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John Singer Sargent was somewhat of a rarity, having achieved recognition and success as an artist during his lifetime. He was controversial as an artist- known for realism in a period when experimental forms like impressionism and cubism were in vogue. He was an intriguing person, intensely private, and almost a man without country. But his prodigious body of work is, above all, a stunning record of the time in which he lived.
In 1906, a famed explorer saw something on the horizon that would lead an expedition of men to search for a magnificent land they hoped would be full of new and undiscovered treasures for science.
One famous dolphin lived near the shores of New Zealand in the late 1800s, and swam alongside hundreds of ships, becoming a beloved figure to locals and foreigners alike, and described as ”the best known fish in the world.”
It was relatively common in the middle ages for Kings, royals, and various other titled men to die in combat, and they were at least usually expected to fight personally. Despite the dangers of medieval combat and the expectations of nobility, however, many at the highest levels of aristocracy died in less than noble mundane accidents, and even in embarrassing circumstances.
Commercial passenger aviation was new enough that, when, in July 1948, the first attempt was made to hijack a commercial passenger plane in flight occurred, the word “hijacking” hadn’t yet been coined. Instead they called the criminals “Air pirates.”
On July 16th, 1439, King Henry VI of England banned kissing. The public attitude towards kissing, a very intimate act, says a lot about culture, the people and the times. A history of kissing is, to an extent, a history of human interaction that deserves to be remembered.
