Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough was one of the most important British portrait artists of the second half of the 18th century.
Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) London, England. He was one of the most important British portrait artists of the second half of the 18th century. His iconic portrait The Blue Boy is part of the permanent collection at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
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Joseph Gay-Lussac

Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) was a French chemist and physicist. He  pioneered investigations into the behavior of gases, established new techniques for analysis, and made notable advances in applied chemistry. The Gay-Lussac's Law states that the pressure of a given mass of gas varies directly with the absolute temperature of the gas, when the volume is kept constant.
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Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) was a French chemist and physicist. He pioneered investigations into the behavior of gases, established new techniques for analysis, and made notable advances in applied chemistry. The Gay-Lussac’s Law states that the pressure of a given mass of gas varies directly with the absolute temperature of the gas, when the volume is kept constant.
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Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope, English poet, translator, and satirist

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was born in London. He was an English poet, translator, and satirist during the Enlightenment era. Pope is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. He was best known for his poems An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad.
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Ainsworth & bad guys

English bad guys come in all flavors in the Victorian era

William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1882) was an English historical novelist born. As a lawyer, the legal profession held no attraction for him. In 1820, Ainsworth began to publish his writing then later writing plays. Praising Ainsworth as a playwright it was said that he rivaled George Gordon Byron. During his time Ainsworth was contributed works to The European Magazine and other magazines.
His first success as a writer came with Rookwood in 1834, which features Dick Turpin as its leading character. Thirty-nine novels followed.
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Jack Sheppard was a real person and also a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth. John “Jack” Sheppard (1702 – 1724) or “Honest Jack” was a notorious English thief and prison escapee in the early 18th-century London. Jonathan Wild (1683-1725) was a criminal cop in London obsessed with Jack Sheppard. Wild’s hatred was the undoing of both men.
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Jonathan Wild (1683-1725) was a criminal cop in London. He was a man of justice by day, and leader of a criminal empire. He became obsessed with Jack Sheppard known as Honest Jack, a notorious English thief and prison escapee. The obsession was Wild’s downfall as did gang members beganing to turn evidence on him.
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Richard III

Caricature of Richard III

Richard III (1452-1485) put his dead brother’s son on the throne, schemed to take the crown, and started a war. He imprisoned his two young nephews in the Tower of London. Still a lot more is in question thanks to his successor Henry VII erasing his predecessor from history.

The last king from the Plantagenet dynasty of England the defeat and death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 more or less ended the Wars of the Roses as well as the Middle Ages.

Henry VII became king after killing Richard III, founding the Tudor dynasty. A schemer himself, Henry promptly waged a publicity campaign painting Richard as a black hearted evil villain. The smear campaign had Richard’s portrait retouched making his eyes slits and the mouth a scowl.

Richard III

The campaign played up a hunchback angle and erased evidence of where Richard’s body was buried.

The body was finally discovered in a Leicester parking lot 500 years after his death. The discovery was made by Phillipa Langley of the Richard III Society. Richard wasn’t a hunchback, but his spine looked like a question mark due to severe scolioses.

Shakespeare's Richard III

A hundred years after his death Shakespeare wrote his cautionary tale of a military genius who plots, schemes and murders his way to becoming king, then starts a war and dies in battle after a brief reign at 32.

Amazon Richard III T-shirts available by clicking images or clicking links below.

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Czech wild west fun

Wild West town in the Czech Republic
Wild West town in the Czech Republic

Apache Chief Winnetou, his braves and German crack-shot Old Shatterhand race horseback into an old western town. They are there to do battle against evil-doers making mischief against law biding citizens.

Karl May movie reenactment

This is part of a wild west reenactment of a hugely successful movie based on one of Karl May most popular books. Read Karl May’s story here.

Karl Friedrich May, German author with his heroes Winnetou and Old Shatterhand
Karl May (center) with his heroes Old Shatterhand & Indian Chief Winnetou

The action takes place on an outdoor stage in an abandoned Czech quarry. Indians and bad guys battle battle it out in front of a jail, a saloon, a railroad with locomotive and a recently robbed bank. The good guys are there to help the sheriff and deputy handle trouble.

Abandoned quarry in Czech Republic converted to an American Wild West town
Abandoned quarry in Czech Republic converted to an American Wild West town

In the stand fans gesture, cheer and boo as the heroes fight the bad guys. Regular festival attendees yell phrases in sync with actors.

