Well-Bred & Well-Brewed
114 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsEase into the morning with a dose of culture.
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Episodes
December 4th, Wednesday | Hiatus Week: The Walrus and the Carpenter
December 04, 2019 05:15 - 4 minutes - 7.11 MBThe date is December 4th, Wednesday, and today I’m traveling from Auckland, New Zealand to Los Angeles, California and then Los Angeles, CA to Portland, OR. Phew. This week I’ll be on hiatus, check out Monday’s episode, December 2nd for the whole scoop! The Walrus and the Carpenter Lewis Carroll The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright— And this was odd, because it was The mi...
December 3rd, Tuesday | Hiatus Week: Legend of the Indian Summer
December 03, 2019 05:15 - 4 minutes - 7.1 MBHiatus Week Day 2: A belated autumnal poem to explain the Indian Summer phenomenon. The date is December 3rd, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Auckland, New Zealand. This week I’ll be on hiatus, check out Monday’s episode, December 2nd for the whole scoop! Legend of The Indian Summer Kate Harrington I have learned a simple legend, Never found in books of lore, Copied not from old tradition, Nor from classics read of yore ; But the breezes sang i...
December 2nd, Monday | Hiatus Week: The Courtship of Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo
December 02, 2019 05:15 - 5 minutes - 8.2 MBThe date is December 2nd, Monday, and today I’m traveling from Port Vila, Vanuatu to Auckland, New Zealand. This week I’ll be on hiatus, which may sound ridiculous considering the number of episodes I have to catch up on, but if you then consider that each episode takes me about 3 hours from research to writing to publication, I need time, that with working, I don’t always have. So this hiatus week will be a recurring thing I do to help me stay on top of episodes while I fi...
November 29th, Friday | Mom and Baby Barack
November 29, 2019 05:15 - 5 minutes - 7.55 MBThe date is November 29th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. And today is the birthday of Louisa May Alcott, American writer. Louisa May was born to a small family in 1832 in what is now Philadelphia, PA. They didn’t stay long there. The family would move to Boston shortly following Dad’s dream of founding a Transcendentalist school. The family would move 22 times in 30 years, mostly in and around New England. While Alcott’s father was a man...
November 28th, Thursday | A Thanksgiving Poem
November 28, 2019 05:15 - 3 minutes - 4.45 MBView this episode on our website. The date is November 28th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Today is Thanksgiving in America. It is a time for families and friends gather together to share a meal and spend the day reflecting on all the wonderful things, tangible and intangible, that have come our way over the past year. So today I will just share a poem :) Thanksgiving Ella Wheeler Wilcox We walk on starry fields of white And do...
November 27th, Wednesday | Fanny Kemble stirs up trouble
November 27, 2019 05:15 - 5 minutes - 7.34 MBCheck out this episode on our website. The date is November 27th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Today is the birthday of Fanny Kemble, British actress and writer. Fanny was born to an acting dynasty in 1809 and as such received her education in Paris in music and theater as a child, branching out to study literature and poetry in her teen years. She returned to London and set to work writing her own plays while performing in nearly al...
November 26th, Tuesday | Peanuts Creator was no Pauper!
November 26, 2019 05:15 - 5 minutes - 7.68 MBCheck out this episode on our website. Charles Schulz basically made a killing with Peanuts! A fiercely independent American surgeon shares a birthday with the cartoonist. Poem by Lewis Carroll. The date is November 26th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Today is the birthday of Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist. Charles Schulz had been working on his Li’l Folks cartoon for a few years before Peanuts evolved from it. Li’l Folks started...
November 25th, Monday | A Million Dollar Lady
November 25, 2019 05:15 - 5 minutes - 7.6 MBCheck out the show's website. The date is November 25th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. On this day in 1947, Hollywood studios in Los Angeles California instituted the first blacklist. Ten writers and directors under suspicion of communist sympathies were all fired from their respective posts and movie and TV studios were instructed not to hire them. The Hollywood Ten as they are known were requested to testify in front of the House of Un-Americ...
November 22nd, Friday | The Real George Eliot Lived in Sin
November 22, 2019 05:15 - 5 minutes - 7.41 MBCheck out today's episode on our website. The date is November 22nd, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. On this day in 1995, Toy Story premiered in theaters. Toy Story was the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery. It took around 5 years and $30 million to make. It was a worthy investment as Toy Story grossed nearly $380 million at the box office worldwide, was nominated for three Academy Awards and two G...
