Death Anniversary Thread

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American runner Ralph Hill died on this day 30 years ago, aged 85.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Margaret Tudor died on this day 483 years ago, aged 51.

- Margaret was the second child and first daughter of King Henry VII, and was married off to James IV of Scotland at just 13 years old (as a result of a marriage treaty between England and Scotland), and had her first child with him at 17- only their son James V lived to adulthood.

- After her husband was killed in the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513, she was named regent to her only surviving son, much to the anger of the Scottish people (she was sister to an enemy king- Henry VIII). Scotland's Privy Council determined that she forfeited her right to the regency by sending letters to her brother in 1514, and was replaced by James IV's cousin John Stewart.

- Margaret would then be exiled to her native England after marrying Archibald Douglas- their daughter Margaret was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots' husband Henry (and therefore making them first cousins).

- Margaret returned to Scotland in 1524 after a coup ended James V's regency, becoming the chief advisor to her son. Her second marriage was soon annulled (due to Margaret and Archibald being estranged from each other for years), and she would finally marry Henry Stewart in 1528.

- Margaret is believed to have died from a stroke that rendered her paralyzed.

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American tenor saxophone player Lee Allen died on this day 30 years ago, aged 67.

 

[time 8,618]

Eleven years since Felix Dexter died aged 52.

He was a cast regular in The Real McCoy, and in the first and second series of Citizen Khan, as well as guest appearances in umerous other TV shows.

[John "요한" Sulu 420]

On this day 3 years ago, American actor Val Bisoglio, who starred in the film "Saturday Night Fever" and the mystery medical drama TV series "Quincy, M.E.", passed away at the age of 95.

[John "요한" Sulu 420]

On this day 2 years ago, American government official Charles Duncan Jr., who was the Secretary of Energy from 1979 to 1981, passed away at the age of 96.

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Luis I of Portugal died on this day 135 years ago, aged 50.

- Luis was the son of co-rulers Ferdinand II and Maria II, and he would become king himself in 1861 following the death of his older brother Pedro V.

- Despite Luis' reign being quite unremarkable- Portugal acquired no new colonies during his reign and Portugal began to lag behind other European powers due to a stagnant economy- his epithet was 'the Popular'. The reason for this is due to his large amount of affairs, among his partners being Portuguese actress Rosa Damasceno. His wife (Maria Pia of Italy) came to tolerate his habit and even engaged in polyamory herself.

- Luis' habits would take their toll on him, as he would eventually be diagnosed with chronic syphilis, which would end up killing him when the disease attacked his nervous system. He had reigned for 28 years, and was succeeded by his son Carlos I.

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American professional baseball player and coach Ray Katt died on this day 25 years ago, aged 72.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Herbert Hoover died on this day 60 years ago, aged 90.

- Hoover started out as a mining engineer, and the company he worked for sent him to assist in the development of gold mines in Australia and China. He would soon start his own zinc mining company, and became a millionaire from his business.

- During World War I, Hoover would lead a committee to help evacuate American citizens stranded in Europe, and would also establish a relief organization that brought food to Belgian civilians. This led president Woodrow Wilson to put Hoover on the US Food Administration, and later appointed as Warren G. Harding's Secretary of Commerce in 1921.

- Hoover was nominated as the Republican nominee for president in 1928, winning the electoral vote in a landslide of 444-87. Despite this, disaster struck early in his presidency thanks to the stock market crash and beginning of the Great Depression. Hoover did virtually nothing to alleviate this (particularly refusing to abandon the gold standard, and caused him to then lose the 1932 election in a landslide to FDR.

- Hoover would express an isolationist viewpoint during World War II (believing Hitler did not pose a threat to the US and that FDR was provoking Japan before it began), but Harry S. Truman would appoint him in reporting on the amount of food being delivered to German schoolchildren in the American occupation zone after war's end.

- Hoover was only the second president to reach his 90s (after John Adams), and had the longest-post presidency until Jimmy Carter surpassed this in 2012. Coincidentally, Kamala Harris was born on the exact day Hoover died (I'm not sure if this would be the first instance of one president being born the day another died if she gets elected).

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American actor and film producer Burt Lancaster died on this day 30 years ago, aged 80.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Charles VI of France died on this day 602 years ago, aged 53.

- Charles was the son of king Charles V, and he became king following his father's death in 1380- the younger Charles was only 11 years old. 

