Most Significant Death For Every Year From 1963 To Present

[chicago103 41]

This list is preliminary and just off the top of my head at 3 AM, some years I left blank and some years that were kinda slow I just added the death that stuck out most in my mind so pardon the ameri-centric or even Chicago-centric nature, I am attempting to list the most significant deaths worldwide.

 

1963: John F. Kennedy

1964: Herbert Hoover

1965: Winston Churchill

1966: Walt Disney

1967: Spencer Tracy

1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.

1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower

1970: Charles de Gaulle

1971: Nikita Khrushchev

1972: Harry S. Truman

1973: Lyndon Baines Johnson

1974: Georges Pompidou

1975: Moe Howard

1976: Mao Tse Tung

1977: Elvis Presley

1978: Pope John Paul I

1979: Nelson A. Rockefeller

1980: John Lennon

1981: Anwar Sedat

1982: Leonid Brezhnev

1983: Muddy Waters

1984: Richard Burton

1985: Yul Brynner

1986: Cary Grant

1987: Jackie Gleason

1988: Roy Orbison

1989: Lucille Ball

1990: Sammy Davis, Jr.

1991: Dr. Seuss

1992: Sam Walton

1993: Pat Nixon

1994: Richard Nixon

1995: Yitzhak Rabin

1996: George Burns

1997: Princess Diana

1998: Frank Sinatra

1999: King Hussain

2000: Charles Schultz

2001: George Harrison

2002: Queen Mother

2003: Bob Hope

2004: Ronald Reagan

2005: Pope John Paul II

2006: Gerald Ford

2007: Lady Bird Johnson (thus far)

[millwall32 114]

I would say either Walt Disney or Lenny Bruce for 1966.

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

For 1967 there's a choice between Jayne Mansfield, Joe Orton or Otis Redding, depending on your perspective of most significant.

 

For example, I would have thought Sharon Tate's homicide in 69 was more significant than Eisenhower's death, but opinions would no doubt vary wildly on most years.

 

Nice idea for a list and I'm very tempted to fill in the rest of the blanks, but I'll let someone else have a go.

 

Cheers,

 

BHB

 

P.S. And surely the most significant death of 2007 so far would be Saddam? Or 2006, whenever it was when he swung.

[Canadian Paul 97]

P.S. And surely the most significant death of 2007 so far would be Saddam?

 

Err... I believe that happened in 2006... and again, that would be a toss up between Ford and Sadaam.

[To die for 3]

I always remember 1991 - Freddie Mercury

[Windsor 2,233]

Although this seems to be dominated by US fame, Earl Mountbatten could be a candidate for 1979.

 

He was a fairly popular hang-on of the Royal Family. He was blown up by the IRA aged 79.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

Well John Lennons death may well have been significant in 1980, to some, but far more significant to me was the death of my Cat.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,186]

1964: Herbert Hoover

1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower

1972: Harry S. Truman

1973: Lyndon Baines Johnson

1975: Moe Howard

1976: Richard J. Daley

1978: Pope John Paul I

1979: Nelson A. Rockefeller

1982: Bess Truman

1986: Cary Grant

1989: Lucille Ball

1993: Pat Nixon

1996: George Burns

1999: King Hussain

2003: Bob Hope

2007: Lady Bird Johnson (thus far)

 

Some of the above are a bit strange - I haven't heard of them full-stop, let alone be most significant. Who the f**k was Richard J Daley? But, overall, I think there's some good names.

 

Below find a few suggestions;

 

1966: Either Buster Keaton, Evelyn Waugh, Montgomery Clift, Henrik Verwoerd, Walt Disney

 

1967: Really open... Donald Campbell, the Crew of Apollo 1, Konrad Adenauer, Spencer Tracy, Jayne Mansfield, Vivien Leigh, Brian Epstein, Clement Atlee, Che Guevera, Emperor Xuantong, Otis Redding, Harold Holt, Jim Clark

 

1969: Boris Karloff, Judy Garland, Ho Chi Minh, Brian Jones, Rocky Marciano all run Eisenhower close

 

1970: Pff... Bertrand Russell, Jochen Rindt, E.M. Forster, Janis Joplin maybe - but it's got to be between Charles de Gaulle & Jimi Hendrix.

 

1971:Coco Chanel, Harold Lloyd, Papa Doc Duvalier, Jim Morrison, Sir Tyrone Guthrie maybe but again I think it's between Louis Armstrong & Nikita Krushchev

 

1972: Either J Edgar Hoover, King Edward VIII or Truman.

 

1973: Noel Coward, Pablo Picasso, JRR Tolkein, Bruce Lee, WH Auden, David Ben Gurion run LBJ close. Picasso is probably the most famous there

 

1974: Sam Goldwyn, Georges Pompidou, Duke Ellington, Juan Peron, Charles Lindbergh, Jack Benny - I'd say Pompidou as he died in office.

