Further test results are awaited, the death is still being treated as unexplained, and an inquest will be held in due course, a police spokesperson announced today.

Friends, colleagues and fans were shocked to hear that thirty two year old Kristian Digby had been found dead in his flat yesterday morning. It was reported that neither suicide nor a third party was suspected. Unofficial reports have claimed that a bag and a belt were removed from the scene for forensic testing. These items are commonly associated with the practice of auto-erotic arousal where oxygen is deliberately cut off from the brain in order to intensify sexual arousal. It is a potentially dangerous practice leading to the unintentional asphyxiation of the subject. It is suspected that this was the cause of Digby’s death, though the post mortem today did not confirm this, saying that the results were inconclusive.

The practice has been a factor in the deaths of several famous people, for example the death of Michael Hutchence in 1997 – though the official cause of death was given as suicide – and last year the death of actor David Carradine. We don’t hear about it too much, but autoerotic asphyxiation is not all that rare as a cause of death, particularly among young men. There is still a good deal of taboo surrounding the topic, which prevents people discussing the practice, and potentially getting help with it.

Many people who have tuned in to watch daytime television even occasionally, may very well have caught Kristian Digby cheerfully presenting the popular property programme ‘To Buy or Not To Buy’ with his sidekick and friend Dominic Littlewood. Their good-humoured banter was a trademark of the show, and was later followed on by a variety of different presenters. Of course you may also be one of the many who would describe this sort of presentation as ‘cheesy’. Listening to people talking about him, however, you would not doubt the genuineness of the warmth he exuded in whatever he turned his hand to. Littlewood for example, said ‘There’s not a bad word I can say about Kristian. He was a lovely fun, nice, jolly, decent person.’ A neighbour had this to say, ‘He set up a residents’ association and got people together in a way no one had before. He planted trees by the street and tidied up. Everyone wanted to be his friend.’

With a natural ability in the property world per se, as well as in presenting, he was also a talented director working behind the camera for several popular shows. With aspirations as a film maker, some of his early work as a student gained him recognition as a promising newcomer, his film ‘Words of Deception’ winning him a junior Bafta IN 1997, and in 1998 his short film ‘Last Train to Demise’ best student film in the Melbourne film festival.

The death of anyone so young, talented, and loved - as Digby was - is terribly sad. If Digby did in fact die of autoerotic asphyxiation it doesn’t change his essential being; he is still that person, but there is a danger that former admirers of his personality and talent, perhaps even some family members and friends may turn away from what they regard as a perversion; and that is tragic.

Posted: March 3rd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

Last Thursday the world was stunned to learn of the death of fashion designer Alexander McQueen at the age of forty.  Why did he die?

Born Lee Alexander McQueen, the youngest of six children and the son of a London Cabbie, McQueen was considered by many to be at the forefront of world fashion with his innovative designs which pushed the boundaries and raised the profile of the British fashion industry. He won the British Designe of the Year award four times, and was also named International Designer of the Year in 2003. His eagerly anticipated shows, unconventional  and unpredictable, were an extraordinary extravaganza of  highly imaginative performance and design. McQueen himself described them as “the culmination of everything that goes around in my mind.’’

It has been cofirmed that the upcoming London Fashion Week will honour McQueen by featuring a tribute to him.which is to be discussed with and approved by his family.

When it was announced last week that he had been found dead at his London home, there were reports that he had killed himself. The police would not comment on these reports, but said that there were no suspicious circumstances and that a  post mortem had been scheduled. Statements were issued expressing shock and grief and asking that the media repect the family’s request for privacy.

Today the reports of apparent suicide were confirmed when, following Monday’s postmortem, an inquest into his death heard that he had left a note then hanged himself in his wardrobe. The hearing today lasted only five minutes and a full inquest will take place in late April.

It has been widely reported that McQueen was absolutely devastated by the death, on February 2^nd, of his much adored mother, Joyce, with whom he had a close relationship. He had expressed his grief and the difficulty he was experiencing in coping with this on social networking site Twitter, and took his life the day before her funeral. A few years earlier he had struggled with the death by suicide of his close friend and mentor Isabella Blow. It is believed that some friends and colleagues had been concerned about him of late, but nevertheless, the discovery of his body came as a shock.

The contents of the note McQueen left have not been made public. We have a ‘flavour’ of the anguish he was experiencing in relation to his mother’s death from his Twitter posts. The tragedy is that the essence of the man, the source from which his creative genius sprang, the emotional depths that lay behind the beauty of his inspiring creations may, on this final occasion, have resulted in a pain so unbearable that rather than a beautiful creation, they culminated in the ultimate destruction, the annihilation of the creative genius that was McQueen.

Posted: February 17th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none