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Died. On Monday last, at Easy Hill in this Town, Mr John Baskerville; whose memory will be perpetuated, by the Beauty and Elegance of his Printing, which he carried to a very great Perfection.
Aris's newspaper carried this news January 23, 1775; John Baskerville was born on January 28, 1706

Mystery is the wisdom of blockheads.
Horace Walpole, English author, who on January 28, 1754, explained how he coined the word 'serendipity'

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he isn't. A sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.
Horace Walpole

The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel.
Horace Walpole; Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1770

A careless song, with a little nonsense in it now and then, does not misbecome a monarch.
Horace Walpole, Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1774

Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.
Colette, French novelist, born on January 28, 1873

Look for a long time at what pleases you, and for a longer time at what pains you.
Colette

Rats, cats and dogs were sold in markets during the Siege of Paris, 1870 - 71

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Ancient Ways

Be A Goddess

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Feast day of Blessed Charlemagne, emperor

Charlemagne (c. April 2, 747 - January 28, 814) or Charles the Great, in German Karl der Große, in Latin Carolus Magnus, was king of the Franks from 771 to 814, nominally King of the Lombards, and Holy Roman Emperor.

Up until the mid-20^th Century, Charlemagne's birthday was believed to be April 2, 742, but several factors led to reconsideration of this traditional date.

Charles, son of Pepin the Short, was anointed with his father and his brother Carloman by Pope Stephen II in 754 and crowned first Holy Roman Emperor, sovereign of Christendom in the West, by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day, 800. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed) and his feast day is January 28.

Runic half-month of Elhaz commences

This half month: optimistic power, protection and sanctuary.
Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 35

Feast day of St Amadeus of Lausanne

Feast day of St Callinicus

Feast day of St Cannera of Inis Cathaig

Feast day of St Flavian of Civita Vecchia

Feast day of St Giles of Lorenzana

Feast day of St Glastian of Kinglassie, Scotland

Feast day of St James the Almsgiver

Feast day of St James the Hermit

Feast day of St John the Sage

Feast day of St Joseph Freinademetz

Feast day of St Leucius

Feast day of the Martyrs of Alexandria 

Feast day of Blessed Margaret, princess of Hungary
(Double daisy, Bellis perennis plenus, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Feast day of Blessed Mary of Pisa, widow

Feast day of St Odo of Beauvais

Feast day of St Paulinus of Aquileia, patriarch

Feast day of St Peter Nolasco (Pedro Nolasco)
He was appointed tutor to the young king, James of Aragon (1208 - 1276). In 1218, he formed a congregation of men that became the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy of the Redemption of the Captives with approval by Pope Gregory IX in 1230. The Virgin Mary and a host of holy virgins appeared to him on August 1, 1216 and said that it was the divine pleasure that he institute a new order under the title of Our Blessed Lady of Mercy. King James of Aragon (1208 - '76) had the same vision at precisely the same time. Or, so it is said. With the reform of the general Roman calendar in 1969, the feast of St Peter Nolasco on January 31 was suppressed; he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology and in local and particular liturgical calendars on January 28.

More

Feast day of St Roger of Todi

Feast day of St Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and Confessor

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - '74) was a Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition, who gave birth to the Thomistic school of philosophy, which was long the official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. He is considered by the Catholic church to be its greatest theologian and one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church.

His patronage includes academics, against storms, against lightning, apologists, book sellers, Catholic academies, Catholic schools, Catholic universities, chastity, colleges, learning, lightning, pencil makers, philosophers, publishers, scholars, schools, storms, students, theologians, universities, University of Vigo.

"One of the most famous stories in religious history is that after having written the Summa Theologica, a compendium of all human knowledge up to that time, St. Thomas went into a kind of trace one day at Mass. When asked what he had seen, he said no human words could tell."   Source

More    And more

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Dakini Day, Tibet (Source unknown)

Winter-een-mas (Jan 25 - 31)
Fourth day: Ted is sized up for the annual penguin roast. Ethan preaches at the mall, assaulting unbelievers with his sceptre. Celebrated Ghosts: Fighting Games, Real Time Strategy.

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1457 King Henry VII of England (d. April 21, 1509), founder of the Tudor dynasty

Baskerville font: simplicity, elegance, clarity.

1706 John Baskerville (d. 1775), English printer and typefounder whose fonts (including the famous 'Baskerville', above) were so successful, his competitors claimed they damaged the eyes.

His masterpiece was a folio Bible, published in 1763. Among Baskerville's publications held in the British Museum are that Bible,  Aesop's Fables (1761), and the works of Horace (1770).

A native of Worcestershire, Baskerville made a fortune in a japanning business in Birmingham. He devoted his resources to the art of printing and development of typefaces, was said to be a great perfectionist and made his own ink, presses, moulds for casting, and all the apparatus.

Baskerville enjoyed a lasting friendship with Benjamin Franklin, who had built up a successful printing business in Philadelphia, and who visited Baskerville in Birmingham.

"His typography is extremely beautiful, uniting the elegance of Plantin with the clearness of the Elzevirs; in his Italic letters he stands unrivalled," wrote one commentator.

He was a man of eccentric tastes: he had each panel of his carriage painted with a picture of one of his trades. John Baskerville was buried in his own garden; in 1821 his remains were accidentally disturbed, the leaden coffin was opened and his body and shroud were in a nearly perfect state of preservation.

People were actually charged sixpence for a look at the wonder. Baskerville was an atheist and wished not to be interred in a churchyard. His body had several moves before it found its final resting place. As Deborah Cooper writes in John Baskerville: A man with a mission:

Just as his typeface is now recognized as one of the greatest ever designed, so his body is more or less where he would want it, in a place where there is no church. Perhaps he would have been happy about this as it proves that if you keep persevering, you will eventually get what you want. This was John Baskerville to the letter.

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1791 Admiral Sir James Stirling (d. April 23, 1865), the first Governor of Western Australia (1828 - 38) and on his own initiative the one who signed Britain's first limited treaty with Japan in 1854

1822 Alexander Mackenzie (d. 1892), 2^nd Prime Minister of Canada

1833 Charles George Gordon (Chinese Gordon; d. 1885), British soldier and administrator

1834 Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (d. January 2, 1924) English Victorian churchman, folklorist, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. His bibliography lists over 500 separate publications. His family home in Devon, Lewtrenchard Manor, has been successfully preserved as he rebuilt it and is today a hotel. He is particularly remembered as a writer of hymns, the best-known being 'Onward, Christian Soldiers' (music by Sir Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert & Sullivan fame).

He regarded as his principal achievement the collection of folk songs that he made with the help of the ordinary people of Devon and Cornwall. Baring-Gould wrote many novels, a collection of ghost stories, a 16-volume Lives of the Saints, and the biography of the eccentric poet-vicar of Morwenstow, Robert Stephen Hawker. His folkloric studies resulted in The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), one of the most frequently cited studies of lycanthropy. Half-way through, the topic changes to crimes only vaguely connected to werewolves, including grave desecration and cannibalism. Stories of his own eccentricity have been exaggerated. He did once, while teaching at Hurstpierpoint, have his pet bat on his shoulder.

While a curate in Horbury in Yorkshire, Baring-Gould met a 16-year-old mill girl named Grace Taylor. He sent her away to be educated, and then married her in 1868. The couple had 15 children.

Biography from Devon Discovering Devon by the BBC

Home page of an on-line edition of Baring-Gould's novel The Frobishers at Literary Heritage

1853 José Martí (d. 1895), revolutionary

1857 William Seward Burroughs, inventor of the calculator (d. 1898); grandfather of his namesake (b. 1915), author of Junkie and The Naked Lunch

1873 (Gabrielle) Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette; d. 1954), French novelist. She was born in the French village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye. Her career began by her ghostwriting stories for her author-husband 'Willy' who locked her in a room until she finished each assignment.

1884 Auguste Piccard (d. 1962), physicist

1887 Artur Rubinstein (d. 1982), Polish pianist, conductor

1892 Ernst Lubitsch (d. 1947), German-born film director (Heaven Can Wait; Ninotchka)

1912 Jackson Pollock (d. 1956), American Abstract-Expressionist painter, initiator of dripping painting

1927 Hiroshi Teshigahara (d. 2001), director

1929 Claes Oldenbourg, artist

1929 Acker Bilk, British musician

1935 David Lodge, author

1936 Alan Alda (born Alphonso D'Abruzzo), American actor, writer and director.

He commuted from LA to his home in New Jersey every weekend for 11 years while starring as Hawkeye Pearce in M*A*S*H, which he codirected with Hi Averback. His wife and daughters lived in NJ, and he did not want to uproot the family to LA, especially because he did not know how long the show would last.  

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1945 Marthe Keller, Swiss actress

1948 Mikhail Baryshnikov (Михаил Николаевич Баришников, also transliterated as Baryshinikov or Barishinikov), Latvian dancer, choreographer, and actor. While starring with the Kirov Ballet, he defected to Canada in 1974, joining the American Ballet Theatre.

Baryshnikov received an Oscar nomination for his film debut as Yuril in The Turning Point. He played a defecting Soviet ballet star in White Nights. In 1989 he made his Broadway debut acting in Metamorphosis.

Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Internet Movie Database

1960 Robert von Dassanowsky, cultural historian, writer, producer

1968 Sarah McLachlan, singer/songwriter

1977 Joey Fatone, American entertainer (band *N Sync; movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding)

1980 Nick Carter, entertainer

1981 Elijah Wood, actor

 

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January

19 Penguin Awareness Day
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19 Tin Can Day
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22 Come In From The Cold
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29 Puzzle Day
29 Bubblegum Sculpture Day
29 Kansas Day
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30 Jazz Day
31 Backwards Day
31 Hell Is Freezing Over Day

February

1 Freedom Day
1 Inspire Your Employees To Excellence Day
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814 The death of Charlemagne (b. 747), Holy Roman Emperor.

At Charlemagne's death there were portents: eclipses of sun and moon, and a seven-day black spot on the sun. His palace at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) trembled frequently, and strange noises emanated from the roof of any house he was in. The basilica in which he was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle was struck by lightning.

Shortly before his death the word princeps (or leader - part of the emperor's title) faded from an inscription on the basilica. Or, so it is said.  

Charlemagne has many descendents; it's possible that George Washington is one.

Charlemagne is shown here very much alive, enjoying a popular European sport, the massacring of Muslims.

Map: Europe at the death of Charlemagne, 814

 

1077 Germany's King Heinrich IV petitioned Pope Gregory VII for forgiveness, and received it.

1099 First Crusaders began the siege of Hosn-el-Akrad, Syria.

1393 Aimery Poitiers, French nobleman, was burned at a royal ball. Owch!

1521 The Diet of Worms began, lasting until May 25.

1547 Death of King Henry VIII of England (b. 1491); he was succeeded by Edward VI (first Protestant ruler of England).

1573 Articles of Warsaw Confederation were signed, sanctioning religious freedom in Poland.

1596 Death of Sir Francis Drake (b. c. 1540), English privateer, navigator, naval pioneer, politician, and civil engineer of the Elizabethan period. He was the first Englishman (and the first of any nationality not on a Spanish ship) to circumnavigate the globe, from 1577 to 1580 and was knighted on board his ship on his return by Queen Elizabeth I. He was second in command of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Drake's Drum
Sir Francis Drake's drum was with Drake when he circumnavigated the world and when he died of dysentery off Panama in 1596. The worn drum, with Drake's coat of arms painted on one side, is currently located in the Drake, Naval and West Country Folk Museum at Buckland Abbey in Devonshire, Drake's former home. It is said to beat at times of danger for England. The drum, so it is said, was heard at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Scapa Flow in 1918 and at the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. Some said it was even heard when Germany surrendered in 1918. Another version of the legend is that the drum should be beaten to summon Drake in times of danger for England.

An extract from the poem 'Drake's Drum' by Sir Henry Newbolt:

Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore,

Strike et when your powder's runnin' low;

If the Dons sight Devon, I'll quit the port o' Heaven,

An' drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long ago.

Photo of Drake's Drum    Buckland Abbey    Drake's Drum    More

 

1613 Galileo may have unknowingly viewed the undiscovered planet Neptune.

 

Serendipity

Definition: [n]  pure luck in discovering things you were not looking for

See also: fortune, luck

1754 English politician and writer, Horace Walpole (1717 - '97), in a letter to Sir Horato Mann, explained how he coined the word 'serendipity'. He said that he based it on the title of a fairy story, The Three Princes of Serendip, because the princes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of". 'Serendip' is the Persian name for Sri Lanka.

 

 

1621 Death of Pope Paul V (b. 1550).

1754 Death of Ludvig Holberg (b. 1684), historian and writer.

1787 The Free Africa Society, the first prominent black self-help organization in America, was organised, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1788 The first penal colony was founded at Botany Bay, near what is now Sydney, Australia.

1807 Pall Mall, London, became the first street in the world to be illuminated by gas.

1829 Death of William Burke (b. 1792), Irish-Scots serial killer who, with William Hare, committed a notorious series of murders in Edinburgh in the 19th Century.

1846 The Battle of Aliwal, India, was won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.

1855 The first locomotive ran from the Atlantic to the Pacific on the Panama Railway.

 

1871 After the five-month Siege of Paris, France surrendered to end the Franco-Prussian War.

During the winter, food supplies in Paris were so low that Parisians, accustomed to fine foods, were compelled to eat whatever they could find. They turned to cats, dogs, even rats, as the 19th-Century engraving at the head of this page depicts. A rat market was even set up in the city centre, and even ornamental goldfish were harvested from the ponds in Paris's parks.

