In 1996 Cosmopolitan magazine ran a humorous piece about men who had died during sex. One of the most famous cases is that of the former French President Felix Faure.

In 1899 Faure was being entertained by his mistress, Madame Steinheil, when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Legend has it that he died of apoplexy, that is, of a cerebral stroke caused by a brain hemorrhage. Another tale tells of how Steinheil was so shocked when Faure died that she suffered lock jaw and had to be pried from the stiff presidential member at the hospital.

Men will risk much for sexual gratification. And, as regular readers of this column will know, males of other species go to all sorts of extremes to fertilize the eggs of a female. Bedbugs hack directly through the female's body wall to gain direct access to the ovaries. Male praying mantises will allow themselves to be decapitated and eaten as they copulate.