I Read Therefore I Am discussion

August 14th

1040 - King Duncan of Scotland was murdered by Macbeth who then ruled for 17 years

1852- The first public lavatory in Britain opened in Fleet Street, London

1896 - Gold was discovered in Yukon Territory, Canada, starting The Gold Rush.

1908- The worlds first international beauty contest was held in Folkestone, Kent

August 15th

1848- Mr Waldo Hanchett patented the Dental Chair

1856- Birth of James Kier Hardie - the founder of the British Labour Party

1872- First voting by Ballot in Britain - in a by-election in Pontefract

1888- T E Lawrence A.K.A Lawrence of Arabia (I just typed Lawrence of Olivier!!) was born

August 16th

1858- Queen Victoria sends the 1st intercontinental telegram - a letter of congratulation to President Buchanan upon his election

1938- Blues pioneer Robert Johnson dies - poisoned by the husband of one of his girlfriends

1956- Death of Bela Lugosi (I don't drink ..... vine)

1962- Ringo Starr is picked to replace Pete Best as the Beatles' drummer (yay!)

1977- Elvis Dies :(

August 17th

1815- Napoleon begins his exile on the island of St Helena

1835- Solyman Merrick patents the wrench

1836- The Registration Act makes it compulsory to register all births, marriages and deaths in the U.K.

1998- Bill Clinton admits to having an "inappropriate relationship" with Monica Lewinsky

August 18th

1227- Death of Genghis Khan

1872- 1st mail order catalogue issued by A. Montgomery Ward (including a money back guarantee)

1962- Ringo Starr makes his debut as a Beatle at the Horticultural Society Dance in Birkenhead

1969- Jimi Hendrix's set brings the Woodstock Music Festival to a close.

August 19th

480BC- Spartan soldiers make an heroic last stand against the Persians at the pass of Thermopylae

1399- King Richard II surrenders to his cousin Henry (booo)

1856- Gail Borden receives his patent for making evaporated milk.

Fancy that! As a youngster I was a bit obsessed with Ancient Greece and Rome. First mythology and then history. I thought the Spartans were fantastic (told you I was a strange child).

It was the Ancient Egyptians and Dinosaurs (and Doctor Who) for me.

Ancient Rome (and Doctor Who) for me. I'm still fascinated by Rome, and the Ancient World in general (tempted to do an OU Classics degree when I've sorted my job situation) (and still Doctor Who)

Oooh I'd love to do an Ancient History OU degree - think I'll have to wait till I retire though!

I'd love to do an Ancient History degree too. It's the deadlines for assignments I struggled with when I did a OU course a couple of years back. Very interesting though and very well supported with texts etc but also quite expensive

August 20th

1882- Tchaicovsky's 1812 Overture performed for the first time

1913- Henry Brearley of Sheffield casts the first ever stainless steel

1940- Leon Trotsky stabbed with an ice pick in Mexico City (he dies the following day)

1948- Robert Plant Born - Hooray!

Good old Henry, what would we cooks have done without him!

Have you ever read the Lacuna by Kingsolver? It has Trotsky and his life and death in Mexico City as events that impact on the main characters. A bit of a strange book I found. Wasn't quite sure if I'd enjoyed it or not.

I've heard of the Lacuna - but didn't realise it had anything to do with Trotsky - he turns up in quite a few books.

August 21st

1814- Death of Benjamin Thomson Rumford - inventor of thermal underwear


1888- William Burroughs Seward patents the 1st push key adding machine.

1923- An ordinance forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partners is passed in Kalamazoo, Michigan

1986- Birth of Usain Bolt (27 today!)

And didn't he do well at the athletics. I think he's not only a great athlete but a real character.

Yes, I don't think there's been anyone like that since dear old Daley Thompson

August 22nd

565- St Columba has an encounter with a monster in Loch Ness

1485- Richard III is defeated at the Battle of Bosworth

1642- English Civil War begins

1911- The Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre - it is recovered unharmed 2 years later

1917- Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom - John Lee Hooker is born

Poor old Charles didn't know what was coming.

Never been keen on Mr Cromwell and the puritans.

