Robert Johnson

After he died at age 27, rumors flew about him making deals with devils in order to obtain his talent and become so well-known so quickly. This is just the beginning of an interesting, if short life. While he wasn’t well-known during his lifetime and couldn’t sell much, after his death, he became a commercial success. He was even inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! He has achieved posthumous recognition as a great blues figure.


Lea De Mae

An unusual career preceded De Mae’s death at age 27; she started as a Czech high diver and trained for the 1996 Olympics, but was sidelined by a spinal injury. Since she couldn’t recover from her problems and qualify for the 2000 Olympics, she retired from professional sports. She was then convinced to become a nude model and later an adult film star. A tremendous amount of support came from fans and fellow actors when she was diagnosed with brain cancer, but she died within the year.


Heath Ledger

An actor who exploded into fame with his roles in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight, Ledger died at age 28 from an accidental overdose. He received numerous awards for both roles and was the ninth-youngest nominee ever for a Best Actor Oscar award. After his death, three other actors played fantasy transformations of his character in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus so that his final performance could be released to the viewing public, and his legacy lives on in these movies among other roles.



Aaliyah - At the age of 22


At the age of 22, this famous singer had accomplished a lot. She also acted and modeled, and was a protege of R. Kelly. She released a double platinum album, a single that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on airplay alone (becoming the first artist to accomplish this), and filmed a part in a movie based on an Anne Rice novel, The Queen of the Damned. With these accomplishments under her belt, she was killed after a plane crash on her way back from recording a music video.



Lou Gehrig

At age 37, this baseball great died from a disease that was later nicknamed after him, officially called ALS. He set a record for playing in 2,130 consecutive games that took 56 years to beat, and won several MVP awards. He tied with Alex Rodriguez for most career grand slams, at an amazing 23, and played for the Yankees alone for 17 seasons before his career was cut tragically short. After his retirement, he declared himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” for the outpouring of support and appreciation from fans of the team and of baseball.



Kurt Cobain

Another celebrity who died when he was only 27 years old, he was the lead singer of Nirvana and an iconic alternative rock and grunge star. Despite numerous personal problems, some of which related to the fame he found in life, he produced influential music and found success with an entire generation of fans before committing suicide in his home. After his death, the fascination with Cobain’s life has continued to this day.

Sharon Lopatka (September 20, 1961 – October 16, 1996)

Sharon Lopatka was an internet entrepreneur and one sick puppy. Living in Hampstead, Maryland, USA, Sharon was killed by Robert Frederick Glass in a case of consensual homicide.

While advertising unusual fetishist pornography on her web site, Sharon began her hunt for a partner willing to torture and kill her for their mutual sexual gratification. After many false starts, of course most replies were

Christine Chubbuck (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974)

Christine Chubbuck was the host of “Suncoast Digest” a well regarded public affairs program on WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida. Breaking format, her guest was waiting across the studio at the news anchor’s desk; Christine read eight minutes of national news stories before the tape reel malfunctioned while describing a shooting at the Beef and Bottle restaurant. Seemingly unfazed by the technical glitch, Christine looked into the camera and said:

Isadora Duncan (May 27, 1877 – September 14, 1927)

Isadora Duncan is widely considered as the mother of Modern Dance. Born in San Francisco, California, Dora Angela Duncan was the product of divorced parents; her father a disgraced banker and her mother and pianist and music teacher. Her free form style was never very popular in her home country, but she found great success after immigrating to Paris. She founded three schools of dance and her likeness is carved over the entrance to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Grigori Rasputin (January 22, 1869 – December 29, 1916)

The Mad Monk, Grigori Rasputin, was a peasant and mystic healer who found favor with the royal court of Russia by providing relief to Crown Prince Aleksey, a hemophiliac and heir to the throne.

