Prize-winning Evaluation - how to do it

I (Angela Lansbury) am on the right with my two ribbons for Table topics and Evaluation. On the left is our warm and encouraging Toastmaster of the Evening, Mandy Carlin. 

I heard Lynn Cantor, last year's UK and Ireland Evaluation Prize Winner, speaking three times in workshops. The first time I admit I had trouble paying attention and sat at the back and what she said bored me, but the second time it sounded interesting, although I could not remember it, yet the third time, wow, either she had improved enormously or 'the penny had dropped' in my brain. Her vital messages got through about how to evaluate what you hear and see and write succinct one word reminder.
    The first time I tried to evaluate table topics I had trouble remembering who said what. To sum it up, you divide your page in half. Don't bother listing commend, recommend, commend. (Praise, suggest how to improve, praise.) Just put one or two good things on the left, one or two good things on the right.
   I started with the first name of the person called out as a heading. I ended comments on each person with a line across the page - otherwise you lose track of who your comment describes.
   I admit I wrote not in a proper book (Lynn recommended keeping a book just for all your evaluation.) I borrowed a pen and wrote on the back of the agenda. After reaching the end of the page I wrote up the side margin - then onto another page, marked 2. Yuk!
   In the break I remedied this. I copied all the comments onto one page neatly, with just a one word summary of each point.
   The page was headed TOPIC EVALUATIONS (date) by Angela. Keep/File.
(If I dropped the paper, it would be returned to me.)
the left column was headed by a tick. The right column was headed by a cross.
Once or twice I got the praise on the right or the recommend on the left. I drew circles and arrows to show where the comments should be.
When the timer gave the timings I was able to check I'd got the person's name in capitals and underlined, and circled. Then i wrote the topic in small letters circled beside the name.
First comment was sub-heading Eric - Age.
That enabled me to start confidently, "The first topic was Eric on age."
In the left hand box I wrote: smile laugh happy
In the right hand box I wrote: Pull up trousers.

   My comment was: Eric's topic was age. Most people are gloomy about age. He smiled from the start, looked happy, kept us happy, and laughed. He began happy, continued happy, and ended happy.
The only recommendation is about the moment when he pulled up his trousers. After that I was worried they were going to fall down! Great happy topic.

Prabha - Chocolates. (Life is a box of chocolates.)
Key words: Success.
Recommend - Touch Nose.
Recommend - Mid-way through the topic you thought and grasped your nose. No need. It won't fall off, I promise.
Book: Quick Quotations by Angela Lansbury. Lulu.com

Prize-winning speech Feb 27 2014

I won ribbons for both impromptu speech (table topic) and evaluation in one evening.

My table topic
Based on the quotation by Carnegie

"He who dies rich is a disgrace."

Dying rich? I should be so lucky! Would you prefer to die rich or die poor?

   This comment is a disgrace. We'd all like to die rich.

    I’m worry dying poor and not having enough money to leave my son. Or dying rich and leaving it all to the government. Inheritance tax. 

   That’s my problem. Why should I leave it all to complete strangers? If I don’t want to give any money to my own son, I certainly won’t want to give it to the government. or millions of strangers starving in Africa. 

   How far is my pittance going to go? Millions of them. What's the population of Britain? 56 million. How many in Africa. Next year there will be twice as many millions. Waste of money. 

   As for Carnegie, all very well for him to talk. He had millions. Carnegie Hall. If I had his millions, I might leave money for a hall - and call it Angela Hall. I'd build one in America, one in England, one in Africa - if I had millions of millions, every country in Africa. 

   But I need the money to leave to my son. He can’t make money, and it’s all my fault. I gave birth to him.

   I didn’t give birth to millions of strangers. My problem is having enough money, even tupenny ha’pence to leave my son. Dying rich. I should be so lucky.

(See next blog for my evaluation of my own topic and others' topics.)
I am the author of Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches.

Certificates For Speakers, Prize Winners, Thanks, Participants

Many clubs present certificates to participants or winners of competitions.
You can find certificate templates in your computer software programs.
A writer's group, training workshop, speaking competition, all have many occasions when certificates reward the speaker, workshop trainer, workshop participants, prize winners, and other competition entrants.

Advantages to your club:
You can print them off at the last minute. You can personalise them with the title of the speech. You can remind the speaker or participant of your venue or club. It's cheaper and quicker than rushing out to buy a thank-you card.

Advantages of certificates to recipients:
It reminds you which year you won a competition for a c.v.
It remind you of the venue.
It reminds you which poem or story won a competition. (Really handy if you've moved house or lost your old computer files.)
It cheers you up on a rainy day.
You remember who was president or secretary to write back and offer another course.
On your wall its a sign to other organisers or pupils that you are successful.

An A4 certificate is presented for major events. But a small A6 certificate is often equally useful. You can stick it between the pages of a book. It's small to pack when travelling. It uses less paper and printer ink. The frame is cheaper if the club presents it framed or the recipient buys a frame. It takes up less wall space when you have ten years' certificates to stick on the wall behind an office desk.

Some examples:

SPEAKING COMPETITION

POETRY COMPETITION

When looking for certificate templates on the internet some are listed as Award Certificates.

Pronunciation

In English our sentences have rhythm and lilt and tone. We speak loudly if we are enthusiastic, or angry. Each sentence has a rhythm. Two syllable words usually emphasise the first syllable. Good MORning. Paris. The French emphasise the second syllable. ParEE.
   The most common rhythms for sentences either iambic or trochee.  I am. Listen for a short word, then a long word.
    Trochee. it rhymes with HOCK - key. (I tried spelling the word in one go but predictive text insists on two words!) Stamping, hit the ball with the first syllable, is followed by a lighter second syllable.
    In English ending with your voice rising implies a question, uncertainty on the part of the speaker, and sometimes another sentence to follow. The technical term for this is up talking.
    Be careful when ending a speech with a question, or rising tone. The audience might fail to clap, waiting to see what you will say next in answer to your question.
   If you speak too fast you are likely to muddle up words or string them together. 

