The mysterious death of the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones in 1969 is one that remains talked about decades on, and now a new series from the Smithsonian Channel called The Curious Life and Death of… is set to revisit it.
The show, which kicked off earlier this week, examines the circumstances surrounding the death of the Rolling Stones founder which occurred shortly after he was kicked out of the band. Jones was discovered unconscious in his swimming pool at his home in Hartfield, after which he was pronounced dead. He was just 27.
While it sounds pretty straightforward, with the coroner ruling Jones’ “death by misadventure”, many fans still believe the conspiracy theory that there was more behind the star’s death, with some insisting he was murdered.
The show is hosted by Medical historian Dr Lindsey Fitzharris and promises to deliver new evidence about Jones’ death, featuring ballistics tests, morgue findings and some super interesting history.
“I think out of all the episodes we shot for this series this is the most explosive case because of the conclusions we come to,” said Fitzharris, who holds a Ph.D. in the History of Science Medicine & Technology from Oxford University in England and who describes the six-episode series as “a biography from the morgue.”
“We bring together so many lines of investigation, from the cops’ misconduct, insight from [ex-Scotland Yard detective] Brian Hook and Dr. Judy Melinek, one of America’s top medical examiners,” she said. “One of the most startling things is that Brian Jones’ liver was so enlarged that it was the size of a newborn baby — so it’s also a question of whether he would have lived in the long-term if he survived that night.”
Jones died after partying with four people; construction worker Frank Thorogood, Jones’ girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, driver Tom Keylock and Janet Lawson, a nurse who reportedly found Jones’ body in the pool.
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Apparently, none of their stories of what unfolded that night matched up, with the episode claiming that key details were ignored by Albert Evans, the first police officer to arrive at the scene who was later kept from amending his initial report.
“There were so many things that got changed later, including several witnesses who changed their testimony and people who said they weren’t there but who were there,” Fitzharris said. “It was not a coverup, necessarily, but it was misconduct on the part of the police. There was a lot of motivation, at that time, to say it was drug-related as a warning to the counter-culture. They didn’t do the footwork they needed to do.”
Along with Brian Jones, the series will also look into a bunch of other mysterious deaths, including that of Brittany Murphy, axe-murderess Lizzie Borden, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and illusionist Harry Houdini.
Check out the trailer for The Curious Life and Death Of…
