A lot of people do, we all supposed to be deliriously jolly for at least ten days, make it three or four and I'll be happier.  

27 December 1834 - Charles Lamb died.

English writer. Never a full time writer, he was employed by the British East India Company for over 30 years, he nevertheless made significant contributions to English literature most notably his Tales From Shakespeare (1807) in which he brings the Bard's tales to life for children and Essays of Elia (1823 revised 1833). 

He had a troubled private life. He never married devoting his life to looking after his mentally ill sister Mary who was saved from the asylum, and possibly the gallows, after stabbing their mother to death in 1796. Several of Charles' publications were collaborations with his sister.

28 December 1937 - (Joseph) Maurice Ravel died.

French composer, after the death of Debussy hailed as France's  greatest living composer. Well known in the UK in recent years for his orchestral composition Boléro (1928) to which Torvill and Dean won gold in ice dancing at the 1984 Winter Olympics.

Ravel never fully recovered from a traffic accident in 1932 and died aged 62 five years later. 

29 December 1894 - Christina Rossetti born.

English poet and story writer, younger sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 

Ill health confined her to a quiet secluded life. Many of her works are marked by a sense of melancholy and unrequited love in keeping with her enforced life style. She also wrote for children but is perhaps best known for composing the words for the hymn In the Bleak Midwinter (1872). As a young woman she sat as a model in several of her brother's paintings.

She died after a long illness aged 64.

30 December 1865 - (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling born.

The authentic voice of Imperialism with many of his poems and stories set in the Empire, especially India where he was born and where he worked as a journalist for seven years in his 20s and 30s. One of the most popular writers of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, regarded as the unofficial Poet Laureate. 

His output was vast and varied, from children's stories to science fiction and philosophy. His best known works include a collection of short stories set in India Plain Tales From the Hills (1888), The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and Just So Stories For Children (1902).

That would be why. There's an interesting connection with my home County of Staffordshire. His father was a designer at a firm of pottery manufacturers in Burslem, north Staffordshire. He met his future wife at a local beauty spot Rudyard Lake in 1863. They were married in 1865 before he took up a post in Bombay, India where their son was born. They gave him his middle name after the location where they'd first met.

That would be why. There's an interesting connection with my home County of Staffordshire. His father was a designer at a firm of pottery manufacturers in Burslem, north Staffordshire. He met his future wife at a local beauty spot Rudyard Lake in 1863. They were married in 1865 before he took up a post in Bombay, India where their son was born. They gave him his middle name after the location where they'd first met.

How romantic. I guess Rudyard is better than Evelyn for a boy anyway. 

The lake is not actually a lake but a reservoir constructed in 1800 and enlarged in 1907. 

31 December 1877 - (Jean Désiré) Gustave Courbet died,

French painter, a leading figure in the Realism Movement. He shocked the artistic world in the 1850s with his huge paintings not of historical/mythical subjects or landscapes as was the norm, but of peasant/working life. He also painted many nudes, portraits and landscapes.

A controversial figure Courbet was imprisoned in 1871 for his part in the Paris Commune earlier that year. Released after six months he fled into exile in Switzerland where he died. 

One of his most controversial works was his self portrait from 1845.

One of his most controversial works was his self portrait from 1845.

He's quite mad you know?

Next year's Date of the Day will be military events - battles, sieges, invasions etc. I'll try to avoid the two World Wars and concentrate on lesser known events worldwide.  

Marianne Faithful British singer and pop icon, dies at 78. She first made it big writing songs for the Stones. She use to date Mick Jagger for a time.

Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (1964) (Stereo / Lyrics)