Death Anniversary Thread

[Drewsky1211 4,732]

Benjamin Disraeli, 2-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, died on this day 141 years ago, aged 76.

Disraeli is (so far) the only Jewish Prime Minister, and was also known for his close friendship with Queen Victoria.

  

He was also the subject of a Family Guy cutaway gag (S3, E4: "One if by Clam, Two if by Sea"):

 

[The Ashes Urn 1,355]

English actor Frankie Howerd died on this day 30 years ago, aged 75.

 

[GrumpyRabbit 52]

3 hours ago, Drewsky1211 said:

Disraeli is (so far) the only Jewish Prime Minister, and was also known for his close friendship with Queen Victoria.

 

Technically he isn’t.  His father renounced Judaism and Benjamin was baptised an Anglican along with his siblings at about age 12.

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[Drewsky1211 4,732]

Pontiac, chief of the Odawa tribe, died on this day 253 years ago, aged about 48.

Pontiac is best remembered for the war named after him, which lasted from 1763 to 1766. It was the result of growing animosity between the Odawa and the British, who had captured Fort Detroit during the Seven Years' War and refused to leave following France's defeat. Some notable consequences of the war included an early case of biological warfare (Jeffrey Amherst, a British general, despised Native Americans, and gifted blankets laced with smallpox to native diplomats in hopes of spreading the disease), and the Proclamation of 1763 (American colonists resented this, as they felt that they had earned western lands ceded from France- this was one of the first British policies that sparked the American Revolution).

 

He was assassinated by a Peoria warrior, in retaliation for stabbing his uncle.

 

[Hell 1,334]

Swedish DJ, remixer, record producer, musician and songwriter Avicii died on this day 4 years ago, aged 28.

 

 

Mexican comedian, actor, and filmmaker Cantinflas died on this day 29 years ago, aged 81.

 

 

American burlesque star and motion picture actress Tempest Storm died on this day a year ago, aged 93.

 

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,337]

On this day in 1912  irish writer Bram Stoker died aged 64. He wrote the hugely famous and noteworthy  novel Dracula. 

[arghton 6,701]

Jüri Jaakson, Estonian politician and businessman, State Elder (Head of State) of Estonia 1924-1925 died on this day in 1942, aged 72. He was executed by NKVD, the Soviet Secret Service for "counterrevolutionary actions"

[The Ashes Urn 1,355]

American singer Alan Dale died on this day 20 years ago, aged 76.

 

[The Unknown Man 584]

Poet and writer Archibald MacLeish died on this day 40 years ago, aged 89.

[Drewsky1211 4,732]

Ƭ̵̬̊  Prince died on this day 6 years ago, aged 57. Ƭ̵̬̊

He released "1999" 17 years before 1999, and died 17 years after 1999.

"Life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last."

 

[arghton 6,701]

Väinö Linna, Finnish author who wrote The Unknown Soldier (1954) and the Under the North Star trilogy (1959-1962) died on this day 30 years ago, at 71 from lung cancer.

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,337]

On this  day in 1973 Arthur  Fadden the 13th Prime minister of Australian died aged 79.

 He was Prime minister for just 39 days from late August in 1941 to earlier October.  His ultra  brief official stint as  Prime minister was ended after his government lost a confidence motion to the Australian labor party which then succeeded his administration. 

 

[arghton 6,701]

Nabi Tajima, last surviving person born during the 19th century and the fifth-oldest verified person ever died on this day four years ago, aged 117 after a three-month hospitalisation.

[The Ashes Urn 1,355]

English industrialist Frederick Handley Page died on this day 60 years ago, aged 76.

 

[The Immortal 634]

So today's driver death anniversary of the day "featured" is John McVitty, some NASCAR driver who died 66 years ago on this day in a racing accident. I say "featured" because there is literally nothing known about him other then he was killed in a racing accident.

 

 

To make up for this.  Today also marked 51 years since the death of Francois Duvalier, a former president of Haiti.

[Hell 1,334]

American Writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer Mark Twain died on this day 112 years ago, aged 74.

 

 

King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death Henry VII of England died on this day 513 years ago, aged 52.

 

[Vinegar Tits 606]

The magnificent and incomparable Chrissy Amphlett left us on this day in 2013 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,732]

Richard Nixon died on this day 28 years ago, aged 81.

Today's interesting subject fact: Nixon considered having a domestic political opponent killed while he was in office.

 

In 1972, investigative journalist Jack Anderson was targeted for assassination by senior White House officials (these were Watergate's E. Howard Hunt and the late G. Gordon Liddy). Anderson consistently wrote negative articles focusing on White House-related scandals, and Nixon stated "we've got to do something with this son of a bitch".

 

A mole was sent to Anderson's office, but Anderson's secretary removed them from the premises due to suspicious activity. The CIA also surveilled Anderson, but were chased away by his children, and mocked the agency's incompetence. As these didn't work, the officials decided assassination was their last option. They decided to either smear a lethal dose of LSD on the steering wheel of Anderson's car, place poisoned drugs in his medicine cabinet, kill him in a car crash, or stage a mugging... then spying on the Democratic Party's HQ became the top priority, and the idea was aborted.

 

Anderson died in December 2005 at the age of 83, 11 years after Nixon.

[The Immortal 634]

Indy 500 racer Walt Faulkner was killed in a racing accident on this day 66 years ago aged 38. Walt was one of the more successful Indy drivers in the 1950s having won a couple of races in the AAA Champ Car series and even winning pole for the 1950 Indy 500.

[arghton 6,701]

Lê Đức Anh, Vietnamese army general and politician, a Vietnam War officer who later became a conservative Communist Party politician and the President of Vietnam (1992-1997) died on this day 3 years ago at the age of 98, a year after his third and last major stroke.

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Composer, conductor and arranger André Caplet died on this day 97 years ago, age 46, the consequences of being gassed while serving during the first world war. He conducted the Boston Opera between 1910 & 1914. and composed several pieces based on Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, amongst others.

He's mostly remembered for his work arranging the compositions of his close friend Claude Debussy.

 

This is his arrangement of Clair de Lune:

 

[The Ashes Urn 1,355]

American film actress Vera Reynolds died on this day 60 years ago, aged 62.

 

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,337]

On this day in 1908 former British Prime Minister  Henry Campbell Bannerman  died aged  71. This era in UK politics was pre the Labour party's existence in parliament.  He was a Liberal Prime Minister and his premiership was between 1905 and 1908. He was succeeded by Asquith. 

Campbell Bannerman initially lead a minority government after the previous Prime minister Arthur Balfour resigned and Campbell Bannerman was then asked by King Edward  VII  to form the next government.  He went on to win a landslide over the conservatives in 1906.

[msc 18,438]

9 minutes ago, Gooseberry Crumble said:

On this day in 1908 former British Prime Minister  Henry Campbell Bannerman  died aged  71. This era in UK politics was pre the Labour party's existence in parliament.  He was a Liberal Prime Minister and his premiership was between 1905 and 1908. He was succeeded by Asquith. 

Campbell Bannerman initially lead a minority government after the previous Prime minister Arthur Balfour resigned and Campbell Bannerman was then asked by King Edward  VII  to form the next government.  He went on to win a landslide over the conservatives in 1906.

 

- Brought in the 8 hour work day.

- Advocated for free trade which became a Liberal (and later a Tory) pillar.

- Backed education reform, protection of trade union members, and brought in basic sick pay/pension guarantees/compensation for work injuries.

- Was pro-female suffrage. 

- Won a landslide by doing a deal with the Labour Party about not standing in each others target seats

 

He was already an ill man when he took office, only lasted 2 years, and Asquith and Lloyd George took the credit for many of his plans after he died, but there is a genuine argument for Campbell-Bannerman having the most influential legacy of our less remembered PMs. Certainly his attempts to avoid WW1 (foiled by his disdain for the French!) and wishes to reform the House of Lords (seemingly ahead of its time in 2022, let alone 1906) were ahead of their time. 

 

And the last point is useful if say, you are a current leader wanting to get rid of a Tory government...