Death Anniversary Thread

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Johannes Diderik van der Waals died exactly 100 years ago. (85) 

He is the namesake for Van der Waal bonding (force) which are weak molecular bonds (as opposed to ionic or covalent bonds) as magma cools.  Most typical place you’ll see this type of bonding is in mica, which is why it perks apart in very thin sheets.

 

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On this day 15 years,  British newsreader and broadcaster  Carol Barnes, who worked for ITN News,  died aged 63 from a stroke. 

 

 

 

Also on this day 18 years ago in 2005, Scottish journalist and gossip columnist for the Daily Mail,  Ross Benson, died aged 56.

[Hell 1,327]

27th President of the United States William Howard Taft died on this day 93 years ago, aged 72.

 

 

American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees Joe DiMaggio died on this day 24 years ago, aged 84.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,041]

Biggie Smalls/The Notorious BIG died on this day 26 years ago, aged 24.

- Biggie took his stage name from the character Calvin Lockhart played in Let's Do It Again. This led to a lawsuit where he had to sell his records as The Notorious BIG, but the name stuck with him.

- Biggie was imprisoned in 1991 for dealing crack cocaine. He would continue to sell drugs until P. Diddy told him to stop.

- Biggie's first demo tape was called Microphone Murderer.

- Biggie married fellow Big Boy Records artist Faith Evans a few months after meeting her, and their son CJ would go on to portray his father (in his teenage years) in the 2009 biopic Notorious.

- Shortly after the drive-by murder of his colleague and friend 2Pac, Biggie was involved in a car accident that temporarily forced him into a wheelchair (during the time he was working on his album Life After Death).

- Only the final bullet in Biggie's shooting was fatal (it passed through his heart and left lung). 

- Biggie became the first singer to top the US charts posthumously ("Hypnotize" and "Mo Money Mo Problems") and would be the only one to do so until 2008 (Static Major as a featured artist on Lil Wayne's "Lollipop").

 

[John "요한" Sulu 365]

On this day 27 years ago, American actor, singer, and comedian George Burns, who was best remembered for starring in films like "Oh God!", "The Sunshine Boys", "The Big Broadcast", "18 Again!", and "Just You and Me, Kid", passed away at the age of 100.

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On this day 7 years ago in 2016, american film and television actor Robert Horton died aged 91.

His acting credits include  Sci fi Horror The Green Slime (1968), The story of three loves(1953) -alongside Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Moira Shearer,  Western - Apache War smoke(1952),  War movie A Walk in the Sun (1945), Prisoner of War (1954) whose lead cast was none other than future US President Ronald Reagan and long running western tv drama Wagon Train playing the Majors scout Flint McCullough .

 

Horton was an accomplished pilot and owner of an aircraft and said one of his three biggest thrills in life was performing his first solo flight in front of Queen Elizabeth ll. 

 

 

[Hell 1,327]

Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin died on this day 31 years ago, aged 78.

 

[John "요한" Sulu 365]

On this day 1 year ago American actor and television producer Jimmy Lydon, who is known for the "Henry Aldrich" film series and the television private detective drama series "77 Sunset Strip", passed away at the age of 98.

 

Photo Credit: Gazebo per Creative Commons license

[Drewsky1211 4,041]

Wilbur Scoville died on this day 81 years ago, aged 77.

- Scoville was a pharmacist, but he had an affinity for peppers.

- In 1895, he wrote The Art of Compounding, in which he listed milk as an antidote to heat-related reactions from eating spicy peppers.

- Scoville's most famous work came in 1912, when he devised a scale measuring said spiciness, based on the amount of capsaicin in the pepper. The units were named after him as well.

- There is competition to breed peppers to top Scoville's chart. Among the contenders include the Dragon's Breath pepper (unofficially 2,480,000 Scoville units) and Pepper X (unofficially 3,180,000 Scoville units), both of which were first cultivated in 2017.

[John "요한" Sulu 365]

On this day 1 year ago, American pianist and singer Bobbie Nelson, who is the older sister of American country musician Willie Nelson, passed away at the age of 91.  I am looking forward to Willie himself turning 90 later this year.

 

Photo Credit: Kevin Hill/ChunkyGlasses per Creative Commons license

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Pope Simplicius died 1580 years ago (age unknown), making today (10 Feb) his Feast Day.  Happy St Simplicius Feast Day to you all!

 

You may think his name is hilarious, but that would actually be his predecessor, Pope Hilarius.

 

[time 7,923]

It's 39 years since the death of actor Dino Shafeek.

Born in Dacca (now Dhaka), in what was then British India (and is now Bangladesh, and inbetweentimes, was East Pakistan), he emigrated to Britain in 1958. Already experienced in amateur theatre in Dacca, he enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and had his first film role in the Yul Brynner feature The Long Duel (1967). He had several minor appearances in various British TV programmes (e.g. The Saint, The Avengers) as well as other small roles in feature films, but its for two sitcom roles he's chiefly remembered.

