Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
Articles [alt+h] Reading List [alt+r] [alt+s]

Diaries of Note

Visit Blog

Sort By

Popular [alt+1] Recent [alt+2]

Change View

List View [alt+w] Expanded [alt+e]
Diaries of Note
The whole Channel is filled with little ships Exactly 80 years ago today, the world held its breath as the Allied forces launched the largest...
8 months ago
85

The whole Channel is filled with little ships

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

8 months ago
Exactly 80 years ago today, the world held its breath as the Allied forces launched the largest seaborne invasion in history, marking the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany’s occupation of Europe. Among the thousands of brave soldiers who set out to liberate the continent was...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Spring will come Elsa Binder was twenty when, in October of 1941, German forces carried out a brutal massacre of...
a year ago
105

Spring will come

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Elsa Binder was twenty when, in October of 1941, German forces carried out a brutal massacre of thousands of Jews in her hometown of Stanislawów, Poland. Two months later, she and her family were compelled to enter the Stanisławów Ghetto, joining 20,000 others in a harrowing...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have received a singular warning Charles Baudelaire, born in Paris in 1821, is best known for Fleurs du Mal, a thrilling and...
a year ago
32

I have received a singular warning

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Charles Baudelaire, born in Paris in 1821, is best known for Fleurs du Mal, a thrilling and controversial poetry collection that led to him being prosecuted when published in 1857. Sadly, his life was riddled with personal and financial struggles, and when he wrote this entry in...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I always forget how important the empty days are Born in Belgium in 1912 and raised in the United States, May Sarton was a writer who mastered...
a year ago
76

I always forget how important the empty days are

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Belgium in 1912 and raised in the United States, May Sarton was a writer who mastered various literary forms during her career, from evocative poetry and compelling novels through to a number of deeply introspective journals in her later decades. One of her greatest is...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Left the Beatles On the evening of 10th January 1969, after a tough day at work, guitarist George Harrison opened his...
a year ago
73

Left the Beatles

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the evening of 10th January 1969, after a tough day at work, guitarist George Harrison opened his diary and in three words noted that he had quit the world’s most popular band. For a week the Beatles had been rehearsing at Twickenham Film Studios, their efforts captured on...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I WAKE FOR THE FIRST TIME Everything changed for British musicologist Clive Wearing in 1985, the year he contracted...
a year ago
60

I WAKE FOR THE FIRST TIME

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Everything changed for British musicologist Clive Wearing in 1985, the year he contracted herpesviral encephalitis. The disease severely damaged his memory-forming brain regions, leading to one of the most extreme cases of anterograde amnesia ever recorded and a memory span that...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Happy New Year It was exactly a year ago, on 1st January 2023, that I began Diaries of Note. Since then I’ve shared...
a year ago
64

Happy New Year

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was exactly a year ago, on 1st January 2023, that I began Diaries of Note. Since then I’ve shared 365 diary entries written by 365 different people—each offering a chance to live a day in someone else’s shoes. It’s been an intense and remarkable year, filled with insights,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
May they never give me peace Patricia Highsmith was an author who mastered the art of the psychological thriller, leaving an...
a year ago
34

May they never give me peace

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Patricia Highsmith was an author who mastered the art of the psychological thriller, leaving an indelible mark on the genre with works like The Talented Mr. Ripley, published in 1955, and her compelling debut, Strangers on a Train—two highlights from an incredible collection of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
People who gush at me and don’t really like me Antonia White, born Eirene Botting in 1899, was a British writer who won plaudits for Frost in May,...
a year ago
30

People who gush at me and don’t really like me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Antonia White, born Eirene Botting in 1899, was a British writer who won plaudits for Frost in May, a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1933 in which her experiences in a Catholic convent school were vividly depicted. At this point in her life, White had been married three...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
My heroic composure was wasted Philip Toynbee, born in Oxford in 1916, was an English journalist and author best known for his...
a year ago
31

My heroic composure was wasted

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Philip Toynbee, born in Oxford in 1916, was an English journalist and author best known for his insightful and often controversial reviews in the The Observer—including, most famously, his 1961 critique of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “dull, ill-written, whimsical and childish” Hobbit novels...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The virus has displaced me British filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman paid £32,000 for Prospect Cottage, a humble fisherman’s...
a year ago
22

The virus has displaced me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
British filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman paid £32,000 for Prospect Cottage, a humble fisherman’s shack perched on the stark yet striking shingle beach of Dungeness, Kent. In 1986, following his diagnosis with HIV, Jarman found solace and creative refuge in this secluded spot—its...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
What am I to do? It was in the 1970s that African-American artist Jack Whitten began to use unconventional tools like...
a year ago
25

What am I to do?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in the 1970s that African-American artist Jack Whitten began to use unconventional tools like Afro combs and squeegees to manipulate paint on canvas—an innovation that led to his unique “developer” method, a pioneering technique in abstract painting. This new direction...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I do not know the origin of this ugly sport For most, Boxing Day is a time for leftovers and lounging, but in the New Forest of England during...
a year ago
41

I do not know the origin of this ugly sport

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
For most, Boxing Day is a time for leftovers and lounging, but in the New Forest of England during the late 1800s and early 1900s it signified something more primal. On the 26th of December each year, the winter-stilled woods echoed with the sounds of a cruel and peculiar...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
This must be a specially sad day Born Hermione Llewellyn in 1913, the life of Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly took a dramatic turn in...
a year ago
38

This must be a specially sad day

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born Hermione Llewellyn in 1913, the life of Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly took a dramatic turn in 1941 when her husband, a lieutenant in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, was captured by Rommel’s Afrika Korps, leading to his imprisonment as a prisoner of war in Italy. She wrote...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The goose for Xmas disappeared In the waning days of 1948, George Orwell was secluded on the Scottish island of Jura in a remote...
a year ago
22

The goose for Xmas disappeared

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the waning days of 1948, George Orwell was secluded on the Scottish island of Jura in a remote farmhouse named Barnhill—a stark, white-washed building set against the backdrop of Jura’s untamed wilderness. It was there, amidst the stark beauty of nature and in declining...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I look forward to the operating theatre as a happy release The prospect of Christmas was rarely a thrill for Evelyn Waugh, the famously grumpy author behind...
a year ago
25

I look forward to the operating theatre as a happy release

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
The prospect of Christmas was rarely a thrill for Evelyn Waugh, the famously grumpy author behind razor-edged novels like Brideshead Revisited. But even for Waugh, the back-end of 1946 was particularly trying. Not only was he surrounded by the family who so regularly irritated...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Turkeys are beautiful in themselves Born in London in 1896, J. R. Ackerley was a distinguished author and editor celebrated for his...
a year ago
36

Turkeys are beautiful in themselves

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in London in 1896, J. R. Ackerley was a distinguished author and editor celebrated for his candid autobiographical writing and his lengthy tenure as the literary editor of the BBC magazine, The Listener. On 22nd December 1952, as millions of households across Britain...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
He has quite a husky voice and is a great mimic By the late 1860s, Charles Dickens had transcended the realm of mere literary fame to become a...
a year ago
19

He has quite a husky voice and is a great mimic

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
By the late 1860s, Charles Dickens had transcended the realm of mere literary fame to become a theatrical sensation with his public reading tours. These performances, hundreds of which he staged during the final decade of his life, showcased his extraordinary talent for vocal...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have never been happier Ernest Hemingway was still married to Martha Gellhorn when he met his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, and...
a year ago
32

I have never been happier

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Ernest Hemingway was still married to Martha Gellhorn when he met his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, and on their third date he proposed. Nine years later, a month after he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the now-married couple went on a safari in East Africa that would...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The sound of failure Few individuals have shaped the sound and trajectory of modern music quite like Brian Eno. Born in...
a year ago
64

The sound of failure

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few individuals have shaped the sound and trajectory of modern music quite like Brian Eno. Born in 1948 in Suffolk, England, Eno initially rose to fame as a member of the glam rock band Roxy Music in the early 1970s. Since then, he has carved out a niche as a visionary in the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It was the finest excitement I ever had Captain Alfred A. Cunningham, the first Marine Corps aviator, was born on March 8, 1882, in Atlanta,...
a year ago
28

It was the finest excitement I ever had

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Captain Alfred A. Cunningham, the first Marine Corps aviator, was born on March 8, 1882, in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1917, under the directive of Major General Commandant George Barnett, he embarked on a crucial mission to France to observe Allied air operations and training during...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Mr. Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks At 10:35 a.m. on 17th December 1903, Orville Wright, alongside his brother Wilbur, embarked on a...
a year ago
24

Mr. Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
At 10:35 a.m. on 17th December 1903, Orville Wright, alongside his brother Wilbur, embarked on a historic journey that would change the course of human history. They achieved the first powered, controlled flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A duty, not a pleasure John Fowles was twenty-three when he wrote this journal entry in 1949. Just a few years after...
a year ago
32

A duty, not a pleasure

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
John Fowles was twenty-three when he wrote this journal entry in 1949. Just a few years after spending two years in the military, he was now navigating his final year at Oxford, and as the festive season descended he found himself back at home, enveloped in the annual Christmas...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It is so difficult to keep track of the days Born in Illinois in 1886, Minnie Vautrin became an unlikely hero in 1937 during one of history’s...
a year ago
26

It is so difficult to keep track of the days

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Illinois in 1886, Minnie Vautrin became an unlikely hero in 1937 during one of history’s darkest episodes. As a missionary and educator, she turned Ginling College into a sanctuary for over 10,000 Chinese women and children as the Imperial Japanese Army unleashed a wave...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Thanks be to God! On 14th December 1911, after years of preparation and a gruelling journey in treacherous conditions,...
a year ago
22

Thanks be to God!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 14th December 1911, after years of preparation and a gruelling journey in treacherous conditions, Roald Amundsen and his team reached the South Pole and raised the flag of Norway—an achievement that marked them as the first to stand at this geographical zenith having beaten...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I don’t want another swash to buckle On 13th December 1960, mere months after winning an Oscar for his role in Ben Hur, Charlton Heston...
a year ago
21

I don’t want another swash to buckle

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 13th December 1960, mere months after winning an Oscar for his role in Ben Hur, Charlton Heston almost met with disaster on the set of El Cid, an epic historical drama unfolding in the sun-drenched landscapes of Spain. While immersed in a demanding broadsword duel scene...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I will strive not to lose my temper easily Born in The Netherlands in 1926, Moshe Ze’ev Flinker was a Jewish teenager whose family fled to...
a year ago
30

I will strive not to lose my temper easily

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in The Netherlands in 1926, Moshe Ze’ev Flinker was a Jewish teenager whose family fled to Brussels in 1942 to escape Nazi persecution. It was there, in November, that 16-year-old Flinker began to keep the diary for which he is now remembered: a deeply personal record of the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Nobody wants to give me what I don’t want Walter Ripton Morris was fifty-four when he was fired from his job. The year was 1961, and the...
a year ago
26

Nobody wants to give me what I don’t want

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Walter Ripton Morris was fifty-four when he was fired from his job. The year was 1961, and the company for which he had worked for some time had been swallowed up by a bigger corporation who deemed him to be disposable. Four years later, Morris published the diary he had kept...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
One feels as if one is dissolved into Nature Albert Einstein’s trip to the California Institute of Technology in December 1931, for the first of...
a year ago
19

One feels as if one is dissolved into Nature

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Albert Einstein’s trip to the California Institute of Technology in December 1931, for the first of three annual visiting professorships, marked a crucial juncture in his life. The rise of the Nazi party in Germany, with its vehement anti-Semitism, was forcing the physicist to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A greater public calamity could not have occurred On 6th November 1817, the British public was plunged into deep mourning following the unexpected...
a year ago
22

A greater public calamity could not have occurred

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 6th November 1817, the British public was plunged into deep mourning following the unexpected death of Princess Charlotte of Wales. The only child of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and Caroline of Brunswick, Princess Charlotte was admired for her spirited personality...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I’ve given my pee to science On 23rd November 2014, former Italian Air Force pilot Samantha Cristoforetti embarked on a...
a year ago
21

I’ve given my pee to science

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 23rd November 2014, former Italian Air Force pilot Samantha Cristoforetti embarked on a monumental journey. Strapped into the confines of a Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan, she was launched towards the International Space Station where she was to live for 199 days—the longest...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I distinctly saw the rising sun insignia on his wings On December 7, 1941, a tranquil Sunday morning transformed into a historic tragedy when hundreds of...
a year ago
26

I distinctly saw the rising sun insignia on his wings

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On December 7, 1941, a tranquil Sunday morning transformed into a historic tragedy when hundreds of Japanese aircraft unexpectedly attacked Pearl Harbor—a cataclysmic event that would lead to the United States entering World War II. Fifteen miles away, Major Leonard D. Heaton, a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
You have to see it On 6th December 1912, at the ancient site of Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, a team led by German...
a year ago
15

You have to see it

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 6th December 1912, at the ancient site of Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, a team led by German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt made a remarkable discovery: they uncovered a workshop once belonging to Thutmose—more formally known as ‘The King’s Favorite and Master of Works, the Sculptor...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
BOREDOM, HOMESICK, LOVESICK In April 1918, Spike Milligan was born. A titan in the world of comedy and literature, he is...
a year ago
26

BOREDOM, HOMESICK, LOVESICK

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In April 1918, Spike Milligan was born. A titan in the world of comedy and literature, he is arguably most fondly remembered for ‘The Goon Show’, a radio comedy programme that not only brought laughter to millions but also reshaped the landscape of British humour. But Milligan’s...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
What a pack of lies intimate journals are Charles Ritchie was a renowned Canadian diplomat whose career spanned some of the most significant...
a year ago
27

What a pack of lies intimate journals are

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Charles Ritchie was a renowned Canadian diplomat whose career spanned some of the most significant events of the 20th century and, at the time of writing this brief entry, saw him stationed in London during the tumult of World War II. Amidst the chaos, Ritchie meticulously...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Now is the time Shortly after writing this diary entry on 3rd December 1988, 21-year-old Jennifer Bonner was wheeled...
a year ago
21

Now is the time

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Shortly after writing this diary entry on 3rd December 1988, 21-year-old Jennifer Bonner was wheeled into the operating theatre at the University of Minnesota Hospital where her battle-scarred heart, heavy with hope and history, was to be replaced with that of a donor—the hopeful...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
On sculptures Born in Prague in 1875, celebrated poet Rainer Maria Rilke was twenty-two when he began to keep a...
a year ago
22

