When you think of “10 famous people” who have left a mark on history, you probably picture their achievements, not the hair‑raising moments when they almost didn’t make it. Below we walk through ten astonishing near‑misses that could have reshaped the world in a heartbeat.
How These 10 Famous People Cheated Death
From a daring British soldier releasing a captured patriot to a teenage Caesar dodging malaria, each story shows how a single twist of fate kept a legend alive. Read on for the full, pulse‑pounding details.
10 Frightened British Troops Release A Captured Paul Revere
Paul Revere’s midnight ride is etched into American folklore, but before the Revolution he ran the colonies’ first spy network, feeding intel to the Patriots while meeting in a tavern to swap reports.
On the night of April 18, 1775, his mission went sideways. After warning Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, Revere was seized by British troops en route to Concord. The soldiers pressed a pistol against his chest, demanding the militia’s hideout and threatening to shoot him if he tried to flee.
The British convoy trudged toward Lexington, where the sound of clanging bells and shouting filled the air. Suddenly, gunfire erupted—the opening shots of the Revolutionary War. Terrified and confused, the British soldiers broke ranks, letting Revere go and even handing him a horse. Had he tried to run or if his espionage work had been uncovered, the outcome would likely have been a hanging.
9 Little Abraham Lincoln Was ‘Apparently Killed For A Time’
At ten years old, Abraham Lincoln faced a deadly encounter with a horse. While delivering corn to a nearby gristmill, he grew impatient with the animal and gave it a harsh whiplash, shouting, “Git up, you old hussy. Git up, y—!”
The horse, startled by the harsh command, reared and delivered a brutal kick to Lincoln’s head. The blow knocked him unconscious, and he bled heavily. Onlookers, believing the boy dead, left him for the night. He lay motionless until dawn, when he finally awoke, swearing once more, “—you old hussy!”
8 Two‑Year‑Old Eleanor Roosevelt Sets Sail On The Britannic
When Eleanor Roosevelt was just a toddler, her parents hoped a European cruise would smooth over their crumbling marriage. They booked a passage on the White Star Line’s SS Britannic, a sister ship to the infamous Titanic.
On May 19, 1887, thick fog cloaked the evening as the Britannic collided with another White Star vessel, the Celtic. Of the 450 souls aboard, six perished instantly, six more vanished, and hundreds sustained injuries. The Celtic suffered no fatalities.
Two‑year‑old Eleanor miraculously survived. While many children suffered horrific injuries—one losing an arm, another being beheaded—Eleanor clung to crewmen before being lowered onto a waiting lifeboat where her father awaited. The trauma left her with a lifelong fear of heights and open water.
7 Qin Shi Huang Di Nearly Died before Completing China’s Unification
In 227 B.C., six years before he would crown himself the First Emperor of a unified China, King Ying Zheng of Qin faced a lethal plot. The Prince of Yan dispatched the assassin Jing Ke, who entered the royal audience chamber bearing a fugitive general’s head and a map promising land.
Jing Ke unfurled the map, revealing a concealed dagger, then lunged at the king. He managed only to tear the sleeve from Ying Zheng’s robe; the courtiers, forbidden from bearing weapons, could not intervene, and the guards were barred from entering without a summons.
In the chaos, a court physician struck Jing Ke with his medicine bag, buying the king a brief respite. When Ying Zheng finally drew his sword, he wounded Jing Ke’s thigh, then, after a missed dagger throw, slew the would‑be murderer. The aftermath saw Yan’s prince executed and the state eventually annexed.
6 Martin Luther King Jr. Had A Nightmare Of A Day
On September 20, 1958, five years before his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was signing books in Harlem. During the event, a deranged woman named Izola Curry thrust a letter‑opener into his chest, piercing his sternum and skirting his aorta by a mere inch.
Curry, convinced that King and “communists” were out to get her, shouted hysterically as she was restrained, proclaiming, “I’ve been after him for six years! Dr. King ruined my life! The NAACP is no good, it’s communistic!” While waiting for medical aid, a well‑meaning bystander tried to yank the blade out—an action that would have sliced the artery and killed King instantly. Another witness stopped the attempt, buying the doctor time.
King survived after surgeons removed the weapon. In later years, he recounted the episode, noting doctors warned him never to sneeze because a sudden jerk could drive the blade deeper. Fortunately, he wasn’t congested that day, sparing the civil‑rights movement a premature loss.
5 Henry V Was An Adventurer Like You Until He Took An Arrow To The Face
Young Henry V, son of Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV), would later become England’s celebrated king and the hero of Shakespeare’s play. Before his royal glory, he fought alongside his father against a rebel army at the Battle of Shrewsbury on July 21, 1403.
During the melee, a volley of arrows rained down. One arrow struck Henry squarely in the face. The wooden shaft was pulled out, but the iron head remained lodged in his skull, threatening a fatal infection.
Enter John Bradmore, a pre‑modern surgeon of remarkable skill. He fashioned a specialized instrument on the spot, allowing him to extract the arrowhead fragments. He then applied honey as an antiseptic—a common medieval practice. Henry survived, though the scar left him forever depicted in profile portraiture.
4 Alexander’s First Great Battle Could Have Been His Last
In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great led his Macedonian forces toward the River Granicus in Asia Minor, intent on confronting the Persian army. He ordered his Companion cavalry, light horsemen, and lancers to wade across the river under a hail of arrows and javelins.
During the clash, Alexander found himself in a life‑or‑death grapple with Persian commander Spithradates (some accounts name his brother Rhoesaces). Spithradates landed a crushing axe blow that shattered Alexander’s helmet and left the Macedonian king dazed.
Before the Persian could deliver a fatal second strike, Cleitus “the Black,” Alexander’s trusted bodyguard, lunged with a spear and stabbed the attacker. The Macedonians rallied, routing the Persians. Alexander survived by mere inches, allowing his later conquests to unfold.
3 A Teenage Caesar Was Hunted And Near Death From Malaria
In 82 B.C., the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla wielded absolute power, issuing proscriptions that listed enemies of the state with bounties on their heads. Young Julius Caesar, then eighteen, was the nephew and son‑in‑law of two of Sulla’s most bitter opponents.
When Sulla demanded Caesar divorce his wife, the future leader defiantly refused, earning himself a spot on the proscription list. Forced to flee, he hid in the mountains, moving nightly to elude bounty hunters. A desperate encounter led him to bribe a pursuer with his entire savings—about $1,000 in modern terms.
Adding to his peril, Caesar contracted malaria, a disease that would later plague Rome itself. Homeless, penniless, feverish, and marked for death, his fortunes changed when his family and allies pleaded with Sulla. Impressed—or perhaps amused—by Caesar’s boldness, Sulla eventually relented, sparing the teenage future dictator.
2 A Falling Dead Guy Saves Adolf Hitler
On the night of November 8, 1923, the nascent Nazi Party launched the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, attempting to overthrow the Bavarian government. Hitler and his followers surrounded a beer hall where officials met, firing pistols into the air and shouting, “The national revolution has begun!”
The next day, Bavarian police confronted the marchers. A gunfight erupted, leaving sixteen Nazis and three police officers dead. Among the fallen was Max Erwin von Scheubner‑Richter, a close confidant of Hitler.
As Scheubner‑Richter fell, he was locked arm‑in‑arm with Hitler. His body slammed onto Hitler, pulling the future dictator to the ground and dislocating Hitler’s shoulder. This accidental tumble saved Hitler from the bullets that would have otherwise struck him, allowing his rise to power to continue.
1 Winston Churchill’s Capture And Daring Escape
In 1899, a young Winston Churchill travelled to South Africa as a war correspondent covering the Boer War. While riding an armored train on November 18, his carriage was ambushed by Boer soldiers. A rifle was pointed at him, demanding surrender.
Churchill fumbled for his pistol—only to discover he had left it on the train. With no weapon, he surrendered and was taken prisoner.
About a month later, on the night of December 12, Churchill escaped from a Pretoria POW camp. He hid in a train car, evading a £25 bounty on his head. After wandering the tracks, he found refuge in a nearby mine operated by Scots and English miners, who concealed him until the search cooled. He eventually slipped back to England, hailed as a hero.
Years later, Boer generals visited Britain. Churchill recounted his capture to General Louis Botha, who replied, “Don’t you recognize me? I was that man; it was I who took you prisoner.” Had Churchill’s pistol been in his hand, the course of British and South African history might have been dramatically altered.