Blogue d'un québécois expatrié en Angleterre. Comme toute forme d'autobiographie est constituée d'une large part de fiction, j'ai décidé de nommer le blogue Vraie Fiction.
Monday, 15 April 2013
King George V and speedball
The things one learns sometimes. I was checking about speedball, which is the name of the cocaine and heroin mix, or cocaine and morphine, on Wikipedia. I then saw King George V among the list of famous people killed by it. I thought at first it was pure hogwash, something added by someone with a twisted sense of humour, or some urban legend that got through.It seems that it is in fact genuine: his doctor apparently did give him a mix of cocaine and morphine to treat his cancer, which may have hastened his death. Of course, in later slang terms, the mixture would be known as speedball. And, for the record, I know of the term from Eyes Wide Shut. Not from any personal experience.
It was a speedball that killed John Belushi too. Hadn't heard that about George V before -- I wonder if that unfortunate physician was quaking in his boots?
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea George V died in this manner!
ReplyDeleteIt sure was a surprise when I read it. But then, not so surprising, illegal drugs being not so illegal then.
ReplyDelete