W
Joanna W, last-name unknown, name-dropped by Peter Altenberg on Feb 21
Bessie Wallis Warfield (then Wallis Warfield Spencer, then Wallis Simpson, later still the Duchess of Windsor) (born June 19 1896; died April 24 1986): the reason for an abdication on Dec 11 - but does she go on the GER page instead? I am keeping her here; after all, had it not been for her, Edward would have stayed king, and Britain would have supported and joined Hitler.
William Wadeford (14th century, exact dates unknown) - in disagreement with John Wycliffe on May 4; the full tale here
Richard Wallace (born July 26 1818; died July 20 1890): donor of one of the world’s great art collections on April 16
Nikolas (Nik) Wallenda: doing a poor imitation of Blondin on June 30
Robert Walpole (born August 26 1676; died March 18 1745); and Horace Walpole (born: September 24 1717; died March 2 1797): senior can be found establishing Downing Street as the Prime Ministerial home on Dec 4; junior has his feet up at one of Elizabeth Montagu’s salons on Oct 2; but defeated in his attempt to put his foot down on May 16; his bio here; founding the Gothic novel here
Francis Walsingham (born circa 1532; died April 6 1590): a major figure in my novel “Roderigo Lopes, The Plausible Tragedie of an Insignificant Man”; serving as both Q and M on Nov 5; bio here
Bruno Walter (born September 15 1876; died February 17 1962): conducting Bruckner on Feb 11
John Walter (born January 1 1738; died November 16 1812): founded “The Daily Universal Register” on his birthday; renamed it "The Times" on a later Jan 1
William Walworth (1322-1385): the mayor of London on whose street - somewhat ironically it must be said given that he was the man who put down the Peasant’s Revolt - Labour Party HQ now stands; on June 15
George Washington (born February 22 1732; died December 14 1799): has a town named after him on Nov 3; re-elected US President, with John Adams as his VP, on Dec 5 - bio here and here
Paul Watkins: playing the cello on April 1 – bio here
Jean-Antoine Watteau (born October 19 1684; died July 18 1721): just one more among the many at the Wallace Collection on April 16
William Fense Weaver (born July 24 1923: died November 12 2013): translating “Zeno's Conscience” on Dec 19 - click here for the book, here for the man
Avi Weiss: ordaining Lila Kagedan on June 3 - here, or better still the Maharat website, here
Harry Houdini - Erik Weisz, or probably Ehrich Weiss in Romanian, and Chaim ben Maier at his Bar Mitzvah (born March 24 1874; died October 31 1926): bio and feats here – failed to escape from this blog on Aug 23
Julius Wellhausen (born May 17 1844; died January 7 1918): Bible text critic who came up with the Documentary Hypothesis – goes with Graf et al on Oct 10
Roger de Wendover (birthdate unknown; died May 6 1236): his “Flores Historiarum” on March 12
Karl (anglicised to Charles) Adrien Wettach, “The Grock” (born January 10 1880; died July 14 1959): turns out to have been Jewish, as well as Swiss: among the clowns on Dec 18 - bio here; slightly fuller bio with pictures here
Ray Wheedon: performing Woody Guthrie on Oct 3
John Adams Whipple (born September 10 1822; died April 10 1891): daguerrotyping the moon on Jan 2
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (Cilla Black): Cloakroom attendant at The Cavern Club on Jan 16
Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund (born September 11 1903; died August 6 1969): remembered by his pseudonym as Adorno, or fully Theodor W. Adorno, the W keeping the Wiesengrund for sentimental reasons: an inferno of over-written criticism on Feb 11
Richard Purdy Wilbur (born March 1 1921; died October 14 2017): poetry and translations from the classics here; his translation of Villon's Epitaph, "The Ballade Of The Hanged Men" is on Jan 5
Shirley Vivian Teresa Williams (born July 27 1930; died April 11 2021): daughtering Vera Brittain on Dec 29
Theodore (“Teddy ”) Shaw Wilson (born November 24 1912; died July 31 1986): a black musician under a Jewish band-leader! Oi! A recipe for controversy on Jan 16; "the definitive swing pianist, gentle, elegant, and virtuosic, influenced by Earl Hines and Art Tatum”; listen to him here
Charlie Winter’s translation of the Islamic State women's movement's - the al Khanssaa Brigade's - manifesto "Women of the Islamic State” available by hyperlink on Jan 14; who he is here
Thomas Wolsey (born March 1473; died November 29 1530): doing politics on Dec 16 - here
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (born December 28 1856; died February 3 1924): calling presidentially for a star-spangled banner on March 3
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (born April 26 1889 in Vienna, where he went to school with Hitler; died April 29 1951 in Cambridge): in the line of great thinkers on Feb 22; honoured with a plaque at the The London Bridge Niche on Feb 23
Pelham Grenville (P.G) Wodehouse (born October 15 1881); died February 14 1975: playing Guildernstern on Sept 2 – bio at his own website here
Simon Wolf (born in Bavaria on October 28 1836; emigrated to the US in 1848 and settled in Ohio, where he studied law; died June 4 1923): sounds like he might have been an interesting man (click here): but also this on his apparent “role” in the assassination of Lincoln: which changes everything about the piece I have written if it is true! Dec 17
Henry Joseph Wood: (born March 3 1869; died August 19 1944): rearranging Mussorgsky on June 2 - the hall named for him is here
Eldrick Tont (“Tiger”) Woods is on Dec 12 - but honestly, what chance can anyone have in life if their parents name them Eldrick Tont!
Henry Wriothesley (born October 6 1573; died November 10 1624): dumping Shakespeare for Florio on Jan 30
Anne Wroe's biography of Pontius Pilate can be found on May 11 (her full-time job here, and I wonder, if all her weekly and other pieces were to be published in a single book – book? encyclopedia practically! - would it require even more volumes than this Book of Days.)
Joan Olivia Wyndham (born October 11 1921; died April 8 2007): a WAAF, in jubilant mood, on May 2; later a writer of some esteem in certain circles: click here
William Wynham of St Albans (dates unknown): starting the attack on Wycliffe on May 4 - gets a mention here, but there is also more on Wycliffe on the site
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