Punctuation in Presentations

   A presenter who spoke English as a second language had carefully researched English grammar for his/her* presentation on good grammar. The first error I noticed was the headline was wrong. His/her spelling was wrong. Grammar, when spelled correctly, has the letter 'a' twice.
     Each slide had a major error. As an expert in English, and English teacher, I was hailed as the expert to evaluate the evening. He/she had gone to such a lot of trouble, researching, then producing the slides.
Capital Letters
   Capital letters can be used for every word in a heading or sub-heading. In German nouns have capital letters. In English we restrict capital to names. On rare occasions a word can be both a name and a generic term. In that case you use the capital only when the word is used as a name. For example, 'When I saw my mother, I asked, "May I have an apple, Mother?" '
Full stops
    Full stops are used to indicate when the reader can stop for breath. A page with no full stops, just a series of sentences with commas between them, looks daunting. The unbroken text is exhausting to read aloud or silently.
    The listener would be totally confused.
    Full stops usually separate two sentences, expressing two separate ideas. Commas are used for a briefer pause, before a small phrase which expands or modifies the noun which the extra words qualify.
    I say his/her because this has happened more than once. I also don't want to create the embarrassment of somebody thinking, 'that must be me' or 'that must be him/her'.

I later frowned at a slide which contained the word yours's. Should I tell the speaker, if I were not the Language Evaluator. 

I previously saw a slide with a mistake by a German. I hesitated. Eventually I wrote him anote praising his great presentation. As an afterthough I mentioned how he had only one error in a long presentation, when others have two or three errors in only one sentence. I was very relieved when he wrote back a charming note thanking me for my help in pointing out his error so that with my help he could be one hundred percent perfect.

Please share your

Top Tips For Speakers' Meetings

1 Focus on your call to action.
Which of these is it? Join our club. Buy my book. Be confident. Trust me. Laugh. Cry. Think about this. Change your mind on this issue. Applaud the next speaker, give us the money, or come back to the next meeting? Help me. Call on me for help. A big, loud, long round of applause for that wonderful speaker and splendid speech.
2 The title of the meeting is your promise:
Christmas party. Summer Barbecue. AGM. Officer Training. Workshops with our Winners. Potluck Dinner. Welcome New Members Meeting. Open House - Free evening.
3 The title of the speech is your promise:
How to Write A Humorous Speech. My Funny Family. How to Conquer Your Fears and be Confident. Forget your fears. Life After Death. Life After Debt. Make Money with this Method. You can win.
4 A theme provides interest and variety.
All things Christmassy.  White Christmas party. Winter Wonderland. Summer Holiday Stories. Evening. Harvest festival. Travel Tales. Puppets, Parcels and Props in Presentations.
5 Have a spare speech.
Your speaker is sick or delayed. Weather has kept the speaker away. Your planned speech is not suitable for the audience/event and you need another.
6 If you are timer get attention and keep it.
Explain why timing is important. Have an anecdote or story about time. Keep attention by starting confidently.
7 Be heard at the back.
That's why experienced speakers check 'Can you hear me'.  In a huge meeting you can have a friend in the back row with a signal to tell you if sound is fading.
8 Repeat Success.
If you are successful, offer to come back with another similar session.
9 Be seen. If you are small, wear heels or a hat. or a dramatic colour or outfit.
10 Stay cheerful despite setbacks.
Don't apologise. Make a joke. Or thank the person who reminded you of an omission or suggested a new plan. Learn from mistakes.
11 Engage your friendly audience.
Look at them. Smile at them. Pay attention to the back as well as the front row. Look to both sides of the room. Move around. But don't page up and down like a caged animal. Don't talk to your feet, the ceiling, your book. Don't turn your back on the audience. If you leave or stop, tell them how soon you will be back. (e.g., when I come back with my visitor/hat I want you all to be silent.)
12 Ask the audience for rewards. Reward the audience.

Humorous Speeches

Angela with red wig and puppet. Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury.

How do you make your speech humorous?
1 Have a humorous subject.
2 Pick the story you tell which makes people laugh and use that as the opening or ending or both of a speech
3 Pick a joke and use that as the end of your speech. Take the theme and add other jokes on the same theme.
4 Write a serious speech. Make a pun in every sentence.
5 Pick an amusing prop such as a clown costume, man in apron, and build a humorous speech around it.
6 Pretend to be angry about something trivial. The disadvantages of toilet paper, pencils.
7 Debunk something serious. Why I hate funerals.
8 Be a humorous character - me the technology idiot.
9 Take an absorb premise and exaggerate it. There is a ghost in every chair.
10 Take a topical event from the news and imagine the problems. Woman has quadruplets. Conclusion, life is not as bad as you think.
A humorous speech is not the same as a comedy act. A comedy act is a distraction from your problems by making you laugh at a person who has a problem e.g.
a) bigger problems than yours - they are stuck in a sew, a stranded plane, locked in a toilet
b) a person who makes a mountain out of a molehill,
c) two characters who disagree.
A humorous speech should be on a serious subject, or practical subject, but use humour to make it enjoyable and keep the audience interested and sympathetic.
A humorous speech is not a series of one-liners on a series of random subjects.
Even if you do standup comedy, unless you do improv responding to the audience shouting subjects, you need a theme and a logical progression to help you remember.

Keep a list of what makes you laugh.
In Feb 2014, researching On This Day, I discovered that November 4th in Nepal is a day of religious observance when people worship themselves, oxen and cow dung. If I can relate this to the audience so much the better.
How many of you worship yourselves? How many of you worship oxen? How many of you worship cow dung. How many of you worship all three? How many of you are Nepalese? That explains it. 

Make Your Magnetic Speech Title Grab Your Audience - What's In It For Them?

    Your speech is like a letter. Does your message matter? It matters to you. But will it be relevant to recipients? Pet insurance will be relevant to dog owners. But I get letters asking me to take out vet bills insurance and I don't have a dog. As a speaker you need to look at your information and ask how it can improve the lives of the people listening.
    So make a promise you can deliver. Tempt the audience with a treat. Save them from danger. Solve their problems. Encourage them to take action. Be their friend.
   WIFM
   'What's In It For Me!' That's what each member of the audience is asking.  
   Decide what you are offering. Gardens. Yes, what's in it for the audience? They are pensioners who live in flats and have bad backs. Are you offering a day trip to see the garden shown on your slides? Can they travel? Can they enjoy it every day? What can they bring back? Seeds and plants for their windowsill? How To Grow Gardens on Your Windowsill.
    Book titles of non-fiction books often solve problems. Quick and easy recipes. Free food.
Fiction and humour which entertain us may be an absurd escapism: Join the Jazz players in the Jungle. 

Why Have Heroes? Who needs heroes?

   Who wants to hear about a hero? We teach children about a hero. Bruce and the spider on determination
   As a teacher and speaker, I started this list to help myself write opening speeches, to help myself as a speaker at a speakers' training club. (I am a former presidents of Harrovian Toastmasters in London, England.}
   Then I thought I should share my research with other writers and readers so they could enjoy the stories, benefit from my research and share my enthusiasm. This list should be useful to you if you are ever a toastmasters, president, chairman, after dinner speaker, or motivational speaker at a meeting. I am looking for the sort of story you might hear at school, as a student, on the radio or TV.    
   But even when you are between jobs, looking for work, not yet working, or retired, you might enjoy the stories. The characters are people you would like to hear about if you were in the audience or listening or watching.

Still debating heroes - one off bravery, persistent, determined? Rags to riches? Stoics?

Who is a hero or heroine? Somebody who risked their life, lost their life, or saved the lives of others? Then you find more in WWI and WWII. But a lot of it is grim reading, unless you bias your list towards survivors.
    What about entertainers? I imagine I hear little voices objecting, surely a skater or writer is not a hero? If you have ever tried to write a best selling novel, or even a novel with a beginning, middle and end, a year later, ten years later, you will appreciate the number of hours you must dedicate, the hours of revision, the struggle to master grammar and punctuation, the effort of a day, a week, a month, in simply researching and compiling a list for a blog - before you even start creating metaphors, similes and memorable phrases.
   What about money? Who is successful? The person who made the most money? One must admire those who started with no money and no encouragement and later were successful. Rags to riches. Cinderella. We want to know what kept them going, who encouraged them, which saying or motto they kept repeating in times of trouble which kept them going. Was it will poet alone? Or what you know. Persistence. Determination. Skill. Optimism?
   I admire those who persisted despite discouragement. We, readers and writers, all love stories about authors who were rejected, but whose books were later a great success.

Safety in second hand living. Watching wars. Armchair travel. TV travel.

   But reading and watching TV, sitting in the audience, retired, all this is second-hand living. I am happy to be an armchair trailer and not have the hassle of packing, the dangers of crashes, the stress of travel, the nuisance of mosquitos, the cost of hotels and airfares. I do not wish to clim Everest, like Mallory who was man with a mission but missing for centuries, where my often absent husband liked to trek. Nor did I wish to continue clomping around ski slopes where my husband and son zoomed up in lifts and down on skis.
   I am happy to retire to a quiet corner and console myself with the thought that I have survived most of the people I read about. I can still energise myself to get out of my chair and go for lunch, with the cheerful thought that Alice Herz-Sommer reached the grand age of 109, still entertaining others with her life story and piano playing, got through a concentration camp with her son and still has good friends from the bad old days and she seems to enjoy every minute of her life. You and I, with half the troubles she had seen, will be very happy if we can enjoy life half as much as she does.
   Alice, alas, died in Feb 2014, aged 110. You can watch her playing the piano on YouTube.

Heroes Or Villains?

How did I compile my list? It's easy to find half a dozen world leaders and people who are known worldwide. Such as Mandela. Anne Frank.

   Any list of heroes and heroines courts controversy. The hero leader of one country may be the villain of the neighbouring country. When you start a new religion the existing leaders see you as a threat.

 The winners of a war see their leaders and fighters as heroes. Their losses of army and civilians are heroes or martyrs. They see resistance as terrorists. However, the people who are 'invaded' see their leaders as heroes who risked their lives and lost their lives. The civilians who co-operate with the invaders may see themselves as pragmatic or having no choice. The invaders may view them kindly. The 'home' team may see co-operators as traitors. Invaders or liberators? The Romans, Greeks, French, Vikings, Brits, Americans, Greeks and Turks, Arabs and Turks, Israelis and Palestinians, Indonesians and Singaporeans, Japanese and Chinese. The civilians at home may be kept in the dark about atrocities by their own side, or consider them justified as retaliation under stress. The PR/propaganda for both sides presents the other side as villains, their own side as heroes.

   We see the Brits want to honour dam busters. Germans don't see it that way. The Brits think Germany started the war by invading our ally Poland. The Germans say Britain declared war on them.

   Fashions change and some people become controversial. Should I include those who injured themselves or committed suicide, artists such as Van Gogh?
 
   The reformed characters who admit to mistakes in their past are equally interesting and might inspire those who feel need of confidence to change.
 
 Sometimes, sadly, our heroes and heroines are revealed to have flaws. Anne Frank's rude remarks about her mother, alive when Anne wrote, seemed disrespectful, hurtful, and were censored from early editions of the diary, published by her father just after he learned of the deaths of Anne and his wife.
 
   The joy of a short introductory speech is that you can choose to pick only the best bits from the lives of the famous. Or you can choose to show them, like Cromwell's death mask, 'warts and all'.

Controversial Figures
Who was mad, bad and dangerous to know?
Cromwell.

Traditional Enemies
Greece and Turkey
Spain and Portugal
Poland and Russia
Dutch and German

Enemies Who Reconciled
Romeo and Juliet (Verona, Italy)

People Who Changed Sides
Flavius Josephus - fought against Romans, then joined them and wrote Jewish Wars from Roman viewpoint.

People Who Changed Religion
To Christianity:
Heinrich Heine
Benjamin Disraeli
Mendelssohn
Edith Stein
To Judaism:
Sammy Davis Jnr
Marilyn Monroe
Elizabeth Taylor

Reconcilers
Daniel Barenboim - Israeli & Palestinian
Dutch royal married German
Nelson Mandela South Africa
Martin Luther King Jnr

People Applauded by Earlier/Later Enemies
Maimonides (Arab language, served under Kurdish leader, and Jewish religion)

Changing Name/Nationality
UK House of Windsor

People/Groups Disowned
Martin Luther
Spinoza

Remembering This Month's Heroes

How do you find a theme for a meeting, the speech to open a meeting, or an impromptu speech?
Two or three subjects are obvious. New Year for January. Love for Valentine's Day and February. July and August holidays. December Christmas.

12 months of Celebration
Jan: Snow: Snow White; Robbie Burns; Auschwitz liberated. Braille.
Feb Love the light:Valentine's Day. Abraham Lincoln; Washington; Edison light - inventors day.
Mar Phone Ireland: St Patrick Mar 17; all March in Japan. Bell phones.
Apr Shakespeare.
May Day. Florence Nightingale to the rescue.
Jun Anne Frank and Marilyn Monroe.
Jul Movie maker Goldwyn and Molly Brown who survived the Titanic.
Aug
Sept Write home - Biro.
Oct Discover America and your type. Columbus. Myers Briggs.
Nov How cold in November? Celcius.
Dec In cold Dec celebrate Xmas with champagne. Birdseye frozen food and Veuve Cliquot Champagne. St Stephen.

Last Words Of A Hero or Heroine, Saint or Sinner

  Now I have read so many famous last words, what are my 'famous last words'. Some last words were caused by the circumstances of the event. (Cautionary tale: 'Put out that cigarette,' said before the light attracted a sniper who shot the speaker.)  
   Many last words were the motto of the speaker, said to everybody they met, so that several people would say, 'his/her last words to me were ...'.
  My first draft of my 'famous last words'.  Thank you for visiting. Whether or not I know you, I am thinking of what will make you happy. 'How wonderful', Anne Frank said, she said how wonderful it was that we could start today to change the world. I echo her words, 'how wonderful', that books and the media have enabled us all to connect with people in other places and other times, and benefit from the lives, their great minds, good hearts and goodwill.
   My last words. Thanks you for visiting my books and my mind. Thank you for mentally shaking hands. Imgaine I am smiling at you and waving goodbye. Whether or not I know you, I am thinking of what will make you happy. How wonderful that books and the media have enabled us all to connect with people in other places and other times and benefit from the lives, their great minds, good hearts and goodwill. I wish you happy journeys through the pages of books and the internet and life. I wish you well.

Should one record the last words of both saints and sinners? Some say we should record the words of sinners as a cautionary tale.

Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly, an Irishman (who was opposed by another Irish man called Kelly), was hanged and his last words were supposedly the nonchalant, 'Such is life.' (Other claim that a newspaper reporter recorded these words and made them up.)

I like Spike Milligan's tombstone: I told you I was ill. The church would not allow this on the gravestone. So it was engraved in a foreign language, which fooled them.

Angela Lansbury

Book
Last Words Of Notable People compiled by William B. Brahms
Last Words of Saints & Sinners by Herbert Lockyer.
Immortal Last Words by Tony Breverton. Historical, starting with the Pharaohs and moving on through Jesus and Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great.

 Amazon has several more, some of which have Look Inside.

The Persistent Or Penniless Poet Or Artist As Hero/Heroine

But I also admire those who were devoted to their art of craft despite making little or no money, or dying in poverty. For example, English artist Lowry lived with a settee whose springs protruded. Musician Mozart died in poverty.
   Have you ever tried ice skating, singing two octaves, playing the piano, writing a speech, sewing on a button, cooking a lunch for six, or performing stand-up comedy? Have you crossed the city and waited hours for an audition and been turned down? Sat for hours waiting to be a non-speaking part in a crowd scene as an extra on a film in the hope of becoming a film star? Checked out the cost of a course on songwriting, piano playing, or the cost of ice scates and skis and a grand piano or clarinet? The composers, comedians, opera and pop singers, all devoted many hours a week, sometimes several hours a day for years, and had to miss seeing family and friends, outings, or simply lazing around doing nothing. If Westminster Abbey considers writers worthy of a mentions, so do I.
   I am compiling a list of the world's heroes and heroines who I think you will find inspirational. I am selecting a succinct quotation and an interesting story which encapsulates their lives, a new person to learn about and talk about for each day of the year.

Angela Lansbury the author not the actress

MORE ABOUT AUTHOR ANGELA LANSBURY
I have more blogs on travel, videos on grammar, poetry and public speaking.
'Angela Lansbury' is my pen name and maiden name. I am the author of Quick Quotations for speakers and 20 books. (Also a novel trilogy in preparation.)
See covers, summaries and extracts from books on Lulu.com
   You can be my friend on Facebook.  I make the occasional foray into Twitter. To quote an old English saying, I am 'all over' Youtube 'like a rash'. If you are in business or a professional you can connect to me on LinkedIn.
   You can buy my books from Lulu, which stores the text and pictures as a print-ready file and prints on demand, charging you a book price to cover the admin, paper, plus a fee for postage.
    I buy a small number of books. I usually carry one or two to show people I meet at writers and speakers' groups. Writers - Lulu includes the cost of the ISBN number and bar code. Other publishers are cheaper but the author has to publish books privately without distribution which requires the bar code, or to pay for the bar code.
     Should you meet me, I charge the cost of the book from Lulu.com plus part of what I paid for post and packaging. I shall happily show you a book or two. If you want to buy a copy, I'll be delighted to sign it for you.
See my books on lulu.com and link to publishers through the Harrow Writers' Circle website

Researching Heroes & Heroines: Books & Websites

Useful Sources
history.orb.com famous birthdays on this day
BBC ; Wiki

MORE RESEARCH SOURCES FOR YOU
Books
Webster's Dictionary of Famous People
Mistakes That Worked by Charlotte Jones
How It All Began The stories behind famous names Maurice Baren

Websites
http://www.britain-magazine.com/carousel/10-greatest-women-in-british-history/
wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_associated_with_World_War_I
http://listverse.com/2013/05/31/10-modern-day-heroes-actively-changing-the-world/
wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/highlights/poets-corner
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/poets-of-the-first-world-war
On this day: HistoryOrb.com http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/on-this-day/August-1/
Famousbirthdays.com
http://www.classical-composers.org/search/year
http://www.un.org/en/events/observances/days.shtml
famousbirthdays.com
wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_100:_The_Most_Important_People_of_the_Century

This blog is regularly updated. Come back later, create your own list or send me birthdays of your favourite characters.
Angela Lansbury Author
Also on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube (grammar and speeches).
Recent books on lulu.com

DATES: Heroes & Heroines by Date of Birth / Commemoration Date

Heroes and Heroines by date of birth, death, event, commemoration
JAN - YEAR BEGINNING
Give up drink for a month.
Jan 1 New Year's Day. UK created.
Jan 2 b of James Wolfe (d 1727) who captured Quebec in Canada from French.
Jan 3 b of J RR Tokein, author of Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings.
Jan 4 Birthday of Louis Braille. Jacob Grimm (Snow White.)
Jan 5 Death of Edward the Confessor.
Jan 6 b of Richard II, boy king introduced cutlery and hankies. Demo of electric telegraph by inventor Samuel Morse.
Jan 7 Calais lost.
Jan 8 birth of  Frederick Abberline who hunted Jack the Ripper.
Jan 9 b Gracie Fields CBE, gave home in Bishops Ave to a maternity hospital. Buried Capri (2nd husband). in Protestant ceremony. d 1979. I went to Capri on a side trip with my parents and met and were photographed with her family. As a teenager I was not interested.
Jan 10 Thomas Paine published Common Sense which sold a million copies in the USA.
Jan 11 death of Thomas Hardy, author.
Jan 12 death of Agatha Christie.
Jan 13 death of George Fox, founder of Quakers. (Birthday in July but day not known.) W
Jan 14 Birth of Albert Schweizer, OM, founded hospital in Gabon, Africa, author, travelled with piano organ adapted to tropics. 3 museums in Germany. Died 4th Sept 1965.
15
16
17
18
19
20 President Ronald Reagan took office age 69.
21
22
23
24
Jan 25 Burns Night. Robert Burns. Auld lang syne.
Jan 26 Holocaust Memorial Day. Anne Frank.
27
28
29
Jan 30 Death of Charles Bradlaugh founder of National Secural Society, 1888 oaths act allowed non-Christians and atheists to affirm in Parliament and courts of law
Jan 31 Guy Fawkes executed.

FEB VALENTINE/LOVE
Feb 1
2 Charles Maurice de TALLEYRAND-Perigord, bortn 1754 , died May 17, 1838, French PM in 1815, said (translated from French) 'Words are given to us to clothe our thoughts'.
3 World Cancer Day.
4
5
6
7 birth in 1812 of Charles Dickens.
8
9
10
Feb 11 USA National Inventors' Day because it's the birthday of Thomas Alva Edison who had more than 1000 patents, invented light bulb, phonograph, said 'Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration'.
Feb 12 birth of Abraham Lincoln
Feb 13 World Radio Day (UNESCO)
Feb 14 St  Valentine's Day
Feb 15 1564 Birth of Galileo  Galilei, died 1642.
Feb 18
Feb 19 Copernicus, Nicolaus, born 1473 in Poland, died 1543. Saw that sun was the centre of the universe, not the earth.
Donner party rescued in USA.
Yul Brynner (1920-1985) ad anti-smoking, saying he would be dead by the time viewers saw the ad. 'Don't smoke'. See the ad on YouTube.
Feb 20
Feb 21 International Mother Language Day
Feb 22 Washington's birthday, national holiday USA.
Feb 24 Wilhelm Grimm, co-author of Snow White.
Feb 25
Feb 26
Feb 27 Birth of Henry Wadsworth LONGFELLOW, 1807-1882, wrote the Song of HIAWATHA, and Paul Revere's Ride.
Birth of John Steinbeck, 1902, Nobel prize for literature in 1962 wrote Of Mice And Men in 1937, also The Grapes of Wrath, died 20 Dec1968.
Feb 28 Birth of Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, d Sept 13. "When I play with a cat is she amusing me or am I amusing her?""I gather other men's flowers (quotations/thoughts). Only the thread binding them is mine."
Feb 29

MARCH
March 1
March 2 1859 b of Sholom Aleichem (Fiddler on the Roof; monument Kiev) Jewish Mark Twain
March 3 1847, b of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of telephone
4
5
6
7
March 8 International women's day.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
March 16 D of Titus Oates 'I may be gone some time' Scotts expedition to S Pole
March 17 St Patrick's Day
18
19
March 20 International Day of Happiness
March 21 UNESCO World Poetry Day. International Day of forests and the tree. (Celebrate both by finding or wiring a poem about a forest or tree.)
22 World Water Day.
23 World Metereological Day.
24 World TB day (WHO).
25 International Day of Remembering the Victims of Slavery.
March 26 Birth of Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor, founded Logotherapy, Man's Search For Meaning.

APRIL
April 1 April Fool's Day.
2
3
4
5
6 International Dy of Sport for Development and Peace
April 7 World Health Day.
April 12 International Day of Human Space Flight.
April 15 Titanic sank. (Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, US President.) Birthday of Leonardo da Vinci.
April 23 Birth of William Shakespeare. World book and copyright day. Shakespeare is out of copyright. English language day.
April 24
April 25 World Malaria Day (WHO).
April 26
April 27 Christina Rossetti.
April 28 World Day for Safety and Health at Work (ILO). Birth of 7th earl of Shaftesbury (remembered by Shaftesbury Avenue and Eros statue Piccadilly Circus, the poor man's earl, helped lunatics, miners, chimney sweeps, women and children, shortened working day to 10 hours.)
April 29
April 30 International Jazz Day.

MAY
1
2
May 3 World Press Freedom Day
4
5
6
7
May 8 1906 Tuvia Bielski birthday, Belararus forest WWII, saved more than 1000.
May 8-9 Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War.
9
10
May 11-12 World Migratory Bird Day (UNEP).
May 12 b Florence Nightingale
May 13 b Trevor Baylis, inventor of wind-up radio. D of Sholem Aleichem (Fiddler on Roof) '12a'
14
May 15 International Day of Families
16
17 World Telecommunication and Information Society Dy (ITU).
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 Day of the Full Moon 'Vesak'.
May 30 Joan of Arc
May 31 World No-Tobacco day (WHO).

JUN
Jun 1 Global Day of Parents. Birthday of Marilyn Monroe, who spent childhood in foster homes.
Jun 2
Jun 3rd Emily Davison, suffragette, killed by king's horse.
4
5
6
7
Jun 8 World Oceans Day
9
10
Jun 11 b Jacques Cousteau 1910-Jun 25 1997.
Jun 12 Birthday of Anne Frank; day she received her diary. World day against child labour.
Jun 13 Hungarian Inventors Day, birthday of inventor of synthetic Vitamin C, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
14
15
16
Jun 17 b Escher, M S, Dutch artist of tromp l'oeuil pictures
18
19
20 World Refugee Day
21
22
23 International Widows' Day
24
25
Jun 26 birth of Violette Szabo, WWII heroine. International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit trafficking.
Jun 27th birth Sir John Monash
28
29
30

JULY
July Exact day unknown: Samuel Goldwyn
July 1 Harriet Beecher Stowe
2
3
4
July 5 International Day of Cooperatives
6
July 7 Birth of Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr, who made Time and Motion Study popular in USA, had heart trouble and 12 children, featured in book Cheaper By the Dozen, and film.
8
9
10
July 11 World Population DayJuly 17 b Hannah Senesh
12
13
14
15
16
17
July 18 Nelson Mandela International Day.  Birth of Molly Brown of Titanic fame.
19
July 20 bday Sir Edmund Hillary, first to climb summit of Everest with Sherpa Norbay Tensing. First man on the moon. Neil Armstrong. American.
July 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
July 30 International Day of friendship. William Wilberforce (v slavery); Lord Shaftesbury.
31

AUG
Aug1 Swiss National Day
2
3
4
Aug 5 1962, death of Marilyn Monroe
6
7
8
Aug 9 d Edith Stein, born Jewish, Roman Catholic saint.
10
Aug 12 Florence Nightingale
Aug 21 Senior Citizens Day, USA.
Aug 31 (1997) death of Princess Diana.

Sept 8 International Literacy Day (UNESCO). (Dolly Parton has distributed books in USA.)
Sept 10 World Suicide Prevention Day (WHO).
Sept 13 Michel de Montaigne, b Feb 28,1533-1592, d Sept 13. "When I play with a cat is she amusing me or am I amusing her?""I gather other men's flowers (quotations/thoughts). Only the thread binding them is mine."
Sept 15 International Day of Democracy.
Sept 21 International Day of Peace.
Sept 29 birth of Laszlo Biro, invented ballpoint pen - Inventors Day, Argentina

Oct 1 Day of Older Persons. (Feature at age 69 Ronald Reagan became president of USA in 1981.)
Oct 2 International Day of Non-Violence. (You could feature Mohantma Gandhi.)
Oct 5 World Teachers Day (UNESCO).
Oct 9 b Alfred Dreyfus. World Post Day. World Sight Day.
Oct 10 World Mental Health Day (WHO).
Oct 11 International Day of the Girl Child.
Oct 12 Columbus Day
Oct 15 birthday of Roman poet Virgil, epic poet Laureate.
Oct 16 World Food Day (FAO).
Oct 18 birthday of Isabel Briggs-Myers, personality type indicator (MBTI)
Oct 19 Mother Teresa Day, Albania
Oct 21 Birth of Alfred Nobel, Swedish, Nobel prize.
Oct 22 b  Sarah Bernhardt, actress
Oct 24 United Nations Day (193 States are members).

NOVEMBER
Write a novel month. Grow a moustache for charity month.
Nov 1 b L S Lowry, English painter
Nov 5 Guy Fawkes night, Parliament saved from plot.
Nov 9 birthday of Hedy Lamarr therefore inventors' day in Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Nove 12 birth of Chad Varah, OBE, CBE, Anglican Priest, vicar who founded Samaritans 1953 after funeral (1935) of suicide. He died Nov 8, 2007.
Nov 17 Sikhs celebrate birth of founder Guru Nanak Jayanti
Nov 19 World Toilet Day.
Nov 20 Universal Children's Day. World Philosophy Day.
Nov 21 World TV Day.
Nov 22 1963 Assassination of JFK, US President
Nov 24 Birth of Grace Darling, lifeboat; b Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher.
Nov 27 Celcius, Anders, Swedish, temperature measure

DECEMBER
Dec 2 International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.
Dec 3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities. (Feature Paralympics founder.)
Dec 4 b Edith Cavell
Dec 7 International Civil Aviation Day.
Dec 9 Birth of Clarence Birdseye, invented fast frozen food
Dec 11 International Mountain Day. (Feature: Sir Edmund Hillary reached summit of Everest in 1953. Heidi. Mallory and Irvine failed and died in 1921.)
Dec 16 b Veuve Cliquot, champagne
Dec 21 b Benjamin Disraeli, PM
Dec 25 Xmas day, birth of Jesus.

