Defenestration

Top Ten Defenestrations

1. The Defenestration of Prague

This actually refers to two separate incidents and has to be the top example of defenestration because it is the where the word originated from. Defenestration, if you're still wondering, is the act of throwing someone of something out of a window. Anyway the first Defenestration of Prague was when, in 1419, seven town officials were thrown from the Town Hall window sparking the Hussite War (a war against and amongst followers of Jan Hus, a controversial religious figure accused of heresy). The second Defenestration of Prague, 199 years later, was when two imperial governors and their secretary were thrown from the window of Prague Castle and this once again sparked a war: The Thirty Years War - this war was again religious in nature, between Catholics and Protestants, and was fought primarily in Germany.

2. The Comedian in Watchmen

The opening of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's graphic novel starts with not-so-super superhero The Comedian being defenestrated from his high-rise flat. It's a cracking example of chucking someone out of a window and the slow-motion created by the artwork makes it all the more dramatic.

3. The Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves

Friar Tuck's defenestration of the Sheriff of Nottingham, after weighing him down with a bag of coins, is particularly satisfying.

4. Troy Phelan in The Testament

John Grisham's novel also opens with a bit of defenestration (self-defenestration) this time. The mega-rich Phelan changes his will to freeze out his family and then leaps out the window.

5. Television by Keith Moon

Throwing a television out of hotel window has become a bit of a rock 'n' roll cliche now with Busted and Lily Allen's band recently achieving this moment of mindless waste. The Who's Keith Moon was, perhaps, the first rock star to do this. Led Zeppelin apparently did it too.

6. Baby in Ludwigshafen, Germany

In 2008 a baby was thrown out of a third-floor window from a burning building and caught by a policeman. The baby lived: a rare moment of positive defenestration.

7. Admiral Gaspard de Coligny in Paris

With violence raging around Paris the unpopular Coligny was recovering from an assassination attempt when someone chucked him out the window. To make sure they stuck a sword through him and chopped off his head.

8. Chopin's Piano in Warsaw

In 1863, fourteen years after Chopin's death, Russian soldiers dumped his piano out of a second story window.

9. Jezebel in Israel

Here's an example of biblical defenestration. The Bible doesn't withhold the gruesome details telling us that after Jezebel was defenestrated by her guards, her body was eaten by dogs.

10. Apple Core by Kate Badger (allegedly)

Kate Badger was accused of defenestrating an apple core out of her car window. She denied the accusation and refused to pay the £60 fine. The matter looked set to go to court, but was dropped when the prosecution realised that they had no evidence. However, proceedings cost the tax-payer an estimated £2,800 and yes, I did type "Badger thrown out of window" into Google.