Monday, March 21, 2011

Henry V, Bach, Fourier and Alcatraz

I am getting seriously very very good at my little game "How many different ways can you faff about doing other things before sitting down to write..?" I've even come up with  a new linguistic tangent - creating adjectives. I recently described a fairly gruesome dinner I was kind of obliged to go to  as 'a bit Richard Curtis.' Anyway. March the 21st.

1413. March the 21st Henry V became King of England. He is immortalised in the eponymous Shakespeare play and  remembered for the triumphant victory at the Battle of Agincourt.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March the 21st 1685 in Eisenach, Germany, the youngest child of a musical family. Orphaned at the age of ten he went to live with his older brother, winning a scholarship to St Michael's School in Luneberg. Isn't this fabulous:



On this day in 1713 Francis Lewis was born in Wales. He attended Westminster School before re-locating to New York. As a representative of the city he would sign the Declaration of  Independence in 1778. My odd thing for signatures is  gaining pace but in this case it's quite relevant ! Here is his :


The French mathematician and physicist Jean Baptiste Fourier was born on this day in 1768. Known for Fourier's Law - he is attributed as having discovered in the 1820s the Greenhouse Effect.

Nathaniel Woodard, an English clergyman and educationalist, was born on March the 21st 1811. He founded eleven schools and his work is promoted to this day through the Woodard Corporation. I have certainly spent time creating my own school - in my head that is. You know, they start around 9.30, no homework, learn for the pleasure of learning not to get through endless tests, stop for a really good, nutritious lunch,  anyway, I digress -  again.

Charles Lindbergh was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour on March the 21st 1928 in recognition of his first transatlantic flight.



The United States Federal prison at Alcatraz was closed on this day in 1963. The island had been named in 1775 'La Isla de los Alcatraces' - the Island of the Pelicans.

Today is the Feast Day of St Serapion the Scholastic, among others.

I have a house full of beautifully scented hyacinths, we saw the sun this weekend, I have also bought loads of daffodils  - in other words, we are with any luck emerging into Spring ! I don't actually know why but Soupe au Pistou always seems Spring like to me and it's on my menu today.

As ever, thanks to the marvels of Wikipedia.

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