Alfred Tennyson

EARLY LIFE 

Alfred Tennyson was born a rector's son at a local house which was the former rectory on August 6, 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England. He was the fourth of 11 children. 

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, by George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)

Alfred's father was the Reverend George Tennyson Rector of Somersby, Lincolnshire. His paternal grandfather was an MP who had violated tradition by making his younger son his heir and arranged for George to enter the ministry. Whilst Alfred's aunt and uncle lived in a castle the future poet laureate was brought up in relatively straightened circumstances. 

The Reverend George Tennyson had fallen out with his family and been disinherited; he drank heavily, was an opium addict and had become mentally unstable.

Alfred's mother, Elizabeth (Fytche) Tennyson, was the daughter of Stephen Fytche, vicar of St. James Church, Louth (1764) and rector of Withcall (1780).

Alfred and two of his elder brothers, Charles and Frederick were writing poetry in their teens. A collection of poems by Alfred and Charles entitled Poems by Two Brothers, was published locally when Alfred was seventeen.

An illustration by W. E. F. Britten showing Somersby Rectory, where Tennyson was raised and began writing

Charles Tennyson later married Louisa Sellwood, younger sister of Alfred's future wife.

Alfred was educated at of King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth. He did not enjoy his schooldays there.

He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827, where he joined the intellectual discussion group called the Cambridge Apostles.

Tennyson continued writing poems as a student at Cambridge and he won a medal for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". 

When Tennyson’s father died in 1831 he was forced to leave Cambridge. He shared the responsibility for his widowed mother and her large brood of children. They were allowed to stay in the rectory for some time, but later moved to Essex.

CAREER 

Tennyson was left a small sum by his grandfather which meant he could concentrate on writing poetry rather than getting a regular job. However, he risked his small inheritance on an ecclesiastical scheme for mass producing wood carvings using steam power. The business collapsed and Tennyson lost just about everything he owned. 

As a result of Tennyson's resulting depression and decline, his friends got together and persuaded Robert Peel, the PM, to give Tennyson a civil list pension of £200 a year. (Peel had never heard of him.

In 1850 Tennyson was appointed to the position of Poet Laureate.

When Alfred Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate, he borrowed the same suit to wear to the palace that William Wordsworth wore on his appointment to the same post seven years before. Both borrowed their court dress from the poet Samuel Rogers. 

Tennyson held the position of Poet Laureate until his own death in 1892, the longest tenure of any laureate before or since. 

Alfred Tennyson, portrait by P. Krämer

By 1860 he was the most widely read living poet. The Victorians reveled in Tennyson's poems of lovelorn maidens and gallant knights. He was the media idol of his age.

Tennyson liked adulation but hated publicity and when his fans flocked to his Isle of Wight home he was forced to move. His life was made a misery by the public besieging him.  

In 1884 Queen Victoria created him Baron Tennyson, of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight. He took his seat in the House of Lords on March 11, 1884. Tennyson was the first English writer to win so high a title for his work alone.

POETRY 

The archetype Victorian poet composed his poetry in his head due to his extreme shortsightness, constantly revising them in his mind.  and habitually using a rhyming dictionary, before committing it to paper once fully satisfied. 

Tennyson's rhyming words seemed to fall into place naturally and effortlessly but time and time again they were the result of studying a rhyming dictionary to find a word which would rhyme. 

Tennyson would read his poetry aloud in a deep chant.

His first publication was a joint collection of "his boyish rhymes" with those of his elder brother Charles entitled Poems by Two Brothers, published when he was 17.

In 1833 Tennyson published Poems, his second book of poetry, which notably included the first version containing 20 stanzas of his lyrical ballad "The Lady of Shalott." The volume met heavy criticism, which so discouraged Tennyson that he did not publish again for close to a decade, although he did continue to write.

Tennyson wrote a second version of "The Lady of Shalott" which was published in 1842, this time containing 19 stanzas. The revised version has a significantly different ending.

"The Lady of Shalott" was particularly popular with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which shared Tennyson's interest in Arthuriana. Decades later Holman Hunt created his charming, magical 1905 painting "The Lady of Shalott". 

Holman Hunt's Lady of Shalott (1905)

In a 1995 Poll of BBC listeners, "Lady of Shalott" was voted second most popular poem of all time. (In case you're wondering, Rudyard Kipling's "If" came out on top). 

In 1833 Tennyson's close friend Hallam died suddenly and unexpectedly after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while on a holiday in Vienna. Hallam's death had a profound impact on Tennyson and inspired several poems, including and the long work In Memoriam A.H.H. Completed in 1849, it established Tennyson's fame and is widely considered to be one of the great poems of the 19th century and won him the appointment of Poet Laureate. 

In Memorium, Tennyson coined the phrase, "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

Title page of 1st edition (1850)

Maud, and Other Poems was published in 1855. It contained the dark and controversially suggestive "Maud" and sold 5,000 copies on the day of publication.

The well-known song "Come into the garden, Maud" appears at the end of the first part of "Maud". Tennyson composed "Come into the Garden Maud" at Swainston Manor, Calbourne, Isle of Wight. The poet earned so much from the work he was able to buy the neighboring mansion that he was renting and live there for the next 40 years.

English actor Kenneth Branagh's first production as an entrepreneur was a 1983 one man show called The Madness, based on "Maud." It was not successful.

Another of the "other poems" in Tennyson's Maud, and Other Poems collection was "The Charge of the Light Brigade", which glamorized the inept charge. He composed the poem while walking near his Isle of Wight home after reading a newspaper report of the carnage. The work was first published in The Examiner, only a few weeks after the Crimean War debacle.

Tennyson's epic poem "Enoch Arden" was the title work of Enoch Arden and Other Poems, which sold 17,000 copies on the day of its publication in 1864. Tennyson made £6000 from the collection in his first year. 

The poem "Enoch Arden" tells the story of a husband who disappears. He returns years later to find his wife (still pining for him) married to another.

Enoch Arden (watercolour painting by George Goodwin Kilburne)

Written in blank verse on the Isle of Wight, Idylls of the King was published between 1859 and 1885. A cycle of twelve narrative poems, it retells the story of King Arthur. The work is arguably the most famous Victorian adaptation of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

RELATIONSHIPS 

As an impoverished nobody, the young Tennyson would visit his beloved Rosa Baring at Harrington Hall, three miles away. He was not considered a fitting suitor and the affair caused him much unhappiness. 

Tennyson first met Emily Sellwood (1813-96) at his brother's wedding in 1836. They became engaged but in 1840 Emily's religious father opposed the marriage of his daughter to the young, lanky penniless poet. 

Alfred and Emily didn't forget each other and in 1850 Sellwood at last gave his permission (Tennyson was by now famous and raking in the money). 

The 41 year old Alfred Tennyson, who had never kissed another woman, married the 37 year old Emily Sellwood at Shiplake, Oxfordshire on June 13, 1850. 

They had a happy marriage. The devoted, steady, dutiful Emily kept house and managed her poet husband's writing tasks, becoming a secretary for him.

Tennyson and Emily doted on their children, Hallam and Lionel who were made to wear dove colored frocks and had long golden hair.

Tennyson with his wife Emily (1813–1896) and his sons Hallam (1852–1928) and Lionel (1854–1886)

Tennyson's grandson by Hallam, Lionel, later Lord Tennyson, played nine cricket tests for England captaining them for three. Hallam later became Governor General of all of Australia. 

At Cambridge, Tennyson met Arthur Hallam, who became his close friend and later became  engaged to the poet's sister Emilia. The death in his youth of Arthur Hallam, bought Tennyson great sorrow, but the result was In Memorium, which is widely considered to be one of the great poems of the 19th century.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER 

Gypsy looking when younger, Tennyson was tall with a full beard and receding hairline; he grew his beard to mask sunken cheeks caused by teeth problems. 

Lord Tennyson in middle age

Tennyson was fine and dignified looking with a lofty brow, aquiline nose, long black, sloppy unkempt hair, sallow complexion. 

Queen Victoria wrote in her diary: "I went to see Tennyson, who is very peculiar-looking, tall, dark, with a fine head, long black flowing hair and a beard, oddly dressed, but there is no affection about him. I told him how much comfort I found in his Memorium." 

Tennyson made a striking figure striding through London in his swirling Spanish cloak and great sombrero though frequently his clothes were dirty and his fingernails filthy.

Words used to describe Tennyson's character include melancholic, broody, shambolic, energetic, conventional, pious, cleverer,  coarse, lazy and selfish.

