Most premature obituaries

Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła, Poland) is the only known person whose death was announced prematurely by the media on three separate occasions. The first was in 1981, in the aftermath of an assassination attempt, when CNN discussed the pontiff's life in the past tense; next, an obituary appeared mistakenly on CNN.com that referred to the Pope as a lover of horseracing, clearly using a template created using an obit of the Queen Mother; and in 2005, on the day John Paul II actually died, Fox News reported that he had flatlined hours before he actually passed. Many celebrities are eulogized before they die, owning to internet pranks or pre-prepared web pages being accessed inadvertently. Often, templates are created using one figure, only for elements of their live to be left in when adapted for another, hence Dick Cheney (USA) being named "the UK's favourite grandmother" in his premature obituary (based on the Queen Mother's). Mark Twain, who read two premature obituaries, is famously quoted as saying: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."