william a. dies first manned moon (2024)

If you've enjoyed watching the 1998 BBC television miniseries, you'd probably want to renew your acquaintance with William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847 novel, Vanity Fair. However, if you're unfamiliar with what has been dubbed one of the Best 100 Books in English Literature, you certainly have a treat ahead.

Miss Pinkerton's Academy in Chiswick Mall in London is where young ladies with ambitions of making a good marriage are sent by their socially aspiring middleclass parents. Two young ladies, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca (Becky) Sharpe are on their way home after completing their term at Miss Pinkerton's. Amelia is from a well to do family, while Becky is a scheming orphan who has latched on to her amiable friend in the hopes of climbing the social ladder. In Amelia's comfortable Russell Square home, Becky goes to work immediately. Her target is Amelia's clumsy, boastful, wealthy civil servant brother, Joseph, who is home on furlough from India. She also meets the dashing Captain George Osborne, Amelia's childhood sweetheart.

Things don't go according to plan and Becky soon moves to a country mansion, Queen's Crawley, where she takes up a job as a governess to the children of the wealthy widower Sir Pitt Crawley. She manages to entrap the naïve younger son of the house, Rawdon Crawley. Meanwhile, Amelia and George marry. However, George is not all he seems and turns out to be a coward in war and an unscrupulous liar. He is also weary of his marriage and begins to pay undue attentions to Becky, whom he meets in Brighton where she is staying with her husband. The rest of the story follows the lives of the two classmates and their travails.

The title of Vanity Fair is taken from John Bunyan's famous 17th century work, Pilgrim's Progress. In Bunyan's allegorical tale of Christian's journey, Vanity Fair is the name of an endless carnival in the town of Vanity, and represents worldly vices and sinful attachments. Thackeray was writing in the Golden Age of Satire when greats like Dryden, Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele and Fielding were regaling readers with their caustic, acerbic wit. Vanity Fair explores the ideas of transient, materialistic desires and their harmful effects on people. His biting satirical portrait of the selfish and street smart Becky and her overwhelming desire for wealth and social success is one of the masterpieces in English literature.

Thackeray's brilliant gifts for slicing through the pretensions and facades that human beings hide behind remain one of the reasons why Vanity Fair is even today considered a must read classic.

Intertwined tells the story of the more than 577 people enslaved by George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon. Told through the biographies of Sambo Anderson, Davy Gray, William Lee, Kate, Ona Judge, Nancy Carter Quander, Edmund Parker, Caroline Branham, and the Washingtons, this eight-part podcast series explores the lives and labors of Mount Vernon’s enslaved community, and how we interpret slavery at the historic site today.

Intertwined is narrated by Brenda Parker and is a production of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association and CD Squared.

www.georgewashingtonpodcast.com

Summer nights, romance, music, comedy, pairs of lovers who have yet to confess their feelings to each other, comedy and more than a touch of magic are all woven into one of Shakespeare's most delightful and ethereal creations – A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The plot is as light and enchanting as the settings themselves. The Duke of Athens is busy with preparations for his forthcoming wedding to Hippolyta the Amazonian Queen. In the midst of this, Egeus, an Athenian aristocrat marches in, flanked by his lovely daughter Hermia and her two suitors, Lysander and Demetrius. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, but she has given her heart to Lysander. The Duke rules that Hermia must obey her father or else face banishment or execution. Lysander and Hermia make plans to elope, but here the plot takes an interesting twist. Helena, a former sweetheart of Demetrius, learns about the lovers' plan and decides that the way to get back into Demetrius' good books is to tell him about this! The two pairs land up at the same time in a forest.

This enchanted wood near Athens is where Oberon, King of Fairies rules. His queen, the imperious and very beautiful Titania and he have recently fallen out over the ownership of a little boy from India who was given as a gift to Titania. The wily Oberon sends his merry messenger, Puck, to cast a naughty spell on Titania. She promptly falls in love with Bottom the Weaver, one of a group of villagers who have come there to rehearse their act for the coming festivities. Bottom, courtesy the impish Puck, has been transformed into a ridiculous, donkey headed creature. And so winds on the captivating course of events in A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Some of the most immortal lines in English literature are to be found in this play. “Ill met by moonlight, Fair Titania.” “The course of true love never did run smooth...” “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” “The lunatic, the lover and the poet/Are of imagination all compact!” and a hundred others sparkle like bright gems throughout the play.

As with most Shakespearean comedies, mistaken identity, twists and turns and hilarious comic interludes mark this one too. Reputed to have been written some time during the 1590s, when the playwright was still in his twenties, this play certainly captures not just a young person's heart, but also appeals to the imagination of an older audience.

Magic, fairies, young lovers chasing each other through a forest, a man with a donkey's head, and impish Puck wreaking havoc right and left. What's going on here? It's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare at his most fanciful. The play opens with Theseus, Duke of Athens, preparing for his wedding. Egeus complains to Theseus that his daughter Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius. When Hermia is given the choice between marriage to Demetrius or life as a nun, she and her true love Lysander flee into the forest. Demetrius follows them; and Helena, who loves Demetrius, follows him. Also in the forest are Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, at odds with one another. At Oberon's behest, Puck causes Demetrius to fall in love with Helena -- oops, he missed, that was Lysander instead. Mayhem ensues. In the meantime, a group of bumbling craftsmen rehearses a play. Puck gives one of them, Bottom, the head of an ass and makes Titania fall in love with him. Further hilarity results as Bottom sees nothing at all odd about this. Eventually everything is straightened out, Bottom and the rest "perform" their play, there is a triple wedding, and Puck assures us the whole thing has been a dream. Number of quotes you know: 5 (what fools these mortals be). Useful insults: 19. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)

Cast:

Theseus, Duke of Athens – Mark F. Smith
Egeus, father to Hermia; and Snout, a tinker – John Lieder
Lysander, in love with Hermia – mb
Demetrius, in love with Hermia – David O'Connell
Philostrate, master of the revels – Philippa
Quince, a carpenter – Brian Edwards
Snug, a joiner – Elizabeth Klett
Bottom, a weaver – Simon Taylor
Flute, a bellows-mender – David Nicol
Starveling, a tailor – Jessica Miller
Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons – Cori Samuel
Hermia, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander – Laurie Anne Walden
Helena, in love with Demetrius – Rosalind Wills
Oberon, king of the fairies – Fr. Richard Zeile of Detroit
Titania, queen of the fairies – Deborah Irving
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow – Karen Savage
Peaseblossom – Larysa Jaworski
Cobweb – Charlene V. Smith
Moth – Alana Jordan
Mustardseed – Jamie Ash Young
Stage directions – Paul Williams<

Fairy song composed and performed by Rosalind Wills; performed by Rosalind Wills and Larysa Jaworski

Audio edited by Cori Samuel and Laurie Anne Walden

A podcast hosted by William Phelps. A brand new hunter discussing the challenges and experiences he's had entering the world of hunting in his early 20s.

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Bill Chase is a wrestling fan from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada since 1987. He will take you on a journey through the eyes of being a die-hard fan. Bill has been a fixture on the Ontario Independent Wrestling Circuit since 2013, as a promoter, booker, commentator, ring-announcer, interviewer, and has even been a jerk representing the Ontario Athletic Commission. Hell he has even stepped in the ring a few times.

Listen as Bill reminisces about the many moments and happenings he saw unfold be it on TV or in person, and reminds us what it's like to simply be a fan.