4 A light bulb in the men’s lavatories of a firm finally burnt out when it was over 70 years old. It had survived bombs dropped in the Second World War that had devastated buildings in neighbouring streets, shaking buildings in the whole area but leaving the bulb intact and working. It was not even affected by the punk rock bands that played at an adjacent venue and caused residents to complain.

When the bulb did eventually fail, the firm had it mounted on a stand and gave it a place of honour.

Does this example invalidate the use of failure data in estimating component life?