November 21st, Thursday | "Un Petit Volontaire"
November 21, 2019 07:15 - 5 minutes - 7.51 MBDon't forget to check out our website! The date is November 21st, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Today is the birthday of Catharina Questiers, Dutch writer. Catharina was born in 1631 in Amsterdam where she lived her whole life. She focused her efforts on plays and poetry and is speculated to be the youngest person to write Dutch plays and have them professionally produced. Catharina Questiers gained public noteriety when her play, base...
November 20th, Wednesday | Selma Lagerlöf wins it all
November 20, 2019 07:15 - 5 minutes - 7.44 MBThe date is November 20th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Today’s episode is brought to you by the generous, the warm-hearted, the green-thumbed Candy P. or Oregon. Today is the birthday of Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer. Lagerlöf was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature, receiving the award in 1909 at the age of 51 “in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her wri...
November 19th, Tuesday | Hiram Bingham's Big (re)Discovery
November 19, 2019 07:15 - 4 minutes - 7.16 MBThe date is November 19th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Today is the birthday of Hiram Bingham III, American professor and explorer. Born in Hawaii to arguably successful missionaries, Hiram Bingham III would hold on to his father’s work ethic and adventurous spirit, though he would not be quite so pious or humble. In fact, It was Hiram Bingham III who felt that, “If a man were going to work that hard, someone ought to know about it.” ...
November 1st, Friday | A Very Vietnam War
November 01, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.52 MBThe date is November 1st, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Sydney, Australia. On this day in 1955, the Vietnam War began. It would last 19 years and be a massive stain in the history of American international affairs. It is also known in some parts of Vietnam as the War of American Aggression or simply the American War. History books may call it the Second Indochina War. The fight over Vietnam started earlier with the First Indochina War, also known as the Anti-Fre...
October 31st, Thursday | Of Course We're Gonna Talk About Halloween!
October 31, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.44 MBThe date is October 31st, Thursday, and today I’m traveling from Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon in Vietnam to Sydney, Australia. Today is Halloween for most of the globe. Halloween is typically celebrated with costume dressing, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, bobbing for apples and general mischief. Many people believe that Halloween traditions have sprouted out of a Christian festival, but its true roots are not that simple. Halloween is indeed a Christian name: it is ...
October 30th, Wednesday | A Kentucky Writer & Tourette
October 30, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.26 MBThe date is Wednesday, October 30th, and today I’m coming to you from Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon in Vietnam. Today is the birthday of Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American writer. Elizabeth grew up in Springfield, Kentucky in the late 1800s. She attended the University of Kentucky briefly, dropping out on account of poor health. Roberts was gravely disappointed as she wholeheartedly enjoyed literature and philosophy. She moved back home, taking up a career in teaching. In 19...
October 29th, Tuesday | The Biggest (and Easiest) Jewel Heist
October 29, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.79 MBThe biggest (most priceless) jewel heist happens at the American Museum of Natural History. It’s arguably also the easiest. Poem by Robert Frost. The date is October 29th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon in Vietnam. On this day in 1964, the biggest jewelry heist in history took place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Notable gems stolen included the 563-carat sapphire Star of India, the 100-carat DeLong Ruby, and t...
October 28th, Monday | Edna Mode-I mean Edith Head!
October 28, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.3 MBThe date is Monday, October 28th, and today I’m traveling from Vung Tau to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Today is the birthday of Edith Head, American costume designer. Prolific from the 1940s through the 1970s, Edith was nominated for 35 Academy Awards, and won 8, a record that has yet to be topped. Costume design was actually Edith’s second career. She received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in French from UC Berkeley and Stanford University, respectively. She taught ...
September 10th, Tuesday | The Barefoot Gold Medalist
September 10, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.34 MBThe date is September 10th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Tejakula, Bali. Today is also our 100th episode! On this day in 1960, Abebe Bikila became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal, and the first Ethiopian gold medalist. It was the Summer Olympics in Rome and Abebe Bikila had just bought a new pair of shoes a week earlier for the marathon. The shoes, to his disappointment gave him awful blisters and so Bikila decided he would just run with...
September 9th, Monday | The Colonel of KFC
September 09, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.98 MBThe date is September 9th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Tejakula, Bali. Today is the birthday of Colonel Harland David Sanders, American businessman, founder of KFC. Sanders was born in 1890 in southern Indiana, not far from the Indiana-Kentucky state line. His mother was a devout Christian and it was perhaps her warnings about the evils of drink that led Sanders to be vehemently against alcohol consumption his whole life. (Her preaching against cursing, however...
September 6th, Friday | La-fay-ette! And Ze-li-a!
