1483
A prince falls for a dazzling dance-partner who teasingly vanishes at midnight.
An unhappy young woman treated as a serving-maid by her step-sisters is magically transformed into the belle of the ball. But the prince whose heart she has captured is not content with a lover who vanishes at midnight.
Picture: © H. Zell, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted December 16 2015
1484
A misfit duckling grew up with rejection as a way of life, until he thought all hope was gone.
The Ugly Duckling is one of the best-loved of all the fairy tales of Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. Below you will find a very brief précis of the story, which reminds us that it’s not where you came from that matters, it’s where you belong.
Picture: © Sander van der Wel, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 16 2015
1485
The most important English-born composer of Handel’s day, known for his tuneful music and very busy diary.
Though little-known today, Charles Avison (1709-1770) led a busy life composing, teaching and giving daily concerts in North East England, justly gaining a reputation as the 18th-century’s finest English-born composer.
Picture: © Andrew Curtis, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 15 2015
1486
Eli Parish of Teignmouth in Devon became one of Europe’s most celebrated virtuosos.
Eli Parish (1808-1849) was a boy from Teignmouth in Devon who went on to become one of Europe’s most celebrated and dextrous concert harpists, and a prolific composer.
Picture: © David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 11 2015
1487
A fastidious prince felt he deserved a girl of royal refinement, and he certainly found one.
A young and idealistic prince thought he deserved a wife of right royal delicacy, but the daughters of the kings in neighbouring kingdoms did not meet his expectations.
Picture: © Monica Miron, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 11 2015
1488
The 17th-century entrepreneur developed a way of smelting iron with coke rather than charcoal, but the Civil War frustrated his plans.
Seventeenth-century Government fuel policy made English iron-smelting so expensive that the country became dependent on cheap foreign imports. Dud Dudley had just devised an alternative process, when the Civil War put the industrial revolution on hold.
Picture: © Ashley Dace, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 10 2015