- While Charles reigned for 42 years, the majority of it was under a regency led by his uncle and then his wife because he was famous for having suffered from some kind of mental illness- earning the epithet 'the Mad'. One notable instance occurred in 1392 when he attacked his own soldiers (killing one of them), only being stopped when they took him off his horse and held him to the ground. At one point in his life he believed that he was made out of glass and had protective rods sewn into his clothes- at one point in 1405, he would refuse to change them or take a bath for a period of five months (one could imagine the smell). Historians hypothesize that he had some form of schizophrenia.

- Charles' reign was entirely within the Hundred Years' War, with the most notable event being the Battle of Agincourt of 1415- a catastrophic defeat for the French army. English king Henry V would have him sign a treaty in 1420 naming him his heir apparent, but died two months before Charles. This would prolong the war for another 30 years, with Charles ending up being succeeded by his own son Charles VII (with England claiming the baby Henry VI to be the rightful king).

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac died on this day 55 years ago, aged 47.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Soupy Sales died on this day 15 years ago, aged 83.

- Sales' real name was Milton Supman, first getting the nickname 'Soupy' not from his surname but from the fact his older brothers were aspiring comedians, and took the stage names 'Ham Bone' and 'Chicken Bone', dubbing Milton 'Soup Bone'. This would later evolve into 'Soupy Hines' when he went professional, but changed due to similarities to a local soup company called Heinz.

- Sales would begin hosting Lunch With Soupy Sales in 1953, a variety show aimed at kids. His most notable sketches involved puppet characters he created, but he was more known for getting pied in the face in nearly every episode. The show would run until 1962.

- Sales attempted a career in musical comedy with 1965's "The Mouse", but this only peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100:

- Beginning in the 1970s, Sales would often panel on game shows, most notably What's My Line?- and would also often appear on Match Game and To Tell the Truth, and was almost considered to become the host for Nickelodeon's Double Dare in 1986 (but was considered too old for it due to its target audience).

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American record producer and musician Jimmy Miller died on this day 30 years ago, aged 52.

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Sweyn III of Denmark died on this day 867 years ago, aged 32.

- Sweyn was the illegitimate son of king Eric II. Upon his cousin Eric III's abdication in 1146, Sweyn and his half-brother Canute V were named king of Denmark by opposing noble factions.

- Sweyn and Canute would fight for complete control of Denmark over the next few years, but the two of them would end up finding common ground by assisting Germany in the Wendish Crusade of 1147. German king Frederick I Barbarossa would broker a deal between the brothers in 1152 where the two were to both hold almost equal amounts of land, but Sweyn broke the deal by only allowing Canute to keep much smaller areas.

- Canute would oust Sweyn with the help of his cousin Valdemar (whom he then named his co-ruler), and Sweyn would flee to Germany. He would return to Denmark in 1157 and the nobility decided to split Denmark into three (with Sweyn ruling over Scania), but he would renege and had Canute murdered at a feast intended to broker peace between the three. Sweyn would then attack Valdemar's army with his own, but was defeated and killed after his horse got stuck in a bog while he was trying to escape.

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American actor David Gorcey died on this day 40 years ago, aged 63.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Fats Domino died on this day 7 years ago, aged 89.

- Domino's real first name was Antoine, and would receive his nickname after joining his first band (known as the Solid Senders) in 1947. In 1949, he would be signed to Imperial Records, and his debut single "The Fat Man" sold over a million copies:

While some consider this to be one of the first definitive rock and roll songs, Domino stated that it was rhythm and blues.

- Domino's next big single was Ain't That a Shame in 1955, before his signature song "Blueberry Hill" was released the following year and sold 5 million records:

Domino would have six more top-ten hits between 1957 and 1958.

- Domino would leave Imperial Records after its selling in 1963, and his career largely stagnated- save for a cover of The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" in 1968, peaking at the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100:

- Domino was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2005, his home in New Orleans was severely flooded from Hurricane Katrina, leading to rumors of his death when contact was lost- fortunately he had been rescued by helicopter and was relocated to a shelter in Baton Rouge.

- Domino would appear on the DeathList nine times between 1996 and 2017, and was the sixteenth (and penultimate) hit the final year he was selected.

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

French industrialist Louis Renault died on this day 80 years ago, aged 67.

 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

King Stephen died on this day 870 years ago, aged ~58.

- Stephen was the fourth child of count Stephen-Henry of Blois, and he would head from France to England to be part of his uncle Henry I's court.

