Admiral of the Fleet the Earl of Cork and Orrery; William Henry Boyle, was Rear Admiral Commanding the 1st Cruiser Squadron from 1926-28, and afterwards commanded the Reserve Fleet and then the Royal Naval War College 1928-32. He was First and Principal A.D.C. to the King from 1936-38.
Count Maurice Maeterlinck was a Belgian poet and dramatist. He was born in Ghent in 1862 and began practising law until success followed his first poetical works Serres Chaudes in 1889. His play The Blue Bird aroused wide interest, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911. By 1914 his works had been recorded on the papal index.
Eden Phillpotts was a novelist and dramatist, who worked firstly in an insurance office then studied for the stage, but in fact became an author. He specialized in scenes of English life in Devonshire, particularly that of Dartmoor, and wrote many poems, plays, and novels. His works included The Human Boy, Children of the Mist, and Widecombe Fair. He was born in 1862.
Duke of Abercorn. James Albert Edward Hamilton. He was in the Life Guards and afterwards a Conservative MP for the City of Londonderry. In 1913 he succeeded to the title of Treasurer to the Kings Household. He was Governor of Northern Ireland for six successive years from 1922. He was born in 1869.
Stephen Donoghue was one of the most famous English jockeys in racing history. He began riding in 1909 and achieved his first big success winning the Cambridgeshire stakes in 1910. He rode 143 winners in 1920 and won the Derby six times from 1915 to 1925 thus establishing a record on the turf. He was born in 1884.
Amy Johnson. (Mrs. James A. Mollison) She worked for a time in a London solicitor’s office. Then after qualifying as a pilot, established her first record with a solo flight to Australia in 1930. Next year she flew to Japan and then with her husband flew to the Cape. Sadly, she perished in an air accident in 1941. She was born in 1904.
Dame Sybil Thorndike. A badly sprained wrist, due to too much piano practice, led her to give up her ambition to be a concert pianist and to become an actress. She acted in Shakespear plays in the UK and USA, and she also had many other leading roles. Born in 1882.
Walter R. Hammond. Played for Gloucestershire as an amateur cricketer in 1920, and when he turned professional in 1923 scored over a thousand runs in his first season for that county. Afterwards, he played for England against Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indies.
John Berry Hobbs. Starting on the ground staff of Surrey County Cricket Club, he was eventually made a playing member and excelled as a batsman. By 1935, when he retired, he had made the then unsurpassed record of 197 centuries, including twelve in Tests against Australia. During his career he played many times for England.
Harry L. Hopkins was President Roosevelt’s closest friend and adviser and acted as his personal representative during the Second World War. He was given the responsibility of administering the Lend-Lease Bill and visited London and Moscow in 1941. He was formerly U.S.A Secretary of Commerce and born in 1890.
Sir Malcolm Sargent has been called “Britain’s Ambassador of Music” He has conducted all over the world and was Conductor in Chief of The Royal Choral Society from 1928, The Halle’ Orchestra 1939-43, The Liverpool Philharmonic 1942-8 and The Huddersfield Choral Society from 1932. He was born in 1895.
Bobby Howes was an English stage comedian, who began as a boy at the Battersea Palace. Later he was in a stage dancing team for two years, and with the Royal Gotham Quartette for three years. He served in the First World War and appeared in many revues and plays. He was born in 1895.
PORTAL of Hungerford, Marshal of the R.A.F. Viscount; Charles Frederick Portal. He served for a time in the Army in the First World War, and before it ended was a Colonel in the Royal Flying Corps. He commanded the British Forces in Aden from 1934-35, and in April 1940 became A.O.C.-in-C., Bomber Command. In October of the same year he became Chief of Air Staff until 1945. He was born in 1893.
Sidney Webb. Lord Passfield, was a Labour politician, Londoner by birth and an expert economist. He helped to found the London School of Economics, and as a Labour politician, he and his wife, Beatrice Webb, took active interest in unemployment and social conditions. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1924; and was Secretary for the Colonies from 1929 until 1931. He wrote several books, and was born in 1859.
Auguste Piccard was a Swiss balloonist and scientist, and was the first since Coxwell and Glaisher to make a balloon ascent into the stratosphere in 1931 and a second ascent in 1932. He was born in 1884.
Charles Spencer Chaplin – Dear Charlie Chaplin!
Dear Charlie became Sir Charles Chaplin, receiving his knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1979. His film career had spanned 54 years, and in that time Charlie made a total of 81 films, only 5 were talkies and 67 were completed before his 30th birthday. Sadly Charlie died at the good age of 88 and on Christmas Day in 1977 at his home in Vevey, Switzerland; at his bedside were Oona his fourth wife, their children, and grandchildren. Hannah Chaplin was Charles Mother and she had spent most of the later years of her life at an institute in England and for her remaining seven years she lived in the little house Charlie had bought for her close to the Pacific Ocean. Sidney Chaplin (Sid) was Charlie’s older brother and manager, he had retired to the South of France after the second world war and visited every summer with Charlie in Switzerland. The first love in Charlie’s life was Hetty Kelly; he had fallen in love with her whilst working for Fred Karno. But alas! when he left for a US tour she married a politician and later died from influenza at the very young age of 25. Charlie never forgot her and she was the inspiration for many of his screen heroines. Charlie had a leading lady in Edna Purviance for over 30 comedies, and when she retired after failing to make a new career as a dramatic actress Charlie had her kept on the studio payroll for the rest of her life. Charlie’s first wife was a very young Mildred Harris. After their sudden divorce she was reduced to working in sleazy nightclubs and died an alcoholic at the age of 43. Charlie’s second wife was Lita Grey and they had two sons; Charlie Chaplin Jnr, and Sidney Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin Jnr died in 1968. Paulette Goddard – formally Levy, was a famous star, and became Charlie’s third wife. When she retired from acting in 1966 and divorced from Charlie, she and her new husband set up home in Switzerland not far from Charlie’s house. Joan Barry was besotted by Charlie. She was a flirt and a drunk and followed Charlie around everywhere. After their affair ended she claimed he was the father of her child. But a blood test (not admissible in a California Court at the time) proved otherwise. However Charlie supported Joan’s daughter Carol Anne until she reached the age of 21. Poor Joan, unfortunatly spent much of her remaining life sectioned before dying at an early age. Oona O’Neil Chaplin was 18 when she consented to marry Charlie. She had been a former Irish debutant and together they had eight children. She did survive Charlie by some 14 years and she had always loved him with a passion until her own death in the September of 1991.
Thomas Henry Cotton was a Golf champion. He became a professional at Langley Park in 1927. He won the Kent Professional Championship 1926-30; British Open, 1934, 1937; also Italian, German and Czechoslovak Open. He also represented Great Britain v. America in 1929 and 1937. He was born in 1907.
David Herbert Lawrence was an English author and poet, best known for his works: The White Peacock (1911) Sons and Lovers (1913) The Rainbow (1915 suppressed by the police) The Plumed Serpent (1926) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928 banned in England) He was born in 1885.
Virginia Woolf was a writer and critic. In 1912 she married Leonard Woolf an author and publisher, and with him controlled the Hogarth Press, which he founded in 1917. Her works include The Voyage Out (1915) A Room of One’s Own (1929) and The Waves (1931) She was a member of The Bloomsbury Group, and was born in 1882.
Alexander Alekhine was a Russian chess player. After taking a law degree, entered the Russian Foreign Office, and served in the Red Cross in the First World War. He won the world record for blindfold chess and held championships of the world record from 1927 until his death, except for 1935-37. He was born in 1892 and wrote many books on chess. He died in 1946.
Francis Dodd (R.A.) Artist. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, and was an official artist of the First World War. His portraits of generals and admirals on active service were published in 1917, and two of his works are in the Tate Gallery, of which he was a trustee from 1929-35. He was born in 1874.
Myra Hess (later Dame) was born in London. She studied the piano at the Royal Academy of Music, passing her first examination at the age of seven. Later her fine renderings of some of the earlier classics, such as Bach, Mozart, and others, brought her world-wide success as a pianist. She was born in 1890.
Jan Ignaz Paderewski was a Polish patriot, politician and pianist. He made his musical debut at Vienna in 1887, and in London three years later. His brilliant technique won him world fame, and he made tours and raised funds for Polish sufferers in the First World War. He was born in 1860 and became premier of Poland in 1919.
Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish runner. He broke the world records for the mile, 1923: two miles, 1931: five miles, 1924: six miles, 1930: ten miles. He won many Olympic victories, but was barred from the Olympic games in 1932 owing to his professional status. He was born in 1897.
Anna Pavlova was a Russian ballet-dancer, born in St. Petersburg, and made her debut there at the Imperial Opera House, afterwards becoming the foremost ballet-dancer in Europe. Her London debut was in 1909, and later she toured America. In her lifetime she appeared many times with the Diaghileff Ballet Company. She was born in 1885.
Upton Sinclair was an American author who in 1906 caused a sensation when he exposed in his book, The Jungle, the conditions in the U.S. canning industry. He continued to expose other industrial evils in his later books, among them being Oil, Mountain City, King Midas and Bill Porter. He was born in 1878.
Dame Edith Sitwell was a Poetess who made a name with her book The Mother and other Poems in 1915, followed by an anthology of poems each year until 1921. She gave poetry recitals to a musical accompaniment. Her later works include Green Song, A Song of the Cold, and Fanfare for Elizabeth. She was born in 1887.
Tom Walls was an actor, racehorse owner and trainer. He made his stage debut in 1905, and toured the U.S.A. and Canada in 1906. He was joint manager of the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1922, acting in Tons of Money which had a two year run. He appeared in many stage productions and movies, and won the Derby in 1932. He was born in 1883.