September 06, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.46 MBThe date is September 6th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Tejakula, Bali in Indonesia. Today is the birthday of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French military leader and political influencer. Lafayette, as he is known in the States, was instrumental in the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution both in the second half of the 1700s. The first part of Lafayette’s life was of true comfort. He was born to wealthy aristocratic parents in 1757. ...
September 5th, Thursday | Amy Beach & Robert Fergusson
September 05, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.38 MBThe date is September 5th, Thursday, and today I’m traveling from Jakarta to Bali in Indonesia. Today is the birthday of Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet. He enrolled at the University of St Andrews in Scotland in 1765 at the age of about 15. While there, Fergusson narrowly escaped expulsion, made important connections and honed his writing skills. When his father passed away in 1768 he moved back home to help support his mother. He got involved in the bohemian scene ...
September 4th, Wednesday | Ahem, it's "The City of the Queen of the Angels"
September 04, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.32 MBThe date is September 4th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Jakarta, Indonesia. On this day in 1781, 44 Spanish settlers officially founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles, known today as Los Angeles, California. Compared to other settlements, los Ángeles was specifically a municipal settlement: not a Catholic mission base or strategic military settlement. It was the second pueblo in the Spanish colonization of Alta California, just after San...
September 3rd, Tuesday | A Blind Mathematician & Sarah Jewett
September 03, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.23 MBThe date is September 3rd, Tuesday, and today I’m traveling from Tokyo, Japan to Jakarta, Indonesia. Today is the birthday of Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Soviet mathematician. In 1922 or ‘23 at age 14, an explosion of a small cooking stove left Lev Pontryagin blind. His parents were not well-off by any means, but his mother, Tat'yana Andreevna, insisted Lev continue his studies. She dedicated herself to helping Pontryagin adjust to his new situation as blind. In particular, she w...
August 30th, Friday | Mary Shelley and the Birth of Frankenstein
August 30, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.32 MBThe date is August 30th, Friday, and today I’m traveling from Portland, OR to Los Angeles, CA. In honor of Labor Day on Monday, today we’re taking a look at how we got Labor Day. No one is sure who exactly the first person to propose the idea was, but anyone who has worked has probably, at one point, had the idea that everyone that works should have a day off. The first recorded group to hold a specifically Labor Day picnic in honor of all their workers was the Central Labor U...
August 29th, Thursday | Wendell Holmes, Sr & Vivien Thomas
August 29, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 7.1 MBThe date is August 29th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. Today is the birthday of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, American physician and writer. Born in 1809, he had the good fortunate to attend small but good schools in Boston. From a young age, Holmes was noted as a very talkative lad. It was the only sticking point for his secondary school teachers, who admired his quick mind. At sixteen Holmes enrolled at Harvard University. He carried on his love for re...
August 28th, Wednesday | MLK's "I have a dream..."
August 28, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 7.08 MBThe date is August 28th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. On this day in 1963 Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” Speech as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. MLK addressed a crowd of approximately 250,000 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The whole March is generally regarded as the impetus for the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a Reverend, MLK’s speech contained plenty of language from the ...
August 27th, Tuesday | The Famous Five (of Canada)
August 27, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.25 MBThe date is August 27th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. On this day in 1927 in Canada, five women filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada. Their petition asked, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" The five women were Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie Mooney McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards. They are sometimes known as “The Famous Five” or “ The V...
August 26th, Monday | A Small-Town Writer & Hot Air Balloon Man
August 26, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.17 MBThe date is August 26th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. Today is the birthday of Zona Gale, American writer. Zona Gale upon returning to her small hometown in Wisconsin at the age of 28, she found it rife with material. She moved home and devoted herself full-time to writing. Gale attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI receiving a Bachelor’s and Master's in literature. Before settling back into her hometown she wrote for newspapers in New Y...
August 23rd, Friday | One for the Books! Events from 1944, 1973, &1991
August 23, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.5 MBThe date is August 23rd, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. On this day in 1944, King Michael of Romania ousted the military dictatorship and declared war on Germany, switching sides from Axis to Allies. At the onset of the war, Romania monarch Carol II, Michael’s father, was forced to abdicate after a military coup. Ion Antonescu (eyon Antonescuu)became dictator and had Michael crowned as king, though he only served as a figurehead. Antonescu allied with Naz...
August 22nd, Thursday | Bradbury & Debussy
August 22, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.3 MBThe date is August 22nd, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. Today is the birthday of Ray Bradbury, American author. Bradbury is best remembered for his novel Fahrenheit 451. When Ray was 14, the Bradbury family moved to Los Angeles from their small town in Illinois. Ray’s father had been out of work and was searching in booming Southern California. When his father came home one day and announced he’d found a steady full-time job, Ray was ecstatic. The you...
