David Prashker's Book Of Days: The Merely Mentioneds: B

Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel: ignored by Victor Serge on Aug 20 - try here

Bach, transposed on Oct 27, though which member of the family is up to you: Johann Nikolaus Bach II (1669–1753); Johann Christoph Bach V (1676–); Johann Heinrich Bach II (1709–); Johann Friedrich Bach I (1682–1730); Johann Michael Bach II (1685–)... and then go here (and do I make a joke about the Welsh composer Dai Bach? No, best not)

Francis Bacon: Jan 5, June 29, Nov 5 and Dec 29 (see “Roderigo Lopes” and my piece at Gray’s Inn in Prashker’s London)

Bilba Labingi (Bilbo Baggins is a Middle Aenglisch translation from the original Hobbitish) returned to his home at Bag End, today in 1342 (Shire Reckoning), though this is listed on the blog on June 22

Hermann Bahr: name-dropped by Peter Altenberg on Feb 21

Baldwin I of Jerusalem: under attack by Vizier al-Afdal on March 5

Hugo Ball: wrote the Dada Manifesto on March 23; the 1916 version anyway, which can be found here; am I right in saying that Tristan Tzara’s 1918 version was different? click here for that.

John Ball: radical priest, took part in the Peasant’s Revolt on June 15

John de Balliol: was made King of the Scots by Edward I of England, only to have Edward take his throne away by force on May 4; and then the Wycliffe connection: click here. Descendant Roger de Balliol is even more interesting, key to the transformation of Oxford Yeshiva into Oxford University: I shall have to find a date for him on the blog

Matteo Bandello (1485-1561): yet another version of “Romeo and Juliet” on Jan 30 – more here

Captain Charles Barbier: invented night writing on Jan 4 (should have his own listing eventually)

Ronald William George (“Ronnie”) Barker: on July 22 with Monty Python

Gaspard Bauhin: published "Theatrum anatomicum", an encyclopaedia of anatomy, on March 29, though he was also an important botanist (click here)

Pierre de Belay: in the Picasso-Max Jacob meet-up group on August 19

Damion Berger: doing photography the Helmut Newton way on Feb 20 (click here)

Nora (with an H on her birth certificate) Barnacle, immortalised in “Ulysses” as Molly Bloom on June 16: photo and data here.

Julian Patrick Barnes: turning a simple heart into Flaubert's parrot on July 1

Samuel Augustus Barnett: building Toynbee Hall with, inter alia, his wife Henrietta Barnett (Dame Henrietta Octavia Weston Barnett, née Rowland, DBE) of school fame on June 5: start here for both of them

Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras: organising orgies for the young Napoléon on Dec 16: click here

Béla Viktor János Bartók: conducted by Ernő Dohnányi on July 27

William James (“Count”) Basie: one of John Henry Hammond Jr’s discoveries on Dec 15; his wesbite here, his concert hall here

William Beanes: hoisted by the star-spangled banner on March 3

Cesare Beccaria, in full Cesare, Marchese Di Beccaria Bonesana: referenced by Victor Hugo on Oct 18

Moses Beck: named on March 11 as the oldest surviving gravestone in the old Jewish cemetery in Prague : the cemetery website is here

Abbess Mary Becket, Thomas Becket’s sister, can be found at Barking Abbey on Dec 29: see also P’s London and here

Bede, or probably Baeda, and definitely “the Venerable”; see May 19, July 22 and Dec 25

William M Beecher: military correspondent of the New York Times on May 9

Richard Beer-Hoffmann: name-dropped by Peter Altenberg on Feb 21

Jean Beguin: creating "Tyrocinium chymicum", the first chemistry textbook, on March 29

Sorghaghtani Beki (circa 1190-1252): daughter-in-law of Genghis Khan, mother of Kublai Khan; among the Supra Idesses on April 17 – bio here, or a pdf to download here

Alexander Graham Bell can be found escorting James Smithson’s remains on August 10

Steve Bell is a British cartoonist living in exile in Britain on Sept 27; his website here

François de Belleforest (1530–1 January 1583): translating Bandello from Italian into French, and inventing the historic tragedy, on Jan 30 – more here

Gottfried Benn: goes with Kafka and Pessoa on July 3; here for his WW1 poems

Elizabeth Bennet, and her siblings, older sister Jane and younger sisters Mary, Catherine (Kitty) and Lydia, seeking husbands, but not interested in Casanova, on April 2; and also on June 22, though her birthday is actually December 16th 1793

