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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph. --Ken Kesey https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey
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