About
Just a note to say that the ‘about’ page has been comprehensively updated, with lists of sources to follow.
H. G. Wells – The Time Machine
Looking back at people looking forward never fails to fascinate – in order to judge predictions, of course, but also because of what these stories tell us about the cutting edge of thought and values at the time. On the whole The Time Machine works well from this sort of perspective, the predictions are far …
The Importance of Being Earnest
Is there anyone out there who is unaware of The Importance of Being Earnest? If so then hello! The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s final, most well-known play – like his earlier comedies it is largely concerned with switched identities, sparring witticisms, and situations deliberated convoluted for comic effect. It’s still wonderful and …
Seventeen Seconds in New Jersey – The Premature Birth of Sound Film
If you were surprised to find that Thomas Edison reciting “Mary Had A Little Lamb” wasn’t the first thing in the first mix, you may also recollect that sound film started in 1927 with The Jazz Singer. But here we are 32 years earlier, and what do you know, here’s the first example of someone …
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1895 Self Defense Manual
Over at Mashable, scans of a 1895 photo manual which teaches what you should do if you’re attacked by Houdini.
Elsewhere in 1895
Beginnings The London School of Economics, The Swarovski Company, The internal combustion bus, The portable handheld electric drill, The National Trust, volleyball, The Northern Rugby Football Union (the modern-day Rugby Football League), The first professional American football game, The Proms. Auguste and Louis Lumière display their first moving picture film in Paris. Jail French officer …
1895
“Music is so helpful to the human mind that it is naturally a source of satisfaction to me that I have helped in some way to make the very finest music available to millions who could not afford to pay the price and take the time necessary to hear the greatest artists sing and play.” …
1894 in Art
StanisÅ‚aw WyspiaÅ„ski – Planty o swicie Georges Lemmen – The Two Sisters Theodoor Verstraete – Spring in Schoore (Zeeland) William Merritt Chase – Idle Hours John William Godward – A Priestess Henri Matisse – Woman Reading George Hendrik Breitner – Meisje in witte kimono (Geesje Kwak) Gustave Caillebotte — The garden of the Petit Gennevilliers …
1894 in film
Annabelle – Serpentine Dance Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph Carmencita Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, Jan. 7, 1894 Annie Oakley Shooting
George Bernard Shaw – Arms and the Man
“Soldiering, my dear madam, is the coward’s art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak. That is the whole secret of successful fighting. Get your enemy at a disadvantage; and never, on any account, fight him on equal terms.” His first great success, Arms and …