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Post by happy on Sept 20, 2005 18:20:09 GMT
I LOVE BOWIE!
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Post by CmonYouSpurs on Sept 21, 2005 9:18:24 GMT
21 sept
1937: The Hobbit, Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien's tale of Middle Earth, is published.
Tolkien, J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) (1892-1973), South African-born British writer, medieval scholar, and philologist (language scholar). Tolkien is best known for his fantasy novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955). He published these and his other books under the name J. R. R. Tolkien.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, to English parents. His father died when Tolkien was very young and his mother returned to England with her two sons. She died when Tolkien was 12, and he and his brother were taken in and raised by a local priest.
Young Tolkien showed early promise as a linguist, inventing his own alphabets and languages. He won a scholarship to Oxford University, where he studied Old and Middle English and Old Norse. He also invented two languages he referred to as “elvish.” Soon after graduating in 1915, Tolkien enlisted in the British army to fight in World War I. After four months in the trenches he developed an infection known as trench fever and was sent home for a lengthy recuperation. War, he later said, deepened and sobered his imagination and stimulated his love of fantasy.
While hospitalized in 1917 Tolkien began to write, inventing a fantasy world that featured its own unique peoples, languages, and history. These early writings, which were published after the author’s death under the title The Silmarillion, present the mythological beginnings of what would eventually be dubbed Middle-earth. All of Tolkien’s fantasy works were set in this world.
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Tolkien continued his scholarly work while writing fantasies. From 1920 to 1925 he taught at the University of Leeds, and in 1925 he became professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University. He taught at Oxford for more than three decades, retiring in 1959.
As a scholar, Tolkien theorized about the meaning of fantasy and argued for the importance of such medieval fantasies as Beowulf and the Arthurian legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He also translated or edited editions of these works. In the essays “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” (1936) and “On Fairy-Stories” (1939), Tolkien claimed that the mythological imagination, which invents fantasy realms and beings, enriches the spirit and touches on basic truths in a manner akin to religion.
Tolkien peopled Middle-earth with different “races”: hobbits, elves, dwarves, wizards, orcs (goblins), and humans. Each of these races has distinct physical and moral traits. For instance, hobbits are short in stature and love a life of simple comforts. They represent the side of Tolkien’s nature that loved tobacco, beer, and companionship. Elves are tall and slim, and with their melodious language and their beauty they represent Tolkien’s religious and aesthetic ideals. Dwarves are a race of miners, small but powerfully built, who prize the gold and gems they dig from the earth. Often gruff and sometimes greedy, dwarves are also fiercely loyal to their friends and kinfolk. Wizards are gaunt and possess great magical powers; some are good and others are evil. Orcs are hideous monsters who represent pure evil. Men are the youngest race in Middle-earth, and they embody the potential for courage and cowardice, friendship and betrayal, generosity and selfishness—essentially the complexities of good and ill that Tolkien saw in modern people.
The central hobbit characters of Tolkien’s work, Bilbo Baggins and his distant cousin Frodo, were named after British enlisted men the author had known during his service in the army. Baggins and Frodo loathe danger and discomfort but find themselves called to high heroic action: Bilbo in the destruction of a dragon, and Frodo in battling Sauron, the demonic being who desires control of all Middle-earth.
The Hobbit, Tolkien’s first successful work of fiction, developed from stories he told to his children. It is notable for the completeness (both linguistically and geographically) of its setting. The story centers on the small and timid Bilbo Baggins, who is lured into a treasure-hunting adventure and finds a ring that makes its wearer invisible. The ring later passes to his nephew Frodo and becomes the central symbol in Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, a work of fantasy intended primarily for adults. This work, which describes the quest of Frodo to destroy the ring, was written as one complete story but was published in three parts: The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954), and The Return of the King (1955). The Lord of the Rings most fully expresses Tolkien’s ideals of self-sacrifice and love of both the land and artistic creation. With these works Tolkien established himself as a master of fantasy, a genre he helped resurrect as a serious form of modern literature.
Although Tolkien’s books never received any major awards, they sold well and became very influential, especially after being released in paperback in the mid-1960s. Toward the end of his life Tolkien was granted an honorary doctoral degree from Oxford and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), a member of an honorary order of knighthood.
Since Tolkien’s death his son Christopher has edited a number of books that collect his father’s previously unpublished work, including Tolkien’s notes and early drafts. These include The Silmarillion (1977), Unfinished Tales (1980), and the 12-volume The History of Middle-earth, which was published in installments from 1983 to 1996.
Animated film versions of Tolkien’s books include The Hobbit (1977) and The Lord of the Rings (1978). A successful trilogy of live-action movie versions based on The Lord of the Rings was released beginning in 2001: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). The last of the three won 11 Academy Awards, tying a record for the most Oscars claimed by one film.
