1567
Artemis, goddess of the hunt, pursued a bitter and relentless vengeance upon a king who carelessly slighted her.
Calydon was an ancient city in Aetolia, on the west coast of mainland Greece near modern Missolonghi. The tale tells how Artemis, goddess of the hunt, took spiteful revenge on a king who slighted her.
Picture: Photo by Jastrow, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1568
Moscheles taught his adopted country how to write enchanting music for decades to come.
Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) was a Czech composer who came to England in the 1820s and instantly felt at home. England warmed just as quickly to him, and he became a kind of godfather to a generation of Victorian composers writing particularly tuneful music.
Picture: From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1569
Anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp had a court order preventing Thomas Lewis being shipped off to slavery, but he had to find him first.
Granville Sharp (1735-1813), a clergyman’s son from Durham, was a vigorous anti-slavery campaigner, whose perseverance saved many lives. Among them was that of Thomas Lewis, whose fate was decided at a sensational trial on 20th February, 1771.
Picture: © Christine Matthews, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1570
When Harrison won the Longitude Prize, fair and square, Parliament wouldn’t pay up.
Yorkshireman John Harrison was a carpenter by trade, but he taught himself clockmaking to such a high standard that he came to the attention of the Astronomer Royal, Edmund Halley.
Picture: © racklever, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1571
Baird’s inventions didn’t always work as well as his televisions.
Scotsman John Logie Baird (1888-1946) built and demonstrated the first working TV, which he assembled largely from ordinary household objects in his own home.
Picture: Photo by Orrin Dunlap Jr, in ‘Popular Radio’ (1926). Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1572
The wise old philosopher had learnt that popular entertainments rot the soul.
Seneca knew something about cruelty: he was tutor and counsellor to the Emperor Nero. Here, he writes to Lucilius, Procurator of Sicily, about the moral effect of mass entertainments such as the brutal gladiator contests of Rome.
Picture: © Hoshidoshi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015