The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack - Mark Hodder [182]
Milnes never said: "The Eugenicists are beginning to call their filthy experimentations `Genetics,' after the Ancient Greek `Genesis,' meaning `Origin.' This is in response to the work of Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian priest. A priest! Can there be any greater hypocrite than a priest who meddles with Creation?"
The significance of Gregor Johann Mendel's work was not recognised until the turn of the twentieth century, long after his death. He eventually became known as the father of modern genetics.
Milnes died in 1885.
ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEI
Isambard Kingdom Brunel actually said: "I am opposed to the laying down of rules or conditions to be observed in the construction of bridges lest the progress of improvement tomorrow might be embarrassed or shackled by recording or registering as law the prejudices or errors of today."
Brunel planned his "atmospheric railway" as an extension of the GWR Line, intending that it should stretch from Exeter toward Plymouth. A section of the route operated from 1847 to 1848 but, after the leather flap-valves were eaten by rats, Brunel abandoned the project.
He was not involved in the building of the London Underground, the first line of which opened in 1863. He did, however, complete the Thames Tunnel, which had been designed by his father, Marc Brunel. This was later purchased by a consortium of six railway companies and, in 1884, the District and Metropolitan Lines began to operate a service through it.
Brunel designed and built the Great Western Railway, a number of bridges-most famously the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol-and ocean liners, including the massive seven-hundred-foot Great Eastern.
In 2002, the BBC conducted a public poll to determine the "100 Greatest Britons." Isambard Kingdom Brunel came in second place, after Winston Churchill.
He died in 1859.
HENRY JOHN TEMPLE, 3RD VISCOUNT PALMERSTON
Lord Palmerston was British prime minister from 1855 to 1858 and again from 1859 to 1865, when he died in office. He did not have any plastic surgery.
PAUL GUSTAVE DORE
The French artist's association with London didn't begin until the mid1860s. His book of engravings, London: A Pilgrimage, was published in 1872.
He died in 1883.
CONSTABLE WILLIAM TROUNCE
There is no record of Constable William Trounce having been present at the scene when Edward Oxford tried, and failed, to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840. However, on May 29, 1842, another assassination attempt was made, this time by a young man named John Francis. After firing a pistol at the monarch, Francis was seized by Constable William Trounce. History does not record what happened to the brave policeman after this brief moment of fame.
THE BATTERSEA POWER STATION
The station was not proposed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and didn't exist during Queen Victoria's reign. Its construction commenced in March 1929. It still stands, though abandoned and derelict.
29 HANBURY STREET, SPITAhPIPhDS
This premises is where the body of Annie Chapman, one of Jack the Ripper's victims, was discovered on the morning of September 8, 1888. Her mutilated body was found in the backyard.
PLORENGP NIGHTINGALE
The "Lady of the Lamp" did not say: "When we adjust some element of an animal's nature, a quite different element alters of its own accord, as if there is some system of checks and balances at work. What we cannot fathom is why the unplanned changes seem entirely pointless from a functional perspective. I am baffled. Galton is baffled. Darwin is baffled. All we can do is experiment, experiment, experiment!"
Florence Nightingale revolutionised nursing and is rightfully regarded as one of British history's greatest women. She died at the age of ninety in 1910.
HENRY DE LA POER UPRESPORD, 3RD MARQUESS OP WATERFORD
The Mad Marquess never said: "Every time we are faced with a choice, and we are faced with them every minute of every day, we make a decision and follow its course into the future.