Mr Key's Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives - bringing you absurdly abbreviated biographies of the great men and women of history - is published by Constable and is available to buy now. It makes an ideal Christmas present. Dabbler editor Andrew Nixon ('Brit') has written the preface, a version of which we reproduce ... Read More...
Brief Lives
Back in September 2013, Frank Key posted on The Dabbler his idea of writing a book of very, very brief lives. Thanks in part to the enthusiastic reaction of the Dabbler audience and commenters, this idea has now become a reality, and Mr Key's Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives will ... Read More...
Back in September 2013, Frank Key posted on The Dabbler his idea of writing a book of very, very brief lives. Thanks in part to the enthusiastic reaction of the Dabbler audience and commenters, this idea has now become a reality, and Mr Key's Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives will ... Read More...
Today Frank concludes his series for now...but never fear, Brief Lives will return next year! Atherton, Gertrude (American writer, 1857 – 1948). Atherton declined an invitation to meet Oscar Wilde, having been shown his photograph. “His mouth covered half his face, the most lascivious, coarse, repulsive mouth I had ever seen. ... Read More...
Continuing Frank's extraordinary series of very, very brief lives... Atholl Oakley, Sir Edward (British wrestler, writer, and organiser of “rugged holiday cruises”, 1900 – 1987). To build up his physique, Atholl Oakley followed a regimen devised by the giant wrestler Hackenschmitt, which involved drinking eleven pints of milk every day. Many ... Read More...
Following last week's startling (and succinct) biographies of, among others, John Lennon and Franz Schubert, Frank provides more exclusive extracts from his forthcoming reference work, a modern Brief Lives... Anderson, John Henry (British magician, 1814 – 1874). The first magician to pull a rabbit out of a hat, Anderson also did ... Read More...
Frank gives Dabblers an exclusive taster of his new biographical reference book... It occurred to me that it would be a good idea to write a modern, updated version of John Aubrey's Brief Lives. But it further occurred to me that some books are unimproveable, and that in trying to follow ... Read More...