 

1975: P G Wodehouse, Elijah Muhammad, King Faisal, Chiang Kai-Shek, Haile Selassie, Eamonn de Valera, Dmitri Shostakovich, Graham Hill were all more famous than Moe Howard.

 

1976: Agatha Christie, Zhou Enlai, Field Marshal Montgomery, Sal Mineo, Busby Berkeley, Sid James, Mao Tse Tung, Benjamin Britten, Howard Hughes

 

1978: Jomo Kenyatta & Golda Meir are worth mentioning alongside the Pope, Keith Moon for shock effect as well.

 

1979: Sid Vicious, Josef Mengele, Airey Neave, Lord Mountbatten & Ali Bhutto for the way they died, Mary Pickford, John Wayne, Barbara Hutton

 

1982: John Belushi, Arthur Lowe, Gilles Villeneuve, Eleanor Powell, Vic Morrow, Henry Fonda, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Leonid Brezhnev I'd all put ahead of Bess Truman.

 

2007: Boris Yeltsin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've said enough & I've got to go now to watch the Grand Prix, but I must admit in some years it is very hard to choose one person ahead of others.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

1964: Herbert Hoover

1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower

1972: Harry S. Truman

1973: Lyndon Baines Johnson

1975: Moe Howard

1976: Richard J. Daley

1978: Pope John Paul I

1979: Nelson A. Rockefeller

1982: Bess Truman

1986: Cary Grant

1989: Lucille Ball

1993: Pat Nixon

1996: George Burns

1999: King Hussain

2003: Bob Hope

2007: Lady Bird Johnson (thus far)

 

Some of the above are a bit strange - I haven't heard of them full-stop, let alone be most significant. Who the f**k was Richard J Daley? But, overall, I think there's some good names.

 

Below find a few suggestions;

 

1966: Either Buster Keaton, Evelyn Waugh, Montgomery Clift, Henrik Verwoerd, Walt Disney

 

1967: Really open... Donald Campbell, the Crew of Apollo 1, Konrad Adenauer, Spencer Tracy, Jayne Mansfield, Vivien Leigh, Brian Epstein, Clement Atlee, Che Guevera, Emperor Xuantong, Otis Redding, Harold Holt, Jim Clark

 

1969: Boris Karloff, Judy Garland, Ho Chi Minh, Brian Jones, Rocky Marciano all run Eisenhower close

 

1970: Pff... Bertrand Russell, Jochen Rindt, E.M. Forster, Janis Joplin maybe - but it's got to be between Charles de Gaulle & Jimi Hendrix.

 

1971:Coco Chanel, Harold Lloyd, Papa Doc Duvalier, Jim Morrison, Sir Tyrone Guthrie maybe but again I think it's between Louis Armstrong & Nikita Krushchev

 

1972: Either J Edgar Hoover, King Edward VIII or Truman.

 

1973: Noel Coward, Pablo Picasso, JRR Tolkein, Bruce Lee, WH Auden, David Ben Gurion run LBJ close. Picasso is probably the most famous there

 

1974: Sam Goldwyn, Georges Pompidou, Duke Ellington, Juan Peron, Charles Lindbergh, Jack Benny - I'd say Pompidou as he died in office.

 

1975: P G Wodehouse, Elijah Muhammad, King Faisal, Chiang Kai-Shek, Haile Selassie, Eamonn de Valera, Dmitri Shostakovich, Graham Hill were all more famous than Moe Howard.

 

1976: Agatha Christie, Zhou Enlai, Field Marshal Montgomery, Sal Mineo, Busby Berkeley, Sid James, Mao Tse Tung, Benjamin Britten, Howard Hughes

 

1978: Jomo Kenyatta & Golda Meir are worth mentioning alongside the Pope, Keith Moon for shock effect as well.

 

1979: Sid Vicious, Josef Mengele, Airey Neave, Lord Mountbatten & Ali Bhutto for the way they died, Mary Pickford, John Wayne, Barbara Hutton

 

1982: John Belushi, Arthur Lowe, Gilles Villeneuve, Eleanor Powell, Vic Morrow, Henry Fonda, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Leonid Brezhnev I'd all put ahead of Bess Truman.

 

2007: Boris Yeltsin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've said enough & I've got to go now to watch the Grand Prix, but I must admit in some years it is very hard to choose one person ahead of others.

 

You have actually nailed the thread on the head, as it were. My flippancy to the thread really pertained to the fact that there can never be, within reason, a general consensus as to whos death in any particular year was/is more significant than any other.

The prime example is that, purely because of geography and nationality, one person deems the death of Bob Hope as more significant than Idi Amin.

