Word: bottomley
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Where he was born no one is certain, but it was in 1860 and the parents were Elizabeth Holyoake and William King Bottomley. His parents had a pathetic desire to make an artist of him. Horatio ran away to earn his living as a day laborer. He studied shorthand, became a court stenographer, studied law and though never admitted to the bar, used to boast that he was "the best lay lawyer in England.'' At various times he was connected with some 20 or 30 different companies which failed, successively for about $90,000,000, but publishing...
...anti-U. S. prejudice. MORE SWANK FROM THE YANKS was one of his favorite headlines. He was passionately addicted to just one brand of champagne, Pommery Nature, 1906, and bought up almost the entire vintage. Before each of his roaring speeches, for which he was paid enormous fees, Horatio Bottomley would gulp half a bottle and wipe his mouth on his sleeve...
...after the War plump Horatio helped the British Government against its own wishes and his own paper by organizing a series of lotteries, entitled Victory Club, Victory Bond Club, Thrift Bond Prize Club, Victory Derby Sweepstake, etc., etc. Patriots who could not afford a British bond bought tickets. Horatio Bottomley bought bonds and distributed huge prizes to the lucky winners...
...associate in these lotteries was the dour printer Reuben Bigland, known on British racetracks as "Telephone Jack." Telephone Jack in 1921 decided that he had not been sufficiently taken care of. He printed and circulated a pamphlet entitled "The Downfall of Horatio Bottomley." This was followed by a second number, "What Horatio Bottomley Has Done for His Country." which contained 24 blank pages. Horatio Bottomley sued for libel, lost, and inadvertently gave away the whole story of the War and Victory loan lotteries. He was tried in 1922 on the specific charge of misappropriating ?5,000. Prosecution brought out that...
...with two years of his term unexpired, Horatio Bottomley was released. For a while it looked as though he were about to stage a great comeback. Attempting another John Bull he started John Blunt, which gained an immediate circulation of 500,000 by promising disclosures of hideous tortures in British jails. The campaign and circulation faded together when stiff-necked Home Secretary Sir William ("Jix") Joynson-Hicks proved that the hideous conditions in British jails consisted in the inability of Horatio Bottomley to obtain his Pommery 1906 and other special privileges. Six dull years of neglect and increasing poverty were...