1.
Charles Cotton
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He was born in Alstonefield, Staffordshire, at Beresford Hall, near the Derbyshire Peak District. His father, Charles Cotton the Elder, was a friend of Ben Jonson, John Selden, Sir Henry Wotton, the son was apparently not sent to university, but was tutored by Ralph Rawson, one of the fellows ejected from Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1648. Cotton travelled in France and perhaps in Italy, and at the age of twenty-eight he succeeded to an estate greatly encumbered by lawsuits during his fathers lifetime. Like many Royalist gentlemen after the English Civil War the rest of his life was spent chiefly in quiet country pursuits, in Cottons case in the Peak District and his Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque states that he held a Captains commission and served in Ireland. His friendship with Izaak Walton began about 1655, and contradicts any assumptions about Cottons character based on his coarse burlesques of Virgil, waltons initials, made into a cipher with Cottons own, were placed over the door of Cottons fishing cottage on the Dove near Hartington. Another addition to the volume was Cottons well-known poem The Retirement, in 1656 he married his cousin Isabella Hutchinson, the daughter of Charles Hutchinson, M. P. for Nottingham. She was a half-sister of Col. John Hutchinson, They had one child, Catherine Cotton, at the request of his wifes sister, Miss Stanhope Hutchinson, he undertook the translation of Pierre Corneilles Horace in 1671. In 1675, he married the dowager Countess of Ardglass, she had a jointure of £1500 a year, hoyles Games Complete in 1750, which outsold Cottons then-obsolete work. At Cottons death in 1687 he was insolvent and left his estates to his creditors and he was buried in St Jamess Church, Piccadilly, on 16 February 1687. Cottons reputation as a writer may account for the neglect with which the rest of his poems have been treated. Their excellence was not, however, overlooked by good critics, coleridge praises the purity and unaffectedness of his style in Biographia Literaria, and Wordsworth gave a copious quotation from the Ode to Winter. The Retirement is printed by Walton in the part of the Compleat Angler. He was a Derbyshire man who loved the Peak District and wrote a long poem describing it, his father had moved there from the south of England. In Cottons day, in the decades after the Civil War, the opening chapters of his section of the Compleat Angler draw Cotton and his friend across a savage and mountainous landscape. The friend, who will be taught fly-fishing, expresses doubt as to whether they are still in Christendom, What do I think. Why, I think it is the steepest place that ever sure men and horses went down, and that, if there be any safety at all, after he picked his way down, they reach a bridge. Travel with wheelbarrows in this country he asks, because this bridge certainly was made for nothing else, why, a mouse can hardly go over it, it is not two fingers broad. They come at length to the valley in which stands Cottons house
2.
Billiard ball
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A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the game being played. Various particular ball properties such as hardness, friction coefficient and resilience are important to accuracy, early balls were made of various materials, including wood and clay. The billiard industry realized that the supply of elephants was endangered, inventors were challenged to come up with an alternative material that could be manufactured, with a US$10,000 prize being offered by a New York supplier, Phelan and Collender. Although not the first artificial substance to be used for the balls and it is unclear if the cash prize was ever awarded, and there is no evidence suggesting he did in fact win it. By 1870 it was commercially branded Celluloid, the first industrial plastic, unfortunately, the nature of celluloid made it volatile in production, occasionally exploding, which ultimately made this early plastic impractical. Urban legend has it that celluloid billiard balls themselves would occasionally explode during rough play, the exacting requirements of the billiard ball are met today with balls cast from plastic materials that are strongly resistant to cracking and chipping. Currently Saluc, under the brand names Aramith and Brunswick Centennial, other plastics and resins such as polyester and clear acrylic are also used, by competing companies such as Elephant Balls Ltd. and Frenzy Sports. Ivory balls remained in use in artistic billiards competition until the late 20th century, the predominantly Asian game four-ball uses four balls. Carom balls are not numbered, and at 61–61.5 mm in diameter are larger than pool balls, the 61.5 mm size are more common. In North America, they are referred to simply as billiard balls. According to WPA/BCA equipment specifications, the weight may be from 5.5 to 6 oz with a diameter of 2.250 inch and these are often referred to as 2 1⁄4 inch balls. Balls 1 through 7 are often referred to as solids and 9 through 15 as stripes though there are many colloquial terms for each suit of balls. Though it looks similar to the solids, the 8 ball is not considered a solid because it is the ball that is black. Some games such as nine-ball do not distinguish between stripes and solids, but rather use the numbering on the balls to determine which object ball must be pocketed, in other games such as three-ball and straight pool neither type of marking is of any consequence. In eight-ball, straight pool, and related games, all sixteen balls are employed, in the games of seven-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball and related, only object balls 1 through 7,9 and 10, respectively are used. Some balls used in televised games are colored differently in order to make them distinguishable on television monitors. The TV is also the genesis of the cue ball with numerous spots on its surface so that spin placed on it is evident to viewers
3.
Billiard table
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A billiard table, billiards table, or pool table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games are played. More specific terms are used for sports, such as snooker table and pool table. An obsolete term is billiard board, used in the 16th and 17th centuries, cushions are located on the inner sides of a tables wooden rails. There are several different materials and design associated with cushion rubber. The cushions are made from a material such as vulcanized rubber. The chiefly American jargon rails more properly applies to the outer segments of the table to which the cushions are affixed. The purpose of the rubber is to cause the billiard balls to rebound off the rubber while minimizing the loss of kinetic energy. When installed properly the distance from the nose of the cushion to the slate surface is 1 7⁄16 while using a regulation 2 1⁄4 ball set. The profile of the cushion, which is the cushions angle in relation to the bed of the table. The standard on American pool tables is the K-66 profile, which as defined by the BCA has a base of 1 3⁄16 inches and this causes the balls rebound to be somewhat predictable during game play. On a carom table, the K-55 profile is used, K-55 cushions have cloth, usually canvas, vulcanized into the top of the rubber to adjust rebound accuracy and speed. Finally, snooker tables may use an L-shaped profile, such as the L77 profile and this is mostly because snooker uses balls of a smaller diameter and smaller pocket entrances than pool does. The bed – the cloth-covered horizontal playing surface – is, on good-quality equipment, made of solid, finely ground slabs of slate, most often from Italy, Brazil or China. Small pool tables may use one or two pieces of slate, while carom, English billiards and tournament-size pool tables use three. The gap between slates is filled with a putty, epoxy or resin, then sanded to produce a seamless surface. When several pieces of slate are joined poorly it is possible for the resin to deform and cause an uneven playing surface, tables for the home market usually use slate beds as well, but the slate is often thinner, down to about 1⁄2 inch. The early table beds were made of cloth-covered wooden boards, billiard cloth is a specific type of cloth that covers the top of the tables playing area. Both the rails and slate beds are covered with 21–24 ounce billiard cloth which is most often green in color, most bar tables, which get lots of play, use the slower, thicker blended felt because it is cheaper
4.