To the average British born citizen, Idi Amin almost single handedly changed the ethnic and cultural stucture of this Land forever when he expelled Ugandan Asians en masse.

Such was the folklore and, for that matter, fact surrounding this monster, I would contend that his death was one of the most significant in recent times.

[football_fan 42]

My selections for the years omitted from the initial list

 

1966 - Walt Disney

1967 - Che Guevara

1970 - Charles de Gaulle

1971 - Nikita Khrushchev, Louis Armstrong

1974 - Ed Sullivan, Oskar Schindler, Georges Pompidou, Juan Peron

1983 - Muddy Waters

1984 - Richard Burton

1985 - Yul Brynner

1987 - Jackie Gleason, William Casey

1988 - Roy Orbison

1990 - Sammy Davis, Jr.

1991 - Dr. Seuss, Freddie Mercury

1992 - Sam Walton, Benny Hill, Alex Haley

2000 - Charles Schultz

2001 - George Harrison

[Guest Nightwatchman]

In 1975 no one died. In 1976, no one died. In 1977, no one died. In 1978, no one died. In 1979, no-one died. In 1980... some one died. In 1981, no one died. In 1982 there was the incident with the pigeon. In 1983, no one died. In 1984, no one died. In 1985, no one died. In 1986... I mean, I could go on.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

In 1975 no one died. In 1976, no one died. In 1977, no one died. In 1978, no one died. In 1979, no-one died. In 1980... some one died. In 1981, no one died. In 1982 there was the incident with the pigeon. In 1983, no one died. In 1984, no one died. In 1985, no one died. In 1986... I mean, I could go on.

Best not to.

[Handrejka 1,903]

Can I say Karen Carpenter for 1983? I know nowadays we can't move for stories about eating disorders and I know they've been around for a lot longer than 30 years but it was Karen's death that really brought them into the public eye for the first time.

[To die for 3]

I'd not heard of Richard Daley or Moe Howard (thank God for Google). I suggest William Hartnell - 1975 and Agatha Christie - 1976

[Handrejka 1,903]

1987

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer

[Octopus of Odstock 2,186]

My selections for the years omitted from the initial list

 

1974 - Oskar Schindler

 

I looked at that one - but in truth, his fame has come post-death - I doubt his death made as many headlines as some of the others there at the time of his death.

 

I've not heard of the bulk of some of the names you suggest.

 

Muddy Waters, William Casey, Alex Haley, Sam Walton are all hugely famous obviously to yourself, but complete nobodies to me, and probably vice-versa with some I put forward.

 

LFN, is right, it's impossible to rank people because of their fame in one country transcends fame in another country- Alan Ball was a national hero in England but few Americans would've heard of him - likewise Bill Walsh's recent death was met by a complete & utter "Who? So what?" in the UK.

 

Good idea in theory, practice makes it very difficult................. BUT it is a good argument for a DL convention, especially after a few pints.

 

 

 

Sorry, I changed my mind for 2007 top death - Phil Drabble.

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,684]

My alternative, subjective list:

 

63 JFK

64 Nehru

65 Churchill

66 Disney (and West Germany, 4-2!!!)

67 Che

68 King/Kennedy

69 Ho Chi Minh (he used to work in one of my local pubs, fact fans)

70 Hendrix/de Gaulle

71 Bennett Cerf Stravinsky

72 Hoover (J), Truman

73 Picasso

74 No standout candidate, so I’ll go for Nick Drake

75 Haile Selassie

76 Mao

77 Elvis

78 2 Popes (and Brel)

79 Mountbatten/Neave

80 Lennon

81 Sadat

82 Grace Kelly

83 K Carpenter (just for Han)

84 Morecambe/Mrs Gandhi

85 Rock Hudson

86 Jarvis/McAuliffe/McNair/Onizuka/Resnik/Scobee/Smith (and Cary Grant, of course)

87 Hess (or Segovia - ^)

88 Enzo Ferrari

89 Khomeini/Ceausescu

90 If pushed, Garbo/Davis Jr

91 Mercury

92 Dubcek (and Winterset - RIP)

93 River Phoenix

94 Senna/Cobain

95 Rabin

96 Paisley (as in Bob)

97 Di

98 Pot

99 Hussein (runner-up Rod Hull)

00 Gielgud/Guinness

01 Sept 11th people

02 QM

03 Hope, I guess

04 Peel/Reagan

05 Pope

06 Saddam

07 Yeltsin

 

Hmmm, that’s an hour I’ll never get back…

[Phantom 2,531]

I'd not heard of Richard Daley or Moe Howard (thank God for Google). I suggest William Hartnell - 1975 and Agatha Christie - 1976

 

I only found out who Richard Daley was by asking my wife.

