The Rolling Stone who almost died in his own library
He is an amazing musician, and has had quite an eventful life.
I’m talking about Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards, as I’ve been trying to tell my nephew that he should start listening to “The Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band In The World” as they are often proclaimed.
To pique his interest, I’ve been telling him about Keith and how often he has came close to death, including the time he fell out of palm tree. Do you know of any others? –T.
I certainly do as Keith, also known as “The human riff” because of all the memorable guitar riffs he has written, has cheated death on many occasions.
He did indeed fall out of a palm tree, while on holiday in Fiji with fellow Rolling Stone, Ron Wood.
He fell no more than seven feet, but landed on his head and fractured his skull.
The first time he was almost killed was at the hands of Hitler’s Luftwaffe, when a V-1 rocket hit his house.
Luckily, the Richards family had gone to a bombs shelter
He also almost died in house fires – twice! In 1971, he fell asleep in bed when his lit cigarette started the fire.
Two years later, he was in bed again when another fire started, though he later claimed a mouse had chewed through some electrical wiring, starting the flames.
But the strangest near-death experience Keith had was in 1998, when he stood on a chair in his library to reach a book about Leonardo da Vinci. He fell off, causing an avalanche of books to drop on him, breaking three ribs!