199
Louis XIV picked up the reins of power in France vowing to to drive the national economy in the common interest, not his own.
Louis XIV of France (r. 1643-1715) ruled France for seventy-two years, and as Victor Duruy records here, his intentions were good. He aspired to be a father to his subjects, to better their lives by skilfully-crafted legislation, to support their daily needs and to narrow the gap between rich and poor. He also records that the king’s well-meant management of other people’s lives ended as it usually does.
Posted August 7 2022
200
Naomi lost her husband and two sons in Moab, and returned to Bethlehem with only one comfort in her bitterness, her daughter-in-law Ruth.
In all world literature, there can be few love stories to rival the story of Ruth and Boaz, set in about 1100 BC as a very early episode in the back-story of King David. Their tale has all the best ingredients: a determined heroine, a manly yet sensitive hero, a leap of faith, disappointments, misunderstandings and sexual tensions — and of course, a happy ending.
Posted August 6 2022
201
Samuel Smiles warned that taking care of the pennies should not come before taking care of living.
Samuel Smiles’s Self-Help (1859), like his later book Thrift (1875), urged readers to economise. He was not advocating penny-pinching, or becoming Ebenezer Scrooge. To him, thrift or economy was not really about saving money: it was about allocating money to things that matter, rather than things that don’t.
Posted August 3 2022
202
Statesmen promise to make the country a better place, but they never mention the one thing that would do some good.
In Self-Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance (1859), Scottish motivational writer Samuel Smiles attempted to stir ordinary citizens to self-improvement. He put very little faith in condescending speeches by well-heeled politicians promising to better the lot of the working classes. If the working man needed anything doing, he had better do it himself.
Posted August 3 2022
203
Amy Johnson of Hull had clocked only ninety hours of flying experience before taking off alone for Australia.
On May 5th, 1930, Amy Johnson left Croydon Airport at the controls of her Gipsy Moth biplane, bound for Australia. She reached India in six days, but hopes of breaking more records were dashed by a catalogue of mishaps. The day before she landed at Darwin on May 24th, the first woman to complete the solo flight, Stanley Spooner of Flight International reminded readers what a feat it would be.
Posted August 2 2022
204
On the evening of October 7th, 1777, as fighting on Bemis Heights subsided, Harriet Acland came to General Burgoyne with a startling request.
The British surrender at Saratoga on October 17th, 1777, was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783) because it brought France in on the colonists’ side. In his account of the fighting, the English general John Burgoyne recalled what happened on the night of the 7th — with the contest still in the balance — after Harriet Acland heard that her husband John had been captured.
Posted August 1 2022