i get as far as D.

(from some dictionary of famous people i found in Porto s public library)

Achebe, Chinua – Nigerian novelist and poet of Ibo descent. wrote his 4 major works in one decade – the 60s (his 30s)

Adams, Gerry – wrote 3 volumes of autobiography although he has never admitted involvement with the IRA

Angelou, Maya – raped at 8, knifed by her fathers mistress, and a mother at 16, she wrote ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ at the age of 42

Aung San Suu Kyi – was deprived of her fathers guidance in matters of Burmese independence by his assasination in 1947

Behan, Brendan – also Irish, ‘an alcoholic from childhood, Behan died prematurely in a diabetic coma in a Dublin hospital’
(premature birth, premature death, who is counting? most deaths being in some way, or to someone, premature)

Clapton, Eric – while addicted to heroin, wrote Layla in 1970 about model Patti Boyd, wife of Claptons best friend George Harrison; Boyd left Harrison and eventually married Clapton in 1979, but the marriage was dissolved in 1988

Collins, Michael – assassinated by anti-Treaty gunmen at Béal na Bláth (the Mouth of Flowers) Cork, Ireland, 22 August 1922. ‘I am signing my own death warrant’, he had said of the Treaty

Coltrane, John – he gave up tobacco, alcohol and heroin in the first six months of 1957, deciding that music was more important to him. Explored eastern modes and split-reed techniques in an attempt to express his religious mysticism

Duchamp, Marcel – anti-art, choosing mundane objects as subject matters in an attempt to destroy the mystique of good taste and aesthetic beauty

…..