Wielding much influence on the royal court, the unkempt, vulgar, and amazingly resilient Rasputin made many political enemies. He had to go; much easier said than done. The conspirators first tried poison, enough

King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (May 14, 1710 – February 12, 1771)

Adolph’s Frederick was the titular King of Sweden from 1751 – 1771. The omnipotent Riksdag or senate held the reins of power despite Adolphus’ best efforts to wrest it from them.
Another victim of personal excess, Adophus Frederick is known by Swedish children as “the king who ate himself to death”. On February 12, 1771, after partaking of a banquet consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne he moved on to his favorite dessert, Semla, a traditional bun or pastry made from semolina/wheat flour, served in a bowl of hot milk. One or two portions would have been sufficient; 14 servings was excessive. He died shortly thereafter of digestion problems.

Aeschylus (525 BC/524 BC – 456 BC)

Considered the founder of tragedy, Aeschylus is the first of the three ancient Greek playwrights whose work still survives. He expanded the characters of a play so that there was conflict between them instead of actors solely interacting with the chorus. Sophocles and Euripides famously followed in his footsteps.
While visiting Gela on the island of Sicily, legend has it that an eagle, mistaking Aeschylus’ bald pate for a stone, dropped a tortoise on his head killing him. Some accounts differ, stating that a stone was dropped on his head, the eagle mistaking his shining crown for an egg. This is not as far-fetched as it seems. The Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture is native to the Mediterranean, and is known to drop bones and tortoises on rocks to break them open.

Attila the Hun (406 – 453)

History’s most brilliant tactician, warlord, and notorious villain, Attila the Hun conquered all of Asia by 450 AD. Using a combination of fierce combat and ruthless assimilation, Mongolia to the very edge of the Russian Empire fell to Attila and his armies.
Known for his frugal eating and drinking habits, Attila must have thought that his own wedding was an occasion to celebrate. Marrying a young girl named Ildico, in 453 AD; he over-indulged in both food and drink. Sometime after retiring for the evening, his nose started to bleed. Too drunk to notice, it continued to bleed, ultimately drowning him in his own blood.

JLS Marvin Humes to propose

JLS Marvin Humes to propose, Marvin Humes and Rochelle Wiseman’s relationship has been going from strength to strength since they got back together in January, and now it looks like Marvin’s planning to propose!

Rochelle is on holiday in Portugal with her Saturdays’ bandmate Vanessa White at the moment, and Marv’s using the time to find the perfect ring.

Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546 – October 24, 1601)

Famous as an alchemist and astronomer, Brahe’s pioneering observations of planetary motion paved the way for Sir Isaac Newton to develop the theory of gravity.

Unfortunately brilliance and common sense do not always go hand in hand, the manner of his death being the case in point. Known to have a weak bladder and knowing that it was very bad form to leave the banquet table before the festivities concluded, Brahe still neglected to relieve himself before dinner. To compound

Horace Wells (January 21, 1815 – January 24, 1848)

An American dentist, born in Vermont and educated in Boston, Horace Wells was one of the pioneers in the field of anesthesia. Weary of screaming patients, (it was known to upset him terribly, he often debated leaving the field of dentistry altogether), he was one of the first practitioners to see the value of nitrous oxide or laughing gas as an anesthetic.

After a failed experiment and falling out of favor with the medical community, Wells became a traveling anesthetic salesman and European expert for his former partner, Gardner Quincy Colton. His ‘investigations’ led to a chloroform addiction that would be his down-fall. In 1848, delirious and deranged after a week of self-experimentation, Wells ran into the street and assaulted two prostitutes with sulfuric acid. He was arrested and confined at New York’s infamous Tombs Prison. Recovering from the drug induced psychosis; the true horror of his actions came home to roost. Unable to live with this shame, Wells committed suicide by first inhaling a substantial dose of chloroform and then slitting his femoral artery.

Francis Bacon (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626)

Francis Bacon; statesman, philosopher, creator of the English essay, and advocate for the scientific revolution (he established “The Scientific Method” still used today), was one of very few people to die as a result of one of their own experiments.

King Mswati III, Swaziland (in power since 1986)

Swaziland (population 1.2 million) is the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa. Mswati III ascended to the throne when he turned 18, four years after the death of his father. Because he had been educated in England it was thought that he would modernize his kingdom. However, he has shown a liking for certain Swazi traditions. On September 15, 2002, he watched thousands of girls and young women dance bare-breasted in the annual Reed Dance and then chose one of be his tenth wife (his father had 100 wives). The girl’s mother filed a lawsuit against the king, charging him with abducting her daughter. Mswati, who rules by decree, then announced that the Swazi courts were forbidden from issuing rulings that limited the king’s power.

