Arthur Koestler(1905-1983)

The date of death is listed here as 3 March 1983, when the bodies of Koestler and his third wife were found by their maid. A suicide note left by the pair instructed her to contact the police. Many sources list 1 March 1983 as the date of death, because they ingested lethal amounts of drugs on that date and are believed to have died that day. Koestler suffered from Parkinson's disease and leukemia. His wife was believed to be in good health, but could not face life without him.

[1961] I loathe processed bread in cellophane, processed towns of cement and glass, and the Bible processed as a comic-strip; I loathe crooners and swooners, quizzes and fizzes, neon and subtopia, the Organization Man and the Reader's Digest. But who coerced us into buying all this? The United States do not rule Europe as the British ruled India; they waged no Opium War against us to force their revolting "Coke" down our throats. Europe bought the whole package because it wanted it. The Americans did not Americanize us -- they were merely one step ahead on the road towards a global civilization with a standardized style of living which, whether we like it or not, is beginning to emerge all over the world. For we live in a state of cultural osmosis where influences percolate across the porous frontiers, native traditions wane, and the movement towards a uniform, mechanized, stereotyped culture-pattern has become irresistible.