Peter Warlock was the pseudonym of Philip Heseltine (1894–1930), a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published musical works. Best known as a composer of songs and other vocal music, he also achieved notoriety through his unconventional and often scandalous lifestyle. As a schoolboy at Eton College, Heseltine came under the spell of the British composer Frederick Delius, with whom he formed a close friendship. After a failed student career in Oxford and London, he turned to musical journalism, while developing interests in folk-song and Elizabethan music. His first serious compositions date from around 1915. A lasting influence arose from his meeting in 1916 with the Dutch composer Bernard van Dieren. Heseltine composed songs in a distinctive, original style, and built a reputation as a combative and controversial music critic. He made a pioneering contribution to the scholarship of early music, published under his own name, and produced a full-length biography of Delius. He died in his London flat of coal gas poisoning in 1930, probably by his own hand.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1806:

War of the Fourth Coalition: Believing they were massively outnumbered, the 5,300-man German garrison at Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), surrendered to a much smaller French force without a fight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitulation_of_Stettin

1863:

Seventeen-year-old Danish Prince Vilhelm arrived in Athens to become George I (pictured), King of Greece. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_I_of_Greece

1888:

King Lobengula of Matabeleland granted the Rudd Concession to agents of Cecil Rhodes, setting in motion the creation of the British South Africa Company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudd_Concession

1961:

The Soviet hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, was set off over Novaya Zemlya Island in the Arctic Ocean as a test. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba

1991:

The Madrid Conference, an attempt by the international community to start a peace process through negotiations involving Israel and the Arab countries, convened in Madrid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_Conference_of_1991

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

trainiac: (informal) A railway enthusiast. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trainiac

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There is no such thing as a normal period of history. Normality is a fiction of economic textbooks.   --Joan Robinson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joan_Robinson