- After his cousin William Adelin's untimely death in 1120, Stephen began to be viewed as a potential heir to the English throne (assuming male primogeniture), while Henry considered his daughter Matilda to be his eventual successor. When Henry died in 1135, Matilda was also in France, and so Stephen raced to England to take the throne for himself, being accepted as king by the general population (some nobles considered his older brother Theobald to have a more legitimate claim as an elder grandson of William the Conqueror, and he was granted money as compensation).

- As king, Stephen would immediately have to deal with the Scottish king David I leading an invasion from the north, and would quickly sign a treaty with him. However, a war of succession would break out in 1139 when his cousins Matilda and Robert would lead an invasion to oust Stephen and install Matilda as queen, and he was captured as a prisoner of war in 1141- only to be freed later that year with the support of the locals. The war would come to an effective end around 1148 as fighting became more and more sporadic over the coming years, but would resume in 1153 when Matilda's son Henry arrived; Stephen decided to declare him his heir (which indeed occurred and he became Henry II).

- Stephen would die from a digestive ailment, possibly a burst appendix.

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American professional golfer Payne Stewart died on this day 25 years ago, aged 42.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Carlo Collodi died on this day 134 years ago, aged 63.

- Collodi's actual last name was Lorenzini, and he took his pen name from his mother's home town.

- Collodi was first known as an editor of political magazines, founding his own satirical publication Il Lampione in 1853. He would often write his own stories lampooning Italian politics and culture, but he would suffer from burnout by the 1870s and looked for a new inspiration.

- Collodi would translate Charles Perrault's fairy tales from French into Italian, and he would begin making his own beginning with 1876's Giannettino. In 1881, Collodi would begin to write weekly installments in a children's newspaper about the adventures of a mischievous puppet- in 1883, he compiled them into a single book, his magnum opus Pinocchio:

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

Norwegian-Swedish film and theatre actress and singer Tutta Rolf died on this day 30 years ago, aged 87.

 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

King Athelstan died on this day 1085 years ago, aged 45.

- Athelstan was a son of Edward the Elder, and he would become king of the Anglo-Saxons upon his father's death in 924. He encountered some resistance in Wessex, whose citizens declared his younger half-brother Alfweard king- but accepted him upon hearing that said brother died just a few weeks later.

- In 927, Athelstan and his army would drive the Vikings out of York, and would declare dominion over all Anglo-Saxon territories. Because of this, Athelstan is sometimes considered the first king of a unified England.

- Athelstan would lead a brief invasion into Scotland in 934- the details of which have since been lost to time, but he retreated back to England within the year, seemingly having made peace with the Scottish king Constantine II. Three years later, Athelstan would lead England to victory against Scotland, Cumbria and Dublin in the Battle of Brunanburh.

- Athelstan died after a 15-year reign; he never married nor bore offspring and was therefore succeeded by his half-brother Edmund I.

- The events of Monty Python and the Holy Grail are actually set during Athelstan's rule, in 932.

[The Ashes Urn 1,358]

American physicist Robert Mills died on this day 25 years ago, aged 72.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,756]

Matthew Perry died on this day a year ago, aged 54.

- Matthew's father John Perry is also an actor, which led to the junior Perry becoming a child actor when he was 10 years old. He would soon appear on shows that included Charles in Charge and Growing Pains, before getting leading roles in Second Chance, Sydney, and Home Free.

- Perry would nearly miss auditioning for the pilot for Friends (then called Six of One) due to wanting to audition for the pilot for a sci-fi sitcom called LAX 2194. When the pilot failed to come to fruition, he would get the role of a lifetime in the other show as Chandler Bing, which catapulted him into superstardom during Friends' 10-year run. He would earn an Emmy for the role in 2002.

- After Friends ended in 2004, Perry would begin to write and direct TV shows and movies- this included an episode of Scrubs, his original show Mr. Sunshine (running for just nine episodes in 2011), and his own adaptation of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple in 2015 (which he also starred in as Oscar).

- Perry had a history of drug abuse, having begun to drink alcohol as a young teenager, and later developing addictions to SPAM and amphetamines. In 2018, Perry nearly died when his colon ruptured after abusing opioids, and he would later develop an addiction to ketamine- the last drug partially causing his death by making him unconsciously drown in his hot tub. An investigation and trial against the people who provided the ketamine is ongoing.