26 March: Robert Frost

Robert Frost, the American poet, was born on this date in 1874. Here are 10 facts about him.

1. He was born in San Francisco; both his parents were teachers. He was named after Confederate General Robert E Lee, a hero of his father’s.

2. Frost’s father died of tuberculosis when he was 11 years old, leaving them with just eight dollars. Hence the family moved to Massachusetts to live with his grandparents.

3. Frost had two unsuccessful attempts at getting a college degree. He went to Dartmouth College but only lasted two months before dropping out, saying, "I wasn't suited for that place." He tried again at Harvard, but by this time he had a wife and child and dropped out to support them. Harvard bestowed an honorary degree on him in 1937.

4. His wife’s name was Elinor Miriam White and they were childhood sweethearts, having met at school. In fact, they shared the title of class valedictorian when they graduated in 1892. He proposed to her after he sold his first poem (My Butterfly, to the New York Independent newspaper in 1894, for which he got paid $15 which at the time was a substantial sum, about twice the weekly salary he earned as a teacher) but she insisted on waiting until she finished college. His poem, The Subverted Flower, was inspired by her.

5. His most famous poem, The Road Not Taken, was actually written as a bit of a joke. Frost used to go hiking with a friend, Edward Thomas. Thomas was often indecisive about which way to go, would spend a lot of time deliberating and then regretting that he’d not chosen the other route.

6. Another of his poems is called Fire and Ice, and this one was an inspiration to JRR Martin who admits the poem was an influence and that he lifted the title for his book A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin said, "Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardour and all of these things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is … you know, that kind of cold inhumanity and all that stuff is being played out in the books.” Indeed.

7. John F Kennedy was also a fan, which led to Frost becoming the first poet to read at a presidential inauguration. The poem he used at the event was not the one he’d intended to read. He’d written one called Dedication and had it typed out, but the sun was so bright he couldn’t read the words because of the glare, so ended up reciting The Gift Outright because he knew it by heart.

8. He is the only poet to win the Pulitzer Prize four times. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 31 times.

9. As well as poetry, he wrote a few plays including A Way Out, and The Cow's in the Corn: A One Act Irish Play in Rhyme.

10. He died in 1963 at the age of 88. The inscription on his tombstone is “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world,” which is the last line of his poem The Lesson for Today.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

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25 March: Béla Bartók

This date in 1881 was the birthdate of Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer known for composing Hungarian dances. 10 facts about him.

1. Béla Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós, which was in Hungary at the time but is now part of Romania. His father was descended from a noble family and worked as Director of an Agricultural School. His mother was from Slovakia. He had a sister whose name was Erzsébet.

2. His parents were both amateur musicians and Bartók’s mother began teaching him to play the Piano when he was five. At nine, he started composing.

3. His first public performance was when he was 11. One of the pieces he played at it was his one of his own compositions called The Course of the Danube. His performance attracted the attention of László Erkel, who took him on as a student.

4. He earned a place at the prestigious Vienna Conservatoire when he was 17, but being a Hungarian nationalist he chose to study piano and composition at the Budapest Academy of Music instead. He graduated in 1903, and began teaching piano there himself.

5. He was married twice. His first wife was Márta Ziegler with whom he had a son, Béla Bartók III. They divorced in 1923 and the following year Bartók he married Ditta Pásztory, a piano student, and had another son, Péter.

6. While he is famous for folk music inspired compositions, he also wrote one opera, Bluebeard's Castle in 1911.

7. He was strongly against the Nazis and Hungary's alliance with Germany. He refused to perform in Germany after 1933, and eventually left Europe altogether to escape the Nazis. He went to America, settled in New York and taught at Columbia University.

8. His passion was ethnomusicological research. He collected folk tunes from Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Turkey and North Africa. When he retired from teaching he devoted much of his time to this pursuit.

9. Bartók died in New York in 1945, at the age of 64, from complications of leukaemia. Only ten people attended his funeral, including his wife and two sons. He was buried in New York although in 1988 his sons had his remains moved and reburied in Hungary in 1988.

