So, here's the first part of a mini bio I want to write on Lord Byron. More to come (on my return from France).
“A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.” - Lord Byron, (1788 – 1824), the first ‘famous’ person of England.
There are many talented and wonderful writers to come out of England, including the poet Lord Byron. However, it would seem that with great talent comes great eccentricities and boy, did Byron have a few of those.
Let me start from the beginning. His father, 'Mad Jack' was a drinking, gambling brute who had the occasional romp with his sister Frances. Prison also ran in the family with 'Mad Jack' being sentenced for debts and also Byron's Grand-Uncle, John Byron did his stint for murder. John Byron, also known as the Wicked Lord had a penchant for affairs with the servants and casting off illegitimate kids. He was loaded (financially and otherwise), however, Byron's father was not.
Byron spent most his childhood alone with his mother. She was not a gambler, nor was she an adulterer nor had she committed any crimes of incest or murder. She was just plain looking and fat and suffered from crazy mood swings where one minute would be spent nurturing and mothering her son to the next moment brandishing him with burning hot tongs. Byron would retaliate by pricking her arms with safety pins whilst in church. Nice family eh?
The Wicked Lord’s son eloped with his cousin, making the uncle so miffed that he burnt down every oak tree on his property and killed over 2000 of his roaming deer to make sure the son would draw the short end of the stick when it came to his inheritance. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. But it didn't matter in the end because by the time the uncle died so had his son - and whammo - Byron was made a Lord and had his own estate.
