DEATH BY MISADVENTURE
Sticky ends over the ages with Robert Stephenson
At Brompton Cemetery Chapel on Sunday 14th October 2018 from 5:00 pm


The ancient Greeks set the bar high in terms of bizarre deaths: Draco, the Athenian lawmaker, who gave us the word “draconian” was reputedly smothered to death by gifts of hats and cloaks showered on him by appreciative citizens of the island of Aegina; the philosopher Heraclitus was said to have been devoured by dogs after smearing himself with cow manure in an attempt to cure his dropsy; Aeschylus, the playwright, was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that had mistaken his bald head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile; while the philosopher Empedocles of Acragas leapt to his death into the volcanic crater of Mount Etna in an unsuccessful attempt to prove that he was immortal.

These were just some of the earliest contenders for the Darwin Awards, the accolades given out to people who contribute to improving the human gene pool by removing their own contribution to it.

From swallowing a toothpick to dying of laughter, Robert Stephenson will expound on some of the strangest ways that people have managed to inadvertently do away with themselves.

Tickets £12 including a Hendrick's gin cocktail. Please click here to buy.


ROBERT STEPHENSON
Robert Stephenson is a qualified City of London Culture and Heritage guide and a trustee at Kensal Green and Brompton cemeteries. He teaches on London and death studies. Robert is also chairman of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends.

 

 

 

 

 

The Dissenters' Chapel, Kensal Green Cemetery, London. Ticket includes tour of the catacombs.