I'll have to google Moe Howard as I'm none the wiser for that

You could also throw Duke Ellington into the 174 pile.

 

it also depends on what you personally regard as significant.

[Banshees Scream 110]

It is very time consuming this thread, but I don't know how significant it is. It's based on opinions generally so I'll just say I find this very interesting.

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

69 Ho Chi Minh (he used to work in one of my local pubs, fact fans)

Criminy, used to live near me as well!

92 Dubcek (and Winterset - RIP)

Blimey!

[Youth in Asia 1,086]

Although this seems to be dominated by US fame, Earl Mountbatten could be a candidate for 1979.

 

He was a fairly popular hang-on of the Royal Family. He was blown up by the IRA aged 79.

 

Yes, Mountbatten of Burma for 1979. As well as whatever he did in Burma, he was the person responsible for partitioning India in 1947, one of the major events of the 20th century. Plus a big influence on Prince Charles (not sure in what way).

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

Probably already "Googled" but, I assume, Moe Howard was one of the "Three Stooges".

[Monoclinic 39]

I am with the you can't really single out one person from anyone year as the most significant. How significant is a politician dying when they've been retired and the world has moved on? However, if this is significant I would like to try to even out the balance. Thus far it is mainly a list of famous politicians and artisans (music/film...) who have died. There aren't even that many sports people mentioned - I'll leave OoO to put in a bit of footballing action.

 

So to address this I shall add some scientists to the list, to accompany the mathematician (Bertrand) and the Nazi scientist (Mengele) OoO has mentioned. Though I see them more as equations and theories which easily outlive a person! As I said before (in a strangely not too dissimilar thread) that deaths didn't really stop me in my tracks if they occurred either before I was born, or when playing with friends was number one priority and current affairs was for boring grown ups.

 

James Chadwick: Physicist, Nobel Laureate and Discoverer of the Neutron - '74

Feynman: Physicist, Nobel Laureate, Manhatten Project Worker, Master of Supercool '88

Heisenberg: Physicist, Nobel Laureate, Manhatten Project Worker, Master of Uncertainty '76

Oppenheimer: Physicist, Manhatten Project Worker, Master of Approximations '67

Francis Crick - Physicist and Molecular Biologist, Nobel Laureate, one of the discoverers of DNA '04

 

...and that's just focusing on the phsicists!

 

I think however considering the title the deaths of Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Diana are more significant than those of film stars, politicians etc. who had lived a full life and were not really shocking. I predict the next thread to be of the they died to young vein...

 

 

Oh and there is always Granny Helen from Neighbours, everyone was talking about that stroke for a while.

[Guest Guest]

Although this seems to be dominated by US fame, Earl Mountbatten could be a candidate for 1979.

 

He was a fairly popular hang-on of the Royal Family. He was blown up by the IRA aged 79.

 

Yes, Mountbatten of Burma for 1979. As well as whatever he did in Burma, he was the person responsible for partitioning India in 1947, one of the major events of the 20th century. Plus a big influence on Prince Charles (not sure in what way).

 

Not to mention for the joke he inspired:

 

How did they know Mountbatten had dandruff? They found his head and shoulders on the beach.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

I am with the you can't really single out one person from anyone year as the most significant. How significant is a politician dying when they've been retired and the world has moved on? However, if this is significant I would like to try to even out the balance. Thus far it is mainly a list of famous politicians and artisans (music/film...) who have died. There aren't even that many sports people mentioned - I'll leave OoO to put in a bit of footballing action.

 

So to address this I shall add some scientists to the list, to accompany the mathematician (Bertrand) and the Nazi scientist (Mengele) OoO has mentioned. Though I see them more as equations and theories which easily outlive a person! As I said before (in a strangely not too dissimilar thread) that deaths didn't really stop me in my tracks if they occurred either before I was born, or when playing with friends was number one priority and current affairs was for boring grown ups.

 

James Chadwick: Physicist, Nobel Laureate and Discoverer of the Neutron - '74

Feynman: Physicist, Nobel Laureate, Manhatten Project Worker, Master of Supercool '88

Heisenberg: Physicist, Nobel Laureate, Manhatten Project Worker, Master of Uncertainty '76

Oppenheimer: Physicist, Manhatten Project Worker, Master of Approximations '67

Francis Crick - Physicist and Molecular Biologist, Nobel Laureate, one of the discoverers of DNA '04

 

...and that's just focusing on the phsicists!

 

I think however considering the title the deaths of Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Diana are more significant than those of film stars, politicians etc. who had lived a full life and were not really shocking. I predict the next thread to be of the they died to young vein...

 

 

Oh and there is always Granny Helen from Neighbours, everyone was talking about that stroke for a while.

 

Ah, good work Cheeky Monkey!!

As for Helen from Neighbours, you will have to refresh me, who did she stroke?