On sculptures

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Prague in 1875, celebrated poet Rainer Maria Rilke was twenty-two when he began to keep a diary—a practice encouraged by his lover and mentor, Lou Andreas-Salomé, who was fifteen years his senior. That diary, titled Florence, would be the first of three that he kept...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
One pheasant behaved like a madman In November 1974, upon learning that his friend and mentor, film critic Lotte Eisner, was critically...
a year ago
20

One pheasant behaved like a madman

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In November 1974, upon learning that his friend and mentor, film critic Lotte Eisner, was critically ill in Paris and close to death, German filmmaker Werner Herzog immediately packed a duffel bag and began to walk in her direction from Munich, convinced that “she would stay...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Demented with grief Franz Baermann Steiner was a Czech-born anthropologist and poet whose life was tragically cut short...
a year ago
19

Demented with grief

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Franz Baermann Steiner was a Czech-born anthropologist and poet whose life was tragically cut short in 1952 by a heart attack—the final blow in a series of health struggles since his parents were claimed by the Holocaust. His enduring trauma from this profound loss had been a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Any visitor to the hospital is free to barge into his room In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Chicago witnessed the rise of Al Capone, a notorious mob boss...
a year ago
15

Any visitor to the hospital is free to barge into his room

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Chicago witnessed the rise of Al Capone, a notorious mob boss who, despite running a vast and fearsome criminal enterprise for many years, evaded conviction until 1931 when he was finally indicted and convicted for tax evasion. Released from...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have especially enjoyed this autumn Born in 1819 in rural Warwickshire, George Eliot was a towering figure in Victorian literature known...
a year ago
25

I have especially enjoyed this autumn

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1819 in rural Warwickshire, George Eliot was a towering figure in Victorian literature known for her detailed portraits of English life. Christened Mary Ann Evans, she adopted her male pen name to ensure her works were judged by their merit rather than her gender; her...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The sight that met us was beyond anything one could conceive Few archaeologists can claim to have felt the surge of exhilaration that Howard Carter did on 27th...
a year ago
30

The sight that met us was beyond anything one could conceive

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few archaeologists can claim to have felt the surge of exhilaration that Howard Carter did on 27th November 1922, as he stood before the threshold of discovery in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The electric lights glared down on a scene of ancient splendour as Carter and his team...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The human is a creature of paradox When he wrote the following diary entry in 1973, 30-year-old Arthur Ashe had already carved out a...
a year ago
19

The human is a creature of paradox

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When he wrote the following diary entry in 1973, 30-year-old Arthur Ashe had already carved out a distinguished place in sporting history, not just as a formidable tennis player, but also as a pioneering African-American athlete in a predominantly white sport. With the US Open...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The hate stare was everywhere practiced In November 1959, at a time of profound racial tension and segregation in the American South,...
a year ago
16

The hate stare was everywhere practiced

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In November 1959, at a time of profound racial tension and segregation in the American South, journalist John Howard Griffin embarked on a remarkable and controversial journey. In an attempt to better understand the Black American experience, Griffin underwent a medical treatment...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Standing on the ramparts of Jodhpur fort In 1925, at the age of thirty-one and seven years before publication of Brave New World, English...
a year ago
12

Standing on the ramparts of Jodhpur fort

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1925, at the age of thirty-one and seven years before publication of Brave New World, English author Aldous Huxley ventured to India on the first leg of a global tour that would take him and his wife to such places as Japan, China, Burma, and America. Their trip would later be...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
They were struck with terror On the morning of 3rd August 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus departed the Spanish town...
a year ago
19

They were struck with terror

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the morning of 3rd August 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus departed the Spanish town of Palos de la Frontera and embarked on what would become a monumental voyage across the unknown Atlantic, one that would forever alter the course of human history. Steering three...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It all began so beautifully On 22nd November 1963, an unfathomable tragedy unfolded under the Texas sky as the motorcade...
a year ago
18

It all began so beautifully

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 22nd November 1963, an unfathomable tragedy unfolded under the Texas sky as the motorcade carrying President John F. Kennedy wound its way through the streets of Dallas. Two cars behind the President’s, Lady Bird Johnson, wife of then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
She’s going, boys! On 21st November 1915, following months of struggle against the implacable Antarctic ice, the crew...
a year ago
17

She’s going, boys!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 21st November 1915, following months of struggle against the implacable Antarctic ice, the crew of Endurance, led by the intrepid Sir Ernest Shackleton, witnessed the final sinking of their ship—a vessel that had promised passage across the continent. In his diary that night,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have myself lost recollection of much that was interesting On 20th November 1825, shortly after reading the diaries of Samuel Pepys and Lord Byron for the...
a year ago
21

I have myself lost recollection of much that was interesting

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 20th November 1825, shortly after reading the diaries of Samuel Pepys and Lord Byron for the first time, Scottish poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott began his own diary by way of the following opening entry. Fifty-four at the time, Scott had already established himself as a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I did so want to be a great actress Rachel Roberts was a formidable Welsh actress whose performances on stage and screen garnered praise...
a year ago
33

I did so want to be a great actress

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Rachel Roberts was a formidable Welsh actress whose performances on stage and screen garnered praise and awards, her name often spoken with a mix of reverence and endearment within theatrical circles. Sadly, her personal life was at odds with her professional one, and in the last...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
To pay up would constitute a precedent Kenneth Tynan was a towering figure in the British theatre scene, known for his sharp criticism and...
a year ago
27

To pay up would constitute a precedent

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Kenneth Tynan was a towering figure in the British theatre scene, known for his sharp criticism and a remarkable ability to discern the pulse of contemporary drama. Born in Birmingham, England, in 1927, he began documenting his life and thoughts in diaries from the age of six, a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Jewish police have been ordered to erect the gallows Avraham Tory (born Avraham Golub in 1909) was a Lithuanian Jew who played a significant role during...
a year ago
19

The Jewish police have been ordered to erect the gallows

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Avraham Tory (born Avraham Golub in 1909) was a Lithuanian Jew who played a significant role during one of history’s most harrowing periods. As the secretary of the Jewish Council of Elders in the Kovno Ghetto during World War II, he was privy to the inner workings of the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It is like a building site, abandoned in November Seamus Heaney, born in April 1939 in Northern Ireland, was a towering figure in the world of poetry...
a year ago
10

It is like a building site, abandoned in November

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Seamus Heaney, born in April 1939 in Northern Ireland, was a towering figure in the world of poetry whose mastery over the lyrical evocation of place and past earned him numerous accolades, culminating in the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. It was fifteen years before this...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Now all is gone For a period of four years, beginning in 1860, William Henry Brewer travelled the length and breadth...
a year ago
12

Now all is gone

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
For a period of four years, beginning in 1860, William Henry Brewer travelled the length and breadth of California as part of the state’s first official geological survey, his role as the survey’s principal assistant providing him with a unique vantage point from which to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
How easy it is to say the wrong thing! Hugh Gaitskell found himself at the centre of an unintended media storm in November 1947, shortly...
a year ago
13

How easy it is to say the wrong thing!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Hugh Gaitskell found himself at the centre of an unintended media storm in November 1947, shortly after being appointed as Britain’s Minister of Fuel and Power. In a speech addressing the stark realities of post-war austerity and fuel conservation, a comment about personal...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I am dead and, exactly as I foresaw, I still exist Born to American parents in Paris in 1900, Julian Green spent much of his life in France, and...
a year ago
7

I am dead and, exactly as I foresaw, I still exist

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born to American parents in Paris in 1900, Julian Green spent much of his life in France, and despite his American heritage he wrote exclusively in French, becoming the first non-French national to be inducted into the esteemed Académie Française. His prolific career spanned...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
My soul, my soul, where are you? In 1913, at the age of 38, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung embarked upon a profound and deeply...
a year ago
10

My soul, my soul, where are you?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1913, at the age of 38, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung embarked upon a profound and deeply introspective journey that would mark a significant phase in his life and work. Prompted by a series of unsettling dreams and visions amidst his contentious break with Freud, Jung found...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The greatest day in the world’s history At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, an unprecedented chapter in...
a year ago
15

The greatest day in the world’s history

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, an unprecedented chapter in world history was brought to a close as the Armistice came into effect, ending the bloodshed of the First World War. In an instant, four years of relentless warfare, which had...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The most sensual thing I’ve ever seen When Pamela Des Barres graduated from high school in 1966, she headed straight for the Sunset Strip...
a year ago
30

The most sensual thing I’ve ever seen

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When Pamela Des Barres graduated from high school in 1966, she headed straight for the Sunset Strip where the rock stars she had idolised from afar roamed—a path that led her to become one of the most celebrated groupies of the rock and roll era. She kept a diary throughout and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Then, no more English poets Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland lived together for almost 40 years, their...
a year ago
21

Then, no more

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
English poets Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland lived together for almost 40 years, their partnership both a romantic and literary alliance that formed in 1930. It was in the 1960s that Ackland’s health began to decline, and on 9th November 1969, at their home in...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
When a shot goes badly, I feel like a useless object Catherine Deneuve’s film career has been prolific and illustrious. Since her big screen debut in...
a year ago
23

When a shot goes badly, I feel like a useless object

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Catherine Deneuve’s film career has been prolific and illustrious. Since her big screen debut in 1957 she has starred in close to 130 movies and garnered 14 César Award nominations, of which she has won two, cementing her as one of France’s most acclaimed actresses. Yet, even the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
An impossible scene in the real past For a period of eighty days, beginning on 14th October 1964, Russian-American novelist Vladimir...
a year ago
14

An impossible scene in the real past

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
For a period of eighty days, beginning on 14th October 1964, Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov kept a diary devoted exclusively to his dreams. Drawing inspiration from J.W. Dunne’s influential 1927 work, An Experiment with Time, Nabokov embarked on this introspective...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We puny mortals On 2nd November 1995, NASA released a photograph that would become one of the most iconic images of...
a year ago
11

We puny mortals

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 2nd November 1995, NASA released a photograph that would become one of the most iconic images of space ever captured: the Hubble Space Telescope’s view of the gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula, known as the Pillars of Creation. One of the millions of observers that weekend was...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The days are full of anxious expectation Nina Kosterina was born to the world of revolution and upheaval on her mother’s birthday, 8th April...
a year ago
14

The days are full of anxious expectation

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Nina Kosterina was born to the world of revolution and upheaval on her mother’s birthday, 8th April 1921, at a revolutionary camp by the Caspian Sea. Her life unfolded alongside the formative years of the Soviet Union—from the passing of Lenin to the ruthless ascent of Stalin. It...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Then a sailor, now H. M. author On 11th October 1849, two years before the publication of his opus, Moby-Dick, American novelist...
a year ago
16

Then a sailor, now H. M. author

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 11th October 1849, two years before the publication of his opus, Moby-Dick, American novelist Herman Melville boarded a liner in New York and headed for London where he was to live for a few months while finding a publisher for his next book, White-Jacket. He wrote this...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The degradation machine is running Jean Guéhenno was a French essayist and intellectual known for his unwavering commitment to freedom...
a year ago
12

The degradation machine is running

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Jean Guéhenno was a French essayist and intellectual known for his unwavering commitment to freedom and truth during a period when both were under severe threat. In the midst of World War II, France had become an eerie silhouette of its former self, ruled by a government that had...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Practically all were intact Frank Hurley was an audacious Australian photographer and adventurer best known for his remarkable...
a year ago
16

Practically all were intact

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Frank Hurley was an audacious Australian photographer and adventurer best known for his remarkable images of Antarctica, particularly those he took on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. When Hurley wrote this diary entry on 2nd November 1915,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I won’t marry Jo to Laurie to please any one Now considered a seminal work in both American literature and feminist canon, Little Women was...
a year ago
38

I won’t marry Jo to Laurie to please any one

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Now considered a seminal work in both American literature and feminist canon, Little Women was originally published in the 1860s as two separate volumes, the first of which Louisa May Alcott completed in two months after being asked by her publisher to “write a girl’s book.” The...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Hop tu naa! Richard Adams, born in Berkshire, England, in 1920, is best known for his bestselling debut novel,...
a year ago
24

Hop tu naa!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Richard Adams, born in Berkshire, England, in 1920, is best known for his bestselling debut novel, Watership Down, a tale that follows a group of rabbits escaping their doomed warren. However, beyond fiction, Adams had an eye for the rhythms of nature and a knack for capturing...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
One bomb fell about ten feet from the train station Petr Ginz was an extraordinary young Czech-Jewish man who left a lasting impression despite a life...
a year ago
15

One bomb fell about ten feet from the train station

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Petr Ginz was an extraordinary young Czech-Jewish man who left a lasting impression despite a life cut tragically short. Born in 1928, he was fourteen when he was sent to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. While there, he edited Vedem, an underground magazine produced by teenage...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The dear old white bear saved me, that time Liane de Pougy was a socialite and diarist who shimmered through early 20th-century Paris with the...
a year ago
12

The dear old white bear saved me, that time

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Liane de Pougy was a socialite and diarist who shimmered through early 20th-century Paris with the sort of glamour and intrigue that novels are made of. Born Anne Marie Chassaigne in 1869, she lived many lives: an acclaimed dancer, a celebrated courtesan, and eventually an...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I should like to see him forcibly shaved Born in Manchester, England, in 1904, Christopher Isherwood was a novelist, playwright, and...
a year ago
13

I should like to see him forcibly shaved

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Manchester, England, in 1904, Christopher Isherwood was a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who left an indelible mark on 20th-century literature with novels like Goodbye to Berlin and A Single Man. He was also a keen diarist and since his death in 1986 multiple...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
WROTE ‘YOUR SONG’ When he wrote this diary entry in October 1969, Elton John was yet to become the superstar we now...
a year ago
12

WROTE ‘YOUR SONG’

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When he wrote this diary entry in October 1969, Elton John was yet to become the superstar we now know. Still only twenty-two, his debut album had been out in the wild for four months, and it would be another three years until he legally changed his name from Reginald Dwight....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Beginning of Classes In 1911, having recently become interested in the field of psychoanalysis, 50-year-old German writer...
a year ago
14

