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1 year

Elton John, 1973

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Diaries of Note

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On this day in 1969, Dinah went to the arts centre.

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"Left the Beatles" —George Harrison, 10th January 1969

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"When I die I shall go to May." A beautiful diary entry written by @TheMontyDon on this day in 2003:

When I die I shall go to May

Monty Don at the Hampton Court Flower Show, 2011 Photo: Mark Wordy (CC BY 2.0) British gardener Monty Don has been educating and inspiring the public for decades through his love of nature, beginni…

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English diarist Caroline Fox in 1848.

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On this day in 1969, Elton John didn't get much done.

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We’ve all done it.

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Happy birthday Franz Kafka! His diary in 1915 as he attempted to write The Trial.

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On this day in 2007, Joan Rivers was enjoying Wimbledon. (From 'Diary of a Mad Diva')

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Renowned British drama critic James Agate wrote a list of resolutions in his diary on this day in 1942. Read the full diary entry:

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On this day in 1953, Salvador Dalí was overjoyed to be Salvador Dalí.

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Nobel Prize-winning novelist Thomas Mann on this day in 1948.

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A glowing review on this day in 1886.

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"I cast aside my sweat-soaked corset in some relief while Kate collapses on the grass. She cries. I beg for alcohol." Emma Thompson's diary on this day in 1995, the final day of the Sense and Sensibility shoot:

Last day of shoot

Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility, 1995 Photo: colaimages / Alamy Emma Thompson spent five years crafting the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, a period that might be described a…

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Extremely excited and mildly nervous to say that the day after tomorrow, on 1st January 2023, Diaries of Note will finally be launching.

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@benkbullock I’m already married but thanks.

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"No sooner am I happy, than he crushes me." Sofia Tolstoy's diary on this day in 1862, two weeks after marrying Leo Tolstoy:

No sooner am I happy, than he crushes me

The Tolstoys in 1910Photo: Valentin Bulgakov via Wikimedia It was on the eve of their wedding in September of 1862 that Russian writer Leo Tolstoy showed his diaries to 18-year-old Sofia Behrs, the…

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In 1661, Samuel Pepys managed to get into Westminster Abbey to watch the coronation of King Charles II. He then celebrated a little too much, and later threw up all over himself. His diary for that day:

CORONACION DAY

John Michael Wright, Portrait of Charles II, c. 1671-1676, oil on canvasRCIN 404951, Royal Collection Trust On 23rd April 1661, a decade after fleeing the country following defeat by Oliver Cr…

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On this day in 1851, Tolstoy had buyer's remorse. Full diary entry:

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Adrian Mole, 30th June 1982 (From 'The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole')

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"I thought I should have vomited." A decade before publication of 'Jane Eyre', 19-year-old Charlotte Brontë worked as a teacher. She hated her job, and in her journal called her pupils "fat headed oafs" and "dolts." An entry she wrote on this day in 1836:

I thought I should have vomited

Charlotte BrontëPainted by Evert A. Duyckinck, based on a drawing by George Richmond For three unhappy years, starting in August of 1835 when she was just nineteen, Charlotte Brontë served as a tea…

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"I no longer love the sun or the flowers." In the days and weeks that followed Pierre Curie's death, Marie Curie kept a mourning journal. This entry came on 14 May 1906:

I no longer love the sun or the flowers

Marie Curie and Pierre Curie in 1903 Photographer unknown, via Wikimedia It was only a year after first meeting, in 1895, that Marie and Pierre Curie became husband and wife. Together, they made gr…

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MY BIG GIBSON GUITAR HAS GOT A SIGN I PAINTED ON IT, SAYS, "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS". On this day in 1944, Woody Guthrie wrote in his diary:

THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS

Woody Guthrie in 1943 Photo: Al Aumuller Woody Guthrie was a folk pioneer, social activist, and restless wanderer who journeyed across the country, connecting with the struggles and aspirations of …

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The inimitable Kenneth Williams, on this day in 1968.

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"My cat moves silently, making not a single sound, like a black dragon above the clouds." In his diary on this day in 889, Emperor Uda affectionately spoke of his beloved cat:

Like a black dragon above the clouds

Portrait of Emperor Uda Wikipedia In 887, aged just 21, Emperor Uda succeeded his father, Emperor Kōkō, to become the 59th emperor of Japan—a role he would fill for ten years until making way for h…

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"She thought she was my mother—was ashamed and outraged if I was noisy or loud-talking, slapped me if I was blah, avoided me scornfully if I was drunk, approved if I typed." On this day in 1945, Dawn Powell's cat died:

She cured me of the disease of night fear

Dawn Powell’s diary, 29 Sept 1945© Estate of Dawn Powell Dawn Powell was a master of incisive, sharp-witted prose that dissected the intricacies and follies of the human experience. Born in O…

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“To day has bin a memorable day and i thank god i have bin sperd to see it…” Emilie Davis’ diary on 1st Jan 1863, a momentous day on which millions of African American slaves in Confederate states were officially granted their freedom:

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On this day in 1968, Jimi Hendrix knelt in front of stage at a Joni Mitchell gig and recorded the whole thing on his reel-to-reel tape recorder. Read his diary entry from that day, and listen to one of the songs he recorded:

Fantastic girl with heaven words

Jimi Hendrix recording Joni Mitchell, 19 March 1968 Had you been at Café Le Hibou in Ottawa on the night of 19th March 1968, you would likely have witnessed something special: performing on st…

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When published in 1902, Mary MacLane's diary caused uproar. Never before had a woman been so frank and confessional. But her book was a hit: 100,000 copies sold in the first month alone. This was the second diary entry, written on this day in 1901:

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"Donald [Trump] was the kid who threw cake at the birthday party... The revelation that he has a collection of Hitler’s speeches at the office is going to make a lot of news." Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown on this day in 1990:

Donald was the kid who threw cake at the birthday party

Tina Brown in 1986 Photo: Bernard Gotfryd In 1983, at the age of thirty-one, British journalist Tina Brown moved to New York to become editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair, marking the start of a transfo…

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"ABBEY ROAD." On this day in 1969, the Beatles were photographed on a zebra crossing outside EMI Studios. In his diary that evening, the band's road manager drew the scene:

ABBEY ROAD

Mal Evans’ diary, 8th August 1969 On the morning of 8th August 1969, as a policeman held back traffic, all four members of the Beatles made their way across a zebra crossing outside EMI Studi…

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From the diary of Leo Tolstoy, born on this day in 1828

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18-year-old Flannery O’Connor's diary entry on this day in 1944:

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"Bugger." On this day in 1960, Formula One driver Stirling Moss broke both legs moments after a wheel fell off his Lotus. His diary entry that day:

Bugger

Stirling Moss at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix Photo: Harry Pot On 18th June 1960, during a practice run for the Belgian Grand Prix that was to take place the next day, British Formula One driver Stirl…

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Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky on this day in 1970.

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Award-winning playwright Lorraine Hansberry, born on this day in 1930.

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"How lucky were we?" Natascha McElhone's diary on this day in 2009, a year after the unexpected death of her husband:

How lucky were we?

Natasha McElhone with husband Martin in 2003Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images Natascha McElhone was 5,000 miles from home and pregnant with their third child when the call came, and in that instant…

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In her diary on this day in 1824, enveloped in grief following the deaths of three children and her husband in less than a decade, Mary Shelley wrote of her ongoing struggle:

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"I am just going outside and may be some time." In his diary on this day in 1912, Robert Falcon Scott recorded the last words of fellow explorer Lawrence Oates:

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29 years ago.

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"There seems to be no end to the senseless wickedness done on this little planet in a minor solar system, and we puny mortals appear to be decreasing in importance so far as the universe is concerned." Sir Alec Guinness' diary on this day in 1995:

We puny mortals

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University) On 2nd November 1995, NASA released a photograph that would become one of the most iconic images of space ever captured: …

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"Dear diary, I don’t want to die." The final entry from the diary of 13-year-old Éva Heyman, written shortly before she was deported to Auschwitz:

Dear diary, I don’t want to die

Éva HeymanWikimedia Éva Heyman spent much of her brief life in the company of her grandparents following the divorce of her parents when she was a young child. On her thirteenth birthday, in Februa…

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"I was just turning on my computer when we heard this enormous explosion. No-one could tell what it was. Someone looked out the window and saw a gaping hole in the side of the WTC with black smoke billowing out." On this day in 2001:

I can’t find the words

Photo by E.T. Smith @ Flickr (CC BY 2.0) Andy Horwitz had been sitting at his desk for a quarter of an hour when a loud bang shattered the morning calm. The time was 8:46 a.m., and the first of two…

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"Laughter is possible laughter is possible laughter is possible." On this day in 1965, Shirley Jackson wrote her final diary entry:

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On this day in 1990, Nelson Mandela wrote his last diary entry as a prisoner. Weeks later, after 27 years of imprisonment, he walked free:

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In his diary on this day in 1937, Russian surrealist Daniil Kharms wrote about a redheaded man:

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"It is impossible to think that I shall never sit with you again and hear your laugh. That everyday for the rest of my life you will be away." On this day in 1932, weeks after the death of Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington wrote in her diary:

I dreamt of you again last night

Lytton Strachey by Dora CarringtonOil on panel, 1916, NPG 6662© National Portrait Gallery, London Born in Hereford, England in 1893, Dora Carrington was an accomplished and posthumously acclaimed p…

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On this day in 1661, King Charles II was crowned. One person lucky enough to witness the spectacle was Samuel Pepys, who later described in some detail the unforgettable day—and drunken evening that followed—in his diary:

CORONACION DAY

John Michael Wright, Portrait of Charles II, c. 1671-1676, oil on canvasRCIN 404951, Royal Collection Trust On 23rd April 1661, a decade after fleeing the country following defeat by Oliver Cr…

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In her diary on this day in 1942, a few days after going into hiding, Anne Frank described the secret annex in which she would spend the next two years:

Our lovely Annex

Anne Frank’s diary Wikimedia Anne Frank was thirteen years old when she and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam, her world contracting to a few small rooms behind a bookcase in her fathe…

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“O God is there no redress, no peace, no justice in this land for us?” Ida B. Wells’ diary on this day in 1887:

O God is there no redress, no peace, no justice in this land for us?

Ida B. WellsPhoto: Mary Garrity, via Wikimedia Ida B. Wells was a trailblazing African American journalist, civil rights activist, and suffragist who courageously fought against racial injustice an…

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Almost eight months in and visits to the Diaries of Note blog are rising steadily. I'm thoroughly enjoying this project and just wanted to thank everyone who follows it, be it here or via the newsletter. Loads more to come.

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Every atom of hate we add to this world makes it still more inhospitable.

Every atom of hate we add to this world makes it still more inhospitable

Etty Hillesum, c.1940Photo: Joods Historisch Museum via Wikimedia On 7th September 1943, a year after writing the following diary entry, 29-year-old Etty Hillesum and her family were sent from West…

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"At the moment there is wild shooting going on. Four times I have turned the lights out while writing this." On this day in 1972, at the height of the Troubles, 17-year-old Eimear O'Callaghan wrote in her diary:

Four times I have turned the lights out while writing this

Eimear O’Callaghan weeks after this diary entry was writtenPhoto: Eimear O’Callaghan To live in Belfast in 1972 was to dwell in the heart of a storm, for this was the most violent year …

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"I need solitude. I need space. I need air." Virginia Woolf on this day in 1930:

I need solitude. I need space. I need air.

Virginia Woolf by George Charles Beresford, 1902 Wikimedia English novelist Virginia Woolf was fifteen when she began her first diary; by the time of her death in 1941, she had filled more than thi…

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“We have a masterpiece on our hands.” On this day in 1966, after seeing some early scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke wrote in his diary:

We have a masterpiece on our hands

Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images Despite a somewhat mixed response upon its release in 1968, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is now deemed a masterpiece of filmmaking b…

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"We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world." Harry S. Truman's diary on this day in 1945:

The most terrible thing ever discovered

The Trinity explosion, 16th July 1945 Photo: Jack Aeby When he wrote the following diary entry on 25th July of 1945, Harry S. Truman had been U.S. President for just three months. With Nazi Germany…

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"The light has gone out of my life" On this day in 1884, after the deaths of his wife and his mother, Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his diary:

The light has gone out of my life

Personal diary of Theodore Roosevelt, 1884 Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Division Theodore Roosevelt first met and fell for Alice Hathaway Lee in October of 1878. Late-1…

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"I have drunk of the wine of life at last." In 1907/8, Edith Wharton kept a diary in which she wrote of her affair with Morton Fullerton. Here's the entry she wrote on this day in 1908, as they spent time in Paris:

I have drunk of the wine of life at last

Edith Wharton (date unknown)Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division In 1907, fourteen years before she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton…

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"Influenza is causing terrible devastation. Our family has had to split up to attend all the funerals." The diary of Catalan writer Josep Pla, October 1918:

The crying could be heard from the street

The first page of Josep Pla’s diary, 8 March 1918Fundació Josep Pla “There is so much influenza about that they’ve had to shut the university.” The opening line in the diary of Jo…

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“All the skie was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven, and the light seene above 40 miles round about for many nights…” On this day in 1666, John Evelyn described the astonishing fire that had engulfed London:

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"Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death yesterday. How utterly mad it all is, this life business." Lorraine Hansberry's diary on this day in 1961:

How utterly mad it all is

Lorraine Hansberry, 1959 Photo: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo Although her life was cut tragically short, Lorraine Hansberry’s influence on American theatre was profoun…

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"Magic must always triumph." A journal entry by Keith Haring on this day in 1984:

Magic must always triumph

Keith Haring in April 1984 Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images Keith Haring was a magnetic force in the 1980s New York City art scene, his vibrant street art redefining the boundaries between high …

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How important those empty days are.

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For 63 days in 1962, Michel Siffre isolated himself in an underground icy cavern devoid of clocks, calendars, and sunlight to explore the mysteries of the human body clock. Armed with only a diary, he recorded his shifting perception of time:

I really seem to have no idea of the passage of time

Michel Siffre writing in his diary underground in August 1962 Photo: Claude Sauvageot Michel Siffre’s intrigue with caves took root when he was just ten, and in 1962, aged twenty-three, he em…

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Margaret Thompson was one of hundreds of suffragettes to spend time at Holloway Prison. Her diary entry on this day in 1912, written nine days before she went on hunger strike:

It amused me to see his attitude

Suffragettes in their cells at Holloway Prison, 1909. Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images It was in 1906 that the first suffragette entered the imposing gates of Holloway Pri…

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28th June 1923: A diary entry written by the incredible Ada Blackjack, who somehow survived a doomed expedition to Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean:

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"I sat watching the film, holding Marlene [Dietrich]'s hand, crushing it without noticing what I was doing. The film unwound, revolved, sparkled, outside of me, solitary, unfeeling... It had killed me." Jean Cocteau's diary on this day in 1946:

The film had killed me

La Belle et la Bête (‘Beauty and the Beast’)Jean Cocteau, 1946 On the morning of 27th August 1945, shooting commenced on La Belle et la Bête, a French-language adaptation of the 1757 fa…

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"Although I feel no fear, my heart beats faster every time someone stops outside my door." On this day in 1945, weeks before he was executed by the Gestapo, 21-year-old Danish resistance fighter Kim Malthe-Bruun wrote a diary entry from his cell:

I suddenly understood what insanity must be

Kim Malthe-Bruun Photographer unknown. Wikimedia. When he wrote this entry at Copenhagen’s Vestre Prison in March of 1945, Kim Malthe-Bruun was twenty-one, and for the past three months he ha…

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“Color and I are one.” On this day in 1914, newly “possessed” by colour as he toured Tunisia, Paul Klee noted this artistic turning point in his diary:

Color and I are one

In the Style of Kairouan (1914) by Paul KleeWikimedia In 1914, everything changed for Paul Klee. Whilst sampling the delights of Tunisia on a twelve-day trip with fellow artists Louis Moilliet and …

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Invaluable advice from French author Jules Renard on this day in 1894.

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"To Day is the most Best day ever in my Life"

To Day is the most Best day ever in my Life

Image: National Institutes of Health On 25th August 1989, Canadian geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his stellar team at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children made a groundbreaking announcement: th…

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"I know that I shall not live very long. But I wonder, is that sad? Is a celebration more beautiful because it lasts longer?" The diary of German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker:

If I can paint three good pictures, then I shall go gladly

Self-portrait with hand on chin (1906) Paula Modersohn-Becker Paula Modersohn-Becker was just thirty-one when she died, her life tragically cut short in 1907 due to complications after childbirth. …

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On this day in 1891, following a wildly successful visit to New York City, Tchaikovsky was sailing home aboard the steamship Prince Bismarck.

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“We must be at the helm at least once a day; we must feel the tiller-rope in our hands, and know that if we sail, we steer.” Henry David Thoreau’s diary on this day in 1841:

We must be at the helm at least once a day

Portrait photograph from a daguerreotype of Thoreau by Benjamin Maxham Wikimedia Henry David Thoreau was a 19th century American essayist, poet, and philosopher known to most as the author of Walde…

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On this day in 1966, as French filmmaking icon François Truffaut began work on his “saddest and most difficult” shoot—an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 'Fahrenheit 451'—he wrote in his diary. Read the full entry from that day:

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"Ran through Ritz, walked miles, drank in Dorchester." On this day in 1945, Japan surrendered, bringing WWII to an end. One of the millions to celebrate was Princess Elizabeth. Her diary that day:

Ran through Ritz, walked miles, drank in Dorchester

Princess Elizabeth as a 2nd Subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service© IWM TR 2835 On 15th August of 1945, three months after Nazi Germany’s surrender in Europe, the world rejoiced as Ja…

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"It all began so beautifully." On this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy was killed. Not far behind him, in the same motorcade, was Lady Bird Johnson, wife of then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. She later described the chaos & heartbreak in her diary:

It all began so beautifully

Lady Bird Johnson working on her diary in White HousePhoto by Robert Knudsen, November 15, 1968 On 22nd November 1963, an unfathomable tragedy unfolded under the Texas sky as the motorcade carrying…

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"A very wonderfull scene." The earliest written record of people surfing, from the Endeavour Journal of botanist Jospeh Banks on this day in 1769:

A very wonderfull scene

Longhouse and Canoes in Tahiti, 1969British Library In 1768, British botanist Joseph Banks was one of nearly a hundred crew members to join Captain James Cook on the first of three historic voyages…

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I never saw daffodils so beautiful

Ullswater from Gobarrow Park, by J. M. W. Turner, watercolor, 1819 Wikimedia Born in the English county of Cumberland on Christmas Day, 1771, Dorothy Wordsworth was an author, poet, and diarist arg…

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"Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you." On this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell used his newly-patented telephone to speak with his assistant. His entry from that day:

Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you

Alexander Graham Bell family papers, Library of Congress Enlarge On 10th March of 1876, over a short distance in a laboratory in Boston, history was made when 29-year-old inventor Alexander Graham …

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"Meet a twenty-four-year-old scriptwriter called J.J." In his diary on this day in 1991, Richard E. Grant describes meeting a young scriptwriter who would eventually direct him in 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.'

Meet a twenty-four-year-old scriptwriter called J.J.

Richard E. Grant in Hudson Hawk (1991) with Sandra Bernhard and Bruce WillisPhoto by TriStar/Getty Images Everything changed for Richard E. Grant in 1987 when his big screen debut in Bruce Robinson…

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2 years

In 2013, having been blind for 16 years, Kevin Coughlin began to see again. He recorded the return of his sight in a journal that’s filled with moments of joy as the "thick fog" lifts. An entry written on this day in 2014:

Love Will Never Do without You

Love Will Never Do without You YouTube In the early hours of 14th August 2013, Kevin Coughlin was stunned to notice light reflecting off a mirror in his bathroom, marking the beginning of an extrao…

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2 years

On this day in 1779, Rev. James Woodforde found a plaster:

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1 year

"Apparently most of her work involves hanging in harness alongside Christopher Reeve..." Michael Palin's diary on this day in 1977, after chatting with Margot Kidder as she worked on Superman:

They have to fight an eagle on the top of the Empire State Building

Michael Palin with a goose, October 1980Photo by McCarthy/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Michael Palin, born in Sheffield on 5th May 1943, is best known as a member of Monty Python, who …

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11 months

"Now is the time." The final diary entry of 21-year-old Jennifer Bonner, written shortly before undergoing a heart transplant:

Now is the time

Jennifer Bonner’s diaryPhoto: ‘The Wait: Love, Fear, and Happiness on the Heart Transplant List’ Shortly after writing this diary entry on 3rd December 1988, 21-year-old Jennifer …

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2 years

"The ocean is strewn with a litter of woodwork, chairs and bodies." In his diary on this day in 1912, Frederick A. Hamilton described the first day of the recovery operation after RMS Titanic struck an iceberg.

The ocean is strewn with a litter of woodwork, chairs and bodies

Diary of Frederick A Hamilton, 20/21 Apr 1912, JOD/221/1© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London On the fateful morning of 21st April 1912, cable engineer Frederick A. Hamilton steeled himself…

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11 months

"The human is a creature of paradox." The diary of pioneering tennis player Arthur Ashe on this day in 1973:

The human is a creature of paradox

Arthur Ashe in 1975Rob Bogaerts / Anefo When he wrote the following diary entry in 1973, 30-year-old Arthur Ashe had already carved out a distinguished place in sporting history, not just as a form…

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1 year

"Why me?" Spalding Gray on this day in 2001, shortly after a car crash from which he would never truly recover:

Why me?

Spalding Gray in Swimming in Cambodia, 1987 Photo: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Famous for the autobiographical monologues he performed on stage, American actor and writer Spalding Gray turned hi…

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"I'm getting more confident and angrier each time." On this day in 1948, after receiving yet another rejection letter from a publisher, a defiant Jack Kerouac wrote in his journal:

I’m getting more confident and angrier each time

Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ journal, 1948-49 The Estate of Stella Kerouac From the age of fourteen Jack Kerouac could often be found carrying a spiral notebook in which to record…

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1 year

"Chaos ashore." On this day in 1944, Reverend Leslie Skinner was the first British chaplain to land on the beaches of Normandy. His diary entry that day:

Chaos ashore

Allied troops landing on Gold beach on 6 June 1944Wikimedia On 6th June 1944, approximately 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy in an effort to reclaim France from Nazi con…

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1 year

"Adolf Hitler is said to be dead." From the incredible diary of Friedrich Kellner, on this day in 1945:

Adolf Hitler is said to be dead

Friedrich Kellner in 1923 Courtesy of Robert Kellner On 1st September 1939, Friedrich Kellner, a German justice inspector and committed Social Democrat, embarked upon a courageous mission that woul…

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2 years

When he was thirteen, F. Scott Fitzgerald began to keep a diary that he called his "Thoughtbook." His final entry came on this day in 1911:

I am just crazy about Margaret Armstrong

Photo: Biblio In August of 1910, long before producing the iconic novels for which he is now known, F. Scott Fitzgerald began to write Thoughtbook of Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald of St Paul Minn. U…

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2 years

On this day in 1950, having recently arrived in New York City on a UN refugee ship, Lithuanian filmmaker Jonas Mekas wrote in his diary:

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2 years

To day has bin a memorable day (1st January 1863)

To day has bin a memorable day

Born in 1838, Emilie Davis was a free African American woman who lived and worked as a seamstress in the city of Philadelphia. It was in 1863, aged 24, that Davis began to keep a written record of …

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1 year

"I am the mother of these children, the wife of the director of this multimillion-dollar production, and I hadn’t given a thought to my family this morning." Eleanor Coppola's diary on this day in 1976, as Apocalypse Now is being filmed:

Why am I always struggling to get them to blend?

Eleanor Coppola, on location, 1979 Photo: United Artists/courtesy Everett Collection In March of 1976, Eleanor Coppola and her family waved goodbye to their home in California and headed for the Ph…

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1 year

"To think she had had to give her life because men will not listen to the claims of reason and of justice."

It was only fitting she should be honoured publicly

Suffragettes during the funeral procession of Emily Davison, June 1913 Wikimedia At the Epsom Derby on 4th June 1913, as the race was in full swing, 40-year-old suffragette Emily Wilding Davison du…

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1 year

@benkbullock Apology accepted x

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1 year

“What a blow for France and for the whole civilized world.” A diary entry from the incredible Virginia d’Albert-Lake:

France has capitulated

Virginia d’Albert-Lake On 22nd June 1940, just six weeks after German forces began their assault on western Europe, France surrendered to Hitler’s ferocious regime and life changed irre…

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