21 Jan 08 Death From Holding a Pee In

Danish nobleman and astronomer Tycho Brahe, was one interesting fellow. He kept a dwarf as a court jester who sat under the table during dinner. He even had a tame pet moose.

Tycho also lost the tip of his nose in a duel with another Danish nobleman and had to wear a “dummy” nose made from silver and gold, but that’s another story.

It was said that Tycho had to hold his pee during one particularly long banquet in 1601 (getting up in the middle of a dinner was considered really rude) that his bladder, strained to its limits, developed an infection which later killed him!

Later analyses suggested that Tycho died because of mercury poisoning but that’s not nearly as interesting as the original story.

Tags: astronomer tycho, bladder, court jester, danish nobleman, dwarf, fellow, mercury, mercury poisoning, pee, silver and gold, tycho brahe