Is it true that the inventor of the treadmill died at 54, and the creator of opium at 116?

In 2021, the Russian-language segment of social networks went around a text showing, using the example of famous personalities, that a healthy lifestyle does not bring any benefit. We checked how correct its main provisions are.

Here's what the most common version of a “motivational” text looks like:

“Eat whatever you want because:
- the inventor of the sports treadmill died at the age of 54;
— the inventor of gymnastics died at the age of 57;
— world bodybuilding champion died at the age of 41;
— The best football player in the world, Maradona, died at the age of 60.
Now:
— KFC inventor dies aged 94;
— Nutella investor dies at 88;
— the inventor of Turkish surme and steak died at the age of 104;
— inventor and cigarette maker Winston died at age 102;
— the inventor of opium died in an earthquake at the age of 116;
— inventor of Hennessy whiskey dies at 98;
— the inventors of Afghan food (kali, manto and chapli kebab) are alive.
How did these doctors come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life? A rabbit is always active and lives for two years, but a turtle, which does not gain momentum from its steps, lives for 400 years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy..."

The text gained the most popularity on Facebook, where some of its publications generated dozens and hundreds of reposts. Let us leave aside the fact that it is generally impossible to draw general conclusions based on several artificially selected examples. We are purely interested in the correctness of the examples themselves. 

If you trace the history of this message, it turns out that one of its earliest appearances on the Internet, if not the earliest, dates back to February 28, 2021 in a Facebook group “In short, Sklifosovsky!”. The publication then received 285 reposts and can be considered the first sign in the Russian-language segment. However, some unfortunate expressions (for example, “a turtle that does not gain momentum from its steps”) suggest that we are dealing with a translation.

Indeed, English-language versions of the material can be found on the Internet a little earlier, starting on February 20 Facebook and in Twitter. At the same time, the abundance of posts from users and groups from India. This is not surprising - a few hours earlier the text appeared on Hindi and, most likely, was first compiled in the above-mentioned Asian country.

Now for the facts.

— William Staub, inventor of the public treadmill, lived 96 years. The cardiologist who introduced it into medicine Rubert Bruce - 87. There can be no talk of any 54 years. Perhaps the author had in mind the popularizer of jogging Jim Fix, who died at the age of 52 from cardiac arrest while doing his favorite activity.

— Gymnastics as a sport did not appear now, of course. This is one of oldest species, having no known inventor.

— The mention of bodybuilding in the “healthy” part of the list looks very strange. For professionals this is one of the most harmful species sports, and quite a few titled athletes actually passed away in quite at a young age.

— Even more strange is the presence of Diego Armando Maradona in this part of the text. Not only is 60 years old not 40 or 50, but for all his sporting greatness, Maradona was simply a standard example of a man who could not control his passion for hard drugs.

— Founder of the fast food chain KFC, Colonel Harland Sanders lived 90 years (not 94). This error was corrected in one of the later virus publications.

— Creator of the Nutella brand Michele Ferrero lived 89 years. The error here is minor (apart from the not very correct word “investor”).

— If by the creator of Turkish shawarma and steak we mean the inventor of doner kebab Kadir Nurman, then he died at the age of 79–80 years. 104 years is clearly not about him.

— Edward Darr, who is credited with creating the Winston brand of cigarettes, lived to be 69 years old. The founder of the company Richard Reynolds - one year less.

— Opium known to mankind for many thousands of years. In this case, we can only talk about the production, and not the invention, of the substance contained in the poppy head.

— Hennessy is a world famous brand of cognacs, not whiskey. Its founder Richard Hennessy lived 76 years. At the same time, it is not at all necessary that Hennessy or the other above-mentioned authors/producers are generally keen on consuming their products.

— Afghan dumplings mantu, pilaf Kabuli And chapli kebab - traditional dishes. At the same time, chapli kebab actually came from Pakistan.

— Domestic rabbits Depending on the breed, they live on average from 4 to 12 years. Wild - Indeed, about one or two years. The longest living turtle in history is 189 years old. Jonathan, which just recently overtook Tui Malilu.

Thus, almost all points of the viral text are fictitious.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?