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Rolls Charles (b. 1877-08-27 / d. 1910-07-12)
He was killed in an air crash at Bournemouth when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off, making him the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident, and the eleventh internationally. A statue in his memory, in which he is seen holding a biplane model, was erected in Agincourt Square, Monmouth.
His grave lies in a little known corner of Monmouthshire at the now disused church of Llangattock Vibon Avel, where many of the Rolls family lie buried in various family tombs. His grave is just below Llangattock Manor and bears the inscription Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
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88
Born 1936-12-17. Domain:Religious. Cause of death:Age
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III. Francis's last public appearance was at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Easter Sunday, 20 April 2025, where he gave his final Easter address and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. He died at 07:35 local time (UTC+02:00) on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, aged 88, in his residence in Domus Sanctae Marthae. His death, announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell on the Vatican's TV channel and in a video statement, was caused by a cerebral stroke, which led to a coma and irreversible cardiac arrest.
72
Born 1948-09-21. Domain:Directing. Cause of death:Age
Jacques Bral was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was also a painter.
78
Born 1938-05-26. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Pneumonia
Jaki Liebezeit was a German drummer, best known as a founding member of experimental rock band Can. He was called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral".
47
Born 1968-11-29. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Stroke
He was a Japanese professional wrestler, stage actor, musician and professional wrestling promoter, better known under the ring name Hayabusa. Ezaki died of a cerebral hemorrhage. His body was found when the owner of a nearby tavern, with whom he was scheduled to meet concerning a March 7 event, went to his home after Ezaki failed to arrive for their planned meeting.
29
Born 1982-09-03. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Accident
On January 10, 2012, Burke was seriously injured while training on the Park City Mountain Resort Eagle superpipe in Park City, Utah. This is the same superpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce was seriously injured in 2009. Onlookers reported that Burke had completed a trick fairly well yet fell onto her head, and the accident did not appear to be very severe. Moments later, however, she went into cardiac arrest while still on the ski slope, making her chance of survival extremely low. She was resuscitated and airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she was reported to be in a coma. The following day, she underwent neurosurgery to repair a tear in a vertebral artery. She succumbed to her injuries on January 19, 2012. Per her publicist's words, Burke's injuries had resulted in "irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest." Her organs and tissues were donated as she requested before her death.
75
Born 1929-09-14. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:Stroke
In 2005, while working from his home in the south of France on a book on the Middle East, Collins died of a sudden cerebral haemorrhage.
57
Born 1946-10-27. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Heart
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), garnered her a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress and two Golden Globe wins, as Best Actress in a Comedy or a Musical (an odd category, given the dramatic nature of the film) and New Star Of The Year - Actress. She left acting soon after in order to live with rock musician Neil Young and care for their son Zeke, who was born with cerebral palsy, but returned in 1978 in The Fury. She and Neil Young split up about 1975. According to Sylvester Stallone, "The first choice for Adrian (in the movie Rocky) was a girl named Carrie Snodgress, who I wanted badly because, at the time, I wanted Adrian’s family to be Irish and Harvey Keitel would be the brother. She said there wasn’t enough money in it (we were getting paid $360 before taxes), so I said “I’ll give you my share, I truly want you.
34
Born 1970-01-13. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Accident
Pantani admitted himself into a clinic in northern Italy in June 2003, suffering from clinical depression. At that point the chances of him once again being a contender in major races looked slim.
During the early evening of 14 February 2004 Pantani was found dead at a hotel in Rimini, Italy. An autopsy revealed he died of a cerebral edema and heart failure, and a later coroner's inquest revealed that this was brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.
6
Born 1990-08-06. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Murder
She was an American child beauty pageant contestant made famous by her murder and the subsequent media coverage. She was found dead in the basement of her parents' home in Boulder, Colorado, nearly eight hours after she was reported missing. The case is notable in both its longevity and the media interest it has generated in the United States. After several grand jury hearings, the case is still unsolved.
The results of the autopsy revealed that JonBenét was killed by strangulation and a skull fracture. A garrote made from a length of tweed cord and the broken handle of a paintbrush had been used to strangle her; her skull had suffered severe blunt trauma; there was no evidence of conventional rape, although sexual assault could not be ruled out. The official cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma.
62
Born 1928-07-28. Domain:Science (Physics style). Cause of death:Age
John Stewart Bell FRS was a physicist from Northern Ireland and the originator of Bell's theorem, an important theorem in quantum physics regarding hidden-variable theories. Bell died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage in Geneva in 1990. It is widely said that, unknown to Bell, that year he had been nominated for a Nobel Prize. His contribution to the issues raised by EPR was significant. Some regard him as having demonstrated the failure of local realism (local hidden variables). Bell's own interpretation is that locality itself met its demise.
33
Born 1956-11-26. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:encephalitis
Leuco-encephalite. Toute affection cérébrale caractérisée anatomiquement par des lésions inflammatoires prédominant au niveau de la substance blanche des hémisphères cérébraux, et dont l'origine est exogène (par opposition à la leucodystrophie, dans laquelle le processus est d'origine endogène).
49
Born 1938-10-16. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Unknown
Christa Päffgen was a German singer, composer, fashion model, actress, and Warhol Superstar. She is known for both her vocal collaboration on The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and her work as a solo artist from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. She also had roles in several films, including a cameo in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966), as herself. She was related to Hermann Päffgen, who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne. While on holiday with her son in Ibiza, Spain, Nico had a minor heart attack while riding a bicycle and hit her head as she fell. A passing taxi driver found her unconscious and had difficulty getting her admitted to local hospitals. She was incorrectly diagnosed as suffering from heat-exposure and died at eight o'clock that evening. X-rays later revealed a severe cerebral hemorrhage as the cause of death.
76
Born 1905-03-19. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Stroke
He was an architect, author and high-ranking Nazi German government official, sometimes called "the first architect of the Third Reich."
At the Nuremberg Trials, Speer was one of the few officials to express remorse. He was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, most of which he would serve at Spandau Prison, West Berlin, largely for his use of slave labour.
Speer's release from prison in 1966 was a worldwide media event.
Speer died of a cerebral hemorrhage in London, exactly 42 years after Germany invaded Poland.
84
Born 1896-08-15. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Age
Born Marie Davaillaud in Loudun, France, Marie married Auguste Antigny in 1920. The marriage lasted until his death in 1927 of pleurisy (Antigny was known to suffer from tuberculosis). In 1928, Marie married Léon Besnard. When two wealthy aunts of Léon died, and left the bulk of their estates to Léon's parents, the couple invited the parents to move in with them. Soon thereafter, Léon's father died, apparently from eating poisoned mushrooms. Léon's mother followed three months later, apparently a victim of pneumonia. The parents' estate was left to Léon and his sister, Lucie, who supposedly committed suicide a few months later. Around this time, Marie's also father died, most likely due to cerebral hemorrhage. Shortly after this, the Besnards subletted rooms to a wealthy childless couple, the Rivets. Monsieur Rivet died of pneumonia, and Madame Rivet passed soon after from tuberculosis. The Rivets' will had named Marie Besnard as their only heir. Pauline and Virginie Lalleron, cousins of Marie, had also named Marie as their only beneficiary. Pauline died after mistaking a bowl of lye for her dessert one night, and Virginie made the same mistake a week later. After Marie discovered Léon was having an affair, Léon remarked to close friends that he believed he was being poisoned, and asked them to demand an autopsy if he died. He passed shortly thereafter, apparently of uremia. Having now accumulated most of the wealth of both families, suspicions were aroused of foul play. Marie was arrested, the bodies of her alleged victims were exhumed, and Marie was charged with 13 counts of murder. Two trials ended in hung juries, with a third ending in acquittal, and Marie was never convicted of any crime.
41
Born 1932-08-07. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Stroke
Two-time Olympic marathon champion from Ethiopia.
In 1969, Bikila was involved in a car accident near Addis Ababa, leaving him a tetraplegic
Cerebral hemorrhage, a complication related to the accident.