BELIEFS 

Tennyson had an unorthodox, even idiosyncratic Christian belief. Best described as a Christian socialist, he ran a soup kitchen at his Isle of Wight home. 

He believed in Heaven, a place where one would be reunited with loved ones and "someone who watches over us."

Tennyson once wrote of God, "closer is he than breathing and nearer than hands or feet."

HOMES 

Tennyson spent the first 28 years of his life living in the hamlet of Somersby, in Lincolnshire. The green and lovely scenery of the Lincolnshire Wolds was an unending source of inspiration to him.

Tennyson and his family first rented the 18th century Farringford House at Bedbury Lane, Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight on November 25, 1853, eventually buying three the property years later. 

Tennyson's wife, Emily ran their Isle of Wight, Farringford farm successfully. Her wheat grown there won international prizes.

Farringford

He eventually found that there were too many starstruck tourists who pestered him in Farringford, so in 1869 Tennyson built Aldworth House at Blackdown, Haslemere, in the secluded West Sussex countryside. However, he retained Farringford, and regularly returned there to spend the winters. 

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS 

Tennyson was a cricket enthusiast and wrote articles on his favorite sport. 

He liked to walk down to The Needles at the Western tip of the Isle of Wight from his home everyday. He said "the air up here is worth 6 pence a pint". Tennyson often composed his poems whilst walking.

Tennyson was interested in science and habitually carried with him a pocket microscope.

A voracious reader, Tennyson read a novel a day, often romantic fiction. 

Tennyson felt that the best poem ever written ancient or modern was The Old Testament Book of Job.

Tennyson drank at least one bottle of port a day.

When not smoking a cigar, Tennyson smoked his pipe constantly. He smoked shag tobacco non-stop in his black clay pipe and he stank of it.

Tennyson kept a pony named Fanny, which used to pull Emily along in a daily wheelchair.

HEALTH 

Tennyson was very short-sighted, indeed without a monocle he couldn't even see to eat. 

Tennyson also had problems with his teeth, as his false ones were fitted badly. 

Tennyson had a fear of mental illness, for several men in his family had a mild form of epilepsy.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 

Tennyson continued writing into his eighties. He died on October 6, 1892 at Aldworth, aged 83, with his hand resting on a copy of his hero Shakespeare's Cymbeline. His last words were, "Oh that press will have me now!"

Lord Tennyson's death was widely mourned, and he was buried at Westminster Abbey.

A memorial to Tennyson was erected on Tennyson Down, Freshwater. on the Isle of Wight. 

Monument to Tennyson on Tennyson Down, Isle of Wight. By Mypix 

He was succeeded as 2nd Baron Tennyson by his son, Hallam. 

Tennis player

Wimbledon-born Spencer Gore — the inventor of the volley — won the first-ever Wimbledon tennis final on July 19, 1877. He was also a first-class cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club in the mid 1870s.

Lottie Dod, who won the Wimbledon ladies' singles five times in 1887-1893, was also a golf champion and took silver in 1908 Olympic archery.

Lottie Dod

King George VI of the United Kingdom was an outstanding tennis player. Before he became the British monarch, he played at Wimbledon in the Men's Doubles with Louis Greig in 1926, losing in the first round. 

Don Budge became in 1938 the first amateur player to win the four major tennis events (Australia, France, Great Britain and United States) in a single year.

The one-armed Austrian tennis player Hans Redl played at Wimbledon from 1947 to 1956. He served by tossing the ball up with his racket.

Sally Ride the first American woman to reach outer space, achieved national ranking as a tennis player, but chose not to follow this as a career.

Former Wimbledon champion Martina Hingis was born in Kosice, now in eastern Slovakia but then part of Communist Czechoslovakia, in 1980. She and her mother defected to Switzerland when she was seven.

Martina Hingis at the Roland Garros 2016. By si.robi - Hingis RG16 (10),

Mats Wilander missed only two out of 73 first serves in the entire match when winning the 1988 French Open.

In 1998, teenagers Venus and Serena Williams made a newsletter called Tennis Monthly Recap where they interviewed famous tennis players.

Steffi Graff and Andre Agassi are the only two tennis players to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal. With only their mothers as witnesses, they married on October 22, 2001 at his Las Vegas home. 

Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi (Wimbledon 2009) Wikipedia

Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia is the only player to win the Wimbledon men's singles (in 2001) whose full name is a strict alternation of consonants and vowels. Ivanisevic also has the record for most aces in a single tournament. 

Ivo Karlovic (also of Croatia) holds the record for numbers of tennis aces served in his career (12,936).

On May 9, 2012, Samuel Groth of Australia served an ace recorded at 263 km/h (163.4 mph) during an ATP Challenger event in Busan, South Korea. The serve came during Groth's second-round match against Uladzimir Ignatik (Belarus). It's the fastest ever recorded serve.

With a ball speed of 210 kph (131 mph), Germany's 26-year-old Sabine Lisicki holds the record for the fastest serve in the history of women's tennis.

Rafael Nadal "became" a left-handed tennis player as a child when his uncle who coached him thought it would help give him an advantage on the court.

Maria Sharapova's loudest grunt was measured at 101.2 decibels in Wimbledon in 2005: that's louder than a motorcycle or a lawnmower. In fact it's only five decibels less than a lion's roar.

Tennis Grand Slam Events

The four Grand Slam events, also known as The Majors, are the most important annual tennis tournaments. This is because of the world ranking points players can earn, their tradition, the prize-money, and public and media attention. Each tournament is played over a period of two weeks beginning each year with the Australian Open in mid January, the French Open in May and June, Wimbledon in July, and the US Open in August and September.

Margaret Court Arena at the Australian Open. 

Wimbledon was first competed in 1877. The inaugural Championship started at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London on July 9, 1877 and the Gentlemen's Singles was the only event held. It has been held there ever since.

The first Wimbledon Championship was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, from a field of 22. About 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final.

The Wimbledon women's single and the men's doubles events began seven years later in 1884. First prize in the Women's single event, awarded to Maud Watson, was a silver flower-basket worth 20 guineas.

Ladies Championship, 1884

Rhode Island was the cradle of American tennis: when the United States National Championships (now the United States Open) were inaugurated in 1881, they were played on the lawns of the Newport Casino. Richard Sears won the men's singles at this tournament, which was the first of his seven consecutive singles titles. 

Semifinal at the 1890 US Tennis Championships at Newport

Like Wimbledon, the United States Open became known by its location after it was moved to Forest Hills, New York, in 1915.

The French Championships began in 1891. Originally, they were only open to tennis players who were members of French clubs. The first winner was a Briton—H. Briggs—who was a Paris resident.

The French Open opened to non-French players for the first time in 1926.

The Australian Open was first played at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. This facility is now known as the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre. 

In 1938 the American, Don Budge became the first male tennis player to complete the Grand Slam in tennis of all four Championships.

Don Budge at the White City Stadium, Sydney in December 1937

The Open Era in tennis begun in 1968, when all the Grand Slam events opened to both amateurs and professionals for the first time.

The US Open led the way in equality: it awarded the men's and women's champions the same prize money in 1973.

The US Open tennis tournament was played on grass until 1975, when clay courts were installed to equalize Grand Slam competition. 

In 1978 US Open moved to hard courts of the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Today, the French Open is known for being the only Grand Slam played on a clay court. The Australian and United States tournaments are played on hard courts, and Wimbledon on grass.

Before 1983, many of the best tennis players did not play at the Australian Open. This was because tournament was far away from Europe and North America and was not considered as important as the other Grand Slam tournaments.

Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova contested the 1991 women's US Open final. Their 17-year age gap is the biggest in the history of Grand Slam finalists.

The Australian Open holds the record for the highest attendance at a Grand Slam event, with 743,667 people attending the 2018 tournament.

Novak Djokovic is the only player to beat Roger Federer in all four Grand Slam events. (Australian Open, French Open, US Open and Wimbledon).

Source Compton's Encyclopaedia

Tennis

Tennis is a racket and ball game invented in England in the late 19th century and referred to as 'lawn tennis.' It derives from real tennis, which originated in France in the 12th century, as does the method of scoring.

Pixiebay

Some authorities link tennis with a game of handball, mentioned explicitly in Homer's writings, as being played by Nausicaa, King Alcinous' daughter, and her personal maid servants in Phaecia where Odysseus was shipwrecked. 

