Person, Place, and Thing: April 15-22

 

Person.

Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was first published in London on April 15, 1755.

Johnson (1709-1784) was a poet, playwright, essayist, critic, editor, and biographer who was approached in 1746 by a group of London booksellers to create a better dictionary. He agreed to 3 years work for £1500 (£260,000 today), but it took 7 years. Working singlehandedly, he produced what was considered the preeminent English dictionary for nearly 200 years. It has been called "one of the greatest singlehandedly achievements of scholarship."

He displayed great intelligence as a child, and he also began to develop uncontrollable tics and gesticulations and startling grunts, groans, and whistles that have led to a posthumous diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome. Many people wrote about his tics after meeting him: some wrote that their mistaken first impression was that he was an "idiot" (used as a medical term at tge tome).His schooling almost ended at about 16 because his bookseller father was deep in debt, but an inheritance from his mother's cousin allowed him to go to university. In the interim, he worked and read in his father's shop.

After completing his Dictionary, he achieved quite a lot of acclaim and produced a great body of work. However, his slow work pace and failure to make deadlines caused him constant troubles and debts. Besides his probable depression and Tourette's, he had many bouts of ill health in his life, including childhood tuberculosis which left him partially deaf and blind, gout, testicular cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, hypertension, and a stroke in his final year that left him unable to speak.

Place.

Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was first published in London on April 15, 1755.

Johnson (1709-1784) was a poet, playwright, essayist, critic, editor, and biographer who was approached in 1746 by a group of London booksellers to create a better dictionary. He agreed to 3 years work for £1500 (£260,000 today), but it took 7 years. Working singlehandedly, he produced what was considered the preeminent English dictionary for nearly 200 years. It has been called "one of the greatest singlehandedly achievements of scholarship."

Johnson was buried in Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is the final resting place of 30 kings and queens and about 3000 other important figures in British history, science, litera, and the arts.. The first king to be buried at Westminster Abbey was Edward the Confessor in the year 1066. It's a must-visit for any London visitor.

In the south transept of Westminster Abbey is the grave of Dr Johnson. He lies just in front of Shakespeare's memorial. The inscription in brass letters reads:

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D Obiit XIII die Decembris Anno Domini MDCCLXXXIV Aetatis suae LXXV
which can be translated:

Samuel Johnson, Doctor of Laws, died 13 December in the year 1784, aged 75.

Above the grave is an 18th century bust by sculptor Joseph Nollekens, which was presented to the Abbey in 1939 by G.H. Tite. It just has the name JOHNSON at the base. In 1790 the Dean and Chapter had given permission for the erection of a monument to Johnson but this was never actually put up (a statue was erected at St Paul's cathedral in 1796 and this might have been the monument which had been intended for the Abbey).

Thing.

Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was first published in London on April 15, 1755.

Johnson (1709-1784) was a poet, playwright, essayist, critic, editor, and biographer who was approached in 1746 by a group of London booksellers to create a better dictionary. He agreed to 3 years work for £1500 (£260,000 today), but it took 7 years. Working singlehandedly, he produced what was considered the preeminent English dictionary for nearly 200 years. It has been called "one of the greatest singlehandedly achievements of scholarship."

" A Dictionary of the English Language was somewhat large and very expensive. Its pages were 18 inches (46 cm) tall and nearly 20 inches (51 cm) wide. The paper was of the finest quality available, the cost of which ran to nearly £1,600; more than Johnson had been paid to write the book. Johnson himself pronounced the book "Vasta mole superbus" ("Proud in its great bulk"). No bookseller could possibly hope to print this book without help; outside a few special editions of the Bible, no book of this heft and size had ever been set to type.

This first edition of the dictionary contained a 42,773-word list, to which only a few more were added in subsequent editions. One of Johnson's important innovations was to illustrate the meanings of his words by literary quotation, of which there are around 114,000. The authors most frequently cited by Johnson include Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden.

