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Meyssonier Fernand (b. 1931-06-14 / d. 2008-08-08)
He was an executioner in the last years of French Algeria. He acted as an executioner from 1947 to 1961 and executed more than 200. He inherited the job of executioner from his father Maurice Meyssonnier in 1947 when he ended compulsory education. His ancestors had been executioners from ages ago. When Algeria became independent from France in 1961, the guillotine was replaced by execution by firing squad.
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79
Born 1945-09-07. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Pneumonia
Jocelyn Alice Wildenstein (née Jocelyne Périsset; 1940 or 7 September 1945 – 31 December 2024) was a Swiss socialite known for her extensive cosmetic surgery, which created a cat-like facial appearance; her 1999 high-profile divorce from billionaire art dealer and businessman Alec Wildenstein; and her extravagant lifestyle and subsequent bankruptcy filing. Jocelyn Wildenstein died from a pulmonary embolism at a hotel in Paris.
74
Born 1943-06-15. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Cancer (lung)
Jean-Philippe Léo Smet, better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. In February 2018 his two oldest children, David and Laura, announced that they were contesting his will, which left his entire estate to his last wife Laeticia and their two adopted children. The will was drafted in California, and their lawyers contend that it violates French laws which prevent children from being disinherited.
39
Born 1974-05-10. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Heart attack
He was a singer, actor, and model. Originally from France, of Algerian origin, he was the former lead singer for French boy band Alliage from 1996 to 1999. After his departure from the group, he relocated to New York City. Elias ran away from home after his father died in a car accident. and at age 15, Elias relocated to Paris, where he worked odd jobs while auditioning for singing or dancing gigs. In order to maintain his physique, Elias exercised regularly, declaring he avoided drugs, and denying rumors that he used steroids. He also dispelled many rumors that he cosmetically enhanced his lips, stating that they are natural. Candidly addressing sexuality issues, when asked in an exclusive interview with Les InRocks about possible homosexuality of members of various boybands of the time, and was this a taboo subject not to discuss at height of success he answered: "I don't know, I am not gay, none of the other Alliage members were gay. Now, I don't know about the sexuality in other bands". In 2008, Elias (using the pseudonym of "Q") appeared on the pornography site "Randy Blue," performing in a solo video directed by Jeremy Lucido. died of a massive heart attack at his home.
29
Born 1983-08-19. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Murder
Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp was a South African model and paralegal. She modeled for FHM magazine and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presenter for FashionTV in South Africa and starred in television advertisements for Toyota Land Cruiser, Clover "The One", Redds and Aldor Pin Pop. She was a celebrity contestant on the BBC Lifestyle show Baking Made Easy in 2012 and on Tropika Island of Treasure season 5 which aired on SABC 3 in February 2013. On Valentine's Day 2013, Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius. He stated that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder hiding in the bathroom at his home. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide at a first trial. On 3 December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa overturned this conviction and instead convicted Pistorius of murder.
99
Born 1901-07-09. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:Unknown
Her physical and mental health began to fail in her mid-90s but her spirit and courage were undiminished, and she remained a favorite with the press, granting interviews to international news agencies even during the final months of her life.
After years of wearing her trademark anti-wrinkle cream and heavy makeup, she had herself photographed repeatedly without any cosmetics before she died.
Due to her concern for the environment, she requested to be buried in a cardboard coffin. This request was honoured and she was buried at her estate in Hatfield under a tree that had been planted by Queen Elizabeth I
88
Born 1880-06-27. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:Age
Helen Adams Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. One of Helen's Swiss ancestors was the first teacher for the deaf in Zurich. Keller reflected on this coincidence in her first autobiography, stating "that there is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his." Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain", which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left the child deaf and blind. At that time, she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington, the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who understood her signs; by the age of seven, Helen had more than 60 home signs to communicate with her family. In 1886, her mother, inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American Notes of the successful education of another deaf and blind woman, Laura Bridgman, dispatched young Helen, accompanied by her father, to seek out Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore, for advice. He subsequently put them in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. Michael Anagnos, the school's director, asked former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, Sullivan evolving into governess and then eventual companion. Anne Sullivan arrived at Keller's house in March 1887, and immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with "d-o-l-l" for the doll that she had brought Keller as a present. Keller was frustrated, at first, because she did not understand that every object had a word uniquely identifying it. In fact, when Sullivan was trying to teach Keller the word for "mug", Keller became so frustrated she broke the doll. Keller's big breakthrough in communication came the next month, when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on the palm of her hand, while running cool water over her other hand, symbolized the idea of "water"; she then nearly exhausted Sullivan demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world. Due to a protruding left eye, Keller was usually photographed in profile. Both her eyes were replaced in adulthood with glass replicas for "medical and cosmetic reasons". Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, amid numerous other causes. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, an opponent of Woodrow Wilson, a radical socialist and a birth control supporter. Keller wrote a total of 12 published books and several articles.