How they choked: failures, flops, and flaws of the awfully famous

Marco Polo: staying alive (1254-1324)

Queen Isabella of Spain: omg (1451-1504)

King Montezuma II: oops, there go the Aztecs (1466-1520)

Ferdinand Magellan: dead in the water

Anne Boleyn: fatal attractions (1501-1536)

Isaac Newton: the law's in town (1642-1727)

Benedict Arnold: stinker, traitor, soldier, spy (1741-1801)

Susan B. Anthony: she had a dream (1820-1906)

George Armstrong Custer: dressed to kill (1839-1876)

Thomas Alva Edison: shocking inventor (1847-1931)

Vincent Van Gogh: least likely to succeed (1853-1890)

J. Bruce Ismay: first-class coward (1862-1937)

Joseph Jefferson Jackson ("Shoeless Joe"): game over (1887-1951)

Amelia M. Earhart: winging it (1897-1937).