HistoryWow

“Let us raise up a temple

To the cult of mediocrity,

Do nothing by halves,

When it can be done by quarters.”

Who is being attacked in this stinging poem?

Answer: Mackenzie King (1874-1950), Canadian prime minister. The poem, by the lawyer and poet F.R. Scott (1899-1985), laments that under King’s leadership “we had no shape, because he never took sides. And no sides, because he never allowed them to take shape.”

Source: History’s People – Personalities and the Past by Margaret MacMillan

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1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Lisbon.

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A short, sharp hit of history in video format. Acclaimed Irish playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde was the toast of London society in the 1890s until things came decidedly unstuck through an association with a young British aristocrat, Lord Alfred Douglas, known as ‘Bosie’.

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I was born in Huanggang, China, in 1908.
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HistoryWow’s Highlighted Historical Quotation

“In Russia a man is a called reactionary if he objects to having his property stolen and his wife and children murdered.”

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman

Source: The Wicket Wit of Winston Churchill by Dominique Enright

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HistoryWow’s Featured Historical Figure of Note

Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149BCE)

Roman statesman, soldier and writer of virtue, simplicity and wisdom. He condemned the luxury of his time and was nicknamed “the censor”. He became Consul in 195BCE, took part in the defeat of Hannibal at Zama, held command in Sardinia and Spain, and in 191 BCE assisted the Greeks in overthrowing Antiochus III at Thermopolyae.

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