On this day, the world lost lots of amazingly interesting people. Some of them are Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Bastard, William the Conqueror, and William I, who were all the same guy- depending on whether you knew him before or after the Battle of Hastings. And whether he could hear you, I guess. Also Theodore Judah, who had a wacky idea of a railroad that was trans-continental. He got it funded, worked on it, and then died. And then the bastards had the audacity to call it the Trans-continental railroad! Also leaving us on this day was Jenny Lind, "the Swedish Nightingale"- not to be confused with Lili von Shtupp, "the Teutonic Titwillow". Another person who shuffled off on this date was George Bernard Shaw, not to be confused with James Thurber, who followed him exactly 11 years later. Mississippi John Hurt also left the stage on this date. (There was no encore.)
Eva Cassidy died on this date in 1996. If you ever want to feel melancholy, go to YouTube and find her live version of "Autumn leaves". Heartbreakingly sad, especially if you reflect on the fact that within a year of that performance, she was gone, at the far too young age of 33.
Also dying on this date- Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker. He was brutally murdered for making a film which suggested that perhaps Muslims are not nice to women (among others). Weird, huh? Bet it will surprise you to know that he wasn't killed by a crazed Quaker. Care to guess anything about the person who did kill him?
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