Fidel Castro, Cuba (in power since 1959)

The longest reigning dictator, Castro took advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the Iraq war in March and April of 2003 to carry out his biggest round-up of non-violent dissidents in more than a decade. He arrested 75 human rights activists, journalists, and academics, and sent them to jail for an average of 19 years.

Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan (in power since 1990)

Since taking charge of this former Soviet republic in central Asia, Niyazov has developed the world’s most extreme personality cult, challenged only by that of Kim Jong Il. Niyazov’s picture appears on all Turkmen money, there are statues of him everywhere, and he renamed the month of January after himself. His book, Book of the Soul, is required reading in all schools at all levels, and all government employees must memorize sections of it in order to keep their jobs.

Omar Al-Bashir, Sudan (in power since 1989)

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is in the midst of a complex 20 year civil war that has claimed the lives of 2 million and uprooted another 4 million. Al-Bashir seized power in a military coup and immediately suspended the constitution, abolished the legislature, and banned political parties and unions. He has tried to negotiate a peace agreement with the main rebel group, but he insists that the nation be ruled according to Islamic Shari’a law, even in southern Sudan, where the people are Christian and animist.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea (in power since 1979)

This small West African nation (population 500,000) was a forgotten dictatorship until major reserves of oil were found in 1995. Since then, US oil companies have poured billions of dollars into the country. Although the per capital annual income is $4,472, 60% of Equatoguineans live on less than $1 a day. The bulk of the oil income goes directly to President Obiang, who has declared that there is no poverty in Guinea, rather that the people are used to living in a different way. In July, state radio announced that Obiang is “in permanent contact with the Almighty,” and that “He can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to Hell.”

Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia (in power since 1995)

Crown Prince Abdullah has been the acting leader of Saudi Arabia since his half-brother, King Fahd, suffered a stroke in 1995. Saudi Arabia is one of the only nations that holds no elections whatsoever. The royal family has promised municipal elections soon but has not announced whether women will be allowed to vote. In fact, it is forbidden for unrelated Saudis of the opposite sex to appear in public together, even inside a taxi. Women are not allowed to testify on their own behalf in divorce proceedings and, in all court cases, the testimony of a man is equal to that of two women.

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe (in power since 1980)

Mugabe began his reign with widespread international and national support. After leading a successful anti-colonial war of liberation, he was elected independent Zimbabwe’s first president. But over the years he has displayed increasingly dictatorial tendencies. According to Amnesty International, in 2002 alone, Mugabe’s government killed or tortured 70,000 people. Unemployment is above 70% and inflation 500%.

Hu Jintao, China (in power since 2002)

Trained as a hydrolic engineer, Hu Jintao joined the Communist Party in 1964 and spent the next 38 years working his way up the hierarchy. While serving as Party Secretary of Tibet, he did not hesitate to administer martial law and to oversee the killing of unarmed demonstrators. Now that he is General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Hu, although not all-powerful, is the leader of an unusually repressive regime.

Than Shwe, Burma (in power since 1992)

General Than Shwe has survived a power struggle to emerge as the sole leader of Burma’s military dictatorship. Because of his hard-line views, he has taken an already bad human rights situation to an even worse level. Burma has more child soldiers than any country in the world and the Burmese regime continues to kidnap citizens to force them to serve as porters for the military in conflicts against non-Burmese ethnic groups.

Kim Jong Il, North Korea (in power since 1994)

The amount of debate over the recent nuclear weapons development in North Korea has managed to deflect people from the fact that Kim’s government represses its people more completely than any other living dictator. North Korea has, for the last 31 years, been at the bottom of the Freedom House ranking for political rights and civil liberties. It is also ranks last in the Reporters without Borders ranking of press freedom. The US committee for Human Rights estimates that there are approximately 150,000 Koreans performing forced labour in prison camps for political dissenters and their families.

Contrary to popular belief, Kim Jong Il is actually a very clever and efficient manipulator of his people. He is also the author of the books On the Art of the Cinema, and On the Art of Opera.