Learn Something New Every Day - Death by Umbrella
In 1978 a Bulgarian defector, Georgi Markov, was waiting at a bustop in London when a stranger struck him accidentally with the tip of his umbrella. Markov boarded his bus grumbling and rubbing the place where the impact hurt most and complained of it on arrival at work at the BBC. The wound worsened, infected and led to Markov’s death in hospital just three days later. On autopsy, a tiny pellet was discovered under Markov’s skin carrying traces of Ricin (untraceable and incurable and some might say the Soviet poison of choice). It is believed it was shot there under high pressure from the tip of the James Bond-esque umbrella. Three years later the Bulgarians (again assisted by the KGB) tried again but this time the victim survived following a malfunction in the pellet.
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