We have a winner! The first death of the season falls to Nickie who correctly guessed that the great Bella Emberg would meet her maker. Not only does she get the extra 50 points for the first death of the season, Nickie also listed her as her Woman, so a whopping 220 points awarded in total!! She’s now become the one to beat! Well done Nickie!!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Thomas Bopp, 68, American astronomer, co-discoverer of Comet Hale–Bopp, liver failure.
• Eddie Clarke, 67, British guitarist (Motörhead, Fastway), pneumonia.
• Edgar Ray Killen, 92, American Ku Klux Klan leader and convicted murderer.
• Bella Emberg, 80, British actress (The Russ Abbot Show, The Benny Hill Show, Bear Behaving Badly).
• Doreen Tracey, 74, English-born American actress (The Mickey Mouse Club), pneumonia.
• Keith Jackson, 89, American sportscaster (ABC Sports, Wide World of Sports)
• Ray Thomas, 76, English singer-songwriter (“Veteran Cosmic Rocker”, “For My Lady”) and Hall of Fame musician (The Moody Blues), prostate cancer.

In Other News

As you may have heard, Big Brother star Rebekah Shelton is not dead after a social media ‘hack’. A tweet from her verified account said she had died unexpectedly, however a video apparently posted by the transgender Big Brother star says she is not dead and was the victim of a Twitter hoax. The 32-year-old was on Big Brother in 2009 where – as Rodrigo Lopes – she finished fifth. A later tweet from the account said although the hoax was a “horrible experience”, the positive thing was that “I realise that I’m loved and so many people cared about me”.  Sadly, we at Dead Pool Towers don’t give a shit about her.

Olympic BMX silver medallist Jelle van Gorkom is in a coma after a training accident on Tuesday. The Royal Dutch Cycling Union said the 27-year-old had “broken ribs, a fracture in the face, a tear in the skull and damage to the liver, spleen and kidneys”. The incident occurred at the National Sports Centre Papendal in Arnhem. Van Gorkom won silver medals at the 2015 World Championships and the 2016 Rio Games. Bas de Bever, the Dutch national BMX coach, asked that the rider, his girlfriend and his family be given “peace and privacy”, while Jochem Schellens, director at the National Sports Centre Papendal, added: “It is a terrible accident and… we wish them all the strength in the coming period.” Who said cycling was fun and safe?

Andy Murray has survived hip surgery in Melbourne and says he hopes to be playing again in time for this summer’s grass-court season. The former world number one, 30, has not played a competitive match since he was knocked out of Wimbledon in July. The ongoing problem forced the Scot to pull out of the Australian Open, which begins on 15th January. “I’m not finished playing tennis yet. I’m going to be competing at the highest level again,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about the future – the surgeon is very happy about how it went.” Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion, believes if he can return to 95% of his best, that will be enough for him to compete again at the top level. However, we know that 95% of ‘his best’ isn’t anywhere good enough. Murray, who has fallen to 19th in the world, said he is not “interested in coming back for a specific tournament”. Which is fair enough, we don’t want to watch him either.

On This Day

• 1907 – An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000 people.
• 1969 – An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 27 people.

Deaths

• 1742 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist (b. 1656)
• 1898 – Lewis Carroll, English novelist, poet, and mathematician (b. 1832)
• 1957 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1977 – Anthony Eden, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1897)
• 2006 – Shelley Winters, American actress (b. 1920)
• 2009 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor (b. 1920)
• 2016 – Alan Rickman, English actor (b. 1946)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Orlando Bloom (41), Liam Hemsworth (28), Michael Peña (42), William B. Davis (80), Bill Bailey (53), Kirstie Alley (67), Rachael Harris (50), Rob Zombie (53), Zayn Malik (25), Howard Stern (64), Pixie Lott (27), Melanie C (44), Jeff Bezos (54), Jason Connery (55), Mary J. Blige (47), Rachel Riley (32), John Sessions (65), Jemaine Clement (44), Evan Handler (57), George Foreman (69), Fran Walsh (59), Rod Stewart (73), Pat Benatar (65), Joely Richardson (53), Imelda Staunton (62), Catherine Duchess of Cambridge (36), Jimmy Page (74), Michelle Forbes (53), Stephen Hawking (76), Amber Benson (41), Nicolas Cage (54), Jeremy Renner (47), Linda Kozlowski (60), Erin Gray (68), Lewis Hamilton (33),  Helen Worth (67) and Kenny Loggins (70).

