Failed Celebs/Famous People Assassinations
By Kirsty
2 years ago
George Harrison: The Beatles
Image Source / Independent.ieA man named Michael Abram managed to get over the fence at Beatles' George Harrisons' home and break in through a window whilst wielding a knife. When confronted by both Harrison and his wife, Harrison was stabbed several times and Abram then tried to strangle his wife. Harrison survived his wounds, but died a few years later due to cancer.Björk: Icelandic Singer
Image Source / IMDbPop singer Björk was sent a letter bomb by her stalker Ricardo Lopez in the mid 90s, and the reason he sent a bomb was because he was upset to find out that she was in a relationship after he'd spent years obsessing over her. The police managed to get hold of the bomb before it could reach Björk, and Lopez shot himself.Gordon Ramsay: British Chef
Image Source / Fishing FuryChef Gordon Ramsay was in Costa Rica looking into illegal shark fin trading when he and his film crew were confronted by a gang (believed to have been involved in an illegal drug network) and had gasoline poured on them. Ramsay and his crew were then threatened with a gun, while police told the chef to leave Costa Rica!50 Cent: Rapper
Image Source / Twitter50 Cent was shot at by an unknown person nine times outside his grandmother's house. This happened before he was as famous as he is these days, and though he survived, he had a lengthy stay in hospital and months recovering from the murder attempt.Madonna: Queen Of Pop
Image Source / CBS NewsThe American singer's stalker, Robert Dewey Hoskins, managed to get into where Madonna was living in the Hollywood Hills, determined to either kill her or marry her. Fortunately for her, she wasn't home at the time, and Hoskins was taken into custody by police.Ryan Seacrest: TV Host
Image Source / PeopleSeacrest's stalker, Chidi Uzomah Jr., managed to get into the E! studio looking for Seacrest while holding a knife. Luckily, he was caught before he could find or attack Seacrest - the second time he'd attempted to do so after the first time failed as well.Pauley Perrette: NCIS Actress
Image Source / ABC13Perrette was apparently attacked by a man named David Merck who approached her when she was walking in her neighbourhood in LA. She managed to convinced him to let her go after he grabbed her arm and attempted to take her. He was later then found by police.Garrett Morris: Saturday Night Live
Image Source / WHSVActor Garrett Morris who appeared on the original Saturday Night Live was approached by two muggers in LA when one of them shot him, wounding him in the chest, arm and stomach. He managed to survive the attack after being operated on in hospital, but the shooting resulted in him having to drop out of his TV role.Tupac Shakur: American Rapper
Image Source / The Source MagazineEven though Tupac was eventually murdered, he actually did survive an attempt on his life before that time. In 1994, there was a shooting in his recording studio in Manhattan. It was claimed to be a robbery, but Tupac thought the shooters had been sent to purposefully kill him because they left behind his Rolex watch.Mick Jagger: The Rolling Stones
Due to a public fallout with the biker gang Hell's Angels, Jagger and his band were targeted by the gang, who sailed to Jagger's home via boat due to their plan to storm his Long Island home from the sea. But the plan failed when their boat was sunk before they could even get to the house - or to Jagger.
Edward Longshanks: King Of England
Image Source / Medievalists.netAlso known as Edward I, this English king was attacked by a Muslim assassin wielding a dagger when the king was trying to oppose a Christian and Muslim peace treaty. The king was wounded by the knife, but survived.Zhu Houcong: Emperor Of China
Image Source / WikiwandThis Chinese emperor was well known for his brutal treatment of his concubines. It was they who decided that he deserved to die for it. They worked together to pin down the emperor and tried to strangle him. But one of the concubines then panicked and ran to the emperor's wife, who then killed the concubines for the attack - which the emperor survived.The Houses Of Parliament: UK
Image Source / CherwellThe Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament is a famous tale, and one remembered on Bonfire Night, of course. The Gunpowder Plot was intended to blow up the House of Parliament and kill King James I and the royal family. But police had been warned of the scheme and managed to intervene in time.
