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:

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

Headmaster:
Judi would be a very good pupil if she lived in this world.
==========

But not all hope is lost. Joan Collins did rather better:

==========
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.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Deleted - images wouldn't paste

 

[Link the Writer]

Louis Braille (yes, that Louis Braille) was apparently called up for service by the French military in 1829 (he was 20 at the time.) See, back then it was customary for young men at that age to be called up to service, so when he (then an instructor at the Royal Institute for the Blind) was called in, his father had to basically pick him up and take him to the conscription offices to go, 'Does he look like he can use a gun, gents?!' before they filed him off as 'Exemp, being blind at the Hospital of the Quinae-Vingt' according to Mellor, author of the Braille biography, A Touch of Genius.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Just the mental image gave me the giggles, and now I can't stop. Thanks, Link.

I just learned about the Olive Branch Petition. I'm sure I'm one of today's 10,000, but briefly, this was the American Colonies' last-ditch attempt to prevent further conflict and avoid war. (This was drafted on July 5th, 1775).

Unfortunately, a week prior to this petition, the Second Continental Congress had authorised the invasion of Canada, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated King George III to prevent further conflict.

Even more unfortunately, just a day after this petition was drafted, it was followed by the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which made its success unlikely in London.

A month later, the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion, and the petition was rejected by the British government. George III had refused to read it, and declared the colonists traitors.

If George III had went the other way, could the war had been stopped, even at this late stage? This came after the battle of Bunker Hill, and various other political actors were at play (especially John Adams). But it sounds intriguing.

 

[Louanne Learning]

the Second Continental Congress had authorised the invasion of Canada,

This would have been Quebec (Lower Canada) as Upper Canada - present-day Ontario - was sparsely populated compared to Montreal, etc

In fact, one of the complaints (or fears?) of the Americans was that Britain had allowed the Quebecois to keep their Catholic religion.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Earlier, in 1759, preceding the battle of the Plains of Abraham, General James Wolfe, in a boat beneath the cliffs of Quebec City, recited to the Highlanders in the boat Elegy in a Country Churchyard.

And then he said, "Gentlemen, I would rather have written those lines, than take Quebec."

 

[BeastBlood1885]

For the longest time, I'd assumed the word "preen" could only be used for feathers and "groom" was for fur. I was told they can both be used interchangeably.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Earlier, in 1759, preceding the battle of the Plains of Abraham, General James Wolfe, in a boat beneath the cliffs of Quebec City, recited to the Highlanders in the boat Elegy in a Country Churchyard.

And then he said, "Gentlemen, I would rather have written those lines, that take Quebec."

Yes -- and no-one believed him. Even among his own contemporaries, the general feeling was that Wolfe was ... odd. (Maybe some even thought he was mad).

 

[BeastBlood1885]

I live there and never heard of that fact. I did spend most of my time in history class drawing dinosaurs on my pages instead of listening to the teacher, though. You can tell I still have that amazing awareness with how I managed to miss a post about my hometown right above my last one.

One fun thing I can share about Quebec: we used to have a tree with a bomb from an old war stuck in it. Right there on a sidewalk in the city. I walked past it a couple times. It was removed in 2021 because the tree was dying.

 

[Link the Writer]

Just the mental image gave me the giggles, and now I can't stop. Thanks, Link.

I just learned about the Olive Branch Petition. I'm sure I'm one of today's 10,000, but briefly, this was the American Colonies' last-ditch attempt to prevent further conflict and avoid war. (This was drafted on July 5th, 1775).

Unfortunately, a week prior to this petition, the Second Continental Congress had authorised the invasion of Canada, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated King George III to prevent further conflict.

Even more unfortunately, just a day after this petition was drafted, it was followed by the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which made its success unlikely in London.

A month later, the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion, and the petition was rejected by the British government. George III had refused to read it, and declared the colonists traitors.

If George III had went the other way, could the war had been stopped, even at this late stage? This came after the battle of Bunker Hill, and various other political actors were at play (especially John Adams). But it sounds intriguing.

And considering the time it'd have taken for the Olive Branch petition to reach King George III, he'd likely have already heard of the last two and was all, 'OK, fine, you want a war? You shall have it!'

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that on this day in 1699, Pirate Captain William Kidd was captured.

A merchant from New York, he turned to piracy after the British Navy attempted to impress his crew into service. He sailed the high seas for three years before his capture. He was tried in England and hanged.

(Was Billy the Kid his reincarnation?)