The Venerable Bede (Beda or Baeda) was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. He was born in 672 or 673 in the neighbourhood of Monkwearmouth, county Durham and died in 735. He was educated at St Peter's monastery, Wearmouth; took deacon's orders in his nineteenth year at St Paul's monastery, Jarrow, and was ordained priest at thirty by John of Beverley, bishop of Hexham.
His life was spent in studious seclusion, the chief events in it being the production of homilies, hymns, lives of saints, commentaries, and works in history, chronology, grammar, etc. He was the most learned Englishman of his day, and in some sense the father of English history, his most important work being his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (or Ecclesiastical History of England), afterwards translated by King Alfred into Anglo-Saxon. Besides his familiarity with Latin, he knew Greek and had some acquaintance with Hebrew.
Most of his writings were on scriptural and ecclesiastical subjects, but he also wrote on chronology, physical science, grammar, etc, and had considerable ability in the writing of Latinverse. An interesting record of his closing days was preserved in a letter by his pupilCuthbert. After his death his body was after a lapse of time removed from Jarrowchurch to Durham, but of the shrine which formerly inclosed them only the Latin inscription remains, ending with the verse 'Hac sunt in fossa Bedae venerabilis ossa.' Research Bede
John Fisher was Bishop of Rochester. He was born in 1459, at Beverley, in Yorkshire, and died in 1535. He graduated MA at Cambridge in 1491. In 1501 he received the degree of DD, and was made chancellor of the university. In 1504 he was promoted to the see of Rochester. He opposed Henry VIII.'s divorce; listened to the pretended prophecies of ElizabethBarton, the Maid of Kent; opposed the royal supremacy, and was imprisoned in 1534 and attainted. His appointment as cardinal by Paul III led to his execution after trial by a special commission. Research John Fisher
John of Beverley was an English prelate and saint. He was born about the middle of the seventh century at Harpham, Yorkshire and died in 721. He was appointed abbot of St Hilda and afterwards Bishop of Hexham in 685, and two years later Archbishop of York. He founded a college for secular priests at Beverley, where he retired in 717, and died in 721. Bede, who was his pupil, believed that he could work miracles, a power attributed to his remains for some centuries. Research John of Beverley
Thomas Becket (Thomas A Becket) was an English archbishop of Canterbury. He was born in 1117 or 1139 at London and died in 1170 when he was assassinated in CanterburyCathedral, on the 29th of December. He was educated at Oxford and Paris, and was sent, by the favour of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to study civil law at Bologna in Italy, and on his return made Archdeacon of Canterbury and Provost of Beverley.
In 1158 Henry II appointed him high-chancellor and preceptor to his son, Prince Henry - the first instance after the Conquest of a high office being tilled by a native Englishman. At this period he was a complete courtier, conforming in every respect to the humour of the king. He was, in fact, the king's prime companion, held splendid levees, and courted popular applause. On the death of Theobald in 1162, he was consecrated archbishop, when he affected an extraordinary austerity of character, and appeared as a zealous champion of the church against the aggressions of the king, whose policy was to have the clergy in subordination to the civil power.
Thomas Becket was forced to assent to the Constitutions of Clarendon, but a series of bitter conflicts with the king followed, ending in Becket's flight to France, when he appealed to the pope, by whom he was supported. After much negotiation a sort of reconciliation took place in 1170, and Becket returned to England, resumed his office, and renewed his defiance of the royal authority. A rash hint from the king induced four barons, Keginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Breto, to go to Canterbury and murder the archbishop while at vespers in the cathedral. He was canonized in. 1172, and the splendid shrine erected at Canterbury for his remains was, for three centuries, a favourite place of pilgrimage. Research Thomas Becket
Lily Tomlin is an American actress, film producer and writer. She was born in 1939 at Detroit, Michigan. She appeared in the 1993 film 'The Beverley Hillbillies' playing 'Miss Jane Hathaway' and is known to many children as the voice of 'Ms Frizzle' in the 1990's children's educational television series 'The Magic Schoolbus'. Research Lily Tomlin
Maggie Smith is an English comedyactress. She was born in 1934 at Ilford in Essex. She is the daughter of a pathologist for Oxford University, she trained for the stage at the Oxford Playhouse School. She made her London debut in a revue in 1952 and her first Broadway appearance in 'New Faces' in 1956. She has since appeared in numerous plays on both sides of the Atlantic, generally reaping rave reviews from critics. She has made relatively few film appearances but has enjoyed a high 'batting average' as a screen actress in public and critical esteem. She won Academy Awards for her performances in The Prime of Miss JeanBrodie (best actress; 1969) and California Suite (best supporting actress; 1978) and was nominated for Oscars for Othello (best supporting actress; 1965), Travels With My Aunt (best actress; 1972), and A Room With a View (best supporting actress; 1986). She won the British Film Academy Award as best actress for A Private Function (1984) ) and The Lonely Passion of JudithHearne (1987). She was awarded a Tony in 1990 for her Broadway performance in 'Lettice and Lovage', and in 1993 was nominated for an Emmy for Best Actress for her role in the PBS version of 'Suddenly, Last Summer.' Her first husband was actor Robert Stephens; her second screenwriter Beverley Cross. Research Maggie Smith
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Abbreviations
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