1. Diana Spencer
Profession: Princess of Wales
Nationality: British
Born: July 1, 1961 / Died: August 31, 1997 (aged 36)
Birthplace: Sandringham, Norfolk, England
Cause of Death: Car crash
Diana was the wife of Prince Charles from 1981 until their
divorce in 1996. Their relationship and eventual break-up drew enormous media
scrutiny from around the globe. The object of worldwide press attention during
and after her marriage, Diana became a media sensation.
During her life she was a supporter of many charitable
causes, notably land-mine clearance, AIDS, and Great Ormond Street Children's
Hospital.
On 31 August 1997 she died in a car crash in Paris. Global
attention and mourning was extensive, and 2 billion people tuned in to her
funeral on 6 September.
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2. Tim Horton
Profession: NHL Star and Businessman
Nationality: Canadian
Born: January 12, 1930 / Died: February 21, 1974 (aged 44)
Birthplace: Cochrane, Ontario, Canada
Cause of Death: Car crash
Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton was a Canadian
professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the National Hockey
League (NHL). He spent the majority of his career playing for the Toronto Maple
Leafs, later playing with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and
Buffalo Sabres. In 2017, Horton was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players
in history. He died at age 44 following a single-vehicle crash in which drugs
and alcohol were involved.
A successful businessman, Horton co-founded Tim Hortons
restaurant chain.
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3. James Dean
Profession: Actor
Nationality: American
Born: February 8 1931
Died: September 30 1955 (aged 24)
Birthplace: Marion Indiana USA
Cause of Death: Car accident
James Byron Dean was an American actor with a career that
lasted five years. His roles typified teenage disillusionment and social
estrangement of his time. He had several uncredited roles from 1951 to 1953
before starring as a rebellious son attempting to win his father's approval in
East of Eden 1955. In Rebel Without a Cause 1955, he portrayed a teenager
struggling to make sense of his emotions, who feels frustrated with his family
and social life. His last lead role was playing a Texan rancher who discovered
oil and became rich, in Giant 1956.
Dean died in a car crash in 1955. He became the only actor
to receive two posthumous Academy Award acting nominations, being nominated in
the Best Actor category for East of Eden and Giant. In 1999, the American Film
Institute ranked him the 18th best male movie star of Golden Age Hollywood in
the AFI's 100 Years 100 Stars list.
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4. Jayne Mansfield
Profession: Actress
Nationality: American
Born: April 19, 1933 / Died: June 29, 1967 (aged 34)
Birthplace: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA
Cause of Death: Car crash
Film actress Jayne Mansfield was a leading sex symbol of the
1950s and 60s and was often compared to Marilyn Monroe. Mansfield epitomized
the image of the blonde bombshell with a voluptuous figure and limited
intelligence, although her IQ was supposedly 163.
In 1957 Mansfield received a Golden Globe award for her role
in "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter", a follow-up from her appearance
in the stage show. She is also remembered for starring in the film "The
Girl Can't Help It" (1956) and for "Promises! Promises!" (1963)
in which she became the first major film star to appear naked on screen.
Mansfield was also a singer, singing in "Promises!
Promises!" and had a top ten UK hit. Mansfield was known for her publicity
stunts, which usually capitalized on her figure and she was one of the most
photographed Hollywood celebrities of her time.
In 1967 she died tragically in a car crash, which three of
her children survived. One of them Mariska Hargitay, has gone on to become a
hugely successful TV star.
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5. Paul Walker
Profession: Actor
Nationality: American
Born: September 12 1973.
Died: November 30 2013 (aged 40)
Birthplace: Glendale California USA
Paul Walker was the star of The Fast and the Furious film
franchise. He was filming the 7th film "Furious 7" when he died in a
car accident in 2013.
The single "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa off the
"Furious 7" soundtrack is a tribute to Walker. In July 2017 it became
YouTube's most watched video and has recorded over 5.9 billion views.
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6. Ayrton Senna
Profession: Formula 1 Driver
Nationality: Brazilian
Born: March 21, 1960 / Died: May 1, 1994 (aged 34)
Birthplace: São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Cause of Death: Car crash
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of
all time, Senna won three Formula One world championships for McLaren in 1988,
1990 and 1991, as well as a slew of other victories in various races.
His death during a race in 1994 led to widespread global
mourning and was considered by many Brazilians to be a national tragedy. Almost
three million people gathered in São Paulo during his funeral, the largest
gathering of mourners in modern times.
