To Americans and the French, a billion means a thousand millions (1,000,000,000, or 10 to the ninth, what some British call a milliard, a term that seems never to have been widely accepted).
According to Anglo history, Sir Francis Drake died of dysentery on January 27, 1596, aged 55 while anchored off the coast of Puerto Bello, Panama after an unsuccessful campaig â¦ n against the Spanish. He was buried at sea in a lead coffin, near Puerto Bello.
William Hopper, son of actor DeWolf Hopper and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, played Drake in the first ``Mason`` series, 1957-68. (Movie actor Dennis Hopper is no relation.) William Hopper died in 1970, third of three principles of the original ``Mason`` series who have died. William Talman. (Hamilton Burger) died in 1968 and Ray Collins (Lt.