Sunday, October 25, 2009

Answer of the Day
Where is Chaucer buried? Geoffrey Chaucer, the writer of one of medieval England's best-known works, died on this date in 1400. His Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories that tell of human foibles and idiosyncrasies, told by a gathering of pilgrims to pass the time as they journey from Southwark to Canterbury. The tales are mostly written in verse, each in the literary style of the particular storyteller. Chaucer used the services of a scrivener named Adam Pinkhurst to do the actual writing of the book, which was written in Middle English. When Chaucer died, he was interred in Westminster Abbey; he was the first to be buried in the section called the Poet's Corner. Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling are among the other writers whose final resting place is in the Poet's Corner.

Quote
"But every thyng which schyneth as the gold, Nis nat gold, as that I have herd it told." — Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

Word of the day
virago

1. A woman regarded as noisy, scolding, or domineering.
2. A large, strong, courageous woman.

(© Houghton Mifflin Company)

Today's History

Grenada

• The Charge of the Light Brigade: the British assaulted Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava, which was commemorated in a poem by Tennyson (1854)
• Battle of Leyte Gulf: one of the largest naval battles in history took place between the US and Japan as the US invaded the Philippines (1944)
• United Nations: voted mainland China in, Taiwan out (1971)
• Operation Urgent Fury: the US invaded Grenada in response to the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop (1983)

Today's Birthdays

Picasso at Home

• Pablo Picasso (1881-1973): painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer
• Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957): navigator and the first man to fly over both poles
• Anne Tyler (68): Pulitzer Prize-winner for Breathing Lessons; also, writer John Berryman (1914-1972)
• Chad Smith (48): drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers; other pop musicians born on this date include Helen Reddy (68), Taffy Danoff and Jon Anderson (both 65), Ed Robertson (39) and Ciara (24)
• Adam Goldberg (39): multi-talented actor, director, producer, guitarist and songwriter; also, actors Jeanne Cooper and Marion Ross (both 81), Brian Kerwin (60), Nancy Cartwright (53), Michael Boatman and Kevin Michael Richardson (both 45), Craig Robinson (38), Michael Weston (36) and Mehcad Brooks (29)
• Midori (38): classical violinist; composers Johann Strauss (1825-1899) and Georges Bizet (1838-1875) share this birth date