Yes, I think I would have been in the Royalist camp. Gotta love a bit of hedonism now and again :)

Yeah me too, wouldn't have lasted five minutes as a Puritan!

I am so gutted I never got to see John Lee Hooker play live :(

have you seen Horrible Histories' Charles II song - it explains perfectly the difference between the Cavaliers and Roundheads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...

I watch horrible histories with my grand daughter but I can't recall that. I'll watch out in future.

Sorry if you already know this Hilary - but if you click on the link in my last comment, it will take you straight to the Charles II song :0)

I just watched the Charles II song - That's cheered me right up!

Yay!

August 23rd

Ad 79- Mount Vesuvius begins to stir (uh-oh)

1936- Death of Rudolf Valentino

Here is a clip of Mr Valentino in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...

what a smoocher!

At risk of sounding a bit of a smug know-it-all, there is increasing doubt over the exact date of the eruption of Vesuvius that caused the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The clothes the victims appear have been wearing are thicker than one would expect for a Mediterranean summer, and the types of fruit the remains of which have been found, were typically found in October rather than August, and a coin found is a victim's purse was most likely minted in September.

Sorry, read Mary Beard's book on Pompeii earlier this year, and went to the exhibition at the British Museum!

Oh dear! I was rather impressed to think that we knew the exact date. Perhaps it was just unseasonably cold, the fruit had matured earlier than usual and the coin was a prototype?(lol)

August 24th

410- Rome is sacked by Visigoths

79- On an unseasonably cold day for August etc (see above) Mount Vesuvius erupts destroying Pompeii, Herculaneum and various smaller settlements - possibly

1680- Death of Thomas Blood who in 1671 had, disguised as a priest, stolen the crown jewels from the Tower of London. He was captured a few days later - but Charles II admired his daring so much that he gave him a full pardon

1875- Navy Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the channel without a life preserver.


Disclaimer - the composer of this comment cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information contained therein :0)

When was the exhibition on Ellie? I would have loved to have gone, will defo check out the book though.

Think the exhibition might be on at the moment, Laurel. My sister was talking about going to it when I phoned her yesterday

Lol, Lee, the problem with ancient history is that we can never be sure of most things :( I am absolutely fascinated by ancient history and by the processes used to investigate it (I should have been an archaeologist!)

The exhibition is on til 29th September, well worth seeing, it's very moving in places. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on...

Mary Beard's book here: a very good read Pompeii: The Life Of A Roman Town

Are you watching the history of archaeology series on at the moment - it's fascinating. One of my favourite books is Gods, Graves & Scholars: The Story Of Archaeology- it's very dated but it's a great read.

Cool, now I just need to find time to go see it.

Ooh, no, Lee, I haven't seen that programme, when is it on?

The last episode is on Tuesday at 8 pm on BBC 4 - there's 3 days left to watch the 2nd episode on I player.
And there's a new series on Ancient Greece starting on Thursday on BBC4 at 10.15 pm!!!

The Pompeii book sounds fascinating - might just have to order it today!

Did a tour of mainland Greece some years ago. Pompeii was very interesting but, a terrible thing to say, spoiled by too many tourists! Also went to Mycenae which I really enjoyed. The best place of all which had a real spirituality about it was Delphi. I would go back tomorrow.

@Lee thanks, I shall check out both of those :)

August 25th

1530- Ivan the Terrible born

1786- Captain James Cooke sets sail - his first voyage aboard the Endeavour

1930- Birth of Shhhhhhean Connery

Love Sean Connery, love his voice, love how he looks. He's like fine wine and improves with age!!!!!!!

He's gorgeous isn't he - it's his eyes that do it for me.

August 26th

580 AD- Invention of toilet paper (in china) Hooray!

55AD- Britain invaded by Julius Caeser

1967- The Beatles meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Clever people these Chinese! The mention of Julius Caeser took me back to being 16. We studied part of his Gallic Wars for our O level Latin text. I learned whole chunks of it off by heart for the exam and was so intrigued by it I bought a translation of the whole thing to read myself afterwards.

Cool! We did Tacitus - the bit about the invasion of Mona (Anglesey), a bit of Virgil and some of Catullus' love poems. I really enjoyed doing Latin (sound's strange I know)