"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