Unlike most modern lexicographers, Johnson introduced humor or prejudice into quite a number of his definitions. Among the best-known are:

"Excise: a hateful tax levied upon commodities and adjudged not by the common judges of property but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid"
"Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words"
"Oats: a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people" " (Wikipedia)

Persons.

On April 16, 1945, US troops liberated Colditz Castle, which had been converted by the Germans into a high security POW camp for high-ranking and "difficult" Allied POWs who had demonstrated strong resistance and who were deemed major escape risks. Despite being high-security, and perhaps due to the type of prisoners it held, Colditz had one of the highest escape attempt records of any POW camp. Ben MacIntyre's 2022 book tells the story of the Colditz prisoners.

Among the many notable officers interned at Colditz were

1. Desmond Llewellyn, who went on to become an actor and was famous for playing spymaster Q in 17 James Bond films

2. Pat Reid, one of the first 6 British officers in the castle, transferred there after a failed attempt at another camp, wrote several books and served as technical advisor on films about Colditz,

3. Josef Bryks, a Czech pilot who had made three escapes and taken in part in the legendary "Great Escape" before being sent to Colditz,

4. Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, the head of the Polish Underground Army

Place.

On April 16, 1945, US troops liberated Colditz Castle, which had been converted by the Germans into a high security POW camp for high-ranking and "difficult" Allied POWs who had demonstrated strong resistance and who were deemed major escape risks. Despite being high-security, and perhaps due to the type of prisoners it held, Colditz had one of the highest escape attempt records of any POW camp. Ben MacIntyre's 2022 book tells the story of the Colditz prisoners.

The first documented settlement at the Colditz Castle site was around 1046. A formal castle, or schloss, was constructed in the 1400s. During the 15th and 16th centuries, it was reconstructed and remodeled numerous times, often after fires. It became the royal residence of the electors of Saxony.

"After the outbreak of World War II, the castle was converted into a high security prisoner-of-war camp for officers who had become security or escape risks or who were regarded as particularly dangerous. Since the castle is situated on a rocky outcrop above the River Mulde, the Germans believed it to be an ideal site for a high security prison.

The larger outer court in front of the Kommandantur (commander's offices) had only two exits and housed a large German garrison. The prisoners lived in an adjacent courtyard in a 90 ft (27 m) tall building. Outside, the flat terraces which surrounded the prisoners' accommodation were watched constantly by armed sentries and surrounded by barbed wire. The prison was named Oflag IV-C (officer prison camp 4C) and was operated by the Wehrmacht." (Wikipedia)

Thing.

On April 16, 1945, US troops liberated Colditz Castle, which had been converted by the Germans into a high security POW camp for high-ranking and "difficult" Allied POWs who had demonstrated strong resistance and who were deemed major escape risks. Despite being high-security, and perhaps due to the type of prisoners it held, Colditz had one of the highest escape attempt records of any POW camp. Ben MacIntyre's 2022 book tells the story of the Colditz prisoners.

"One escape scheme even included a glider, the Colditz Cock, that was built and kept in a remote portion of the castle's attic during the winter of 1944–45. The glider was never used, as the camp was liberated not long after its completion. However, after liberation, the glider was brought down from the hidden workshop to the attic below and assembled for the prisoners to see. It was at this time that the only known photograph of the glider was taken. For some time after the war the glider was regarded as either a myth or tall story, as there was no solid proof that the glider had existed and Colditz was then in the Soviet Occupation Zone. Bill Goldfinch, however, took home the drawings he had made when designing the glider, and when the single photograph finally surfaced, the story was taken seriously.

During 1999, a full-sized replica of the glider was commissioned by Channel 4 Television in the UK and was built by Southdown Aviation Ltd. at Lasham Airfield, closely following Goldfinch's drawings. Watched by several of the former prisoners of war who worked on the original, it was test flown at RAF Odiham during 2000. The escape plan could have worked.[4] In 2012, Channel 4 commissioned a team of engineers and carpenters to build another full-sized replica of the glider at Colditz Castle, and launch it (unmanned) from the same roof as had been planned for the original. The radio-controlled replica made it safely across the river and landed in a meadow 180 metres below." (Wikipedia)

Person.

According to scholars, the characters of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales began their pilgrimage to Canterbury on April 17, 1387. Chaucer first told his Tales at the court of King Richard II on April 17, 1397.

Chaucer (1340s-1400) was an English, poet, author, astronomer, philosopher, courtier, diplomat, civil servant, and member of Parliament called the "Father of English literature." He was the first writer to be buried in Poets' Corner of London's Westminster Abbey.

His father was a wine merchant, descended from a line of vintners, and his mother inherited money and 24 London properties from her uncle, making for a relatively comfortable upbringing. He became a nobleman page as a teen, an apprenticeship to knighthood or courtly appointments. As a young adult, he traveled extensively across Europe as a soldier, a messenger, and a royal valet. In Italy, he was introduced to Italian poetry and the work of Petrarch and Boccaccio in particular, which had a great impact on his own work. It is thought that his real writing talent was first rewarded by Edward III, who granted him "a gallon of wine daily for the rest of his life," perhaps a precursor to the position of Poet Laureate.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is considered to be a transformative work in English literature and in the English language itself, often considered to be the first great work in the English vernacular, that is everyday language, tradition.

I fondly remember reading several of the Tales in Mr. Turner's senior British Lit class and writing my term paper on "The Miller's Tale."

Place.

According to scholars, the characters of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales began their pilgrimage to Canterbury on April 17, 1387. Chaucer first told his Tales at the court of King Richard II on April 17, 1397.

Canterbury Cathedral became a pilgrimage site following the 1170 murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket by four knights who thought their action would please King Henry II, with whom Becket had numerous clashes.

"The income from pilgrims (such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales) who visited Becket's shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the profits from the sale of pilgrim badges depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his shrine.

The shrine was removed in 1538. King Henry VIII summoned the dead saint to court to face charges of treason. Having failed to appear, he was found guilty in his absence and the treasures of his shrine were confiscated, carried away in two coffers and 26 carts." (Wikipedia)

Today, it is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.

Thing.

According to scholars, the characters of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales began their pilgrimage to Canterbury on April 17, 1387. Chaucer first told his Tales at the court of King Richard II on April 17, 1397. The Canterbury Tales is considered an iconic piece of literature, and Chaucer is called "the Father of English literature" and the first major writer in vernacular English.

For those of you who were not blessed to have fantastic literature teachers like I was, The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.

"The Canterbury Tales is generally thought to have been incomplete at the end of Chaucer's life. In the General Prologue, some 30 pilgrims are introduced. According to the Prologue, Chaucer's intention was to write four stories from the perspective of each pilgrim, two each on the way to and from their ultimate destination, St. Thomas Becket's shrine (making for a total of about 120 stories). Although perhaps incomplete, The Canterbury Tales is revered as one of the most important works in English literature." (Wikipedia)

The Tales showcase a variety of styles from bawdy comedy to more serious stories and characters from a variety of backgrounds, high and low, religious and secular.

Person.

On April 18, 1943, a Japanese bomber carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was shot down by an American squadron over Bougainville in the Pacific as he was flying on an inspection tour. Yamamoto, the man who was responsible for planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor, was killed, striking a huge blow to the Japanese war effort.

Yamamoto had attended Harvard as a young man and served as military attaché at the Japanese embassy in Washington. He spoke fluent English and had gotten to know America well. As an early expert and proponent of naval aviation who had proven himself to be an outstanding officer, he was approached to plan a surprise attack that would cripple the US and prevent her from interfering with Japan's Pacific conquest. He was reluctant, warning that such a blow might temporarily weaken the "sleeping giant," but Japan would regret it in the end. Nevertheless, he planned the attack, which devastated the US fleet, but 6 months later, the battle of Midway foreshadowed a turnaround.Yamamoto still rose to become Japan's top admiral

In March 1943, Americans intercepted and decoded a secret Japanese message that he was making an unusual flight. FDR ordered that his plane be targeted - a very tough decision to make: 1) It would reveal to the Japanese that the US had broken their "unbreakable" code. 2) Targeted assassination went against all American and world conventions and "rules" of war. 3) What would the Japanese do? Following APRIL 18, 1942's Doolittle Raids on Tokyo, there had been little military advantage gained for the US, but the Japanese retaliated by massacring hundreds of thousands of Chinese men, women, and children in the region of China from which the bombers had taken off and where Chinese civilians had aided the crew members who had made emergency landings on their return because they ran out of fuel.

