h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Two blokes.

Both these two blokes died recently, you probably read about it in a paper somewhere. It was only when I looked at their pictures, I realised they seemed remarkably similiar physically & wondered if they had anything else in common besides the fact they had both committed suicide recently.

Let’s call them « Fred » and « Dave » for convenience.

Both ordinary looking, late 50’s, white, British males, greying beards & glasses.

Both had professional careers and titles, these careers involved extensive knowledge of drugs and their effects .

Both married young (early twenties) and started families early ; « Fred » had 4 children, « Dave » had 3.

Both appeared to have had a close relationship with their wives, who actively supported them during accusations of professional misconduct.

Both experienced the death of their mothers during their late teenage years.

Both were known as private people, who revealed few personal feelings during investigations, but were well liked in the community and had good verbal skills.

Both had built up a good professional reputation, but harboured resentments that this was not fully recognised.

Both came from a working class background and had worked hard to achieve Univesity entrance and a subsequent professional career.

Both may have found birthdays significant : in « Dave »’s case, his mother committed suicide the night before his birthday, in « Fred »’s case, he himself comitted suicide the night before his own birthday.

Both men left no suicide note and had apparently expr essed no suicidal intent.

Both suicides resulted in massive publicity and debate, leading to political issues and demands for public inquiries.


I am sure you have guessed by now ! Maybe the inquiry should be titled « What’s up Doc ? » since both Doctor Shipman and Doctor Kelly obviously had a lot on their minds. Maybe further investigation might provide some clues as to the reasons why two blokes with remarkably similiar backgrounds appeared to take very different paths through life.

Anyway, they have both opted out of their own lives, perhaps their legacy was to encourage questions to be asked.

Terri

White middle class males that have been affected by parental death, and have high pressure jobs. It's the white middle class male syndrome - they have families to support, high positions in society where people rely on them to do their job to the utmost level. All they have is mortgages, kids, business suits and broadsheet papers.

Then they mess up (nearly wrote something else there), and their world collapses. They lose what they've spent their whole lives working towards, and have worked towards them so much that there is nothing else left.

Without their reputations, both of these men were nothing. So they committed suicide.