Drewsky1211

Political musical humorist Mark Russell is 90. The Simpsons parodied him once- here it is:

Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace died on this day 717 years ago, aged 35. In 1297, Wallace (along with Andrew Moray) led the Battle of Stirling Bridge against the English, whom had invaded the year before. Wallace and Moray's troops were outnumbered by about 3,000- during the battle, the bridge collapsed under the weight of the army, causing many English soldiers to drown. This caused English leader John de Warenne to lose faith in troops and retreat. For this, Wallace and Moray were given the title "Guardians of the Kingdom of Scotland", and Wallace was knighted later that year (Moray had been killed in battle by then). In July 1298, Wallace led another battle at Falkirk, once again greatly outnumbered by the English (with a majority of paid Welsh mercenaries). This time, the English decisively won, killing Wallace's second-in-command (John de Graham). Wallace resigned as Guardian due to this, giving his title to Robert de Brus (later King Robert I). Little is known of Wallace's activities after this. In early August of 1305, Wallace was captured by the English in Robroyston, and taken to London. He was charged with treason against King Edward I, to which he replied "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject". After this sham trial, Wallace was stripped naked, dragged through the streets, and then hanged. He was released from the noose before he suffocated- and he was neutered and disemboweled while still alive and forced to watch his innards burn. A merciful beheading is what finished him off, and his head was put on a pike on London Bridge. His limbs were scattered and displayed across the country. In 1995, he was famously portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart. This is considered one of the most historically inaccurate films (its Wikipedia article has a full section going into its inaccuracies).

Shaun Ryder, last survivor of DeathList 1992, is 60.

I think I just made that typo because I conflated Wars of the Roses terms- or it's because this is the last thing I do before I go to bed and I'm too tired to notice.

King Richard III of England died on this day 537 years ago, aged 32. Richard was the younger brother of King Edward IV. When Edward died in 1483, the crown went to his pre-adolescent son Edward V- however, before Edward's coronation, his parents' marriage was declared bigamous (this is from Mrs. Eleanor Butler's reportedly legal precontract of marriage), and he and his younger brother Richard were barred from the throne. As such, Richard became king. The children lived in the Tower of London, and disappeared soon after, which has led to a plausible rumor that Richard ordered the murder of his nephews. Richard's reign was very tumultuous, with a conspiracy against him arising shortly after he took the throne. The exiled Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, arrived with help from France in 1485, and met Richard's forces at Bosworth Field on August 22. Richard was outnumbered and was killed in battle, and as he had no legitimate heirs, the York dynasty came to an end with him. Henry soon married Richard's niece Elizabeth and became king Henry VII. Richard was unceremoniously buried in Greyfriars Church in Leicester, which was demolished in 1538. Eventually, his burial location was lost... Until 2012. Archaeologists managed to use ground-penetrating radar in 2011 to determine where Greyfriars once stood, and uncovered a skeleton underneath a parking lot in its former location. DNA testing, soil analysis, and the battle trauma concluded that these were Richard's remains (it was revealed that he had scoliosis- Shakespeare wasn't that far off with his "hunchback" depiction of Richard). In 2015, Richard was finally given a proper interment at Leicester Cathedral.

Howie Dorough (of the Backstreet Boys) is 49.

Was also the widow of Spike Jones. She outlived him by 57 years.

Stefan Karl Stefansson died on this day 4 years ago, aged 43. Stefansson was an Icelandic actor first known for his roles in off-Broadway productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Singin' in the Rain. In his later career, he was also known for playing the title character in Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical. In 1999, Stefansson was cast as the main villain in Magnus Scheving's play about exercise and healthy diet Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ, as the main villain. In 2004, Scheving adapted it into a kids' show, LazyTown, with Stefansson reprising his role as the titular Glanni Glæpur- anglicized as "Robbie Rotten". The show ran until 2014. Stefansson did see meme fame in the mid-2000s with the song "You Are A Pirate" from the episode "Rottenbeard", used primarily as a joke about internet piracy. In 2016, Stefansson announced that he was diagnosed with bile duct cancer. LazyTown's head writer set up a GoFundMe for him, and fans helped by making the song "We Are Number One" from the episode "Robbie's Dream Team" into a very popular meme (it was everywhere in November and December of that year), often linking the GoFundMe in the video description. As a thank you for fans, Stefan soon made a live version of the song alongside the actors that played Robbie's clones (link). Stefansson announced that he was in remission in 2017 with the metastases removed- unfortunately, the cancer was determined to be inoperable in March of 2018, and he died five months later.

Bo Burnham is 32.

Pope John XIV died on this day 1038 years ago, aged 44. John's birth name was Pietro Canepanova. Upon the death of Pope Benedict VII in 983, the mother and wife of the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II, wished for Majolus, the bishop of Cluny, to be elected pope- Majolus declined the nomination, and Pietro was elected. Pietro took the name "John" in order to not confuse himself with Saint Peter (if he used his birth name, he would've been Pope Peter II). Otto II died a month into John's papacy, and the new emperor, Otto III, was a 3-year old toddler. At the time, an anti-imperialist faction of Catholics was led by Antipope Boniface VII. In 984, Boniface returned to Rome and had John imprisoned, where he was either poisoned or starved to death.

Fred Durst is 52.

Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, died on this day 2008 years ago, aged 75. Born as Gaius Octavius, he was a great-nephew of Julius Caesar. After his father died in 59 BC, and his stepfather had no interest in raising him, he was raised by his grandmother Julia (Julius' sister) until she died when he was 12- his parents then took him back in. After his great-uncle was assassinated in 44 BC, Octavius was listed as Caesar's adoptive son in his will (Caesarion, his only male child, was out of wedlock with Cleopatra and thus not recognized by Roman law). He took the family name, and used his old one as his personal name- "Octavian". Before becoming emperor, Octavian conquered Armenia (34 BC)- and after finding out that his top general Mark Antony would give away Roman territory for his own sons to rule, he declared war on Egypt, conquering it in 30 BC. On January 16, 27 BC, Octavian was given the title "Augustus" ("illustrious") by the senate, which is seen as the beginning of his reign. He was named "father of the country" in 2 BC. Towards the end of his reign, in 9 AD, The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest against the Cherusci Germans was fought, with a massive Roman defeat. Augustus dissolved the legions that fought the battle. Augustus allegedly died as the result of eating a fig poisoned by his wife Livia- modern historians believe that it could have been a possibility, and do not rule out assisted suicide (his health was in decline at that point). His adoptive son Tiberius was then named by the senate as the "princeps".

Bill Clinton is 76.

Bruce Forsyth died on this day 5 years ago, aged 89. Forsyth got his start as a singer and actor. In 1971, Bruce hosted his first game show, The Generation Game, with his tenure lasting until 1977- he would return in the 1990 revival, and hosted it until 1998. Some of Bruce's most well-known catchphrases originated on the show, such as "Didn't they do well?" and "Nice to see you, to see you nice". Forsyth would later host shows such as Play Your Cards Right, Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak, and was also the host of the British version of The Price is Right from 1995 to 2001. Forsyth continued his popularity into the new millennium, co-hosting Strictly Come Dancing, and also appeared on the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?. He was knighted in 2011. Did you also know that he was also a Neopet? When the website launched in 1999, one of the selectable pets was an image of Bruce. This was later changed to a cartoon caricature of him, and finally, in November of 2000, was changed to a penguin (the game is a virtual pet game, so it only makes sense). Forsyth first appeared on the DeathList in 1995 for reasons I do not know. His health began to decline in 2015, and was chosen for the next two years, before dying of pneumonia.

Everlast, the frontman of House of Pain, is 53.

Frederick the Great died on this day 236 years ago, aged 74. Frederick became the king of Prussia following the death of his father, Frederick William I, in 1740. Early in his reign, Frederick led several wars to capture the Austrian province of Silesia, citing hereditary reasons- achieving this in 1745, establishing him as a military power (and where he earned his epithet). In 1756, Frederick launched an invasion of Saxony, an event that is considered to have caused the European front of the Seven Years' War, forming an alliance with Great Britain (which ended up leading to the American Revolution 20 years later), and at the war's end, further strengthening his military prowess. From there, he annexed western Poland in its first partition in 1772. Frederick died while seated in his armchair in 1786. Frederick had no children, and his nephew Frederick William II became king. Frederick was very likely a closeted homosexual. Contemporaneous sources showed that he had intimate relationships with males. Frederick was also known to collect homoerotic art from ancient Greece. Despite having a wife, Frederick reportedly "had a physical disgust of women", and claimed that he was impotent so he did not have to have sex with her.

Robert De Niro is 79.

Idi Amin died on this day 19 years ago, aged about 78. Amin joined the Ugandan military while it was still a colony of the UK, and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming its commander in 1965. In 1971, president Milton Obote planned to arrest Amin for misappropriating military funds- Amin led a successful coup against him while he was in Singapore for the first Commonwealth Heads Meeting. Uganda became a military junta under Amin's dictatorship, with Amin persecuting members of the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups. This led to a genocide where up to 500,000 Acholis and Langos were killed. Amin also expelled all people of Asian descent that were not Ugandan citizens. Amin was declared president for life in 1976. In October 1978, Ugandan soldiers began to incur on Tanzanian soil along the southern border, and soon launched an invasion, attempting to annex the Kagera region. Tanzania declared war on Uganda in response, with Libya and Palestine sending troops to aid Amin. Amin fled in April of 1979 as Tanzanian soldiers and Ugandan rebels approached Kampala, first fleeing to Libya and then to Saudi Arabia. In 1989, Amin left his exile by going to Zaire, in an attempt to reconquer Uganda (then in the midst of a civil war). Amin was promptly detained at the airport and deported back to Saudi Arabia. Amin was known for his unstable behavior- he claimed to have been the uncrowned King of Scotland, the self-proclaimed "Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas", and reportedly kept his political enemies' decapitated heads in his freezer (also leading to rumors of cannibalism). Amin appeared on the DeathList in 1994 and 2003.

Steve Carell is 60.

Macbeth, King of Scotland, died on this day 965 years ago, aged 52. A grandson of King Malcolm II (his daughter Donada was his mother), Macbeth became the Earl of Moray in 1032. Macbeth married his predecessor's widow, Gruoch. Moray started to gain too much autonomy, leading King Duncan I to lead a punitive expedition into Moray in 1040. Duncan was killed in battle by Macbeth's soldiers- and Macbeth acceded to the throne, most likely due to Duncan's widow fleeing with their children. Macbeth's reign was largely uneventful until the English invasion of 1054, with Duncan's son Malcolm fighting for the English. Macbeth was killed in battle by Malcolm himself in 1057. Macbeth's stepson Lulach took the throne before Malcolm assassinated him after a few months- Malcolm took the throne as Malcolm III. Whatever positive reputation Macbeth had was demolished by William Shakespeare's 1606 play about him, portraying him as a murderous tyrant (Gruoch/Lady Macbeth was done dirty even more)- this was based off of the 1577 Holinshead's Chronicles (albeit Macbeth was portrayed in a more positive and accurate way there). It is believed that this negative portrayal was in part because King James VI and I (the king at the time) was a descendant of Malcolm III.

Ben Affleck is 50.

US First Lady Sarah Polk died on this day 131 years ago, aged 87. Sarah Childress married James K. Polk in 1824 at the age of 20. They did not have children (it is believed that a surgery to remove a bladder stone sterilized James), but they did raise a nephew (Marshall Polk), and Sarah later fostered her great-niece (also named Sarah). James was elected president in 1844. During her time in the White House, Sarah's devout Presbyterian beliefs made her ban dancing, card games, and alcohol- this earned her the nickname of "Sahara Sarah". Three months after leaving the White House, James died of cholera at the age of 53- Sarah outlived him by 42 years, which is still the longest widowhood of a FLOTUS. Sarah would host Union generals at her house during the Civil War, and Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland would visit her during their presidencies.

Gary Larson, of The Far Side fame, is 72.

HG Wells died on this day 76 years ago, aged 79. Wells is credited with bringing the genre of science fiction into the mainstream. His first novel, The Time Machine, was published in 1895: a story about a scientist travelling 800,000 years into the future and discussing his adventure with visitors. This was followed by The Island of Doctor Moreau in 1896, The Invisible Man in 1897, and The War of the Worlds in 1898. Wells would later be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times (1921, 1932, 1935, 1946). Wells was also a philanthropist, co-founding Diabetes UK in 1934- he himself was a diabetic.