Ancient Egyptians played ball games and passed their enthusiasm on to their successors, the Arabs. The Crusaders introduced the game to Europe which involved hitting a ball around a courtyard with the palm of the hand.  The game was taken up and elaborated in France.

Records confirm that tennis was played in France in the twelfth century, at first in courtyards with the palm of the hand only. Rackets then were still unknown. That is why the logical Frenchman came to call the sport not tennis but "the game of the hand." 

The courtyard game became so popular in medieval French monasteries that the Pope tried to ban it.  

Medieval players of the game wore leather gloves to protect their hands. These evolved into wooden or cork bats covered in leather. The game became popular with royalty and was known as "royal" or "real" tennis. 

Together with court tennis the twelfth-century Crusaders also brought some of its terms to Europe. Thus, racket is derived from the Arab rahat for "the palm of the hand." " Deuce, however, is the Anglicised version of the French à deux (two), implying that two successive points must be gained to win the game.

King Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume ("game of the palm"), which evolved into real tennis, and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. 

Jeu de paume in the 17th century

Louis X and Charles VIII of France both died as a result of a tennis match. Louis died of exhaustion (and possibly of a poisoned glass of chilled wine drunk after the game).

Charles VIII of France died in 1498 after hitting his head on the door on his way to watch a real tennis match and later fell into a coma and died nine hours later.

It wasn't until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez, which can be translated as "receive!" or "take that!".

King Philip of Austria defeated the Marquis de Dorset in history's first international tennis match in the early sixteenth century. It wasn't much of a contest, since the Marquis still played with the palm of his hand and King Philip used a new fangled "battoir." 

The early practice to ask a servant to deliver the first ball may account for the introduction of the term "service" into tennis. One theory is that as Henry VIII of England grew older and bigger he played less sport and grew unfit. In his last years he found himself out of breath just walking down the stairs.

By the end of his life, Henry was so fat he had to employ someone to serve at his side during games and throw the ball up in the air for him; hence the origin of the term 'serve'. 

The tennis court where Henry VIII of England played Real Tennis, at Hampton Court is still there. Apparently he originated the custom of second serve when he struggled to get his first serve onto the roof. (That's how they played tennis in those days.) 

Peter Stuyvesant of the New Netherlands forbade tennis playing during religious services in 1659. 

In 1873 Major Walter Wingfield created an outdoor game he called "Sphairistike" but it survives to this day as lawn tennis, from the French "tenez." He came up with the idea after playing with a new kind of ball made from of India rubber which had been designed to bounce on grass.

Drawing of a Lawn Tennis court as originally designed by Major Walter Wingfield in 1874

The retired British cavalryman introduced the game at a Christmas party in the gardens of 17th century Nantclwyd Hall, near Ruthin, Wales in 1873. His game was called sphairistike.

The name 'Sphairistike' was rather poor Greek, being a mangling of the Greek for ‘playing ball' . 

Wingfield's game was played on an hour-glass shaped court with a net that was 4ft 8in high. A modern net is 3.5ft at the posts, 3ft in the middle.

Major Walter Wingfield was at heart a salesman and a promoter. The retired army officer drew up a set of rules and, on February 23, 1874, patented his 'sphairistrike' game, which mixed elements of racquets, badminton, and court tennis. Between July 1874 and June 1875, 1,050 of his tennis sets were sold. 

Cover of the first edition of the book about Lawn Tennis by Walter Wingfield, published in February 1874

Wingfield began advertising lawn tennis sets with special balls and bats, shoes with India-rubber soles, and Sphairistike tape measures (for the net). To make it an all-season game, he even suggested it could be played on ice skates.

Rectangular courts were introduced in 1875 by the All England Croquet Club at Wimbledon when it decided to add tennis to its repertoire.

The Davis Cup, an annual tennis competition for international male teams, first held in 1900, was named after Harvard student and keen tennis player, Dwight Filley Davis (July 5, 1879 – November 28, 1945).  He bought a trophy made of 217oz of sterling silver and invited male players from Britain to play against the U.S. America won the first tournament. 

Dwight F. Davis

Davis was later the American Assistant Secretary of War from 1923 to 1925 and Secretary of War from 1925 to 1929.

The introduction of cement courts in the municipal parks of southern California was important in dispelling the sport's country-club image in the US. Furthermore, by the 1980s the word lawn had been dropped from the names of all the associations that governed the game. 

Tennis balls used to be white until Sir David Attenborough, when he was Controller of BBC2, realized they'd be hard to follow on color television so the sport created "optic yellow" balls. 

Play Tennis Day is officially observed on February 23rd of every year.

FUN TENNIS FACTS

The 'Golden Slam' of the four tennis Majors and an Olympic Gold in one year has only been achieved once: by Steffi Graf in 1988.

When John Isner of the United States defeated Nicolas Mahut of France, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–3), 70–68 at Wimbledon, it was the longest match in professional tennis history.  In total, they played for 11 hours and five minutes over three days completing their marathon on June 24, 2010.

The final set of John Isner and Nicholas Mahut's epic match consisted of 138 games over 8 hours and 11 minutes - the longest ever both in time and games.

The ball is only in play for about 20 minutes of an average two-and-a-half-hour tennis match.

Tennis players may run 3 to 5 miles during a five-set match, and in some cases even more. This is at least two times more distance than the most active American Football players in each of their respective matches. 

A tennis court is 23.8m long and 11m wide for doubles matches and 23.8m long and 8.2m wide for singles matches.

Pixiebay

Sources Compton's Encyclopedia, Europress Encyclopedia

Tennessee

Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.

The first British settlement in what is now Tennessee was built in 1756 by settlers from the colony of South Carolina at Fort Loudoun, near present-day Vonore.  Built to help garner Cherokee support for the British at the outset of the Seven Years' War, Fort Loudoun became the westernmost British outpost to that date. 

Reconstruction of Fort Loudon  By LMUBill at English Wikipedia. -

Tennessee was the 16th state to join the nation, on June 1, 1796. It was the first state created from territory under the jurisdiction of the United States federal government.

The future US president Andrew Jackson negotiated the sale of land in Western Tennessee from the Chickasaw Nation in 1818 (termed the Jackson Purchase). He was one of the three original investors who founded Memphis, Tennessee in 1819.

Davy Crockett, as a Congressman in the the U.S. House of Representatives, opposed President Andrew Jackson's 1830 Indian Removal Act and was the only member of the Tennessee delegation to vote against it. Six years later he died defending the Alamo.

In 1843, the city of Nashville was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee.

Nashville state capitol

Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

The Tennessee flag was designed by Colonel LeRoy Reeves of the Tennessee National Guard. He was a Johnson City attorney who was serving in the Tennessee National Guard when he created the new flag design. The Tennessee State Legislature officially adopted the flag on April 17, 1905.

The emblem in the middle of the flag consists of three stars on a blue circle. The three stars are meant to represent the three Grand Divisions of the state: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. The blue circle that surrounds them represents the unity of the divisions.

The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by entrepreneur Clarence Saunders and his Piggly Wiggly stores. His first Piggly Wiggly store opened on September 6, 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee.

In March 1925 Austin Peay, governor of Tennessee, signed the "Butler Bill," prohibiting any teaching that contradicted the Genesis creation story. Four months later John Scopes, a Tennessee high school biology teacher was convicted and fined $100 for teaching the theory of evolution. The court case, nicknamed "The Monkey Trial", received world-wide publicity.

In March 1951 Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats recorded "Rocket 88", often cited as "the first rock and roll record", at Sam Phillips' recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

On March 19, 1957, a Mrs Ruth Brown-Moore accepted a $ 1,000 deposit for the sale of her mansion, Graceland, to a young singer called Elvis Presley. The Graceland site was originally part of a 500-acre farm founded by Mr S. Toof, a Memphis businessman. Mr Toof's daughter was called Grace and he named the ranch Graceland in her honor.

Graceland mansion. By Joseph Novak - Flickr, 

Oak Ridge was established in 1942 in Tennessee as a production site for the Manhattan Project—the huge American, British, and Canadian operation that developed the atomic bomb. The U.S. Department of Energy declassified documents on May 17, 1983 showed the world's largest mercury pollution event took place in Oak Ridge between 1950 and 1977 (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request.

FUN TENNESSEE FACTS

Tennessee is bordered by 8 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.

The Silver Dollar City Tennessee amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee re-opened as Dollywood in 1986 after country star Dolly Parton took an ownership stake. The park grew considerably and became very successful with Parton involved.

