Deathbed requests

*The dying wish of the gun-loving writer Hunter S Thompson was for his ashes to be fired from a giant cannon mounted inside a 53ft sculpture of his trademark Gonzo fist. The cannon was lit by his friend, the actor Johnny Depp.

*Tradition holds that, as the poet Virgil lay on his deathbed, he asked those around him to burn his epic, The Aeneid. Much to the relief of later generations of academics, his wish was ignored.

*Max Brod, a trusted friend of the Prague existentialist writer Franz Kafka, refused to carry out the will of his friend, who requested that he burn his unpublished works.

*Lord Nelson added a final note to his will, in which he asked the state to take care of his mistress, Lady Hamilton, in the event of his death. He wrote: "I leave Emma Lady Hamilton a legacy to my King and Country, that they will give her an ample provision to maintain her rank in life." After he died, Lady Hamilton did not receive a penny from the state.