Many Say that the Evil That Men Do Lives After Them

Karin and I walked to a car boot sale and got talking about someone we know. As we entered the car park, where the sale was being held, I said, "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones."

I know, I know, a little pretentious but it seemed to fit what we were talking about - and I was once a bit of a Shakespearean actor. Okay, the last bit is a fib. The only time I've actually been on stage was during my school days. I remember my last role well as I was the Gay Youth. This was at a time when 'gay' only meant being carefree and happy! My friend played the part of the Sombre Youth - deep stuff. We were massive hits - all right, second fib.

I digress.

There wasn't much to interest me at the sale but I bought a paperback, titled The Shakespeare Secret, for 20p. As it was likened to the Da Vinci Code on the cover I thought it might be an easy holiday read.

As I opened the book I saw that on a page prior to the first chapter was the same quote I had said to Karin - see below. This was another reason why I bought the book, the synchronicity bell sounded.

When I got home I absentmindedly opened the book and there on page 436 was the very same quote again.

So I guess there must be something relevant for me in these words. Though I'm not sure what. In fact I feel that sometimes it's the bad that is interred, rather than the good.

It's still mentioned, for instance, how Jimmy Savile (remember him!) raised millions - up to $56 million - for charity and was knighted by the Queen; but let's hope it's never forgotten that he was also a rampant paedophile who molested hundreds of children. This only came to light after his death.

The Shakespeare quote is from Julius Caesar, I remember the speech as I had to learn it for English Literature exams when at school. 

What I didn't know was that Julius Caesar was performed at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York in 1864. Mark Antony was played by John Wilkes Booth and his brother, Edwin Booth, played Brutus, and their brother Junius Brutus Booth Jr was Cassius. The coincidence about this is that a few months later John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln, supposedly with the cry, "Sic semper tyrannis" (thus always to tyrants). This was also attributed to Brutus at Caesar's assassination.

William Oxberry wrote similar words to Shakespeare: "Because it is a truth and a melancholy truth that the good things which men do are often buried in the ground while their evil deeds are stripped naked, and exposed to the world."

Personally, when I look back on the lives of people close to me who have died all I remember is the good. Some things no doubt are best forgotten.

Death Has A Preference For Birthdays!

William Shakespeare born and died on same day

I saw in a couple of newspapers articles recently about of a gentleman called Jimmy Newell. He was quoted as being, "partly responsible for computerisation of the bank industry, and is believed to be behind the first hole in the wall cash machine in London and was described as a World War Two computer pioneer." 

But it wasn't this that solely interested me.

Jimmy was born at midday on October 11, 1913 and he died, at the age of 103, at midday October 11, 2016!

 According to the statisticians the odds of dying at the same day and time you were born are approximately 200 million to one. So quite a coincidence.

This interested me as a while back I wrote the following post on the same subject:

I was doing some research on Sir Kenelm Digby, who lived in England in the 1600s. I don't suppose many will have heard of him. Here's Wikipedia's description is:

"Sir Kenelm Digby, (born June 11, 1603, Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, England - died June 11, 1665, London), English courtier, philosopher, diplomat, and scientist of the reign of Charles I."

What I noticed was that he was born and died on the same day i.e. 11th of June. His tombstone even stresses this fact:

Under this tomb the matchless Digby lies,

Digby the great, the valiant, and the wise:

This age's wonder for his noble parts,

Skilled in nix tongues, and learned in all the arts:

Born on the day he died, the eleventh of June

On which he bravely fought at Scanderoon;

'Tis rare that one and the same day should be

His day of birth, of death and victory.

I also remembered that William Shakespeare was also born and died on the same day: the 23rd of April (though some historians have differing opinions). "So," I wondered, "Is there any meaning to these same day births and deaths?" And this started me going off on a side-track from Kenelm Digby.

The first thing I found was some research done in Switzerland. They headed this: Death has a preference for birthdays - an analysis of death time series. They discovered that you are 14% more likely to die on your birthday than on any other day of the year! How weird is that! Source.

The study says, "We analyzed data from the Swiss mortality statistics 1969–2008. Deaths below the age of 1 were excluded from the analysis. Time series of frequencies of deaths were based on differences between the day of death and the day of birth."

One of their conclusions was: "In general, birthdays do not evoke a postponement mechanism but appear to end up in a lethal way more frequently than expected."

At first you might think that those close to dying might 'hang on' for their birthday for some reason or other - but the researchers found this not to be the case. As they put it: "Something on your birthday kills you." Now that could put a damper on birthday parties!

I must admit I haven't found anything of any great meaning to dying on your birthday but here's a list of some of those who have the same birthday and death dates:

Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman: 29th of August
George Washington Carver: 5th of January
Walter Diemer: 8th of January
Allen Drury: 2nd of September
Sir Kenelm Digby: 11th of July
Betty Friedan: 4th of February
Alfred Kazin: 5th of June
George 'Machine Gun' Kelly: 17th of July
Johnny Longden: 14th of February
Levi P Morton: 16th of May
Lawrence Oates: 17th of March
Jean Piccard: 28th of January
Swede Risberg: 13th of October
Kamehameha V: 11th of December

If death does have a preference for birthdays, as the Swiss research shows, it might just pose the question: Can we influence the day of our death? Here's an illustration how we just might.

The economists Joshua Gans and Andrew Leigh published a paper in 2006 which examined the effect on death rates following a change in Australian tax law.

 In 1978 the Australian government decided to abolish estate taxes - or inheritance tax. The estates of anyone who died on or after 1 July 1979 would escape tax. The estates of anyone who died before that date would not. The data suggests a significant number of deaths were 'postponed' long enough to avoid paying tax.

"If the very ill are able to move their date of death forwards as well as backwards," says Joshua Gans, "any country that introduces an inheritance tax should expect a spike in the death rate in the week before such a law takes effect."

But, whatever, go careful when it's your birthday!

Other Random Posts:
Impossible Pie: A Way Of Life And Death
Is Enjoying Life Only A Delusion?
The Unusual Contact With Her Dead Mother