House of Cards US TV - Baura - Stevie Smith - Proverbs - Crime Stories TV - William Shakespeare - W C Fields - Barrymore: The Body in the Pool TV - Natalie Wood: An American Murder Mystery TV - Red Elvis: The Cold War Cowboy TV - 10 Mistakes that Sank the Titantic TV -
We’re in the same boat now, Zoe. Take care not to tip it over. I can only save one of us from drowning. House of Cards US s1e1: Chapter 1, Frank, Netflix 2013
Jan 2nd 1844 – An English court acquits the first Mormon missionaries to accidentally drown a convert during baptism by immersion. Baura, board post, ‘On This Day in Mormon History’
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning. Stevie Smith, Not Waving But Drowning 1957
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. Mid-16th century proverb
A former cheerleader’s body is found and the crime scene is underwater. Crime Stories: Troubled Waters
On May 18th 1998 the quiet calm of the country is shattered. ibid.
Heather’s injuries are only surface abrasions. ibid.
Underwater detectives search the river for a former state trooper’s son ... Divers mark the body’s location. ibid.
If thou needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Othello, Iago, Globe Theatre production, Sky Arts 2012
Drown in a cold vat of whiskey? Death, where is thy sting? W C Fields
31st March 2001 Roydon Essex: 05:48am: ‘A geezer’s drowned in the pool … There’s a party going on and someone’s just gone out and found him … fucking hell. You don’t expect it, do ya?’ Barrymore: The Body in the Pool, 999 call, Channel 4 2020
‘31-year-old Stuart Lubbock was found floating in the swimming pool at Mr Barrymore’s home in Essex; he died soon after.’ ibid. TV news
‘Just another night that went terribly wrong.’ ibid. Barrymore
‘I don’t think we really had him down as being gay.’ ibid. ex-Sun reporter
At 2:47 a party starts at Michael Barrymore’s house: there are nine people present. At 5:08 emergency services are called. ibid. caption
The immediate assumption for everybody was that the victim was gay. Because who the hell would go home with Michael Barrymore and a group of young men? It certainly seemed to be a pretty nasty gay poolside party. ibid. reporter
‘There was no third party involved in the death … This was a case of immersion, as I call it, or drowning … I would describe the injuries to the anus as horrific.’ ibid. pathologist
‘This may not be drowning and you should be aware of that.’ ibid. pathologist #2 to rozzers
The Essex Police investigation into Stuart Lubbock’s death concludes with no criminal charges. A coroner’s inquest is held to determine the cause of death. ibid. captions
‘The entertainer Michael Barrymore has refused to answer questions about alleged drug taking at his home on the night a man was found dead in his swimming pool.’ ibid. BBC news
‘Stuart had been the victim of a serious sexual assault.’ ibid. pathologist
Do you ever want to see Michael Barrymore on television again? Yes 090 190 44 41 No 090 190 44 42. ibid. Richard & Judy Show phone-in
Essex Police launch an investigation into Michael Barrymore’s public claims that Stuart Lubbock’s anal injuries were inflicted at the hospital after his death. ibid. caption
‘Stuart was assaulted quite possibly in the jacuzzi … To make it look like a drowning thrown in the swimming pool. I believe very much that Stuart Lubbock was raped and murdered that night. ibid.
She was a once in a generation talent. But at age 43 Hollywood icon Natalie Wood mysteriously drowned ... A bombshell 30 years in the making. An American Murder Mystery: Natalie Wood, Discovery 2020
Natalie Wood is now missing off the coast of Catalina … The dinghy had also disappeared. ibid.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department opens an investigation into Wood’s death. ibid.
Dr Noguchi also said that Natalie had a lot of bruises on her body including on her face … She was legally drunk. ibid. expert
Just weeks after her death, an unnamed source makes a scandalous claim: [Christopher] Walken and Natalie were having an affair. ibid.
Dean Reed lives in East Berlin because he likes it better over there. An entertainer who has become the Soviet version of a superstar: he sings, he acts, and he speaks with what seem to be genuine conviction the Soviet line. Red Elvis: The Cold War Cowboy ***** 60 Minutes, Sky Documentaries 2022
Six weeks after the 60 Minutes interview is broadcast he disappears. ibid. historian
From that point on there is no way back; he is an enemy of the government of the United States. ibid.
By the late 1960s Dean Read is a fully fledged political radical. ibid.
He is rebelling against the government [East German] he previously cooperated with. ibid.
Four hundreds miles south of Newfoundland a million-ton chunk of Greenland ice drifts into the north Atlantic shipping lanes. After a journey of more than 1,900 miles it is about to become the most notorious iceberg in history. The Titanic’s story is as iconic as the ship itself. She was the largest and most luxurious liner of her era, and supposedly unsinkable. But a giant iceberg is only part of Titanic’s story. 10 Mistakes that Sank the Titanic, Channel 5 2019
10 mistakes than sank Titanic: 1908: It’s been a warm wet season in Greenland … ibid.
‘On the inside she is opulent beyond belief. They wanted to create the most comfortable Atlantic crossing you could possibly imagine.’ ibid. Alex Churchill, historian and Titanic researcher
An incident that would trigger the first great mistake: The Delay: ‘This public perception that Titanic is not sinkable’ … Prioritising the repairs to Olympic halted Titanic’s construction and delayed her maiden voyage by three weeks. ibid.
More icebergs than usual on the shipping routes. ibid.
‘She was going too fast’ … This excessive speed is the second major mistake.’ ibid.
Smouldering in the deck below something that the company had expressly concealed from its passengers: ‘Titanic was in fact on fire when she left Southampton on her maiden voyage’ … Titanic’s firemen revealed that a fire had taken hold in the coal bunker in boiler room 5. ibid.
The fire would have made the steel walls of the bunker red hot. ibid.
The message never reached Captain Smith. ibid.
The binoculars in the crow’s nest were stored in the second officer’s cabin. But on this particular voyage, the lookouts couldn’t get at them. ibid.
They were staring into an optical illusion. ibid.
The collision was so glancing that hardly anyone realised what had happened. ibid.
Different temperatures affect the strength of steel … When its chilled in subzero water, the steel undergoes a fundamental change … Titanic’s rivets below the waterline would have become similarly brittle. ibid.
The slag in the [iron] rivets can make them even more liable to fracture. ibid.
Down below in the boiler rooms all hell was breaking loose. The iceberg has opened up a hole in Titanic’s hull. ibid.
Bulkheads too shorts … water spills over them flooding all the compartments … Titanic’s bows dip below the surface hoisting her stern high in the air. ibid.
Morse code: ‘CQD CQD This is the Titanic. Have hit a berg. We are sinking by the head’ … ibid.
There was another ship on the horizon … The Californian’s radio operator had already gone to bed having been told to get off the airwaves by Jack Phillips earlier that evening. ibid.
Titanic’s final mistake: Dodging the iceberg: ‘If the iceberg had struck the iceberg head on … that damage would not have been fatal.’ ibid. expert