For some reason, one of the questions I’m asked most frequently in radio interviews is “So, your latest book claims the story about Catherine the Great dying while being a bit too intimate with a horse is actually a myth. So it’s not really true?” And it’s pretty funny because most of them seem disappointed to learn that it might be myth. So I explain that no, it’s not true, but that she most likely still died in a pretty embarrassing way - while on the toilet.

Then they ask about other famous people who have died on or near toilets. Well thank goodness I can now just refer people to this Wikipedia article, dedicated to toilet-related injuries and deaths. There’s even a list of occurrences of toilet-related injuries in pop culture. From Doc Brown gaining inspiration after hitting his head on a toilet in Back to the Future to Austin Powers drowning one of Dr. Evil’s henchmen in a toilet, the list is pretty long.

So thanks to Wikipedia I can now retire from answering toilet-related injury questions.