Although she co-owns Dollywood theme park, Dolly Parton claims she's "too terrified" to go on any of the rides.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA's most visited national park, is headquartered in the eastern part of the state. It has over 10 million visitors per annum.

The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessee's eastern border. At 6,643 feet (2,025 m), Clingmans Dome is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River. 

The observation tower at Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the national park

The 10th tallest pyramid in the world is a Bass Pro Shop in Memphis Tennessee.

Tennesseans are sometimes referred to as “Butternuts,” a nickname that dates back to the Civil War, when soldiers from the state wore tan uniforms that resembled the color of the winter squash.

In order to become a Shampoo Technician in Tennessee, you must obtain 300 hours of instruction in the practice and theory of shampooing.

Source Mentalfloss

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar was born at Nirmal Nursing Home in Dadar, Bombay on April 24, 1973. His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, was a well-known Marathi novelist and his mother, Rajni, worked in the insurance industry.

Sachin Tendulkar at MRF promotion event. By Bollywood Hungama,

Ramesh named Tendulkar after his favorite music director, Sachin Dev Burman.

Sachin played as a youngster with his half-brother, Ajit, for Sahitya Sahawas society’s cricket team at Bandra East. The leading Indian cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar was impressed with Tendulkar's talent and coached him at Shivaji Park in the mornings and evenings.

Sachin would practice for hours on end in the nets. If he became tired, Achrekar would put a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps. The bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would win the coin, while if Tendulkar got through the entire net session without being dismissed, it was him who pocketed the rupee. He now considers the 13 coins he won then as some of his most prized possessions.

Tendulkar was a ball boy during the 1987 Cricket World Cup semi-final between India and England.

He shared an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield inter-school game against St. Xavier's High School in 1988 with his friend and teammate Vinod Kambli, who would also go on to represent India. This was a record partnership in any form of cricket until 2006, when it was broken by two under-13 batsmen in a match held at Hyderabad.

On December 11, 1988, aged 15 years and 232 days, Sachin Tendulkar made his debut for Bombay against Gujarat at home and scored 100 not out in that match, making him the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in first-class cricket.

Tendulkar holds the unique distinction of scoring a century on debut in Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Duleep Trophy.

He made his Test Cricket debut on November 15, 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent India internationally for close to twenty-four years.

His first Test century was achieved against England in 1990, when he scored 119 not out.

The third umpire was first used in Test cricket in November 1992 at Kingsmead, Durban for the South Africa vs. India series. Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to be given out by the third umpire in an international game when he was dismissed (run out) by using television replays in the second day of the Test after scoring 11. 

He achieved his highest score in 2004 when he scored an unbeaten 248 against Bangladesh.

Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first cricket player to score a Double hundred in One Day International format in 2010 when he scored 200 not out against South Africa.

Sachin Tendulkar was the first cricketer to score 100 international cricket centuries. He achieved his much awaited 100th international hundred on March 16, 2012 against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.

He scored a total of 51 centuries in Tests and 49 in One Day International matches; both are world records for highest number of centuries by a batsman. 

In Test matches, Tendulkar has scored centuries against all the Test cricket playing nations, and in One Day Internationals, Tendulkar has scored centuries against all of the cricketing nations that have permanent ODI status. 

He is the highest run scorer of all time in International cricket. Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs. 

Tendulkar at the crease, getting ready to face a delivery. By Vikas - The Legend

After a few hours of his final match on November 16, 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced the decision to confer on Tendulkar the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. He was the youngest recipient and first sportsperson to receive the honor.

Tendulkar was the first individual without an aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. 

Source Reuters 

Ten-pin bowling (or skittles)

Skittles (also known as ninepins) is a game in which nine wooden pins, arranged with the aid of a diamond-shaped frame at one end of an alley, are knocked down by a ball thrown from the other. 

Ten Pin bowling is the North American version of Skittles and is believed to be based upon the Skittles game introduced by early Dutch settlers in the 17th century.

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HISTORY

Skittles is thought to date back to the Stone Age, when early man enjoyed a very crude version of the game. Probably all he did was aim stones at other stones to pass his time.

Seven thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians bowled on alleys not unlike our own. When Sir Flinders Petrie excavated an Egyptian child's grave dating back to 5200 BC, he discovered among the objects entombed items that undoubtedly had belonged to a game very similar to modern, ten-pin bowling.

