A Fascinating (and possibly fabricated) Historical Parallel

Elvis Presley and Catherine the Great both slipped the surly bonds of this physical world while sitting on the commode.

The King effected his exit at Graceland very early one morning late in the 20th Century. The Empress bowed out in the palace at St Petersburg late in the 18th.

Initial reports in the New York Times had Elvis reading the instructions on a bottle of Quaaludes and mumbling the words to 'Return to Sender' when his over-medicated aorta exploded.

According to a Polish emigre who claimed to know, Catherine was reading a letter from Grigori Potemkin that contained a remarkably detailed description of a well-built Lipizzan her highness had been lusting after. Apparently the combination of prurient interest and chronically high blood pressure was too much for the weakened walls of a major cholesterol-clogged blood vessel in her brain.

Do with this knowledge what you will. But remember, a little history is a dangerous thing.