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The Absent-Minded Beggar
"The Absent-Minded Beggar" is an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling, set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and often accompanied by an illustration of a wounded but defiant British soldier, "A Gentleman in Kharki", by Richard Caton Woodville. The song was written as part of an appeal by the ''Daily Mail'' to raise money for soldiers fighting in the Second Boer War and their families. The fund was the first such charitable effort for a war. The chorus of the song exhorted its audience to "pass the hat for your credit's sake, and pay– pay– pay!" The patriotic poem and song caused a sensation and were constantly performed throughout the war and beyond. Kipling was offered a knighthood shortly after publication of the poem but declined the honour. Vast numbers of copies of the poem and sheet music were published, and large quantities of related merchandise were sold to aid the charity. The "Absent-Minded Beggar Fund" was an unprecedented success and raised a total of more than £250,000. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Maud Holt
Helen Maud Holt (5 October 1863 – 7 August 1937), professionally known as Mrs Beerbohm Tree and later Lady Tree, was an English actress. She was the wife of the actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and the mother of Viola Tree, Felicity Tree and Iris Tree. After early stage appearances beginning in 1883, Mrs Tree married and established a theatrical partnership with her husband, in which they appeared in revivals of classic plays and productions of new plays, first at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket and then at Her Majesty's Theatre. Her performances in serious roles were well received, but she was most celebrated for her work in comedy, from Shakespeare to new works by Wilde and others. After her husband's death in 1917, Lady Tree continued to act steadily for almost two decades more until towards the end of her life, in plays and some films, making her last stage appearance in 1935. Life and career Early years Holt was born in London, the daughter of William Holt."Obituary – L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Coates (tenor)
John Coates (29 June 1865 – 16 August 1941) was a leading English tenor, who sang in opera and oratorio and on the concert platform. His repertoire ranged from Bach and Purcell to contemporary works, and embraced the major heldentenor roles in Richard Wagner's operas. For more than 40 years, with only a four-year interruption for military service during World War I, he overcame the limitations of a voice that was not naturally large by impressing listeners with his intense artistic expression, lively diction, musical versatility and memorable stage presence. Coates spent some time on the European continent, toured Australia and South Africa in 1912–13 and performed in North America in the 1890s and again in 1925. He performed most often, however, in his native country and became a beloved figure at England's regional music festivals. Elgar's ''Dream of Gerontius'' was one of his specialties. After 1921, he limited his performances to the concert stage and recitals, still pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recessional (poem)
"Recessional" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was composed for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, in 1897. Description “Recessional” contains five stanzas of six lines each. As a recessional is a hymn or piece of music that is sung or played at the end of a religious service, in some respects the title dictates the form of the poem, which is that of a traditional English hymn. Initially, Kipling had not intended to write a poem for the Jubilee. It was written and published only towards the close of the Jubilee celebrations, and represents a comment on them, an afterword. The poem was first published in ''The Times'' on July 17, 1897. The poem went against the celebratory mood of the time, providing instead a reminder of the transient nature of British Imperial power. The poem expresses both pride in the British Empire, but also an underlying sadness that the Empire might go the way of all previous empires. "The title and its allusion to an end rather than a beginning add ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Atkins
Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is slang for a common soldier in the British Army. It was certainly well established during the nineteenth century, but is particularly associated with the First World War. It can be used as a term of reference, or as a form of address. German soldiers would call out to "Tommy" across no man's land if they wished to speak to a British soldier. French and Commonwealth troops would also call British soldiers "Tommies". In more recent times, the term Tommy Atkins has been used less frequently, although the name "Tom" is occasionally still heard; private soldiers in the British Army's Parachute Regiment are still referred to as "Toms". Etymology ''Tommy Atkins'' or ''Thomas Atkins'' has been used as a generic name for a common British soldier for many years. The origin of the term is a subject of debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. A letter sent from Jamaica about a mutiny amongst the troops says "except for those from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hobson-Jobson
''Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive'' is a historical dictionary of Anglo-Indian words and terms from Indian languages which came into use during the British rule in India. It was written by Sir Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burnell and first published in 1886. Burnell died before the work was finished, and most of it was completed by Yule, who acknowledged Burnell's detailed contributions. A subsequent edition was edited by William Crooke in 1903, with extra quotations and an index added. The first and second editions are collector's items; the second edition is widely available in facsimile. The dictionary holds over 2,000 entries, generally with citations from literary sources, some of which date to the first European contact with the Indian subcontinent, frequently in other non-English European languages. Most entries also have etymological notes. Background The p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been described as a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language, which itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas of North India. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the two official languages of the Government of India, along with English. It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an additional official language in three other states. Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. Hindi is the '' lingua franca'' of the Hindi Belt. It is also spoken, to a lesser extent, in other parts of India (usually in a simplified or pidginised variety such as Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi). Outside India, several ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loanwords
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because they share an etymological origin, and calques, which involve translation. Loanwords from languages with different scripts are usually transliterated (between scripts), but they are not translated. Additionally, loanwords may be adapted to phonology, phonotactics, orthography, and morphology of the target language. When a loanword is fully adapted to the rules of the target language, it is distinguished from native words of the target language only by its origin. However, often the adaptation is incomplete, so loanwords may conserve specific features distinguishing them from native words of the target language: loaned phonemes and sound combinations, partial or total conserving of the original spelling, foreign plural or case forms or indeclin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khaki
The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge. Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage relative to sandy or dusty terrain. It has been used as a color name in English since 1848 when it was first introduced as a military uniform. In Western fashion, it is a standard color for smart casual dress trousers for civilians, which are also often called ''khakis''. In British English and some other Commonwealth usage, ''khaki'' may also refer to a shade of green known in the US as olive drab. Etymology ''Khaki'' is a loanword from Urdu خاکی 'soil-colored', which in turn comes from Persian خاک ''khâk'' 'soil' + ی (adjectival ending); it came into English via the British Indian Army. Origin Khaki was first worn as a uniform in the Corps of Guides that was raised in December 1846 by Henry Lawrence (1806–1857), agent to the Governor-Gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Caton Woodville
Richard Caton Woodville (30 April 1825 – 13 August 1855) was an American artist from Baltimore who spent his professional career in Europe, after studying in Düsseldorf under the direction of Karl Ferdinand Sohn. He died of an overdose of morphine in London at the age of 30. He was the father of Richard Caton Woodville Jr., also a noted artist. In his short career he produced fewer than 20 paintings; but they were well known in their time through exhibition and prints and have remained prominent in the canon of American painters. Early life and training Woodville was the eldest son born to a prominent Baltimore family. He displayed early promise in caricatures of his teachers. He attended the University of Maryland Medical School for one year. Woodville would likely have been exposed to the expansive private collection of Baltimore art collector Robert Gilmor Jr.Elizabeth Johns and Paul Usherwood"Woodville."''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.'' 17 Jul. 2011 In 1845 Wood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rose Of Persia
''The Rose of Persia''; ''or, The Story-Teller and the Slave'', is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 29 November 1899, closing on 28 June 1900 after a profitable run of 211 performances. The opera then toured, had a brief run in America and played elsewhere throughout the English-speaking world. The original cast included Savoy Theatre regulars Ellen Beach Yaw, Rosina Brandram, Emmie Owen, Louie Pounds, Isabel Jay, Walter Passmore, Henry Lytton and Robert Evett. Later, Decima Moore joined the cast as Scent-of-Lillies. The opera was regularly revived by amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, through the 1950s, but it has been produced only sporadically since then. The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players produced the opera professionally in 2007 at New York City Center. Background and original production When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership collapsed after the production of ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert And Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', ''The Pirates of Penzance'' and ''The Mikado'' are among the best known.Davis, Peter G''Smooth Sailing'' ''New York'' magazine, 21 January 2002, accessed 6 November 2007 Gilbert, who wrote the libretti for these operas, created fanciful "topsy-turvy" worlds where each absurdity is taken to its logical conclusion; fairies rub elbows with British lords, flirting is a capital offence, gondoliers ascend to the monarchy, and pirates emerge as noblemen who have gone astray.Mike Leigh, Leigh, Mike"True anarchists" ''The Guardian'', 4 November 2007, accessed 6 November 2007 Sullivan, six years Gilbert's junior, composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humour and pathos. Their operas have enj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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