Short & Sweet Treats discussion

Here, you may share a literary (or other kind of) event that you find interesting that occurred this day in history.

August 17th 1945: On this day, George Orwell's Animal Farm was published. The book was delayed by the WWII paper shortage!

August 18th, 1850: Honoré de Balzac died at age 51

now I just read Balzac died from caffeine poisoning from over consumption of black coffee! is this possible? I guess so!

overdosing on coffee??? :((

weird i know.

August 19th (here in Europe, anyway!):


1692 – Salem witch trials: in Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

Leading eventually to..... The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Does that count, or do we need to stick to purely literary events?

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "August 18th, 1850: Honoré de Balzac died at age 51"

Qu'il repose en paix.

He rest in peace? I had to look that up!

Pip wrote: "August 19th (here in Europe, anyway!):


1692 – Salem witch trials: in Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being con..."

I changed the top description to literary or any other kind of event.

But I love how you tied that in so nicely to literature anyway! well done, Pippa. :D

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "He rest in peace? I had to look that up!"

May he rest in peace :-)

from todayinliterature.com:

August 20th, On this day in 1667, John Milton's Paradise Lost was entered in the Stationers' Register. The fifty-eight-year-old Milton was totally blind, probably from glaucoma, throughout the decade it took to write Paradise Lost; his habit was to compose at night and then present himself to a scribe each morning to be, as he put it, "milked."

coolio!!! Thanks !

Today is the birthday of Christopher Robin Milne August 21 1920 to April 20 1996.

He is AA Milne's son, the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories and was his inspiration of the character in the stories, Christopher Robin.

today is the birthday of poet Dorothy Parker born in 1893

The American poet Edgar Lee Masters was born
on this day in 1879 in Garrett, Kansas.

today is also novelist Nelson Demille's birthday.

August 27th, 1841 The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper was published

This day in history, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in D.C.

August 28 the year 430, St. Augustine, author of "Confessions" dies at 75 years old.

August 30, 1797, Mary Shelley is born.

Aug 30, 1904: Henry James returns to the U.S. for a visit after living abroad for two decades.

Today - Irish poet laureate Seamus Heaney died.

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

Postscript

And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightening of flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully-grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you'll park or capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open

September 1, 1972 - America’s Bobby Fischer beat Russia’s Boris Spassky to become world chess champion. The chess match took place in Reykjavik, Iceland.

9-1-1897 - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "9-1-1897 - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America."

Good one jen!

I love Boston, great city.

September 2 1936 - 1st transatlantic round - trip air flight

from today in literature.com

September 3, On this day in 1802 William Wordsworth completed "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," one of his best known short poems. Wordsworth was crossing Westminster on his way to France in order to see for the first time his nine-year-old daughter, Caroline, and her mother, Annette Vallon, with whom he had had an affair in 1791.

September 7 1813, the United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812.

9/7
Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested for stealing the Mona Lisa, 1911

Jen ƸӜƷ wrote: "9/7
Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested for stealing the Mona Lisa, 1911"

Non!!! Ce n'est pas possible!!! What a brilliant factoid!

lol

According to my husband, today, September 8th, is the start of football season :)

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "According to my husband, today, September 8th, is the start of football season :)"

True that! Got my fantasy football league ready to go. >>
<<

I am a big football fan. I can't give you random knowledge about it but I love to watch it. :D

September 9, 1543 - Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling.

Another for today. On September 9, 1087 William the Conqueror died from riding related injuries. His horse reared during a battle and he was thrown against the saddle pommel so hard he ruptured his intestines.

On Sept 9, 1776, the second Continental Congress made the term "United States" official, replacing "United Colonies."

September 10, 2001. An ordinary day to most people.

sept 14, 1890 Agatha Christie was born. Her novels have sold 4 billion copies and she's the 2nd bestselling author (after Shakespeare)

Sept 18, 1851
The first edition of The New York Daily Times, which later became The New York Times, was published.

Sept 19th: International Talk Like a Pirate Day http://www.talklikeapirate.com/about....
Started in 1995

Sept 21, 1866: H.G. Wells was born, the English author is best known for his science fiction works (The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, et al).

thank you Jen! :)

September 21 1937. the hobbit is published

September 22, 1598 "playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, killed an actor in a duel. He was charged with manslaughter."

"Sep.22,1862: Lincoln issues the prelim. Emancipation Proclamation See the 1862 NY Times story http://t.co/PZOwFkc4vx"

Sept 22 1964, the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances.

September 23, 1930. legendary singer Ray Charles was born

September 24, 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota.