Talbot Baines Reed (1852–1893) was an English writer of boys' fiction
who established a genre of school stories that endured into the second
half of the 20th century and was widely imitated. Among his best-known
work is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. He was a regular and prolific
contributor to The Boy's Own Paper, in which most of his fiction first
appeared. Through his family's business, Reed became a prominent
typefounder, and wrote a classic History of the Old English Letter
Foundries which, published in 1887, was hailed as the standard work on
the subject. Reed's affinity with boys, his instinctive understanding
of their standpoint in life and his gift for creating believable
characters, ensured that his popularity survived through several
generations. He also wrote regular articles and book reviews for his
cousin Edward Baines's newspaper, the Leeds Mercury. After struggling
with illness for most of 1893, Reed died in November that year, at the
age of 41. Tributes honoured him both for his contribution to
children's fiction and for his work as the definitive historian of
English typefounding.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talbot_Baines_Reed>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1513:
Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León reached Florida, becoming the
first European known to do so, purportedly while searching for the
Fountain of Youth in the New World.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Le%C3%B3n>
1755:
A naval fleet led by Commodore William James of the East India Company
captured the fortress Suvarnadurg from the Marathas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suvarnadurg>
1911:
The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted the country's first
national census.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_in_Australia>
1982:
Argentine special forces invaded the Falkland Islands, sparking the
Falklands War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_invasion_of_the_Falkland_Islands>
2006:
Over 60 tornadoes touched down in the central United States, killing 27
people and causing about US$1.1 billion in damages.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2%2C_2006_Central_United_States_tornado_outbreak>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
prosopagnosia (n):
A form of visual agnosia characterised by difficulty with face
recognition despite intact low-level visual processing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prosopagnosia>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
My success and my misfortunes, the bright and the dark days I have gone
through, everything has proved to me that in this world, either
physical or moral, good comes out of evil just as well as evil comes
out of good. My errors will point to thinking men the various roads,
and will teach them the great art of treading on the brink of the
precipice without falling into it. It is only necessary to have
courage, for strength without self-confidence is useless.
--Giacomo Casanova
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova>