Before we start, let’s congratulate Victoria & Louise for scoring 57 points even at this late stage for the sad death of June Whitfield. But if nothing happens between now and Midnight, we will have to declare David J. the winner of 2018! Well done him! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Tom Leonard, 74, Scottish poet.  
• Paddy Ashdown, 77, British politician, Leader of the Liberal Democrats (1988–1999), High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002–2006), MP (1983–2001), bladder cancer.  
• Nancy Roman, 93, American astronomer.  
• Wendy Beckett, 88, British nun and art historian.  
• Penny Cook, 61, Australian actress (A Country Practice, E Street, Neighbours), cancer.  
• Richard Arvin Overton, 112, American supercentenarian, nation’s oldest living World War II veteran, complications from pneumonia.  
• Robert Kerman, 71, American actor (Debbie Does Dallas, Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox). 
• Dame June Whitfield, 93, English actress (Terry and June, Last of the Summer Wine, Absolutely Fabulous). 

2018 Most Prominent Deaths

Professor Stephen Hawking – British theoretical physicist and author, who battled motor neurone disease to become one of the finest and most popular scientists of his generation.     

Aretha Franklin – Known as the Queen of Soul, and an icon of the US civil rights movement, she possessed one of the most distinctive voices in popular music, embracing jazz, gospel, soul and rhythm and blues.  

Stan Lee – American creator of comic book superheroes Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, who transformed comic book art into a multi-million dollar industry, spearheading what became known as the “Marvel age of comics”. 

Dame June Whitfield – Actor celebrated for her comic roles, June Whitfield was a regular fixture of British TV, radio and film. Often playing the female stooge to some of the UK’s most famous entertainers, she called herself “a comic’s tart”. She starred in Hancock’s Half Hour and Carry On films, but will perhaps be best remembered for the sitcoms Terry and June and Absolutely Fabulous.

Jim Bowen – TV host and comedian who presented the darts-based gameshow Bullseye and was famous for catchprases including “Super, smashing, great” and “You can’t beat a bit of Bully!”  

Bella Emberg – Comedy actress whose career spanned 60 years. She was best known for her role as Blunderwoman, a sidekick to hapless superhero Cooperman in the 1980s TV programme The Russ Abbot Show.  

Barry Chuckle – One half of the Chuckle Brothers comedy duo who found fame on ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967. With his brother, Paul, he starred in the BBC programme ChuckleVision which ran for 21 series.  

Geoffrey Hayes – Television presenter, who played the lovable and long-suffering upholder of peace on children’s programme Rainbow from 1974-1992 – alongside characters Zippy, George and Bungle. 

Dolores O’Riordan – Singer, frontwoman of The Cranberries. 

Montserrat Caballé – Spanish soprano known for her huge repertoire and bel canto technique, but best remembered for her duet with Freddie Mercury which became the signature song of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.  

Avicii – Swedish musician, DJ, remixer and record producer who became one of the world’s biggest dance music stars, with club anthems including Wake Me Up, Levels and Lonely Together with Rita Ora.  

Joe Jackson – Father of the musically-talented Jackson family. His single-mindedness in achieving fame for his children – including Michael, Janet and LaToya – often attracted controversy. 

Chas Hodges – One half of duo Chas and Dave, known for their rock and cockney style, they enjoyed fame in the 1970s and 1980s with hits such as Rabbit – which played on cockney rhyming slang “rabbit and pork”, meaning “talk”. 

Sir Ken Dodd – An old-fashioned variety performer – one of the most popular UK artists of his time. He starred on TV, topped the music charts, and filled theatres across the country. 

Burt Reynolds – Actor and director who appeared in hundreds of films, TV movies and series. His role in Deliverance made him a star, his big hit was Smokey and the Bandit, and Boogie Nights won him an Oscar nomination. His extravagant lifestyle also made the headlines. 

Peter Stringfellow – Nightclub owner who was self-made, with a lavish lifestyle and a reputation as a ladies’ man. With his string of nightclubs he was known as the King of Clubs. Stringfellow’s in London’s West End was a magnet for celebrities. 

Trevor Bayliss – Inventor best known for the wind-up radio. He also created hundreds of other devices, including many to help people with disabilities. 

Winnie Mandela – ANC activist and potent symbol of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, she campaigned for black South African rights and the release of her then-husband, Nelson Mandela. Her reputation later became tainted by a fraud conviction and murder accusations, which she denied. 

John McCain – American Vietnam war hero who became one of the country’s best known politicians, representing Arizona in Congress and Senate. A Republican, he established a reputation for challenging his own party leadership. In 2008 he ran for the presidency, losing to Barack Obama.  

George HW Bush – The 41st president of the United States of America. He was vice-president to Ronald Reagan and became the first vice-president for more than 150 years to be elected president. He served in the US Navy in World War Two, made a fortune in the Texas oil industry and represented Texas for the Republicans in the House of Representatives. Appointed US ambassador to the UN by Richard Nixon, and head of the CIA by Gerald Ford.  

Barbara Bush – US first lady – only the second woman in US history to be the wife of one president and the mother of another. She was never content to accept a passive role as political wife. A long-time campaigner for social justice, she spoke out against racial segregation and threw her weight behind the drive to eradicate illiteracy in America.  

Leslie Grantham – Actor – best known as the roguish “Dirty Den” Watts in BBC television soap EastEnders, in which he delivered the opening line in 1985. His own life was also touched by controversy. 

Margot Kidder – Actress who found fame as Lois Lane in the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve of the 1970s and 1980s. She later became a political and women’s rights activist and one of the first Hollywood stars to talk openly about mental health problems.  

Dale Winton – TV and radio presenter. Gained celebrity status presenting Supermarket Sweep in the 1990s, along with National Lottery television programmes and Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops.  

Denis Norden – TV host and comedy writer who – with Frank Muir – formed one of the most successful comedy writing partnerships in British history. He will be more recently remembered as creator and host of the original blooper clip show It’ll be Alright on the Night. 

Peter Wyngarde – Actor who played dandy detective Jason King in the 1970s TV show that was a partial inspiration for the Austin Powers films. 

Verne Troyer – Actor best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers films, the clone and sidekick of Dr Evil, played by Mike Myers. He also played the goblin Griphook in the first Harry Potter film. 

Sir Roger Bannister – The first man to run a mile in under four minutes, establishing him as one of the great names of British athletics. He went on to become a leading neurologist and the Master of Pembroke College, Oxford.  

Kofi Annan – Former UN secretary general and Nobel Peace Prize winner who focused on the organisation’s role in fighting poverty, injustice and disease and was able to act as an honest broker at the highest levels of diplomacy.  

Baroness Tessa Jowell – Former Labour cabinet minister Tessa Jowell played a major role in securing the 2012 Olympics for London. Diagnosed with a brain tumour, she campaigned for more NHS cancer treatments. 

Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon – Jeremy John Durham “Paddy” Ashdown led the Liberal Democrats for 11 years, after having served as a Royal Marine and member of the UK intelligence services. In 2002, he was appointed as UN high representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, helping to steer the country through its post-war reconstruction. He was known for speaking his mind and for his drive and energy – which earned him the nickname Action Man. 

Eric Bristow – Five-time darts world champion nicknamed the Crafty Cockney, whose cheeky man-of-the-people image and charisma were central to the sport’s domination of post-pub TV in the 1980s.  

Baroness Trumpington – Conservative peer Jean Barker was a society girl who became a Bletchley Park codebreaker, working against the Nazis, in World War Two. Known for her independent spirit, she achieved fame for flicking a V-sign at a colleague during a debate in the House of Lords. 

Billy Graham – Preacher who took his mission of mass evangelism worldwide, preaching to an estimated 215 million people in 185 countries – and reaching hundreds of millions more through his radio and television ministry.  

Sister Wendy Beckett – Roman Catholic Carmelite nun and art historian, who became an unlikely television star when she presented a succession of popular TV programmes from art galleries around the world. Her belief that art belonged to everyone, her avoidance of jargon and obvious passion for her subject endeared her to audiences. 

On This Day

• 1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Moscow river three days later.  
• 2004 – A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.  
• 2006 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed.

