Today I learned...

[Bone2pick]

I learned that author John Irving, whose novels include The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules, received a C- in his high school English class, and his SAT verbal score was 475, which is below average.

 

[Homer Potvin]

I learned that author John Irving, whose novels include The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules, received a C- in his high school English class, and his SAT verbal score was 475, which is below average.

I'd imagine his mind was preoccupied with more prurient matters in his formative years.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I learned that author John Irving, whose novels include The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules, received a C- in his high school English class, and his SAT verbal score was 475, which is below average.

Yep, lots of people who did well in life did not do too well in school. Winston Churchill and John Lennon spring to mind.

Here's Judi Dench's report card:

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Dame Judi Dench, OBE (1934 -), actress.
The Mount School, York.

Headmaster:
Judi would be a very good pupil if she lived in this world.
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But not all hope is lost. Joan Collins did rather better:

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Joan Collins, OBE (1933 -), actress, producer and novelist.
RADA, c. 1945.

On leaving:
With so much in her favour the student is hampered by the weakness of her voice. She seems to lack the confidence to project and make the most of the voice she does possess. If she will make up her mind to cast away fear, doubt and self-consciousness, she will find her confidence increasing, and the unsure element in her acting disappear. Otherwise it will be 'the films' for her, and that would be such a pity!
==========

(from Could do Better: School Reports of the Great and the Good by Catherine Hurley)

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned (or maybe was just reminded) of the importance of community.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Today I learned all about Zheng Yi Sao, a powerful and extraordinary female pirate, born in 1775 and active in the South China Sea from 1801 to 1810.

In that period, she had under her command 400 ships and 70,000 men, more (and better trained and equipped) than the Chinese navy. She was so powerful that she even issued "passports" to passing ships (basically extortion, but hey...) that guaranteed their safe passage.

But you wouldn't want to cross her. If she captured a merchant ship, the merchants would be spared but their goods would be forfeit. If a warship went up against her and her men captured it, the sailors might have had their feet nailed to the deck (ow!!!) and then be chopped up into little pieces and fed to sharks. (Then again, we only know this from stories told about her by the people who went up against her. So, no idea if this is true).

She was born as Shi Yang to humble circumstances in Guangdong, and may have worked as a prostitute or a procurer when young, but there is no way to confirm this. Either way, her childhood wasn't pretty. At 26, she married a pirate leader called Zheng Yi, and her name became Zheng Yi Sao (literally "Wife of Zheng Yi").

There are so many amazing things about Zheng Yi Sao, but it boils down to this: she rose from nothing much to become incredibly powerful, and was smart enough to retire in peace and honour when she saw the winds of change. Good on her. She deserves to be remembered.