Beginning of Classes

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1911, having recently become interested in the field of psychoanalysis, 50-year-old German writer Lou Andreas-Salomé attended the Third Psychoanalytical Congress in Weimar and met, amongst other leading figures, Sigmund Freud. A year later, in September of 1912, she wrote to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Sunlight can only be pictured with shadows Born in 1886 in Covington, Kentucky, James Webb Young was no stranger to the persuasive power of...
a year ago
26

Sunlight can only be pictured with shadows

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1886 in Covington, Kentucky, James Webb Young was no stranger to the persuasive power of words, rising through the ranks to become an influential figure at J. Walter Thompson, one of the world’s leading advertising agencies. Known for his keen insights into human...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Art is local On 24th October 1967, American painter Raphael Soyer found himself standing amidst a lifetime of his...
a year ago
29

Art is local

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 24th October 1967, American painter Raphael Soyer found himself standing amidst a lifetime of his creations at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born in Russia in 1899, Soyer emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1912, eventually becoming a prominent figure in the Social...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A wet day and all its luxuries Caroline Fox was an English diarist born in 1819 in Cornwall, England, into a prominent Quaker...
a year ago
16

A wet day and all its luxuries

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Caroline Fox was an English diarist born in 1819 in Cornwall, England, into a prominent Quaker family—her father, Robert Were Fox, was a scientist and respected member of the community. Fox was sixteen when she began keeping the diary for which she is now known, posthumously...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It is almost impossible to comprehend Zygmunt Klukowski was a doctor born in 1885 in Ukraine who lived much of his life in Szczebrzeszyn,...
a year ago
11

It is almost impossible to comprehend

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Zygmunt Klukowski was a doctor born in 1885 in Ukraine who lived much of his life in Szczebrzeszyn, a small town in Eastern Poland where for thirty years he held the post of superintendent at the local hospital. During World War II, he balanced his medical duties with covert work...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
So here I am, two hours into my sixty-sixth year Born in 1936 in Hampshire, England, Simon Gray was a prolific playwright whose later years saw him...
a year ago
11

So here I am, two hours into my sixty-sixth year

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1936 in Hampshire, England, Simon Gray was a prolific playwright whose later years saw him acclaimed for The Smoking Diaries, a series of insightful, often irreverent memoirs in which he delves deep into the human experience, tackling themes of ageing, vulnerability, and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Ambition and energy keep a man young Wallace Stevens was an American modernist poet, born in 1879, who balanced an unassuming life in...
a year ago
10

Ambition and energy keep a man young

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Wallace Stevens was an American modernist poet, born in 1879, who balanced an unassuming life in insurance with an illustrious literary career. While best known for his intricate and imaginative poems, which earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1955, Stevens also kept a journal...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The greatest crime on the largest scale known in modern history George Templeton Strong was a 19th-century New York lawyer deeply involved in the civic fabric of...
a year ago
11

The greatest crime on the largest scale known in modern history

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
George Templeton Strong was a 19th-century New York lawyer deeply involved in the civic fabric of his city, but his lasting impact extends far beyond the legal world. From 1835 to 1875, Strong meticulously recorded his observations and insights in a diary that has since become an...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The crying could be heard from the street “There is so much influenza about that they’ve had to shut the university.” The opening line in the...
a year ago
31

The crying could be heard from the street

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
“There is so much influenza about that they’ve had to shut the university.” The opening line in the diary of Josep Pla sets the stage for what would become a transformative period in his life and, subsequently, a landmark in 20th-century Catalan literature. In 1918, the Spanish...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Hostilities were suspended for the Night On 17th October 1781, a decisive moment arrived in the American Revolutionary War: the Siege of...
a year ago
20

Hostilities were suspended for the Night

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 17th October 1781, a decisive moment arrived in the American Revolutionary War: the Siege of Yorktown effectively came to an end. Situated in Virginia, Yorktown had been a critical stronghold for the British forces led by General Charles Cornwallis. The American and French...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I am glad to be on planet Earth with you It was in 2008 that famed British neurologist Oliver Sacks sent a letter to American writer and...
a year ago
25

I am glad to be on planet Earth with you

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in 2008 that famed British neurologist Oliver Sacks sent a letter to American writer and photographer Bill Hayes, giving rise to a friendship that ultimately evolved into a deeply affectionate partnership, one that endured until Sacks’s death from cancer in 2015. With a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I need solitude. I need space. I need air. English novelist Virginia Woolf was fifteen when she began her first diary; by the time of her death...
a year ago
12

I need solitude. I need space. I need air.

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
English novelist Virginia Woolf was fifteen when she began her first diary; by the time of her death in 1941, she had filled more than thirty handwritten volumes with reflections, observations, and personal struggles that offer a window into her complex mind. When she wrote the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I can’t remember his name E. J. Kahn Jr. began to write for The New Yorker in 1937, launching a career that would span decades...
a year ago
13

I can’t remember his name

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
E. J. Kahn Jr. began to write for The New Yorker in 1937, launching a career that would span decades and establish him as an influential figure in American journalism. Born on December 4, 1916, he was the son of renowned architect Ely Jacques Kahn, and in addition to his work at...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
When in my hand thy pulse is prest, I feel it alter mine Born in Yorkshire in 1791, Anne Lister was a landowner famed for keeping detailed diaries that...
a year ago
12

When in my hand thy pulse is prest, I feel it alter mine

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Yorkshire in 1791, Anne Lister was a landowner famed for keeping detailed diaries that totalled over four million words, a sixth of which was written in a code she devised to conceal her sexuality and intimate encounters. Discovered and deciphered by a descendant in the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
In the multitude I become bewildered When he wrote the following entry in his journal in October 1940, André Gide was living through a...
a year ago
13

In the multitude I become bewildered

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When he wrote the following entry in his journal in October 1940, André Gide was living through a chaotic period in history. A French literary titan known for probing works like The Immoralist and The Counterfeiters, Gide now found himself grappling with the profound impact that...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
My love of solitude is growing with my growth Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an eminent 19th-century British poet most famous for her two-volume...
a year ago
11

My love of solitude is growing with my growth

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an eminent 19th-century British poet most famous for her two-volume collection, Poems, published in 1844, and the verse novel Aurora Leigh, which came out in 1856. It was in 1831, three years after the death of her mother, that Barrett Browning kept...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A Midwife’s Tale Esteemed midwife Martha Ballard was fifty when she began to keep a diary—a unique and detailed...
a year ago
25

A Midwife’s Tale

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Esteemed midwife Martha Ballard was fifty when she began to keep a diary—a unique and detailed record of life in 18th-century rural America that would grow to 10,000 entries and cover 27 years. On the day of the following entry in October of 1794, Ballard successfully delivered...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Would it be possible to live every minute attentively? Polish poet, novelist, and intellectual Czesław Miłosz was born in Lithuania in 1911 and lived...
a year ago
26

Would it be possible to live every minute attentively?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Polish poet, novelist, and intellectual Czesław Miłosz was born in Lithuania in 1911 and lived through some of the most significant events of the 20th century, including World War II and the Cold War. A giant in the world of poetry and literature, Miłosz garnered numerous awards...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
No sooner am I happy, than he crushes me It was on the eve of their wedding in September of 1862 that Russian writer Leo Tolstoy showed his...
a year ago
48

No sooner am I happy, than he crushes me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was on the eve of their wedding in September of 1862 that Russian writer Leo Tolstoy showed his diaries to 18-year-old Sofia Behrs, the young woman with whom he was to spend his life. Filled with lurid confessions and tales of past affairs, these notebooks made an instant,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
All through the long night those big guns flashed and growled The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the deadliest campaign for the American Expeditionary Forces in...
a year ago
15

All through the long night those big guns flashed and growled

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the deadliest campaign for the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, a nightmarish period that began on 26th September and lasted forty-seven days. Corporal Alvin C. York (later Sergeant) was just one of 1.2 million American soldiers...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
For twelve years we lied about it Kenneth Rose was a journalist and biographer famous for his access to high-profile British figures,...
a year ago
16

For twelve years we lied about it

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Kenneth Rose was a journalist and biographer famous for his access to high-profile British figures, tales of whom are scattered through his extensive diaries. On the day he wrote the following entry in 1985, Rose had spent some time with Mary Soames, daughter of Winston...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Oh, self, they make me so sick! Born in rural Georgia in 1930, Richelene Mitchell faced significant obstacles throughout her life,...
a year ago
14

Oh, self, they make me so sick!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in rural Georgia in 1930, Richelene Mitchell faced significant obstacles throughout her life, from the entrenched racism of the American South to the economic hardships that forced her into public housing and onto welfare. Yet, despite the unyielding challenges she faced as...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The ultimate bovine humiliation Anne Lamott was thirty-five, single, and newly sober when she gingerly entered the world of...
a year ago
9

The ultimate bovine humiliation

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Anne Lamott was thirty-five, single, and newly sober when she gingerly entered the world of motherhood. Already a seasoned novelist born in 1954 in San Francisco, this transformative period of her life became the foundation for her first foray into non-fiction, Operating...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I am absolutely convinced that George is going to lose When she wrote the following diary entry in October of 1992, First Lady Barbara Bush had been living...
a year ago
16

I am absolutely convinced that George is going to lose

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When she wrote the following diary entry in October of 1992, First Lady Barbara Bush had been living at the White House for more than three years and was accustomed to the constant scrutiny and pace of political life. Exactly a month later, as she predicted, Bill Clinton won the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It was so horribly fascinating that I felt spellbound During World War I, the skies over Britain were periodically lit up by German Zeppelins in what...
a year ago
30

It was so horribly fascinating that I felt spellbound

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
During World War I, the skies over Britain were periodically lit up by German Zeppelins in what would become known as “The First Blitz.” These enormous airships seemed almost invincible as they loomed over cities, striking terror into the hearts of civilians below, and between...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have woken fairly early to think about human life Frances Partridge was a remarkable British diarist born in 1900 whose long life was interwoven with...
a year ago
17

I have woken fairly early to think about human life

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Frances Partridge was a remarkable British diarist born in 1900 whose long life was interwoven with the illustrious Bloomsbury Group. By 1967, when she wrote the following entry, she had already lost two of her nearest and dearest: her husband, Ralph, in 1960, and then tragically...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The important thing is to keep going Born in London in 1909, Stephen Spender’s talent was recognised early on by T.S. Eliot, who...
a year ago
14

The important thing is to keep going

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in London in 1909, Stephen Spender’s talent was recognised early on by T.S. Eliot, who published Spender’s first book, Poems, at Faber & Faber in 1933. Spender wrote the following diary entry six years later, a few days after lunching with Eliot and with the world teetering...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
She cured me of the disease of night fear Dawn Powell was a master of incisive, sharp-witted prose that dissected the intricacies and follies...
a year ago
9

She cured me of the disease of night fear

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Dawn Powell was a master of incisive, sharp-witted prose that dissected the intricacies and follies of the human experience. Born in Ohio in 1896, she moved to New York City in her early twenties and quickly became an active member of the literary scene, writing novels, plays,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Man cannot live long without joy Dorothy Day was an influential American journalist and social activist who co-founded the Catholic...
a year ago
9

Man cannot live long without joy

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Dorothy Day was an influential American journalist and social activist who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930s. Driven by her deep spiritual convictions, Day was a relentless advocate for social justice, and in the late 1930s and early 1940s her work took on a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Come ennui When he wrote the following diary entry in September of 1918, John Dos Passos was already a veteran...
a year ago
14

Come ennui

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When he wrote the following diary entry in September of 1918, John Dos Passos was already a veteran of the ambulance service, having served in the battlefields of Verdun and Mort Homme in 1917, as well as on Italy’s Mt. Grappa. But he now found himself entangled in the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
You drunken dog In 1773, Dr. Samuel Johnson, the eminent intellectual and moralist, and James Boswell, a young...
a year ago
10

You drunken dog

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1773, Dr. Samuel Johnson, the eminent intellectual and moralist, and James Boswell, a young Scottish lawyer captivated by Johnson’s brilliance, embarked on a journey through the Highlands of Scotland. Their relationship was one of mentorship and friendship, a dynamic that...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I shan’t worry about my girth Born in Minnesota in 1882, Dorothea Moulton Balano was no ordinary ‘skipper’s wife.’ At a time when...
a year ago
24

I shan’t worry about my girth

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Minnesota in 1882, Dorothea Moulton Balano was no ordinary ‘skipper’s wife.’ At a time when women were expected to remain ashore, she joined her husband, Captain Fred Balano, on maritime adventures aboard the schooner R. W. Hopkins, and her diaries, kept between 1910 and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It’s almost impossible to know what to say In 1990, the Royal National Theatre embarked on an ambitious international tour featuring two...
a year ago
16

It’s almost impossible to know what to say

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1990, the Royal National Theatre embarked on an ambitious international tour featuring two towering Shakespearean plays, King Lear and Richard III, with groundbreaking lead performances from Brian Cox and Ian McKellen, respectively. Their first destination beyond the UK was...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Every atom of hate we add to this world makes it still more inhospitable On 7th September 1943, a year after writing the following diary entry, 29-year-old Etty Hillesum and...
a year ago
17

Every atom of hate we add to this world makes it still more inhospitable

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 7th September 1943, a year after writing the following diary entry, 29-year-old Etty Hillesum and her family were sent from Westerbork transit camp to Auschwitz, where she would meet her tragic end two months later. Born in 1914 in the Netherlands, Hillesum was a woman of keen...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Sunk deeply into the blues Sherwood Anderson was an important and influential writer, highly regarded for his seminal work...
a year ago
26

Sunk deeply into the blues

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Sherwood Anderson was an important and influential writer, highly regarded for his seminal work Winesburg, Ohio, a collection of interrelated short stories that painted an intimate portrait of small-town America and had a lasting impact on American literature. By 1938, three...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We are like helpless animals Born in Paris in 1920, Benoîte Groult was nineteen when her beloved city fell under Nazi occupation...
a year ago
25

We are like helpless animals

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Paris in 1920, Benoîte Groult was nineteen when her beloved city fell under Nazi occupation and the repressive rule of the Vichy regime. Throughout the war, she and her younger sister Flora kept a diary, chronicling the increasing constraints and daily indignities imposed...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Last of England Ford Madox Brown was a British artist born in Calais in 1821, widely recognised though never...
a year ago
12

The Last of England

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Ford Madox Brown was a British artist born in Calais in 1821, widely recognised though never officially part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It was in 1852 that he started work on two of his most famous paintings: Work, which took thirteen years to complete, and The Last of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Meet a twenty-four-year-old scriptwriter called J.J. Everything changed for Richard E. Grant in 1987 when his big screen debut in Bruce Robinson’s iconic...
a year ago
13

Meet a twenty-four-year-old scriptwriter called J.J.

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Everything changed for Richard E. Grant in 1987 when his big screen debut in Bruce Robinson’s iconic black comedy, Withnail & I, catapulted him towards Hollywood. By the time he wrote the following diary entry four years later he had worked with the likes of Steve Martin, Bruce...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Luminous Man As Deputy Director-General of MI5 from 1940 to 1952, Guy Liddell was one of the its key figures...
a year ago
11

The Luminous Man

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
As Deputy Director-General of MI5 from 1940 to 1952, Guy Liddell was one of the its key figures during a pivotal time that included World War II and the early years of the Cold War. Known for his role in elaborate counter-espionage schemes including the famous “Double Cross...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Lenin’s tomb is remarkable In January of 1924, a week after the death of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, his embalmed...
a year ago
10

Lenin’s tomb is remarkable

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In January of 1924, a week after the death of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, his embalmed body was placed on display in a temporary wooden tomb in Moscow’s Red Square—an ideological shrine that was visited by hundreds of thousands of onlookers over the next few months....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We simply dread the moon Hallie Eustace Miles was a writer and restaurateur who, along with her sportsman husband Eustace...
a year ago
14

We simply dread the moon

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Hallie Eustace Miles was a writer and restaurateur who, along with her sportsman husband Eustace Hamilton Miles, opened a vegetarian restaurant in 1906, shortly after their marriage. The Eustace Miles Restaurant became an iconic meeting place in Edwardian London, drawing a wide...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
This is where it hits It was in Africa in 1963, aged 31, that Dian Fossey first caught a glimpse of the animal to which...
a year ago
14

This is where it hits

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in Africa in 1963, aged 31, that Dian Fossey first caught a glimpse of the animal to which she would soon dedicate her life: the mountain gorilla. By the time she wrote the following diary entry in 1985, Fossey had been living among these creatures in Rwanda’s Volcanoes...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
At some stage in the season, failure is going to stare you in the face Originally, Eamon Dunphy had set out to document a full year in the life of a professional...
a year ago
26

At some stage in the season, failure is going to stare you in the face

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Originally, Eamon Dunphy had set out to document a full year in the life of a professional footballer. However, fate had different plans, and four months into the 1973/4 season he left Millwall to sign for Charlton Athletic, thereby cutting his diary short. The result was an...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Industry, Thrift, and Loyalty On 13th September 1840, the day after their wedding and on Clara’s 21st birthday, Robert Schumann...
a year ago
29

Industry, Thrift, and Loyalty

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 13th September 1840, the day after their wedding and on Clara’s 21st birthday, Robert Schumann wrote the first entry in a diary with a difference. Designed to be a shared sanctuary for the newlyweds, the diary was a place for them to alternately record their aspirations, joys,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I put all this down in order to clarify my own heart It was in 1925 that Louise Bogan married Raymond P. Holden, marking the beginning of a tumultuous...
a year ago
11

I put all this down in order to clarify my own heart

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in 1925 that Louise Bogan married Raymond P. Holden, marking the beginning of a tumultuous relationship. Eight years later, Bogan, a cornerstone of 20th-century American poetry, received a Guggenheim Fellowship, offering her a year in Italy and a much-needed escape from...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I can’t find the words Andy Horwitz had been sitting at his desk for a quarter of an hour when a loud bang shattered the...
a year ago
10

I can’t find the words

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Andy Horwitz had been sitting at his desk for a quarter of an hour when a loud bang shattered the morning calm. The time was 8:46 a.m., and the first of two planes had just been flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center that stood two blocks from his office. But soon...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We mutually agreed to call it The First World War Born in South West England in 1858, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles à Court Repington was forced to...
a year ago
12

We mutually agreed to call it The First World War

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in South West England in 1858, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles à Court Repington was forced to retire from the British Army in 1902 due to a scandalous affair with the wife of a fellow officer. Returning to London, he quickly pivoted to journalism and rose to prominence as one of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I’m getting more confident and angrier each time From the age of fourteen Jack Kerouac could often be found carrying a spiral notebook in which to...
a year ago
24

I’m getting more confident and angrier each time

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
From the age of fourteen Jack Kerouac could often be found carrying a spiral notebook in which to record his thoughts, frustrations, and aspirations. When he wrote the following journal entry in September of 1948, Kerouac was twenty-six and his first novel, The Town and the City,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
They will pay in full Lena Mukhina was sixteen when the German army invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941, setting off...
a year ago
16

They will pay in full

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Lena Mukhina was sixteen when the German army invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941, setting off a chain of events that would lead to the Siege of Leningrad—a brutal and devastating blockade that lasted more than two years and led to the deaths of 1.5 million people. Mukhina...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The reign of beasts has begun The world was plunged into darkness on 1st September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, an act of...
a year ago
115

The reign of beasts has begun

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
The world was plunged into darkness on 1st September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, an act of aggression that led France and the United Kingdom to declare war. Amidst this global turmoil, a young Albert Camus, then a journalist for socialist newspaper Alger-Républicain, found...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Society is not geared to the expression of compassion In 1942, shortly before the US joined the war, editor and lifelong pacifist Alfred Hassler...
a year ago
13

Society is not geared to the expression of compassion

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1942, shortly before the US joined the war, editor and lifelong pacifist Alfred Hassler registered as a conscientious objector. However, his commitment to nonviolence led him to refuse even the alternative to combat service: enrollment in a Civilian Public Service camp, as...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Every lie pronounced is accepted as high truth itself William Shirer was an American journalist who found himself at the heart of unfolding history in...
a year ago
13

Every lie pronounced is accepted as high truth itself

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
William Shirer was an American journalist who found himself at the heart of unfolding history in Nazi Germany, both in print and on the radio for CBS. In September of 1934, just one month after Hitler assumed the title of Führer, Shirer attended the Nuremberg rally, where an...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The hell with you, Jack, I am looking after myself In March of 1942, following the two-week Battle of Java, Canadian RAF Lieutenant Robert Wyse became...
a year ago
12

The hell with you, Jack, I am looking after myself

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In March of 1942, following the two-week Battle of Java, Canadian RAF Lieutenant Robert Wyse became one of thousands of Allied personnel captured by Japanese forces on the island, and for more than three gruelling years he lived as a prisoner of war in various camps. In a subtle...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
All the skie was of a fiery aspect In the early hours of 2nd September 1666, a spark transformed into a raging inferno in the heart of...
a year ago
13

All the skie was of a fiery aspect

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the early hours of 2nd September 1666, a spark transformed into a raging inferno in the heart of London, flames leaping from house to house, street to street, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. London’s narrow lanes and tightly packed wooden buildings provided...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Excrement is the thread of life Salvador Dalí, born in Spain in 1904, was the mustachioed maestro of surrealism, with a flair for...
a year ago
11

Excrement is the thread of life

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Salvador Dalí, born in Spain in 1904, was the mustachioed maestro of surrealism, with a flair for the fantastical in both his life and art. His paintings, like The Persistence of Memory with its melting clocks, are playful explorations of the dream world, but this love of the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
God help our poor planet in the grip of this madness! World-famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren is best known for creating Pippi Longstocking, the star...
a year ago
14

God help our poor planet in the grip of this madness!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
World-famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren is best known for creating Pippi Longstocking, the star of a series of children’s books first published in 1945 that has since been translated into dozens of languages and enjoyed by millions. But before Pippi captured the imaginations...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Two less among many, many hundreds of thousands Born in Norway in 1901, Odd Nansen was an architect and humanitarian whose life took a drastic turn...
a year ago
34

Two less among many, many hundreds of thousands

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Norway in 1901, Odd Nansen was an architect and humanitarian whose life took a drastic turn in 1942 when he was arrested by the Nazis for his courageous work with the resistance. For three and a half years he was imprisoned at concentration camps in both Norway and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I really seem to have no idea of the passage of time Michel Siffre’s intrigue with caves took root when he was just ten, and in 1962, aged twenty-three,...
a year ago
40

I really seem to have no idea of the passage of time

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Michel Siffre’s intrigue with caves took root when he was just ten, and in 1962, aged twenty-three, he embarked on a bold experiment in the French Alps. Descending deep into an ice cavern via a staggering 130-foot vertical pothole, he found himself in an environment devoid of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It seemed like a general conflagration In 1807, three years after shooting Alexander Hamilton dead in a duel, former Vice President of the...
a year ago
13

It seemed like a general conflagration

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1807, three years after shooting Alexander Hamilton dead in a duel, former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr was indicted for a second time, for treason. Having once been at the pinnacle of American politics, he was now accused of plotting to carve out his own...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A black and empty future Of the many first-person accounts of World War I, the diary of Edwin Campion Vaughan stands as one...
a year ago
17

A black and empty future

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Of the many first-person accounts of World War I, the diary of Edwin Campion Vaughan stands as one of the most vivid and harrowing ever kept. Joining the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 19th June 1916 as a second lieutenant, eighteen-year-old Vaughan soon found himself on the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
God invented art as a regulating device Born in Paris in 1911, French-American artist Louise Bourgeois’ most famous work is, on the surface,...
a year ago
23

God invented art as a regulating device

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Paris in 1911, French-American artist Louise Bourgeois’ most famous work is, on the surface, the stuff of nightmares: a 30-ft high spider made of bronze, marble, and stainless steel that towers above the landscapes of art institutions around the world. Yet, this...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I bowed to the will of the gods and descended Dame Barbara Hepworth was a trailblazing force in 20th-century British sculpture who profoundly...
a year ago
19

I bowed to the will of the gods and descended

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Dame Barbara Hepworth was a trailblazing force in 20th-century British sculpture who profoundly impacted modern art with her dedication to form, space, and abstraction. Born in Yorkshire in 1903, she endured a heart-wrenching tragedy in February 1953, when her son Paul, an RAF...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
To Day is the most Best day ever in my Life On 25th August 1989, Canadian geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his stellar team at Toronto’s Hospital...
a year ago
17

To Day is the most Best day ever in my Life

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 25th August 1989, Canadian geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his stellar team at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children made a groundbreaking announcement: they had pinpointed the gene behind cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that can lead to serious breathing problems and chronic...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Heavy rains have fallen On 18th November of 1978, more than nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple cult met a tragic end...
a year ago
18

Heavy rains have fallen

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 18th November of 1978, more than nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple cult met a tragic end in Jonestown, Guyana, in a mass murder-suicide orchestrated by their leader, Jim Jones. Among the victims was Edith Roller. Born in Colorado in 1915, she had worked at San...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Why am I always struggling to get them to blend? In March of 1976, Eleanor Coppola and her family waved goodbye to their home in California and...
a year ago
12

Why am I always struggling to get them to blend?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In March of 1976, Eleanor Coppola and her family waved goodbye to their home in California and headed for the Philippines, the filming location for her husband’s next film, Apocalypse Now. As the lush landscape of the Southeast Asian archipelago sprawled out before them, little...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The coffee was about the substance of mud On 31st July 1875, 21-year-old Howard Williams, his two brothers, and two of their friends embarked...
a year ago
16

The coffee was about the substance of mud

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 31st July 1875, 21-year-old Howard Williams, his two brothers, and two of their friends embarked on a 454-mile rowing adventure that took them from Oxford to London. Over the course of three weeks, they navigated through 231 locks and 4 tunnels in a hired “light pine...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Tabiboo sant, tabiboo sant! In March of 1834, 25-year-old John Kirk Townsend was invited by fellow naturalist Thomas Nuttall to...
a year ago
20

Tabiboo sant, tabiboo sant!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In March of 1834, 25-year-old John Kirk Townsend was invited by fellow naturalist Thomas Nuttall to join him on an expedition across the Rocky Mountains, his role being to collect and identify birds and mammals as they journeyed. Before long, Townsend, a keen ornithologist,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
There is something delicious to me in my little spot of garden Gamaliel Bradford was born in 1863 in Boston, Massachusetts, the sixth successive Gamaliel Bradford...
a year ago
18

There is something delicious to me in my little spot of garden

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Gamaliel Bradford was born in 1863 in Boston, Massachusetts, the sixth successive Gamaliel Bradford to take that name in an enduring family tradition. Despite being poor of health for much of his life, Bradford’s prolific writings became legendary. He authored an incredible 114...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Very many delightful things were shown On 12th July 1520, German Renaissance painter Albrecht Dürer, accompanied by his wife, Agnes,...
a year ago
16

Very many delightful things were shown

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 12th July 1520, German Renaissance painter Albrecht Dürer, accompanied by his wife, Agnes, embarked on a significant journey from Germany to the Netherlands, both to attend the coronation of Charles V in October and ensure the continuation of the pension he had received for...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I thought once or twice we were done for In the late 1860s, amid the rugged landscapes of post-Civil War America, countless cowboys undertook...
a year ago
16

I thought once or twice we were done for

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the late 1860s, amid the rugged landscapes of post-Civil War America, countless cowboys undertook arduous journeys herding cattle from Texas to Kansas where the demand for beef was on the rise. One such cowboy was Jack Bailey, a 37-year-old North Texan who herded approximately...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I covered my face and wept American nurse Clara Barton emerged as a hero during the Civil War, her tireless efforts in...
a year ago
13

I covered my face and wept

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
American nurse Clara Barton emerged as a hero during the Civil War, her tireless efforts in providing medical care and supplies to those on the front lines earning her the title, “Angel of the Battlefield.” After the war her good deeds continued, and she dedicated her time to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Dickens flew into so violent a passion Born in London in 1793, William Charles Macready was one of the most famous Shakespearean actors of...
a year ago
13

Dickens flew into so violent a passion

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in London in 1793, William Charles Macready was one of the most famous Shakespearean actors of his generation, thanks to a forty year career that began on stage in 1810 and also saw him manage both the Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres in the 1840s. Such a career...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Ran through Ritz, walked miles, drank in Dorchester On 15th August of 1945, three months after Nazi Germany’s surrender in Europe, the world rejoiced as...
a year ago
12

Ran through Ritz, walked miles, drank in Dorchester

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 15th August of 1945, three months after Nazi Germany’s surrender in Europe, the world rejoiced as Japan announced its unconditional surrender, bringing an end to World War II. Streets from New York to London, Sydney to Shanghai, were flooded with jubilant crowds celebrating...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Whoomp-whoomp-whoomp On 7th August 1942, Allied forces landed on the shores of Guadalcanal, igniting one of the most...
a year ago
11

Whoomp-whoomp-whoomp

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 7th August 1942, Allied forces landed on the shores of Guadalcanal, igniting one of the most significant campaigns in the Pacific during World War II. While U.S. forces grappled with a formidable Japanese defence in a treacherous jungle environment, American journalist Richard...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
You must be looking for Stuart Kevin Bentley was twenty-one when, in July of 1977, he left El Paso and headed for the bustling...
a year ago
14

You must be looking for Stuart

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Kevin Bentley was twenty-one when, in July of 1977, he left El Paso and headed for the bustling streets of San Francisco—one of thousands of young gay men flocking to this vibrant city in search of acceptance, community, and hedonism. San Francisco offered an enticing allure of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
For the love of God, give me a flea! Born in 1880 in the mining town of Diamantina, Alice Dayrell Caldeira Brant was in her sixties when...
a year ago
17

For the love of God, give me a flea!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1880 in the mining town of Diamantina, Alice Dayrell Caldeira Brant was in her sixties when she found fame, for it was then that her teenage diary was published to wide acclaim. Written under the pseudonym Helena Morley between the ages of 12 and 15, the diary tells the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I thought I should have vomited For three unhappy years, starting in August of 1835 when she was just nineteen, Charlotte Brontë...
a year ago
24

I thought I should have vomited

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
For three unhappy years, starting in August of 1835 when she was just nineteen, Charlotte Brontë served as a teacher in the Yorkshire town of Mirfield at Roe Head—the same school where she had been a pupil just a few years earlier. With Jane Eyre a decade away, Brontë’s only...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Blood, sweat and tears Sir John Colville served three Prime Ministers as private secretary, most notably to Winston...
a year ago
22

Blood, sweat and tears

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Sir John Colville served three Prime Ministers as private secretary, most notably to Winston Churchill during the tumultuous years of World War II, and in this capacity had a front-row seat to some of the most consequential decisions and events of the 20th century. His diaries,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It is in solitude that being shows its worth When she wrote the following entry in her diary, 18-year-old Simone de Beauvoir was on the cusp of...
a year ago
16

It is in solitude that being shows its worth

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When she wrote the following entry in her diary, 18-year-old Simone de Beauvoir was on the cusp of adulthood and soon to begin studying philosophy at the Sorbonne. Born into an upper-middle-class family in Paris, even at this early age the seeds of her introspective nature and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
ABBEY ROAD On the morning of 8th August 1969, as a policeman held back traffic, all four members of the Beatles...
a year ago
15

ABBEY ROAD

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the morning of 8th August 1969, as a policeman held back traffic, all four members of the Beatles made their way across a zebra crossing outside EMI Studios in London. As they walked in line, one after the other, with a ten minute window in which to get the job done,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Maybe that will dispel all this quietness In September of 1941, the Soviet city of Leningrad was encircled by Nazi forces in a brutal siege...
a year ago
13

Maybe that will dispel all this quietness

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In September of 1941, the Soviet city of Leningrad was encircled by Nazi forces in a brutal siege that would last until January 1944 and result in the deaths of nearly a million civilians. The relentless blockade led to devastating food and fuel shortages, and the merciless...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Complete silence Born in 1903 in Okayama Prefecture, Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was an extraordinary figure whose life and...
a year ago
16

Complete silence

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1903 in Okayama Prefecture, Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was an extraordinary figure whose life and work took on a poignant significance following the bombing of Hiroshima. Serving as the director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital, he found himself at the epicentre of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I am going to do my best Yoko Moriwaki was born in Japan in 1932 on the picturesque island of Itsukushima, better known to...
a year ago
16

I am going to do my best

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Yoko Moriwaki was born in Japan in 1932 on the picturesque island of Itsukushima, better known to locals as Miyajima, and until war broke out in 1941 her childhood was a happy one, filled with simple joys. In 1944, with the conflict casting a heavy shadow, her father was called...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The sea was alive with great hunchback whales On 28th February, seven years before his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, was to appear in...
a year ago
11

The sea was alive with great hunchback whales

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 28th February, seven years before his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, was to appear in print, Arthur Conan Doyle left Peterhead on S. S. Hope, a whaling ship led by Captain John Gray that was heading for the Arctic Ocean. Aged twenty and still studying medicine at...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Armageddon in Europe! It was in 1915 that Vera Brittain left Somerville College, Oxford to become a nurse during the First...
a year ago
12

Armageddon in Europe!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in 1915 that Vera Brittain left Somerville College, Oxford to become a nurse during the First World War, a decision that would profoundly shape her life and literary career. Eighteen years later, having experienced the devastating realities of the battlefield, Brittain...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I want to be what I am, not a symbol of what I am In December of 1968, 35-year-old Martin Siegel began to keep a diary that would continue for ten...
a year ago
16

I want to be what I am, not a symbol of what I am

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In December of 1968, 35-year-old Martin Siegel began to keep a diary that would continue for ten months and record his every gripe with a job he was struggling to love. For a decade he had been a practising rabbi, and now, serving at Temple Sinai in suburban New York, his...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Liszt was a bad composer On 31st July 1886, the world lost the extraordinary talent of Franz Liszt, the pioneering Hungarian...
a year ago
19

Liszt was a bad composer

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 31st July 1886, the world lost the extraordinary talent of Franz Liszt, the pioneering Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist. Liszt redefined music with his innovative symphonic poems and transformative piano compositions, pushing the boundaries of technique and reshaping...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
There is no human being in the world whom he loves and trusts Biographer and historian Iris Origo was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1902 to an American...
a year ago
14

There is no human being in the world whom he loves and trusts

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Biographer and historian Iris Origo was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1902 to an American multi-millionaire and an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, and spent much of her adult life in Italy after her mother’s remarriage to an Italian nobleman. In 1924, she and her husband bought La...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
GREAT JEOPARDY In September of 1992, in an abandoned bus on the bank of the Sushana River in Alaska, three moose...
a year ago
11

GREAT JEOPARDY

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In September of 1992, in an abandoned bus on the bank of the Sushana River in Alaska, three moose hunters discovered a decomposing human body wrapped in a sleeping bag, surrounded by possessions that included a rifle, a camera, and, written on the pages of a book used to identify...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Humility Dag Hammarskjöld was en route to negotiate peace in Congo when, in 1961, the plane in which he was...
a year ago
10

Humility

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Dag Hammarskjöld was en route to negotiate peace in Congo when, in 1961, the plane in which he was travelling crashed, ending the lives of all its passengers. Born in 1905, Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Our surgeons never flagged Florence Farmborough was an English nurse, photographer, and diarist who moved to Russia in 1908,...
a year ago
15

Our surgeons never flagged

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Florence Farmborough was an English nurse, photographer, and diarist who moved to Russia in 1908, aged twenty-one, to work as a governess for a Kiev family. Six years after her arrival, when World War I began, Farmborough joined the Red Cross as a nurse and was immediately sent...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A glorious, wonderful climax Alice Dunbar-Nelson was a poet, journalist, and occasional diarist who spent much of her life...
a year ago
14

A glorious, wonderful climax

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Alice Dunbar-Nelson was a poet, journalist, and occasional diarist who spent much of her life advocating for the rights of African Americans and women during the tumultuous early decades of the twentieth century. Born in 1875 in New Orleans, Louisiana, her mixed-race heritage...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
If I can paint three good pictures, then I shall go gladly Paula Modersohn-Becker was just thirty-one when she died, her life tragically cut short in 1907 due...
a year ago
15

If I can paint three good pictures, then I shall go gladly

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Paula Modersohn-Becker was just thirty-one when she died, her life tragically cut short in 1907 due to complications after childbirth. Born in Germany in 1876, she had already established herself as a pioneering figure in the early expressionist art movement, and the hundreds of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The most terrible thing ever discovered When he wrote the following diary entry on 25th July of 1945, Harry S. Truman had been U.S....
a year ago
15

The most terrible thing ever discovered

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When he wrote the following diary entry on 25th July of 1945, Harry S. Truman had been U.S. President for just three months. With Nazi Germany defeated, Truman was in Potsdam, Germany with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, their goal: to negotiate the end of World War II and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The French coast was torn up On July 1, 1944, Vincent “Roi” Ottley boarded S.S. Scythia in New York and began his unprecedented...
a year ago
11

The French coast was torn up

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On July 1, 1944, Vincent “Roi” Ottley boarded S.S. Scythia in New York and began his unprecedented journey as the first African American war correspondent in World War II. Arriving in a Europe scarred by conflict, Ottley reported for three different publications, providing...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It’s a man! Arthur Munby was a lawyer and poet whose private life was ruled by an obsession that remained a...
a year ago
12

It’s a man!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Arthur Munby was a lawyer and poet whose private life was ruled by an obsession that remained a secret until decades after his death, at which point his diaries and letters revealed all. For much of his adult life, unbeknownst to family and friends, Munby sought out, interviewed,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Baseball is not without its charms Born in New Jersey in 1939, Jim Bouton spent six years pitching for the New York Yankees in a career...
a year ago
13

Baseball is not without its charms

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in New Jersey in 1939, Jim Bouton spent six years pitching for the New York Yankees in a career that spanned the sixties and seventies. However, it is for his diary that Bouton is now widely remembered—an amusing and candid record of the 1969 season that disrupted the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
How could such courage be? On 20th July 1969, the world held its collective breath as the Apollo 11 mission made its historic...
a year ago
15

How could such courage be?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 20th July 1969, the world held its collective breath as the Apollo 11 mission made its historic landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong’s immortal words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” echoing around the globe and cementing the moment as a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Hot weather is the mother of procrastination Although Thomas Edison filled numerous notebooks with writings pertaining to his groundbreaking...
a year ago
16

Hot weather is the mother of procrastination

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Although Thomas Edison filled numerous notebooks with writings pertaining to his groundbreaking inventions, he kept a personal diary only once in his eighty-four years. Spanning a period of just nine days in July of 1885, the diary was written when Edison was already renowned and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Only work can save me Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Berryman was just eleven when his father took his own life, a...
a year ago
16

Only work can save me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Berryman was just eleven when his father took his own life, a trauma that profoundly affected Berryman and resulted in a lifelong struggle with mental illness and alcoholism. At thirty-two, while teaching at Princeton University and five years...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A decaying mass of flesh and bone Remembered chiefly for his short stories, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Hamlin Garland earned praise...
a year ago
18

A decaying mass of flesh and bone

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Remembered chiefly for his short stories, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Hamlin Garland earned praise for his vivid portrayals of Midwestern life, and for finding the profound in the mundane. Born in Wisconsin in 1860, it was in 1898 that Garland began to keep a daily diary in...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Four times I have turned the lights out while writing this To live in Belfast in 1972 was to dwell in the heart of a storm, for this was the most violent year...
a year ago
20

Four times I have turned the lights out while writing this

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
To live in Belfast in 1972 was to dwell in the heart of a storm, for this was the most violent year of the Troubles’ three decades—a period of civil unrest marked by sectarian conflict and political upheaval. When she wrote this diary entry in July of that year, Eimear...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Grey morning Alexandra Feodorovna, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine...
a year ago
15

Grey morning

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Alexandra Feodorovna, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine on June 6, 1872. Twenty-two years later, she wed Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, and adopted her new name. Her reign as Tsarina was turbulent, marked by her controversial...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Ape of Waters Lafcadio Hearn was a remarkable writer of the 19th century best known for his fascination with...
a year ago
18

The Ape of Waters

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Lafcadio Hearn was a remarkable writer of the 19th century best known for his fascination with Japanese culture. Born in Greece and raised in Ireland, it was in 1890 that Hearn first visited Japan, its rich tapestry of history, folklore, and traditions instantly enchanting him....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The home of the chimps 14th July 1960 was a pivotal moment in the annals of primate research. It was on this day, with...
a year ago
13

The home of the chimps

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
14th July 1960 was a pivotal moment in the annals of primate research. It was on this day, with nothing more than binoculars, a notebook, her boundless curiosity, and the company of her mother, that 26-year-old Jane Goodall first stepped into the wild and untamed landscape of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Arrived in Peking today As Adolf Hitler’s chief architect and later his Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer was a key...
a year ago
14

Arrived in Peking today

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
As Adolf Hitler’s chief architect and later his Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer was a key instrument in the murderous machine of the Third Reich, a role for which he was rightly convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials. During his...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I’ll have to grow it again As the creative force behind such movies as Stalker, Mirror, and Solaris, Russian filmmaker Andrei...
a year ago
17

I’ll have to grow it again

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
As the creative force behind such movies as Stalker, Mirror, and Solaris, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, born in 1932, is widely considered to be one of the greatest directors to have ever lived, his pioneering use of long takes and his profound philosophical and poetic...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
What does it mean if we climb the heights and no one observes it? Lawrence Ferlinghetti, best known as a poet, activist, and co-founder of the renowned City Lights...
a year ago
23

What does it mean if we climb the heights and no one observes it?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, best known as a poet, activist, and co-founder of the renowned City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, was a central figure in the Beat movement, and his A Coney Island of the Mind is one of the best-selling poetry books of all time. He also travelled far and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The sound of bombs makes the air tremble Mary Berg, much like Anne Frank, was a young girl who chronicled the horrors of the Holocaust...
a year ago
20

The sound of bombs makes the air tremble

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Mary Berg, much like Anne Frank, was a young girl who chronicled the horrors of the Holocaust through the pages of her diary. However, while Anne’s ended when her family was in their Amsterdam hideout and was sent to a concentration camp, Mary’s extended until after her...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Our lovely Annex Anne Frank was thirteen years old when she and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam, her world...
a year ago
25

Our lovely Annex

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Anne Frank was thirteen years old when she and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam, her world contracting to a few small rooms behind a bookcase in her father’s office building. Three days later, she wrote the following entry in her diary and described the “secret annex” in...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Good work, Clifton Few writers bring humour to the page quite like David Sedaris. Born in Johnson City, New York in...
a year ago
26

Good work, Clifton

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few writers bring humour to the page quite like David Sedaris. Born in Johnson City, New York in 1956, he has a singular talent for spotting and magnifying the absurdities of everyday life, and in 1997 that talent was recognised when Ira Glass, the host of This American Life,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Last day of shoot Emma Thompson spent five years crafting the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, a period that...
a year ago
27

