June 4, 1950

George Noory ,the successful host of Art Bell's old radio show, Coast to CoastAM, was born on June 4, 1950. The show Art Bell (born June 17, 1945) created and hosted for many years runs in the middle of the night (on the East coast) and features discussions of fringe topics, like the paranormal, with a range between people who have gaps in their speech not from shyness but because they have momentarily run out of lies that would get them attention, and leading astrophysicists, like Sean Carroll. Art had an interesting voice that somehow suggested a moderate skepticism along with healthy curiosity. Apparently he and the new host don't get along, though why that is, no one is saying. Noory has an invariable kindness in dealing with callers to the show, which requires an uncommon patience. Noory though does not have the interesting cat stories Art shared.

June 3, 1769

Joseph Banks (February 24, 1743 to June 19, 1820) was the naturalist about Captain James Cook's ship, HMS Endeavor, when they reached Tahiti in April 1769, with a mission from the Royal Society, to observe there the Transit of Venus, an event occurring on June 3 and June 4, 1769. Banks took two of the Tahitian natives under his protection when the natives agreed to sail back to England on the Endeavor. One of the natives is described as ‘Toobaiah [Tupaia], who is a sort of high-priest", and the other a twelve year boy. It is presumably the latter whom Banks meant when he defended this "'acquisition" in these words:

"I do not know why I may not keep him as a curiosity, as well as some of my neighbours do lions and tigers at a larger expence than he will probably ever put me to."

For reasons which are obscure but all too common, in these cases of non-Europeans brought back to western Europe in the first centuries of the modern era, the pair of Tahitians both sickened and died before reaching England.

June 2, 1987

Anthony de Mello (September  4, 1931 to June 2, 1987),  was a Jesuit priest and author. Here are some appealing quotes from his writing.

De Mello said to a friend: You remind me of the wolf who was going through a virtuous phase. When he saw a cat chasing a mouse, he turned to a fellow wolf and said indignantly, 'Isn't it time someone did something to stop this hooliganism?

Then, Anthony De Mello said, referencing  President Carter's admonition for the Americans to go in for austerity, that he would better have told Americans to enjoy themselves more. He elaborated, "If you really enjoy ..the simple pleasures of the senses, you'd be amazed. You'd develop the extraordinary discipline of the animal....Left in its natural habitat it will never be overweight....[W]atch your cat after it's had breakfast, look how it relaxes."

De Mello, a Jesuit priest, provoked controversy within the church, and many of his writings were unpublished at his death. Our first two quotes are from books, composed from talks De Mello gave. The first quote is from Awakening: Conversations with the Masters (2003) and the second from Awareness (1990.)

I also like De Mello's strictures against certain things including, "...learning without silence,
religion without fearlessness..."

John Paul II  said this of Anthony De Mello: "his theological compassion for humanity, passion for faith & belief in Christian values are a forward light for our collective future. "

June 1 2004

William Manchester (April 1, 1922 to June 1, 2004) was writer in residence at Wesleyan University, in Connecticut, for the last fifty years of his life. Though born in the state next to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Manchester had a life of adventure before settling into an academic routine: he had been a Marine, and foreign correspondent also.

Manchester is noted for his popular biographies; The Death of a President (1967) jumps to mind. He had a graceful prose but his intellectual acumen did not extend to embracing foreign times. Manchester's. A World Lit Only by Fire, (1993) has this passage:

...."although they called themselves Christians, medieval Europeans were ignorant of the gospels.

The Bible existed only in a language they could not read. The mumbled incantations at Mass were meaningless to them. ... They believed in sorcery, witchcraft, hobgoblins, werewolves, amulets, and black magic, and thus were indistinguishable from pagans. If a lady died, the instant her breath stopped, servants ran through the manor house, emptying every container of water to prevent her soul from drowning, and before her funeral the corpse was carefully watched to prevent any dog or cat from running across the coffin, thus changing her remains into a vampire....[E]very child was taught that the air all around them was infested with invisible soulless spirits, some benign, but most of them evil, dangerous, long-lived, and hard to kill..."

Manchester's view of his subjects is that they are gullible fools. Such simple minded historiography only reflects the author in a bad light. The world lit only by fire is Manchester's library.

May 31, 1825

Sir David Lyndsay was a Scottish writer, who lived, between about 1490 and 1555. Lyndsay served the King -- James V, in various ways, in court and on diplomatic missions. He is remembered today for his poetry which has a startling clarity and was used to express a critical analysis of the social world in 16th century Scotland. Here is a snippet -- from a work called THE COMPLAYNT.

Thay lordis tuke no more regaird,

Bot quho mycht purches best rewaird:

Sum to thair friendis gat benefyceis,

And uther sum gat Byschopreis.

For every lord, as he thocht best,

Brocht in ane bird to fyll the nest;

To be ane wacheman to his marrow,

Thay gan to draw at the cat harrow.

The proudest Prelatis of the Kirk

Was faine to hyde thame in the myrk,

Already by the 19th century this Scottish writing was in danger of being forgotten. One Scottish scholar, the antiquarian George Chalmers (1742 – May 31, 1825) was responsible for helping rescue the work of our David Lyndsay. The following graceless translation of these lines would please Chalmers I hope:

The lords don't care who notices --

their only concern is for positions they can sell.

Some of their friends get beneficesand others get bishoprics.

Men did as they pleased to fill these posts

concerned only with their own gain,and squabbled among themselves like cats and dogs.

The highest church leaders were only concerned with how things looked,

not with the realities behind this dirty business.

Yes, cat-harrow, we read, means "to thwart one another." Scholars have marveled at the boldness of the poet writing this indictment, in view of the medieval court of James V, and apparently Lyndsay's writing was full of such impertinence. But these historians and critics are do not understand the difference between the medieval world and our own. The kings were more physically oriented in their genetics, and they had a confidence which modern intellectual man in the "age of anxiety," has quite lost sight of. They did not take criticism personally.

The full title of the poem we quote from is

THE COMPLAYNT AND PUBLICT CONFESSIOUN OF THE KINGIS AULD HOUND, CALLIT BAGSCHE, DIRECTIT TO BAWTIE, THE KINGIS BEST BELOVIT DOG, AND HIS COMPANZEONIS.

May 30

Part of Norse mythology was the goddess Frigg. She is sometimes assumed to be a different verison of the goddess Freyja. We read that the Norse called the planet Venus, Friggjarstjarna, that is, Frigg's star. Freyja is sometimes depicted in a chariot drawn by two cats. May 30 is the feast day for the goddess Frigg.

May 29, 1828

Gerald Massey (May 29, 1828 to October 29, 1907) was a self taught Egyptologist whose ideas are still viewed skeptically by the professionals. Massey was born into hardship and worked years at manual jobs. He managed to educate himself, for instance through perseverence learning to read hieroglyphics at the British museum. Besides his volumes of poetry, he published several books on ancient Egypt. The last, is entitled, Ancient Egypt, The Light of the World (1907).Here he points out the young god, Atum-Horus was pictured as a cat sometimes: [This] youthful solar god is imaged in the form of a cat, the seer in the dark.

Gerald Massey is a good writer, and this book available free at books.google.com His ideas were fresh, if untenable. For example, he endorsed Darwin's ideas -- Massey just pointed out Darwin was incomplete, you should add man's discoveries known as spiritualism, to the evolutionary story.