Famous Last Words

by Jonathon Green

This sometimes funny, frequently poignant compilation offers a glimpse at the death-bed departures of kings, courtiers, poets, painters, saints, villains, murderers, and martyrs through the ages. Among the notable parting sentiments are Bing Crosby’s breezy “That was a great game of golf, fellers,” Lawrence Oates’ farewell to Captain Scott on his mythically ill-fated expedition to the South “I’m just going out. I may be some time…,” and Civil War commander General Sedgewick’s final “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist—.” It is a fascinating record of our final thoughts at the brink of the unimaginable. Jonathan Green is a noted lexicographer and the author of many books, including Slang Down the Ages.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Reference

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

I am a lexicographer, that is a dictionary maker, specialising in slang, about which I have been compiling dictionaries, writing and broadcasting since 1984. I have also written a history of lexicography. After working on my university newspaper I joined the London ‘underground press’ in 1969, working for most of the then available titles, such as Friends, IT and Oz. I have been publishing books since the mid-1970s, spending the next decade putting together a number of dictionaries of quotations, before I moved into what remains my primary interest, slang. I have also published three oral histories: one on the hippie Sixties, one on first generation immigrants to the UK and one on the sexual revolution and its development. Among other non-slang titles have been three dictionaries of occupational jargon, a narrative history of the Sixties, a book on cannabis, and an encyclopedia of censorship. As a freelancer I have broadcast regularly on the radio, made appearances on TV, including a 30-minute study of slang in 1996, and and written columns both for academic journals and for the Erotic Review.

My slang work has reached its climax, but I trust not its end, with the publication in 2010 of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a three volume, 6,200-page dictionary ‘on historical principles’ offering some 110,000 words and phrases, backed up by around 410,000 citations or usage examples. The book covers all anglophone countries and its timeline stretches from around 1500 up to the present day. For those who prefer something less academic, I published the Chambers Slang Dictionary, a single volume book, in 2008. Given that I am in no doubt that the future of reference publishing lies in digital form, it is my intention to place both these books on line in the near future.

Reviews

[ka fi de · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reference book. It's not something that I usually pick up but I thought that I'd give it a shot.

I would've wanted to love this because the idea is amazing. I can see why Miles from Looking for Alaska was enthralled with knowing people's last words because it's interesting to know.

I understand that this book is old and the edition I have is as updated as it'll get but a lot of the people in here are people I've never encountered before. It's not the books fault, it's me. There's no instance that I think everyone will know these many people. So I'm not mad. This book and I just didn't click.

There were a lot of standouts. And I'd like to highlight them!

(I won't transpose the actual quotes mostly because my favourite one is half a page long so I'm just putting all their names here and if you want to look them up then all g)

Sir Charles Bell
Robert Brookings
Alice Poet
Samuel Johnson
James K. Polk
Elizabeth I
Wing Commander Paddy Finucane
The seven Maccabaeus brothers (my favourite)
Cherokee Bill
Carl Panzram
Niccolo Machiavelli
Arthur Stanley
Ethel Waters
Sir James M. Barrie
Lola Montez
Saint Agatha
Vincent Van Gogh
Brian Piccolo
Edgar Allan Poe
William Pope
Jose Rizal y Alonso
Paul Bern
Solomon Rosbach
George Sanders
Virginia Woolf

That's actually quite a bit. Those are the highlights. Research them if you want to.

I'm going back to fiction now.

[Beorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a macabre idea but an interesting read nonetheless compiling the last known words of a great deal of people of renown from various walks of life from politicians, kings and leaders to actors, activists and poets.

Remarkably intriguing for those people in here I knew of and the slightly bizarre, highly poetic or just plain odd ways they shuffled off this mortal coil. There's quite a lot of people in here that I haven't a clue who they are but that's no reason to knock the book itself.

Some of it seems a bit spurious in that it's the person's last known public words - ie last letter to a loved one, last orders issued etc - rather than the ones definitively last to exit their mouth. There is the inclusion of what read like suicide notes too which is definitely grim reading, especially Tony Hancock's.

My particular favourites:
Henry VIII - "Monks! Monks! Monks!"
Septimus Severus - "Little urn, you will soon contain all of whom that the world could not"
and
HG Wells - "Leave me alone, I'm alright!"
Karl Marx, on being asked by his nurse if he had any last words, "Leave me alone! Last words are for people who haven't said enough!"


A neat little reference point if you're interested in quotes, epitaphs or any such like.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains the last words of a hundreds of famous people. There's historical figures, actors, writers, soldiers, artists, poets and criminals. Great to dip in and out of whenver you feel like it. Some of the quotes will bring a tear to your eye, others will make you laugh. Some will just send shivers up your spine. I have a strange sense of humour, so this book really did appeal.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant, morbidly fascinating. These are the final words of hundreds of people, both famous and infamous. They range from profound, historic, heartbreaking, spiritual to witty, irreverent and even sarcastic.

[Andreas Michaelides · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of the book says it all; it’s a very interesting collection of famous people or some not so famous people final words or phrases.

[Stephen Cranney]

Kind of fun, but got surprisingly boring fast.