Last day of shoot

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Emma Thompson spent five years crafting the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, a period that might be described as part love affair with Jane Austen’s novel, part wrestling match with the challenge of adapting it for the big screen. When finally released in 1995, boasting a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
BlooOOP, blooOOP In 1949, as she searched for obscure books to feed her reading habit, American author Helene Hanff...
a year ago
25

BlooOOP, blooOOP

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1949, as she searched for obscure books to feed her reading habit, American author Helene Hanff struck up a correspondence with Frank Doel, chief buyer for Marks & Co., an antiquarian bookshop nestled at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. These letters, filled with Hanff’s...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Why me? Famous for the autobiographical monologues he performed on stage, American actor and writer Spalding...
a year ago
23

Why me?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Famous for the autobiographical monologues he performed on stage, American actor and writer Spalding Gray turned his life into riveting art, his unique shows, such as the acclaimed Swimming to Cambodia, providing a compelling insight into his personal experiences. In 2001, while...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The prop department are about to fuck up the spacecraft Released in 1979, the groundbreaking film Alien is indelibly associated with H. R. Giger, the Swiss...
a year ago
27

The prop department are about to fuck up the spacecraft

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Released in 1979, the groundbreaking film Alien is indelibly associated with H. R. Giger, the Swiss artist who brought a unique blend of horror and beauty to its alien species and environments. For much of 1978, beginning in February, Giger could be found in his workshop at...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
 How utterly mad it all is Although her life was cut tragically short, Lorraine Hansberry’s influence on American theatre was...
a year ago
23

 How utterly mad it all is

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Although her life was cut tragically short, Lorraine Hansberry’s influence on American theatre was profound. Raised amid the racial turbulence of 1930s Chicago, she channelled her experiences into A Raisin in the Sun, a groundbreaking play that earned her three distinctions: the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Donald was the kid who threw cake at the birthday party In 1983, at the age of thirty-one, British journalist Tina Brown moved to New York to become...
a year ago
35

Donald was the kid who threw cake at the birthday party

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1983, at the age of thirty-one, British journalist Tina Brown moved to New York to become editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair, marking the start of a transformative era for the magazine. During her legendary nine-year tenure, she catapulted the magazine into its golden age and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
More of London’s madness! Born in South Africa in 1934, Gordon Forbes was a seasoned tennis professional who clinched his...
a year ago
34

More of London’s madness!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in South Africa in 1934, Gordon Forbes was a seasoned tennis professional who clinched his first junior title at the tender age of twelve, initiating a stellar career among the tennis elite. Forbes and his doubles partner, Abe Segal, formed an unstoppable force in the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have seen something splendid It was towards the end of his life in 1979 that John Cheever told his son, Benjamin, about his...
a year ago
31

I have seen something splendid

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was towards the end of his life in 1979 that John Cheever told his son, Benjamin, about his journals, and of his wish for them to be published after his death. These journals comprised twenty-nine looseleaf notebooks filled with entries that, in Cheever’s inimitable style,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
This death hit me hard Born in 1907 in the Australian city of Wangaratta, Sir Ernest Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop was a surgeon...
a year ago
23

This death hit me hard

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1907 in the Australian city of Wangaratta, Sir Ernest Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop was a surgeon and soldier known for his humanitarian work during WWII. Captured by Japanese forces in 1942, he was sent to work on the deadly Thai-Burma Railway where, as a senior medical officer,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I hear some funny noise Born in Alaska in 1898, Ada Blackjack was an Iñupiaq woman who found fame in the 1920s after...
a year ago
29

I hear some funny noise

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Alaska in 1898, Ada Blackjack was an Iñupiaq woman who found fame in the 1920s after surviving a doomed two-year expedition to Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. Hired as a seamstress and cook, Ada, who had no survival skills to speak of, was the sole female in a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
You’d think I would be happy all the time Nikki Sixx was twenty-two when he co-founded Mötley Crüe, a heavy metal band destined to become one...
a year ago
27

You’d think I would be happy all the time

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Nikki Sixx was twenty-two when he co-founded Mötley Crüe, a heavy metal band destined to become one of the most successful music acts in history. As the band’s bassist and principal songwriter, Sixx played a key role in developing their iconic rebellious persona, his escalating...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Black female life is worth nothing Between January and May of 1979, eleven Black women were killed in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in a...
a year ago
32

Black female life is worth nothing

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Between January and May of 1979, eleven Black women were killed in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in a spate of murders that went largely unreported in the national media. Instead, it was left to grassroots organisations like the Black feminist group Combahee River Collective,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Poor little warbler Few writers of the 19th century were as widely read as George Sand. Born Amantine Lucile Aurore...
a year ago
25

Poor little warbler

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few writers of the 19th century were as widely read as George Sand. Born Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil in 1804, she was twenty seven when her first novel was published under the pseudonym for which she is now known. By the time of her death in 1876, she was a giant of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I cannot understand how these people exist without ice R. D. Blumenfeld is best known for being editor of British tabloid the Daily Express for twenty...
a year ago
30

I cannot understand how these people exist without ice

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
R. D. Blumenfeld is best known for being editor of British tabloid the Daily Express for twenty seven years—a role he took on in 1902. But for the first thirty years he lived in the U.S., and in 1887 was dispatched to England for the first time to report on Queen Victoria’s...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
France has capitulated On 22nd June 1940, just six weeks after German forces began their assault on western Europe, France...
a year ago
26

France has capitulated

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 22nd June 1940, just six weeks after German forces began their assault on western Europe, France surrendered to Hitler’s ferocious regime and life changed irrevocably for its millions of inhabitants. One of the affected was Virginia d’Albert-Lake, an American woman who had...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I took Olga to her first bull fight It was on his sixteenth birthday in 1902 that pioneering photographer Edward Weston held his first...
a year ago
25

I took Olga to her first bull fight

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was on his sixteenth birthday in 1902 that pioneering photographer Edward Weston held his first camera—a Kodak Bull’s-Eye No. 2 given to him by his father that sparked his fascination with capturing the world around him, the style that developed eventually seeing him become...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
He really wants me, as usual In 1991, three decades before she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, French author Annie...
a year ago
43

He really wants me, as usual

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1991, three decades before she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, French author Annie Ernaux published Passion simple, a brief, semi-autobiographical novel in which its narrator recounts her intensely passionate, all-consuming two-year relationship with a married man....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I declare private war Alfred Wintle was living in Dunkirk when the First World War began—sixteen years old and fiercely...
a year ago
29

I declare private war

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Alfred Wintle was living in Dunkirk when the First World War began—sixteen years old and fiercely patriotic. Desperate to join the army, in 1915 he entered the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich to begin his training, and within months was on the front line. At the Third Battle...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
He feels we should be on the attack for diversion As Richard Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman was positioned at the epicentre of the Watergate...
a year ago
17

He feels we should be on the attack for diversion

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
As Richard Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman was positioned at the epicentre of the Watergate scandal—a pivotal role that would ultimately lead to an eighteen month spell in jail for his role in the cover-up. In his posthumously published diaries from that period, Haldeman...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Now is the winter… When 35-year-old Anthony Sher took on the role of Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Company in...
a year ago
35

Now is the winter…

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When 35-year-old Anthony Sher took on the role of Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984, two years after playing the Fool to Michael Gambon’s King Lear, he delivered a transformative performance. Using crutches to evoke a spider-like figure, Sher crafted a...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Bugger On 18th June 1960, during a practice run for the Belgian Grand Prix that was to take place the next...
a year ago
27

Bugger

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 18th June 1960, during a practice run for the Belgian Grand Prix that was to take place the next day, British Formula One driver Stirling Moss almost died when the left rear wheel of his Lotus-Climax 18 fell off on the treacherous Burnenville curve. Moments later he was thrown...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Who is there for me? When she wrote this entry in her journal, Elizabeth Smart was pregnant with the second of four...
a year ago
55

Who is there for me?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When she wrote this entry in her journal, Elizabeth Smart was pregnant with the second of four children to fellow poet George Barker, a married man who, by the time of his death, had fathered fifteen children to four women. Smart essentially raised their brood alone, whilst...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The instinct explains so much Born in Dorset in 1890, Mary Butts was a modernist writer who fused spirituality, mythology, and...
a year ago
33

The instinct explains so much

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Dorset in 1890, Mary Butts was a modernist writer who fused spirituality, mythology, and reality in that were largely unappreciated during her lifetime. Twice married, first to writer John Rodker in 1918, and later to artist Gabriel Atkin in 1930, Mary navigated...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I must learn to think Isabelle Eberhardt was an explorer and writer whose brief but extraordinary life was marked by...
a year ago
56

I must learn to think

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Isabelle Eberhardt was an explorer and writer whose brief but extraordinary life was marked by curiosity and defiance. Born in Geneva in 1877 to an anarchist father and a mother of Russian descent, it was in 1897 that she finally visited North Africa, a place she had longed to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It was only fitting she should be honoured publicly At the Epsom Derby on 4th June 1913, as the race was in full swing, 40-year-old suffragette Emily...
a year ago
31

It was only fitting she should be honoured publicly

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
At the Epsom Derby on 4th June 1913, as the race was in full swing, 40-year-old suffragette Emily Wilding Davison ducked beneath a guard rail on the final bend and ventured onto the track just as the horses thundered past. Her exact motives remain unclear to this day, yet it is...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Magic must always triumph Keith Haring was a magnetic force in the 1980s New York City art scene, his vibrant street art...
a year ago
41

Magic must always triumph

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Keith Haring was a magnetic force in the 1980s New York City art scene, his vibrant street art redefining the boundaries between high art and pop culture; his animated figures, marked by bold lines and vivid colours, becoming potent symbols of social commentary on issues like...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
War raises the tone of life In August of 1950, shortly after receiving the distinguished Strega Prize for his literary...
a year ago
31

War raises the tone of life

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In August of 1950, shortly after receiving the distinguished Strega Prize for his literary contributions, Italian novelist, poet, and translator Cesare Pavese tragically ended his life. He was just forty-one. Among his personal effects was found a deeply introspective diary that...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Look! Land! From May to November of 1876, Philadelphia hosted the Centennial International Exhibition, a world...
a year ago
40

Look! Land!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
From May to November of 1876, Philadelphia hosted the Centennial International Exhibition, a world fair that attracted ten million visitors keen to marvel at the innovations, cultures, and achievements presented by thirty-seven countries. For China, this represented a unique...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It amused me to see his attitude It was in 1906 that the first suffragette entered the imposing gates of Holloway Prison, marking the...
a year ago
35

It amused me to see his attitude

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in 1906 that the first suffragette entered the imposing gates of Holloway Prison, marking the beginning of a harrowing era in the struggle for women’s rights that would see hundreds of women imprisoned for their activism. Among them was Margaret Eleanor Thompson. Born in...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
My body is the record of those I have loved American sculptor Anne Truitt was a singular figure in the field of minimalism, best known for her...
a year ago
32

My body is the record of those I have loved

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
American sculptor Anne Truitt was a singular figure in the field of minimalism, best known for her large, colour-saturated, wooden column sculptures. Born in 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland, Truitt studied psychology at Bryn Mawr College before venturing into art, her studies taking...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
At times I feel that I could write endlessly Born in 1938, Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer with more than 50 novels and numerous literary...
a year ago
29

At times I feel that I could write endlessly

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1938, Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer with more than 50 novels and numerous literary awards to her name. Since the age of 21 Oates has kept a journal of some kind, but it was in 1973, aged 35, that she began the 5,000 pages now housed at the Joyce Carol Oates […]
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Y’all are under arrest On 4th May, 1961, a courageous group of activists, later known as the Freedom Riders, set off on an...
a year ago
33

Y’all are under arrest

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 4th May, 1961, a courageous group of activists, later known as the Freedom Riders, set off on an arduous journey during which they would protest the segregation laws of various states. Beginning in Washington, D.C. they headed for the South aboard two buses, their ultimate...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Chaos ashore On 6th June 1944, approximately 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy in an effort...
a year ago
42

Chaos ashore

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 6th June 1944, approximately 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy in an effort to reclaim France from Nazi control. One of those brave souls, attached to the Sherwood Rangers tank regiment, was Reverend Leslie Skinner, a remarkable, compassionate man who was...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
My God, my God they can’t have On 28th May, 1968, the acclaimed English novelist Beryl Bainbridge embarked on a three-week road...
a year ago
65

My God, my God they can’t have

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 28th May, 1968, the acclaimed English novelist Beryl Bainbridge embarked on a three-week road trip that would span the breadth of the United States—a 5,000-mile voyage carefully planned by her American friend, Harold, who had vowed to guide her through the nation’s most...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Difficulty with Our Time Known to many as the “father of existentialism,” Søren Kierkegaard was a pivotal Danish philosopher,...
a year ago
65

The Difficulty with Our Time

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Known to many as the “father of existentialism,” Søren Kierkegaard was a pivotal Danish philosopher, theologian, and cultural critic of the 19th century. His extensive published writings grappled with complex themes including ethics, religion, and the intricate facets of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Morbidness—is it? English author George Gissing was known for writing tales of Victorian life that often centred...
a year ago
49

Morbidness—is it?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
English author George Gissing was known for writing tales of Victorian life that often centred around class struggles and social issues—a literary prowess that led George Orwell to acclaim him as “perhaps the best novelist England has produced.” When he penned this poignant diary...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Our worst fears are realized On 2nd June 1854, following a failed rescue attempt at the courthouse, huge numbers of angry...
a year ago
32

Our worst fears are realized

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 2nd June 1854, following a failed rescue attempt at the courthouse, huge numbers of angry protesters lined the streets of Boston as hundreds of federal soldiers led twenty-year-old Anthony Burns to the harbour where he was to be shipped to Virginia, back to the life of slavery...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The film had killed me On the morning of 27th August 1945, shooting commenced on La Belle et la Bête, a French-language...
a year ago
44

The film had killed me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the morning of 27th August 1945, shooting commenced on La Belle et la Bête, a French-language adaptation of the 1757 fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Directing this grand endeavour in his 57th year was poet and artist Jean Cocteau, a multi-talented creative force known for his...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The century of Voltaire Eugène Delacroix, born in 1798, was a profoundly influential French Romantic artist who came to be...
a year ago
34

