The Unexplained Podcast: Edition 401 - Professor Caroline Watt
I have to say that my biggest WTF(?) moment came when Caroline mentioned that Arthur Koestler committed suicide with his wife in 1983.
I never knew this about an author of many a favourite book I've read over the years, such as 'The Roots of Coincidence', 'The Ghost in the Machine' and 'The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe'.
"In Volume 7 of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta, Inspector Finch is seen reading The Roots of Coincidence.
Koestler is referenced several times in the work, and in the movie novelization by Steve Moore. Koestler's ideas had previously made their way into the Dr. Manhattan issues of Moore's and
Dave Gibbons' Watchmen."
"The musician Sting was an avid reader of Koestler.
Sting named The Police's final studio album Synchronicity as a reference to The Roots of Coincidence.
Dave Gibbons' Watchmen."
Sting named The Police's final studio album Synchronicity as a reference to The Roots of Coincidence.
He had named The Police's previous album, Ghost in the Machine, after another of Koestler's books."
The Police album 'Synchronicity' came out just months after Arthur took his life in 1983, synchronistically enough.
"Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by English rock band the Police, released in the United Kingdom on 17 June 1983.
The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II".Wikipedia
It's interesting looking through the list of books that Arthur wrote just how many dealt with the theme of suicide, which is ultimately how he would end his own life and with his wife, too.
Coincidentally, as soon as I had put this post up, I saw the above "breaking news" story about a man who had charges dropped for killing his wife through assisted suicide, so I thought I would include that story here as another WTF(?) moment in synch.
Assisted suicide charges dropped against Canberra man who helped end wife's life
Synchronicity II
Another suburban family morning
Grandmother screaming at the wall
We have to shout above the din of our Rice Krispies
We can't hear anything at all
Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration
But we know all her suicides are fake
Daddy only stares into the distance
There's only so much more that he can take
Many miles away
Something crawls from the slime
At the bottom of a dark
Scottish lake
Another industrial ugly morning
The factory belches filth into the sky
He walks unhindered through the picket lines today
He doesn't think to wonder why
The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street
But all he ever thinks to do is watch
And every single meeting with his so called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
Many miles away
Something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch
Another working day has ended
Only the rush hour hell to face
Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race
Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distanceHe knows that something somewhere has to break
He sees the family home now looming in his headlights
The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache
Many miles away
There's a shadow on the door
Of a cottage on the shore
Of a dark Scottish lake
Many miles away...
Many miles away...
Many miles away...
Many miles away...
Many miles away...
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