Op dezelfde dag dat Tommy Bolin, op dat moment gitarist bij Deep Purple, aan een overdosis heroïne overlijdt, stierf 45 jaar geleden in Suffolk de Britse componist Benjamin Britten op 63-jarige leeftijd aan een hartfalen (foto Hans Wild for High Fidelity magazine).
In a 2013 biography of Britten author Paul Kildea maintains that the composer’s heart failure was due to undetected syphilis, which Kildea speculates was a result of his partner Peter Pears’s promiscuity while the two were living in New York. In response, Britten’s consultant cardiologist said that, like all the hospital’s similar cases, Britten was routinely screened for syphilis before the operation, with negative results. (Wikipedia)