TODAY - FEBRUARY 8
NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS
ON: FEBRUARY 8
New 2021 edition
TODAY’s PERSON:
I have chosen
the French author JULES
VERNE. He was born on this day
in 1828 and died 77 years old in 1905.
He was and still is very well know for his many book about adventurous
travels to many places. His point of
departure was the many new scientific discoveries in his lifetime. Based upon them he tried to imagine how their
use would develop in the future – what they could be used for. For many he considered to be the father of science fiction. In his special way.
Among his many famous
books are the following:
Five Weeks in a
Balloon ( in Africa )
Journey to the
Centre of the Earth ( taking place in Denmark and Iceland )
From the Earth
to the Moon
In Search of the
Castaways / The Children of Captain Grant
Twenty-Thousand
Under the Sea: A Tour of the Underwater World
Around the World
in Eighty Days
His books were
very popular in France, also because of the elegant French language, which he
used.
Later they were
translated into many other languages. Actually, Jules Verne’s books are the
second-most translated books in the world since 1979 – after Agathe Christie
and before William Shakespeare.
One of Jules
Verne’s quotations are: Science, my
lads, is made up of mistakes, which are useful to make, because they lead
little by little to the truth.
TODAY’s LENGTH:
This day is here
in Belgium 1 hour and 42 minutes longer than December 21. Its length is 9 hours
and 39 minutes – from 08.07 to 17.46.
See more about
where you are on: www.dagenslaengde.de - also in English.
TODAY’s NAME:
Today’s name is CORINTHA’s DAY. She was a Christian
woman, who was killed in Alexandria
around 250 AC because of her belief. She was later made a saint. Apart from
that we don’t know much about her.
The day’s name in
Belgium is: SAINT JÉROME-EMILIEN,
an Italian humanist, who lived in the years 1486-1537. He is the patron for orphans.
TODAY’s EVENT:
1904: The Japanese-Russian war
starts with a Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur in
China.
TODAY’s QUESTION:
Honeymoon - where does that word come from? And what
does it stand for?
The old English expression hony
moone from the 16th century was the name for the very first days
in the marriage of newly weds. That was
where they started their new life and probably also laid the ground for a
larger family. In the early 19th
century it became a habit for new couples (in the upper classes) in England
that they went on a trip immediately after the wedding. They were often
accompanied by family and friends on the trip. They either went to see family,
who had not been able to come to the wedding. Or to other places. The French
Riviera and Italy ( Rome, Verona and Venice) were the most popular places. In France the same habit started in the
1820’es (“English style voyages”). And in the so-called Belle Epoque ( 1871-1914)
the honeymoon trips were in a way the start of mass tourism.
In Denmark honeymoon is called hvedebrødsdage
(white bread days). Why? Because normally people in the old days only had rye
bread to eat. In the days after the
wedding they had the more expensive wheat breat or white bread for a few days.
QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:
To throw down the gauntlet - where
does that expression come from? And what does it mean?
47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:
EUROPE AT WORK www.europe-at-work.be
TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :
1.
Yesterday’s quote:
If there were no
bad people, then there would be no good lawyers either.
This is a quotation from nthe English poet Charles Dickens.
2.
Today’s quote:
A dictatorship
is a state where your life is in danger, if you keep a parrot.
Who among today’s persons has said that?
3. Famous
people born on this day:
1828: Jules
Verne ( died 1905 ) –
see above and below.
1925: Jack Lemmon ( died 2001 )
1931: James Dean ( died 1955 )
4. Famous
people died on this day:
1587: Mary 2. Stuart ( 44 years )
1999: Iris Murdoch ( 79 years )
Niels Jørgen Thøgersen
www.simplesite.com/kimbrer +
EUROPE AT WORK www.europe-at-work.be
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