Richard Rodney Bennett: setting Mervyn Peake to music on June 18; bio here

Beowulf: mentions on April 18 and June 24: early Aenglish text here, modern translation here, SparkNotes summary here (well I know you’re not going to actually read it, even in modern translation)

Dovid Rafailovich Bergelson: caught up in the Yiddish writers plot on Aug 12

Isaiah Berlin: commenting on “Dr Zhivago” on Oct 23; his website here

Madge Bester: the long and the short of the matter on Jan 14

John Betjeman (born August 28 1906; died May 191984): “what’s a ‘blood jet’ anyway?” on Nov 17

William Henry Beveridge: whose report on June 5 could do well to be reviewed and updated now: details here

Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (born circa 1520; died 1609), the “Maharal” of Prague: doing battle with Friar Thaddeus on March 11 (try here); as to Thaddeus, is this a folk-legend from a later period, recalling Saint Jude Thaddaeus, whose statue can be found on the Charles Bridge (click here to see it)?

George Amandine Van Biesbroeck: stars on Dec 10 (bio here)

Bigelows: a tea plantation in the USA, mentioned on April 18, but actually it’s also interesting for its etymology: click here.

Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi (1449-1494), “called Ghirlandaio because his goldsmith father specialized in creating gold and silver garlands (ghirlande).” – that from the National Gallery’s website: contributing to the Sistine Chapel on Nov 1 - try here

Thomas Brigham Bishop (June 29 1835-May 15 1905): stole the glory from William Steffe on Dec 2

Blacas de Blacas III (1165–1237): hosting Tibors de Sarenom on Jan 13; he was the feudal lord of Aups, where Sarenom is located, and was himself a troubadour, as well as being the father of another, Blacasset (1200-1242, click here), and the man about whom another troubadour, Sordello da Goito (1200-1269), wrote a famous eulogy (click here for him, and see Cantos VI-VIII of Dante’s Inferno as well [though he doesn’t seem to me to appear there by this name - should he then have his own listing among the MMs? apparently Browning and Beckett both reference him...])

John Blackner: recorded the tale of one Edward Ludnam on Dec 20 - several places worth exploring: here, here and here; then tie this in to my other pieces on Ned Ludd in P’s London. For John Blackner’s "History of Nottingham" try here

Felix (Ferdinand) Bloch: incarcerated in the Small Fortress in the Terezin ghetto, where he was brutally tortured; on April 1: his picture and bio here

Suzanne Bloch: was an opera singer who specialised in Wagner and had her blue-period portrait painted by Picasso on Aug 19 – see it here, more about the person here – - the stealing and recovery of the painting from the Sao Paolo museum here

Sir Thomas Bludworth (modern books spell him Bloodworth, but anyway his name was really Bildward - click here): the Lord Mayor who Pepys summoned, but too late to put out the fire, on Sept 2. I wonder if he was the source of Gulliver in Lilliput!

Pierre Boaistuau, or Pierre Launay, or Sieur de Launay (1517-1566): translating Bandello’s "Giuletta e Romeo" into French on Jan 30

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375): defending Dante on June 24; a splendid website called “Decameron Web”, at Brown University on Rhode Island, here

John Andrew Boehner: the Republican Senate Speaker who invited Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress on March 3 - try here

Johannes Eduard Franz Bölsche (1869-1935): taught Erwin Schulhoff in Cologne on April 1

James Bond: working for Kim Philby on Jan 23

Giotto di Bondone (circa 1267-January 8 1337): safe from limewash on June 24 - Uffizi website here [looking for a meaningful definition of "Art"? try the link, above

Giovanni Battista Bononcini (18 July 1670-9 July 1747): “the rivalrous animosity between George Frideric Handel and the now forgotten...” is on March 15 - start here; the feud is here, though Britannica tells it slightly differently (it was Handel’s fault)

John Wilkes Booth: didn’t he do something of historical significance on April 14? might be interesting to know more about who he was and why he did it; apparently the answer can be found here. His own death-tale is told here

Freiherr Joseph Alvinczi von Borberek, also known as Baron József Alvinczi de Borberek, or plain Baron Alvinczi (1 February 1735-25 September 1810): the field marshal of the Austrian Empire defeated by Napoléon on Jan 15 - the battle details here, the man here

Ian Terence Botham: counted among the genuine super-heroes on July 10

Dionysius (“Dion”) Lardner Boucicault (born December 26 1820; died September 18 1890): the première of his “Octaroon” on Dec 5; his bio here, and I wonder if James Joyce had his name in the back of his mind when he decided Hero was not a suitable surname for his Stephen

Eugène Louis Boudin (born July 12 1824; died August 8 1898): yet one more of Durand-Ruel’s finds, on Feb 5 - try here

Elias Bouwman (1636-1686): architect of the "Esnoga", the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, on Feb 1; follow this up here

Lieutenant Henry Robertson “Birdie” Bowers, known to his fellow pole-hunters as “Little Bowers” on Jan 15; he undertook most of the depot laying as preparation for the south pole attempt later in the year but wasn’t meant to be on the actual expedition. He was included at the last moment when one of the team chickened out, and accompanied the Polar Party by leading a pony called Victor pulling a sledge. He made it to the Pole, but died on the way back, aged just 29. Full story and lots of photos here

Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott - it would definitely be interesting to find a date to tell his story (he gets mentioned, but no more than that, on Jan 4, and again on Bloomersday - May 26), but obviously, given who he was, I shall refrain from doing so, as a matter of principle

William J Brady: shot dead by William Henry McCarty Jr on Nov 23, one bad guy killing another

Simon-René Braille: Louis’ dad, on Jan 4

Kenneth Charles Branagh: playing Shackleton on Jan 5; born Dec 10; also on Thespian World

Giovanni Branca (born April 22 1571; died January 24 1645): described a steam turbine, in "Le Machine", on March 29

Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Queen Caroline, wife of George II: gave poet Richard Savage fifty pounds on Jan 16

Richard Charles Nicholas Branson: flying Virgin Cosmos on April 6 [what might be worth writing about is the upstairs shop by Tot Ct Rd where he started, and do that as a contrast wit Julien Richer starting his in his study at boarding school]

Eva Ann Paula Braun: the other mentionee on April 30 is on the GER page - and why isn’t she? She knew what she was getting into bed with. Bio here

Dina Brawer: became the UK's first "female Orthodox Rabbi" on June 3; click here for her website [husband Naftali Brawer has apparently moved on from Elstree - click here - so I need to update the blog-page]

George Bryan was on the 1586/7 Denmark tour on Sept 2, which included performing at Elsinore (here); bio here

Solomon Bregman: one of the leaders of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee formed in the Soviet Union in April 1942 and caught up in the Yiddish writers plot on August 12; he collapsed into a coma during the trial and died in January 1953

Dorothy Eugénie Brett (born November 10 1883; died August 27 1977) is responsible for the portrait of DHL on March 2. Pics and bio here

Earl Brewster and his wife Achsah Barlow-Brewster are among the last friends of DHL on March 2; interesting letter from Willa Cather here, more details of their friendship here, and the Brewster book here

Rigborg Brockenhuus: mothering a child with Rosenkrantz on Sept 2; her story here and here

John Brydges, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, escorted Queen Jane (Lady Jane Grey-Dudley) to the scaffold on July 19. Bio here

James Brook: translator of Victor Serge on Aug 20

Arthur Brooke's "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" on Jan 30 - click here for background data, but alas I am unable to find an online text (no, correct that – see Richard Tottel, below and click here)

Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973): passionately pro-Communist on June 28. The Marxist perspective here; possibly the other side here

Brueghel: is the illustration on Dec 13 by the Elder or the Younger? And which Elder as there are at least two: Pieter and Jan: Pieter here, Jan here, Pieter the Younger here, Jan the Younger here

Hugh Bryce: “a mercer and alderman of the city of London”, commissioned William Caxton to translate and publish Gautier de Metz's 1246 encyclopaedia "L'image du monde", under the English title "The Mirrour of the World", and gave it as a present to Lord Hastings, Edward IV’s Lord Chamberlain, on March 8

Jose Arcadio Buendia, the patriarchal “Adam” of Jorge Luis Borges’ novel “Cien años de la Soledad” (“One Hundred Years of Solitude”) on Jan 2

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov: typed out by Yevgeny Yevtushenko on July 18; bio here