Edward III 

Consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s suggestion to control food portions at restaurants is not entirely original. Governments have always tried to restrict citizens’ consumption patterns using “sumptuary laws”. In 1337, Edward III of England prohibited the wearing of fur for everybody below the rank of a knight. Same with silk. If a person of low social status put on a nightcap made of silk, the penalty was jail or a fine of £10 per nightly offence. A year earlier there had been an act preventing anyone from having more than two courses at any meal. 
You know how it ended, right?
Why, the bubonic plague!

Caligula 

The Roman emperor lived way before that. He started off okay, then he took ill. Post recovery he was diabolical. In The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Suetonius talks about how he levied taxes on lawsuits, weddings and prostitution; liked to appear in public dressed as a Roman god and announced that any mention of a goat was a capital offence. He tried to appoint Incitatus, his favourite horse, to the office of consul.
You know how it ended, right?
Stabbed, 30 times. 

Nero

Caligula’s nephew preferred the pursuit of music to kingly duties, but made full use of his position to force his hobby down his subjects’ throats. For instance, no one was allowed to leave the auditorium while he was performing. Apparently, many a woman gave birth during a Nero recital. The bit about him fiddling while Rome burnt is possibly all poppycock, but he did build his “Golden Palace” soon after the fire.
You know how it ended, right?
Drove a dagger into his own throat.

The Russians 

In 1544, the teenaged Ivan IV seized control of Russia after feeding the head of the government to dogs. He then made a public apology. He created laws aimed at class equality. And the same egalitarianism shone through when he began massacring his people. Peter the Great (1672-1725), who eventually became emperor, was better. But he did tax men with beards; learnt dentistry by practising on his nobles; and tried to stop arranged marriages.
You know how it ended, right?
Ivan died of stroke while playing chess. Peter, of gangrene.

Upala Sen