King George III: UK
Image Source / TwitterKing George III was the target of an assassination attempt when he attended the theatre in Westminster, England. A man named James Hadfield tried to shoot him, but he missed, and was then put on trial for high treason. He ended up avoiding execution on reason of insanity.Napoleon: France
Image Source / National GeographicNapoleon faced many foes during the chaos after the French Revolution, and some of these were royalists who wanted the Bourbon dynasty back. They planned to use a bomb on Napoleon on Christmas Eve when he was supposed to be attending a concert. But one of the assassins failed to light the bomb at the right time, and its explosion ended up killing bystanders but not Napoleon himself.Andrew Jackson: President Of The United States
Image Source / Smithsonian MagazineWhilst serving as the seventh president of the US, Jackson was attending a funeral when an immigrant from England, Richard Lawrence, approached the president with a gun. He fired two shots from two separate pistols, but both failed to fire properly. The president managed to use his cane to stop Lawrence moving any further, and he was later put into an institution for the insane.Queen Victoria: England
Image Source / Shooting VictoriaQueen Victoria was actually the target of more than one assassination attempt during her lifetime. One of these was in 1882, when a Scottish man called Roderick MacLean took offence that the queen didn't like his poems. He attempted to shoot her while she was in carriage, but she survived and MacLean was arrested.Henry Clay Frick: American Industrialist
Image Source / Unite All Workers for DemocracyIndustrialist Frick made problems for unions when he made labor very difficult by cutting wages and angering the working class. In retaliation, a Russian immigrant decided to try to kill him. He shot at Frick three times, with two of the shots hitting Frick in the neck, before he stabbed Frick in the leg, too. Frick survived his wounds.
Theodore Roosevelt: United States Presidential Candidate
Image Source / History Channel
After officially being President, Roosevelt decided he wanted another go at it when he was unimpressed by President William Howard Taft. During his campaign run, a bartender named John Flammang Schrank shot him in the chest. It was actually the 50-page wad of paper that Roosevelt had written his speech on that helped him to survive the shot.Vladimir Lenin: Leader Of The Soviet Union
Image Source / Russia BeyondLenin, whilst building his power in the Soviet Union, was shot at by attacker Fanya Kaplan while he was making a speech in Moscow. Lenin survived the shooting, which Kaplan claimed had been done because Lenin had betrayed the Russian Revolution.Benito Mussolini: Prime Minister Of Italy
Image Source / BBCMussolini was attacked three times whilst in Rome and Bologna, and managed to survive all three. He was shot in the nose by an Irishwoman named Violet Gibson; a bomb was thrown at his car by an anarchist named Gino Lucetti, which exploded feet away from the car instead; and he was shot at by a 15-year-old boy named Anteo Zamboni, but the shot managed to miss.Franklin Roosevelt: President-Elect Of The United States
Image Source / The Washington PostBefore he even became president, Roosevelt had an attempt on his life when an Italian immigrant named Giuseppe Zangara fired six shots at him in Miami. All of the shots missed Roosevelt and hit 5 other people instead.Adolf Hitler: Leader Of Nazi Germany
Image Source / WikipediaMohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi: Shah Of Iran
Image Source / Wikipedia Pahlavi was first attempted to be killed in 1949 when a man attacked him during a ceremony, striking him in the cheek. 16 years later, the shah's palace was attacked with a soldier aiming for Pahlavi, but he was killed by palace guards before he could get to him.
Harry Truman: President Of The United States
Image Source / PoliticoWhen Truman and his family went to live temporarily in Blair House while the White House was being renovated, they were attacked by nationalists from Puerto Rico. They shot at the guards, killing one of them, but were soon overcome without Truman being injured at all.
Charles De Gaulle: President Of France
Image Source / The GuardianCharles de Gaulle was another ruler to have more than one attempt made on his life. Whilst he and his wife were travelling in their limo to the airport, machine gun fire was unleashed on the car and two bodyguards were killed. The president and his wife were not harmed.
Francisco Franco: Generalissimo Of Spain
Image Source / Libcom.org In 1964, there was a plot to assassinate Franco by a group of anarchists, including 18-year-old Stuart Christie from Scotland. But the Spanish authorities found out about Christie's explosives before he could do anything about it, and he was sentenced to death, but it was overturned for him to serve 20 years in prison instead.Andy Warhol: Artist
Image Source / Revolver GalleryFamous artist Andy Warhol had an attempt on his life when playwright Valerie Solanas believed Warhol had tried to steal her play. She went into Warhol's office in Manhattan and shot him in the lungs, throat, stomach, spleen and liver. Miraculously, Warhol survived even after being pronounced dead and then brought back to life.
George Wallace: US Presidential Candidate
Image Source / Smithsonian MagazineRichard Nixon: Present Of The United States
Image Source / American BannerIn 1974, after the Watergate scandal, a man named Samuel Byck attempted to kill Nixon by trying to hijack a jet and then fly it to the White House. He got as far as boarding the plane, shooting a guard and then shooting both the pilot and co-pilot. Byck was then wounded by police before killing himself.Gerald Ford: Present Of The United States
Image Source / History on the NetThe man who next became president after Nixon also had an attempt on his life - twice in one week. He was first shot at by one of Charles Manson's followers, who was overcome by Secret Service agents. Next, a woman called Sara Jane Moore tried to shoot him but a Marine veteran threw her aim.Bob Marley: Musician
Image Source / The GuardianLegendary Reggae musician Bob Marley had an attempt on his life back in 1976 when two assassins, following a controversy over the Smile Jamaica concert being rescheduled during political upheaval, came to his home and released machine gun fire at the house. Marley's wife, who had been in a car, was injured and Marley was wounded in his arm, but survived.Larry Flynt: Hustler Magazine Publisher
Image Source / Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionLarry Flynt, the man behind the adult magazine Hustler, was shot at by a man named Joseph Paul Franklin, who was a white supremacist. The attack happened in Georgia, and Flynt managed to survive but was left paralyzed. He later became a symbol for free speech.
Ronald Reagan: President Of The United States
Image Source / ABC NewsReagan, only two months after he'd become president, was travelling from a hotel in Washington after a speech when he was shot at as he got into his limo. He was then taken to surgery, wounded, but managed to survive. The attack was made by John Hinckley, who had attempted the assassination to get the attention of actress Jodie Foster.
John Paul II: Pope
Image Source / Wanted in RomeAfter delivering a speech in St Peter's Square in Vatican City, John Paul II was attacked by a Turkish man named Mehmet Ali Ağca. The pope was shot at while he was riding in the popemobile, and was hit twice, with two other people also being hit. The pope not only survived, but later visited Mehmet and forgave him.
Queen Elizabeth II: United Kingdom
Image Source / CBSWhilst visiting New Zealand, Queen Elizabeth II was shot at by 17-year-old Christopher John Lewis who was using a .22 caliber rifle. His shot missed the queen, and he was charged with treason but his charges were later reduced.Gerry Adams: Sinn Féin Leader
Image Source / An PhoblachtAdams, leader of the Irish political party Sinn Féin, had an attempt on his life when he was shot by members of the Loyalist group Ulster Freedom Fighters in Northern Ireland. Adams was wounded but survived the attack, which went on to help make the Good Friday Agreement to reduce violence.Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister Of The UK
Image Source / TheJournal.ieMargaret Thatcher was targeted by the Irish Republican Army when they set off a bomb during a Conservative Party conference. The bomb killed 5 people and injured 30, but Thatcher managed to escape injury. She later helped create the Anglo Irish Agreement which also contributed to the Good Friday Agreement to reduce violence, just like Gerry Adams.
Salman Rushdie: Author
Image Source / The New EuropeanAfter Rushdie's controversial book The Satanic Verses upset the leader of Iran, Rushdie was forced into hiding after a fatwa was placed on his head. An assassin then planned to kill Rushdie using a book bomb, but the bomb went off too early and killed the assassin instead of Rushdie.George H.W. Bush: President Of The United States
Image Source / The TimesAssassins were sent by Saddam Hussein to blow up George H.W. Bush during his time in Kuwait, but the assassination plot, which included an Iraqi intelligence officer carrying around 550 pounds of explosives, was foiled by Kuwaiti security.
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