Cue stick
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A cue stick, is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the cue ball, cues are tapered sticks, typically about 57–59 inches long and usually between 16 and 21 ounces, with professionals gravitating toward a 19-ounce average. Cues for carom tend toward the shorter range, though cue length is primarily a factor of player height, most cues are made of wood, but occasionally the wood is covered or bonded with other materials including graphite, carbon fiber or fiberglass. An obsolete term for a cue, used from the 16th to early 19th centuries, is billiard stick. The forerunner of the cue was the mace, an implement similar to a golf club. When the ball was frozen against a rail cushion, use of the mace was difficult, in public billiard rooms only skilled players were allowed to use the cue, because the fragile cloth could be torn by novices. The idea of the cue initially was to try to strike the cue-ball as centrally as possible to avoid a miscue. The concept of spin on the cue ball was discovered before cue-tips had been invented, françois Mingaud was studying the game of billiards while being held in Paris as a political prisoner, and experimented with a leather cue tip. In 1807, he was released and demonstrated his invention, Mingaud is also credited with the discovery that by raising the cue vertically, to the position adopted by the mace, he could perform what is now known as a massé shot. In pre-tip days, it was common for players to twist the ends of their cue into a wall or ceiling so that a chalk-like deposit would form on the end. The first systematic marketing of chalk was by John Carr, a marker in John Bartleys billiard rooms in Bath, between Carr and Bartley, it was discovered how side could be used to the advantage of players, and Carr began selling chalk in small boxes. He called it twisting powder, and the impression this gave the public enabled him to sell it for a higher price than if they realized it was simply chalk in a small box. English, an American term for sidespin, derives from the British discovery of sidespins effects, pool and snooker cues average around 57–59 inches in length and are of three major types. The simplest type is a cue, these are generally stocked in pool halls for communal use. They have a taper, meaning they decrease in diameter evenly from the end or butt to the tip. A second type is the cue, divided in the middle for ease of transport. A third variety is another two-piece cue, but with a joint located three-quarters down the cue, known as a three-quarter two-piece, used by snooker players. A typical two-piece cue for pocket billiards is usually made mostly of hardrock maple, with a fiberglass or phenolic resin ferrule, usually 0.75 to 1 inch long, and steel joint collars and pin
5.
Billiard room
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A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table. The term billiard room is also used as synonymous with billiard hall i. e. a business providing public access to hourly-rental or coin-operated billiard tables. The billiard room room may be in the center of the house or the private areas of the house. Billiard rooms require proper lighting and clearances for game playing, although there are adjustable cue sticks on the market,5 feet of clearance around the pool table is ideal. Interior designer Charlotte Moss believed that a room is synonymous with group dynamics. Its where you mix drinks and embark on a friendly competition. Billiards probably developed from one of the century or early-15th century lawn games in which players hit balls with sticks. The earliest mention of pool as a table game is in a 1470 inventory list of the accounts of King Louis XI of France. Following the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, billiard rooms were added to some famous 18th century cafes in Paris, although billiards had long been enjoyed by both men and women, a trend towards male suites developed in 19th century Great Britain. These male suites paired billiard rooms with smoking rooms and sometimes libraries, one example of these male suites is Castle Carr near Halifax. By the turn of the century, billiard rooms were considered a feature in great British houses with House Beautiful claiming Up-to-date owners of English estates have installed billiard rooms. Many mid- and late-19th century billiard rooms were designed in an Oriental or Moorish style, mark Twains billiard room in Hartford, CT was decorated with quasi-Moorish stencils. The late 19th and early 20th century represent the billiard rooms heyday
6.
Baize
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Baize is a coarse woollen cloth. A mid-17th century English ditty —much quoted in histories of ale and beer brewing in England—refers to 1525 as the year, Hops, heresies, bays, heresies refers to the Protestant Reformation, while bays is the Elizabethan spelling for baize. It is also found as a surface, particularly on 19th century pedestal desks. The surface finish of baize is not very fine, Baize is available with and without a perceptible nap. Snooker, in understanding of the effects of the nap is part of the game, uses the nappy variety, while pool. Table baize is available in grades, with pool halls preferring smooth, fast worsted woollen baize, while rather more fuzzy. For gaming use, baize is traditionally dyed green, in mimicry of a lawn, hence the phrase the green baize. Today, a variety of colours are now used for tables. Lets get the boys on the baize. has been a catchphrase of BBC TV snooker presenter Rob Walker since 2008. At one time, the green door in a house separated the servants quarters from the familys living quarters. Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire Media related to Baize at Wikimedia Commons Baize
7.
Glossary of cue sports terms
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There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The terms American or US as applied here refer generally to North American usage, similarly, British terms predominate in the world of snooker, English billiards and blackball, regardless of the players nationalities. The term blackball is used in this glossary to refer to both blackball and eight-ball pool as played in the Commonwealth, as a shorthand, 1-cushion See the Straight rail billiards main article for the game sometimes called one-cushion. 1-pocket See the One-pocket main article for the game, 3-ball See the Three-ball main article for the game. 3-cushion See the Three-cushion billiards main article for the game, 4-ball See the Yotsudama main article for the modern Asian game often called four-ball. See the American four-ball billiards main article for the nineteenth-century game, 5-pins See the Five-pin billiards main article for the formerly Italian, now internationally standardized game, or Danish pin billiards for the five-pin traditional game of Denmark. 6-ball See the Nine-ball#Six-ball sub-article for the game, 8-ball See the Eight-ball main article for the game. See the 8 ball entry, under the E section below, See 8 ball for derivative uses. 9-ball See the Nine-ball main article for the game, See the 9 ball entry, under the N section below, for the ball. 9-pins See the Goriziana main article for the game sometimes called nine-pins, 10-ball See the Ten-ball main article for the game. Above Used in snooker in reference to the position of the cue ball and it is above the object ball if it is off-straight on the baulk cushion side of the imaginary line for a straight pot. It is also common to use the term high instead, gambling or the potential for gambling. Lively results on a ball, usually the cue ball, from the application of spin, added Used with an amount to signify money added to a tournament prize fund in addition to the amount accumulated from entry fees. A match format in which a player has to establish a lead of a number of frames in order to win. Aiming line An imaginary line drawn from the path an object ball is to be sent. Anchor To freeze a ball to a cushion, such a ball may be said to be anchored and this term is largely obsolete balkline billiards jargon. Anchor nurse A type of shot used in carom billiards games. It developed to curtail the effectiveness of the nurse, which in turn had been invented to thwart the effectiveness of Parkers box in stopping long
8.
Australian English
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Australian English is a major variety of the English language, used throughout Australia. Although English has no status in the Constitution, Australian English is the countrys de facto official language and is the first language of the majority of the population. Australian English began to diverge from British English after the founding of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788 and was recognised as being different from British English by 1820. It arose from the intermingling of early settlers from a variety of mutually intelligible dialectal regions of the British Isles. Australian English differs from other varieties of English in vocabulary, accent, pronunciation, register, grammar, the earliest form of Australian English was first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the colony of New South Wales. This first generation of children created a new dialect that was to become the language of the nation, the Australian-born children in the new colony were exposed to a wide range of dialects from all over the British Isles, in particular from Ireland and South East England. The native-born children of the created the new dialect from the speech they heard around them. Even when new settlers arrived, this new dialect was strong enough to blunt other patterns of speech, a quarter of the convicts were Irish. Many had been arrested in Ireland, and some in Great Britain, many, if not most, of the Irish spoke Irish and either no English at all, or spoke it poorly and rarely. There were other significant populations of convicts from non-English speaking part of Britain, such as the Scottish Highlands, anthony Burgess writes that Australian English may be thought of as a kind of fossilised Cockney of the Dickensian era. According to linguist Bruce Moore, the input of the various sounds that went into constructing the Australian accent was from south-east England. Some elements of Aboriginal languages have adopted by Australian English—mainly as names for places, flora and fauna. Many such are localised, and do not form part of general Australian use, while others, such as kangaroo, boomerang, budgerigar, wallaby, other examples are cooee and hard yakka. The former is used as a call, for attracting attention. Cooee is also a distance, if hes within cooee. Hard yakka means hard work and is derived from yakka, from the Jagera/Yagara language once spoken in the Brisbane region, also of Aboriginal origin is the word bung, from the Sydney pidgin English, meaning dead, with some extension to broken or useless. Many towns or suburbs of Australia have also influenced or named after Aboriginal words. The best-known example is the capital, Canberra, named after a local word meaning meeting place
9.