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7. Billy Martin
Profession: Baseball Player and Manager
Nationality: American
Born: May 16 1928. Died: December 25 1989 (aged 61)
Birthplace: Berekeley California USA
Cause of Death: Killed in a car accident
Martin was a controversial Major League Baseball infielder
and manager whose success was most famously linked with the New York Yankees,
whom he managed for 5 stints.
He won 5 World Series with the Yankees, 4 as a scrappy
second baseman in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956 and once as manager in 1977. Apart
from the Yankees, Martin played for 6 other clubs and managed 5 others.
He had a history of being an excellent builder of teams but
also one of conflict with ownership, star players, young pitchers as well as
poor and erratic personal behaviour away from the baseball field.
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8. Grace Kelly
Profession: Actress
Nationality: American Monégasque
Born: November 12 1929. Died: September 14 1982 (aged 52)
Birthplace: Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA
Cause of Death: Car crash resulting from a stroke
Golden Globe and Oscar winning American stage and film
actress who retired at age 26 to marry Price Rainier III, the absolute monarch
of Monaco.
Her notable films include the western "High Noon" 1952; John Ford's adventure-romance "Mogambo" 1953; drama "The Country Girl" 1954; three Alfred Hitchcock thrillers - "Dial M for Murder" 1954, "Rear Window" 1954, and "To Catch a Thief" 1955; and the romantic comedy "High Society" 1956.
In return for ending her contract early with MGM Studios for
her marriage, the studio received broadcast rights to both her civil and church
wedding ceremonies. Worldwide viewership was estimated at 30 million.
On September 13 1982, Grace suffered a mild cerebral
hemorrhage while driving and lost control of her sedan on steep, winding road
and falling down the 120-foot (37 m) mountainside. Her teenage daughter
Stéphanie, was injured in the crash. Grace died the following day. Her funeral
was held in the same Monaco cathedral as her wedding.
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9. Jack Johnson
Profession: World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Nationality: American
Born: March 31 1878. Died: June 10 1946 (aged 68)
Birthplace: Galveston Texas USA
Cause of Death: Car accident
As the first African-American world heavyweight boxing
champion Johnson is considered one of the most influential boxers of all time.
He won the title from Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney,
Australia on Boxing Day, 1908 after which he was the victim of huge racist
press coverage and had to face a series of fighters each billed by boxing
promoters as a "great white hope". After an 8-year reign Johnson lost
the title on April 5 1915 when KO'ed in the 26th round of a scheduled 45-round
bout in Havana, Cuba by Kansas-based working cowboy Jess Willard.
With money from boxing, endorsements and business ventures,
Johnson led a very high lifestyle and flouted conventions regarding the social
and economic "place" of blacks in American society such as marrying 3
white wives. He still boxed professionally until 1938 at age 60 when he lost 7
of his last 9 bouts.
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10. Steve Allen
Profession: TV Personality Comedian and Composer
Nationality: American
Born: December 26 1921. Died: October 30 2000 (aged 78)
Birthplace: NYC, New York USA
Cause of Death: Injury from a car accident
The son of vaudeville entertainers, Steve Allen was a radio
and television writer and host who created The Tonight Show. He was the first
host, from 1954-57, and developed many common elements of late-night talk
shows.
He left "Tonight" to devote his efforts to a
primetime sketch comedy program. "The Steve Allen Show" featured a
cast of future stars including Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Bill Dana and Pat
Harrington, Jr. This series ran from 1956-61.
In the 1956 feature film "The Benny Goodman
Story", he played the title role. Through the 60's and 70's he hosted a
variety of syndicated talk and game shows. in 1977 he developed an Emmy and
Peabody Award-winning program called "Meeting Of The Minds", which
featured interviews with re-enactors of historic figures.
Steve Allen was also a jazz pianist and prolific composer,
writing over 8,000 songs by his own account. His most famous song is "This
Could Be the Start of Something". His attempts at creating Broadway
musicals (Sophie; Belle Starr) were less successful.
Allen wrote of 50 books on a variety of topics from
autobiography, mystery novels, children's books, and religion. He died from
untreated injuries suffered in a minor car accident at 78.
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11. James Weldon Johnson
Profession: Writer and Civil Rights Activist
Nationality: American
Born: June 17, 1871. Died: June 26, 1938 (aged 67)
Birthplace: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Cause of Death: Automobile accident when the car his wife
was driving was hit by a train
James Weldon Johnson displayed an extraordinary array of
talent throughout his life, becoming a lawyer, diplomat, writer, poet and civil
rights leader.
