Horatio Bottomley (1860–1933) was an English financier, newspaper
proprietor, Member of Parliament (MP), and swindler. Brought up in an
orphanage, he began as an errand boy; his hard work enabled him, at 24,
to found a publishing company through which he launched, among other
titles, the Financial Times. As a financier his methods often brought
him into conflict with the law, but by 1900 he had amassed a fortune as
a promoter of shares in dubious gold-mining companies. Bottomley entered
parliament as a Liberal Party MP in 1906, and founded John Bull magazine
as a platform for his populist views. In 1912 he was declared bankrupt
and forced to resign from parliament, but following the outbreak of war
in 1914 he became a leading propagandist for the patriotic cause. In
1918, having been discharged from bankruptcy, he re-entered parliament
and launched a fraudulent "Victory Bonds" scheme which led to his
conviction and imprisonment in 1922. Released in 1927, he eked out a
living with lectures and appearances in music halls, before his death in
poverty.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Bottomley>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1716:
French soldier Jean Thurel enlisted in the Régiment de
Touraine at the age of 18, beginning a career of military service that
would span 90 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Thurel>
1849:
American slave Harriet Tubman escaped; she later orchestrated
the rescues of more than 70 other slaves via the "Underground Railroad".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman>
1939:
World War II: The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east,
sixteen days after Nazi Germany's attack on that country from the west.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland>
1976:
Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle built for NASA, was rolled
out of the manufacturing facilities in Palmdale, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise>
2006:
Mass protests across Hungary erupted after Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány's private speech was leaked to the public, in which he
admitted that the Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006
election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_protests_in_Hungary>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
anneal:
1. (metallurgy) To subject to great heat, and then cool slowly for the
purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
2. (figuratively) To strengthen or harden.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anneal>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph.
--Ken Kesey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey>