Someone who is interested in, or collects, antiques and antiquities.
Antiquarian
Fact of the Day
A wealthy early modern London merchant asked his agent to send him '2 or 3 apes' from Africa, but didn't write the 'r'. The order was interpreted as 203 apes, the first cargo of 80 of which arrived with the promise of more to come.
Quote of the Day
"I have taken great care not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
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~ Baruch Spinoza
On This Day
1152 The Duke of Normandy and future Henry II of England became Duke of Aquitaine when he married Eleanor, eight weeks after the annulment of her marriage to Louis VII of France.
1554 Former mentor to Edward VI, William Thomas, was executed following the failure of the Wyatt Rebellion against Mary I.
1804 Napoleon was proclaimed emperor by the French senate.
1812 The assassin of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, John Bellingham, was hanged. He had been held prisoner in Russia when working as an export agent, and the British government had refused to compensate him. A civil servant told him to take matters into his own hands, which he did. A plea for insanity failed, but the public ensured that his family were thereafter well supported.
1911 Composer Gustav Mahler died from a bacterial infection in the heart, aged 50. The last word he uttered was 'Mozart'.
1980 Mount St Helens erupted in what has been called the most disastrous volcanic eruption in United States history. Between 55 and 60 people were killed, and the direct cost was about $1.1 billion (in 1980).
1991 Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space when she participated in the Soviet Soyuz TM-12 mission.