Zen 1012: Becoming a rock star is more dangerous than fighting in Afghanistan

Lots of famous musicians have karked it young through the agencies of excess, suicide and dodgy air travel. Numbered among the infamous '27 Club' are such legends as Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison. Amy Winehouse also died aged 27.

Radio Four recently picked up on this phenomenon as only Radio Four can, by doing a proper statistical analysis. On the programme More or Less, the 'stand-up mathematician' Matt Parker revealed that your chances of dying within the first five years of hitting the big time musically are 2.3%.

By contrast, a British soldier serving in Afghanistan over the same period will 'only' be exposed to a 1.9% chance of death*, against a background rate for the average Brit of 0.3%.

Parker found that the median age for becoming stratospherically massive is 25, and that there is a definite statistical spike for famous tubthumpers, yodellers and plank spankers doing themselves in at some point in their late twenties. That said, just as many check out at 26 and 28, but there is a lovely little cluster of huge names at 27. And Amy Winehouse.

*It should be noted that the chance of death for those fighting against the British is markedly higher - somewhere around the 20 - 25% mark. It's hard to arrive at decent estimate for the Taliban because their bookkeeping is awful and there's often not much left to pick up afterwards.