The action is nonstop. A locomotive barrels down the tracks, crashes into a building. A bad guy blows up a water tower. A flood streams down walls of the quarry.

Outdoor theater

Outdoor theater is only part of events. The quarry houses an Indian village straight out of the wild west. And inside an extravagant 1870 saloon visitors can dine and drink or enjoy games of chance. On stage magic and old time dance shows delight visitors. Outside in a corral riders and horses perform tricks and stunts. Participants can visit kid friendly horses and goats. Gold mining, and treasure hunting opportunities are part of the excitement at the festival, too.

Want to visit, events, dates and accommodations at https://www.westernove-mestecko.cz

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, English knight, a navel officer, a pirate

Sir Francis Drake (1540 – 1596) was an English knight, a navel officer, a pirate, and the favorite sea dog of Queen Elizabeth I.

Privateer

Queen Elizabeth I issued a special mandate encouraging attacking and stealing the bounty of Spanish ships. With the mandate Drake became a privateer. He helped fund Britain’s war against Spain.

Spanish armada

Drake was largely responsible for defeating the Spanish armada bringing Queen Elizabeth her first major military victory and bringing about the supremacy of England ruling the seas.

Sir Francis Drake, English knight, a navel officer, a pirate
Sea dog

First to navigate the globe and claiming California for England, Drake enraged Spanish King Philip II which did nothing to assuage conflicts with Britain.

Despite his exploits he came in and out of favor with the Queen, his fate was unstable.

Simón Bolívar

Simon Bolivar, the great Liberator
The Great Liberator

Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) born Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios was a Venezuelan military genius and political leader. He led a revolution that liberated South American countries that are now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia from the Spanish Empire.

Caste System

Born to a wealthy, politically connected, Venezuelan family, Bolívar was still not as high in the caste system as Spaniards born in Spain. This was part of the reason his allegiance belonged to his home in South America.

18th-century liberal thinkers

As a youth his tutor Simón Rodríguez introduced Bolívar to the world of 18th-century liberal thought. In 1804 Napoleon I was approaching the height of his career. Rodríguez and Bolívar sailed to Europe. In Paris Bolívar was discovered to the works of 18th century great minds like John LockeThomas HobbesVoltaireMontesquieu, and Rousseau.

Spanish colonies

As liberation took hold world wide Bolívar came believe that the Spanish colonies were ripe for independence. A year later the the fight for independence began. He sailed for England in hope of eliciting help for the cause from the British. It didn’t work. But Bolívar persuaded exiled Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda to return and lead the revolution. Miranda’s leadership failed. But eventually Bolívar took over, financing the revolution with his own money.

Fight for independence

The attach on New Granada is considered a military masterpiece, as daring and hazardous as Hannibal‘s crossing the Alps. Bolívar’s small army of 2,500 including a British legion forded rivers and and plain during the rainy season. For a week they waded through waist high waters. They crossed the Andes, a mountain range considered impossible by the defending Spaniards. Though Bolívar lost men, the Spaniards were caught flat footed and in 1819 surrendered. This was the turning point of the war.

Peace and legacy

Still it would be nearly another decade before peace was finally negotiated. Simón Bolívar is considered Latin America’s greatest military genius. His legacy is of mythical proportions.

Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) was a German, French composer and impresario
German, French composer and impresario

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) was a romantic era German, French composer and impresario. A child prodigy, at four he studied violin with his father; at nine he fell in love with the cello. At 14 he was accepted as a student to the prestigious Paris Conservatoire.

International Fame

But Offenbach grew bored and left after a year. He was able to make a living as a cellist and conductor. This led to international fame.

The Dream

Finally Offenbach began to compose comic pieces for the musical theatre, his dream. During his life he composed nearly 100 operettas. His work influenced future composers. Many of his operettas continue being staged and performed.

Tales of Hoffmann

E. T. A. Hoffmann, German author of fantasy and Gothic horror
E. T. A. Hoffmann

The Tales of Hoffmann was his final work. It is an uncompleted masterpiece.
The opéra is based on three of T.A. Hoffmann’s stories. While it remains part of the standard opera repertory it has been made into films. The first a 1916 silent German film, followed by a 1923 and a 1951 movie. There will likely be more to movies to come.

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