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Post by reg on Sept 21, 2005 10:49:47 GMT
It was reported that Totenham Hotspurs were beaten 1-0 by lowly Grimsby
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Post by CmonYouSpurs on Sept 21, 2005 13:22:32 GMT
It was reported that Totenham Hotspurs were beaten 1-0 by lowly Grimsby on this day in history
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Post by Bizzie Lizzie on Sept 21, 2005 17:38:27 GMT
It was reported that Totenham Hotspurs were beaten 1-0 by lowly Grimsby Hey. My mother lives in Grimsby
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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2005 20:09:20 GMT
did this happen yesterday?....
ok, ONLY 24hrs ago.. but still yesterdays news? ;D
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Post by Bizzie Lizzie on Sept 22, 2005 17:14:18 GMT
September 22nd
1862 President Lincoln, says he will free slaves in all states on Jan 1
1955 - Commercial television was beamed to homes in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted.
Birthdays Mark Phillips 1948 Liam Gallagher (Oasis) 1972
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Post by specialk on Sept 22, 2005 22:18:12 GMT
mmmmmmmmmm mee too - was lucky enough to go and see him in his last tour with the spiders from mars - in torquay. Wow what a night that was ans what an amazing show. Not so keen on his more modern stuff though. ch ch ch changes lalalalallaalalalalal oh god opff again now
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Post by specialk on Sept 22, 2005 22:20:55 GMT
September 22nd 1862 President Lincoln, says he will free slaves in all states on Jan 1 1955 - Commercial television was beamed to homes in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted. Birthdays Mark Phillips 1948 Liam Gallagher (Oasis) 1972 awwwwwwwwww Liam - bless him
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Post by CmonYouSpurs on Sept 23, 2005 8:59:39 GMT
23 sept
1846: German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovers the eighth planet, Neptune, on the basis of French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier's calculations of its position.
1939: Sigmund Freud, the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis and one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, dies in London at the age of 83, having fled the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938.
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Post by reg on Sept 23, 2005 11:45:25 GMT
September 23
1966 Rolling Stones concert interrupted by fans
Officials at England's Royal Albert concert hall temporarily stop a Rolling Stones concert when screaming girls attack Mick Jagger onstage. The riotous enthusiasm of the fans resulted in a ban of pop concerts at the hall.
The Stones had gained a tremendous following since Mick Jagger and Keith Richards pulled the band together in the early 1960s. Jagger and Richards had been pals in grade school and met again years later, when Jagger was studying at the London School of Economics and Richards was at art school. Joined by guitarist Brian Jones and, later, by bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts, the band started out playing nightclubs and bars and released its first single in Britain in 1963.
Before long, the Stones became known as the anti-Beatles: They were long-haired, grungy, and wild, whereas the Beatles seemed wholesome and safe. A string of drug-related arrests plagued various band members--Brian Jones' drug problems probably led to his death in 1969 and Keith Richards struggled with heroin addiction before getting clean in 1977.
Meanwhile, the band steadily released hit albums and songs that became instant classics. Richards and Jagger began writing songs together, and after 1966 they wrote almost all of the group's material. The group first topped the U.S. charts in 1965 with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Hit singles in 1966 included "Paint It Black;" "19th Nervous Breakdown;" and "Get Off My Cloud." They released hit-packed albums throughout the 1970s and managed to maintain their following even in middle age. In the 1980s, Jagger and Richards both released various solo albums but continued to work together. Steel Wheels, the group's 1989 album, sold two million copies, and the tour grossed $140 million. The band's 1994 album, Voodoo Lounge, won Best Rock Album, the Stones' first Grammy. In addition, the Rolling Stones released a greatest hits CD, Forty Licks, in 2002. Then on Sept. 6, 2005, the band dropped yet another CD titled, A Bigger Bang. This new collection of songs was followed by a world tour.
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Post by CmonYouSpurs on Sept 23, 2005 23:37:24 GMT
24 Sept
1991: Theodor Seuss Geisel, writer of children's books under the pseudonym Dr. Seuss, dies in La Jolla, California, at the age of 87.
Geisel, Theodor Seuss (1904-1991), American author and artist, who wrote popular children’s books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Known for his inventive rhyming and nonsense words, Geisel sold millions of books that entertained generations of children while helping them learn to read.
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to parents who were German immigrants. Seuss was his mother’s maiden name. Geisel studied English literature at Dartmouth College, where he wrote for and edited the school’s humor magazine. It was in this publication that he first began using simply the name Seuss. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1925 and went on to study at the University of Oxford, intending to become an English professor. But a classmate—who later became Geisel’s wife—saw him doodling in a class and suggested he become an artist instead.
A self-taught sketch artist, Geisel earned a living as a cartoonist and commercial artist for almost a decade after college. In 1937, using the name Dr. Seuss, he wrote and illustrated his first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. With its simple rhymed text and whimsical tone, the book was an instant success. Geisel followed it up with works such as The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938), The King's Stilts (1939), and Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), the story of an elephant duped by a bird to sit on her egg.
During World War II (1939-1945) Geisel drew cartoons and wrote films supporting the war effort. He returned to writing children's books with McElligot's Pool (1947) and for the next several decades produced about 40 books in all, including such perennial favorites as If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1954), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), The Cat in the Hat (1957), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), Fox in Socks (1965), the environmentally conscious The Lorax (1971), and the nuclear-war-related work The Butter Battle (1984). Throughout his career he also used the name Theo. LeSieg (Geisel spelled backwards) for books he wrote that were illustrated by others.
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