Non-Artistic Achievement
Hello everyone!
I don't talk too much about my current book project - mostly
because I want to sustain the impetus to write about it in the
book instead - but, for those of you who don't know, it's a
non-fiction book on a theme related to the arts, and it deals
with a lot of Great People. That's about as much as I feel l can
declare without jinxing it.
Anyway, I already have a lot of Great People (yes, probably
mainly dead, white men, but that's a debate for another
time), but, just out of interest, who would you think of as
people outside of the arts that have achieved
great things? I have plenty of scientists, statesmen, and great
political leaders on my list, but who else? Business-people?
Entrepreneurs? Athletes? Aid-workers? To the extent that artists
have heroes, they tend to be other artists, but maybe you guys
have some others. Whether you can think of especially worthy
categories or (probably even better) specific individuals, I'd be
very keen to hear it.
Tommy.
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John Bird, Founder of the Big Issue?
Jesus
Captain Jack Sparrow
Sweeney Todd
Muhammed Ali
Anne Frank
Einstein
Che Guevara
Bruce Lee
Charles Lindbergh
Harvey Milk
Mother Theresa
Emmeline Pankhurst - women rule!
Rosa Parks
Superman
@Pimlicokid: John Bird was definitely an interesting one that I hadn't thought of!
WHY I LOVE MOM
Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed"
She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches.
Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.
She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer , ironed a shirt and secured a loose button
She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.
She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.
She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.
She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.
Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.
Dad called out, "I thought you were going to bed."
"I'm on my way," she said.
She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.
She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's , hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.
In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.
About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. "I'm going to bed."
And he did...without another thought.
Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer...?
Gladys Aylwood (The Inn of the Sixth Happiness)
Albert Schweitzer
Mother Theresa
Elizabeth Fry
Florence Nightingale
Edith Cavell
And for some more contemporary achievers:
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross - care of the dying
Anita Roddick - Ethical Trade et al
The woman in Uganda who set up Aveda for Widows and Orphans of the Genocide (been on Comic Relief for a few years running)
Ghandi
Martin Luther King
Erin Pizzey
- all these went where nobody else went, unpopular causes in their time and very courageous.
Oh, and the man that stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square.
David Gemmell - the writer who spent the better part of half his life trying to, and succeeding in my view, embody the soul of his step-father in his astonishing work.
Kenty - I know why women live longer - men tend to give up in disgust. There's peace in death.
And lastly - you have all overlooked our ubiquitous animal friend and ally:
"Gentlemen of the Jury."
"The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog."
"Gentleman of the Jury."
A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that encounters the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens."
"If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies. When the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."
- Senator George Graham Vest, 1870 Burden vs. Hornsby
Hester Stanhope
Aphra Benn
Rosa Parks
Florence Nightingale
Mary Seacole
Edith Cavell
Nancy Astor
Andrew Carnegie
Dr Edward Bach
Odette Sansom
Marjorie Wallace
FRANCOIOS DOMINIQUE_TOUSSAINT LOUVERTUE . He mast be included for having such a splendid name and he is not a dwem,
HENRY FORD
THOMAS CRAPPER
The inventor of the pillar box. It may be ANTHONY TROLLOPE I am not quite sure.
INFLUENTIAL JOURNALISTS PRESS BARONS
Thare are forgotten figures here. I am researching this area at the moment. A fugure such as DOUGLAS WILLIAM JERROLD exerted tremendous power though his writing and inbvolment in various working class - and middleclass - movements. GEORGE BIRKBECK is another name i came across in this connection.I might also reserch the beginings of the Indian Press but there is an English name here JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM
There are figures invloved in the Chartist movement that are not now so well known.
ELIZA COOK for example. It seems to be forgotten that the radical press of the early nineteneth century was instrumental in achieving such things as universal sufferage
The Chartists may have lost the war, but they won the peace.
He was not a Chartist, but the figure In wqould include here is
RICHARD COBBETT
The genres in which many people write had their origin in Victorian periodicals - in particular the penny press - ie Penny dreadfuls. If i can think of how, I will put some of this information in the 'Its a fact' group as it is relevant to such issues as 'self-publishing -and poetry. Why has the popularity of poetry declined over the century?
But G.W,M.REYNOLDS was an influence here and his paper Reynold's Miscellany was published right into the twentieth century.
What about the origins of libraries? I cannot remember the nsmes for the moment. EDWARD PASSMORE comes to mind, but I think I have this wrong.
Philanthropists.
NOBEL
PUBLISHERS are often forgotten. I can give you many names but RIChARD BENTLEY comes to mind.
What about the inventor of the steam press? I borrowed books on these subjects from the British library and have had to send them back. But the steam press was a real breakthrough.
I suggest one writer though, An India writer who is often omitted - Mulk Raj Anan. He wrote a book called 'The Untouchables' which suggested the whole problem of the cast system could be abolished by the introduction of toilets.
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