Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns. Located at the intersection of High Holborn and Gray's Inn Road, the Inn is both a professional body and a place of living and office accommodation (chambers) for many barristers. It is ruled by a governing council called "Pension", made up of the Masters of the Bench (or "Benchers"), and led by the Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one-year term. The Inn is known for its gardens, or Walks, which have existed since at least 1597. Gray's Inn does not claim a specific foundation date; there is a tradition that none of the Inns of Court claims to be any older than the others. Law clerks and their apprentices have been established on the present site since at least 1370, with records dating from 1391. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Inn grew steadily, reaching its pinnacle during the reign of Elizabeth I. The outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642 during the reign of Charles I disrupted the systems of legal education and governance at the Inns of Court, shutting down all calls to the Bar and new admissions, and Gray's Inn never fully recovered. Fortunes continued to decline after the English Restoration, which saw the end of the traditional method of legal education. Although now more prosperous, Gray's Inn is still the smallest of the Inns of Court.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1793:

French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges

1838:

The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper, was founded as the The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India

1942:

World War II: The Allies defeated the Axis at the Second Battle of El Alamein, Egypt, turning the tide in the North African Campaign by ending Axis hopes of taking control of the Suez Canal and thus gaining access east to the Middle Eastern oil fields. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein

1957:

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, carrying Laika the Russian space dog as the first living creature from Earth to enter orbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika

1996:

Abdullah Çatlı, a drug trafficker, a contract killer, and a leader of the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, was killed in a car crash near Susurluk, Balıkesir Province, Turkey, sparking the Susurluk scandal which exposed the depth of the state's complicity in organized crime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%87atl%C4%B1

2007:

Pakistani President and Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency across Pakistan, suspending the Pakistani Constitution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_state_of_emergency%2C_2007

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

atavistic (adj): 1. (biology) Of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more generations due to a chance combination of genes. 2. Of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atavistic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness. --Wilhelm Reich http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich