William Beach Thomas (1868–1957) was a British author and journalist who worked as a war correspondent and wrote about nature and country life. After a short-lived career as a schoolmaster, he began to write articles for newspapers and periodicals, as well as books. During the early part of the First World War he defied military authorities by reporting news stories from the Western Front for his employer, the Daily Mail. He was briefly imprisoned before being granted official accreditation as a war correspondent. His book With the British on the Somme (1917) portrayed the English soldier in a very favourable light. Both France and Britain rewarded him with knighthoods after the war, but Beach Thomas regretted some of his wartime output. His primary interest as an adult was in rural matters. He was an advocate for the creation of national parks in England and Wales, and mourned the decline of traditional village society. He wrote extensively, particularly for The Observer newspaper and The Spectator, a conservative magazine. His book The English Landscape (1938) includes selections from his contributions to Country Life magazine.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beach_Thomas
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
England's worst mining disaster occurred when a series of explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the Oaks Colliery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaks_explosion
1911:
The final Delhi Durbar, a mass assembly at Coronation Park to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India, took place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Durbar
1942:
World War II: German troops began Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Winter_Storm
1964:
Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Kenyatta
2000:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that the election recount of the ballots cast in Florida for the presidential election must stop, effectively making George W. Bush the winner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Wiktionary: 1. A collaborative project run by the Wikimedia Foundation to produce a free and complete dictionary in every language. 2. The dictionaries, collectively, produced by that project. 3. A particular version of this dictionary project, written in a certain language, such as the English-language Wiktionary (often known simply as the English Wiktionary). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
One becomes a critic when one cannot be an artist, just as a man becomes a stool pigeon when he cannot be a soldier. --Gustave Flaubert https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert