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John Howell (polyartist)
John Howell (1788–1863) was a Scottish inventor, who lived in Edinburgh. He was, among other things, a bookbinder, author, editor and shopkeeper. Among his more outlandish endeavors were an attempt to fly and to travel underwater in machines that he designed and built himself (in the former he broke his legs and the latter nearly drowned). Biography Howell was born at Old Lauriston, Edinburgh, in 1788, was apprenticed to a bookbinder, but afterwards was an assistant to Robert Kinnear, bookseller, in Frederick Street, Edinburgh, and subsequently spent five years with the firm of Stevenson, printers to the university, where he effected improvements in the art of stereotyping. Howell then returned to his trade of bookbinding at a workshop in Thistle Street, was patronized by Sir Walter Scott among others, and invented the well-known bookbinding "plough" for cutting the edges of books. Acquainted with many odd handicrafts, he opened a shop as curiosity dealer and china and pictur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is Scotland's List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, second-most populous city, after Glasgow, and the List of cities in the United Kingdom, seventh-most populous city in the United Kingdom. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the Courts of Scotland, highest courts in Scotland. The city's Holyrood Palace, Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchy in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Kinnear
Robert Muir "Roy" Kinnear (3 February 1904 – 22 September 1942) was a Scottish dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for British Lions, and , and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain and Other Nationalities. His son was the character actor, Roy Kinnear, and his grandson is the actor Rory Kinnear. Biography He played club level rugby union (RU) for Heriot's Rugby Club as a Centre, i.e. number 12 or 13, Kinnear won caps for Scotland in 1926 against France, Wales, and Ireland, won caps for British and Irish Lions while at Heriot's Rugby Club in 1924 against South Africa (4 matches). He was unique amongst Scottish rugby union defectors in that he originally played for a former pupils (FP) club, rather than one of the Border teams.Bath, p87 Kinnear played rugby league for Wigan as a , i.e. number 3 or 4. He played right-, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (novel), Rob Roy'', ''Waverley (novel), Waverley'', ''Old Mortality'', ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' and ''The Bride of Lammermoor'', and the narrative poems ''The Lady of the Lake (poem), The Lady of the Lake'' and ''Marmion (poem), Marmion''. He had a major impact on European and American literature. As an advocate, judge and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff court, Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory (political faction), Tory establishment, active in the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Highland Society, long a president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–1832), and a vice president of the Society o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Town, Edinburgh
The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street, facing Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town across the geological depression of the former Nor Loch. Together with the West End, the New Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Old Town in 1995. The area is also famed for the New Town Gardens, a heritage designation since March 2001. Proposal and planning The idea of a New Town was first suggested in the late 17th century when the Duke of Albany and York (later King James VII and II), when resident Royal Commissioner at Holyrood Palace, encouraged the idea of having an extended regality to the north of the city and a North Bridge. He gave the city a grant:That, when they should have occasion to enlarge their city by purchasing ground without the town, or to build ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Flying Machines
Early flying machines include all forms of aircraft studied or constructed before the development of the modern aeroplane by 1910. The story of modern flight begins more than a century before the first successful manned aeroplane, and the earliest aircraft thousands of years before. Primitive beginnings Legends Some ancient mythologies feature legends of men using flying devices. One of the earliest known is the Greek legend of Daedalus; in Ovid's version, Daedalus fastens feathers together with thread and wax to mimic the wings of a bird. Other ancient legends include the Indian Vimana flying palace or chariot, the biblical Ezekiel's Chariot, the Irish ''roth rámach'' built by blind druid Mug Ruith and Simon Magus, various stories about magic carpets, and the mythical British King Bladud, who conjured up flying wings. The Flying Throne of Kay Kāvus was a legendary eagle-propelled craft built by the mythical Shah of Persia, Kay Kāvus, used for flying him all the way ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pompeian Plate
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire. He was (for a time) a student of Roman general Sulla as well as the political ally, and later enemy, of Julius Caesar. A member of the senatorial nobility, Pompey entered into a military career while still young. He rose to prominence serving the dictator Sulla as a commander in the civil war of 83–82 BC. Pompey's success as a general while young enabled him to advance directly to his first Roman consulship without following the traditional '' cursus honorum'' (the required steps to advance in a political career). He was elected as Roman consul on three occasions. He celebrated three Roman triumphs, served as a commander in the Sertorian War, the Third Servile War, the Third Mithridatic War, and in v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived that ordeal but died from tropical illness years later while serving as a Lieutenant aboard off West Africa. Selkirk was an unruly youth and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. One such expedition was on ''Cinque Ports'', captained by Thomas Stradling under the overall command of William Dampier. Stradling's ship stopped to resupply at the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, west of South America, and Selkirk judged correctly that the craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there. Selkirk's suspicions were soon justified, as ''Cinque Ports'' foundered near Malpelo Island 400 km (250 mi) from the coast of what is now Colombia. By ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Nicol
John Nicol (1755-1825) was a Scottish sailor who in 1789 sailed on '' Lady Juliana'', a ship that transported convict women to Port Jackson in New South Wales, Australia.Bayham 2004 His autobiography, published in 1822, offers a rare first-hand account of the life of an ordinary Georgian sailor. Life Nicol was born at Currie, near Edinburgh, in Scotland. His father was a cooper, and his mother died in childbirth while Nicol was young. He was apprenticed to a cooper, and in 1776 joined the Royal Navy, serving first on HMS ''Proteus'' in the North Atlantic. He then served on HMS ''Surprise'', before being discharged at the conclusion of the American War of Independence in 1783. In the next few years Nicol sailed in a whaling ship in the waters off Greenland, and sailed to the West Indies and China. He also circumnavigated the globe during this period, doing so twice during his lifetime. In 1789 he left England on ''Lady Juliana'', which was transporting over 200 female conv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1788 Births
Events January–March * January 1 – The first edition of ''The Times'', previously ''The Daily Universal Register'', is published in London. * January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S. state under the new government. * January 9 – Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fifth U.S. state. * January 18 – The leading ship (armed tender HMS ''Supply'') in Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, to colonise Australia. * January 22 – the Congress of the Confederation, effectively a caretaker government until the United States Constitution can be ratified by at least nine of the 13 states, elects Cyrus Griffin as its last president.''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p167 * January 24 – The La Perouse expedition in the '' Astrolabe'' and '' Boussole'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1863 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states an official war goal. It proclaims the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's four million slaves and immediately frees 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as Union armies advance. * January 2 – Lucius Tar Painting Master Company (''Teerfarbenfabrik Meirter Lucius''), predecessor of Hoechst, as a worldwide chemical manufacturing brand, founded in a suburb of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. * January 4 – The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany. * January 7 – In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the village of Bedretto is partly destroyed and 29 killed, by an avalanche. * January 8 ** The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel, in Sheffield, England. ** American Civil War &ndash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bookbinders
A bookbinder is someone who binds books. Bookbinder may also refer to: *Alan Bookbinder (born 1956), British journalist and Master of Downing College, Cambridge *Elaine Bookbinder (born 1945), singer better known as Elkie Brooks * Roy Bookbinder (born 1943), American guitarist and singer *Hyman Bookbinder, former leader of the American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ... See also * Old Original Bookbinder's, a restaurant * {{disambig, surname ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Writers From Edinburgh
A writer is a person who uses writing, written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, Short story, short stories, books, poetry, Travel literature, travelogues, Play (theatre), plays, screenplays, teleplays, songs, and essays as well as other reports and Article (publishing), news articles that may be of interest to the Public, general public. Writers' texts are published across a wide range of Mass media, media. Skilled writers who are able to use language to express ideas well, often contribute significantly to the Culture, cultural content of a society. The term "writer" is also used elsewhere in the arts and music, such as songwriter or a screenwriter, but also a stand-alone "writer" typically refers to the creation of written language. Some writers work from an oral tradition. Writers can produce material across a number of genres, fictional or Nonfiction, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
