1093
Victorian cat-lover Harrison Weir launches into his favourite subject, but finds his audience growing restive.
On the eve of the world’s first Cat Show, held in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London, organiser Harrison Weir was frankly boring a friend with his flights of ecstasy on cats. Just when the argument seemed lost, a happy inspiration struck him.
Picture: From ‘The Book of the Cat’, by Frances Simpson (1903).. Source.
Posted July 6 2017
1094
Pauline de Meulan’s magazine Publiciste was close to going out of business when an anonymous contributor stepped in.
François Guizot (1787-1874) was the 17th Prime Minister of France, and a historian with a particular affection for England. ‘If he was treated with harshness by his political enemies,’ wrote Samuel Smiles, ‘his consolation was in the tender affection which filled his home with sunshine.’
Picture: By Felix Nadar (1820-1910), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 5 2017
1095
Sherlock Holmes has been engaged to find a missing thoroughbred, but seems more interested in some lame sheep and an idle dog.
‘Silver Blaze’, a fancied thoroughbred, has gone missing on the eve of the big money race, and his owner, Colonel Ross, has called in the police. In turn, Inspector Gregory has called in Sherlock Holmes, but as the ever-loyal Dr Watson records, the Colonel is getting impatient with London’s most fashionable ‘consulting detective’.
Picture: © Carine06, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted July 3 2017
1096
Wonder spread through a Tyneside monastery after Bishop Cuthbert asked for a drink of water.
St Cuthbert was Bishop of Lindisfarne for just two years, but his overwhelming popularity did not come from high office. It came from his tireless journeys to forgotten villages in Northumbria’s bleak high country, taking the Christian message and a fatherly affection to every corner of the kingdom.
Picture: © Bob Jones, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted July 2 2017
1097
The East India Company installed Mir Kasim as Nawab of Bengal, only to find that he had a mind of his own.
Robert Clive’s victory against the Nawab of Bengal at Plassey in 1757 made him and his employers, the East India Company, quite literally kingmakers. But Clive now retired to London, leaving Bengal to the new Nawab, Mir Jafar, and Company policy to Henry Vansittart, Clive’s successor in Calcutta.
Picture: By William Hodges (1744-1797), via the British Library and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted June 27 2017
1098
Joseph’s brothers decide they have had enough of their rival in their father’s affections.
The story of Joseph’s remarkable rise to power in Egypt began very unpromisingly, when his brothers tired of listening to his dreams of future glory.
Picture: © Ji-Elle, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted June 26 2017