15 August: Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott was born on this date in 1771. He is credited with making novels popular, and in particular, historical fiction. His works include include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. 10 things you might not know about him.

1. He was born in a third floor flat in Edinburgh. His parents were Walter Scott, a Writer to the Signet, and Anne Rutherford. A bout of polio as a child left him with a permanent limp. He was sent away to live with his aunt Jenny as part of his recovery. She taught him to read and also taught him about Scottish folklore and ballads.
2. As a young man, he became an apprentice in his father's office. At 25, he published his first work, which was a translation of ballads by Gottfried August Bürger from the original German. This was followed by a collection of Scottish ballads. Since many storytellers of the time believed strongly in an oral tradition for the passing on of stories, and disapproved of them being written down, Scott developed a system of note-taking involving making carvings on twigs.
3. His first novel was published anonymously in 1814 - Waverley, a story about the Jacobite rising of 1745. He eventually acknowledged in 1827 that he had written it.
4. His limp meant that the only way he could pursue a military career was on horseback. He trained with the Light Horse Volunteers, in order to help defend his country should Napoleon invade. During this training, he gathered ideas for a poem, Marmion, about the Battle of Flodden in 1513. His training meant he could write from experience about armed horsemen. It is from this poem that Scott’s most famous quote comes: ‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practise to deceive!’
5. Known to have an extensive knowledge of Scottish history, Scott helped track down Scotland's lost Crown Jewels, also called the Scottish Regalia or the Honours of Scotland, in 1818. The jewels were hidden in a locked box somewhere in Edinburgh Castle. They'd not been used for some time and nobody knew where they were. Scott had an inkling he knew where they might have been hidden, so he asked the prince regent, who would later become King George IV, for permission to search the castle. The prince, being a fan of Scott's work, agreed. Scott found the jewels and they were put on public display in the castle. For this, he was given the title of 1st Baronet.
6. Scott's first love was a woman called Williamina Belsches, who he started courting when she was 14. However, she was the granddaughter of an Earl and of a much higher social standing than he was. Scott was heartbroken when she married someone else. She is thought to have inspired the characters Catherine Seyton, Diana Vernan, Lilias Redgauntlet, and Lucy Ashton. In 1797, he went on a trip to the Lake District with some old college friends, where he met Charlotte Charpentier, daughter of Jean Charpentier of Lyon in France, and ward of Lord Downshire in Cumberland. He proposed to her after just three weeks and they were married on Christmas Eve of the same year.
7. Scott introduced some words and phrases to the English language. The word ‘glamour’ is first found in his work, as is the term ‘Wars of the Roses’ to refer to the dynastic wars of the fifteenth century between the royal houses of Lancaster and York. He also gave us the name Cedric, an adaptation of the Saxon name Cerdic. He also coined a phrase for a person who carries a book with them wherever they go - ‘book-bosomed’.
8. As well as being a writer, Scott was a lawyer with a day job - that of Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was also a Freemason, like his father before him, although he only joined the Masons after his father died. Masonic Lodges have been named after him and his novels, for example, Lodge Sir Walter Scott, No. 859 (Perth, Australia) and Lodge Waverley, No. 597, (Edinburgh, Scotland).
9. Towards the end of Scott's life, a banking crisis left him in debt to the tune of £130,000 when the publishing company John Ballantyne & Co. of which Scott was the sole financial backer collapsed. Scott refused to declare himself bankrupt or accept any financial help from any of his influential fans (which included King George IV). He was determined to get out of debt purely through sales of his novels. He placed his income and his house in a trust owned by his creditors and began to write furiously. He was successful, but he didn't live to see the debts paid off.
10. His last novel, The Siege of Malta, wasn't published until 2008. It was about the Great Siege of Malta by Ottoman Turks in 1565. However, Scott's failing health was reflected in his writing. According to John Sutherland, Scott’s biographer, the novel indicates ‘a very wonderful mind, completely buggered up by explosions in the head.’

See Also: Quotes by Walter Scott 

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Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

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Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

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Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

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