fantastic facts
TRANSCRIPT
Aeschylus died and was buried
at Gala in 456 BC in Sicily. The
Sicilian eagles liked to eat
turtles. But, there was one
problem---how to break the
shell of the turtle? So, the
Sicilian eagles used to drop the
turtle on stones.
The myth was that Aeschylus met his
death from an eagle dropping a
tortoise upon Aeschylus' bald head,
presumably mistaking it for a stone
upon which to break the animal's shell.
But the irony is, the incident occurred
just when Aeschylus tried to avert a
prophecy of death by a falling body.
It was foretold that Aeschylus would die of fallingbodies. In order to avert falling bodies Aeschylushad gone outside and sat on at the top of ahillock. But the eagle mistook his bald head astone and dropped the turtle. Aeschylus couldnot avert the proclaimed death from a ‘fallingbody’. Alas! Poor fellow.
NB. The term Aeschylus can not be pronouncedcorrectly; whoever tries, commits a mistake.
Link: http://www.answers.com
There is no evidence for what Shakespeare
did between 1585 and 1592, the period
when he moved to London and began his
writing career. These are called the Lost
years of the poet. Thus, there is no record
of how his career began or how quickly he
rose to fame. This has, however, raised
several legendary stories
According to one such legend
Shakespeare had come to India and
stayed first in a Keralian Brahmin
family adopting the name ViVian
Sheshappa Ayer and then in a Muslim
family adopting the name Sheikh Pir.
Surprisingly both the legends are still
alive in Kerala.
Cobby was the English novelist Thomas Hardy'scat. When Hardy died in 1928 the cat disappearedwithout trace. Author Frank Smyth provides us withan amazing explanation of the cat’s disappearance.
There was some conflict as to where Mr Hardy'sbody should lie to rest. As far as the nation wasconcerned it should lie in Poet's Corner atWestminster Abbey, but as Mr Hardy had(metaphorically) given his heart to the village ofStinsford, near Dorchester, It was finally decidedthat Mr Hardy's heart would (literally) be given tothe village..
Two bronze urns were prepared, one to house his ashes
for the Abbey, the other to contain his heart, to be
buried in a grave at the Church in the village. A Doctor
was called in to remove the heart and it was buried with
the usual formalities, in the village graveyard. The
tombstone can be seen today, reading, “ Here Lies the
Heart of Thomas Hardy".
But all is not as it seems!
According to Frank Smyth, the heart was removed whilethe corpse was still in the house and wrapped in a teatowel, then placed in a biscuit tin next to the body,awaiting the undertaker’s arrival the next day. When theundertaker arrived to collect the heart for burial, all hefound were a few gristly scraps of heart and a fat andcontented cat! As it was his duty to bury Mr Hardy's heartin the village graveyard, he killed the cat and placed itinside the biscuit tin and then carried on as if nothing hadhappened.
Cobby was never seen thereafter. Link: http://www.pawsonline.info/cobby.htm
Was it Cobby?
Chaucer was murdered, but by
whom?
Who murdered Chaucer?
Terry Jones and his co-authors have made a well
researched documentation on the death of Chaucer.
The diplomat poet was reportedly died on 25th
October,1400 and surprisingly forgotten at least for 100
years.
According to Terry Jones Chaucer was imprisoned and
murdered by Arundel, for his satiric presentation of the
corruption in Church affairs by the Church officials
Arundel. the fiery Archbishop of Canterbury who, on
being restored to his post with Henry IV's accession,
relentlessly pursued not just Henry's enemies but his
own as well, especially those who challenged either his
authority over the church or its doctrine, as he himself
defined it.
Who murdered Chaucer? Terry Jones have viewed ‘The Canterbury Tales’ as the
biggest suicide note ever written by any man.
Chaucer had placed himself in peril with the harshanticlericalism of his depictions of the Monk, Pardoner,Friar, and Summoner and by daring, moreover, topresent his criticism of the church in English, whichwould allow its dissemination beyond the community ofthe church itself.
But, the authors nullified the earlier suspicion of JohnGower’s possible involvement in the murder because ofprofessional rivalry.
It was Arundel, who is perhaps best remembered forintroducing the public burning of heretics to England,murdered Chaucer with the help of his men.
Edgar Allan Poe
originally wanted a parrot
to repeat the word
“nevermore” in his poem
‘Raven’.
But, realizing finally that a
parrot would not fit the
melancholy tone that his
poem was going for, and
he settled on a raven.
In the book, LesMiserables, Victor Hugowrote one sentence of 823words long. When VictorHugo wrote to his editorinquiring about theiropinion of the manuscript,he wrote,"?".
They answered, "!".It is said that he preferred to
write in the nude.
Link: i.http://ideasofindian.blogspot.in/2008/05/
ii.http://www.warriorforum.com/copywriting/541916-21-fascinating-facts-tidbits-great-writers.html
Steinbeck’s puppy,
, was left alone
one evening and
effectively ate some
really important
homework that he did
for his book ‘Of Mice &
Men’. Steinbeck wrote
of the incident to his
agent and said, “I was
pretty mad, but the
poor little fellow may
have been acting
The Monster in Frankensteinhas no name, but Mary Shelleyonce referred to him as“Adam.” Many peoplemistakenly think that theMonster is namedFrankenstein, when in fact he’snever given a name in thenovel. But during a reading ofthe book, Shelley referred tothe Monster as “Adam,” a nodto the Garden of Eden.
Link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/20-literary-facts-to-
Link:http://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/History+of+Lead+Use
Link:http://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/History+of+Lea
d+Use
Daniel Defoe (1659-
1731) Glorifies the
Pillory, Instrument of
His Shame and
Punishment.
In 1702,he wrote
an anonymous
pamphlet called
The Shortest Way
with the Dissenters
The death of William III in 1702 created apolitical upheaval as the king was replaced byQueen Anne, who immediately began heroffensive against Nonconformists.
Defoe being a natural target, hispamphleteering and political activities resultedin his arrest and placement in a pillory on 31July 1703, principally on account of hisDecember 1702 pamphlet entitled TheShortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or,Proposals for the Establishment of theChurch, purporting to argue for theirextermination.
Himself a Dissenter he mimicked thebloodthirsty rhetoric of High AnglicanTories and pretended to argue for theextermination of all Dissenters.
The pamphlet argued that the best wayof dealing with the dissenters was tobanish them abroad and send theirpreachers to the hangman.
Nobody was amused; Defoe wasarrested in May 1703
He was charged with seditious libel.
After a trial at the Old Bailey in front of the
notoriously sadistic judge Salathiel Lovell, Defoe
was to a punitive fine, to public humiliation in a
pillory and to an indeterminate length of
imprisonment which would only end upon the
discharge of the punitive fine. While in prison Defoe
wrote a mock ode, Hymn to the Pillory (1703). The
poem was sold in the streets, the audience drank to
his health while he stood in the pillory and read
aloud his verses.
"Actions receive their tincture from the times,
And as they change are virtues made of crimes."
(from 'A Hymn to the Pillory')
Defoe was put in the pillory on the last three days ofJuly, for an hour each time in three of the busiestplaces in London – outside the Royal Exchange inCornhill (near his own home), near the conduit inCheapside and finally in Fleet Street by Temple Bar.It seems to have been raining steadily most of thetime, which though uncomfortable would have keptthe crowds down, and the experience provedmore of a triumph than an ordeal.
According to legend, the publication of his poemHymn to the Pillory caused his audience at thepillory to throw flowers instead of the customaryharmful and noxious objects and to drink to hishealth.
Collected from---
Daybook
Defoe in the Pillory
Posted by Steve King × July 7, 2012