15th April 1755: Samuel Johnson publishes ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’ in London

[@zuffin1864]

this is the dictionary that must be used to understand the US constitution in it's proper meaning. If you want more context, learn about the the revolutionary war and the sequence of events that led to it all. My favorite is Dr. Joseph Warren

[@baliyae]

Interesting.

[@AnalogDigitalShow]

Ha ha! That’s a photo of my two dictionaries (0:36) that I loaded to Wikipedia years ago. I thought it looked familiar, including my white carpet

[@paulcowlishaw]

I thought the dictionary was made by Samuel Peeps. I'm not sure if I've spelt his name right. Or did he do something else

[@historypod]

Samuel Pepys wrote a diary - he wrote his last ever entry on 31st May, so I'll aim to focus the day's episode on that :)

[@RHR-221b]

@@historypod Agreed, h. Stay free (-minded). *_Pepys Diaries._** A fulsome recollection of his True Times therein, including the Great Fire of London, and the hiding in his garden of his sovereigns and strong cheese.* Rab ⏰ 🎲 ☠ 🕊

[@RHR-221b]

PS. *Brief Lives* is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626-1697) in the last decades of the 17th-century. _Writing_ Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood, who was working on his own collection of biographies. With time, Aubrey's biographical researches went beyond mere assistance to Wood and became a project in its own right. Aubrey was careful, wherever possible, to seek out and talk with those who had been acquainted with his subjects. His sociable nature and his wide circle of friends helped him in this pursuit. At his death, Aubrey left his biographical writings in a state of chaos. It has been the task of later editors to organise the manuscripts (held at the Bodleian Library) into readable form. _Afterlife_ Aubrey's *Brief Lives* has been loved for generations for its colourful, gossipy tone and for the glimpses it provides of the unofficial sides of its subjects. Aubrey's use of informants and his eye for the unusual provides much more vivid pictures than a biography based on documents could. He is frank, but never malicious. The *Brief Lives* include biographies of such figures as Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Thomas Browne, John Dee, Sir Walter Raleigh, Edmund Halley, Ben Jonson, Thomas Hobbes, William Petty and William Shakespeare. There have been many modern editions. Patrick Garland wrote and directed a play *Brief Lives* based on Aubrey's work; featuring Roy Dotrice as Aubrey. The production has been performed worldwide since 1969. In 2008, Aubrey's *Brief Lives* was a five-part drama serial on BBC Radio 4. Writer Nick Warburton intertwined some of Aubrey's biographical sketches with the story of the turbulent friendship between Aubrey and Wood. Abigail le Fleming produced and directed. One may try BBC's 'BBC Sounds' via Alexa et al., in an attempt to appreciate *Brief Lives.*