Socrates
The pug-nosed Athenian dialogist was a master of practical communication, so his last words – ‘Crito, we owe a cock to Asklepios – pay it and do not neglect it’ – may seem inscrutable, but were in reference to the offering of a sacrifice to the medical demi-God Asklepios, a death ritual which had become established in his lifetime.
Marie Antoinette
The apocryphal pastry prescriber may have been unfairly maligned when she was alive, but might just be the best mannered of these entries. Her last recorded utterance was ‘Pardonnez-moi, monsieur’ to her executioner, as she trod on his foot en route to la guillotine.
Kirk Douglas
Granite-chinned eterno-thesp Kirk Douglas finally met his maker at 103. His last public act was to endorse the presidential campaign of Michael Bloomberg.
Dimebag Darrell
He yelled ‘Van Halen!’ to wish his brother a good show before being shot on stage.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
The veteran Supreme Court Justice and heroine of the Democratic centre died aged 87 in 2020. And while direct claims of ventriloquism are unseemly, eyebrows were raised when her granddaughter claimed her last recorded words, dictated from her death bed, were the distinctly practical: ‘My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.’
Richard Harris
Harris was last seen in public being wheeled out of the Savoy while yelling, ‘It was the food!’
John Peel
The problematic pop music purveyor is said to have died shortly after an evening spent making up obscene chants about Wayne Rooney while holidaying in Peru.
Joan Crawford
The iconic actress’s last words were the declaration ‘Dammit… don’t you dare ask God to help me,’ in response to a maid who’d begun praying in her aid.
