"Around 25% of Victorian men had syphilis and he may have had it too - we'll never know - but one thing that's almost certain is that he didn't die of it, " Mr Holland told BBC News Online.

BBC: Oscar Wilde 'died from ear infection'

In fact, Cheney had suffered what his doctors belatedly described as a mild heart attack, though Bush almost certainly didn't know that when he appeared before the cameras.

CNN: Heart Murmurs

"One almost didn't see or notice him, " he said, according to Reuters.

BBC: Three dead in Swiss factory shooting

Mr. Moxley almost didn't come to the court proceedings, but he said he felt he needed to be there to support his mother.

WSJ: Court Revisits a Killing in Greenwich

Ms. VALENZUELA: I was almost finished - to start a new career that I didn't have when he left.

NPR: War on Terrorism Takes Toll on Military Families

Though he didn't appear in a Grapefruit League game, Santana remained the story in spring training almost from the moment he arrived.

WSJ: Mets Ace Santana Likely Out For Season

But then he didn't have the advantage of living, like Ms Ephron, in Manhattan, where something was almost bound to happen to you if you simply stepped outside, and if it didn't happen you could pick up the phone and order it.

ECONOMIST: Nora Ephron and Lonesome George