Welcome to the first official newsletter of the season. Attached to this weeks email is a list of each competitors email address, can you all please double check yours and update your outgoing list so we don’t annoy anyone who has dropped out. If you’re reading this on the website and didn’t get an email, please let me know.

Not much to report, nobody of relevance has died yet, but good news for those of you who have listed Dick Van Dyke, his younger brother has just died, so there is hope the almost-immortal Dick might soon follow his sibling. Oh, and don’t shit yourself when you see the dead Pfeiffer in the following list like I did…

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jon Paul Steuer, 33, American actor (Grace Under Fire, Little Giants, Star Trek: The Next Generation) and musician, fire.
• Michael Pfeiffer, 92, German football player (national team) and manager (Roda JC Kerkrade, Alemannia Aachen).
• Frank Buxton, 87, American actor (What’s Up, Tiger Lily?), screenwriter and director (The Odd Couple, Happy Days).
• John Young, 87, American astronaut whose was on (Apollo 16, STS-1).
• Jerry Van Dyke, 86, American actor and comedian on My Mother the Car, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Coach. He died due to declining health from injuries in an car accident.

In Other News

Singer Sam Bailey has said she is “determined” to get back on the pantomime stage after being knocked out by a loft ladder at her home. The 40-year-old had been trying to retrieve a suitcase when she was hurt in the bizarre accident on Tuesday. The X Factor star is playing the role of the Enchantress in Beauty and the Beast at De Montfort Hall in Leicester. While recovering at her Leicester home, she thanked emergency staff and tweeted to say she was “on the mend”. Bailey, who won X Factor in 2013, posted to say she was “gutted” not to be performing after the accident. Martin Ballard, a BBC Radio Leicester presenter and the dame in the pantomime, said the cast was “shocked” to hear the news. “Sam’s singing is irreplaceable and she drives the whole story,” he said.

After taking some time out from the spotlight, Robbie Williams has now revealed he spent seven days in intensive care after doctors discovered ‘abnormalities’ on his brain. The former Take That star was forced to cancel his Russian tour dates back in September due to a ‘mystery illness’ which left him in ICU, but so far hasn’t given specific details why. Now, Robbie has opened up about his health scare, revealing he was rushed to hospital after he became seriously ill while backstage at a gig in Zurich. ‘My left arm went numb and I couldn’t stop dribbling out of the side of my mouth’, he told our roving Dead Pool reporter. ‘I had a headache and I was also having trouble breathing. I couldn’t get a full breath.’ When a doctor examined the 43-year-old star, Robbie was told he could still perform the show as he doesn’t normally use his brain, but later flew to London for emergency tests where doctors found what looked like blood on his brain. ‘That was obviously very scary, but everyone kept telling me not to worry as I had nothing to lose’ he continued. ‘I was confused and scared, but I knew I was in the right place. And, maybe naively, I felt like I knew I was going to be OK,’ he added. Sadly, Robbie revealed that after seven days in intensive care, he was declared fit to leave and then spent two months recovering back at his home in LA.

‘Jeopardy!’ host Alex Trebek is on a leave of absence from the show after undergoing brain surgery for blood clots — medically known as subdural hematoma — that were “caused by a fall I endured two months ago.” Wearing a yellow sweater, jeans and a blue “Jeopardy!” hat, the 77-year-old wryly addressed our reporter, calling the procedure “a slight medical problem.” “Surgery was performed. After two days in the hospital, I came home to start recovery,” he said. “The prognosis is excellent, and I expect to be back in the studio taping more ‘Jeopardy!’ programs very, very soon.” Nothing quite like that American optimism.