32
Born 1940-11-27. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Other
Bruce Lee was doing dubbing work in Hong Kong on May 10, 1973, for Enter the Dragon at Golden Harvest studios. He collapsed in the bathroom and was rushed to the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital. Doctors there that day who treated him said he almost died of cerebral edema.
Dr. Langford who treated Lee for his first collapse stated after his death that, "There's not a question in my mind that cannabis should have been named as the presumptive cause of death." He also believed that, "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse."
Professor R.D. Teare, who had overseen over 100,000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. Dr. Teare declared that the presence of cannabis was mere coincidence, and added that it would be "irresponsible and irrational" to say that it might have triggered Lee's death. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic. Dr. Peter Wu's preliminary opinion was that the cause of death could have been caused by a reaction to cannabis and Equagesic. Dr. Wu would later back off from this position however:
"Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as a expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."
The exact details of Lee's death are controversial. Bruce Lee's iconic status and unusual death at a young age led many people to develop many theories about his death. Such theories about his death included murder involving the Triad society and a supposed curse on Lee and his family.
84
Born 1878-03-21. Domain:Art. Cause of death:Age
Marcello Dudovich was an Italian painter, illustrator, and poster designer. Together with Leonetto Cappiello, Adolfo Hohenstein, Giovanni Maria Mataloni and Leopoldo Metlicovitz he is considered one of the progenitors of Italian poster design. Marcello Dudovich died in Milan from a cerebral hemorrhage.
64
Born 1889-11-20. Domain:Science (Physics style). Cause of death:Stroke
Accident cérébral
63
Born 1882-01-30. Domain:Politics. Cause of death:Stroke
In August 1921, while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Roosevelt contracted an illness, at the time believed to be polio, which resulted in Roosevelt's total and permanent paralysis from the waist down. For the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, including hydrotherapy, and, in 1926, he purchased a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia, where he founded a hydrotherapy center for the treatment of polio patients which still operates as the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. After he became President, he helped to found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes). His leadership in this organization is one reason he is commemorated on the dime.
At the time, when the private lives of public figures were subject to less scrutiny than they are today, Roosevelt was able to convince many people that he was in fact getting better, which he believed was essential if he was to run for public office again. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons.
In 2003, a peer-reviewed study found that it was more likely that Roosevelt's paralytic illness was actually Guillain-Barré syndrome, not poliomyelitis.
On the morning of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I have a terrific headache." He was to never speak again. The doctor diagnosed that he had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
65
Born 1869-09-26. Domain:Art. Cause of death:Stroke
He was an American cartoonist and animator, best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (begun 1905) and the animated cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For legal reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. McCay died on July 26, 1934 of a cerebral embolism
46
Born 1854-10-16. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:Infection
Wilde made a complaint of criminal libel against Lord Alfred Douglas's father, the ninth Marquess of Queensberry, for leaving him a calling card at his club. The offending card read "For Oscar Wilde, posing Somdomite [sic]". The Marquess was arrested and later freed on bail.
The Marqueese decided to counter-attack.
On May 25, 1895 Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour. His conviction angered some observers, one of whom demanded, in a published letter, "Why does not the Crown prosecute every boy at a public or private school or half the men in the Universities?" in reference to the presumed pederastic proclivities of English upper class men.
Prison was unkind to Wilde's health and after he was released on May 19, 1897 he spent his last three years penniless, in self-imposed exile from society and artistic circles. He went under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth, after the famously "penetrated" Saint Sebastian and the devilish central character of Wilde's great-uncle Charles Robert Maturin's gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer.
Wilde died of cerebral meningitis. Different opinions are given on the cause of the meningitis; Richard Ellmann claimed it was syphilitic; Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson, thought this to be a misconception, noting that Wilde's meningitis followed a surgical intervention, perhaps a mastoidectomy; Wilde's physicians, Dr. Paul Cleiss and A'Court Tucker, reported that the condition stemmed from an old suppuration of the right ear (une ancienne suppuration de l'oreille droite d'ailleurs en traitement depuis plusieurs années) and did not allude to syphilis. Most modern scholars and doctors agree that syphilis was unlikely to have been the cause of his death.