Dan Hampton published Operation Vengeance (the real mission codename) in 2020.

Place.

On April 18, 1943, a Japanese bomber carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was shot down by an American squadron over Bougainville in the Pacific as he was flying on an inspection tour. Yamamoto, the man who was responsible for planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor, was killed, striking a huge blow to the Japanese war effort.

"Between 9 March and 5 April 1942 during World War II, forces of the Empire of Japan occupied the islands of Buka (right in photo) and Bougainville (left in photo) in the South Pacific. At that time these islands were part of the Australian-administered Territory of New Guinea. A platoon of Australian commandos from the 1st Independent Company was located at Buka Airfield when the Japanese landed but did not contest the invasion.

The Japanese invaded in order to construct naval and air bases to provide security for their major base at Rabaul, New Britain and to support strategic operations in the Solomon Islands. After the occupation of Buka and Bougainville, the Japanese began constructing a number of airfields across the island.The main airfields were on Buka Island, on the nearby Bonis Peninsula and at Kahili and Kieta, while naval bases were also constructed at Buin in the south and on the nearby Shortland Islands.
These bases allowed the Japanese to conduct operations in the southern Solomon Islands and to attack the Allied lines of communication between the US and the Southwest Pacific Area." (Wikipedia)

Admiral Yamamoto's plane went down in the jungles of Bougainville. A Japanese recovery team found his body the next day.The Japanese government waited a month to announce that he had died in a glorious air battle and to hold his state funeral.

Allied forces landed on Buka and Bougainville in November of 1943, and fighting continued until August of 1945.

Dan Hampton published Operation Vengeance (the real mission codename) in 2020.

Thing.

On April 18, 1943, a Japanese bomber carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was shot down by an American squadron over Bougainville in the Pacific as he was flying on an inspection tour. Yamamoto, the man who was responsible for planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor, was killed, striking a huge blow to the Japanese war effort.

American intelligence agencies had successfully intercepted and decoded Japanese secret messages through a program codenamed "Magic." Magic was set up to combine the US government's cryptologic capabilities in one organization dubbed the Research Bureau. Intelligence officers from the Army and Navy (and later civilian experts and technicians) were all under one roof. Although they worked on a series of codes and cyphers, their most important successes involved RED, BLUE, and PURPLE. The RED stage of decryption used a stolen WWI-era Japanese navy code book to decipher Japanese messages. BLUE refers to the updated code put into place by the Japanese in 1930 and decoded by 1932. Following the formation of the German - Japanese alliance, the Germans supplied Enigma machines to the Japanese to facilitate communication between the two allies. The Japanese began using them in 1940, and, in 1942, the US was successfully decrypting them.

Dan Hampton published Operation Vengeance (the real mission codename) in 2020.

Person.

On April 19, 1785, the American Revolution commenced as Massachusetts militiamen clashed with British regulars at Lexington and Concord. Silversmith, revolutionary, and founding father ( almost literally: the father of 16 children himself) Paul Revere was arrested while attempting to alert the countryside that British troops were on the march.

Revere was immortalized by Longfellow's poem, written nearly a hundred years later in 1861. The poem was intentionally inaccurate and lionized Revere for all the wrong reasons, resulting in his many real accomplishments being overlooked.

First of all, he was only one of 40 or more riders who raised the alarm that night. He NEVER yelled "The British are Coming!" He announced, not necessarily loudly, "The Regulars are coming out." He was captured rather quickly and immediately told the British that they would be met by armed men at Lexington before being released. After his release, he walked to the house where John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two of the British targets, were and helped them escape along with their papers.

Before Lexington, Revere was known as the one of the most skilled silversmiths in the colonies. When his business began to suffer due to the British economic policies toward the colonies of the 1760s, he became an ardent revolutionary, joining the Sons of Liberty. He knew the ringleaders of the insurrection well, and he created the Boston Massacre engraving that became a major piece of patriot propaganda. He was one of the leaders of the Boston Tea Party, and, by 1774, he was one of 30 "mechanics," a group of Bostonians who made it their job to disseminate information about British actions and movements. During the war, he served in the militia.

Revere continued political involvement throughout his life following the Revolution. He also became an extremely successful entrepreneur, greatly expanding his work and wealth, while making innovations that led to more standardized and efficient.

Place.

On April 19, 1785, the American Revolution commenced as Massachusetts militiamen clashed with British regulars at Lexington and Concord. Silversmith, revolutionary, and founding father ( almost literally: the father of 16 children himself) Paul Revere was arrested while attempting to alert the countryside that British troops were on the march.

Among the many interesting sites to visit in Boston is Paul Revere's house.
The three-story house was built around 1680 and is the oldest house in Boston. Paul Revere and his family lived there from 1770 to 1800.

After Revere sold the house, it became a tenement with its ground floor remodeled for use as shops, including at various times a candy store, cigar factory, bank, and a vegetable and fruit business. In 1902, Revere's great-grandson, John P. Reynolds Jr. purchased the building to prevent demolition, and restoration took place. In April 1908, the Paul Revere House opened its doors to the public as one of the earliest historic house museums in the United States.

A National Historic Landmark since 1961, it is located at 19 North Square, Boston, Massachusetts, in the city's North End, and is now operated as a nonprofit museum by the Paul Revere Memorial Association.

The Revolutionary Paul Revere and Why Longfellow Lied (children's book) are recently published books which may be of interest.

Thing.

On April 19, 1785, the American Revolution commenced as Massachusetts militiamen clashed with British regulars at Lexington and Concord. Silversmith, revolutionary, and founding father ( almost literally: the father of 16 children himself) Paul Revere was arrested while attempting to alert the countryside that British troops were on the march.

In 1860, the US seemed destined for self-destruction, and the prospect of war loomed. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow hoped to do what he could to help matters. He wrote a series of poems celebrating great men and great events of American history in an attempt to inspire fellow Americans to remember their heroic forebears and their heroic deeds so that they might work to keep the country united. He did a great deal of research on Paul Revere, but he then made up a new set of "facts" to meet his goal of creating an uplifting and entertaining patriotic poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. "

The Revolutionary Paul Revere and Why Longfellow Lied (children's book) are recently published books which may be of interest.

Person.

American sculptor Daniel Chester French, most known for the Lincoln Memorial statue and Minute Man at Concord, was born on April 20, 1850, in Exeter New Hampshire. (Died 1931)

As a child, French was a neighbor of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the literary Alcott family. It was Louisa May Alcott's sister May who encouraged him to sculpt. (Obviously, the family's creativity at naming their children conforms with my personal opinion of their creativity as writers.)

French studied anatomy and art under noted masters in Massachusetts and Florence Italy. The Minute Man was his first major commission, erected on the centennial of the Battle of Concord in 1875. His fame and commissions grew. In 1914, he was selected to sculpt Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial interior; it was completed in 1920.

A new book, set for publication in June, called Monuments and Myths, compares his work to another favorite New England Gilded Age sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Place.

American sculptor Daniel Chester French, most known for the Lincoln Memorial statue and Minute Man at Concord, was born on April 20, 1850, in Exeter New Hampshire. (Died 1931)

"The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the form of a neoclassical temple. The memorial's architect was Henry Bacon. The designer of the memorial interior's large central statue, Abraham Lincoln (1920), was Daniel Chester French; the Lincoln statue was carved by the Piccirilli brothers.[3] The painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin, and the epitaph above the statue was written by Royal Cortissoz. Dedicated in May 1922, it is one of several memorials built to honor an American president. It has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has sometimes been a symbolic center focused on race relations.

