April 9 | Sir Francis Bacon

January 22, 1561 - 9 April 9, 1626: Age 65

The cat wasn't the only thing curiosity killed: it killed Francis Bacon, too. Through his essays and activities, the brilliant and popular polymath framed and promoted the scientific method — that is, an inductive method of scientific inquiry. In other words, he recommended that scientists actually test their theories, even when the outcome seemed obvious. It was revolutionary.

During a cold winter in 1626, while driving through London with a friend, he was suddenly seized by the idea that snow could be used to preserve meat. The two friends jumped out of the carriage, bought a chicken, and stood outside stuffing it with snow. In doing so, he got a terrible chill and fell ill so quickly with pneumonia that he stopped at the house of a friendly earl nearby to lie down. The earl happened to be in jail at the time for pissing off the king, but his servants welcomed Bacon and his companion and showed them to the guest room. In those days there was no central heating and if things got damp in the winter, they stayed damp; the bed he repaired to was both cold and damp. Within three days Bacon was dead.

Source: Wikipedia

March 6 | Princess Ka'iulani

October 16, 1875 – March 6, 1899: Age 23

Victoria Kawekiu Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kaʻiulani Cleghorn was the niece of Liliʻuokalani, the last Queen of Hawaiʻi, and thus the heir to the Hawaiʻian throne. Her mother was a member of Hawaiʻian royalty, and her father a Scottish financier and the last Royal Governor of Oʻahu.

When she was just 11 years old her mother died mysteriously; she simply took to her bed and refused all food, dying at the age of 36, and leaving Kaʻiulani second in line to the throne. At 13 she was sent to Britain to be educated, where she studied for four years, excelling in all her subjects including art: she painted "Poppies", shown below, at 15.

While she was in Britain her uncle, King Kalakaua, died, leaving the throne to his sister Liliʻuokalani, who, being childless, officially made the 15-year-old Princess her heir. A few years before his death the king had been forced to accept a constitution that disenfranchised all Asians and poor Hawai‘ians while giving a lot of power to its wealthy American, European and rich Hawai‘ian citizens. The constitution was essentially dictated by the foreign corporations with a strong interest in controlling the islands' trade and enforced with the threat of armed force.

When the Queen took power, she tried to give the islands a new Constitution, one that disenfranchised foreign residents and re-enfranchised all Hawai‘ians. She was overthrown in a coup e'état supported by local American and European residents.

Their objective was immediate annexation to the United States, but this was prevented thanks to swift action by the Princess. She broke off her education and rushed to the USA, where she lobbied passionately for restoration of the monarchy. She made a great impression on many powerful people, including President Grover Cleveland, who was able to prevent the annexation (the islands were to be a Republic until annexation became official in 1898 under President William McKinley). However when Cleveland took her case to Congress, they refused to do anything to help.

Ka'iulani returned to Europe but the situation in Hawai‘i did not improve. Her health began to deteriorate and, when she returned to Hawai‘i in 1897, it was hoped the tropical climate would help. In 1898 she got caught in a storm while riding in the mountains and came down with a fever. She never really recovered. On March 6, 1899 she died at the age of 23. Hawai‘ians believe she died of a broken heart.

She loved peacocks, and kept many of them on her estate. When she died, peacocks on her estate all screamed so loudly that they had to be shot to silence them.

Source: Wikipedia

January 23 | Anna Pavlova

February 12, 1881 - January 23, 1931: Age 50

Anna Pavlova was arguably the greatest dancer of her time. "Arguably" only because she was a contemporary of Nijinsky and Duncan, both also contenders. But where Nijinsky favoured the avant-garde and Duncan invented her own unique style of dance, Pavlova stuck with the classics.

She trained in Russia under the greatest teachers of the day, and rose quickly to become a soloist in the Imperial Ballet. She went on to form her own company and tour the world, becoming indisputably the world's first ballet superstar. Her most famous role was that of the Dying Swan, choreographed to Saint-Saëns' "The Swan". Although she hated film as an art form, regarding it as toxic to all "true" art, she did allow herself to be filmed dancing this famous role, and today you can see it here, on YouTube.

While touring in the Netherlands her train had a slight accident, derailing and being delayed for 12 hours. She went outside dressed only in pyjamas and a light scarf to see what was happening. As a result of this she caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia. She died three weeks later. At the end, she asked to hold her Dying Swan costume. Her last words were, "Play that last measure very softly."

Sources: Wikipedia, New York Times

December 25 | James Brown

May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006: Age 73

The Hardest Working Man in Show Business finally finished the job a year ago today. He was a singer, songwriter, and band leader, and record producer who was probably the most important figure in the transformation of traditional R&B and gospel into soul and funk. His style, much imitated, was entirely unique, a crazy blend of shouting, dancing, strutting, self-caricature and underneath it all, incredible rhythms. Brown was also an activist who advocated for African Americans and the poor.