English billiards
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English billiards, called simply billiards in Great Britain, where it originated, and in many former British colonies such as Australia, is a cue sport for two players or teams. Two cue balls and a red object ball are used, each player or team uses a different cue ball. It is played on a table with the same dimensions as a snooker table and points are scored for cannons. English billiards has also, but less frequently, been referred to as the English game, the all-in game, the winning game was played with two white balls, and was a 12-point contest. To start, the player who could strike a ball at one end of the table and this is the origin of the modern custom of stringing. A player who pocketed the opponents ball scored two points, as is still the case in modern billiards and these rules continued to exist in English billiards until 1983, when a standard two points for all fouls was introduced. By contrast, in the game a player could only score by pocketing the cue ball through a carom off the opponents ball. Winning hazard and losing hazard are terms still mentioned in the rules for these two fundamental shot types, although pot and in-off have become the usual terms for them in British English. The final element was the shot, which came from carom or carambole billiards. In the 1700s, the game added a red object ball to the two white cue balls, and dispensed with the pockets. This ball was adopted into the English game, which retained the pockets, one period advertisement read, A very good French Billiard Table, little the worse for wearing, full size, with all the materials fit for French or English play. The three ancestral games had their British heyday in the 1770s, but had combined into English billiards, with a 16-point score total, the skill required in playing these games helped retire the billiard mace in favour of the cue. There are a number of billiard games directly descended from English billiards, including bull dog, scratch pool, thirty-one pool. The last of these rise to the more well-known game cowboy pool. English Billiards was virtually unknown in the United States until 1913, by 1915 the game had become rather popular, prompting American billiard hall proprietors of the period to increase the number of English-style tables in their establishments. The game remains popular in the UK, although it has been eclipsed by snooker. The first governing body of the game, the English Billiards Association, was formed in the UK in 1885, by the mid-20th century, the principal sanctioning body was the Billiards Association and Control Council. In the 19th century and up through the mid-1950s, a way for championship titles to change hands was by a challenge match
10.
Canadian English
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Canadian English is the set of varieties of the English language native to Canada. A larger number,28 million people, reported using English as their dominant language, 82% of Canadians outside the province of Quebec reported speaking English natively, but within Quebec the figure was just 7. 7% as most of its residents are native speakers of Quebec French. Canadian English contains elements of British English and American English, as well as many Canadianisms, the construction of identities and English-language varieties across political borders is a complex social phenomenon. The term Canadian English is first attested in a speech by the Reverend A. Constable Geikie in an address to the Canadian Institute in 1857, Canadian English is the product of five waves of immigration and settlement over a period of more than two centuries. Studies on earlier forms of English in Canada are rare, yet connections with other work to historical linguistics can be forged, an overview of diachronic work on Canadian English, or diachronically-relevant work, is Dollinger. Until the 2000s, basically all commentators on the history of CanE have argued from the language-external history, an exception has been in the area of lexis, where Avis et als Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, offered real-time historical data though its quotations. Recently, historical linguists have started to study earlier Canadian English on historical linguistic data, dCHP-1 is now available in open access. )Most notably, Dollinger pioneered the historical corpus linguistic approach for English in Canada with CONTE and offers a developmental scenario for 18th and 19th century Ontario. Recently, Reuter, with a 19th-century newspaper corpus from Ontario, has confirmed the scenario laid out in Dollinger, Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American conventions. Words such as realize and paralyze are usually spelled with -ize or -yze rather than -ise or -yse, french-derived words that in American English end with -or and -er, such as color or center, often retain British spellings. While the United States uses the Anglo-French spelling defense and offense, some nouns, as in British English, take -ice while matching verbs take -ise – for example, practice and licence are nouns while practise and license are the respective corresponding verbs. Canadian spelling sometimes retains the British practice of doubling consonants when adding suffixes to words even when the syllable is not stressed. Compare Canadian travelled, counselling, and marvellous to American traveled, counseling, in American English, such consonants are only doubled when stressed, thus, for instance, controllable and enthralling are universal. In other cases, Canadians and Americans differ from British spelling, such as in the case of nouns like curb and tire, Canadian spelling conventions can be partly explained by Canadas trade history. For instance, the British spelling of the word cheque probably relates to Canadas once-important ties to British financial institutions, Canadas political history has also had an influence on Canadian spelling. Canadas first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, once directed the Governor General of Canada to issue an order-in-council directing that government papers be written in the British style, a contemporary reference for formal Canadian spelling is the spelling used for Hansard transcripts of the Parliament of Canada. Many Canadian editors, though, use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, often along with the chapter on spelling in Editing Canadian English, and, throughout part of the 20th century, some Canadian newspapers adopted American spellings, for example, color as opposed to the British-based colour. Some of the most substantial historical spelling data can be found in Dollinger, the use of such spellings was the long-standing practice of the Canadian Press perhaps since that news agencys inception, but visibly the norm prior to World War II. The practice of dropping the letter u in such words was also considered a labour-saving technique during the days of printing in which movable type was set manually
11.
Carom billiards
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In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score points or counts by caroming ones own cue ball off both the opponents cue ball and the object ball on a single shot. The invention as well as the date of origin of carom billiards is somewhat obscure but is thought to be traceable to 18th-century France. There is an array of carom billiards disciplines. Some of the more prevalent today and historically are, straight rail, cushion caroms, balkline, three-cushion billiards, the word carom, which simply means any strike and rebound, was in use in reference to billiards by at least 1779, sometimes spelled carrom. It has been pegged variously as a shortening of the Spanish and Portuguese word carambola, or the French word carambole, which are used to describe the red object ball. Some etymologists have suggested that carambola, in turn, was derived from a yellow-to-orange, tropical Asian fruit also known in Portuguese as a carambola, also known as star fruit. But this may simply be folk etymology, as the fruit bears no resemblance to a billiard ball, in modern French, the word carambolage means successive collision, currently used mainly in reference to carom or cannon shots in billiards, and to multiple-vehicle car crashes). Cloth has been used to cover billiards tables since the 15th century, the predecessor company of the most famous maker of billiard cloth, Iwan Simonis, was formed in 1453. The green color of cloth was chosen to emulate the look of grass. Modern billiard balls are made from highly resilient plastics with a diameter of 61.5 millimetres. They are significantly larger and heavier than their pocket billiards counterparts, the three standard balls in most carom billiards games consist of a completely white cue ball, a second cue ball with typically a red or black dot on it, and a third, red ball. In some sets of balls, however, the cue ball is solid yellow. Both types of sets are permitted in tournament play. Billiard balls have been made many different materials throughout the history of the game, including clay, wood, ivory, plastics. The dominant material from 1627 until the early- to mid-20th century was ivory, the search for a substitute for ivory use was not for environmental concerns but based on economic motivation and fear of danger for elephant hunters. It was in part spurred on by a New York billiard table manufacturer who announced a prize of $10,000 for a substitute material. The first viable substitute was celluloid billiard balls, invented by John Wesley Hyatt in 1868, carom billiard cues have specialized refinements making them different from the typical pool cue with which many people are more familiar. Typical cues are 140–140 cm in length and 470–520 g in weight—lighter for straight rail, the specialization makes the cue significantly stiffer, which aids in handling the larger and heavier billiard balls as compared with pool cues
12.