On This Day

• 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
• 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London.
• 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
• 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
• 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.

Deaths

• 1536 – Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
• 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1856)
• 1989 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (b. 1901)
• 2007 – Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist, author, and academic (b. 1929)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Eddie Redmayne (36), Rowan Atkinson (63), Norman Reedus (49), Nigella Lawson (58), January Jones (40), Bradley Cooper (43), Diane Keaton (72), Clancy Brown (59), Robert Duvall (87), Hayao Miyazaki (77), Marilyn Manson (49), Vinnie Jones (53), Julia Ormond (53), Matt Frewer (60), Julian Sands (60), Michael Stipe (58), Mel Gibson (62), Victoria Principal (68), Tia Carrere (51), Cuba Gooding Jr. (50), Verne Troyer (49) and Frank Langella (80).

January

The year began with veteran actor John Hurt signing off at the age of 77, TV star Mary Tyler Moore saying goodbye aged 80 and Bollywood actor Om Puri leaving us too soon at the age of 66.

We also bid farewell to the art critic John Berger, ‘Allo ‘Allo star Gorden Kaye, British singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt, Exorcist author William Peter Blatty and French actress Emmanuelle Riva. We also lost Graham Taylor, ex-England football manager, Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret’s former husband  and John Wetton, Derbyshire-born singer-songwriter with Asia and King Crimson and American actor Miguel Ferrer.

February

The year’s shortest month saw Battlestar Galactica star Richard Hatch die at 71, jazz crooner Al Jarreau silenced at 76 and Aliens star Bill Paxton die suddenly at the age of 61.

We also saw stage actor Alec McCowen and Twin Peaks actor Warren Frost bow out, both at 91, and The Archers’ Sara Coward, Japanese manga artist Jiro Taniguchi and pop star turned priest Peter Skellern all die at 69.

We also lost Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, socialite and television presenter and Sir Ken Morrison, president of Morrisons and South African rugby union player Joost van der Westhuizen.

March 

The third month of 2017 brought the deaths of rock and roll legend Chuck Berry, Inspector Morse creator Colin Dexter and Caribbean poet Derek Walcott.

Others to leave us included British artist Howard Hodgkin, Sister Sledge singer Joni Sledge, novelist and playwright David Storey, and Robert James Waller, the American novelist best known for The Bridges of Madison County.

Also we lost John Surtees, the only man to win the Formula One and motorcycle Grand Prix titles and Ronnie Moran, former Liverpool captain and caretaker boss, the Northern Irish PIRA commander and ‘politician’ Martin McGuinness and American banker David Rockefeller.

April

TS Eliot called April the cruellest month, something with which fans of Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme, Happy Days star Erin Moran and British actor Tim Pigott-Smith are sure to agree.

James Bond actor Clifton James, broadcaster Brian Matthew, US comedian Don Rickles and Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko also took their leave in April aged 96, 90 and 84 respectively.

May

Among those who left us in May were imposing US actor Powers Boothe, Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and Sir Roger Moore, the much-loved star of seven James Bond films.

Rock and roll trailblazer Gregg Allman, Blue Peter presenter John Noakes, Catweazle actor Geoffrey Bayldon, Darling Buds of May star Moray Watson, Italian DJ Roberto Concina – better known as Robert Miles – and actor Michael Parks, a favourite of Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, also died this month. We finally got rid of Ian Brady too! Yay!

June 

In the month Britain went to the polls, we sadly lost Paddington creator Michael Bond, US actress Glenne Headly and Last of the Summer Wine actor Peter Sallis.

Others to die in June included Coronation Street’s Roy Barraclough, Rocky director John G Avildsen, film critic Barry Norman, Animal House star Stephen Furst, Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, model/actress Anita Pallenberg, classical conductor Jeffrey Tate and Adam West of TV Batman fame. We also lost Brian Cant, actor and presenter of Play School and Cheick Tiote, ex-Newcastle United footballer at the young age of 30. We also said goodbye to the German politician Helmut Kohl.

July

The suicide of Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington cast a tragic pall over a month that also saw the deaths of legendary French actress Jeanne Moreau and the American playwright and actor Sam Shepard.

Others to bow out in July included True Blood star Nelsan Ellis, Home Alone actor John Heard, Ed Wood Oscar-winner Martin Landau, children’s TV star Carol Lee Scott, former Doctor Who companion Deborah Watling and zombie maestro George A Romero. We also lost Hywel Bennett, the actor who starred in TV show Shelley at the age of 73. With a cackle and a swish of her besom, off went Grotbags actress Carol Lee Scott too.

August

Three show business legends left us in August – country singer Glen Campbell, entertainer Bruce Forsyth and comedy star Jerry Lewis – at the ages of 81, 89 and 91 respectively.

We also bid a fond farewell to science-fiction author Brian Aldiss, US comedian Dick Gregory, All Creatures Great and Small actor Robert Hardy and the horror director Tobe Hooper. American bodybuilder Richard Piana’s body finally gave up on him and we said nothing as Predator actor Sonny Landham quietly walked back into the jungle.

September 

Coronation Street actress Liz Dawn, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and the actor Harry Dean Stanton, of Alien and Repo Man fame, were among the dearly departed this month.

Others to take their leave included Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker, theatrical giant Peter Hall, quiz show host William G Stewart, The Ginger Man author JP Donleavy, Scorsese regular Frank Vincent and country singer Don Williams. We also lost Jake LaMotta, world middleweight boxing champion and inspiration for the film Raging Bull and Tony Booth, actor who played Mike Rawlins in the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part .

October

Ain’t That A Shame? That’s what many people thought in October when they learned that rock and roll singer Fats Domino, Benson actor Robert Guillaume and musician Tom Petty had left us.

The Irish comedian Sean Hughes, French screen star Danielle Darrieux , British actress Rosemary Leach, Guernsey-born character actor Roy Dotrice and AC/DC producer George Young were among others to die this month.

November

The music world was hit hard in November by the deaths of Partridge Family star David Cassidy, 21-year-old rapper Lil Peep and AC/DC’s Malcolm Young, who passed away less than a month on from his brother George.

Others to depart included Magnum PI actor John Hillerman, The Likely Lads star Rodney Bewes, Duty Free actor Keith Barron, Scooby-Doo voice performer Heather North and the Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. We also lost Antonio Carluccio, Italian TV chef and founder of the Carluccio’s chain of restaurants. American criminal  and cult leader Charles Manson finally got what he deserved as well.

December

As the year drew to a close, we said goodbye to bubbly TV presenter and Twitter cunt Keith Chegwin, France’s biggest rock star Johnny Hallyday and Bollywood veteran Shashi Kapoor.

We also lost Heather Menzies-Urich, the actress who played Louisa Von Trapp in The Sound of Music; Leon Bernicoff, one of the regulars on Channel 4’s Gogglebox; and British actor Alfie Curtis, whose Dr Evazan character memorably threatened Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars film. We also lost Christine Keeler, model and showgirl who was at the centre of the “Profumo Affair” in the 1960’s, Max Clifford, disgraced celebrity publicist and Heinz Wolff, scientist and presenter of The Great Egg Race.

Welcome my fellow poolers to the last edition of 2017. With a few hours left to go, unless something tragic happens, or someone spots a mistake, I can provisionally declare the winner of The Dead Pool 2017 as Martin G! I’m sure we would all like to congratulate him on his feat of prophesy! Martin correctly guessed seven deaths and accumulated a score of 586 points with his Woman still in the bag.

Also, a big well done to Laura U; last years Angel fo Death was leading for most of the year but was pipped at the end with only 17 points between her and Martin.

Finally, I hate to mention poor old Christine A at the very bottom of the table, who was the only person who failed to score this year, lets hope she gets a better streak of luck in 2018.

As per usual, I only have a handful of your lists, I assume you’re all still frantically researching your new ones and will get them to me by midnight 😀

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Heather Menzies, 68, Canadian-born American actress (The Sound of Music, Logan’s Run, Piranha), brain cancer.
• Thomas Hunter, 85, American actor (The Hills Run Red, Death Walks in Laredo, The Magnificent Tony Carrera).
• Sue Grafton, 77, American author (“B” Is for Burglar, Keziah Dane, The Lolly-Madonna War), cancer.
• Rose Marie, 94, American actress (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Hollywood Squares, The Doris Day Show).
• Jim Baikie, 77, British comic book artist (Judge Dredd, Skizz, Jinty)
• Alfie Curtis, 87, British actor (Star Wars, The Elephant Man, Cribb).

In Other News 

The sister of Australian actress Jessica Falkholt has died after a car crash which also killed their parents and another man.  Jessica is in a coma and remains in critical condition, officials have not said whether she is aware of her family’s deaths.. Falkholt, 27, appeared on TV soap Home and Away in 2016, playing the character of Hope Morrison. The accident happened on the highway near Ulladulla, New South Wales. Home and Away cast members have been sending support to the actress, who appeared in several films and TV shows. A spokesperson for Channel Seven, the Australian broadcaster of the show, said the news was difficult to comprehend and “especially tragic” given the Christmas period. Falkholt’s stint on the long-running series came to an end in November 2016. She stars in the US film Harmony, set for release next year. Motorists who witnessed the crash helped pull the sisters from the burning wreckage, local media reported. They were airlifted to Sydney hospitals. Police said the three people who died – the sisters’ parents and the 50-year-old drive of the other car – had suffered intense burns. Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy called the crash “an absolute tragedy” and pleaded for motorists in the state to drive safely. He said police were investigating whether the car which hit the Falkholts’ vehicle had been on the wrong side of the road.

In other news, there isn’t any. However tomorrow you will be treated to a massive, well researched and in depth memoriam to all the stars we said goodbye too during 2017. I promise it wont be just a copy and paste from the BBC… *ahem…

On This Day

• 1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
• 1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
• 1907 – The first New Year’s Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in Manhattan.
• 2014 – A New Year’s Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.

Deaths

• 1994 – Woody Strode, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1914)
• 2013 – James Avery, American actor (b. 1945)
• 2015 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1950)
• 2015 – Wayne Rogers, American actor and investor (b. 1933)
• 2016 – William Christopher, American actor (b. 1932)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Eliza Dushku (37), Russ Tamblyn (90), Fred Ward (75), Tracey Ullman (58), Michael Nesmith (75), Patti Smith (71), Jude Law (45), Jon Voight (79), Ted Danson (70), Danny McBride (41), Lilly Wachowski (50), Bernard Cribbins (89), Marianne Faithfull (71), Noomi Rapace (38), Denzel Washington (63), Sienna Miller (36), Joe Manganiello (41), Maggie Smith (83), Stan Lee (95), Nichelle Nichols (85), John Amos (78), Gérard Depardieu (69), Kit Harington (31), Jared Leto (46), Shane Meadows (45), Phil Spector (78), Sissy Spacek (68), Helena Christensen (49), Annie Lennox (63), Shane MacGowan (60) and Carol Vorderman (57).

Welcome to the penultimate edition of the 2017 Dead Pool. With one week left to go, things are really tight at the top of the league table, one death could swing the result. Those of you at the top echelon of the table should start wishing for an errant turkey bone if you want to win or perhaps we should unleash the evil flying monkeys once more, just out of spite.

Again, thank you all who have donated towards the running costs, it’s most appreciated and keep working on those lists for 2018!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Sharon Laws, 43, British racing cyclist, cervical cancer.
• Keely Smith, 89, American singer (“That Old Black Magic”, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”), Grammy winner (1959), heart failure.
• Terence Beesley, 60, British actor (EastEnders, The Phantom of the Opera, War & Peace).
• Bruce McCandless II, 80, American astronaut (STS-41-B).
• Leon Bernicoff, 83, British reality show participant (Gogglebox).
• Bob Givens, 99, American animator (Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Garfield and Friends).
• Heather North, 71, American actress (Scooby-Doo, Days of Our Lives, The Barefoot Executive), cardiac arrest.

