- Who is the most famous pair of people that died the same day? While its hard to measure fame objectively, there are two candidates that come to mind. (1) If you give a bonus for being in very different fields then the answer could be Orville Wright and Gandhi (Jan 30, 1948). (2) If you have an American bias then perhaps John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (July 4, 1826). Possible Bonus for July 4 being the day. (James Monroe also died on July 4, though in 1831. What is the probability that three of the US presidens died the same day? Prob=1 since they did.)
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If you are famous and want people to notice
your death there here are some tips:
- DO NOT die the same day as a someone more famous. Example: Farrah Fawcett overshadowed by Michael Jackson.
- DO NOT die close to the day someone more famous dies. Examples: (1) Ed McMahon died the day before Michael Jackson. (2) Mother Theresa died a few days after Princess Di (It is likely that Mother Theresa wanted to not have a big deal made of her death, so perhaps this was a win for her.)
- DO NOT die the last week of the year. James Brown and Gerald Ford both died the last week in 2006. By that time all the lists of famous people who died in 2006 were already made. So James Brown and Gerald Ford never made those lists.
- Who were the most famous pair of people that were born the same day? While its hard to measure fame objectively a good candidate pair is Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin (Feb 12, 1809). Others of interest (from this website): George W. Bush and Sylvester Stallone (July 6, 1946), (One is a pretend war hero, the other starred in the ROCKY movies.) Sigmund Freud and Robert Peary (May 6, 1856), Winston Churchill and Lucy Maud Montgomery (Nov 30, 1874), (I didn't know who Montgomery was. Either fame is fleeting or I am not up on my writers of books for young girls-- she wrote Anne of Green Gables.) Ariel Sharon and Fats Domino (Feb 26, 1928).
Monday, July 06, 2009
Pairs of Celebrities died/born the same day
Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died the same day
(June 25, 2009).
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One further example of 2.1:
ReplyDeleteSergei Prokofiev's death was completely overshadowed by that of Stalin on the same day.
Jefferson and Adams also get bonus points for dying on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Kind of hard to top that.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and William Shakespeare who died on April 23, 1616.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they are the most famous pair.
My advice is much simpler: if you are famous and even if you are not, do NOT die as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot compare Prokofiev to Stalin! Clearly, trampling one another down at Stalin's funeral is more fun than that strange music by Prokofiev. A purely democratic choice, you know...
ReplyDeleteNote that while Cervantes and Shakespeare are both recorded as dying on 23 April 1616 by their respective calendars, they actually died ten days apart:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Book_and_Copyright_Day
You can find people who will argue that Cervantes and Shakespeare were the same person...
Jim Henson and Sammy Davis, Jr. both died on May 16, 1990. I remember the controversy when Henson was put on the front page of some newspapers and Sammy wasn't.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm not an American, I think Stalin+Prokofiev is a good pair. We can add they both died on 5/3/53 (March 5th, 1953), which is a very good mnemonic!
ReplyDeleteAldous Huxley and C. S. Lewis both died on 22 November 1963. And of course both were overshadowed by the death on that day of JFK.
ReplyDeleteBilly Holiday, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died
ReplyDeletedirectors Bergman and Antonioni
ReplyDelete"Billy Holiday, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper"
ReplyDelete(A) Billy Holiday???????????????? Buddy Holly. BUDDY HOLLY. Billie Holiday did not die until later that year.
(b) Let us not forget the pilot.
Mother Teresa died the day after Princess Diana, not a few days after. Princess Diana died on August 31, Mother Tereda on Sept. 1. I do agree with you as far as Mother Teresa most likely wouldn't want any big deal made about her death. It wasn't her way. What you said about George W. Bush being a pretend war hero was wrong and rude as he WAS a war hero. Give credit where credit is due, like him or not.
ReplyDeleteWhen citing Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and whoever the 3rd one was...can't remember..but anyway, that should not count. It's obvious that if 3 famous people are on a plane and die in a plane crash that they are going to die on the same day. Dying the same day like Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson is the type that should count.
ReplyDeleteThapedi Klaas Mothapo
ReplyDeleteMothapo Thapedi Klaas, was a twin brother to Dikeledi Hendrika Mothapo. Was born in 22Septmeber1973 and died on the 22September 2009. After celebrated his birthday
ReplyDeleteMothapo Thapedi Klaas was a twin brother to Hendrika Mothapo. Born on the 36th anniversary of his birthday after celebrated it with his colleagues. Married to Angelinah Mothapo at the age of 25 and by then the two was blessed with four children.
ReplyDeleteMay his soul rest in peace
(Since this being posted SO much
ReplyDeletelater it will likely never be seen,
but MEME- if you see it, please email
me directly and post reply)
George H.W. Bush, WAS a war Hero.
I was referring to George W. Bush,
president from 2000-2008.
He was not a War Hero- he did not go to War.
He was in the Texas Air National Guard
but never saw combat.
So how can you call him a War Hero?
This is not a rheotorical question-- if he is a war hero in some sense and I missed it I would be curious to know
If you are mistaken (perhaps you were thinking of his father) I would also be curious to know.
I rarely look at old comments so if you somehow see this and want to respond, please post AND email me
gasarch@cs.umd.edu
To MEME- you claim that George W Bush was a war hero. He was in the Texas National Guard and never saw combat. So in what sense was he a war hero.
ReplyDelete(Are you thinking of his father who
fought in WW II?)
Please both post and email me your response
since I am curious if I missed something and W really was a war hero in some sense.
gasarch@cs.umd.edu
And now Margaret Thatcher and Annette Funicello
ReplyDelete