Herbert Maryon (1874–1965) was an English sculptor, conservator, goldsmith, archaeologist and authority on ancient metalwork. Maryon was the first director of the Arts and Crafts–inspired Keswick School of Industrial Art, then taught at the universities of Reading and Durham until 1939. During this time he designed the University of Reading War Memorial, excavated one of the oldest gold artefacts in Britain, and authored the standard Metalwork and Enamelling. Maryon left retirement to join the British Museum, and is best known for his conservation work on the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, including restorations of the shield, the drinking horns, and the iconic Sutton Hoo helmet. In other work he restored a Roman helmet, coined the term pattern welding, and wrote a paper influencing a painting by Salvador Dalí. Maryon was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in 1956; asked by Queen Elizabeth II what he did, Maryon responded: "Well, Ma'am, I am a sort of back room boy at the British Museum.".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1551:

Sue Takafusa, a retainer of the Ōuchi clan in western Japan, led a coup against the daimyō, Ōuchi Yoshitaka, leading to the latter's forced suicide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainei-ji_incident

1939:

Second World War: General Władysław Sikorski became the first prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Sikorski

1955:

American film actor James Dean suffered fatal injuries in a head-on car accident near Cholame, California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_James_Dean

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Plutonian: 1. (Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld; demonic, infernal. 2. (by extension) Of, relating to, or having characteristics associated with the underworld; dark, gloomy; mournful. 3. (by extension, geology) Synonym of plutonic (“of or pertaining to rocks formed deep in the Earth's crust, rather than by volcanoes at the surface of the Earth”) 4. (by extension, geology, historical) Synonym of plutonic (“of, pertaining to, or supporting plutonism, the theory that the rocks of the Earth were formed in fire by volcanic activity, with a continuing gradual process of weathering and erosion, then deposited on the sea bed, re-formed into layers of sedimentary rock by heat and pressure, and raised again”) [...] 5. (astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet. 6. (astronomy) Of or relating to the dwarf planet Pluto. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Plutonian

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

If it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "No" to war. For one does not create human society on mounds of corpses.   --Louis Lecoin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Lecoin