In Other News

Peru’s former President Alberto Fujimori has been taken from prison to a hospital because of low blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm. His doctor was quoted by local media as saying cardiologists had advised the 79-year-old needed urgent treatment. Fujimori – who was in power from 1990 to 2000 – is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses. He is admired by some Peruvians for combating Maoist rebels. His critics consider him a corrupt dictator. In 2007, Fujimori was sentenced to six years in jail for bribery and abuse of power. In 2009, he was sentenced to another 25 years in prison for human rights abuses committed during his time in office, including authorising killings carried out by death squads. He has been in and out of hospital for a variety of health problems in recent years.

After years of speculation that Val Kilmer had been dealing with health issues, the actor decided to finally open up about what exactly he’s been going through. Kilmer’s two-year fight with throat cancer has “taken its toll,” he told our Dead Pool reporter, the procedure on his trachea has made his voice raspy and left him short of breath. Confusion has surrounded the state of the actor’s health since he denied Michael Douglas’s claim that he had cancer in a November 2016. Kilmer elaborated on his denial. “(Douglas) was probably trying to help me ’cause press probably asked where I was these days and I did have a healing of cancer, but my tongue is still swollen altho (sic) healing all the time,” he wrote. “Because I don’t sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather.”

John McCain has been hospitalised yet again as he continues to undergo cancer treatment. “As ever, he remains grateful to his physicians for their excellent care, and his friends and supporters for their encouragement and good wishes,” McCain’s staff said in a statement on Wednesday, via The Hill. “Senator McCain looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible.” McCain, 81, is looking increasingly frail and it’s said he has not spoken up in recent GOP meetings the way he had before. One source said that McCain always used to speak up in these meetings, and that he hasn’t at all recently. The source was not commenting on McCain’s mental acuity, but on his energy level, and pointing out that his lack of participation was not normal. One well known side effect of cancer treatments is fatigue. McCain is five months into treatment for brain cancer. He was diagnosed in July with a primary glioblastoma, a type of brain tumour. He underwent surgery to remove a blood clot associated with the tumour at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, and lab results from that surgery confirmed the presence of brain cancer associated with the blood clot.

On This Day

• -01 – A cheating wife and her carpenter husband fail to book accommodation in Bethlehem. Both end up in a stable and she pushes out a baby that became the cause of most wars in history and gave the clergy and excuse to molest children on an epic scale which was only rivalled by Gary Glitter visiting Vietnam and Jimmy Savile being employed at the BBC.
• 1818 – The first performance of “Silent Night” takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.
• 1865 – The Ku Klux Klan is formed.
• 1913 – The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells “fire”.
• 1914 – World War I: The “Christmas truce” begins.
• 1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called “Britain’s Roswell”.

Deaths

• 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, English author and poet (b. 1811)
• 2008 – Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Charles Durning, American soldier and actor (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Jack Klugman, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2016 – Rick Parfitt, British musician (b. 1948)
• 2016 – Liz Smith, English actress (b. 1921)
• 2016 – Richard Adams, English author (b. 1920)

Last Week’s Birthdays

Harry Shearer (74), Carla Bruni (50), Ralph Fiennes (55), Vanessa Paradis (45), Samuel L. Jackson (69), Jane Fonda (80), Kiefer Sutherland (51), Julie Delpy (48), Phil Donahue (82), Jonah Hill (34), Jenny Agutter (65), Nicole de Boer (47), Lucy Pinder (34), Jake Gyllenhaal (37), Alyssa Milano (45), Kristy Swanson (48), Jennifer Beals (54), Richard Hammond (48), Steven Spielberg (71), Brad Pitt (54), Katie Holmes (39), Ray Liotta (63), Christina Aguilera (37), Sia (42), Robson Green (53), Keith Richards (74), Bill Pullman (64), Milla Jovovich (42), Laurie Holden (48), Ernie Hudson (72), Eugene Levy (71) and Bernard Hill (73).