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Grin ending

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date18 April 2024
Publication titleDaily Star (England)
Based on the best-selling books by Terry Deary, the award-winning CBBC show has been keeping children and adults laughing since 2009 with its quirky facts and sketches about the past. One of its favourite segments is "Stupid Deaths" about historical figures who perished in weird ways. Here JAMES MOORE reveals 15 of its freakiest fatalities…

Crushing blow: In ancient Greece a jealous boxer attacked a statue of his rival Theagenes of Thasos. It toppled over and crushed him to death.

Dung idea: When the body of another ancient Greek, the philosopher Heraclitus, swelled up with fluid he buried himself in cow dung to try and sweat it off, but died from dehydration.

Fruity finale: Bobby Leach became the second person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1911 but he died in 1926 from an infected leg after slipping on some orange peel.

Plucking hell: English philosopher Francis Bacon died from pneumonia after going out in bad weather to show how he could freeze a chicken.

Oh chute! Tailor Franz

Reichelt demonstrated his invention, a coat/parachute, by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. He plummeted to his death.

Gone critter-cal: Greek playwright Aeschylus was killed outside the city of Gela, Sicily when he was hit on the head by a tortoise dropped by an eagle.

Bite nasty: Viking Sigurd the Mighty hung the severed head of an enemy on his horse's saddle but his leg was grazed by its teeth while he was riding, causing an infection that killed him.

Stage fright: French writer Molière was playing...

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