an interesting read?

[ABSTRUSE]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101004/ap_en_ot/us_book_review_the_book_of_the_dead

 

[rgraham666]

Sounds cool.

Santa Anna was judged the worst general in history by The Book of Heroic Failures.

 

[R. Richard]

Santa Anna was judged the worst general in history by The Book of Heroic Failures.

Possibly. However, the USA has some candidates. Gideon Pillow (Confederate), Benjamin Butler (Union), John A. McClernand (Union), George McClellan (Union).

 

[TE999]

Sounds like an interesting book given my propensity for trivia.

It is a persistent rumor that Catherine the Great died when a pony she was having intercourse with slipped from the harness in which it was suspended and crushed her.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Sounds like an interesting book given my propensity for trivia.

It is a persistent rumor that Catherine the Great died when a pony she was having intercourse with slipped from the harness in which it was suspended and crushed her.

but instead, she dies in a lavatory.....I love stuff like that.

 

[ishtat]

George II king of England died similarly to Catherine: of constipation, the excessive effort caused him to have a stroke in 1760.

Edward II also King died in 1327 but definitely not of constipation. A red hot poker was thrust into his bowels through a cowhorn. This served the dual purpose of illustrating the medaevil barons distaste of his homosexuality and killed him without leaving any external marks on the body. That was necessary because a post mortem on a king was considered 'lese majeste'

Incidentally the obscure Edward Jenner referred to in the book and who invented smallpox vaccination has a connection with Edward II, namely the tiny town of Berkeley UK(pop 1500). The King was killed there in its castle and Jenner arguably the most important doctor who ever lived was born and worked in the town.

http://berkeley-castle.com/index.php

Berkeley UK has an important US connection too, not Berkeley California which was named after an Irish Philosopher/Bishop of the same name but the Berkeley plantation and Jamestown settlement (attempt) which was conducted under the aegis of the Earls of Berkeley.

William Berkeley was Governor of Virginia from 1641 to 1647 and 1660 to 1677

 

[TE999]

but instead, she dies in a lavatory.....I love stuff like that.

Not nearly as picturesque, but the truth is often bland.

Elvis Presley died in an essentially similar fashion; he was totally dependent on laxatives in addition to a pharmacopia of other drugs and nostrums. His straining on the throne caused his heart attack.

 

[trysail]

George II king of England died similarly to Catherine: of constipation, the excessive effort caused him to have a stroke in 1760.

Edward II also King died in 1327 but definitely not of constipation. A red hot poker was thrust into his bowels through a cowhorn. This served the dual purpose of illustrating the medaevil barons distaste of his homosexuality and killed him without leaving any external marks on the body. That was necessary because a post mortem on a king was considered 'lese majeste'

Incidentally the obscure Edward Jenner referred to in the book and who invented smallpox vaccination has a connection with Edward II, namely the tiny town of Berkeley UK(pop 1500). The King was killed there in its castle and Jenner arguably the most important doctor who ever lived was born and worked in the town.

http://berkeley-castle.com/index.php

Berkeley UK has an important US connection too, not Berkeley California which was named after an Irish Philosopher/Bishop of the same name but the Berkeley plantation and Jamestown settlement (attempt) which was conducted under the aegis of the Earls of Berkeley.

William Berkeley was Governor of Virginia from 1641 to 1647 and 1660 to 1677

Dayum, Ish— you just located a distant relation for me.

Thankee.


Having just finished Alison Weir's The Princes In The Tower and her The Lady In The Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, I am all too attuned to the violence that was frequently visited upon and by the Houses of Plantagenet, York and Tudor.

 

[Loring2]

but instead, she dies in a lavatory.....I love stuff like that.

but instead, she dies in a lavatory..... having sex with a pony that slipped and crushed her when it fell on her. We've discovered not only how but where