Brown arrived for a dental appointment at December 23 in such poor health that the dentist sent him straight to the doctor without doing any work on him. He had a persistent cough and looked weak and dazed. Brown went to the hospital the next day, and was admitted for observation. He was in the midst of a busy schedule of performances, and cancelled just a few, hoping to be well enough to perform again by New Year's Eve. Instead, his condition just got worse, and around a quarter to 2am Christmas Day he told a friend by his bedside, "I'm going away tonight." Then he took three long, quiet breaths and closed his eyes. Cause of death was congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia.

Here he is doing his trademark "cape finale", where his MC tries to get him to leave the stage and he keeps coming back for more. This one's hilarious, every time the MC comes out he brings a different "cape"!

Source: Wikipedia

December 14 | George Gipp

February 18, 1895 - December 14, 1920: Age 25

"I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy."

This is the famous speech that young George Gipp spoke to his coach, Knute Rockne, while on his deathbed. Gipp (better known as "The Gipper") was a brilliant player for Notre Dame when he died. Apparently he was out after curfew one night, and was forced to sleep outside. By morning he had contracted pneumonia and died of a related infection. Some say, however, that he contracted strip throat after his final game on November 20.

Whatever the cause, Gipp ended up on his deathbed giving the speech that would live famously on for decades. After his death, Rockne used the story and the line "Win one for the Gipper" to inspire the team to an underdog victory. Twenty years later, in 1940, Ronald Reagan played Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American and earned the nickname "The Gipper".

The story does not end there. Responding to an allegation that Gipp had fathered an illegitimate daughter, born five days after his death, the medical examiner ordered an exhumation and DNA testing using his femur. (The result: he had not.) Some members of Gipp's family objected to the proceedings (which were filmed for ESPN) and have filed a lawsuit alleging that the remains of Gipp's sister were disturbed by the exhumation.

Sources: Wikipedia, SLAM Sports

December 12 | Keiko the Orca

1976 - December 12, 2003: Age 27

Keiko was the orca who starred in the first Free Willy movie in 1993. He was captured near Iceland (age 3) and sold to an aquarium there. From there, he was sold to Marineland in Ontario, and then in 1985 to an aquarium in Mexico.

The irony of his appearance in a film about a captive whale released into the wild was not lost on the public, and a movement (vigorously supported by the film studio) to free Keiko, the "real" Willy, was begun.

The plan was controversial. On the one hand, it had enormous public appeal. On the other, Willy had been in captivity since the age of three, so probably had limited survival skills and no links to other whales in the wild. However the plan went ahead, and he was airlifted to Oregon in January 1996 where a special facility had been built for rehabilitating his health, which was not good. Things went well, and by September 1998 he had gained more than a ton in weight and was flown to Iceland for training.

His training included supervised "walks" in the open ocean, during which he frequently interacted with wild whales. During one of these, his trainers lost track of him, but he turned up two months later in September 2002 following a boat in Norway. When first spotted he was in good health, having travelled over 1,000 miles in the North Atlantic. However in Norway he allowed fans to play with him and crawl on his back. Local biologists and his trainers felt the interaction with humans was a step in the wrong direction, and persuaded him to move to a more remote location, where they hoped that he might be picked up by a passing whale pod and led back into the open ocean. This did not happen, and his trainers had to continue to feed and care for him.

Keiko died of pneumonia in December 2003. After showing signs of lethargy and lack of appetite for a day, he suddenly beached himself and died in the early evening of December 12. At 27 he was young by the standards of wild orca, but old by the standards of captive ones: he was the second oldest male among captive orca.

Sources: Wikipedia, Keiko.com

October 4 | Graham Chapman

January 8, 1941 - October 4, 1989: Age 48

Graham Chapman is most famous for being one-sixth of Monty Python's Flying Circus. His characters include Hegel in the International Philosophy football match; Mrs. Conclusion, who discusses philosophy with Jean-Paul Sartre; Arthur, King of the Britons in Holy Grail; and Brian in Life of Brian. He went to Cambridge University and qualified as a medical doctor, but never practiced. Instead he began writing comedy with fellow student John Cleese.

Chapman was also one of the first gay celebrities to come out publicly: he did so on a television talk show in the mid-1970s.

In 1988 Chapman's dentist noticed a growth on his tonsils. It was diagnosed as throat cancer. It had spread to his neck and spine, and within a year of diagnosis he died of pneumonia. It was one day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus: "The worst case of party-pooping in history," according to Terry Jones. His old friends John Cleese and Michael Palin were with him when he died.

At the memorial service in December, John Cleese delivered a eulogy. I won't spoil it by telling you much, just that the first few words are "Graham Chapman, co-author of the parrot sketch, is no more." It's on YouTube: just go there now and enjoy it. Here is the link.

Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube