CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
To devour a king's person was, in the 1400s, considered an act of "negromancy, sorcerie, heresie, and treason" (The Beauties of England and Wales, 1810).
"About this time there occurred a strange incident." A preliminary drawing for a 1950 strip cartoon version of Animal Farm from the cartoonist Norman Pett and his writing partner Donald Freeman.
How well do you know your pig-headed ghouls of history? This one, from Fun magazine, 1864, is King Wilhelm of Prussia. (The answer is in black text on a black background. Highlight it to view.)