The century of Voltaire

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Eugène Delacroix, born in 1798, was a profoundly influential French Romantic artist who came to be renowned for his dramatic, emotive works, his use of bold colour and brushwork setting him apart. But his influence extended beyond the canvas, as at the age of twenty-three he...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Dear diary, I don’t want to die Éva Heyman spent much of her brief life in the company of her grandparents following the divorce of...
a year ago
46

Dear diary, I don’t want to die

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Éva Heyman spent much of her brief life in the company of her grandparents following the divorce of her parents when she was a young child. On her thirteenth birthday, in February of 1944, as her home country of Hungary was taken over by the Nazis, she began a diary that would...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A very wonderfull scene In 1768, British botanist Joseph Banks was one of nearly a hundred crew members to join Captain...
a year ago
32

A very wonderfull scene

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1768, British botanist Joseph Banks was one of nearly a hundred crew members to join Captain James Cook on the first of three historic voyages of exploration. For three years they journeyed, visiting South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Java as they...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Why have children or plant trees? M.F.K. Fisher was an accomplished author and gastronome who brought the art of food writing into the...
a year ago
78

Why have children or plant trees?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
M.F.K. Fisher was an accomplished author and gastronome who brought the art of food writing into the realm of literature. From the age of nineteen she kept a journal, and this entry comes thirteen years down the line as she cared for her beloved husband, the writer and artist...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The power of language can make people crazy Born in New York in 1933, the distinguished novelist Leonard Michaels was celebrated for his sharp,...
a year ago
48

The power of language can make people crazy

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in New York in 1933, the distinguished novelist Leonard Michaels was celebrated for his sharp, compelling prose and deep insight into the complexities of human relationships. Although he first became a published writer in 1969, his private diary entries, which he began...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Diana forgot to steer Few people witnessed the tumultuous events of mid-20th century Britain quite like Duff Cooper, a...
a year ago
49

Diana forgot to steer

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few people witnessed the tumultuous events of mid-20th century Britain quite like Duff Cooper, a charismatic politician whose life was as colourful as it was influential. Born in 1890, he was known as a steadfast politician who famously resigned from his government post over the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
God, living is enormous! When she wrote the following entry in her journal and imagined fleeing college to venture into the...
a year ago
154

God, living is enormous!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When she wrote the following entry in her journal and imagined fleeing college to venture into the unknown, Susan Sontag was a precocious sixteen-year-old studying English at the University of California, Berkeley. By the end of the year she had indeed left—not on a bus to an...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A disgusting day! In April of 1891, Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky made the long journey to New York where...
a year ago
42

A disgusting day!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In April of 1891, Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky made the long journey to New York where he was to play a pivotal role in the inauguration of the city’s new music hall, later known as Carnegie Hall—a momentous occasion and the first time he had set foot in the United...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
When I die I shall go to May British gardener Monty Don has been educating and inspiring the British public for decades through...
a year ago
49

When I die I shall go to May

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
British gardener Monty Don has been educating and inspiring the British public for decades through his love of nature, beginning in 1989 with a television debut that ultimately led to him presenting BBC’s much-loved Gardener’s World. It was shortly after he became a broadcaster...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We are in the grip of Watergate American journalist Edward Robb Ellis was sixteen when he began to keep a diary; by the time of his...
a year ago
58

We are in the grip of Watergate

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
American journalist Edward Robb Ellis was sixteen when he began to keep a diary; by the time of his death 71 years later, he had written approximately 22 million words—an incredible feat which, until it was surpassed in 1994, earned him a world record for the “longest published...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have drunk of the wine of life at last In 1907, fourteen years before she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Age of...
a year ago
52

I have drunk of the wine of life at last

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1907, fourteen years before she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton was introduced to Morton Fullerton, a journalist with whom she would embark on a passionate affair. It was months after that first encounter, in October, that she...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Nothing can be less beautiful than the first sight of London Emily Shore was just nineteen when she died of tuberculosis—a short life, but one brimming with...
a year ago
91

Nothing can be less beautiful than the first sight of London

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Emily Shore was just nineteen when she died of tuberculosis—a short life, but one brimming with intellectual curiosity. Born in Suffolk, England in 1819, her now-celebrated journal contains not just her intricate observations of the natural world, but also thoughtful reflections...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
In the world, yet not in it Born in Geneva in 1821, Henri-Frédéric Amiel was a poet and philosopher who found little in the way...
a year ago
54

In the world, yet not in it

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Geneva in 1821, Henri-Frédéric Amiel was a poet and philosopher who found little in the way of recognition during his lifetime, perhaps due to the introspective nature that fuelled the journal for which he posthumously found fame. Always reaching for perfection and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It’s the vilest thing in the world to have but one coat George Crabbe was determined to become a successful poet. So much so that in April of 1780, aged...
a year ago
54

It’s the vilest thing in the world to have but one coat

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
George Crabbe was determined to become a successful poet. So much so that in April of 1780, aged twenty-five, he left his career in medicine and moved to London where he could focus entirely on the craft he so wanted to master. It was at this moment that he began a journal in...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I found myself nervous and tense to the point of tears On 21st March 1960, the South African Police opened fire on thousands of black protestors in what...
a year ago
65

I found myself nervous and tense to the point of tears

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 21st March 1960, the South African Police opened fire on thousands of black protestors in what came to be known as the Sharpeville Massacre, a shocking event which saw 69 people killed, triggered a state of emergency, and led to mass detentions—including that of Hilda...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The air crackled with a mixture of excitement and tension On the day of her 77th birthday in 1997, proving that it’s never too late to begin, acclaimed...
a year ago
70

The air crackled with a mixture of excitement and tension

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the day of her 77th birthday in 1997, proving that it’s never too late to begin, acclaimed detective novelist P. D. James wrote her first diary entry—one of many she would pen over the course of twelve months in a concerted effort to “record just one year that otherwise might...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Only in Yorkshire Few diarists capture the rhythms of daily life quite like Alan Bennett. Born in Leeds in 1934, it...
a year ago
57

Only in Yorkshire

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few diarists capture the rhythms of daily life quite like Alan Bennett. Born in Leeds in 1934, it was in the early-1970s that this beloved playwright began to keep a diary, sporadically scribbled on loose sheets of paper that would later be bundled to form twelve months of...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I no longer love the sun or the flowers It was only a year after first meeting, in 1895, that Marie and Pierre Curie became husband and...
a year ago
113

I no longer love the sun or the flowers

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was only a year after first meeting, in 1895, that Marie and Pierre Curie became husband and wife. Together, they made groundbreaking contributions to science, not least the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium, and in 1903 they were jointly awarded the Nobel...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Oh God, it was awful It was in March of 1907, aged 15, that Edna St. Vincent Millay began to keep a diary—an intimate...
a year ago
67

Oh God, it was awful

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in March of 1907, aged 15, that Edna St. Vincent Millay began to keep a diary—an intimate chronicle that would continue throughout her life, with her final entry penned in 1949, a year before her death. By that time, of course, she was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A veritable organ concert It was May of 1967, and Che Guevara, the Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, was in Bolivia,...
a year ago
66

A veritable organ concert

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was May of 1967, and Che Guevara, the Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, was in Bolivia, leading a small band of guerrillas in an attempt to spread socialism across Latin America. Facing harsh environmental conditions and the pressure of the Bolivian military backed by US...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Today is Mother’s Day Born in the Brazilian town of Sacramento in 1914, Carolina Maria de Jesus was unemployed and...
a year ago
42

Today is Mother’s Day

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in the Brazilian town of Sacramento in 1914, Carolina Maria de Jesus was unemployed and pregnant when she moved to the favela of Canindé, São Paulo in 1947. There, living with her children in a wooden shack and working as a scrap collector, she faced seemingly insurmountable...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
How lucky were we? Natascha McElhone was 5,000 miles from home and pregnant with their third child when the call came,...
a year ago
64

How lucky were we?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Natascha McElhone was 5,000 miles from home and pregnant with their third child when the call came, and in that instant her world crumbled. Her husband of a decade and one day had died unexpectedly from heart failure while she was filming in Los Angeles. He was 43. As she faced...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
This tedious battle against the mountain is almost over At 3:15 pm on 22nd May 1963, Luther ‘Lute’ Jerstad and his teammate Barry Bishop became the second...
a year ago
58

This tedious battle against the mountain is almost over

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
At 3:15 pm on 22nd May 1963, Luther ‘Lute’ Jerstad and his teammate Barry Bishop became the second and third Americans ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest, following an arduous journey that began alongside a formidable team of 17 other Americans, 32 Sherpas, and 909 porters...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I fell on the flagstones It was in the final decade of her life that Frida Kahlo kept a diary—ten turbulent years marked by...
a year ago
44

I fell on the flagstones

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in the final decade of her life that Frida Kahlo kept a diary—ten turbulent years marked by emotional distress, declining health, and unwavering artistic spirit. Kahlo endured multiple surgeries and spent long periods in hospital during this period, and in 1953, already...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Almost flying apart at the seams In the spring of 1965, American author Gail Godwin found herself at a crossroads. For five years,...
a year ago
45

Almost flying apart at the seams

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the spring of 1965, American author Gail Godwin found herself at a crossroads. For five years, she had been living in London, and it was there, while working for the U.S. embassy, that she endured the disappointment of her novel, Gull Key, being rejected by multiple...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
They have to fight an eagle on the top of the Empire State Building Michael Palin, born in Sheffield on 5th May 1943, is best known as a member of Monty Python, the...
a year ago
59

They have to fight an eagle on the top of the Empire State Building

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Michael Palin, born in Sheffield on 5th May 1943, is best known as a member of Monty Python, the iconic comedy group who redefined the world of comedy with their surreal, subversive humour and innovative performances. However, Palin’s career extends beyond comedy thanks to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I long for vigour and clear thought, but only meet with chaos When she wrote the following diary entry, English author, poet, and garden designer Vita...
a year ago
59

I long for vigour and clear thought, but only meet with chaos

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When she wrote the following diary entry, English author, poet, and garden designer Vita Sackville-West was 28. Living in Long Barn, Kent, with her husband and fellow writer, Harold Nicolson, she was nearing the end of an intense, two-year romance with Violet Keppel, with whom...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A night of terror In September of 1939, English housewife Nella Last began keeping a diary that would span 30 years,...
a year ago
66

A night of terror

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In September of 1939, English housewife Nella Last began keeping a diary that would span 30 years, ultimately producing one of the longest diaries in the English language at more than 12 million words. Born Nellie Lord in 1890, she was a voluntary participant in the Mass...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Cowslips capriciously colouring meadows in creamy drifts Although not widely acclaimed during his lifetime, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) is now...
a year ago
32

Cowslips capriciously colouring meadows in creamy drifts

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Although not widely acclaimed during his lifetime, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) is now recognised as one of the most brilliant poets of the Victorian era, celebrated for the masterful use of language, rhythm, and evocative imagery in his poetry. A committed Jesuit priest,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Today was truly, absolutely the worst day ever in Sarajevo In April 1992, following Bosnia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, simmering tensions...
a year ago
69

Today was truly, absolutely the worst day ever in Sarajevo

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In April 1992, following Bosnia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, simmering tensions among the region’s ethnic groups escalated into the devastating Bosnian War. It wasn’t long before the city of Sarajevo found itself under siege. Amidst the chaos, a courageous young...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Adolf Hitler is said to be dead On 1st September 1939, Friedrich Kellner, a German justice inspector and committed Social Democrat,...
a year ago
62

Adolf Hitler is said to be dead

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 1st September 1939, Friedrich Kellner, a German justice inspector and committed Social Democrat, embarked upon a courageous mission that would continue until 1945. In defiance of the Nazi regime, he secretly documented the brutal realities of life under Hitler’s rule,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Not one in a hundred is sober Born in the picturesque English village of Lamport in 1657, Sir Thomas Isham was a baronet who...
a year ago
44

Not one in a hundred is sober

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in the picturesque English village of Lamport in 1657, Sir Thomas Isham was a baronet who inherited a legacy of nobility. In 1671, as instructed by his father, he began to keep a diary in Latin which he would continue for two years, filling it with the daily happenings and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Oh Misery or the reverse! In January of 1932, Barbara Pym was diligently studying English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford,...
a year ago
40

Oh Misery or the reverse!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In January of 1932, Barbara Pym was diligently studying English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, honing her craft eighteen years before publication of her debut novel, Some Tame Gazelle. It was around this time that she was thinking deeply of Henry Harvey, a fellow student two...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have been playing a new game called insomnia In December of 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 26-year-old Thomas Merton entered...
a year ago
41

I have been playing a new game called insomnia

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In December of 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 26-year-old Thomas Merton entered the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where he began life as a Trappist monk. Over the next 27 years, until his death in 1968, Merton authored more than fifty books that...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Work under any circumstances Benjamin Robert Haydon was a 19th-century British artist and writer whose career was plagued by...
a year ago
74

Work under any circumstances

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a 19th-century British artist and writer whose career was plagued by financial hardship and legal troubles. Born in 1786, Haydon’s passion for historical painting led him down a tumultuous path, as mounting debts and controversial public statements...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
His tiny tadpole body… When she wrote this diary entry in April of 1890, Beatrice Potter could not have imagined that a...
a year ago
44

His tiny tadpole body…

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
When she wrote this diary entry in April of 1890, Beatrice Potter could not have imagined that a mere two years later, this man with the “tiny tadpole body,” Sidney Webb, would become her husband. Nor could she have foreseen the powerful intellectual partnership that would...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We spend our lives in tense expectation In the midst of the Russian Civil War, April 1919 saw the city of Odessa plunged further into...
a year ago
48

We spend our lives in tense expectation

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the midst of the Russian Civil War, April 1919 saw the city of Odessa plunged further into turmoil as the Bolshevik Red Army entered, leaving the future uncertain for the once-thriving port and its inhabitants. One person who found himself caught amidst the chaos was Ivan...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We spend our lives in tense expectation In the midst of the Russian Civil War, April 1919 saw the city of Odessa plunged further into...
a year ago
43

We spend our lives in tense expectation

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the midst of the Russian Civil War, April 1919 saw the city of Odessa plunged further into turmoil as the Bolshevik Red Army entered, leaving the future uncertain for the once-thriving port and its inhabitants. One person who found himself caught amidst the chaos was Ivan...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The British people are like children Few people were as close to Adolf Hitler as Joseph Goebbels. As the Reich Minister of Propaganda in...
a year ago
39

