Egil Skallagrim was an Icelandicbard or poet of the 10th century. He distinguished himself by his warlike exploits in predatory invasions of Scotland and Northumberland. Having fallen into the hands of a hostileNorwegian prince, he procured his freedom by the composition and recitation of a poem called Egil's Ransom, which is still extant. Research Egil Skallagrim
James Hogg (known as the Ettrick Shepherd) was a Scottish poet. He was born in 1772 at Ettrick, Selkirkshire and died in 1835. After receiving a very scanty education, he began to earn his living by daily labour as a shepherd. His early rhymings brought him under the notice of Sir Walter Scott, by whose advice he published a volume of ballads under the title of The Mountain Bard. The failure of an ill-judged agricultural scheme brought him to Edinburgh, where he published the ForestMinstrel in 1810, and started a weekly periodical entitled The Spy, which, after a short time, became defunct. The appearance of the Queen's Wake in 1813, with its charming ballad of Kilmeny, established James Hogg's reputation as a poet. In 1815 he published his Pilgrims of the Sun, which was followed by Mador of the Moor, the Poetic Mirror (a collection of imitations of living poets), Queen Hynde, and Dramatic Tales, as well as by The Brownie of Bodsbeck, and other prose tales; the Jacobite Belies (partly written by Hogg), etc. From 1817 he had held the farm of Altrive from the Duke of Buccleuch at a merely nominal rent; but his farming schemes were never successful, and he was generally short of money. Research James Hogg
Thomas Gray was an English poet. He was born in 1716 at London and died in 1771. Educated at Eton with Horace Walpole, and at Cambridge, in 1738 he entered himself at the Inner Temple, but accompanied Horace Walpole in his tour of Europe until they quarrelled in Italy. He returned to England in 1741, and on the death of his father took up residence at Cambridge. In 1747 his Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College appeared, and in 1751 his Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, which went through four editions in two months. In 1757 he declined the laureateship, and the same year published his odes, On the Progress of Poesy, and The Bard. In 1759 he removed to London, where he resided for three years, and in 1768 the Duke of Grafton presented him with the professorship of modern history at Cambridge. His chief poems other than those mentioned were the Ode for Music and the fragmentary Essay on the Alliance of Education and Government. As a writer of Latinverse he is surpassed by few, and his letters are admirable specimens of the epistolary style.
Thomas Gray was an English railway promoter. He was born in 1787 at Leeds and died in 1848. He promoted the idea of widespread railway communications and urged the British and other European governments towards building national railway systems, under government control, rather than canal communications, publishing his ideas in 'Observations on a General Iron Railway' in 1820, which was revised and republished four times until 1825. Research Thomas Gray
A bard was an order of druid. The bard's office was to supervise, regulate and to lead. His robe was sky blue, symbolising justice and truth. Research Bard
The ancient druids were divided into three functional orders: primitive druid, bard and ovate. Druidism originated amongst the megalithic ancient British. They taught it to the immigrant Celts, and later trained Celts from the continent. Research Druid
The Ghost Ship is a psychological horror film starring Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Edith Barrett, Ben Bard and Edmund Glover in a story about a junior officer suspecting the obsessive captain of the cargo ship he serves upon of being insane, but his fellow crew members ignore his warnings. The Ghost Ship was directed by Mark Robson in 1943. Research The Ghost Ship
Abbreviations
Research Bard