Angela Lansbury note on compiling entries
Jan - 17 entries Feb - 13 entries - but I am adding more daily. At first I typed in every day of the year but the list looked empty so I deleted empty days. Than I found I was adding entries in the wrong month. It's easier to add in the right place if you list all the days. I am aiming for a complete list, so I shall update until I have 365.
 Angela Lansbury Author
After talking about travel on a Jewish radio station I have written Jewish Travel Tales and Guide, a popular guide to places to visit and learn about heroes and villains, success and failure, including Anne Frank House, Schindler Museum, Levi jeans, Biro pen, Marilyn Monroe movie star, Babe Ruth US baseball hero, Al Jolson singer etc. For details of my recently published books go to Lulu.com

Heroes & Heroines Alphabetically, Plus Saints, Sinners, Villains

Heroes and Heroines alphabetically:
AESOP
ANDERSEN, Hans
ARCHIMEDES
ARMSTRONG, Neil
AUDEN, W H (Wrote poem Night Mail)
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
AUSTEN, Jane

BABBAGE, Charles
BADEN-POWELL, Robert, founder of Scouts
BADER, Douglas
BAIRD, John Logie, invented TV
BANNISTER, Robert
BARNADO, Dr
BARRIE, James (author of Peter Pan)
BARTON, Clara (American Florence Nightingale)
BAYLIS, Trevor, inventor of wind-up radio, born May 13 1937
BEETHOVEN
BEETON, Mrs
BELL, Alexander Graham, inventor of the telephone
BERNHARDT, Sarah 22/23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923
BIELSKI, TUVIA (May 8, 1906 – June 12, 1987) Saved 1200 people in the forest of Belarus
BINYON, Laurence "They shall not grow old) -1943
BIRDSEYE, Clarence
BOADICCEA
BRAILLE, Louis, French, invented writing system for the blind (born Jan 4th 1809-1852)
BRIGGS MYERS, Isabel, Oct 18 1897-1980 May 5. Myers-Briggs (personality) type indicator BRONTE, Charlotte
BROOKE, Rupert "If I should die ..'
BROWN, Molly July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932)
BROWNING, Robert (Pied Piper of Hamelin)
BRUCE, Robert the, and the spider
BRUNEL, Isambard Kingdom
BUFFALO BILL USA
BUCK, Pearl S, Nobel prize literature, book The Good Earth, home USAb born ...
BURNS Robert
BYRON, Lord

CARROLL, Lewis
CAVELL, Edith (4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915)
CELCIUS, Anders, Swedish, invented temperature measure. (27 Nov 1701-17440
CHAPLIN, Charlie
CHURCHILL, Winston
CLIQUOT, Veuve (16 December 1777 – 29 July 1866)
COLUMBUS, Christopher
CONFUCIUS
COOK, James
COUSTEAU, Jacques b Jun11 1910-d Jun 25 1997.
CURIE, Marie

DA VINCI, Leonardo
DARLING, Grace b Nov 24, 1815, Bamburgh died Oct 20, 1842
DARWIN, Charles
DIANA, Princess of Wales
DICKENS, Charles
DIESEL, Otto, invented internal combustion engine
DISNEY, Walt
DISRAELI, Benjamin (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881)
DORS, DIANA
DRAKE, Sir Francis
DREYFUS 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935

EDISON,T
EINSTEIN, Albert
ELIOT, George
ELIZABETH I, Queen 
ESTHER, Queen of Persia, wife of Xerxes

FAWKES, Guy
FORD, Henry
FRANK, Anne
FRANKLIN, Benjamin
FRANKL, Viktor
FRY, Elizabeth

GAGARIN, Yuri
GANDHI, Indira
GANDHI, Mohatma
GAUDI, Spanish architect
GILBERT, W S 'I have a little list', writer of operettas
GOGOL, Nikolai, Russian author of short story The Overcoat
GOLDWYN, Samuel
GRIMM, brothers Wilhelm b Feb 24 1786 d dec 16 1859 and Jacob b Jan 4 1785 -1863 Sept 20 (Snow White, Hansel & Gretel)

HEINE, Heinrich
HENLEY, William Ernest
HERZ-SOMER, Alice 109-year-old Holocaust survivor (Czech Theresienstadt) joyfully playing piano (see Youtube)
HILLARY, Sir Edmund
HILLEL, Rabbi
HOUDINI
HORACE 65-8 B.C

IMAFIDON, Anne Marie, in 2000, when aged 10, passed two O levels in maths and ICT (technology).

JACOBS, W W (Author of short story the monkey's paw)
JOAN of Arc
JOHNSON, Samuel (English dictionary)
JOLSON, Al

KAFKA, Franz
KEATS, John
KELLER, Helen
KENNEDY, J F
KING, Martin Luther, Jnr b. Jan 15 (Martin Luther King Day 3rd Monday)
KIPLING, Rudyard

LASKER-Wallfisch, Anita, cello player at Auschwitz, author of Inherit the Truth (1996) founder of English chamber orchestra
LAUDER, Harry
LAO TZU
LAWRENCE, T E
LEE, Bruce
LEVI, Primo
LINCOLN, Abraham (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)
LIVINGSTON, Dr David
LOWRY L S, b Nov 1st

MAIMONIDES
MALLORY, George 1886-1924
MANDELA, Nelson
MARX, Karl 1818-1883
MARX, Groucho 1895-1977
MASEFIELD, John
MAUGHAM, Somerset
MAUPASSANT, GUY DE (Author of short story the Necklace)
McCrae, John
McGonagall, William  (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) 
Mendelssohn
MEIR, Golda
MENDELSSOHN
MONASH, Sir John (27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931
MONROE, Marilyn June 1 1926-Aug 5th 1962
MOTHER TERESA
MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus

NAPOLEON Bonaparte
NELSON, Horatio1st_Viscount_Nelson‎ Lord Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, KB (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) 
NEWTON, Sir Isaac
NIGHTINGALE, Florence 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910)

OATES, Captain Lawrence "I may be gone some time"
OBAMA, President Barack
OHENRY

PANKHURST, Emily
PATRICK, Saint, March 17, Ireland, all March in Japan
PERRAULT, Charles, author of Cinderella
PODGORSKA, Stefania, teenager hid 13 Jews in attic
POE, Edgar Allan, writer
PRIESTLEY, J B (Author of An Inspector Calls)
PROUST, Marcel, founder of the modern French novel, trilogy Remembrance
RASHI, rabbi
RALEIGH, Sir Walter
RAFFLES, Stamford (Founder of Singapore)
ROOSEVELT, Eleanor
ROSSETTI, Christina

SANDWICH, John Montagu, 4th Earl
SASSOON, Siegfried
SCHINDLER, Oskar
SCOTT of the Antarctic, explorer
SEEGER, Pete
SENESH, Hannah July 17, 1921 – November 7, 1944) 
SHAEFFER, Peter, author of Sleuth
SHAKESPEARE, William
SHAW, George Bertrand
Stephen, St, Ireland Dec 26, Dec 25 St Stephen's eve; Dec 27 Eastern Orthodox
STEVENSON, R L, writer
STOPES, Marie
SPINOZA, Baruch, born Nov 24, 1632
SteiN, Edith d Aug 9
STOPES, Marie, b 15 Oct 1880 d 1958 Oct 2nd
STRAUSS
SUGIHARA, Chiune
SZABO, Violette, b June 26

THATCHER, Margaret, UK PM
THOMAS, Dylan
TORVILLE & DEAN, ice skaters
TURING, Alan
TWAIN, Mark

VICTORIA, Queen

WALLENBERG, Raoul
WASHINGTON, George
WATT,
WEBSTER, Noah, American Dictionary
WELLINGTON, Duke of (Waterloo, beat Napoleon)
WESLEY
WEST, Mae
WHITTINGTON, Dick ('Turn again, Lord Mayor of London,' cat)
WILDE, Oscar
WINEHOUSE, Amy
WINTON, Nicholas WWII saved Jews
WORDSWORTH, William, poet, Daffodils - 'I wandered lonely as a cloud ...'
WREN, Christopher
WRIGHT, FRANK LLOYD, architect of Fallingwater and other homes/buildings Guggenheim
ZOLA, Emile

Heroes & Heroines By Nationality & Religion

Who can you admire and praise when you get in a taxi in a foreign country? Whose home is a national museum you can visit? Who is honoured by a statue?
Focus on worldwide or national past heroes, who are easiest to research, then local heroes for more news and novelty.
Heroes and Heroines by nationality and religion:
Albania: Mother Teresa
Australia: Sir John Monash
Canadian: John McCrae
Chinese: Confucius; Sun Yat Sen.
Christian: Francis of Assissi
Czech Republic: Kafka, Franz.
Denmark: Hans Andersen.
French: Veuve Cliquot; Alfred Dreyfus; Marcel Proust; Talleyrand. Napoleon. Perrault. Jacques Cousteau.
German: Goethe.
Greek: Socrates. Alexander the Great.
Indian: Indira Ghandhi; Mahatma Gandhi; 
Irish: St Patrick
Italian: Francis of Assissi; Leonardo da Vinci.
Japanese: Chiune Sugihara
Nepalese: Norbay Tensing, climbed Everest summit with Sir EdMund Hillary
Netherlands: Anne Frank; Spinoza.
New Zealand: Sir Edmund Hillary.
Norwegian: Roald Amundsen.
Poland: Chopin.
Roman: Julius Caesar. Hadrian.
Scottish: Bonnie Prince Charlie; John Logie Baird: Robert Burns; McGonagall; McAdam
Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew; Stamford Raffles; Sun Yat Sen.
South African: Nelson Mandela.
Spanish: Gaudi. Cervantes. 
Swedish: Alfred Nobel; Anders Celcius; Raoul Wallenberg
UK: Florence Nightingale; LS Lowry. William Shakespeare. Charlotte Bronte. Nelson. Beatrix Potter. Jane Austen. Walter Raleigh.
USA: Abraham Lincoln; Clara Barton; Molly Brown; Isabel Myers Briggs; Neil Armstrong; Martin Luther King Jnr. Mark Twain.
Welsh: Dylan Thomas
National Days:   USA July 4. USA Thanksgiving 4th Thursday in November.
Celebrations: 
Remembrance: Nov 11 (WWI, WWII, all wars.) 

Religious Leaders & Figures
Christian Catholic: Jesus of Nazareth. St Francis of Assissi; Saint Patrick.
Christian Protestant: Martin Luther.
Christian Methodist: Wesley.
Jewish: Anne Frank; Benjamin Disraeli; John Monash; Two Gun Cohen (Sun Yat Sen's bodyguard); Gold Meir; Sigmund Freud; Bialik.
Muslims & others: Mohammed. Aga Khan. Sikhs. Buddha. 
Humanists: John Stuart Mill. Jeremy Bentham. 
Please help me expand this list. Thank you.
Angela Lansbury.
Author of Jewish Travel Tales & Guide.

Your hero or heroine - lives, quotes, more

You are often asked to describe your hero or heroine. Who should you choose?

SPEECHES  & HEROES & HEROINES
    I am compiling a list of the world's heroes and heroines who I think you will find inspirational. I am selecting a succinct quotation and an interesting story which encapsulates their lives, a new person to learn about and talk about for each day of the year.
   I started this list to help myself write opening speeches, to help myself as a speaker at a speakers' training club. (I am a former presidents of Harrovian Toastmasters in London, England.}
   Then I thought I should share my research with other writers and readers so they could enjoy the stories, benefit from my research and share my enthusiasm. This list should be useful to you if you are ever a toastmasters, president, chairman, after dinner speaker, or motivational speaker at a meeting. I am looking for the sort of story you might hear at school, as a student, on the radio or TV.    
   But even when you are between jobs, looking for work, not yet working, or retired, you might enjoy the stories. The characters are people you would like to hear about if you were in the audience or listening or watching.
    This task is not as simple as you might think. It involves finding at least 365 inspirational people.
That's why I have still not finished.
    Why did I start compiling my list? Every time I go to a speakers' meeting at Toastmasters International anywhere in the world I might be asked to speak. Or I might find a speaker who has had to take over at the last minute from somebody who is unable to attend. So I look for one person. In the back of my book Quick Quotations For Successful Speakers I have a list of some of the seasonal and national days. For example, Christmas Day - see quotations on Christmas, Mother's Day - see quotations on mothers - and Valentine's Day - see quotations on love.
    A speaker can usually use the lives of the people who started a festival as inspiration for a speech in that week or that month. I started a list.