Deaths

• 1916 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (b. 1869)  
• 2006 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Luise Rainer, German-born American-British actress (b. 1910)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Denzel Washington (64), Noomi Rapace (39), Maggie Smith (84), Sienna Miller (37), Joe Manganiello (42), Nichelle Nichols (86), Olivia Cooke (25), Gérard Depardieu (70), John Amos (79), Kit Harington (32), Jared Leto (47), Phil Spector (79), Sissy Spacek (69), Helena Christensen (50), Annie Lennox (64), Stephenie Meyer (45), Carol Vorderman (58), Harry Shearer (75), Jude Law (46), Jon Voight (80), Ted Danson (71), Danny McBride (42), Bernard Cribbins (90) and Marianne Faithfull (72).

Apologies for the short issue this week, like most of you I am immensely busy with this thing we call Christmas. Like all of you, I will not be celebrating the birth of Jesus, but will be celebrating consumerism by buying too much food and spending too much money on gifts that dwarf the value of what the Three Mages initially proffered to the ‘virgin’ Mary on the birth of her son, conceived by an angel, so she said… Apparently condoms were in short supply back then and blatant lies were easily believed and turned into a world  dominating religion capable of setting humanity back by hundreds of years and killing vast amounts of people for little more than being a female with a slight interest in science. 

Anyhow, I hope you have a fantastic capitalist holiday, forgetting the meaning of ‘christianity’ by overfilling yourself stupidly whilst some people suffer and starve whilst we sell their governments arms to kill them. 

On another note, get your lists in! I’m too tired to chase you this year. Tell your friends, tweet the fuck out of the website, mumble in pubs, wee on your work colleagues. Generally, do what you normally do. Merry Amazon Day! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Colin Kroll, 34, American businessman (Vine, HQ Trivia).  
• Penny Marshall, 75, American actress (Laverne & Shirley) and director (Big, A League of Their Own), complications from diabetes.  
• Donald Moffat, 87, British-born American actor (The Thing, The Right Stuff, Clear and Present Danger), complications from a stroke.

In Other News

In some American news that didn’t concern Donald Trump, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery on Friday morning for early stage lung cancer, the Supreme Court confirmed in a statement. According to the court’s public information office, Ginsburg underwent a pulmonary lobectomy at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “Two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered incidentally during tests performed at George Washington University Hospital to  diagnose and treat rib fractures sustained in a fall on November 7th,” read the statement. The statement also said that both nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant on initial pathology evaluation. However, “post-surgery, there was no evidence of any remaining disease,” the statement continued. “Scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.” Time to hedge your bets people! Currently, no further treatment is planned for 85-year-old Ginsburg, who is “resting comfortably” and is expected to remain at the hospital for a few more days. Ginsburg previously beat cancer twice; she was treated for colorectal cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009. So never say I don’t give you great chances to score!    

Former glamour model Katie Price has been charged with being drunk in charge of a motor vehicle. Ms Price, 40, from Horsham, Sussex, will appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on 7th January. She was charged by postal requisition last week, after her arrest on suspicion of drink-driving in south-east London two months ago. The Met Police said officers had come across a damaged car on Shooters Hill Road in Woolwich on 10th October. This is one of many signs that Ms Price is fast falling from grace and is quickly superseding ‘The Sheen’ for being a superb Maverick. Along with being sexually abused by her own son on a constant basis, she’s currently seeing some toy boy fuck thing and will be attempting to stay sober at a wedding over the New Year celebrations. Even the scumbag tabloid ‘The Sun’ has now lost track of how many marriages she’s managed in the last year, but one assumes the amount of man-muck that’s been fired up her and sticky white love piss she’s ingested over the years will finally catch up on her, either through severe indigestion or fanny rot, who can tell. Let’s not forget the rehab session of 24 hours for PTSD and drink and drug binges. For your information, the coke this lass likes isn’t available at McDonalds and to  be sure, anyone who makes Peter Andre looks good has to be fucked. 

On This Day

• 1919 – Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom. 
• 1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.  
• 1954 – First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.  
• 1970 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world. Little over thirty years later, it was demolished by the CIA. 
• 1972 – The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having reportedly survived by cannibalism.  
• 1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refuelling.

Deaths

• 1973 – Charles Atlas, Italian-American bodybuilder and model (b. 1892)  
• 2006 – Charlie Drake, English actor (b. 1925) 
• 2013 – Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian general and weapons designer, designed the AK-47 rifle (b. 1919)

Slight points jiggle this week  as I ploughed through your lists for missing ‘dead un’s’,  seems we all missed the death of Devin Lima at the age of 41 back in November, points awarded where needed. With just over two weeks to go, I hope you have been working on your ’19 lists. Remember, 13 names in total. I’ve already got a couple of list; I have already submitted mine and my theme this year is Star Trek, all of my listings have a connection to that particular program. Of course, you lot don’t have to have a theme, I just found it more fun. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Evelyn Berezin, 93, American computer designer. 
• Roger, 12, Australian red kangaroo.  
• Sondra Locke, 74, American actress (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Sudden Impact), breast and bone cancer. Her death was not publicised until Dec 14th, 2018.

In Other News

Police visited Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson after an alarming social media post sparked fears for his welfare. Concerns were raised for the US comedian and actor, 25, following an Instagram post in which he wrote: “I really don’t want to be on this earth anymore.” He added: “I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.” Davidson, who was engaged to pop star Ariana Grande earlier this year, concluded the message with a heart emoji. He later deleted his Instagram account and appeared as scheduled on SNL, which is broadcast live. New York police said they had checked on the comedian, but did not say where officers met him. Earlier this month, the comedian wrote on Instagram about suffering from borderline personality disorder, being targeted by online trolls, and feeling suicidal. He said he was speaking out about his mental health “only in the hopes that it will help bring awareness and help kids like myself who don’t want to be on this earth”.  

The latest test flight by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic successfully rocketed to the edge of space and back. The firm’s SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship reached a height of 82.7km, beyond the altitude at which US agencies have awarded astronaut wings. It marked the plane’s fourth test flight and followed earlier setbacks in the firm’s space programme. Sir Richard is in a race with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to send the first fee-paying passengers into space. In 2008, Virgin Galactic first promised sub-orbital spaceflight trips for tourists would be taking place “within 18 months”. It has since regularly made similar promises to have space flights airborne in the near future. But delays and a fatal crash in 2014 prevented Sir Richard’s original ambitions. So, what does this mean for us? Many well known celebrities have already booked a flight on Bronson’s ‘almost safe’ space ship. Amongst them Brad Pitt, Paris Hilton, Bryan Singer, Princess Beatrice, Tom Hanks, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, although fuck knows how he’s going, maybe they’ll serve him up as the inflight meal. Could this be the way someone scores the perfect 13 in one hit?  

US actress Sarah Hyland has described how having to undergo two kidney transplants left her “contemplating suicide”, US media report. The 28-year-old, who stars in the popular sitcom Modern Family, opened up about her kidney dysplasia in an interview with Self magazine. She said her body rejected a kidney donated by her father when she was 21, but luckily her brother was a match. Now she’s drained her family of organs, she’s feeling rather unenthusiastic of her future. “I had gone through my whole life always being a burden,” Hyland said. “When a family member gives you a second chance at life, and it fails, it almost feels like it’s your fault. It’s not. But it does,” she said. “For a long time, I was contemplating suicide, because I didn’t want to fail my little brother like I failed my dad.” Hyland was treated with dialysis after her body started to reject her father’s kidney two years ago. During her treatment, it was established that her brother, who said he “had her back”, was a match. She said that going through “26 years of always being a burden” because of her health issues made her feel “really helpless”, but that she was now “stable”. Hyland also suffers with endometriosis, a chronic condition where tissue that lines the womb is found in other parts of the body, often resulting in intense pain. Last year, the actress was criticised about her appearance, with some fans suggesting that a photo posted on Instagram made it look as though she was promoting anorexia. “I’m here to say that no-one should aim to be the weight that I am right now,” she responded on Twitter at the time, adding: “I’m not in control of what my body looks like.” “I was born with so many health issues that doctors told my mother I would never have a normal life.” 

