Explore Orlando

Here, you’ll find randomized material from across the textbase’s author profiles and timelines. To jump to the content of your choice, click on its image card.

Ezra Pound

EP , American poet, critic, editor, translator, and key figure in the literary modernist movement, lived in London from 1908 to 1921, in Paris from 1921 to 1924, and then in Italy until the end...

30 May 1747: Thomas Gray published Ode on a Distant Prospect...

Writer or writing item

30 May 1747

Thomas Gray published Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.

July 1700: William Duke of Gloucester, born in 1689,...

National or international item

July 1700

William Duke of Gloucester , born in 1689, longest-surviving child of the future Queen Anne , died of smallpox.

28 April 1813: The Act to build Regent Circus (now Regent...

Building and people item

28 April 1813

The Act to build Regent Circus (now Regent Street), a grand shopping thoroughfare, was brought before parliament; construction was completed in 1820.

1924: The United States Congress laid its first-ever...

National or international item

1924

The United States Congress laid its first-ever restrictions on the number and type of immigrants to be admitted: 150,000 a year, of whom 70% were to be British, Irish, German, etc.

1908: John M. Poole of Toronto published The Harvest...

Women writers item

1908

John M. Poole of Toronto published The Harvest of Moloch, a didactic temperance novel by Jessie Lawson .

30 December 1793: The botanist and collector Anna Blackburne...

Building and people item

30 December 1793

The botanist and collector Anna Blackburne died: the Gentleman's Magazine obituary praised her scientific work as well as her virtues.

30 July 1884: Mark Pattison, scholar, author and clergyman,...

Writer or writing item

30 July 1884

Mark Pattison , scholar, author and clergyman, died at Harrogate in the North Riding of Yorkshire, very painfully, of stomach cancer.

1896: Painter Mildred Anne Butler's watercolor...

Building and people item

1896

Painter Mildred Anne Butler 's watercolor The Morning Bath was purchased for the Tate Gallery in London by the Chantrey Bequest.

1970: Australian playwright Barbara Vernon published...

Writer or writing item

1970

Australian playwright Barbara Vernon published her first novel, Bellbird: The Story of a Country Town, based on her own television scripts.

About 1855: Charles Frederick Worth of the UK introduced...

Building and people item

About 1855

Charles Frederick Worth of the UK introduced and popularized his cage crinoline in Paris.

1830: A process for manufacturing India rubber...

Building and people item

1830

A process for manufacturing India rubber in fibres was invented; these fibres were used to replace spiral brass wires in corsets and shoulder straps of women's underclothing.

1 June 1951: Penny Postage for printed matter ended....

National or international item

1 June 1951

Penny Postage for printed matter ended.

17 October 2000: A train crash at Hatfield in Hertfordshire...

Building and people item

17 October 2000

A train crash at Hatfield in Hertfordshire killed a number of people, and revealed that Railtrack , the private company entrusted with upkeep of the railways, had been grossly neglectful.

Ali Smith

Ali Smith is a contemporary Scottish author of fiction, drama, and criticism, remarkable for her love of wordplay and her exuberant writing style. Her short stories and novels contain many literary references, primed by Smith's...
Ali Smith Photograph of Ali Smith, seated at a table, with books, a water jug, and a cup in front of her. She appears to be at a book signing, and she is holding a pen in one hand, which is resting against her chin. She is wearing a white collared shirt dark rectangular-framed glasses, and her brown is shoulder-length with bangs.

1 December 1969: The Calthorpe Nursing Home opened in Birmingham...

Building and people item

1 December 1969

The Calthorpe Nursing Home opened in Birmingham as Britain's only clinic dealing solely with abortions.

14 April 1816: Bussa's Rebellion began in Barbados....

National or international item

14 April 1816

Bussa 's Rebellion began in Barbados.

Mary Anne Duffus Hardy

MADH published, during the latter part of the nineteenth century, fourteen novels, a book of patriotic poetry, two travel books about the USA, and various works in periodicals. Among her novels, predictable romance is...

After 1842: The number and frequency of Chartist socials...

National or international item

After 1842

The number and frequency of Chartist socials declined.

1854: Henry Venn, secretary of the Church Missionary...

National or international item

1854

Henry Venn , secretary of the Church Missionary Society in London, delineated the aims of Christian missions.

25 February 1934: Hunger marchers from the north of England...

National or international item

25 February 1934

Hunger marchers from the north of England arrived in Hyde Park, all very quiet but determined, confounding police warnings of anticipated violence.

Earlier 1913: The Report of the Royal Commission on Venereal...

Building and people item

Earlier 1913

The Report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases was published.

2 December 1848: Emperor-King Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated...

National or international item

2 December 1848

Emperor-King Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph .

July 1943: Because of the war, petrol, fuel, blankets,...

Building and people item

July 1943

Because of the war, petrol, fuel, blankets, beer, and food were very scarce.

By December 1916: Bessie Marchant, who had been publishing...

Women writers item

By December 1916

Bessie Marchant , who had been publishing adventure storiesfor girls and for boys since around 1892, issued one of several books using First World War experience: A Girl Munition Worker,