Explore Orlando

Here, you’ll find randomized material from across the textbase’s author profiles and timelines. To jump to the content of your choice, click on its image card.

1879: Edwin Arnold published his life of the Buddha,...

Writer or writing item

1879

Edwin Arnold published his life of the Buddha , told in narrative verse, entitled Light of Asia.
Chaudhuri, Amit. “Two Giant Brothers”. London Review of Books, 20 Apr. 2006, pp. 27-30.
27

Summer 1520: Hernando Cortés, a Spanish soldier of fortune...

National or international item

Summer 1520

Hernando Cortés , a Spanish soldier of fortune sent out in command of an expedition to Yucatán in Mexico, began what was almost a chance conquest of the Aztec Empire.
Pagden, Anthony. “Great Expectations of Themselves”. London Review of Books, 17 Apr. 2003, pp. 32-3.
32

Lydia Howard Sigourney

LHS has been called the first professional woman poet of the USA.
Watts, Emily Stipes. The Poetry of American Women from 1632 to 1945. University of Texas Press, 1977.
90
Immensely prolific, she published more than sixty-five books (didactic, educational, biography, children's, and travel books as well as poetry), and stopped counting...
Lydia Howard Sigourney Full-length photograph of Lydia Howard Sigourney by Matthew Brady. She is seated on a wooden chair with wooden panelling behind her, wearing a dark jacket and hood with lace bonnet and collar, and a full, boldly checked skirt. She holds a handkerchief in her hands.

Florence Marryat

FM , who published about eighty books during the later nineteenth century, was primarily a novelist (known for fiction that plays about the borders of the supernatural, in spiritualist and vampire novels) and also a...
Florence Marryat Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of Florence Marryat. She is wearing a dark velvet dress with a square lace collar. Her hair is worn in a bun; earrings dangle from her ears, and a necklace is tied tightly around her neck with a black ribbon. She holds a fan against her chest. Her name appears below in capitals in the form "Miss Florence Marryatt".

13 June 1628: Dr John Lambe, cunning man or astrologer...

Building and people item

13 June 1628

Dr John Lambe , cunning man or astrologer and servant of the Duke of Buckingham , was beaten to death by a London mob as punishment for a rape.
Purkiss, Diane. The Witch in History: early modern and twentieth-century representations. Routledge, 1996.
147, 171

7 June 1837: The London Working Men's Association issued...

National or international item

7 June 1837

The London Working Men's Association issued a Six Point petition in conjunction with six Radical MPs.
Royle, Edward. Chartism. Longman, 1980.
19-20

Between 1988 and 1994: A crash in the British property market during...

Building and people item

Between 1988 and 1994

A crash in the British property market during this period caused the spread of negative equity. The drop in housing prices meant that the value of some homes was less than the amount owed...

1825: Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin published his...

Writer or writing item

1825

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin published his historical drama Boris Godunov.
Weinstock, Herbert, and Wallace Brockway. The World of Opera: The Story of its Origins and the Lore of its Performance. Pantheon Books, 1962.
283, 446
Vickery, Walter N. Alexander Pushkin. Revised ed., Twayne, 1992.
52
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

20 January 1945: The first Russian troops entered Germany...

National or international item

20 January 1945

The first Russian troops entered Germany.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
211
Keegan, John. The Second World War. Viking, 1990.
511-12

31 March 1829: Pius VIII was chosen Pope after the death...

Building and people item

31 March 1829

Pius VIII was chosen Pope after the death of Leo XII .
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
1094
Bury, John Bagnell, and Frederick Clifton Grant. History of the Papacy in the Nineteenth Century: Liberty and Authority in the Roman Catholic Church. Editor Murray, Robert Henry, Augmented edition, Schocken Books, 1964.
vi

November 1894: Walter Arnold imported the first Benz car...

Building and people item

November 1894

Walter Arnold imported the first Benz car into England and manufactured the first English cars at East Peckham, Kent, based on Benz's model.
Harris, Melvin. ITN Book of Firsts. Michael O’Mara Books, 1994.
17
Richardson, Kenneth, and C. N. O’Gallagher. The British Motor Industry 1896-1939. Macmillan, 1977.
60

By 4 August 1866: Algernon Charles Swinburne published his...

