Maay 3

Whatever else he may have been, Lord Byron must have been quite a swimmer, because on the 3rd in 1810 while touring Asia Minor he successfully swam the Hellespont, from Sestos to Abydos. A remarkable accomplishment, even if you are “mad, bad and dangerous to know.” Byron is referred to simply as Byron because his full name, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, just took too long to say. Byron’s daughter, Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace ccollaborated with Charles Babbage on the development of an analytic engine, a very early attempt at building a computer.

May 2

When I look at the current state of affairs in the ethical constitutions of the people currently heading sensitive government agencies, I find myself troubled by our president’s high turnover rate among his appointments. I also find myself troubled by the revolving door in the offices of high-level appointees. I would feel much more comfortable if there was at least the appearance of stability. You might say that I am yearning for the safety and assurances that accompany things that could only have happened in a world long before the 9/11 tragedy. Consider if you will, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that happy breeding ground of extreme paranoia. John Edgar Hoover became that newly created bureau’s first director with his appointment by President Coolidge on the 10th in 1924. Hoover remained steadfastly at the helm until his death on the 2nd in 1972. While there have long been rumors of Hoover’s fondness for wearing women’s clothing I am less troubled by those then other hallmarks of his time in the directorship because he certainly had the legs for it.
[i] Calvin Coolidge formed the FBI on the remains of the Bureau of Investigation, of which Hoover was the sixth director. Hoover took the reins from the fifth director, William J. Burns (pictured left below), who was forced to resign because of his role in the notorious Teapot Dome scandal. That is another story deserving of greater attention than I can give it here.
[ii] After Hoover’s death, the rules of the game were changed to insure that no future director could serve for longer than 10 years.

May 1

On the 1st in 1851, Great Britain’s monarch, Queen Victoria, presided at the opening ceremonies of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, the first in a long series of World Fairs. It’s claim to being the first World’s Fair is suspect however, coming as it did hot on the heels of French Industrial Exposition of 1844, though if you weren’t French you had no chance of getting an exhibit in that little number.
By the time the exhibition closed on October 15, 1851, 6 million people had visited it; roughly, a third of the population of Great Britain had visited it.
The chief administrator of Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 was Henry Cole. Among his many achievements, the one closest to British hearts was his award-winning teapot.

April 30

Paul Eugen Bleuler was born on the 30th in 1857. He was a Swiss psychiatrist best known for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness and for the naming of schizophrenia. Bleuler also introduced the term ambivalence to the lexicon. I have read some of his work and personally, I can take it or leave it.

April 29

George Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger was born in Rennes, France on the 29th in 1837. In the course of time, he would become a major influence in French politics. Like all politicians, he soon became embroiled in a rather sordid web of scandals, scandals that would ultimately lead him to commit suicide in 1891. He was for a time George Clemenceau’s War Minister. After hearing of Boulanger’s suicide, Clemenceau would sum up Boulanger’s life by saying that ‘he died as he has lived: a second lieutenant.’ The phrase ‘damning with faint praise’ springs to mind. As War Minister, Boulanger would begin to reform the army. The one change most appreciated by the soldiers was likely to be the one that allowed them to wear beards.

April 27

I have known for a very long time that what really drives poets is not the love of words, or even the way those words interact with each other and the world at large. It is actually quite plain and very simple. What drives a poet is the money. Think about it, there are bags filled with money just waiting to be handed to poets. Consider if you will, John Milton, author of the hugely successful free-verse epic poem Paradise Lost. In 1667, Milton, blind and impoverished, took solace in the knowledge that he had his poetry to fall back on. On the 27th, he sold the copyrights to Paradise Lost for £10. Remember, this was the 17th century and ₤10 went a lot farther than it does today. Also, don’t forget that in all likelihood a bunch of paper, postage stamps, envelopes and toner cartridges probably cost a lot less than they do today.

April 28

The mutiny on the Bounty occurred on the 28th in 1789, when Fletcher Christian set Captain Bligh and 18 others adrift in an open boat in the South Pacific, thereby setting the stage for one of the more masterful moments in Charles Laughton’s career.
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April 27

I have known for a very long time that what really drives poets is not the love of words, or even the way those words interact with each other and the world at large. It is actually quite plain and very simple. What drives a poet is the money. Think about it, there are bags filled with money just waiting to be handed to poets. Consider if you will, John Milton[i], author of the hugely successful free-verse epic poem Paradise Lost[ii]. In 1667[iii], Milton, blind and impoverished, took solace in the knowledge that he had his poetry to fall back on. On the 27th, he sold the copyrights to Paradise Lost for £10. Remember, this was the 17th century and ₤10 went a lot farther than it does today. Also, don’t forget that in all likelihood a bunch of paper, postage stamps, envelopes and toner cartridges probably cost a lot less than they do today.
[i] Samuel Johnson thought of Milton as being “an acrimonious and surly republican”.
[ii] Paradise Lost was published in ten books 1667. The second edition published in 1674 consisted of twelve books.
[iii] Milton was for a time employed by Oliver Cromwell . Cromwell was so well loved in England that even though he died on September 3, 1658, on January 30, 1661 his body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, ritually executed, his body thrown in a pit, and his head stuck on a pike and displayed in front of Westminster Abbey. So there!