The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." (Wikipedia)

A new book, set for publication in June, called Monuments and Myths, compares his work to another favorite New England Gilded Age sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Thing.

American sculptor Daniel Chester French, most known for the Lincoln Memorial statue and Minute Man at Concord, was born on April 20, 1850, in Exeter New Hampshire. (Died 1931)

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated just after the end of the Civil War on April 14, 1865. By March of 1867, Congress incorporated the Lincoln Monument Association to build a memorial to the slain 16th President. In 1914, as part of a large rehabilitation of the Mall in Washington, D.C., they selected Daniel Chester French to create a statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Memorial that Henry Bacon had been commissioned to design.

French became acquainted with architect Henry Bacon (1866–1924) where Bacon was working for the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The monument would become their greatest joint effort—a project of eight years resulting in a significant national shrine.

To convey the intellectual and psychological strength of the great president, French made an intensive study of the Lincoln’s character as a result of an earlier commission from the state capitol of Lincoln, Nebraska. He used Lincoln biographies, photographs, and contemporary portraits, as well as a life mask and casts of the President’s hands, to make his work effective and accurate. The work was dedicated on May 30, 1922.

A new book, set for publication in June, called Monuments and Myths, compares his work to another favorite New England Gilded Age sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Persons.

April 21, 753 BC is the traditional founding date of Rome. According to Roman mythology, the city's founders were twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars, God of War, and Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin and daughter of the deposed king.

Her uncle, the usurper, ordered the babies killed, and they were abandoned on the bank of the Tiber River. Sustained by suckling a wolf, the boys were saved by the god Tiberinus, the Father of the River Tiber, and given to shepherds to raise. They grew up to become respected shepherds and community leaders with no knowledge of their origins.

When a civil war erupted between their grandfather and his brother, they learned of their origin and helped their grandfather regain his throne before setting off to found a city of their own. Unable to agree on a location, they agreed to leave it up to signs from the gods. Alas, they fought over who saw the greater sign, and Romulus killed Remus and went on to establish the city of Rome.

In 2015, acclaimed British classicist Mary Beard published a new history of Rome called SPQR, from Romulus and Remus to the year 212.

Place.

April 21, 753 BC is the traditional founding date of Rome. According to Roman mythology, the city's founders were twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars, God of War, and Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin and daughter of the deposed king.

After being abandoned, the boys were suckled by a "she-wolf" according to the story, before being rescued by the god of the Tiber River and adopted by shepherds. The wolf cared for them in her den in a cave called the Lupercal. The Lupercal was a cave at the southwest foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome, located somewhere between the temple of Magna Mater and the Sant'Anastasia al Palatino. Luperci, the priests of Faunus, celebrated certain ceremonies of the Lupercalia at the cave, from the earliest days of the City until at least 494 AD.

"In January 2007, Italian archaeologist Irene Iacopi announced that she had probably found the legendary cave beneath the remains of Emperor Augustus's house, the Domus Livia, on the Palatine. Archaeologists came across the 15-meter-deep cavity while working to restore the decaying palace.

On 20 November 2007, the first set of photos were released showing the vault of the grotto which is encrusted with colourful mosaics, pumice stones and seashells. The center of the ceiling features a depiction of a white eagle, the symbol of the Roman Empire. Archaeologists had not yet found the grotto's entrance, so they continued looking.

Its location below Augustus' residence was thought to be significant; Octavian, before he became Augustus, had considered taking the name Romulus to indicate that he intended to found Rome anew." (Wikipedia)

The consensus among most other archaeologists, however, is that Iacopi's conclusions are not correct.

Thing.

April 21, 753 BC is the traditional founding date of Rome. According to Roman mythology, the city's founders were twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars, God of War, and Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin and daughter of the deposed king.

After being abandoned, the boys were suckled by a "she-wolf" according to the story, before being rescued by the god of the Tiber River and adopted by shepherds.
Images of the twins and the wolf have become the symbol of the city of Rome, found in art, design, and coinage for centuries.