Homer mentions skittles in The Odyssey.

The modern version of skittles began during the 4th or 5th century AD in Germany, where bowlers rolled balls down church aisles at a club called the heathen. The bowler's religious faith was supposedly demonstrated by hitting the heathen. 

By the Middle Ages, various forms of bowling had spread from Germany through Europe, with the number of pins used ranging from three to 15. 

Skittle Players outside an Inn by Jan Steen.

Skittles was played in England as early as the thirteenth century in a rudimentary sort of way. By the late Middle Ages, it had become a most favored pastime, at first among kings and noblemen. 

Bowling alleys and courts in the late Middle Ages were privately owned, usually forming part of a royal, or a gentleman's, garden.

Martin Luther recommended playing skittles after church, giving each skittle the name of a sin. The number of skittles were not yet generally fixed but differed from city to city. Some used as many as 16 pins, others as few as 3. Luther began to investigate possibilities of improving the game searching for the ideal number of pins. This eventually he found to be nine. 

King Henry VIII of England was a keen bowler. In 1511, he banned bowling for the lower classes and imposed a levy for private lanes to limit them to the wealthy.

Another English law, passed in 1541 prohibited workers from bowling, except at Christmas, and only in their master's home and in his presence. It was repealed in 1845. 

The exact time and place of the first "bowling at pins" in the United States is uncertain. Its earliest literary reference is contained in Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, published in 1819. This speaks of the thunder of the balls colliding with pins, showing that by then the game must have been generally known. 

As bowling's popularity grew, betting on the sport arose. Disapproval of gambling led to a ban on ninepins by Connecticut and New York in the early 19th century. A tenth pin was added to the game in 1842- probably as a ruse to avoid the ban. 

Pinsetter boys at a Pittsburgh bowling alley, c. 1908

FAMOUS TEN-PIN BOWLING FEATS

Frank Caruana of Buffalo, New York, became in 1924 the first ten pin bowler to roll two perfect games in a row and an incredible 29 strikes in succession. He rolled five strikes in a row in a third game in sanctioned play, as well.

Ben Ketola bowled a perfect 300-point game in a record 86.9 seconds at the 281 Bowl Lanes in Cortland, New York, in April 2017. 

Bill Murray actually bowled the three tournament winning strikes at the end of Kingpin.

TEN-PIN BOWLING FUN FACTS

A bowling pin needs to tilt only 7.5 degrees to fall.

When bowling a perfect strike, the bowling ball will only hit 4 pins (1-3-5-9). The rest fall due to the ricochet of the other pins into each other.

There are 50,613,244,155,051,856 possible ways to score exactly 100 points in a game of ten-pin bowling.

Sources Compton's Encyclopedia, Europress Encyclopedia

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments are a set of rules or laws, God gave to the people of Israel, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity. They were given to Moses on Mount Sinai and were written with God's finger on two tablets of stone.

The Israelites received the commandments in the Sinai desert after they had left Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose. 

The commandments include instructions to worship only the one true God, to keep the Sabbath holy, to honor one's parents, as well as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, stealing, dishonesty, and coveting. 

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The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a holy container where the Ten Commandments and other holy Israelite objects are held.

Moses and Aaron with the Ten Commandments (circa 1675 by Aron de Chavez)

Jews and Christians number the commandments differently. The reason is that "Ten Commandments" in the original Hebrew literally reads "Ten Statements." Therefore, Jews count the first statement, which is "I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" as the first commandment.

There are 179 words in the Ten Commandments - as opposed to 26,253 in the European Community's rules on the sale of cabbages. 

The oldest extant copy of Ten Commandments is contained in the All Souls Deuteronomy. It is dated to the early Herodian period, between 30 and 1 BC. 

Part of the All Souls Deuteronomy, 

King Alfred the Great based the British legal system on the Ten Commandments. 

There have been two famous motion pictures called the Ten Commandments, both of  which were directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The first was a silent movie in 1923, the second film was released in 1956 and starred Charlton Heston as Moses.

In 2003 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.

A 2004 survey in Britain revealed that "almost one youngster in 10 has never heard of the Ten Commandments." In addition, "nearly half of the youngsters can't recall a single one" even if they have heard the term sometime in their lives. This poll also disclosed that very few indeed understand that observing the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments.