ROSS SIMPSON

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870)

Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school at the age of 12
to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors’
prison. After three years he was returned to school, before he began
his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for
20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories
and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, and campaigned vigorously for children’s rights, education and other social reforms.

In 1836 Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, with whom he would
have nine children. He died from a stroke in 1870 at the age of 58,
with his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, still unfinished.

On November 23, 1936, the first issue of the pictorial magazine
Life was published, featuring a cover photo of the Fort Peck
Dam’s spillway by Margaret Bourke-White.

Life actually had its start earlier in the 20th century as a different
kind of magazine: a weekly humor publication, not unlike today’s
The New Yorker in its use of tart cartoons, humorous pieces and
cultural reporting. When the original Life folded during the Great Depression, the influential American publisher Henry Luce bought
the name and re-launched the magazine as a picture-based
periodical.

.

Edgar Allan Poe’s story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," first
appeared in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine. The
tale is generally considered to be the first detective story.

The story describes the extraordinary “analytical power” used
by Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin to solve a series of murders in
Paris. Like the later Sherlock Holmes stories, the tale is narrated
by the detective’s roommate.

Following the publication of Poe’s story, detective stories began
to grow into novels and English novelist Wilkie Collins published
a detective novel, The Moonstone, in 1868.

SANDY KOZEL

At noon April 10, 1912, the White Star Liner Titanic sets sail on her maiden voyage from the docks of Southampton UK to New York
Harbor.