10. At the time of his death, Bartók left some unfinished works which were completed by one of his students, Tibor Serly.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

24 March: William Morris Quotes

Born on this date in 1834 was William Morris, architect, poet, artist, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. 10 things he said:

1. Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

2. The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

3. I am going your way, so let us go hand in hand. You help me and I'll help you. We shall not be here very long ... so let us help one another while we may.

4. There is no excuse for doing anything which is not strikingly beautiful.

5. No pattern should be without some sort of meaning.

6. The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make.

7. I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.

8. History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.

9. No man is good enough to be another's master.

10. If a chap can't compose an epic poem while he's weaving tapestry, he had better shut up, he'll never do any good at all.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

23 March: 82

Today is day 82 of 2026. Here are some fun facts about the number 82.

1. In Roman numerals, 82 is LXXXII

2. +82 is the international calling code for South Korea.

3. 82 Alkmene is a main-belt asteroid discovered by R. Luther in 1864 and named after Alcmene, the mother of Herakles in Greek mythology.

4. 82 is the second studio album by the Kenyan house/funk trio Just a Band, released in 2009.

5. It’s the atomic number of Lead.

6. The first verse of Psalm 82 is "God presides in the heavenly council; in the assembly of the gods he gives his decision."

7. The A82 is a major road in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William.

8. The Tatra 82 was a heavy-duty car model made by Czech manufacturer Tatra between 1935 and 1938. It was mainly used for military cargo and personnel.

9. In binary, 82 is 1010010.

10. In numerology 82 is an independent and pragmatic energy which gets things done. It may prefer to pursue its own goals without being hindered by others, but if needed it will assemble a team to implement the project. 82 is an effective leader but can lack empathy towards team members.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

22 March: Anthony Van Dyck

This date in 1599 was the birthdate of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Flemish artist. Here are 10 things you might not know:

1. Born in Antwerp, he was the seventh of twelve children. His father was a silk merchant and his mother was a skilled embroiderer.

2. His talent as an artist emerged when he was very young. He was an apprentice to Hendrik van Balen at ten. He had his own studio when he was a teenager and by 19 he was a master painter in the esteemed Antwerp Guild of St Luke.

3. He gave up his studio when he met Peter Paul Rubens, in order to become his assistant and learn from him. Rubens referred to Van Dyck as the best of his students.

4. He was a success throughout Europe, spending time in Italy and eventually settling in England. In his time spelling wasn’t standardised, so there were multiple variations of his name. Anthony van Dijk, Antonio Wandik, Anttonio Vandique, Bandeique, and Anthonius van Dyck were among the variations that existed.

5. In terms of his love life, he apparently put himself about a bit. He had many lovers and at least one long term mistress called Margaret Lemon. She was said to be jealous and possessive, but neither of them was faithful to the other. He probably had many illegitimate children, and it’s speculated that he left Antwerp to escape the consequences of getting some of his lovers pregnant. He only ever acknowledged one illegitimate child, a daughter, Maria-Theresia, shortly before he died.

6. He eventually married at the age of 41. His wife’s name was Mary Ruthven. By this time his health was declining. He died at the age of 42, just a week after the birth of his only legitimate child, Justiniana.

7. His portraits were famous for his depiction of hands, Eyes and suits of armour. He developed a style of full length portraits.

8. In case you’re wondering why he’s Sir Anthony Van Dyck, that came about after he became the principal court painter for King Charles I. Charles liked his work so much that he knighted him and also provided him with a house and a pension of £200 which would be five figures in today’s money.

9. Van Dyck was buried in St Paul's Cathedral despite being a Catholic. Unfortunately, his grave was destroyed in the Great fire of London although there is a memorial in the new cathedral to him and others whose graves met the same fate, which was installed in 1913.

10. Van Dyck was an influence to several famous painters who came after him, including Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

21 March: Modest P Mussorgsky

This date in 1839 was the birthdate of the Russian composer Modest P Mussorgsky. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. He was born in Karevo, 250 miles south of St Petersburg, to an aristocratic family which was descended from Rurik, a legendary founder of the Russian state.

2. The family name was derived from another ancestor who had had the nickname "Musorga," which meant, appropriately enough, 'Music maker.' However, the name was also quite similar to the Russian word for rubbish, so from 1863 they altered the name so it sounded less like that.

