Birthdays
1766
Robert Bloomfield - English writer
"E'en drunken Andrew felt the blow
That innocence can give,
When its resistless accents flow
To bid affection live. "
That innocence can give,
When its resistless accents flow
To bid affection live. "
1948
Ozzy Osborne - English singer
"I bit the head off a live bat the other night. It was like eating a Crunchie wrapped in chamois leather."
Ozzy Osborn:
ReplyDeleteBirth Name
John Michael Osbourne
Nicknames
The Great Ozz
The Wizard of Ozz
The Madman
The Godfather of Heavy Metal
The Prince of Darkness
The Blizzard of oz
Robert Bloomfield (1766-1823) was the most successful of the self-taught 'peasant poets' of the Romantic period. His first book, The Farmer's Boy (1800), sold 26,000 copies and went through seven editions within three years of publication. Admired by Wordsworth and John Clare, who called Bloomfield 'our English Theocritus', Bloomfield's poetry fell out of favour in the twentieth-century, though recent years have seen a revival of popular and academic interest in his life and works.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that eccentric English musician Ozzy Osbourne fronted the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. In 2001, he opened his home to reality TV cameras for The Osbournes show. Osbourne left the group in 1978, at the height of Black Sabbath's popularity, to pursue a solo career. Unlike many headlining artists who leave the groups that made them famous only to disappear into obscurity, Osbourne's solo debut, Blizzard of Ozz (1980), was a resounding commercial success. His Diary of a Madman (1981) followed suit.
ReplyDeleteThe Robert Bloomfield Society aims to serve admirers of this remarkable and unjustly neglected poet through promoting awareness of his life and work. It acts as a focus for anyone who may have a local, family, academic or general literary interest in the poet. Membership entitles you to participate in the events that the Society organises and to receive its Newsletter.
ReplyDeleteThe Society holds an annual Bloomfield Day at which the wide range of his writings and other interests is explored, as well as his historical and social background. At this event the opportunity is also taken to review the year’s activities and the Society’s future plans.
In addition, each year they organise at least one social event, usually involving a visit to locations identified with Bloomfield. In past years they have toured Bloomfield’s Suffolk, the Bedfordshire locations where he spent his latter days, and visited the British Library for an introduction to their extensive Robert Bloomfield holdings. In 2007 they paid a commemorative visit to the Wye Valley, which Robert toured 200 years earlier, recording his experiences in his poem The Banks of Wye.
Ozzy Osbourne, shares the 25 things you don't know about him:
ReplyDelete1. I hate being late.
2. I'm not much of a cook, but I make the best french fries.
3. I can't stand getting into arguments or being around people who argue all the time.
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4. I like to shower at least twice a day.
5. I detest anchovies.
6. I love the music of Johnny Cash.
7. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac.
8. My favorite movie is Monty Python's Life of Brian.
9. I've never ever watched myself on The Osbournes.
10. Boats are my least favorite form of transportation.
11. My guilty pleasure is flying by private plane.
12. I do not enjoy shopping with Sharon.
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13. I resisted getting an iPod for years, but now I don't know what I'd do without one.
14. Sometimes I wish I could have alcohol, but I know that's no longer an option for me.
15. I cannot stand organized religion.
16. I love black licorice.
17. I'm addicted to exercise since I hate feeling overweight.
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18. I have more women friends than men friends.
19. I recorded my last two albums in my home studio.
20. I'm fascinated by conspiracy theories.
21. I spend most of my free time painting.
22. I love my dogs more than I like most people.
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23. My favorite city is Portofino, Italy.
24. My son, Jack, has been filming a documentary about me for the last two years.
25. Most people find it hard to believe, but I suffer from terrible stage fright.
Robert Bloomfield wrote much in iambic pentameter couplets. His verse is dense and very vigorous. His work served as an inspiration to John Clare, who began publishing his own rural poetry in 1820 and praised Bloomfield’s highly. Robert’s brother, Nathaniel, also published a collection of poetry in 1803, An Essay on War, in Blank Verse, and Other Poems.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Conrad (1857 –1924) was a Polish author who wrote in English, after settling in England. He was granted British nationality at age 28 in 1886. His best works, from which films were later adapted, include Almayer's Folly, An Outcast of the Islands, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, The Duel, Victory, The Shadow Line, and The Rover. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many authors, including D. H. Lawrence, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Graham Greene, Malcolm Lowry, William Golding and many other celebrated writers.
ReplyDeleteSir Rowland Hill KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of penny postage and his solution of prepayment, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters. Hill later served as a government postal official, and he is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the postage stamp.
ReplyDeleteRowland Hill first started to take a serious interest in postal reforms in 1835. In 1836 Robert Wallace, MP, provided Hill with numerous books and documents, which Hill described as a "half hundred weight of material". Hill commenced a detailed study of these documents and this led him to the publication, in early 1837, of a pamphlet entitled "Post Office Reform its Importance and Practicability". He submitted a copy of this to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Thomas Spring-Rice, on 4 January 1837. This first edition was marked "private and confidential" and was not released to the general public. The Chancellor summoned Hill to a meeting during which the Chancellor suggested improvements, asked for reconsiderations and requested a supplement which Hill duly produced and supplied on 28 January 1837.
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