Terry Jones (77), Lisa Marie Presley (51), Jonathan Banks (72), Justin Timberlake (38), Dexter Fletcher (53), Minnie Driver (49), Marcus Mumford (32), Christian Bale (45), Olivia Colman (45), Gene Hackman (89), Vanessa Redgrave (82), Phil Collins (68), Dick Cheney (78), Katharine Ross (79), Heather Graham (49), Tom Selleck (74), Oprah Winfrey (65), Marc Singer (71), Tim Healy (67), Will Poulter (26), Ariel Winter (21), Elijah Wood (38), Alan Alda (83), Frank Darabont (60), Rosamund Pike (40), James Cromwell (79), Bridget Fonda (55), Patton Oswalt (50), Alan Cumming (54), and Frank Miller (62).