3. He started learning Piano at six and by the age of nine could play complicated pieces.

4. A career in music wasn’t his family’s first choice for him, though. They wanted him to join the military so at the age of 13 he was enrolled in the Cadet School of the Guards. He was, however, allowed to continue playing the piano. In due course he graduated and got a commission with the Preobrazhensky Regiment, the top regiment of the Imperial Guard.

5. Here, he met the composer Aleksandr Borodin, and also became friends with César Cui, Mily Balakirev, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. They became known as “The Five”, a group of influential Russian composers. Modest eventually resigned his commission in order to concentrate on music.

6. His mission in music was to create music which sounded Russian, rather than following the usual Western styles. Some of his most famous works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral piece Night on Bald Mountain, and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.

7. He was 29 when he wrote Boris Godunov, using as reference Pushkin's play and Karamzin's history. However, the opera was rejected by the theatre at first because it had no principle female role. Mussorgsky revised it, making the changes the theatre had asked for and more. The new version was accepted.

8. His family lost much of their land because of the emancipation of the serfs. Mussorgsky had to spend time trying to help his family, which made it hard to find time to compose. He had a day job as a civil servant to support himself but it wasn’t a very secure job and at times, he didn’t get paid.

9. He was an alcoholic and went into decline when he and his composer friends began to go their separate ways. He suffered from seizures and delirium tremens and was admitted to a hospital. He seemed to improve at first and had a portrait painted by Ilya Repin, which depicted him with a drink induced red nose. However, Mussorgsky died a week after his 42nd birthday.

10. The progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed and recorded an arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in 1971, featuring lyrics by Greg Lake, and released it as a live album.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

20 March: Big Bird

20 March is the birthday of the Sesame Street character, Big Bird. Here are 10 facts about him:

1. He’s 8 feet 2 inches tall (249cm), is bright Yellow and lives in a nest behind 123 Sesame Street, next to Oscar the Grouch's trash can.

2. It’s up for debate what species of bird he is. His colour suggests that he’s a Canary, and he’s said himself that this is the case and that his scientific name is Bigus canarius. That said, he’s also described himself as a lark, and when asked if he was a Cassowary said that he was a golden condor. Others have suggested he might be an ibis, or a crane (or a unique species evolved from a crane). Oscar the Grouch calls him a Turkey but that is probably more of an insult than fact. Big Bird’s grandfather, however, is said to be an Emu.

3. While Big Bird may not be a turkey, his suit is made from turkey feathers which have been died yellow and glued on About 6,000 are in use at any given time.

4. The Big Bird suit weighs ten pounds, and his head alone weighs four pounds. Operating the suit is not for the faint hearted. The person inside gets very hot and can’t see where they are going, so they use a monitor strapped to the chest in order to navigate. The operator’s right arm is raised to operate the head, using the right hand to operate the mouth while the little finger operates the eyes.

5. Big Bird’s operator from 1969 to 2018 was Caroll Spinney. When he retired at the age of 84, the role went to his long time understudy Matt Vogel. Here is a classic case of nominative determination as Vogel is German for “bird”.

6. As for family, Big Bird was raised by his grandmother and an aunt called Nani Bird. He has a sister called Esmerelda, an Uncle Slim (a cowbird from Wyoming) and numerous cousins including Cousin Bubba from the North Pole, Floyd, a surfer bird from Los Angeles. He also has a Teddy bear called Radar.

7. Big Bird’s suit was designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love. It was based on a seven foot tall dragon character than Henson designed for another project.

8. While Big Bird has been around for well over 50 years, he is portrayed as a perpetual six year old.

9. Big Bird can Roller skate, Ice skate, Dance, Swim, Sing, write poetry, draw, and ride a unicycle.

10. He almost went into space. In the 1980s when NASA was considering sending an ordinary citizen into space on the Space Shuttle, Carroll Spinney was invited to be that person, going into orbit in Big Bird persona. Spinney was hesitant at first, but eventually decided he was up for it, only to find that the Big Bird costume wouldn’t fit in the confined space. Which turned out to be a lucky escape, as the mission in question was the January 1986 Challenger one that exploded soon after launch, killing everyone on board. Schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe was ultimately chosen as the ordinary citizen instead.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/