Balkline and straight rail
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Such balk spaces define areas of the table surface in which a player may only score up to a threshold number of points while the object balls are within that region. Straight rail, unlike the games, had no balk space restrictions. The object of the game is simple, one point, called a count, is scored each time a players cue ball contact with both object balls on a single stroke. A win is achieved by reaching an agreed number of counts. Carom billiards players of the era may find it surprising that balkline ever became necessary given the considerable difficulty of straight rail. Nevertheless, according to Mike Shamos, curator of the U. S. Billiard Archive and it was known as French caroms, French billiards, or the French game in early times, taking those bygone names from the French who popularized it. The derivation of the straight rail is not clear. An early mention appears in the March 23,1881 edition of The New York Times wherein it is referred to as the straight rail game, in 1855, the first public stakes straight rail match in the U. S. took place in San Francisco. The contestants, Michael Phelan and a Monsieur Damon of Paris battled for seven hours, a technique soon developed, known as crotching, which vastly increased counts. The crotch refers to the space near the corner of a table where the rails meet, by moving the two object balls into the crotch, a player could endlessly score off of them, all the while keeping them immobilized in that corner. Crotching was quickly banned in 1862, the no crotching rule is still in place in the official rules for straight rail promulgated by the Billiard Congress of America, the governing body of billiards in the United States. Straight rail became more popular and skill in the game increased commensurately. A gather shot is one in which the intent is to bring the cue ball and object balls together, there are many types of nurses, including the chuck nurse, pass nurse, Dions nurse, edge nurse, rail nurse, and others. There is great skill and technique involved in maintaining a nurse, at the U. S. straight rail professional tournament held in 1879, Jacob Schaefer, Sr. scored 690 points in a single inning at the table. With the balls barely moving and repetitively hit, there was little for the fans to watch, Schaefer was quickly hailed as the wizard. Billiards officials, recognizing that Schaefer was a performer in nursing. This marked the demise of professional straight rail in the U. S. which only had a six year run from 1873 to 1879, meanwhile, straight rail professional play continued in Europe, with high run counts consistently climbing. Frenchman Maurice Vignaux posted a 1,531 count in Paris in 1880, later runs of over 10,000, in addition to the one previously noted, have been accurately reported
13.
Cushion caroms
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The name of the game is taken from the pre-existing shot. In a cushion carom shot, the cue ball caroms off of both object balls with at least one rail being struck before the hit on the object ball. The object of the game is to score up to an agreed number of cushion caroms. If no object ball is contacted, one point is deducted, if there is ambiguity as to whether the second ball was contacted, it is resolved in favor of the shooter. This was a result of the nurse, a shot in which the object balls are nudged at very soft speed down a rail to a duplicate position again and again. Instead of stopping long runs as intended, the skills developed at straight rail were transferred over to cushion caroms, some time between 1881 and 1889 a new nurse was developed for cushion caroms, known as the rub nurse. While cushion caroms waxed and waned, the game of balkline was, by the late 1870s and it eclipsed cushion caroms as the game of public match play and tournaments until well into the 20th century. This is not to say that cushion caroms did not retain some popularity with the public, for example, it is known that Mark Twain enjoyed the game on occasion. The presently-dominant game, three-cushion billiards, an outgrowth of cushion caroms also beginning in the 1870s. The first known public exhibition at cushion caroms took place in 1867, the first public match was won by the wizard, Jacob Schaefer, Sr. and the only world tournament at the game, in New York City in 1888, was won by Joseph Dion. The U. S. title at cushion caroms has only held by six men, Joseph Dion, William Sexton, Maurice Daly, George Slosson and the indomitable Willie Hoppe
14.
Artistic billiards
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Artistic billiards, sometimes called fantasy billiards or fantaisie classique, is a carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty. There is a total of 500 points available to a player, representing the value of a perfect score on all 76 shots. The governing body of the sport is the Confédération International de Billard Artistique, each shot in an artistic billiards match is played from a well-defined position, and each shot must unfold in an established manner. Players are allowed three attempts at each shot, in general, the shots making up the game – even four-point shots – require a high degree of skill, devoted practice and specialized knowledge to perform. Players may use up to twenty separate cues providing different performance functions, some shots may require the use of props such as a small pin placed precisely on the table surface and around which the player is required to make the cue ball pass on a designated side. For the most part, top artistic billiard players specialize in the game to the exclusion of all others, world title competition first started in 1986 and required the use of ivory balls. However, this requirement was dropped in 1990, the highest score ever achieved in world competition was 374, by the Frenchman Jean Reverchon in 1992, while the highest score in competition overall is 427 set by the Belgian Walter Bax in 2006. The game is played predominantly in Western Europe, especially in France, Belgium, the game employs a specialized vocabulary, chiefly derived from French words, encompassing many terms that have no analogues in other cue sports disciplines. Some examples are coup fouetté, massé coulé and piqué, Confédération International de Billard Artistique, the governing body of the sport Three-time world champion Jean Reverchons website Juanjo Trilles Cup of Creative Artistic Billiard
15.
Pool (cue sports)
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An obsolete term for pool is six-pocket. There are hundreds of pool games, some of the more well known include eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, and bank pool. There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such as American four-ball billiards, cowboy pool, and bottle pool. The OxfordDictionaries. com definition no longer provides the obsolete meaning found in the print edition. With one black ball and a cue ball on a table with pockets. Pool is played on a six pocket table, modern pool tables generally range in size from 3.5 feet by 7 feet, to 4.5 feet by 9 feet. The balls range from 2.25 inches in diameter to 2.375 inches in diameter, under the WPA/BCA equipment specifications, the weight may be from 5.5 to 6 oz. with a diameter of 2.25 in. Modern cue sticks are generally 58.5 inches long for pool while cues prior to 1980 were designed for straight pool and had a length of 57.5 inches. By comparison, carom billiards cues are shorter with larger tips. In the United States, the most commonly played game is eight-ball, in the United Kingdom the game is commonly played in pubs, and it is competitively played in leagues on both sides of the Atlantic. The most prestigious tournaments including the World Open are sponsored and sanctioned by the International Pool Tour, Rules vary widely from place to place. Pool halls in North America are increasingly settling upon the World Pool-Billiard Association International Standardized Rules, but tavern eight-ball, typically played on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a winner keeps the table manner, can differ significantly even between two venues in the same city. The growth of local, regional and national amateur leagues may alleviate this confusion eventually, Nine-ball uses only the 1 through 9 balls and cue ball. It is a game, The player at the table must make legal contact with the lowest numbered ball on the table or a foul is called. The game is won by pocketing the nine ball. Nine-ball is the predominant professional game, though as of 2006–2008 there have been suggestions that this may change. There are many local and regional tours and tournaments that are contested with nine-ball, the World Pool-Billiard Association and its American affiliate, the Billiard Congress of America, publish the World Standardized Rules. The European professional circuit has instituted rules changes to make it difficult to achieve a legal break shot
16.
