Famous Last Words

In the final days of the Second World War, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley scrawls his desperate account on the walls and ceilings of his ice-cold prison high in the Austrian Alps. Officers of the liberating army discover his frozen, disfigured corpse and his astonishing testament - the sordid truth that he alone possessed. Fascinated but horrified, they learn of a dazzling array of characters caught up in a scandal and political corruption.Famous Last Words is part-thriller, part-horror story; it is also a meditation on history and the human soul and it is Findley's fine achievement that he has combined these elements into a web that constantly surprises and astounds the reader.

Contains an anthology of famous last words, quotes, deathbed scenes, epitaphs, and obituaries from a number of notable individuals including Bob Hope, Alexander Blackwell, and Roman Emperor Vespasian.

A lighthearted look at the stories behind legendary last words—from heartwarming tales of final moments to hilarious last laughs. Last words are never easy—since, let’s face it, they’re mostly spoken by people in the worst health of their lives. But even if they aren’t eloquent, they can offer a glimpse into the speaker’s true self. Some are clever, others are loving, heartbreaking, or occasionally shocking. In Any Last Words?, Joseph Hayden explores the last words of more than two hundred actors, athletes, writers, musicians, politicians, intellectuals, criminals, and more. What was the last thing Bogart said to Bacall? What did Marie Antoinette say to her executioner? What were the final thoughts of great thinkers like Charles Darwin and Marie Curie? Or baseball legends like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle? Joseph Hayden reveals all these stories and much more in a book that you’ll wish would never end.

In Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski, sixteen-year-old Samantha D'Angelo has death on the brain. Her summer internship at the local newspaper has her writing obituaries instead of soaking up the sun at the beach. Between Shelby, Sam's boy-crazy best friend; her boss Harry, a true-blue newspaper man; and AJ, her fellow "intern scum" (aka the cute drummer for a band called Love Gas), Sam has her hands full. But once she figures out what—or who—is the best part of her summer, will she mess it all up? As Sam learns her way around both the news room and the real world, she starts to make some momentous realizations about politics, ethics, her family, romance, and most important—herself.

Who said 'I should have drunk more champagne'? Did Nelson really utter 'Kiss me Hardy' from his deathbed? Which statesman was, at the end, 'bored with it all'? Which king begged, 'Let not poor Nelly starve ...'An extraordinary number of deathbed sayings have been recorded over the years, some proving irresistible to embellishment, others displaying wry humour, still more showing remarkable lucidity in the final hours of life.The last words of politicians, kings, queens, actors, philosophers, scientists and writers are sometimes profound, sometimes prescient, often strange, funny and usually poignant. They can reveal the essence of an extraordinary life or tell us something about a celebrated person's final hours.In our ultimate moments, it seems, we are not averse to cracking a joke, losing our temper or begging for help from those we are leaving behind. The most interesting, controversial and insightful of these exit lines are collected here, from deathbed desperation to the fondest of farewells.

Keep the last words of your favorite Shakespearean heroes and heroines close to your heart with this delightfully grim, bite-size quote book. A tiny collection of the Bard’s best lines on dying, leaving, or just getting offstage! When it comes to exit lines, you can’t beat the Bard himself. From the obvious—“O, I am slain” (Polonius, Hamlet)—to the sentimental—“Thus with a kiss I die” (Romeo, Romeo and Juliet)—to the vengeful—“I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you” (Malvolio, Twelfth Night)—Shakespeare gave every character on his stage a send-off to be remembered. This tiny book collects the best final quips, dying words, and exit lines from Shakespeare’s spectacular oeuvre. It’s the perfect gift for Shakespeare fans, theater students, or anyone who’s ever wanted to know what to say before exiting, pursued by a bear.

One last thing before I go . . . True stories of doomed figures from British history—and what they announced to the world as the Grim Reaper drew near. Nothing focuses the mind more starkly than impending death. In this book, you can mount the scaffold and share in the final utterings of the condemned, and join the stricken in their deathbeds as their deeply entrenched secrets are finally unshackled. Famous Last Words collects a fascinating selection of destinies, culminating in their often flamboyant, always captivating comments just before they shuffled off this mortal coil. Revealed inside are tales of sangfroid bravery, astonishing ironies, and overdue confessions often betraying grave miscarriages of justice. Writer and poet Sir Walter Raleigh had some typically forthright and goading words for his executioner as the hesitant axeman displayed fear and reluctance to perform his stately duties. The final words of convicted murderer Ernest Brown may have been a candid confession to another killing he had committed deep in the Northumberland Moors some two years previously. And what of Britain’s first actor to have had a knighthood bestowed upon him? Discover the staggering irony that saw his final words on stage prophetically turn out to be his last in life . . .