Writer or writing item

By 4 August 1866

Algernon Charles Swinburne published his first series of Poems and Ballads; it included Dolores.
Wise, Thomas J. A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of Algernon Charles Swinburne. Dawsons, 1966.
I: 107-11, 281, 411
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
35
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.

Early 1975: Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company was founded...

Building and people item

Early 1975

Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company was founded as a result of plans by a London co-operative community arts resource centre, Inter-Action , for a season of gay plays to follow their successful women's season.
“Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company”. AIM25: Royal Holloway College, University of London.

1828: The Tower of London armouries opened. These...

Building and people item

1828

The Tower of London armouries opened. These displays of medieval armor and weapons attracted up to 40,000 visitors a year after the opening, indicating the extent of the interest in the Middle Ages.
Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. Men Among the Mammoths: Victorian Science and the Discovery of Human Prehistory. University of Chicago Press, 1993.
23
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.

1874: As M. C., Catherine Martin (an Australian...

Women writers item

1874

As M. C., Catherine Martin (an Australian born on the Island of Skye) published her first book, titled The Explorers, and Other Poems.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.

13 April 1943: Berlin Radio reported that German soldiers...

National or international item

13 April 1943

Berlin Radio reported that German soldiers had found 4,500 executed Polish officers buried at Katyn near Smolensk.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
146
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
107, 468
In the words of historian Charles Messenger : Although the Russians have not as...

22 June 2010: George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer...

National or international item

22 June 2010

George Osborne , Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain's coalition government, announced a budget of unprecedented stringency to tackle unprecedented debt.
“Sunday Times”. The Sunday Times Magazine, 26 Dec. 2010, pp. 22-50.
31, 30

17 March 1722: Daniel Defoe published A Journal of the Plague...

Building and people item

17 March 1722

Daniel Defoe published A Journal of the Plague Year (set during the plague which began in April 1665).
Moore, John Robert. A Checklist of the Writings of Daniel Defoe. Indiana University Press, 1960.
182

Later 1914: After responding in kind to the German declaration...

National or international item

Later 1914

After responding in kind to the German declaration of war, Britain initiated a blockade of German ports, cutting off access to natural resources such as food, textiles, coal, and iron.
Scheck, Raffael. “Feature Articles: German Responsibility for the Outbreak of the War”. First World War.com: The War to End All Wars.
“World War I: Neutral Rights and Submarine Warfare”. U-S-History.com.
“The Blockade of Germany”. The National Archives (UK): The First World War 1914-18: Spotlights on History.

1948: Joan Sutherland published The High Hills,...

Women writers item

1948

Joan Sutherland published The High Hills, a novel that figures Nazi anti-Semitism in the background.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

4 May 1886: A riot began at Haymarket Square, Chicago,...

National or international item

4 May 1886

A riot began at Haymarket Square, Chicago, when a bomb was thrown into a group of policemen who arrived to disperse a labour demonstration.
Suskind, Richard. By Bullet, Bomb and Dagger. Macmillan, 1971.
1-15

1883: The Princess of Wales assumed a role of leadership...

National or international item

1883

The Princess of Wales assumed a role of leadership in English fashion, by preventing the return of the crinoline, and maintaining the current small bonnet despite opposing practice in France.
Adburgham, Alison. A Punch History of Manners and Modes 1841-1940. Hutchinson, 1961.
135

10 December 1932: Sir Charles Scott Sherrington and Lord (Edgar...

National or international item

10 December 1932

Sir Charles Scott Sherrington and Lord (Edgar Douglas) Adrian from Great Britain were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the functions of neurons.
Schlessinger, Bernard S., and June H. Schlessinger. The Who’s Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-1995. 3rd ed., Oryx Press, 1996.
Nobel Prize in Literature. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/.

May 1953: The British submarine Andrew made its first...

National or international item

May 1953

The British submarine Andrew made its first underwater crossing of the English Channel.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
264