Eight-ball
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Eight-ball is a poolgame popular in much of the world, and the subject of international professional and amateur competition. Played on a table with six pockets, the game is so universally known in some countries that beginners are often unaware of other pool games. The game has numerous variations, mostly regional, standard eight-ball is the second most competitive professional pool game, after nine-ball, and for the last several decades ahead of straight pool. Eight-ball is played with cue sticks and 16 balls, a cue ball, and 15 object balls consisting of seven striped balls, seven solid-colored balls and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered with a shot, the players are assigned either the group of solid balls or the stripes once a ball from a particular group is legally pocketed. The ultimate object of the game is to pocket the eight ball in a called pocket. The game of eight-balls is derived from a game invented around 1900 in the United States. This forerunner game was played with seven yellow and seven red balls, a ball. Today, numbered stripes and solids are preferred in most of the world, though the British-style offshoot, blackball, the game had relatively simple rules compared to today and was not added to an official rule book until 1940. American-style eight-ball rules are played around the world by professionals, nevertheless, the rules for eight-ball may be the most contested of any billiard game. There are several competing sets of official rules, a summary of the international rules follows. There are seven solid-colored balls numbered 1 through 7, seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15, an 8 ball, to start the game, the object balls are placed in a triangular rack. The base of the rack is parallel to the end rail, the balls in the rack are ideally placed so that they are all in contact with one another, this is accomplished by pressing the balls together from the back of the rack toward the apex ball. The cue ball is placed anywhere the breaker desires inside the kitchen, one person is chosen to shoot first, using the cue ball to break the object-ball rack apart. If the shooter who breaks fails to make a break, then the opponent can call for a re-rack and become the breaker. According to World Standardized Rules, if the 8 ball is pocketed on the break without fouling, a player will continue to shoot until committing a foul, or failing to legally pocket an object ball on a non-foul shot. Thereupon it is the turn of the opposing player, play alternates in this manner for the remainder of the game. Following a foul, the player has ball-in-hand anywhere on the table, unless the foul occurred on the break shot
17.
Nine-ball
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Nine-ball is a contemporary form of pool, with historical beginnings rooted in the United States and traceable to the 1920s. Matches proceed quickly, suitable for the constraints of television coverage. The game is played on a billiards table with six pockets. The cue ball, which is usually a shade of white, is struck to hit the lowest numbered ball on the table. The object of the game is to pocket the 9-ball. Additional conditions apply for the break shot, object balls do not have to be pocketed in numerical order, Any ball may be pocketed at any time during the game, so long as the lowest-numbered ball is contacted first by the cue ball. Nine-ball is not a shot game. The 9-ball itself can be legally pocketed for a win at any turn in the game, intentionally or by chance, including the break shot. Conversely, a player could potentially pocket all of the balls numbered one through eight during the course of the game. Players alternate innings at the table, meaning play continues by one player until he or she misses, commits a foul, or pockets the 9 ball for the win. The penalty for a foul is that the players inning ends, nine-ball is a relatively fast-paced game and is rarely played by the rack. Instead, players play a match to a set number of games, often five. The first player to win that set number of wins the match. The object balls are placed in a configuration, with the 1 ball positioned at the front on the foot spot. The placement of the balls is generally considered to be random. However, in some handicapped tournaments, the ball being spotted to the player must be one of the two balls placed behind the 1 ball at the apex of the rack. An imaginary line drawn through the one-ball and back apex of the diamond should be parallel to the rails of the table. One person is chosen to shoot first, by breaking the rack, as with most pocket billiard games, the base of the cue ball must be behind the head string for the break shot
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Ten-ball
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Ten-ball is a modern pool game. It is a game very similar to nine-ball, but more difficult, using 10 balls instead of nine. Although the game has existed for a time, its popularity has risen in recent years as a result of concerns that nine-ball has suffered as a result of flaws in its fundamental structure. Most of the rules apply as in nine-ball. This means that in order to establish a legal hit, the cue ball must contact the lowest numbered ball first, if the 10 ball is pocketed on the break, it will be spotted and the player will continue his inning. If a player only the wrong ball, or pockets the nominated ball in the wrong pocket. The opponent then has the choice of taking the shot, or handing it back, the exception is the 10 ball, which gets respotted on the foot spot. This format is considered controversial among some of the elite as many pros are experts at playing multi-way shots where they may be attempting to pocket more than one ball on a given shot. Nonetheless, the rule has been adopted for professional competitions, the nominal first international International Ten-ball Championship was held in 2007. The sanctioning organization is the United States Professional Poolplayers Association, using WPA/BCA rules, the World Pool-Billiard Association itself separately started its own inaugural WPA World Ten-Ball Championship in 2008, in Manila, Philippines. The events are essentially competitors, but many players compete in both, the UPA event is known for sponsorship purposes as the Predator International. The 2009 UPA event, the Ninth Annual International Ten-Ball Championship, ozone Billiards co-sponsored the event, which featured a field of 112 male and female competitors, and was held during the BCAPLs National Eight-ball Championships. The following is a list of WPA World Ten-Ball Champions and sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association, the first UPA World Ten-ball Championship, building on the original Florida Open, was held on May 23,2007, in Jacksonville, Florida. The genesis of the event was said to be demand for skill in competitive games as requested from the top pro players around the world by event sponsor Dragon Promotionss president. The winner of this event was Shane Van Boening of the United States. Rather unusually for professional pool, the matches at this event were played on home billiard room, mid-size 8 ft by 4 ft tables instead of the professional, the U. S. Open Ten-ball Championship is an international, professional ten-ball tournament held annually in the United States. It is sanctioned by the Billiard Congress of America and sponsored by CueSports International, the 2011 event was May 16–21 at The Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike the U. S. Open Nine-ball Championship, the competition is by invitation only, face off Series games at Club Capo, Quezon City, Philippines Historical ten-ball match videos by year
19.
Straight pool
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Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game. It was the sport of championship competition until it was overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball. In straight pool, the shooter may attempt to shoot at any ball on the table. The goal is to reach a set number of determined by agreement before the game. One point is scored for each ball pocketed where no foul is made. A typical game might require a player to score 100 points to win, in professional competition, straight pool is usually played to 125 points. Straight pool is a game, meaning the player must indicate the intended object ball. The game was the pool game in the United States. The game remains well known in the United States, Europe, Argentina and Japan, the first WPA-sanctioned World Straight Pool Championship was held in 2006. Straight pool is derived from a pool game called continuous pool. Like its successor, in continuous pool a player has to score a number of points to win the match. However, a new rack does not start until all the balls have been pocketed. When the new rack begins, the balls are racked at the foot spot. As players become skilled in scoring dozens of points in a single turn and this new game became 14.1 continuous and would a few years later be called straight pool. In the initial rack in straight pool, the fifteen object balls are racked in a triangular rack, traditionally, the 1 ball is placed at the racks right corner, and the 5 ball placed at the racks left corner, although this is not an official rule. Other balls are placed at random and must touch their neighbors, unlike in most pool games, where pocketing a ball and spreading the balls is the aim on the break, the object in straight pools standard initial break shot is to leave the opponent with a safety. This is because the rule includes the break shot. On the break, either a ball must be pocketed in a pocket or the cue ball
20.
One-pocket
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One-pocket is a pocket billiards game. Unlike other games played on a billiard table where any pocket can be used to send in object balls. The object of the game is to score points, a point is made when a player pockets any object ball into his/her designated pocket. The winner is the first to score a number of points. If the player pockets a ball in the opponents pocket, his/her turn also ends but the opponent earns a point, unless the cue ball is also potted. One-pocket is similar to pool in that a player can shoot at any object ball regardless of its color or number. Also, penalties for a foul are the loss of 1 point, re-spotting a previously pocketed ball if possible, unlike in straight pool, but as in most other forms of pool, three consecutive fouls is a loss of game. Also the shooter does not need to call his/her shots, One-pocket is one of the most stringent tests of excellence in all of pool, as it requires great shot-making skills, bank shot excellence, planning, and patience. American pool player and entertainer, Rudolph Minnesota Fats Wanderone, allegedly said the game of one-pocket was like chess, on the other hand, Wanderones public rival, Willie Mosconi, called one-pocket a gimmick game for gamblers. The game is said to be similar to chess, with a beginning, middle, and end game. A player must be not to leave the opponent with a good shot, or the opponent may be able to capitalize on a successful shot for successive shots. The first one-pocket tournament was held in 1961, promoted by the Jansco brothers, the winner of the event was Johnny Vives. Hayden Lingo, author of the first published rules on One-Pocket, the game is very popular with gamblers, and frequently attracts high stakes. However, it is a game involving little luck when played correctly. One-pocket plays a role in the yearly Derby City Classic which is played in Louisville. One of the most famous players of the game is Grady the Professor Mathews, the two main reference works on one-pocket are Winning One-Pocket and One-Pocket Shots, Moves and Strategies, both written by player and gambler, Eddie Robins. The books, now out of print, often sell on the market for over US$200 each. Another well-known one-pocket player is Efren Reyes and his victories in the game include the US Open One-pocket Championship and the Derby City One-pocket event
21.
Snooker
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Snooker is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the ball to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence. An individual game, or frame, is won by the player who scores the most points, a match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames. In the 1870s, billiards was a sport played by members of the British Army stationed in India. Snooker gained its own identity in 1884 when officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, while stationed in Ooty, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid, the word snooker was a long used military term used to describe inexperienced or first year personnel. The game grew in popularity in England, cemented by the formation of the Billiards Association and it is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927, with Joe Davis becoming a key figure in the growth of the sport with 15 championship wins from 1927 to 1946. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and attain multi-million-pound career earnings, the sport has become increasingly popular in China. The origin of snooker dates back to the half of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, one such variation originated at the officers mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jabalpur in 1875, which combined the rules of two pocket billiards games, pyramid and life pool. The former was played with fifteen red balls and one positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated coloured balls. The name instantly stuck with the players, in 1887, snooker was given its first definite reference in England in a copy of Sporting Life which caused a growth in popularity. Chamberlain came out as the inventor in a letter to The Field published on 19 March 1938,63 years after the fact. To accommodate the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed, in 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club and a new, standard set of rules for snooker first became official. Davis won every championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played, in 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game, known as snooker plus to try to improve the games popularity by adding two extra colours. The TV series became a success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two
22.
Mary, Queen of Scots
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Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, reigned over Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. Mary, the surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland, was six days old when her father died. She spent most of her childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents and he ascended the French throne as King Francis II in 1559, and Mary briefly became queen consort of France, until his death in December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561, four years later, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, but their union was unhappy. In February 1567, his residence was destroyed by an explosion, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnleys death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567, and the following month he married Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, on 24 July 1567, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James VI, her one-year-old son by Darnley. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southwards seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, perceiving her as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586 and was beheaded the following year. Mary was born on 7 or 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V and his French second wife and she was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James to survive him. She was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Henry VIIIs sister. A popular legend, first recorded by John Knox, states that James, hearing on his deathbed that his wife had given birth to a daughter, ruefully exclaimed, It cam wi a lass and it will gang wi a lass. His House of Stewart had gained the throne of Scotland by the marriage of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce, to Walter Stewart, the crown had come to his family through a woman, and would be lost from his family through a woman. This legendary statement came true much later—not through Mary, but through her descendant Queen Anne, Mary was baptised at the nearby Church of St Michael shortly after she was born. As Mary was an infant when she inherited the throne, Scotland was ruled by regents until she became an adult. From the outset, there were two claims to the Regency, one from Catholic Cardinal Beaton, and the other from the Protestant Earl of Arran, Beatons claim was based on a version of the late kings will that his opponents dismissed as a forgery. Arran, with the support of his friends and relations, became the regent until 1554 when Marys mother managed to remove and succeed him. King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son, Prince Edward, hoping for a union of Scotland and England. The treaty provided that the two countries would remain separate and that if the couple should fail to have children the temporary union would dissolve
23.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
24.
Antony and Cleopatra
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Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was performed first circa 1607 at the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre by the Kings Men and its first appearance in print was in the Folio of 1623. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antonys fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate, many consider Shakespeares Cleopatra, whom Antony describes as having infinite variety, as one of the most complex and fully developed female characters in the playwrights body of work. She is frequently vain and histrionic enough to provoke an audience almost to scorn, at the time, Shakespeare invests her. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses and it is difficult to classify Antony and Cleopatra as belonging to a single genre. It can be described as a play, as a tragedy, as a comedy, as a romance, and according to some critics, e. g. McCarter. All one can say with certainty is that it is a Roman play, even a sequel to another of Shakespeares tragedies, Julius Caesar. Mark Antony – one of the triumvirs of the Roman Republic, along with Octavius and Lepidus – has neglected his duties after being beguiled by Egypts Queen. He ignores Romes domestic problems, including the fact that his third wife Fulvia rebelled against Octavius, Octavius calls Antony back to Rome from Alexandria to help him fight against Sextus Pompey, Menecrates, and Menas, three notorious pirates of the Mediterranean. At Alexandria, Cleopatra begs Antony not to go, and though he repeatedly affirms his deep love for her. The triumvirs meet in Rome, where Antony and Octavius put to rest, for now, Octavius general, Agrippa, suggests that Antony should marry Octaviuss sister, Octavia, in order to cement the friendly bond between the two men. Antonys lieutenant Enobarbus, though, knows that Octavia can never satisfy him after Cleopatra, a soothsayer warns Antony that he is sure to lose if he ever tries to fight Octavius. In Egypt, Cleopatra learns of Antonys marriage to Octavia and takes revenge upon the messenger that brings her the news. She grows content only when her courtiers assure her that Octavia is homely, short, low-browed, round-faced, before battle, the triumvirs parley with Sextus Pompey, and offer him a truce. He can retain Sicily and Sardinia, but he must help them rid the sea of pirates and they engage in a drunken celebration on Sextus galley, though the austere Octavius leaves early and sober from the party. Menas suggests to Sextus that he kill the three triumvirs and make himself ruler of the Roman Republic, but he refuses, finding it dishonourable, after Antony departs Rome for Athens, Octavius and Lepidus break their truce with Sextus and war against him. This is unapproved by Antony, and he is furious, Antony returns to Alexandria and crowns Cleopatra and himself as rulers of Egypt and the eastern third of the Roman Republic. He accuses Octavius of not giving him his share of Sextus lands, and is angry that Lepidus
25.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
26.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
27.
Marie Antoinette
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Marie Antoinette (/ˈmæriˌæntwəˈnɛt/, /ˌɑ̃ːntwə-/, /ˌɑ̃ːtwə-/, US /məˈriː-/, French, born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, was the last Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria, and was the fifteenth and second youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, in April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne, she became Dauphine of France. After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the Diamond Necklace affair damaged her reputation further. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the family to take refuge at the Assembly. On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished, after a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755, at the Hofburg Palace and she was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, and her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal, Archduke Joseph, shortly after her birth, she was placed under the care of the Governess of the Imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised with her older sister Maria Carolina. As to her relationship with her mother, it was difficult, despite the private tutoring she received, results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of ten she could not write correctly in German or in any language used at court, such as French. Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician and she learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. During the familys gatherings in the evenings, she would sing and she also excelled at dancing, had an exquisite poise, and loved dolls. Following the Seven Years War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, on 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name, a further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The lack of consummation of the marriage plagued the reputation of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed, on the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success, on the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria, and others, for personal reasons, had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette. Madame du Barry, for example, was Louis XVs mistress and had political influence over him
28.
Immanuel Kant
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Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who is considered a central figure in modern philosophy. Kant took himself to have effected a Copernican revolution in philosophy and his beliefs continue to have a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political theory, and aesthetics. Politically, Kant was one of the earliest exponents of the idea that peace could be secured through universal democracy. He believed that this will be the outcome of universal history. Kant wanted to put an end to an era of futile and speculative theories of human experience, Kant argued that our experiences are structured by necessary features of our minds. In his view, the shapes and structures experience so that, on an abstract level. Among other things, Kant believed that the concepts of space and time are integral to all human experience, as are our concepts of cause, Kant published other important works on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical Reason, the Metaphysics of Morals, which dealt with ethics, and the Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Königsberg, Prussia. His mother, Anna Regina Reuter, was born in Königsberg to a father from Nuremberg. His father, Johann Georg Kant, was a German harness maker from Memel, Immanuel Kant believed that his paternal grandfather Hans Kant was of Scottish origin. Kant was the fourth of nine children, baptized Emanuel, he changed his name to Immanuel after learning Hebrew. Young Kant was a solid, albeit unspectacular, student and he was brought up in a Pietist household that stressed religious devotion, humility, and a literal interpretation of the Bible. His education was strict, punitive and disciplinary, and focused on Latin and religious instruction over mathematics, despite his religious upbringing and maintaining a belief in God, Kant was skeptical of religion in later life, various commentators have labelled him agnostic. Common myths about Kants personal mannerisms are listed, explained, and refuted in Goldthwaits introduction to his translation of Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime. It is often held that Kant lived a strict and disciplined life. He never married, but seemed to have a social life — he was a popular teacher. He had a circle of friends whom he met, among them Joseph Green. A common myth is that Kant never traveled more than 16 kilometres from Königsberg his whole life, in fact, between 1750 and 1754 he worked as a tutor in Judtschen and in Groß-Arnsdorf
29.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
30.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
31.
Mark Twain
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter and he later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, the short story brought international attention and was even translated into classic Greek. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of financial setbacks. He chose to pay all his creditors in full, even though he had no legal responsibility to do so. Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halleys Comet, and he predicted that he would go out with it as well and he was lauded as the greatest American humorist of his age, and William Faulkner called him the father of American literature. His parents met when his father moved to Missouri, and they were married in 1823, Twain was of Cornish, English, and Scots-Irish descent. Only three of his siblings survived childhood, Orion, Henry, and Pamela and his sister Margaret died when Twain was three, and his brother Benjamin died three years later. His brother Pleasant died at six months of age, slavery was legal in Missouri at the time, and it became a theme in these writings. His father was an attorney and judge, but he died of pneumonia in 1847, the next year, Twain left school after the fifth grade to become a printers apprentice. In 1851, he working as a typesetter, contributing articles and humorous sketches to the Hannibal Journal. He educated himself in libraries in the evenings, finding wider information than at a conventional school. Twain describes his boyhood in Life on the Mississippi, stating there was but one permanent ambition among his comrades. Pilot was the grandest position of all, the pilot, even in those days of trivial wages, had a princely salary – from a hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars a month, and no board to pay. As Twain describes it, the pilots prestige exceeded that of the captain, bixby took Twain on as a cub pilot to teach him the river between New Orleans and St. Louis for $500, payable out of Twains first wages after graduating. It was more than two years before he received his pilots license, piloting gave also him his pen name from mark twain, the leadsmans cry for a measured river depth of two fathoms, which was safe water for a steamboat
32.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
33.
Charles Dickens
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Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the worlds best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era and his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity, born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors prison. Dickenss literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the publication of narrative fiction. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audiences reaction, and he modified his plot. For example, when his wifes chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities and his plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the poor chipped in hapennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age and his 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also adapted, and, like many of his novels. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London, Dickens has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of depth, loose writing. The term Dickensian is used to something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport in Portsea Island and his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. He asked Christopher Huffam, rigger to His Majestys Navy, gentleman, Huffam is thought to be the inspiration for Paul Dombey, the owner of a shipping company in Dickenss eponymous Dombey and Son. In January 1815 John Dickens was called back to London, when Charles was four, they relocated to Sheerness, and thence to Chatham, Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early life seems to have been idyllic, though he himself a very small. Charles spent time outdoors but also read voraciously, including the novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding, as well as Robinson Crusoe
34.
George Armstrong Custer
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George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1857, with the outbreak of the Civil War, Custer was called to serve with the Union Army. Custer developed a reputation during the Civil War. He participated in the first major engagement, the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21,1861, near Washington and his association with several important officers helped his career as did his success as a highly effective cavalry commander. He was wounded in the Battle of Culpeper Court House in Virginia on September 13,1863, in 1864, Custer was awarded another star and brevetted to major general rank. At the conclusion of the Appomattox Campaign, in which he and his troops played a role, Custer was present at General Robert E. Lees surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant. After the Civil War, Custer remained a general in the United States Volunteers until they were mustered out in February 1866. He reverted to his permanent rank of captain and was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the 7th Cavalry Regiment in July 1866 and he was dispatched to the west in 1867 to fight in the American Indian Wars. The battle is known in American history as Custers Last Stand. Custer and his regiment were defeated so decisively at the Little Bighorn that it has overshadowed all of his prior achievements, according to family letters, Custer was named after George Armstrong, a minister, in his devout mothers hope that her son might join the clergy. Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, to Emanuel Henry Custer, a farmer and blacksmith and he had two younger brothers, Thomas Custer and Boston Custer, both of whom died with him on the battlefield at Little Bighorn. His other full siblings were the familys youngest child, Margaret Custer, and Nevin Custer, Custer also had three older half-siblings. It was in large, close knit family that Custer. Emanuel Custer was an outspoken Democrat who taught his children politics, in a February 3,1887 letter to his sons widow, Libby, he related an incident when Autie was about four years old. He had to have a tooth drawn, and he was much afraid of blood. When I took him to the doctor to have the tooth pulled, it was in the night and I told him if it bled well it would get right away. When he got to the doctor he took his seat, the forceps slipped off and he had to make a second trial. He pulled it out, and Autie never even scrunched, going home, I led him by the arm
35.
Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. Born a sickly child with debilitating asthma, Roosevelt successfully overcame his health problems by embracing a strenuous lifestyle and he integrated his exuberant personality, vast range of interests, and world-famous achievements into a cowboy persona defined by robust masculinity. Home-schooled, he began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College and his first of many books, The Naval War of 1812, established his reputation as both a learned historian and as a popular writer. Upon entering politics, he became the leader of the faction of Republicans in New Yorks state legislature. Returning a war hero, he was elected governor of New York in 1898, the state party leadership distrusted him, so they took the lead in moving him to the prestigious but powerless role of vice presidential candidate as McKinleys running mate in the election of 1900. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously across the country, helping McKinleys re-election in a victory based on a platform of peace, prosperity. Following the assassination of President McKinley in September 1901, Roosevelt succeeded to the office at age 42, making conservation a top priority, he established a myriad of new national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nations natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he began construction of the Panama Canal and he greatly expanded the United States Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, elected in 1904 to a full term, Roosevelt continued to promote progressive policies, but many of his efforts and much of his legislative agenda were eventually blocked in Congress. Roosevelt successfully groomed his close friend, William Howard Taft, to succeed him in the presidency, after leaving office, Roosevelt went on safari in Africa and toured Europe. Returning to the United States, he became frustrated with Tafts approach, failing to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1912, Roosevelt founded his own party, the Progressive, so-called Bull Moose Party, and called for wide-ranging progressive reforms. The split among Republicans enabled the Democrats to win both the White House and a majority in the Congress in 1912, Republicans aligned with Taft nationally would control the Republican Party for decades. Frustrated at home, Roosevelt led an expedition to the Amazon basin. During World War I, he opposed President Woodrow Wilson for keeping the country out of the war, and offered his military services, although planning to run again for president in 1920, Roosevelt suffered deteriorating health and died in early 1919. Roosevelt has consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest American presidents. Historians admire Roosevelt for rooting out corruption in his administration, but are critical of his 1909 libel lawsuits against the World and his face was carved into Mount Rushmore, alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was born on October 27,1858, at East 20th Street in New York City and he was the second of four children born to socialite Martha Stewart Mittie Bulloch and glass businessman and philanthropist Theodore Roosevelt Sr
36.
Lewis Carroll
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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life. Dodgsons family was predominantly northern English, with Irish connections, conservative, most of Dodgsons male ancestors were army officers or Church of England clergy. His great-grandfather, also named Charles Dodgson, had risen through the ranks of the church to become the Bishop of Elphin. His paternal grandfather, another Charles, had been an army captain, the older of these sons – yet another Charles Dodgson – was Carrolls father. He went to Westminster School and then to Christ Church, Oxford and he reverted to the other family tradition and took holy orders. He was mathematically gifted and won a double first degree, which could have been the prelude to a brilliant academic career, instead, he married his first cousin Frances Jane Lutwidge in 1830 and became a country parson. Dodgson was born in the parsonage at Daresbury in Cheshire near the towns of Warrington and Runcorn. When Charles was 11, his father was given the living of Croft-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, and this remained their home for the next 25 years. He was High Church, inclining to Anglo-Catholicism, an admirer of John Henry Newman and the Tractarian movement, Young Charles was to develop an ambiguous relationship with his fathers values and with the Church of England as a whole. During his early youth, Dodgson was educated at home and his reading lists preserved in the family archives testify to a precocious intellect, at the age of seven, he was reading books such as The Pilgrims Progress. He also suffered from a stammer – a condition shared by most of his siblings – that often influenced his life throughout his years. At the age of twelve, he was sent to Richmond Grammar School at nearby Richmond, in 1846, Dodgson entered Rugby School where he was evidently unhappy, as he wrote some years after leaving, I cannot say. That any earthly considerations would induce me to go through my three years again, I can honestly say that if I could have been. Secure from annoyance at night, the hardships of the daily life would have been comparative trifles to bear, scholastically, though, he excelled with apparent ease. I have not had a promising boy at his age since I came to Rugby. He left Rugby at the end of 1849 and matriculated at Oxford in May 1850 as a member of his fathers old college, after waiting for rooms in college to become available, he went into residence in January 1851. He had been at Oxford only two days when he received a summons home and his mother had died of inflammation of the brain – perhaps meningitis or a stroke – at the age of 47
37.
W. C. Fields
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William Claude Dukenfield, better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer, Fields comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs and children. His career in business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He gradually incorporated comedy into his act, and was a comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years. He became a star in the Broadway musical comedy Poppy, in which he played a colorful small-time con man and his subsequent stage and film roles were often similar scoundrels, or else henpecked everyman characters. Among his recognizable trademarks were his raspy drawl and grandiloquent vocabulary, the characterization he portrayed in films and on radio was so strong it was generally identified with Fields himself. It was maintained by the publicity departments at Fields studios and was established by Robert Lewis Taylors biography. Beginning in 1973, with the publication of Fields letters, photos, Fields by Himself, it was shown that Fields was married, and financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren. Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield in Darby, Pennsylvania, the oldest child of a working-class family and his father, James Lydon Dukenfield, was from an English family that emigrated to America from Sheffield, England in 1854. James Dukenfield served in Company M of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War and was wounded in 1863, Fields mother, Kate Spangler Felton, was a Protestant of British ancestry. The 1876 Philadelphia City Directory lists James Dukenfield as a clerk, after marrying, he worked as an independent produce merchant and a part-time hotel-keeper. Claude Dukenfield had a relationship with his short-tempered father. He ran away from home repeatedly, beginning at the age of nine and his education was sporadic, and did not progress beyond grade school. At age twelve he worked with his father selling produce from a wagon, in 1893 he worked briefly at the Strawbridge and Clothier department store, and in an oyster house. He had already discovered in himself a facility for juggling, at age 17, he was living with his family and performing a juggling act at church and theater shows. In 1904 Fields father visited him for two months in England while he was performing there in music halls. Fields enabled his father to retire, purchased him a summer home and his family supported his ambitions for the stage and saw him off on the train for his first stage tour. To conceal a stutter, Fields did not speak onstage, in 1900, seeking to distinguish himself from the many tramp acts in vaudeville, he changed his costume and makeup, and began touring as The Eccentric Juggler
38.
Babe Ruth
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George Herman Babe Ruth Jr. was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Ruth established many MLB batting records, including home runs, runs batted in, bases on balls, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time, in 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its first five inaugural members. At age seven, Ruth was sent to St, in 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as a pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919, after that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees amid controversy. The trade fueled Bostons subsequent 86 year championship drought and popularized the Curse of the Bambino superstition, in his 15 years with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League championships and four World Series championships. As part of the Yankees vaunted Murderers Row lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs and he retired in 1935 after a short stint with the Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season twelve times, Ruths legendary power and charismatic personality made him a larger-than-life figure in the Roaring Twenties. During his career, he was the target of press and public attention for his baseball exploits. His often reckless lifestyle was tempered by his willingness to do good by visiting children at hospitals, after his retirement as a player, he was denied a managerial job in baseball, most likely due to poor behavior during parts of his playing career. In his final years, Ruth made many appearances, especially in support of American efforts in World War II. In 1946, he became ill with cancer, and died two years later, George Herman Ruth Jr. was born in 1895 at 216 Emory Street in Pigtown, a working-class section of Baltimore, Maryland, named for its meat-packing plants. Its population included recent immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Italy, Ruths parents, George Herman Ruth, Sr. and Katherine Schamberger, were both of German American ancestry. According to the 1880 census, his parents were born in Maryland, the paternal grandparents of Ruth, Sr. were from Prussia and Hanover. Ruth, Sr. had a series of jobs, including lightning rod salesman and streetcar operator, before becoming a counterman in a combination grocery. George Ruth Jr. was born in the house of his grandfather, Pius Schamberger. Only one of young Georges seven siblings, his younger sister Mamie, many details of Ruths childhood are unknown, including the date of his parents marriage
39.
Bob Hope
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Bob Hope KBE, KC*SG, KSS was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, centenarian and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 feature films and short films, in addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of 14 books. The song Thanks for the Memory is widely regarded as Hopes signature tune, born in Eltham, Kent, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in business in the early 1920s, initially on stage. He was praised for his timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, Hope participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, Hope was born in Eltham, Kent the fifth of seven sons. They married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry, before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then St George, Bristol. In 1908, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia and passed through Ellis Island on March 30,1908, before moving to Cleveland, from age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking, singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin, for a time, he attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, he donated sizable sums of money to the institution, Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life, Hope worked as a butchers assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Hope also had a stint at Chandler Motor Car Company. Deciding on a business career, he and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in an engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found work with a touring troupe called Hurleys Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne, Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well and danced and sang while wearing blackface before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to Bob, in one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
