Interesting facts about a classic Roman poet 1. Ovid wrote a tragedy about Medea, but it has not survived. This is particularly galling since the Roman rhetorician Quintilian thought this among Ovid’s finest work – and this is a poet who also gave us the fantastic (in more ways than […]
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Five Fascinating Facts about John Skelton
Interesting trivia about the Tudor poet 1. John Skelton was King Henry VIII’s Poet Laureate. Although the role of Poet Laureate only came into being officially in the late seventeenth century, when John Dryden was appointed King Charles II’s Poet Laureate in 1668, John Skelton (c. 1463-1529) held the same […]
Five Fascinating Facts about Henry Fielding
Trivia about a pioneering English comic novelist 1. Fielding was largely responsible for the Licensing Act being passed, which would exercise huge control over British theatres for over two centuries. Fielding wasn’t in favour of the Act – which decreed that all plays being performed in public theatres in the UK […]
Five Fascinating Facts about William Caxton
Interesting trivia about the pioneer of English printing 1. The first book printed by Caxton in English was a book about Troy. Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (alternatively spelt Recueil des Histoires de Troye) was printed by Caxton in 1475. It was the first book printed in English, though […]
Five Fascinating Facts about Sir Richard Burton
Interesting trivia about the Victorian explorer 1. Sir Richard Burton was a Victorian explorer, translator, author, spy, diplomat, poet, soldier, cartographer … the list goes on. Sir Richard Burton (1821-90) has a claim to being the most remarkable Victorian of them all. His Times obituary called him ‘one of the […]