August 21st, Wednesday | Count Basie
August 21, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.22 MBThe date is August 21st, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. Today is the birthday of Count Basie, African American bandleader, musician, and composer. Count Basie, born William James Basie in 1904, was tutored by his mother on piano as a child. When his talent surpassed his mother, much like Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s story, his mother scraped money together to send him to private lessons. Never a big fan of school, Basie often picked up odd jobs at the lo...
August 20th, Tuesday | Estonia Breaks Free After a Human Chain
August 20, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.28 MBThe date is August 20th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. On this day in 1897, Sir Ronald Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria to humans. As such today is also known as World Mosquito Day. Sir Ronald Ross had studied all stages of development of the malaria parasite. He therefore was able to recognize the parasite in the gut bacteria of mosquitoes and in their saliva glands. There were already theories that malaria was caused by swamp-li...
August 19th, Monday | Coco Chanel befriends Stravinsky
August 19, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.14 MBThe date is August 19th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. Today is the birthday of Ogden Nash, American humorist and poet. Born in 1902, Ogden Nash reports having always enjoyed rhyming. He was known for unconventional rhymes such as rhymes that relied on the mispronunciation of words or rhymes that used two words. Nash moved to New York City a few years after dropping out of Harvard and worked writing car ads for a time. While in New York City, Nash fel...
August 16th, Friday | The Good, the Bad, and an Australian Poet
August 16, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.23 MBThe date is August 16th, Friday, and today I’m traveling from Rochester, NY to Portland OR in the USA. Today is the birthday of Wallace Thurman, African American editor and writer. Wallace Thurman was a member of the Harlem Renaissance in New York during the late 1920s. He edited several small newspapers and had relationships with writers and artists such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Aaron Douglas, and Gwendolyn Bennett. He believed that the stru...
August 15th, Thursday | Samuel Coleridge Taylor
August 15, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.26 MBThe date is August 15th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Samuel Coleridge Taylor, African-English composer. His Creole father, Dr. Daniel Taylor was visiting London to complete a course of study. While there his father became involved with a London woman named Alice Hare. When Dr. Taylor’s program had ended he returned to Sierra Leone, leaving behind Alice. Dr. Taylor never knew that Alice had become pregnant and it’s possible e...
August 14th, Wednesday | Inventor of the Blender
August 14, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.42 MBThe date is August 14th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Stephen Poplawski, Polish-American inventor of the blender. Poplawski was born in Poland in 1885 and immigrated to the United States with his family at nine years old. Little is available on his early years, but by 1918 at the age of 33 he had gained enough skills and knowledge to start his own tool company. The following year Poplawski was asked to design a mixing mach...
August 13th, Tuesday | A Hawaiian Pop Star & a Sharpshooter
August 13, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.23 MBThe date is August 13th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Don Ho, Hawaiian-American musician. Don was born in Hawaii and joined the Air Force in 1954 at age 23, just a few years after marrying his high school sweetheart. Don and his wife Melva moved to California per Don’s job in the Air Force. While there, he picked up an electronic keyboard to accompany his voice. (He had already done a bit of singing as a young man at his Mom’s...
August 12th, Monday | "America the Beautiful" & Gladys Bentley
August 12, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.32 MBThe date is August 12th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Katharine Lee Bates, American educator and poet. Bates most notably penned the lyrics for “America the Beautiful.” The words were inspired by a hike to the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado. Bates happened to be teaching a course at a Colorado school for the summer. Bates’s first draft of “America the Beautiful” was jotted down in a notebook between teaching classes. It was fi...
August 9th, Friday | Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
August 09, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.2 MBThe date is August 9th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, American humanitarian. She is also, of course, the wife of Alexander Hamilton. Elizabeth Schuyler, sometimes affectionately referred to as Eliza or Betsey, was thrown into high society from her birth in 1757. Eliza was born into large Dutch family and it is unclear how many siblings she had since not all of them lived to adulthood. Her family’s pr...
August 8th, Thursday | Sara Teasdale's lost love
August 08, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.16 MBThe date is August 8th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Sara Teasdale, American poet. Born in 1884 in St. Louis Missouri, Sara was a sickly child and her mother kept her at home. At age 10 she was finally deemed healthy enough to attend school. Despite having entered into a more public existence, during her teens Sara was still fairly solitary. Her mother had built Sara her own suite in the family home and Sara spent most of h...
August 7th, Wednesday | The Other Kermit and a Spy
August 07, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.46 MBThe date is August 7th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. Today is the birthday of Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy. Born in the Netherlands as Margaretha Zelle in 1876, her lavish childhood fell apart when her father declared bankruptcy in 1889. Her parents divorced and her mother died not long afterwards. Margaretha was sent to live with a godfather. Eighteen and ready for change, Margaretha Zelle answered an ad in a newspaper. A Dutch Army Captain was...
August 6th, Tuesday | Why "Bolivia"?
August 06, 2019 04:15 - 4 minutes - 6.99 MBThe date is August 6th, Tuesday, and today I’m traveling from Mattapoisett, MA to Rochester, NY. On this day in 1825 Bolívia declared independence. The rumblings of independence began as early as 1808 when the Spanish crown was overthrown. The uncertain times in Spain created room for uprisings across all of Latin America, including Bolívia, which was then known as Charcas. Charcas had an uphill battle. As one of only two land-locked countries in South America, they had to...
August 5th, Monday | Father of the Modern Short Story
August 05, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.46 MBThe date is August 5th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Mattapoisett, MA. Today is the birthday of Guy de Maupassant, French author. Maupassant is considered the father of the modern short story. During his lifetime he published over 200 short stories, seven novels, and a poetry collection. Born in 1850 in France, Maupassant was no stranger to family drama. When he was 11, his mother was finally able to separate from an abusive husband. Maupassant, his mother, and his b...
August 2nd, Friday | Two Activists and a Sculptor walk into a bar...
August 02, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.2 MBThe date is August 2nd, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Charlton, MA. Today is the birthday of Marianne Weber, German sociologist, writer, and women’s rights activist. At the age of three Marianne was sent away to be raised by her aunt and grandparents upon the death of her mother. Her father and brothers were deemed psychologically unstable by family and would later be institutionalized. After a proper upbringing and education, in 1891 Marianne was introduced to a few...
August 1st, Thursday | Melville's Stormy Start
August 01, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.22 MBThe date is August 1st, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Charlton, MA. Today is the birthday of Herman Melville, American author and poet. Melville’s life started out smooth sailing. He was born in 1819 to loving, doting parents. And they were wealthy to boot. His mother had a vast inheritance as did his merchant father. As years ticked by and the family grew, the Melvilles moved to a bigger house each year in New York City, and maintained two to four servants. The Mel...
July 31st, Wednesday | Atlantic Records was founded by...
July 31, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.16 MBThe date is July 31th, Wednesday, and today I’m still traveling to Boston, Massachusetts. Today is the birthday of Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-American founder of Atlantic Records. Ahmet was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1923. His father was a successful lawyer and his mother a skilled musician. She played the piano and a number of stringed instruments and indulged in records. Ahmet and his brother Nesuhi were admittedly spoiled by their unimpeded access to the music from the top musicia...
July 30th, Tuesday | Emily Brontë
July 30, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.29 MBThe date is July 30th, Tuesday, and today I’m traveling from Portland, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. Today is the birthday of Emily Brontë, English writer. Born in 1818 in Northern England, Emily was joyously welcomed. She was the fifth child out of six for a simple clergyman and his wife. Emily’s sister Anne, two years her junior would become her closest confidante. Emily’s early years were plagued with loss: her mother died of cancer when Emily was just three. At six, E...
July 29th, Monday | Tocqueville admires America
July 29, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.27 MBThe date is July 29th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. Today is the birthday of Alexis de Tocqueville, French politician and historian. Born in 1805 in France, Tocqueville’s lasting mark in history is his work De la démocratie en Amerique or Democracy in America. A typical aristocratic upbringing saw Tocqueville seamlessly enter politics. When Tocqueville was 26, the French Monarchy sent him and a partner to America. They were to study the American pr...
July 26th, Friday | Shaw: If You Can't Beat 'em, Join 'em
July 26, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.24 MBThe date is July 26th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, Oregon. Today is the birthday of George Bernard Shaw, Irish-born English writer. He was a noted critic of music, plays, and art during his lifetime, but its his own plays that live on today. Born the youngest of three in 1856 in Dublin, his parents were already drifting apart. His father had married his mother hoping to see some of her family’s wealth; and his mother married his father to escape her overbe...
July 25th, Thursday | Parrish, Franklin, and Chapman
July 25, 2019 04:15 - 5 minutes - 7.24 MBThe date is July 25th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland Oregon. Today is the birthday of Rosalind Franklin, English chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Besides being instrumental to the discovery of DNA and its double-helix shape, Franklin had a rich life outside of her science work. One thing she enjoyed most was trekking. She would take off on multi-day trips with a backpack full of supplies and hike wherever was convenient. After a particularly stunning tre...