Perhaps the most famous sculpture (picture number 1) is referred to as La Lupa Capitolina, "the Capitoline Wolf". Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC. The figures of Romulus and Remus were added in the 15th century AD by Antonio del Pollaiuolo. Some modern research, however, suggests that the she-wolf may be a Romanesque sculpture dating from the 13th century AD, maybe a copy of an Etruscan work.

Person.

English novelist and dramatist Henry Fielding, known for his earthy satire and wit, was born in Somerset England on April 22, 1707. He is regarded, along with Samuel Richardson, as a creator of the first traditional English novels. His most famous, Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews, are still read today and have been made into several movies and tv series. A new tv adaptation of Tom Jones will premiere on PBS in the US on April 30.

Fielding's mother died when he was 11, leading to a custody battle between his grandmother and his father, an Army General known as dashing and charming but personally irresponsible. His grandmother won, but he maintained a relationship with his father, who likely inspired the characters of Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews.

After first failing at a law practice, he began writing for the theatre and satire for The Spectator, one of Britain's first daily newspapers. His work was published under pseudonyms, and it often targeted Prime Minster Robert Walpole and his government. The PM responded by passing The Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737, which made it satire difficult to stage, and Fielding returned to law. A wealthy benefactor supplemented his meager income so that he could support his family.

He turned to novel writing in 1741 because he was jealous of Samuel Richardson's success with Pamela, considered the first English novel. Fielding's first novel was a parody called Shamela, which he followed with Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, among others. He died in Lisbon in 1754 while seeking a cure for gout, asthma, and cirrhosis of the liver.

Place.

English novelist and dramatist Henry Fielding, known for his earthy satire and wit, was born in Somerset England on April 22, 1707. He is regarded, along with Samuel Richardson, as a creator of the first traditional English novels. His most famous, Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews, are still read today and have been made into several movies and tv series. A new tv adaptation of Tom Jones will premiere on PBS in the US on April 30.

When his career as a playwright was cut short by laws prohibiting satirical attacks on Prime Minister Robert Walpole and his government, Fielding returned to the law and was admitted to the Middle Temple.

"The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London. As a liberty, it functions largely as an independent local government authority.

During the 12th and early 13th centuries the law was taught, in the City of London, primarily by the clergy. But a papal bull in 1218 prohibited the clergy from practicing in the secular courts (where the English common law system operated, as opposed to the Roman civil law favored by the Church). As a result, law began to be practiced and taught by laymen instead of by clerics. To protect their schools from competition, first Henry II and later Henry III issued proclamations prohibiting the teaching of the civil law within the City of London.The common law lawyers migrated to the hamlet of Holborn, as it was easy to get to the law courts at Westminster Hall and was just outside the City. They were based in guilds, which in time became the Inns of Court." (Wikipedia)

Thing.

English novelist and dramatist Henry Fielding, known for his earthy satire and wit, was born in Somerset England on April 22, 1707. He is regarded, along with Samuel Richardson, as a creator of the first traditional English novels. His most famous, Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews, are still read today and have been made into several movies and tv series. A new tv adaptation of Tom Jones will premiere on PBS in the US on April 30.

The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling was published in 1749 and is considered one of the first traditional English novels.

"Tom Jones, like its predecessor, Joseph Andrews, is constructed around a romance plot. Squire Allworthy suspects that the infant whom he adopts and names Tom Jones is the illegitimate child of his servant Jenny Jones. When Tom is a young man, he falls in love with Sophia Western, his beautiful and virtuous neighbour. In the end his true identity is revealed and he wins Sophia’s hand, but numerous obstacles have to be overcome before he achieves this, and in the course of the action the various sets of characters pursue each other from one part of the country to another, giving Fielding an opportunity to paint an incomparably vivid picture of England in the mid-18th century." (Encyclopedia Brittanica)

The "numerous obstacles" are a series of hilariously bawdy, earthy adventures and scandals that have continued to entertain audiences ever since.