To think that this is an inappropriate way to note an unexpected death?

[SomeGuy]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8300576.stm

Headline:

'Harry Potter book student dies'

'A student who auctioned off his rare first edition of a Harry Potter book for £7,200 to fund his university degree has been found dead in his room.

Toby Rundle, 21, from Somerset, sold his hardback copy of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.'

It turns out he's a student at Oxford - surely what would be a better headline than some fatuous pop culture reference?

i thought that when i read it yesterday

It's the fact that he funded his education in such an unusual way.

There are many Oxford students: there is only one who did this.

If he was just some kid at Oxford I doubt it would be particularly newsworthy.

This is the thing that makes him unique, of course it's appropriate to mention it.

sorry someguy but it's a bit fatuous not to realise this

bit mean, take it back

Be honest, would you have even clicked if it had just said 'Oxford Student Dies'?

The Telegraph has it as "Father of aspiring food writer found hanged speaks of loss" [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6298459/Father-of-aspiring-food-writer-found-hanged-speaks-o f-loss.html]

which seems a much better angle, one that covers what he had done and was interested in. I might not have clicked on that headline, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing - dead students don't need to be turned into pop culture references for the purposes of getting extra website hits.

fixed link: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6298459/Father-of-aspiring-food-writer-found-hanged-speaks-of-loss.h tml