On December 8, 1870, the daily newspaper Les Nouvelles published a menu containing such ingredients, with such delicacies as 'horse soup with millet'; 'dog liver kebabs'; 'shoulder of dog with tomato sauce'; 'cat stew with mushrooms'; 'rat stew'; and 'Gigot de chien flanqué de ratons' (dog leg with small rats).

A certain butcher, Monsieur DeBoos made his living, as did others, selling meat from animals he had obtained at the Paris Zoo.

 

1878 The Yale News became the first daily, college newspaper in the United States.

1882 Harper's, an American magazine, reacted to the US tour of Irish author, Oscar Wilde, by portraying him on its cover as an ape.

1887 In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA, the largest snowflakes on record were reported. They were 38cm (15 inches) wide and 20cm (8 inches) thick.

1893 The Federal Bank of Australia closed in Melbourne, starting a collapse of banks in Australia.

1902 USA: One of the world's greatest philanthropic institutions, Carnegie Institution, was founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (b. 1835).

The Carnegie Library at Borroloola, Australia, in the Scriptorium (unusual tale)

1902 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, visited Rangoon, Burma; he returned on February 1 to Rajkot, where he settled down to practise law.

1903 Death of Augusta Holmès, French composer.

1909 United States troops left Cuba after having been there since the Spanish-American War.

1913 Suffragette demonstrations were held, England.

A world chronology of women’s suffrage

1915 An act of the US Congress created the United States Coast Guard.

1916 Louis D Brandeis became the first Jew appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

1917 The USA ended the search for Pancho Villa.

1918 Finnish Civil War: Rebels seized control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland went underground.

1921 A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honour the unknown dead of World War I.

1932 World War II: Japan occupied Shanghai.

1935 Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion.

1938 The first ski tow in America began operation in Vermont.

1939 It was announced that German physicist Otto Hahn had succeeded in splitting the atom.

1945 World War II: Supplies began to reach China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

1946 Bluenose, Canada's greatest sailing ship, foundered on a Haitian reef.

1956 Elvis Presley made his first TV appearance.

1958 USA: Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate began their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister.

1969 USA: Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman appeared in court at Cook County Courthouse, Chicago, IL on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest during the Chicago Democratic National Convention (1968) and the charge of carrying a concealed weapon aboard an aircraft. He was convicted of resisting arrest and also found guilty of carrying a switchblade knife aboard an aircraft. The charge of disorderly conduct for having an obscenity written on his forehead was dismissed.

Related items: March 22, 1968;  August 23, 1968; September 17, 1968; March 19, 1969; January 23, 1970; November 21, 1972 (Chicago 7 trial)

1973 USA: Barnaby Jones premiered on CBS.

1978 American rock guitarist Ted Nugent created a controversy when he carved his name on a fan's arm with a Bowie knife.

1981 The first test-tube baby was born in the USA.

1982 James L Dozier was rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces after having been held captive by the Red Brigades for 42 days.

1986 Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff, killing all seven astronauts onboard.

1994 The first trial of accused murderer Lyle Menendez ended in a mistrial. He and his brother Erik were later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

1997 Clive Davis (founder of Arista Records) received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 Ford Motor Company announced the buyout of Volvo for US$6.45 billion.

1998 Gunpersons held at least 400 children and teachers hostage for several hours at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines.

 

2003 The case of the talking carp

According to two fish-cutters at the New Square (30 miles north of Manhattan, New York) Fish Market, they were about to slaughter a 20-pound carp to make into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner, when it suddenly began shouting apocalyptic warnings in Hebrew.

At 4 pm, Zalmen Rosen, a 57-year-old Hasidic father of eleven, and his co-worker, Luis Nivelo, a Gentile who does not understand Hebrew, were about to club the carp on the head when it began yelling "Tzaruch shemirah" and "Hasof bah", which, according to the shop owner, essentially means that everyone must account for themselves because the end is near.

Nivelo was understandably so shocked at the sight of a talking fish that he fell over, then ran into the front of the store screaming: "It's the Devil! The Devil is here!" Not all, however, believe that the talking fish was Satanic.

The Observer reported that many of the 7,000-member Skver sect of Hasidim in New Square believed that God revealed himself in fish form, or else the loquacious carp was channelling the troubled soul of a revered community elder who had recently died.

2004 September Dossier: Lord Hutton published his report into the death of UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly.

Myths of the 'War on Terrorism' and Iraq

 

 

Tomorrow: Emanuel Swedenborg's remote viewing

 

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