55

Tone Deaf

By J. R. Sterndale Bennett

Joseph Joachim was regarded by most people in Europe as the greatest violinist ever, but in the home of Sterndale Bennett there was a dissenting voice.

56

‘Poor Pamela’s Married At Last!’

By Charles Knight

Letitia Barbauld called Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel Pamela ‘a new experiment’ in English literature, and to judge by its reception it was very successful.

57

A Match Made in Stockton

By Clay Lane

The modern match is ignited by friction, a simple idea but one which had not occurred to anyone until 1826, when a Stockton pharmacist dropped a stick.

58

The Man Who Mapped the Moon

From Science (Journal)

In 1609, Englishman Thomas Harriot turned his new-fangled telescope on the moon, and sketched for the first time the face of another world.

59

The Ordeal of Harry Demane

By Granville Sharp

After word came that Harry Demane had been lured aboard a slave-ship, Granville Sharp had only a few hours in which to make sure he did not sail.

60

Better than a Play

By Karl Philipp Moritz

During his tour of England in 1782, Karl Philipp Moritz dropped in on the House of Commons, and thought the histrionics in the Chamber better than any play.