Weird Ways To Meet Your Maker: Part 2 Quiz

Answer: His obituary

Mark Twain may have said "The report of my death is an exaggeration", but the report of Garvey's was just a little premature. Garvey, a Jamaican journalist, was also a leading orator and campaigner for black rights. In June 1940 he read an obituary in the 'Chicago Defender' that said he had died died "broke, alone and unpopular".

He was buried in London during World War II, but in 1964 was exhumed and re-interred in Jamaica and declared a national hero.

Answer: A bookcase

Weber was 38 when she disappeared in New Port Richey, Florida, in October 2006. Relatives thought she had been kidnapped, then, weeks later, found her body upside down behind a bookcase at home. It was thought she had fallen there while trying to adjust a television plug.

Answer: A scarf

Duncan was born in San Francisco and was revered for her dancing at the turn of in the 20th century. Then, in 1927, she was a passenger in a car in France when one of her trademark long silk scarfs fluttered out, became entangled in a rear wheel and choked her to death.

Answer: A cactus

In 1982, Grundman and a friend decided to go into the desert one night and shoot up some cactus plants (as you do). Grundman took aim with his shotgun at a 26-foot example, blew a chunk out of it and it fell, crushing him. That sad occasion was immortalised in the song "Saguro" by the Austin Lounge Lizards.

Answer: Big Daddy

All of these were big stars on the UK pro scene. In 1987. `King Kong' was 'fighting' Shirley 'Big Daddy' Crabtree, when Crabtree - a very big man -indulged in his famous "belly smash", which is exactly what it says on the tin. King Kong had a heart attack and died. Crabtree blamed himself - though it transpired that King Kong had a heart condition - and he never fought again.

Answer: Sheep

One fine day in 1999, Betty Stobbs mounted her motorbike with a bale of hay on the back to feed her sheep in County Durham. The sheep, it seems, were ravenous. They rushed at her and knocked her over the edge of a 100-foot deep quarry. She survived the fall, almost unbelievably.

Unfortunately, even more unbelievably, the motorcycle was also knocked over the edge and fell on her, killing her.

Answer: Fell from a roof while adjusting his television aerial

It's difficult to describe Rod Hull and Emu to those who have never seen them. Hull was a bit like a ventriloquist whose dummy (Emu) did not speak. Instead the emu-like doll attached to Hull's right arm made faces and caused general havoc during their act. Their most infamous appearance was on 'The Michael Parkinson Show'. Parkinson, the doyen of the British TV talkshow genre, had difficulty maintaining his dignity, and his temper, after he was wrestled to the ground by 'Emu'. Yes, of course there's a clip on youtube. See 'Parkinson BBC Rod Hull & Emu 70s'
Parkinson was not the only star to be upstaged by Emu. Richard Pryor and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, were other subjects of the duo's "humour".
After their popularity waned, Hull died after falling from his roof while adjusting the aerial to get a better TV reception of a football match in March 1999.

Answer: He dropped dead while making a speech

Vassar made a fortune through his brewery and was also known for his good works. These included founding Vassar College, one of the first women's colleges in the US. That was in 1861 and then, seven years later, he decided to retire from the board of trustees. In the middle of his farewell address, he dropped dead.

Answer: A carpet

Margo Jones was born in 1911 and was influential the US theater world. Among her achievements was introducing theater-in-the-round to Dallas, where she also formed the first regional theater company in the US, in 1947.
In 1955, she was found unconscious in her Dallas apartment, having been overcome by carbon tetrachloride fumes from a newly-cleaned carpet. She regained consciousness in hospital. When she realized she was dying, she made elaborate plans for her own funeral.

Answer: A punch to the stomach

Harry Houdini (real name Ehrich Weiss) was born in Hungary in 1874 and died in Detroit in 1926. His tricks and stunts were legendary and among his claims was that he could take any punch to the stomach without flinching. Several days before, he had been in Montreal and a student called J. Gordon Whitehead tested him in that and, with Houdini's permission, punched him several times. Days later, the great Houdini died of complications from a ruptured appendix.

He claimed that he would not have been hurt had he had time to tighten his stomach muscles sufficiently before Whitehead's blows.