Johnson was the first African American to pass the bar in Florida in 1897. He became American Consul to Venezuela in 1906 and during that appointment wrote his novel "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" anonymously. His earlier poem "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," (1899) was put to music by his brother and later became the anthem of the NAACP.
Johnson is best remembered as the leader of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1920-1930, its
1st African American Executive Secretary. In 1917 he organised a silent protest
march of 10,000 people down NYC's 5th Avenue was working for the NAACP.
Johnson was also an important figure in the Harlem
Renaissance, publishing his own poetry, and anthologies of others. In later
years he was the first African American professor at a New York university.
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12. Mel Ott
Profession: Baseball Player and Manager
Nationality: American
Born: March 2 1909. Died: November 21 1958 (aged 49)
Birthplace: Gretna Louisiana USA
Cause of Death: Injuries sustained in an automobile accident
Melvin Thomas Ott , nicknamed "Master Melvin" was
an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League
Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from 1926 through 1947.
He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Though
unusually slight in stature for a power hitter, at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m),
170 pounds (77 kg) Ott led the National
League in home runs a then-record six times. He was an All-Star for 11
consecutive seasons and was the first National League player to surpass 500
career home runs.
He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in
1951.
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13. Anne Heche
Profession: Actress
Nationality: American
Birthplace: Aurora Ohio USA
Born: May 25 1969. Died: August 12 2022 (aged 53)
Cause of Death: Injuries sustained in a single vehicle car
crash
Anne Celeste Heche
was an American actress, known for her roles across a variety of genres
in film, television and theater. She was the recipient of Daytime Emmy,
National Board of Review and GLAAD Media Awards, in addition to nominations for
a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy.
Heche began her professional acting career on the NBC soap
opera Another World 1987–1991, earning a Daytime Emmy Award for her portrayal
of twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love. She made her film debut in 1993 with a
small role in The Adventures of Huck Finn. Heche's profile rose in 1997 with
appearances in Donnie Brasco, Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Wag
the Dog. In 1998 she had starring roles in the romantic adventure Six Days,
Seven Nights and the drama-thriller Return to Paradise.
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14. Sam Kinison
Profession: Comedian
Nationality: American
Born: December 8 1953. Died: April 10 1992 (aged 38)
Birthplace: Yakima Washington USA
Cause of Death: Car accident
Samuel Burl Kinison
was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal
preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense
sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinctive scream, similar to charismatic
preachers. Initially performing for free, Kinison became a regular fixture at
The Comedy Store where he met and eventually befriended such comics as Robin
Williams and Jim Carrey. Kinison's comedy was crass observational humor, especially
towards women and dating, and his popularity grew quickly, earning him
appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with David
Letterman and Saturday Night Live. At the peak of his career in early 1992 he
was killed in a car crash, aged 38.
Kinison received a Grammy nomination in 1988 for the single
"Wild Thing" from his Have You Seen Me Lately? album, and a
posthumous win in 1994 for Best Spoken Comedy Album, Live from Hell.
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15. Albert Camus
Profession: Author
Nationality: France
Born: November 7 1913. Died: January 4 1960 (aged 46)
Birthplace: Dréan Algeria
Cause of Death: Car crash
Albert Camus was a French philosopher, author, dramatist,
journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of
the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest
recipient in history. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of
Sisyphus, The Fall and The Rebel.
Philosophically, Camus' views contributed to the rise of the
philosophy known as absurdism. Some consider Camus' work to show him to be an
existentialist, even though he himself firmly rejected the term throughout his
lifetime.
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16. Jackson Pollock
Profession: Painter
Nationality: American
Born: January 28 1912. Died: August 11 1956 (aged 44)
Birthplace: Cody Wyoming USA
Paul Jackson Pollock was an American painter. A major figure
in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his
"drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto
a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all
angles. It was called all-over painting and action painting, since he covered
the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a
frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided the critics: some
praised the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects.
In December 1956, four months after his death, Pollock was
given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in
New York City. A larger, more comprehensive exhibition of his work was held
there in 1967. In 1998 and 1999 his work was honored with large-scale
retrospective exhibitions at MoMA and at the Tate in London.
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17. Peter Carl Goldmark
Profession: Engineer and Inventor of the LP Record
Nationality: American and Hungary
Born: December 2 1906. Died: December 7 1977 (aged 71)
Birthplace: Budapest Austria-Hungary
Cause of Death: Car accident
Peter Goldmark emigrated to America in 1936 and worked for
CBS Laboratories developing new technology for broadcast and recording. After
leading the successful development of the 33-1/3 rpm long-playing record, he
continued to innovate at CBS. An early version of color television broadcasting
was not commercially successful due to incompatibility with existing TV sets,
although his equipment was used for scientific work, and by NASA.
He later developed a phonograph player for automobiles that
was an option in Chrysler vehicles during the 1950s. Goldmark also worked on
early versions of home video recording systems, but CBS worried that it would
create competition against their broadcasts.
After retiring from CBS, Goldmark researched
teleconferencing and remote medical consultations for rural areas. He was
awarded the US National Medal for Science for his lifetime of work by President
Carter.
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18. Lisa Lopes
Profession: Rapper and Singer
Nationality: American
Born: May 27 1971. Died: April 25 2002 (aged 30)
Birthplace: Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was an American rapper and singer who was a key member of the Grammy-winning R&B trio TLC, which sold more than 65 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling girl groups in history. Renowned for her rap verses, she also lent her song writing talents to many of the group's hits including "Waterfalls" which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for seven weeks.
Lopes embarked on a solo career while still a member of TLC
releasing her debut album, Supernova, in 2001. Though not released in the
United States due to internal disputes with her label, the album received
positive reviews and had a successful single with "The Block Party."
In addition to her music career, Lopes made headlines for
her tumultuous personal life, including a high-profile relationship with
football player Andre Rison, and especially an incident in which she
accidentally burned down his mansion.
Lopes' life came to a premature end in 2002 when she died in a car crash
in Honduras at the age of 30.
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19. Alberto Ascari
Profession: Auto Racer
Nationality: Italian
Born: July 13 1918. Died: May 26 1955 (aged 36)
Birthplace: Milan Italy
Cause of Death: Car crash while testing after his Ferrari
750 Monza sports car skidded, turned on its nose and somersaulted twice.
Alberto Ascari was an Italian racing driver and a two-time
Formula One World Champion. Noted for careful precision and finely-judged
accuracy, Ascari was a multitalented racer who competed in motorcycle racing
before switching to cars. He won consecutive Formula One world titles in 1952
and 1953 for Scuderia Ferrari, being the team's first World Champion, and the
last Italian to win the title as of 2024. This was sandwiched by an appearance
in the 1952 Indianapolis 500, and winning the 1954 Mille Miglia.
As of 2024 Ascari and Michael Schumacher are Ferrari's only
back-to-back World Champions, and Ascari remains Ferrari's sole Italian
champion. As the first driver to win multiple World Championship titles, he
held the record for most World Championship titles from 1952 to 1954, becoming
one of four drivers to have held the record for most World Championship titles.
When Ascari was a young child, his father Antonio Ascari, also a famous racing driver, died in an accident at the 1925 French Grand Prix. Ascari himself was later killed during a test session for Ferrari at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in 1955.
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20. Isadora Duncan
Profession: Dancer
Nationality: American
Born: May 26 1877. Died: September 14 1927 (aged 50)
Birthplace: San Francisco California USA
Cause of Death: A car accident after her scarf became
entangled in her car's wheel pulling her under the wheel and breaking her neck
Angela Isadora Duncan was an American-born dancer and
choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance and performed to
great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in California, she
lived and danced in Western Europe the US and Soviet Russia from the age of 22.
She died when her scarf became entangled in the wheel and axle of the car in
which she was travelling in Nice, France.
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21. George Hainsworth
Profession: NHL Goalie
Nationality: Canadian
Born: June 26 1895. Died: October 9 1950 (aged 55)
Birthplace: Toronto Ontario Canada
George Henry Hainsworth was a Canadian professional ice
hockey goaltender who played for the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs
in the National Hockey League, and the Saskatoon Crescents in the Western
Canada Hockey League. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Hainsworth won the Vezina Trophy three times and in the
1928–29 season he set an all-time record with 22 shutouts and a 0.92 goals
against average while only playing 44 games.
He backstopped the Canadiens to back to back Stanley Cups in
1930 and 1931.
22. Alexander Dubček
Profession: Leader of Czechoslovakia
Nationality: Slovakia
Born: November 27 1921. Died: November 7 1992 (aged 70)
Birthplace: Uhrovec Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Alexander Dubček was
a Slovak statesman who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (de facto
leader of Czechoslovakia) from January 1968 to April 1969 and as Chairman of
the Federal Assembly from 1989 to 1992 following the Velvet Revolution. He
oversaw significant reforms to the communist system during a period that became
known as the Prague Spring, but his reforms were reversed and he was eventually
side-lined following the Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968.
Best known by the slogan, "Socialism with a human
face", Dubček led a process that accelerated cultural and economic
liberalization in Czechoslovakia. After the conflict, his political career
progressed rapidly within the Communist Party. By 1963, he had become First
Secretary of the Slovak branch, from where he began to implement a series of
liberalizing reforms.
Dubček's vision for a more liberal form of socialism
culminated in the Prague Spring in 1968. Ultimately his reforms threatened the
Soviet bloc's status quo and prompted a military intervention by the Warsaw
Pact in August 1968.
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23. Janet Gaynor
Profession: Actress
Nationality: American
Born: October 6 1906. Died: September 14 1984 (aged 77)
Birthplace: Germantown Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA
Cause of Death: Car crash
Janet Gaynor was an American film stage and television actress as well as an accomplished oil painter.
Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent
films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century-Fox) in
1926, she rose to fame and became one of the biggest box office draws of the
era. In 1929 she became the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best
Actress for her performances in three films: 7th Heaven 1927, Sunrise: A Song
of Two Humans 1927 and Street Angel (1928). This was the only occasion an
actress won one Oscar for multiple film roles.
After retiring from acting in 1939, Gaynor married film
costume designer Adrian, with whom she had a son. She briefly returned to
acting in films and television in the 1950s and later became an accomplished
oil painter.
On the evening of September 5, 1982, Gaynor sustained
multiple injuries when a drunken driver, a former policeman, struck the taxicab
in which she and others were passengers. The previous year the same driver was
charged with two felonies for using his car as a deadly weapon against a woman
motorist, with whom he'd argued over a parking spot, at which time he was
placed on informal probation; subsequently, the charges were dropped. In
September 1984, Gaynor's injuries sustained in the collision were ruled officially
to have caused Gaynor's death.
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24. John Nash
Profession: Mathematician and Economist
Nationality: American
Born: June 13 1928. Died: May 23 2015 (aged 86)
Birthplace: Bluefield West Virginia USA
Cause of Death: Car crash
John Forbes Nash Jr. known and published as John Nash, was
an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory,
real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential
equations. Nash and fellow game theorists John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten
were awarded the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. In 2015 he and Louis
Nirenberg were awarded the Abel Prize for their contributions to the field of
partial differential equations.
As a graduate student in the Princeton University Department
of Mathematics, Nash introduced a number of concepts (including Nash
equilibrium and the Nash bargaining solution) which are now considered central
to game theory and its applications in various sciences. In the 1950s, Nash
discovered and proved the Nash embedding theorems by solving a system of
nonlinear partial differential equations arising in Riemannian geometry.
In 1959, Nash began showing clear signs of mental illness,
and spent several years at psychiatric hospitals being treated for
schizophrenia. After 1970 his condition slowly improved, allowing him to return
to academic work by the mid-1980s. Nash was biographed in Sylvia Nasar's 1998
book A Beautiful Mind, and his struggles with his illness and his recovery
became the basis for a film of the same name directed by Ron Howard, in which
Nash was portrayed by Russell Crowe
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25. Andrew Symonds
Profession: Cricket All-Rounder
Nationality: Australian
Born: June 9 1975. Died: May 14 2022 (aged 46)
Birthplace: Birmingham England United Kingdom
Andrew Symonds was an
Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting
all-rounder. Commonly nicknamed "Roy", he was a key member of two
World Cup–winning squads. Symonds was a part of the team that won both the 2003
Cricket World Cup and four years later, the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Symonds
played as a right-handed middle-order batsman and alternated between medium
pace and off-spin bowling. He was also notable for his exceptional fielding
skills.
After mid-2008, Symonds spent significant time out of the
team due to disciplinary reasons, including alcohol abuse. In June 2009, he was
sent home from the 2009 World Twenty20, his third suspension, expulsion or
exclusion from selection in the space of a year. His central contract was then
withdrawn,and many cricket analysts speculated that the Australian
administrators would no longer tolerate him and that Symonds might announce his
retirement. Symonds eventually retired from all forms of professional cricket
in February 2012, to concentrate on his family life
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26. Jim Clark
Profession: Auto Racer
Nationality: Scottish
Born: March 4 1936. Died: April 7 1968 (aged 32)
Birthplace: Kilmany Fife Scotland United Kingdom
Cause of Death: A car crash while racing at Hockenheim
Germany
James Clark OBE was a British racing driver from Scotland
who won two Formula One World Championships in 1963 and 1965. A versatile
driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars, and in the Indianapolis 500
which he won in 1965. He was particularly associated with Team Lotus, driving
for the team his entire Formula One career between 1960 and 1968.
Clark was killed in a Formula Two racing accident in April
1968 in Hockenheimring, West Germany. At the time of his death, aged 32, he had
won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more pole positions (33) than any
other driver. Into the 21st century, he maintains several Formula One records,
such as Grand Chelem and percentage-related ones. His record of highest
percentage of laps in the lead in a season was only broken in 2023.
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27. Charles R Drew
Profession: Surgeon and Medical Researcher
Nationality: American
Born: June 3 1904. Died: April 1 1950 (aged 45)
Birthplace: Washington DC USA
Cause of Death: Car accident
Charles Richard Drew was an American surgeon and medical
researcher. Called the 'Father of the Blood Bank' . He researched in the field of blood
transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his
expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II.
This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces'
lives during the war. As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew
protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood,
as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American
Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.
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28. Herb Brooks
Profession: Ice Hockey Player and Coach
Nationality: American
Born: August 5 1937. Died: August 11 2003 (aged 66)
Birthplace: Saint Paul Minnesota USA
Cause of Death: Car accident
Herbert Paul Brooks was an American ice hockey player and
coach. His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold
medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at Lake Placid. At the Games, Brooks' American
team upset the heavily favored Soviet team in a match that came to be known as
the "Miracle on Ice."
Brooks also coached multiple National Hockey League (NHL)
teams, as well as the French team at the 1998 Winter Olympics. He ultimately
returned to coach the U.S. men's team to a silver medal at the 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City. When Brooks died in a car accident in 2003, he was
the director of player personnel for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Brooks was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of
Fame in 1990 and the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1999. He was honored posthumously
with the Wayne Gretzky International Award in 2004 and inducted into the Hockey
Hall of Fame in 2006.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
29. Michael King
Profession: Historian and Author
Nationality: New Zealand
Born: December 15 1945. Died: March 30 2004 (aged 58)
Birthplace: Wellington, New Zealand
Michael King was a New Zealand historian, author and
biographer. Although not himself Māori, he was known for his knowledge of Māori
culture and history, and for his writing in an accessible way that resonated
with the public.
King wrote, co-wrote and edited more than 30 books on a
variety of New Zealand-related topics. These included "The Penguin History
of New Zealand"—which went on to be a best-seller—and biographies of
influential figures like Te Puea Herangi, Whina Cooper, Frank Sargeson, and
Janet Frame.
King had two children with his first wife Ros: filmmaker Jonathan King and novelist Rachael King. He received numerous honors and awards, including being appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1988 winning multiple New Zealand Book Awards.
In 2003 King was named New Zealander of the Year in 2003 by
The New Zealand Herald and won the Prime Minister's Award for Literary
Achievement in non-fiction. King died in a car accident in 2004 along with his
second wife Maria Jungowska.
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30. Dan Wheldon
Profession: Racing Car Driver
Nationality: British
Born: June 22, 1978 Died: October 16, 2011 (aged 33)
Birthplace: Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
Cause of Death: Multi car crash during a challenge race at
the season-ending IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a
British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers'
Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in
2005 and 2011, and was co-winner of the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona with Chip
Ganassi Racing (CGR).
Wheldon began competitive karting at the age of eight and
achieved early success, before progressing to open-wheel car racing in the US
F2000 National Championship, the Toyota Atlantic Championship and Indy Lights.
He began driving in IndyCar with Panther Racing in 2002.
The following year, Wheldon moved to AGR, finishing as
runner-up in the 2004 championship. He won the drivers' title in 2005 with the
record for most victories (including that year's Indianapolis 500) during a
season. In the 2006 season, he moved to CGR, tying Sam Hornish Jr. in points
but finishing second because of count-back on the number of victories taken by
both drivers. During the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Wheldon's form lowered but he
won four additional races to place fourth overall in both years.
He won his second Indianapolis 500 in May of that year. At
the season-ending IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
Wheldon was killed in a collision with a fence post alongside the circuit on
the race's eleventh lap. He was 33 years old and the first driver to die in
IndyCar competition since Paul Dana in 2006.
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