The British people are like children

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few people were as close to Adolf Hitler as Joseph Goebbels. As the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, he played a crucial role in shaping the image and message of the Third Reich, manipulating public opinion and orchestrating a vast machinery of lies and deception....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
CORONACION DAY On 23rd April 1661, a decade after fleeing the country following defeat by Oliver Cromwell, Charles...
a year ago
40

CORONACION DAY

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 23rd April 1661, a decade after fleeing the country following defeat by Oliver Cromwell, Charles II was crowned king, heralding the restoration of the monarchy and the end of political turmoil. The Abbey was resplendently adorned in reds that day, and the finest of garments...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
At dusk it takes on a life of its own Born in Keswick in 1905, Enid J. Wilson grew up surrounded by the majestic beauty of the Lake...
a year ago
46

At dusk it takes on a life of its own

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Keswick in 1905, Enid J. Wilson grew up surrounded by the majestic beauty of the Lake District. As the daughter of both a climber and a botanist, Enid developed a deep understanding and appreciation for the natural world. Her love for the environment, combined with her...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The ocean is strewn with a litter of woodwork, chairs and bodies On the fateful morning of 21st April 1912, cable engineer Frederick A. Hamilton steeled himself for...
a year ago
39

The ocean is strewn with a litter of woodwork, chairs and bodies

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the fateful morning of 21st April 1912, cable engineer Frederick A. Hamilton steeled himself for a harrowing task. Six days earlier, the RMS Titanic had met its doom, striking an iceberg and plummeting to the depths, taking with it over 1,500 passengers and crew members in one...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Love Will Never Do without You In the early hours of 14th August 2013, Kevin Coughlin was stunned to notice light reflecting off a...
a year ago
48

Love Will Never Do without You

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In the early hours of 14th August 2013, Kevin Coughlin was stunned to notice light reflecting off a mirror in his bathroom, marking the beginning of an extraordinary recovery. Having lost his sight in 1997 due to a rare genetic disorder named Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
We gather the world into the compass of our speculation Scottish poet William Soutar was 45 when he died. For two decades he had battled with a form of...
a year ago
47

We gather the world into the compass of our speculation

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Scottish poet William Soutar was 45 when he died. For two decades he had battled with a form of arthritis named ankylosing spondylitis, and the last thirteen of those years had seen him bedridden after an unsuccessful operation to counteract the muscular contraction that was...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Wonder, astonishment, and devotion In December of 1831, HMS Beagle embarked on a historic voyage that would shape the course of...
a year ago
39

Wonder, astonishment, and devotion

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In December of 1831, HMS Beagle embarked on a historic voyage that would shape the course of scientific thought for generations to come. Aboard that ship, with a mere 22 years under his belt, was Charles Darwin, whose role would lead to remarkable discoveries about the natural...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Poor wreck that I am John L’Heureux, a renowned Massachusetts-born novelist and poet, spent seventeen years of his life...
a year ago
63

Poor wreck that I am

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
John L’Heureux, a renowned Massachusetts-born novelist and poet, spent seventeen years of his life as a Jesuit before embracing the literary world. On June 11th, 1966, after twelve years of rigorous study, he was ordained as a priest. During the three years leading up to this...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Color and I are one In 1914, everything changed for Paul Klee. Whilst sampling the delights of Tunisia on a twelve-day...
a year ago
86

Color and I are one

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1914, everything changed for Paul Klee. Whilst sampling the delights of Tunisia on a twelve-day trip with fellow artists Louis Moilliet and Auguste Macke, he found himself profoundly affected by the light and colours of North Africa—an intense experience that inspired him to...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I never saw daffodils so beautiful Born in the English county of Cumberland on Christmas Day, 1771, Dorothy Wordsworth was an author,...
a year ago
37

I never saw daffodils so beautiful

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in the English county of Cumberland on Christmas Day, 1771, Dorothy Wordsworth was an author, poet, and diarist arguably best known as the sister to Romantic poet William Wordsworth. Close throughout their lives, it was on 15th April, 1802, shortly after taking a walk with...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I care not what becomes of me On the evening of 14th April 1865, as he sat in Ford’s Theatre with his wife Mary, U.S. President...
a year ago
43

I care not what becomes of me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the evening of 14th April 1865, as he sat in Ford’s Theatre with his wife Mary, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth, who fired a .44 caliber Derringer pistol at the back of Lincoln’s head and then fled the scene. A...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
How can men be so cruel, as many of them are In 1872, just two years after the death of her mother, five-year-old Martha Van Orsdol embarked on a...
a year ago
51

How can men be so cruel, as many of them are

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In 1872, just two years after the death of her mother, five-year-old Martha Van Orsdol embarked on a journey with her family to the Kansas frontier. When she was fourteen, Martha began to keep a diary, and over the span of four decades diligently filled 4,000 pages with her...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I have never been less communicative with a crew It was in 1992, four years after his iconic movie debut as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, that Alan...
a year ago
53

I have never been less communicative with a crew

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
It was in 1992, four years after his iconic movie debut as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, that Alan Rickman began to keep a daily diary—the first of 26 volumes he would go on to fill during a glittering decades-long career on stage and screen, right up until his death at the beginning...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
O God is there no redress, no peace, no justice in this land for us? Ida B. Wells was a trailblazing African American journalist, civil rights activist, and suffragist...
a year ago
57

O God is there no redress, no peace, no justice in this land for us?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Ida B. Wells was a trailblazing African American journalist, civil rights activist, and suffragist who courageously fought against racial injustice and gender inequality throughout her life. Born into slavery in 1862, she grew up to become a vocal advocate for the rights of Black...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Some monstrous gullet suffocating with fury Pierre Loti was a French naval officer and esteemed novelist who rose to prominence in the late 19th...
a year ago
57

Some monstrous gullet suffocating with fury

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Pierre Loti was a French naval officer and esteemed novelist who rose to prominence in the late 19th century. Born Louis Marie Julien Viaud, he pursued a naval career, earning a recall to service during World War I due to his expertise in Pacific waters. Married to poet and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
My oldest Friend is at last going to leave me Born in 1741 in Caernarvonshire, Wales, Hester Thrale belonged to the esteemed Salusbury family....
a year ago
69

My oldest Friend is at last going to leave me

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1741 in Caernarvonshire, Wales, Hester Thrale belonged to the esteemed Salusbury family. Famous for her friendships with such luminaries as Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, and David Garrick, Thrale was a prominent figure of the period, and her writings, particularly the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I do not seem to care for the “boys” very much Annie Cooper Boyd (born Annie Burnham Cooper) was an artist and feminist who hailed from the whaling...
a year ago
53

I do not seem to care for the “boys” very much

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Annie Cooper Boyd (born Annie Burnham Cooper) was an artist and feminist who hailed from the whaling village of Sag Harbor, New York, where her father, William H. Cooper, had for years thrived as a local boat builder. She adored her family, painting, and writing, and it’s thanks...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It may lack elegance, but is infallible Jules Renard was a French author and playwright born in 1864 who is probably best-known for Poil de...
a year ago
57

It may lack elegance, but is infallible

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Jules Renard was a French author and playwright born in 1864 who is probably best-known for Poil de carotte (‘Carrot Top’), a darkly comical autobiographical novel in which he recalls his terrible upbringing as a red-headed child in a detached bourgeois family. Aside from his...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Pole at Last!!! Born in Pennsylvania in 1856, Robert Peary spent 23 years of his life preparing to achieve what had...
a year ago
69

The Pole at Last!!!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Pennsylvania in 1856, Robert Peary spent 23 years of his life preparing to achieve what had eluded explorers for centuries: reaching the North Pole. Driven by ambition and unwavering determination, Peary, an American explorer and United States Navy officer, believed he...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The bird has learned the bark of the dog Reverend John Wesley was an influential Anglican cleric and theologian of the 18th century who,...
a year ago
42

The bird has learned the bark of the dog

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Reverend John Wesley was an influential Anglican cleric and theologian of the 18th century who, along with his brother Charles, founded the Methodist movement. Much of his life was spent on horseback as he travelled the country, covering thousands of miles each year on his quest...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Why should we consider the soul mortal? In October 1908, 20 years before publication of her groundbreaking children’s book Millions of Cats,...
a year ago
50

Why should we consider the soul mortal?

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In October 1908, 20 years before publication of her groundbreaking children’s book Millions of Cats, American artist and author Wanda Gág embarked on a 30-year diary-keeping journey. This detailed and intimate record not only encompassed her personal experiences and reflections...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
Getting shot hurts On 30th March 1981, as he emerged from a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel and...
a year ago
49

Getting shot hurts

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On 30th March 1981, as he emerged from a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel and headed towards a waiting limousine, U.S. President Ronald Reagan was hit by a bullet from the gun of would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. The President, initially unaware that he had...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The newspapers are having a field day Few broadcasters have left as indelible a mark on the hearts and minds of the British public as Sir...
a year ago
44

The newspapers are having a field day

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Few broadcasters have left as indelible a mark on the hearts and minds of the British public as Sir Terry Wogan. A consummate professional, Wogan’s wit, warmth, and engaging personality endeared him to audiences throughout his long and successful career in radio and television....
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
I try to make tea out of dust Born in 1942 in Schenectady, New York, Lyn Lifshin was an award-winning American poet and feminist...
a year ago
35

I try to make tea out of dust

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in 1942 in Schenectady, New York, Lyn Lifshin was an award-winning American poet and feminist known for her unique voice and prolific output: over her lifetime, she authored more than 120 books and chapbooks of poetry, edited four anthologies of women’s writing, and...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The news from remote France grows more ominous every day Siegfried Sassoon was a leading poet of the First World War, known for his vivid depictions of life...
a year ago
72

The news from remote France grows more ominous every day

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Siegfried Sassoon was a leading poet of the First World War, known for his vivid depictions of life in the trenches and his criticism of the conflict. In 1918, he had already gained recognition for his poetry, with his first collection, The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, published...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
How beautiful that leaf was, so simple in its death Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who spent much of his adult life...
a year ago
50

How beautiful that leaf was, so simple in its death

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who spent much of his adult life teaching and sharing his insights on self-awareness, freedom from conditioning, and the importance of living in the present moment. He traveled the world, engaging in dialogues with...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
You can see the magic in him Each weekday at 9 a.m., beginning in November 1976 and continuing until just days before his death...
a year ago
49

You can see the magic in him

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Each weekday at 9 a.m., beginning in November 1976 and continuing until just days before his death in 1987, Andy Warhol would engage in a lengthy phone call with Pat Hackett, a close friend who had initially started working for him as a typist in 1968. During his conversations...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS Woody Guthrie was a folk pioneer, social activist, and restless wanderer who journeyed across the...
a year ago
44

THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Woody Guthrie was a folk pioneer, social activist, and restless wanderer who journeyed across the country, connecting with the struggles and aspirations of the American people during the trying times of the Great Depression. He filled innumerable notebooks with lyrics, prose,...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
To Nobody, then, will I write my Journal! Born in Norfolk in 1752, Frances Burney was fifteen when she began to keep a journal, and this...
a year ago
35

To Nobody, then, will I write my Journal!

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Norfolk in 1752, Frances Burney was fifteen when she began to keep a journal, and this entry, in which she identifies her audience, was the first she ever wrote. For 72 years she continued, by which time she was a famous novelist—most notably as the author of Evelina, or...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
His first remark was, taking up a book: “Human skin” Arnold Bennett was one of the most successful British novelists of the Victorian era, a prolific...
a year ago
41

His first remark was, taking up a book: “Human skin”

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Arnold Bennett was one of the most successful British novelists of the Victorian era, a prolific wordsmith whose output spanned 34 novels, seven collections of short stories, a dozen plays, and hundreds of articles—and amidst it all, he somehow found time to keep a daily diary...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
The Boy Jones In his journal on 25th March 1841, banker and renowned dandy Thomas Raikes wrote of someone who for...
a year ago
49

The Boy Jones

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
In his journal on 25th March 1841, banker and renowned dandy Thomas Raikes wrote of someone who for three years had been fascinating Londoners. Known to most as ‘The Boy Jones,’ Edward Jones was a teenager who had repeatedly managed to break into Buckingham Palace, and on three...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A cord breaking American playwright Tennessee Williams shared a deep bond with his beloved sister, Rose, whose life...
a year ago
41

A cord breaking

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
American playwright Tennessee Williams shared a deep bond with his beloved sister, Rose, whose life began in 1919, two years before his. In 1937, her increasingly erratic behaviour was seemingly explained by a diagnosis of dementia praecox—now known as schizophrenia—and six years...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
It instantaneously stopped the bleeding Born in Somerset, England in 1740, James Woodforde was an English clergyman posthumously celebrated...
a year ago
28

It instantaneously stopped the bleeding

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
Born in Somerset, England in 1740, James Woodforde was an English clergyman posthumously celebrated for the insightful and witty diaries—68 handwritten volumes in total–that he kept meticulously from the age of 19 through to 1803, ten weeks before his death. Peppered amongst the...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]
Diaries of Note
A movie has come to life and engulfed us On the evening of 23rd March 2020, in a televised address to a shellshocked nation, British Prime...
a year ago
36

A movie has come to life and engulfed us

from Diaries of Note [alt+shift+b] in life

a year ago
On the evening of 23rd March 2020, in a televised address to a shellshocked nation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a legally-enforced, pandemic-induced lockdown across the UK that would immediately force millions to stay at home for months on end and countless...
Article Summary [→] Remove from reading list Add to reading list [alt+a]
upvote [alt+ctrl+↑] downvote [alt+ctrl+↓]

The best way to read the internet.
Made for nerds, by a nerd.

The best way to read the internet

© 2023 Bored Reading. All rights reserved.

Terms Privacy Design by Kumail

bored reading

v. 229.328 compliant with
earth/mars-x8292 communication
protocol 29xjw899992

When Google killed Google Reader, the bloggosphere took a severe hit and the content quality went down because there weren't enough readers to justify the effort it takes to maintain a high quality blog.

What's left is a decaying wasteland of blogs, most abandoned, a lot are now SEO spam, and 99% are not worth reading. BoredReading is a way to read the remaining great blogs that survived the ice age.

To add your favorite blog, please suggest it here! I get emails every day which helps me maintain a high quality selection of blogs!

Avatar

Made by,
Kumail Hunaid

@kumailht on Twitter.
My website and email.

Close [esc]