Posts Tagged ‘England’
There *will* always be an England…
From Offbeat Earth:
As both books and classic red phone booths are becoming a thing of the past, a village in Somerset, England has merged the two rare commodities.
The bright red old phone booth was purchased for just 1 pound and remodeled as the smallest library in the world. Residents line up to swap their already read books for new ones left by other patrons. Over 100 books and a variety of movies and music CDs are available at this tiny library.
As we cull our collections, we might recall that, though teaching is known to have been done there since 1096, it was on this date in 1214 that the University of Oxford received its charter (and the head of the University, until then “magister scolarum Oxonie,” became the Chancellor). The document, delivered buy a Papal Legate to end a dispute between the school and the town, legitimized the institution, provided for the appointment of the Chancellor, and commanded the town to feast a hundred poor scholars annually.
The Charter (replete with Papal seal)
Source: Oxford University Archives
Happy Father’s Day!
Meetings with Remarkable Men…
The Edgerton Digital Collections project celebrates the spirit of a great pioneer, Harold “Doc” Edgerton, inventor, entrepreneur, explorer and beloved MIT professor– a site for all who share Doc Edgerton’s philosophy of “Work hard. Tell everyone everything you know. Close a deal with a handshake. Have fun!”
The Edgerton Digital Collections are worth a visit for a variety of reasons; Doc Edgerton’s life was remarkable; his work, extraordinarily impactful– and his story, full of resonant lessons. But if for no other reason, readers should click through to see the collection of photographs taken with the strobe technology that Edgerton pioneered; e.g.,
As we marvel at motion stopped, we might curtsy in the general direction of London, as it was on this date in 1559 that, two months after the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I of England, Elizabeth Tudor, the 25-year-old daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was crowned Queen Elizabeth I at Westminster Abbey in London. The Virgin Queen presided over the accession of England to primacy as a global power, ruling until her death in 1603. (As readers may recall, while this is the anniversary of Elizabeth’s coronation, she actually acceded to power two months earlier, on Mary’s death.)
Attention, Frank Norris…
John Bull (England) as an octopus of imperialism (American cartoon,1888); source: HistoryMike
For more images of this provocative sort (and discussion thereof), see Vulgar Army, “an informal study into the use of the Octopus as an (often unreflective) metaphor in propaganda and political cartoons, and [of] the intersection of the political with popular culture.”
As we contemplate the role of cephalopods in civic discourse, we might doff our hats to Elizabethan poet, courtier, and soldier Sir Philip Sidney, who died on this date in 1586 of an infected thigh wound received in combat with the Spanish at the Battle of Zutphen, after having given his leg armor to a soldier who had forgotten his own. As he lay dying, he gave his water-bottle to another wounded soldier, saying, “Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.” Sidney’s Arcadia (or more fully, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia)– the inspiration for the Gloucester sub-plot in Shakespeare’s King Lear-– was published posthumously.
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Book ’em, Danno…
Bulgarian designer Mladen Penev reminds us that books engage us in uniquely powerful ways. See the photo essay in full at Toxel.com.
As we renew our library cards, we might recall that it was on this date in 1694 that a Royal Charter was granted to The Governor and Company of the Bank of England– known today simply as “the Bank of England.” Scotsman William Paterson syndicated a £1.2 million loan to the then pecuniarily-challenged British government, in return for which he and his shareholders received the Charter, extending (among other privileges) the right to issue bank notes. Within a century, the Bank of England had become manager of the National Debt, “the banks of banks” in England– and the model on which most large central banks have been based.
B of E’s Threadneedle Street headquarters
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