6th March: Birth of Michelangelo

The artist Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475. Here are 10 things you may not know about him.

1. Michelangelo's full name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.
2. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty.
3. His mother died when he was six, and he was sent to live with a stonecutter and his wife.
4. When Michelangelo was fourteen, his father persuaded Domenico Ghirlandaio, the artist with the largest workshop in Florence, to take Michelangelo on as an apprentice.
5. The Madonna of the Steps is Michelangelo's earliest known work.
6. As a young man, Michelangelo taunted a fellow student, and that student hit him, breaking his nose, which disfigured him for life.
7. He suffered from depression from time to time. During one of his bouts of depression he wrote: "I am here in great distress and with great physical strain, and have no friends of any kind, nor do I want them; and I do not have enough time to eat as much as I need; my joy and my sorrow/my repose are these discomforts."
8. As well as painting and sculpture, Michelangelo wrote poetry. He wrote over three hundred sonnets and madrigals. The content of them has led historians to believe that he may have been gay as he wrote erotic love sonnets to young men, in particular, Tommaso dei Cavalieri. When Michelangelo's grandnephew, Michelangelo the Younger, published the poems in 1623, he changed them so that they appeared to have been written to a woman. They were restored to their original form by John Addington Symonds in 1893. However, Michelangelo also wrote poetry for a woman, the widow Vittoria Colonna, who wrote sonnets back to him.
9. Michelangelo's sculptures astounded people in his day by how anatomically accurate they were. This was because Michelangelo had been granted special permission from the Catholic Church to study cadavers in order to learn about anatomy.
10. Most of his work was well received, but not all of it. When the Last Judgement on the wall of the Cistine Chapel was first unveiled, there was an outcry because figures in it were naked. There were even calls for the work to be destroyed because nudity was inappropriate for such a holy place.

March 5th: First public performance of "Stairway to Heaven"

The inaugural public performance of the song took place at Belfast's Ulster Hall on 5 March 1971. Here are 10 facts about the song:

1. The song was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for Led Zeppelin's fourth studio album Led Zeppelin IV.
2. After the first performance Bassist John Paul Jones commented on its reception by the audience: "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew."
3. The song is eight minutes and two seconds long, although live versions were often extended to last up to fifteen minutes. It was too long for the full version to be released as a single. Atlantic Records tried to get the band to authorise editing of the song for single release, but they weren't having any of it! Hence, Stairway to Heaven is one of the most well-known and popular rock songs never to have been released as a single.
4. Despite never being released as a single, it was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s. On the 20th anniversary of the first release of the song, U.S. radio sources claimed that the song had been played 2,874,000 times on the radio – back to back, that would run for 44 years solid.
5. The world radio première of Stairway to Heaven was recorded at the Paris Cinema on 1 April 1971, in front of a live studio audience, and broadcast three days later on the BBC. The song was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert, only omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical reasons. The band's final performance of the song was in Berlin on 7 July 1980.
6. It is the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music in rock history, selling an average of 15,000 copies a year.
7. It has often been said over the years that the song's introduction, and opening guitar arpeggios, bear a close resemblance to a 1968 instrumental Taurus by the group Spirit. As it happens, Led Zeppelin had supported Spirit in an early American tour, so members of Led Zeppelin would have heard the Spirit song before Stairway to Heaven was written. You can listen to the recording of Taurus at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit-Taurus.ogg and make up your own mind!
8. The song was played so extensively that some people got tired of hearing it, especially employees in music shops, as customers looking to buy a guitar would often play it. Some shops went as far as to ban the playing of it, and threatened to throw out anyone who did. This is alluded to in Wayne's World, when Wayne starts to play the song in a shop and the shop assistant points out a sign which says "No Stairway."
9. In the early 1980s it was rumoured that the song contained hidden Satanic messages if played backwards. For example, a message is said to appear in the section ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now..."), which, when played backward, was purported to say: "Here's to my sweet Satan" and "I sing because I live with Satan". Band members denied it, on the grounds that why should they bother, and in any case, turntables only run forwards! Again, you can follow this link, listen and make up your own mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:STH_reverse.ogg.
10. The many cover versions include a 2002 acoustic version by Dolly Parton and Rolf Harris's didgeridoo and wobble board interpretation which reached number seven in the UK charts in 1993.

March 4th: Birth of Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi, The composer of The Four Seasons, was born in Venice on 4 March 1678.

1. Vivaldi began studying to become a priest at the age of 15, and was ordained 10 years later. Although his life's work turned out to be music rather than priestly duties, he always remained a priest.
2. His nickname was il Prete Rosso (The Red Priest) because he had red hair.
3. Vivaldi composed his first liturgical work Laetatus sum, at the age of thirteen.
4. He was an accomplished violinist as well as a composer.
5. Vivaldi became maestro di violino (master of violin) at an orphanage in Venice. He also held the position of maestro di coro, for which he had to compose an oratorio or concerto for every feast, and teach the orphans music theory and how to play instruments.
6. As a teacher, he was not always popular with his employers, the board of the orphanage. The board voted every year as to whether or not to keep each teacher on for a further year. The vote on Vivaldi was usually split, and in 1709 they voted to dismiss him. He worked as a freelance musician until 1711, when the board of the orphanage voted unanimously to bring him back, having realised in his absence how much good work he did!
7. Vivaldi may have written as many as 94 operas. In a letter to his patron Marchese Bentivoglio in 1737, Vivaldi refers to his "94 operas". However, only around 50 have ever been discovered.
8. One of his operas, Arsilda, regina di Ponto was banned by the state censor. In it, the main character, Arsilda, falls in love with another woman, Lisea, who is pretending to be a man. Vivaldi tried again a year later, and this time the censor passed it. It was a big hit.
9. When Vivaldi met Emperor Charles VI. In 1728, Charles admired the music of the Red Priest so much that he is said to have spoken more with the composer during their one meeting than he spoke to his ministers in over two years. He gave Vivaldi the title of knight, a gold medal and an invitation to Vienna.
10. The inspiration for his most famous work, The Four Seasons, was probably the countryside around Mantua. It was an innovative work for the time: in it, Vivaldi represented musically the sounds which might have been heard at the appropriate times of the year: flowing creeks, singing birds, barking dogs, buzzing mosquitoes, the cries of shepherds, storms, drunken dancers, hunting parties from both the hunters' and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, ice-skating children, and winter fires. Each concerto is associated with a sonnet, possibly by Vivaldi himself, describing the scenes depicted in the music.   

3rd March: Birth of Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh on this date in 1847. Here are 10 things you might not know about the inventor of the telephone:

1. He was christened Alexander Bell, without a middle name. However, both his brothers had middle names, and he wanted one too. When he was 11, his father agreed to let him adopt the middle name of Graham, after Alexander Graham, a family friend.
2. His mother began losing her hearing when he was 12, which influenced his interest in sound and acoustics, as well as motivating him to become proficient in sign language.
3. Although bright with a fascination for science, he did not do well at school and left at 15. However, he became interested in study later, and financed his education by teaching elocution, music, Latin and Greek.
4. Impressed by an automaton built by Sir Charles Wheatstone, which was able to simulate a human voice, Alexander and his brother Melville set out to build one of their own, which, by means of bellows, could say the word "Mama".
5. After the death of both his brothers from TB, the whole family, including his brother's widow, emigrated to Canada.
6. Later, Bell moved to Boston, Mass. where he worked as a teacher of deaf pupils. One of his students was Helen Keller. Another was Mabel Hubbard, who he later married.
7. Although most famous for the telephone, he was a prolific inventor. Other things invested by him included a device to locate Icebergs, aerial vehicles, a metal jacket to help people breathe and a metal detector. The latter device was cobbled together in order to locate a bullet in US President James Garfield's body, although it wasn't successful as the President was lying on a metal bed, and the bullet was too deeply lodged.
8. He took a working model of a telephone on his honeymoon, so he could work on it while he was away. Though to be fair to him, his honeymoon did last a full year!
9. His last word before he died was in sign language. His wife said, "Don't leave me". He signed "No", and then died.
10. On the day of his funeral, all the telephones in North America were silenced as a mark of respect.

March 2nd: Dr Suess birthday

Dr Seuss, the children's author, who created The Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, the Grinch and many more, was born on this date in 1904. 10 Dr Suess quotes:

Your mountain is waiting...

1. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.
2. Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
3. Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
4. Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
5. From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
6. I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.
7. I've heard there are troubles of more than one kind; some come from ahead, and some come from behind. But I've brought a big bat. I'm all ready, you see; now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
8. You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
9. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
10. You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!

March 1st: Saint David's Day

March 1 is the feast day of Saint David, or Dewi Sant as he is known in the Welsh language, and is widely celebrated in Wales. So here are 10 things you may not know about Saint David.

1. His most famous miracle happened when he was preaching to a large crowd. The land he was standing on rose up to create a new hill, so that more people would be able to hear the sermon. At the same time, a white dove came and settled on his shoulder.
2. As well as being the patron saint of Wales, Saint David is also patron saint of doves and poets.
3. Saint David preached and practised austerity. His monks were not allowed to use horses to pull their ploughs, but had to pull the plough themselves, praying as they went. They were only allowed to eat bread with salt and herbs, and could only drink water or milk. David himself did not even drink milk, and became known as Dewi Ddyfrwr (David the water drinker). Personal possessions were forbidden, and even to refer to something using the word "my" was an offence.
4. His last words to his followers were in the sermon he gave the Sunday before he died: "Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about."
5. According to a biography of Saint David written by Rhygyfarch, the Saint is credit with founding many churches, among them Glastonbury Abbey. However, in a later account by William of Malmesbury, this was disputed, and instead he is said to have commissioned an extension only, and to have donated an altar and a sapphire.
6. His shrine became a great place of pilgrimage; four visits to the shrine at St David's were considered the equivalent of two to Rome, and one to Jerusalem.
7. David is said to be a descendant of the King of Cardigan on his father's side and a great-nephew of King Arthur on his mother's.
8. His birth wasn't easy - legend has it that his mother, Non, was seduced or raped by his father, Sant. Non ran away from her family to give birth and eventually became a nun and a saint in her own right. David's birth was said to be so painful that Non gripped the rocks around her so hard that she left finger marks. Then, as David was born, a bolt of lightning hit a nearby rock and split it in two.
9. Saint David was baptised by Saint Elvis of Munster, and it is said that a blind man was cured by the water used for the baptism.
10. Another Welsh legend links Saint David with "corpse candles", blue flames which travel just above the ground from the house of someone who is about to die to the graveyard and back again. This is because Saint David prayed that his people might have some warning when they were going to die so they could be ready.

February 28th: French Fry Friday

French Fry Friday celebrates French fries. So here are 10 facts about chips.

1. French fries may actually have originated in Belgium. There is an ongoing dispute between France and Belgium as to which country they come from. One theory is that US soldiers in Belgium during World War I thought they were in France because French was widely spoken around them, and so attributed the snack to the French.
2. Belgium is the European nation which consumes the most French fries per person per year.
3. There are written references to French fries that pre-date World War I, though. US President Thomas Jefferson is said to have eaten "potatoes served in the French manner" at a White House dinner in 1802.
4. "French Fried Potatoes" first appeared in print in English in 1856 in a book called Cookery for Maids of All Work by E Warren. It says: "French Fried Potatoes. – Cut new Potatoes in thin slices, put them in boiling fat, and a little Salt; fry both sides of a light golden brown colour; drain."
5. Another theory as to the origin of the name is that it refers to the cooking term, "frenching" which means to cut into thin strips. However, this term wasn't used in cookery until 1895, almost 40 years after E. Warren wrote about it.
6. French fries are usually cooked twice - once to cook the potatoes and then again to make the outside crisp.
7. The average American eats between 16 and 30lbs of French fries a year.
8. More than a quarter of the total potato crop in America is turned into French Fries.
9. In its early days, McDonalds extensively studied how to produce consistently good French fries - they pretty much turned it into a science. One of the things they discovered was that potatoes needed to be cured for three weeks so that the right amount of sugar turned to starch and stopped the fries from turning brown when cooked.
10. In 2002, McDonalds fries were found to contain beef extract, and there were a number of lawsuits filed against the chain for labelling them as suitable for vegetarians. McDonalds donated $10 million to Hindu and vegetarian groups in compensation.