51 thoughts on “Who Am I – K?”

  1. I know it ain’t him but doesn’t number 3 look like captain Cook? 🙂

  6. Araminta – Bolleaux – I knew I’d seen the face before somewhere but couldn’t quite place it. You’re right, of course. I shall return to Ghana vs Germany with my tail between my legs.

    OZ

  7. Claire

    4. John Keats (1795-1821) lived only twenty-five years, but his poetic achievement was extraordinary. His writing career lasted a little more than five years (1814-1820). In this brief period, he produced poems that rank him as one of the great English poets.
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  8. Araminta

    7. Ned Kelley (1855-1880) is Australia’s most famous bushranger and, to many, a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities. From the age of fourteen, Ned began committing a series of minor crimes that escalated into more serious crimes and eventually led to his execution. Many believe, however, that Ned’s family was unfairly targeted by police because of Ned’s mother’s bad family name.
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  11. Araminta

    3. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the greatest figures in the history of Metaphysics. After 1755 he taught at the University of Konigsberg and achieved wide renown through his teachings and writings. Kant’s influence on modern philosophy has continued to the present day.
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  16. OZ

    Whoo Hoo!

    10. Joseph Frank Keaton Junior (1895-1966), always known as Buster Keaton, was an American silent-film comic actor and filmmaker. His trademark was physical comedy with a stoic, deadpan expression on his face, earning him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”. His work as a performer and director is widely regarded to be some of the most innovative and important work in the history of cinema.
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  18. Sheona

    9. Franz Kafka (1883-1923), born in Prague, has become one of the most influential writers of the 20th Century. Virtually unknown during his lifetime, his works been recognized as symbolizing modern man’s anxiety-ridden and grotesque alienation in an unintelligible, hostile, or indifferent world. Kafka came from a middle-class Jewish family and grew up in the shadow of his domineering shopkeeper father, who impressed Kafka as an awesome patriarch. The feeling of impotence, even in his rebellion, was a syndrome that became a pervasive theme in his fiction. Kafka did well in the prestigious German high school in Prague and went on to receive a law degree in 1906. This allowed him to secure a livelihood that gave him time for writing, which he regarded as the essence of his life. He soon found a position in the semi-public Workers’ Accident Insurance institution, where he remained a loyal and successful employee until 1917, when tuberculosis forced him to take repeated sick leave. He retired in 1922. Kafka spent half his time after 1917 in sanatoriums and health resorts, his tuberculosis of the lungs finally spreading to the larynx.
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  21. Sipu

    Quite Right!

    8. Rudyard Kipling, (1865-1936), English short-story writer, novelist and poet, is remembered for his celebration of British imperialism and heroism in India and Burma. Kipling’s glorification of the British Empire and racial prejudices, stated in his poem “The White Man’s Burden”, has repelled many readers. However he sounded a note of uncharacteristic humility and caution in “The Recessional”. Kipling was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (1907).
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  24. It is interesting that most people assume “The White Man’s Burden” was all about ‘British Imperialism’. In fact it was a warning to America about the responsibilities it faced in occupying The Philippines.

    I always felt dreadfully sorry for RK with regards to the death of his son in The Great War. Apart from his personal loss, he obviously had huge feelings of ‘guilt at his role in getting John a commission in the Irish Guards, despite his initially having been rejected by the army because of his poor eyesight, and his having exerted great influence to have his son accepted for officer training at the age of only 17’ John was killed ‘in 1915 at the Battle of Loos, after which Kipling wrote “If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied.”‘

    Despite its many detractors, If, is still one of my favourite poems.

  25. He was a man of his time, and as such he really can’t be judged by modern ideas.

  27. Sheona

    2. John Knox (c. 1510 –1572) was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. He was educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the events surrounding the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546. Taken prisoner by French forces the following year , he was exiled to England on his release in 1549. Whilst in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he quickly became royal chaplain to King Edward VI. When Mary Tudor ascended the throne and re-established Roman Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country. He first moved to Geneva, where he met John Calvin. From there he went to Frankfurt to head the English refugee church there, but left over differences concerning the liturgy. On his return to Scotland, he led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. Knox helped to write the new confession of faith and the ecclesiastical order for the newly created reformed church, the Kirk. In several interviews with Mary, Queen of Scots, Knox admonished her for supporting Catholic practices. Eventually, when she was imprisoned for her alleged role in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley, and James VI enthroned in her stead, he openly called for her execution.
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    Not one of my favourite people!

  31. claire

    5. Karl Marx (1818-1883) was born in Germany. With Friedrich Engels, he was a founder of modern socialism and communism. The son of a lawyer, he studied law and philosophy. While Marx remained a relatively obscure figure in his own lifetime, his ideas and the ideology of Marxism began to exert a major influence on workers’ movements shortly after his death. This influence gained added impetus with the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution in 1917, and few parts of the world remained significantly untouched by Marxian ideas in the course of the twentieth century.
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  32. Tocino

    6. Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was a Russian composer, and was later a teacher of harmony and orchestration. Mainly known for his symphonic works, especially the popular symphonic suite Sheherazade, Rimsky-Korsakov left an oeuvre that also included operas, chamber works, and songs.
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  33. Funny how the ones I got were the poet and the socialist. No wonder they saw me as leftie fruit loop on MyT… 😉

  34. 1. Khufu – King Cheops, builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

    (I cheated this once)

    OZ

  36. Oh Dear! Do I give it to the cheater or not! How about joint honours!

    1. Khufu, in Greek known as Cheops, was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom. He reigned from around 2589 to 2566 B.C. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. He is generally accepted as being the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Khufu’s full name was “Khnum-Khufu” which means “the god Khnum protects me”.
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  38. Love Rimsky Korsakof.
    My A level music teacher used to call him rip-your corsets off. As you do…

  42. Hiya, Toc. How’s it?

    Cheers, Boadicea, for another entertaining competition – Can’t wait for “Q” “X” and “Z”. 🙂

    OZ

  45. boadicea :

    Well they are timed absolutely together!

    O Zangado :

    Hiya, Toc. How’s it?

    Cheers, Boadicea, for another entertaining competition – Can’t wait for “Q” “X” and “Z”. :-)

    OZ

    Cheers Boa, Lol, OZ fastest finger and all that. 🙂

  46. Toc – If you ever come anywhere near the lower third of Portugal ever again and don’t let me know so I can at least offer you a beer I may have to come over there and tear out your beating heart.

    OZ

  47. OZ,

    We spent a week in Isla Canela which is only just inside Spain about fifty minuets drive from Faro. We had a great time and will almost definitely be back next year. When we do go, I will give plenty of warning as it would be great to meet up.

  49. Toc – Fifty “minuets”. In musical terms that would be about 60 km, then? 🙂

    It’s a Deal!

    OZ

  51. Thanks again, Boadicea. I think you’re making them more difficult! Didn’t realise Marx was so good-looking in his youth – more like a Romantic poet.

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