Word: viii
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...school chum for years), quietly productive (he could pound out a novel's first draft in days), and fit as an oak (thanks to daily calisthenics). Many of those qualities can be traced to Wodehouse's Woosterish upbringing. A descendant of Norfolk nobility, including a sister of Henry VIII's ill-fated wife Ann Boleyn, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse rarely saw his parents - a colonial administrator and his dour wife. The young "Plum," as Pelham was nicknamed, was raised by nannies and schoolmasters to become an athletic but bookishly solitary child, reading the Iliad at age 6 and penning his first...
...appears to be a barge is on course to cross 900 m in front of the ACV's bow. That's too close for comfort, and a warning light begins to flash. On VHF channel 16, after several attempts, Radon makes contact with the chatty master of Barge Express VIII, who alters course. "Roger that! Roger that! Roger that!" replies Radon, eager to escape an inquisition. He needs to go below to wake Joe Homer for the next watch; before Radon can bunk down, he must fill out the log and finish the chart. By the time he wakes, Hervey...
...favorite of Napoleon and Henry VIII, real tennis is the predecessor of lawn tennis, and has its origins in games enjoyed in castles and monasteries in centuries past. It is played today by about 10,000 aficionados on some 40 courts worldwide-some of which, like those at Fontainebleau castle near Paris, are exquisite historical monuments-and enthusiasts say the game is on the up. "Real tennis is in a much healthier state than it was 15-20 years ago," says professional player Peter Paterson of the Cambridge University Real Tennis Club. As proof, he points to the recently built...
That world is full of dangers. Charles VIII of France is preparing to march on the city. The fanatical monk Savonarola is raging from the pulpit against lust and luxury. His religious police, a kind of Christian Taliban, will soon be enforcing godliness with a cudgel, punishing sodomists and chasing women indoors. The turmoil outside interests Alessandra, but what really absorbs her is the young painter her father has brought from Northern Europe to decorate the family chapel. For a while you wonder if this mysterious stranger will somehow turn out to be Albrecht Durer, who ventured to Italy--though...
...Steps’ greatest benefactor, whether or not he intended to be, is Bill Clinton, whom the Steps rank first among the funniest people in American history (Dan Quayle is runner-up). Strauss even considers Clinton the second funniest person in world history behind Henry VIII. “How do you get funnier?” he asks. “[The scandals] just went...