 

His first was as the Char Wallah, Muhammed in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, with 56 appearances - his voice was heard performing the musical interludes, and it is he who is told to "shut up" at the end of each episode while singing Land of Hope & Glory. The second role, was as Pakistani language student Ali Nadim in Mind Your Language (29 episodes), frequently appearing in conflict with Indian classmate Ranjit Singh. (No-one said it was sophisticated).

 

He died from a heart attack, aged 53 (11 days before his birthday).

[Toast 14,783]

58 minutes ago, Sir Creep said:

Pope Simplicius died 1580 years ago (age unknown), making today (10 Feb) his Feast Day.  Happy St Simplicius Feast Day to you all!

 

Really?

[Sir Creep 7,011]

1 hour ago, Toast said:

 

Really?

Haha ugh 10 MARCH 

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On this day 33 years ago  Australian actress Pat McDonald , who starred in two television soap operas, Number 96 and Sons and Daughters, for their entire run, died aged 68 from pancreatic cancer. 

She will be more familiar to British viewers for playing Aunt Fiona Thompson in Sons and Daughters .

Pat was in a  long term romantic relationship  with her Number 96 costar actress Bunney Brooke for many years up until Pats death. 

They talked in magazine interviews about their friendship and holidays together but because of the social taboo and stigma at the time, the full nature of their relationship was not known more widely until years after her death.

[Hell 1,327]

English singer, songwriter, and actor Andy Gibb died on this day 35 years ago, aged 30.

 

 

American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films Lloyd Bridges died on this day 25 years ago, aged 85.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,041]

Charles Sumner died on this day 149 years ago, aged 63.

- Sumner's father Charles Sr. was an abolitionist, who told him that freeing the slaves was not enough and that they needed to be treated as equals.

- Sumner was a close friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and would entertain Longfellow's children by opening doors in an elegant manner.

- Sumner was elected to the US Senate in 1850, and would remain there until his death. He became the Dean of the Senate in 1869 after Benjamin Wade lost re-election.

- In May of 1856, Sumner gave a speech condemning slavery, where he namedropped senator Andrew Butler as a defender of it. Congressman Preston Brooks, who was Butler's first cousin once removed, was infuriated by this, and severely caned him two days later (to the point where the cane broke, and Brooks continued with the fragment).

Sumner would not be able to return to the Senate for three years, during which time he developed PTSD from the incident. Massachusetts voters re-elected him later in 1856, citing his empty chair as symbolic of free speech and the anti-slavery movement.

- Following his death from a heart attack, Sumner became the second US senator (after Henry Clay) and fourth person to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda.

 

[YoungWillz 18,907]

5 years ago today comedian and entertainer Ken Dodd died aged 90, and I was so tickled that I progressed to the next round of the Deathlist Cup that year on the back of that! 

 

[Hell 1,327]

Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000 Slodoban Miloševic died on this day 17 years ago, aged 64.

 

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On this day 33 years ago in 1990, English footballer  Dean Horrix died aged just 28 in a car crash that his wife survived.

During his footballing career he played for Millwall for two long spells, Gillingham,  Reading, Cardiff and lastly Bristol City, who had played just three games for before his untimely death.

 

On this day 25 years ago in 1998 , American high jumper Jean Shiley, who won the Olympic gold in the womens high jump event at the 1932  Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,  died aged 86.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Frankie Frisch died 50 years ago (74).  He was a mere 120 hits from the illustrious 3000 hit club mark.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,041]

Lynne Thigpen died on this day 20 years ago, aged 54.

- Thigpen's first role was in the musical Godspell, reprising her role in the 1973 film adaptation. She won a Tony Award in 1997 for her role as Judith Kaufman in An American Daughter.

- In 1991, Thigpen became the announcer- known as "The Chief"- of the children's geography game show Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego. She would return as this role for its history-oriented spinoff Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego.

- Perhaps her most well-known role was as Luna in Bear in the Big Blue House, who ended each episode by asking Bear about his day and sing the goodbye song with him.

- Thigpen's death from a stroke led to Bear entering a three-year hiatus, and her character (Ella Mae Farmer) in The District was killed off. Thigpen was posthumously nominated for an Emmy for her role as Luna.

[Toast 14,783]

You didn't mention Lynne's small but iconic role in Toast's favourite film. 

She plays some banging tunes too.

 

 

 

[Hell 1,327]

Chinese statesman, physician, and political philosopher who served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang Sun Yat-sen died on this day 98 years ago, aged 58.

 

 

American-born British violinist and conductor who spend most of his performing career in Britain Yehudi Menuhin died on this day 24 years ago, aged 82.

 

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On this day 10 years ago in 2013, English drummer Clive Burr,  who was part of heavy metal band Iron Maiden between 1979 and 1982, died from complications of multiple sclerosis  aged 56.

There is some ambiguity about the exact reasons why he left the band parting ways with them  so early.

 

Rumours that his overdulgences and excessive  hedonism caused problems that meant the other band members believed he had to go .But fellow band member Bruce Dickinson in his 2017 autobiography seemed to suggest that a major personality clash with band member  Steve Harris was the real root cause  behind Clive  leaving the band.