Celebrity Disaster

Brian Jones is the blonde one in the middle

Death by misadventure--or murder?

British police are reviewing the death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, 40 years after the hard-living rocker was found dead in a swimming pool.

Police in the Southern English county of Sussex have confirmed they are examining documents given to them by an investigative journalist who has been researching events surrounding Jones' death.

Scott Jones, who is not related to the musician, has spent four years reviewing the evidence and speaking to key witnesses in the case.

In an article published in the Daily Mail in November 2008, Jones wrote, "I'm convinced Brian Jones' death was not fully investigated. The only question that remains is why?"

Brian Jones' body was found in the swimming pool after a party at his home in Cotchford Farm, East Sussex in July 1969. He was 27.

An inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure, despite post mortem results showing he had not taken illegal drugs and had only consumed the alcoholic equivalent of three and a half pints of beer.

Three and a half pints, in an average-sized male, is not enough to get blotto. He could certainly have died after accidentally falling into the pool, but the notion that the alcohol was definitely the culprit does not ring true to me.

Jones' death happened after he was all but forced out of the Rolling Stones, who had begun to suck by 1969, according to my resident musical expert, Miranda. And, she adds, the Rolling Stones were never as good as something called "My Bloody Valentine," but I have no idea what she means by that.