On This Day

• 1653 – English Interregnum: The Protectorate: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.  
• 1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbour as a protest against the Tea Act.  
• 1901 – Beatrix Potter privately publishes The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It goes on to sell over 45 million copies worldwide.   
• 1920 – The Haiyuan earthquake of 8.5M_w , rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.  
• 1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.

Deaths

• 1859 – Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist and author (b. 1786)  
• 1965 – W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist, and writer (b. 1874)   
• 1980 – Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founded KFC (b. 1890)  
• 1989 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)  
• 2011 – Nicol Williamson, Scottish actor (b. 1938)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Miranda Otto (51), Krysten Ritter (37), Billy Gibbons (69), Christopher Biggins (70), Benny Andersson (72), Charlie Cox (36), Don Johnson (69), Helen Slater (55), Garrett Wang (50), Alex Cox (64), Vanessa Hudgens (30), Natascha McElhone (49), Miranda Hart (46), Ted Raimi (53), Vicki Michelle (68), Dick Van Dyke (93), Jamie Foxx (51), Christopher Plummer (89), Steve Buscemi (61), Taylor Swift (29), Robert Lindsay (69), Jennifer Connelly (48), Mädchen Amick (48), Bill Nighy (69), Sarah Douglas (66), Kenneth Cranham (74), Connie Francis (80), Dionne Warwick (78), Kenneth Branagh (58), Kirk Douglas (102), John Malkovich (65), Judi Dench (84), Michael Dorn (66), Beau Bridges (77) and Donny Osmond (61).

Not a good week to be a wrestler, but then again, when is? No points to be awarded this week but plenty read up on. I hope you’ve all been working on your lists for 2019 as I am now officially opening the gates for your submissions. You can either email them to me directly on mail@thedeadpool.rip or fill in the online form on the website. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Joseph Christopher Garcia, 47, American convicted murderer and prison escapee (Texas Seven), execution by lethal injection.  
• Peter Boizot, 89, British restaurateur (PizzaExpress) and football club owner (Peterborough United).  
• Dynamite Kid, 60, English professional wrestler (WWF, NJPW, Stampede).  
• Larry Hennig, 82, American professional wrestler (AWA, NWA, WWWF), renal failure.  
• Pete Shelley, 63, English musician and songwriter (Buzzcocks), heart attack.

In Other News

Canada’s Adonis Stevenson is in a “critical condition” in hospital after losing his WBC and lineal light-heavyweight titles to Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Quebec City. Stevenson, 41, who was boxing’s oldest and longest-reigning champion, suffered an 11th-round knockout, slumping in the corner after a flurry of punches. He was put on a stretcher, before being taken to hospital by ambulance. Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel said his boxer was in intensive care. Unbeaten Gvozdyk, 31, told a news conference on Saturday night: “I talked to the people at the hospital. He was very confused when he arrived, we suspect a concussion. It’s very disturbing.” On Sunday, Michel tweeted his thanks on behalf of Stevenson’s wife and family: “Thank you for your many messages of encouragement and support. #Superman is currently under careful medical supervision of very competent doctors in a controlled environment. #hope.”    

An inmate in the US state of Tennessee has been executed by electric chair after arguing that a lethal injection would involve suffering. David Earl Miller, who spent 36 years on death row, was the latest of an increasing number of inmates attempting to avoid lethal injection following several botched executions. Another Tennessee inmate, Edmund Zagorski, was electrocuted last month. Lethal injection is the state’s main method of execution. However, Tennessee inmates on death row whose crimes were committed before 1999 are allowed to choose electrocution instead. Miller was pronounced dead at 19:25 local time on Thursday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Tennessee department of correction spokesman Tylee Tracer said that Miller’s last words were: “Beats being on death row.” Miller was found guilty of killing a 23-year-old mentally ill woman in 1981. In court, both Miller and Zagorski had cited the August execution of Billy Ray Irick, who turned purple and took 20 minutes to die! It follows a series of executions using different combinations of drug where prisoners have appeared to suffer. The US constitution bans cruel and unusual punishments, yet allows the electric chair? Zagorski’s execution was the second time the state’s electric chair had been used since 1960. In neighbouring Alabama, more than 50 inmates have chosen to be killed in the nitrogen gas chamber rather than be given a lethal injection after being given the option earlier this year.    

A woman who sat on her boyfriend and suffocated him to death during a drunken rage is facing nearly four decades in prison after she admitted to his murder. Windi Thomas stabbed Keeno Butler in the hand with a knife and battered him with a table leg before she smothered him with her body at their home in Erie, Pennsylvania. The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to the third-degree murder although her lawyers argued the she killed Mr Butler by mistake after collapsing on top of him while drunk. Mr Butler’s death was ruled homicide caused by “respiratory insufficiency secondary to blunt force trauma to the neck and thoracic compression, exacerbated by blunt force trauma to the head.” After killing the 44-year-old in March, the court heard that Thomas dialled police and told a dispatcher: “I killed my boyfriend.” After arriving at property, investigators found a table leg with bolts protruding covered with blood. She told police that she had been drinking and looking to purchase crack cocaine. 

On This Day

• 1892 – English soccer club Newcastle United is founded  
• 1960 – The first episode of Coronation Street, the world’s longest-running television soap opera, is broadcast in the United Kingdom.  
• 1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two diseases that have been driven to extinction (rinderpest in 2011 being the other).  
• 1996 – Gwen Jacob is acquitted of committing an indecent act, giving women the right to be topless in Ontario, Canada.  

Deaths

• 1048 – Al-Biruni, Persian mathematician (b. 973)
• 2012 – Patrick Moore, English lieutenant, astronomer, and educator (b. 1923)   
• 2012 – Norman Joseph Woodland, American inventor, co-created the bar code (b. 1921)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Kim Basinger (65), Teri Hatcher (54), Nicki Minaj (36), Dominic Monaghan (42), C. Thomas Howell (52), Kristofer Hivju (40), Ellen Burstyn (86), Tom Hulce (65), JoBeth Williams  (70), Noel Clarke (43), Nick Park (60), Frankie Muniz (33), Little Richard (86), Marisa Tomei (54), Jeff Bridges (69), Tyra Banks (45), Tony Todd (64), Pamela Stephenson (69), Jay Z (49), Amanda Seyfried (33), Brendan Fraser (50), Julianne Moore (58), Daryl Hannah (58), Jean-Luc Godard (88), Ozzy Osbourne (70), Lucy Liu (50), Britney Spears (37) and Connie Booth (78).

A points extravaganza!!! With the sad passing of George  H.W. Bush, twelve of us have scored! Well done to Paula, Jemm, Debbie, Julia, Christine, Sarai, Doug, Mark, Nick, Laura and Julie who all score 56 points, but an extra gold star to Paul G. for scoring 156 points by having Bush down as his Cert. With only this month left to go, the top end of the table looks quite static as they’ve already scored with their Cert & Woman and just below them are a few of you who have yet to score your big points, who knows what will happen!! 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Bernardo Bertolucci, 77, Italian film director (Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor, 1900), Oscar winner (1988), lung cancer.  
• Stephen Hillenburg, 57, American animator and director (SpongeBob SquarePants, Rocko’s Modern Life), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  
• Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington, 96, British politician and socialite, member of the House of Lords (1980–2017).  
• George H. W. Bush, 94, American politician, President (1989–1993), Vice President (1981–1989), Director of Central Intelligence (1976–1977).  

In Other News

Fernando LaFuente says he has been “watching my own death” after a club he had played for reported he had died. When Ballybrack FC told the Leinster Senior League that LaFuente had died in a traffic accident, one of their matches was postponed and others were preceded by a minute’s silence. The club has apologised and the league has started an investigation. “My work started sending me all these news articles – that’s how I found out I was dead,” LaFuente told RTE Radio. The Spaniard, who has moved to Galway and no longer plays for Ballybrack, said the club contacted him last week to let him know he may hear reports he had been involved in an accident. He added: “I was aware there was going to be some story on me but I thought it was going to be me breaking a leg or something like that. LaFuente acknowledged the idea of a man in his 20s “with his whole life in front of him” dying in a car accident was “sad” but added: “It’s funny for me because I’ve been watching my own death.” Ballybrack’s game against Arklow Town was called off following their announcement, and the league placed a death notice in an Irish newspaper offering its “heartfelt condolences” to his family and the club. LaFuente said: “I have a really good relationship with the club. As soon as I heard the news, I wrote to them. They got straight back to me and told me what was going on and they apologised. “I had to call my mum straight away and she basically didn’t know anything. She saw this morning my photo on all the newspapers. I haven’t spoken with her yet because she didn’t answer any of the messages I sent.” League chairman David Moran told us the club’s secretary had resigned on Tuesday.  

A British rower is in a coma in a US hospital after falling down some stairs. Anna Thornton was hurt in the fall earlier this month in Seattle, Washington, where she is studying. British Rowing confirmed she was in a “stable but serious condition” and are supporting her and her family. The 21-year-old, from Nottingham, defended her double scull title at the World Under 23 Championships in July. In a statement, the University of Washington said: “We have been closely monitoring the condition of Anna Thornton, a member of the UW women’s rowing programme who is in a stable but serious condition with injuries resulting from an accident earlier this month. “At this time our focus is on supporting her, her family and teammates in any way possible. Anna’s family has requested for their privacy to be respected at this time.” Miss Thornton started rowing at the Nottingham Rowing Club at the age of 12 and represented Team GB Juniors at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. She is currently in her third year of studying public health at the University of Washington. The statement from British Rowing added: “At this time our focus is on supporting her and her family in any way possible.”  

A multimillionaire farmer died after his dog hit a lever inside the cab of his tractor, putting the vehicle in motion and crushing him as he was building a rookery, an inquest has heard. Entrepreneur Derek Mead left the JCB farm loader with the engine running and with the animal inside, as he worked on the structure in his garden. The father-of-three was crushed against a gate and suffered a fractured vertebrae and traumatic asphyxia in the accident on 4th June 2017. He was found by his son who called the emergency services. Paramedics tried to save him but he died at the scene. It is thought the small dog may have jumped up to see where the 70-year-old was, and hit the lever, which was apparently as easy to turn on as a car indicator, putting the vehicle into motion, the inquest at Flax Bourton, Bristol, heard. Son Alistair, who cried throughout the one-hour hearing, found Mr Mead trapped against the gate and unresponsive. In a statement read at the inquest, he said: “Dad was crouched down facing the machine with his back to the gate as if he had seen the machine coming towards him and ducked to avoid it.” Summing up, assistant coroner Dr Peter Harrowing said: “Mr Mead was very experienced in using the piece of equipment. “The most likely explanation is that the dog inadvertently moved the shuttle lever, causing Mr Mead to be trapped against the gate. “The death of Mr Derek Mead was one of a very tragic accident.” 

On This Day

• 1697 – St Paul’s Cathedral is consecrated in London.  
• 1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.  
• 1999 – The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.

Deaths

• 1547 – Hernán Cortés, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1485)  
• 1594 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mathematician and cartographer (b. 1512)  
• 1814 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher, author, and politician (b. 1740)  
• 1957 – Harrison Ford, American actor (b. 1884)  
• 1982 – Marty Feldman, English actor and comedian (b. 1933)  
• 1985 – Philip Larkin, English poet, author, and librarian (b. 1922)  
• 1993 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord    
• 1997 – Shirley Crabtree, English wrestler (b. 1930)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Sarah Silverman (48), Woody Allen (83), Deep Roy (61), Bette Midler (73), Ben Stiller (53), Ridley Scott (81), Mandy Patinkin (66), Billy Idol (63), Gemma Chan (36), Joel Coen (64), Don Cheadle (54), Diane Ladd (83), Gena Lee Nolin (47), Karen Gillan (31), Judd Nelson (59), Ed Harris (68), Martin Clunes (57), Jon Stewart (56), Armando Iannucci (55), William Fichtner (62), Sharlto Copley (45), Kathryn Bigelow (67), Robin Givens (54), Bill Nye (63), Rita Ora (28), Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (30), Kristin Bauer van Straten (52), Tina Turner (79), DJ Khaled (43), Christina Applegate (47), John Larroquette (71) and Bruno Tonioli (63).