Marking the Right Spot of Lord Nelson's Touch

For the last 100 years, tourists visiting the spot on HMS Victory where Admiral Lord Nelson drew his last breath have been in the wrong place.

Since 1900, wording in gold leaf has marked the spot where Britain's greatest Naval hero passed away during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. But by studying Arthur Devis's famous painting The Death of Nelson as part of a history thesis, Victory curator Peter Goodwin found people should look 25 feet to their right.

After examining the painting and the ship and reading contemporary documents, Mr. Goodwin pinpointed an area 25 ft. further forward on the same deck. It has taken 10 years to persuade Naval officials his evidence is right and a new monument is being made to mark the correct place.

Mr. Goodwin, 57, said yesterday: "History is not always what it appears to be. I think it's important to put the picture right."

We commend Goodwin for his valiant efforts over the years to fix this misconception. It sounds like "The Da Vinci Code" to us.

[Daily Mirror]

Shakespeare's Tombstone May Cause Sweet Sorrow

Hark ye! Could thy grave be curseth? Steppeth hitherforth.

Ledbury architect Ian Stainburn has been given the tricky task of restoring and preserving Shakespeare's tombstone, - a slab bearing a terrifying curse which warns people not to move it. Shakespeare, who died in 1616, aged 52, was a lay rector at the Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. As such he had the privilege of being buried inside the church, near the altar.

The restoration is likely to be completed by springtime next year. Just in time for the Bard's April 26 birthday, too. We wonder if British folk celebrate Shakespeare the way some celebrate Jim Morrison.

[Ledbury Reporter]

Some Say John Wilkes Booth Filled More Days

We investigated the story behind Abraham Lincoln's death a little while ago. We posited that it wasn't John Wilkes Booth's weapon that killed the President. Now we wonder if Booth himself may have died another way.

"Pop! A shot was fired and, 143 years ago Saturday, John Wilkes Booth - assassin of Abraham Lincoln - collapsed to the ground, mortally wounded in the neck. That's what history says.

But two Booth family descendants - Joanne Hulme of Philadelphia, and her sister, Virginia Kline of Warminster, Pa. - aren't convinced. They think that another man was killed and that Booth, who they believe was the president's assassin, lived to a ripe old age.

The sisters say that using DNA tests you can prove that Booth escaped on the day he supposedly died. Another researcher has requested for specimen taken from the scenes then in order to investigate the claim. They want to set the record straight.

"It's not too late to set the record straight," added Jan Herman, editor-in-chief of Navy Medicine, the Navy's official medical journal. "This is not a minor footnote in history."

Booth was an actor by trade. We think that even the best actor would have a hard time convincing any audience that he was actually deceased. Even if Booth could somehow have pulled it off, he did so by dragging someone else's reputation in the mud.

[Arizona Republic]

Ben Hogan Remains a Hero to Golf Fans

As we look ahead to the Masters golf tournament beginning this week, we can't help but remember Ben Hogan, the golfer who gave the sport some fame a half century before Tiger Woods began his prowl. Now, Woods is poised to pass Hogan for third all-time on the PGA Tour for overall tournament victories.

Hogan achieved his golf superiority and legend status despite a World War II stint and being hospitalized for 59 days after a car crash. Golf became Hogan's life.

"He didn't have a lot of time for anything else," Miller said. "He was a pretty single-minded guy. It's like he built a house with one room because he didn't want any guests. Golf was it. He was a tough guy who came up the hard way. He only respected guys who worked hard and got in the dirt."

Those who remember Hogan say he was bad with names. The name Hogan is of Irish and Gaelic origin and means "youth." Alzheimer's disease took Hogan's life in 1997 but to golf followers Hogan remains forever young.

[Orlando Sentinel]

Remembering the Assassination of Martin Luther King for a Day

Four decades after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. fell to an assassin's bullet, colleagues and biographers offer many answers to the question: What if he had lived?

Instead, history moves on, remaking the world in myriad ways. The nation has grappled with issues of race and inequity without the benefit of King's evolving wisdom. A generation has come of age celebrating him in a national holiday, like other figures of the frozen past.

But given the trajectory of his life — from his appearance on the national scene during the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott of 1955 to his death on a second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968 — some of those closest to him have a good idea what King might be doing now, and where we might be as a country.

The conjecture is that if King was aroudn today, he'd be speaking out against the Iraq War, says King biographer David J. Garrow. Garrow and others believe that King would not have sought elective office.

He felt, they say, that he could make more of a difference outside the political arena. Yet some question whether King would have continued to have much influence at all beyond the 1960s, believing instead that King's time in the National spotlight had already come and passed.

"The painful truth is that in his last two months or so before he was killed, King was so exhausted — emotionally, spiritually, physically — that a lot of the people closest ... to him were really worried about his survival, his survival in the sense of would he have some sort of breakdown," Garrow says. "It would be expecting something truly superhuman, literally superhuman, for King to have continued the pace of life he had lived over those 12 years for another 12 years, never mind for another 20 or 40 years."

So while King's life was definitely cut short, there's room to wonder if his Civil Rights career was upended too. or if it had run its course. What's evident though is that one man, James Earl Ray thought King had to be stopped, for whatever reason. A CNN investigative report tackled these issues.

Ray's brother believes in his innocence; so, more startlingly, does the King family. We see footage of King's son Dexter visiting Ray in prison in 1997 and pledging solidarity. Ray died in jail in the next year, but we hear from lawyers who took up his cause and from those who opposed it. Your opinions when watching are likely to bounce about: convinced first that he was guilty, then that he was framed, then that he was involved but was part of a conspiracy (involving, it's alleged, the FBI, the Memphis police and the U.S. military).

The hotel switchboard operator who found King's dead body in his hotel room suffered a fatal heart attack fromt he shock of it. We can't help but wonder what he would have amounted to had he lived.

[AP]
[National Post]

Music Plays on for Hank Williams' Family

Hank Williams was just 29 when he passed away in 1953. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville is now opening a special exhibit to honor Williams' legacy. The Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy features personal items from the life of Williams and his family. It will remain open until the end of next year.

Especially noteworthy is the reproduction of the note that was found in Hank's right hand when he died. No one knows whether it was actually a note or scribbled song lyrics. It reads, "We met, we lived, and dear we loved, then comes that fatal day, the love that felt so dear fades far away. Tonight love hathe [sic] one alone and lonesome, all that I could sing, I you you [sic] still and always will, but that's the poison we have to pay."

We aren't sure either what exactly these words are supposed to be. But Williams was known to mix the serious with the humorous, as evidenced by his number one hit, "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," sung here by his grandson, Hank III. And the beat goes on...

[CMT.com]

Carving Out the Old Nietzsche

The remains of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche will need to be moved if a German mining company gets the green light to build a massive brown coal mine on top of the thinker's final resting place in the eastern village of Röcken.

According to German press reports, Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft (Mibrag) has been collecting drill samples from locations around the town and is thinking about developing the mine to secure fuel for an electrical generating station.

"If it's possible to dig around it, we will," she said. "We're aware of the cultural and historical treasures here." They'll be ample time to decide. Even if Mibrag decides to forge ahead with the project, it's not expecting to start mining until 2025. Perhaps the last laugh goes to Nietzsche, whose famous declaration that "God is dead" suggests he really couldn't care less what happens to his remains.

Continuing with Nietzsche's postmodern ideas, we wonder if this opens up the debate about whether what's mine is also philosophically mine.

[National Post]

Arthur C. Clarke Accusation A Work of Fiction

We brought you news of Arthur C. Clarke’s death last week, but it is his legacy that has remained a topic of media discussion. Sir Clarke, knighted in 2000 (Was it really not worth it to wait until 2001?), authored over 100 books, but one thing he never gave his byline too were charges of pedophilia that surfaced in Sri Lanka in 1998. The Sri Lankan chief of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), Jagath Wellawatte stressed this week that his innocence should be maintained:

"We had no case against Clarke and no one had come forward to say they were abused by him," Wellawatte told AFP. The agency was established under new child protection laws enacted after the allegations against Clarke surfaced. "We have not had any formal complaint or testimony from anyone saying they were abused by Sir Arthur," said NCPA investigator W.T.D. Wijesena. "We cannot go on the basis of rumours."

Even if anything surfaces, with any underage boys, there’s a chance they told Clarke they were 2(00)1.

[AFP]

Dale Earnhardt's Legacy Brings Not So Hard-Earned Money

When it comes to selecting a roster of celebrities to take for the upcoming year, DP participants will sometimes choose people who are in industries or who live lifestyles that are more prone to death. Take recently deceased Evel Knievel for instance. Those who chose Evel in 2007 benefitted from taking the daredevil.

On the other hand, these coyld be "red herrings," people who have seemingly dangerous professions yet don't pose more of a risk of dying doing what they do best. When Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin died last year, it was very much a fluke that the stingray got him in the heart instantly killing him.

It's hard to say where racecar driving fits into the equation. A severe crash at those speeds and a driver could very well find himself in a morgue rather than a hospital. That was of course the case for fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Sr. back in 2001. Now, some are looking to So collect on the fallen driver's fame.

Motorsports Authentics (which is owned by International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.) is selling die-cast collectible versions of this fantasy car for $74.99. It's another effort to make money off Earnhardt, who died after wrecking in the 2001 Daytona 500.

No one could dispute Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig when he said at the news conference, "We certainly make some money off of Dale, let's put it that way."

This isn't something unique to racecar driving. Whenever a prominent entertainer passes, the name resonates with people who remain fans of the industry. At times, fans long to have him or her back. Most often, though, they want to honor and remember the deceased celebrity with a souvenir.

Some wonder if that is necessarily a real tribute or merely a way to capitalize on the recognizable name.

The culture of the dead celebrity has a long history (Elvis, anyone?) and isn't going away. And it's no secret that newspapers and magazines run "anniversary" stories, often about deceased subjects, because we think people will read them and, you know, buy our product.

But we can at least do him the courtesy of remembering him the way he was, not the way that will sell the most $74.99 souvenirs.

We tend to think that some souvenirs are more appropriate than others. We know that we are often comforted by our Kurt Cobain bobblehead doll that "moshes" to this day.

[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]