Birth, Death And Infinity On August 16th

Lots of notable people have gone out of their way to die on my birthday, and I for one have always been quite impressed.

Babe Ruth died on my actual birthday, the same day in 1948.  Elvis Presley, depending on whom you believe, died on my birthday in 1977.  Robert Johnson, uber cool bluesman, died on August 16, 1938.  I found myself wondering earlier today if this was an unusual confluence, and, perhaps not surprisingly, they have a web site for that now.

For one thing, the list of people who had died on August 16th was rather long.  Besides the above mentioned luminaries it included, inter alia, Idi Amin (2003), Bela Lugosi (1956), Max Roach (2007), and Bobby Thompson (2010).  The list also included Stewart Granger (1993), famous romantic Hollywood start from the 40's and 50's.  I only include him herein because I saw him so many times shopping at Bay Cities Importing, a great deli in Santa Monica, and I can tell you that he was a giant pain in the ass.  He just wanted to be noticed.  I'd be there on Sunday morning, in the crowd, and he'd be standing there with a number like everyone else but he was the only one complaining, loudly, all six feet, three inches of him, recognizable.  A right pain.

So, not a bad death list.  I checked another couple of dates and my list holds up very well.  Leading off with the Babe!  On the very same day!  And Elvis!  Robert Johnson is a mysterious touch, you must admit. 

Grasping at straws, really.