In the tenth and final episode of season 7 of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast we take a brief look at the life of the man who is considered to be the father of modern computing - Charles Babbage

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In episode 9 of the seventh season of 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the life of one of the World's favourite children's authors and illustrators - Beatrix Potter.

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“It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that some portion of the neglect of science in England, may be attributed to the system of education we pursue. – Charles Babbage.

Charles Babbage Biography

Often considered the father of computing, Charles Babbage was an 18th-century polymath, meaning he was a person who had expertise in several different subject areas and possessed the ability to take the complex and create solutions from them. In Charles’ case, he was a man who modern space agencies would have loved to employ – a mechanical engineer, mathematician, and inventor most well-known for creating the concept of the programmable computer.

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Babbage was born on 26 December 1791 in London. Sadly he developed a bad fever at the tender age of eight so he was sent to a country school near Exeter. Later he would attend King Edward VI Grammar School in Totnes, but again his health failed and he had to have a private tutor assist him. Afterward, he attended the Holmwood Academy in Enfield, Middlesex.

The academy only had thirty students as well as a library that provoked Charles’s passion for mathematics. After leaving the academy, he continued studying with other private tutors. His first tutor was a clergyman near Cambridge. His second tutor was from Oxford through whom Charles excelled in classics so much so that he qualified to be accepted by Cambridge.

Babbage began learning at the University of Cambridge in 1810 at age nineteen. Being previously self-taught in many areas of mathematics, Charles was disappointed in the basic mathematics taught there. Charles Babbage helped to form the Analytical Society whose desire was to promote the Leibnizian notation for calculus. (This is the notation convention that uses dx and dy for infinitesimally small increments of each character.)

He was also a member of the Ghost Club, an organization that investigated supernatural happenings. Transferring to Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1812, Babbage was the top mathematician. Despite this, however, he did not graduate with honors but received a degree without examination in 1814.

1814 would prove to be a good year for him. Not only did he graduate university that year, he and a friend, Edward Ryan, would marry the Whitmore sisters. Babbage would go on to have nine children.

The Analytical Society that Charles Babbage had helped form while in college soon began to be more than just a collegiate exploit. He and some of his colleagues translated the French mathematician Sylvestre Lacroix’s calculus work into English and subsequently published it.

Life would not be so good for him when it came to finding a career. He kept applying for jobs but kept getting turned down, time and again. In 1820 Babbage helped found what would become the Royal Astronomical Society to support astronomical research, aiming to standardize astronomical calculations as well as circulate data.

It was his time at the Royal Astronomical Society that would begin to make his mark in the world. He was interested in ways to correct errors in math tables, and he created the “difference engine” which he revealed to the world on 14 June 1822 in a paper entitled, “Note on the Application of Machinery to the Computation of Astronomical and Mathematical Tables.” This machine could calculate polynomials using a mathematical method called the differences method. They approved of the idea, as did the government who granted him £1500.

In 1824 he won the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal for his invention of the “difference engine” that was capable of calculating mathematical and astronomical tables. Some consider Charles Babbage to be the father of the modern computer because of his inventing the first programmable computer that paved the way for more complex models in the future.

 “Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” – Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter Biography

Helen Beatrix Potter was born on 28 July 1866 in West Brompton, which is in London, England. She had a relatively privileged upbringing, being born into an upper-class household. She was the daughter of Rupert William Potter who was a lawyer and Helen Leech who was the daughter of a successful cotton merchant and shipbuilder. The family’s wealth enabled Beatrix to be educated by three governesses during her childhood, the last of which, Annie Moore, who was only three years older than her, she remained friends with throughout her life.

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Annie would go on to have eight children of her own and Beatrix Potter would send them beautiful illustrated letters and it was Annie who suggested that these could form the basis of a series of books for children.

Her upbringing also had its downside though, in that she was fairly isolated from other children. Her holidays were spent traveling in Scotland where she developed a love for the natural world using paintings and drawings to help her to describe the flora and fauna of the area. Over time Beatrix Potter developed a particular interest in studying mushrooms and other fungi and her artistic skills improved as she described her observations. Her work is considered to be so good that it is still used today by mycologists to help identify fungi and a collection of her work can be found at the Perth Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland.

Not having many other children around whilst she was growing up, meant that she spent a lot of time with her younger brother, Walter Bertram. As children, they had many small pet animals which they kept and looked after in their schoolroom including rabbits, a hedgehog, bats, and a significant collection of butterflies and other insects which they studied and drew.

Beatrix Potter was very well read and was influenced by stories of fairy tales and fantasy. She read stories such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales, and Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Potter also said that the illustrations from Alice in Wonderland inspired her at a young age. She loved works that included illustrations and began to develop her own style, often creating illustrations for classic stories such as Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Puss-in-Boots. Her illustrations also included fantasy works based on her pet rabbits, kittens, mice, and guinea pigs.

As a teenager, Beatrix Potter enjoyed visiting the art galleries in London and she became a relatively sophisticated art critic. From the age of 14, she kept a journal, which she wrote in code, a simple substitution cipher which she developed herself and she recorded her observations when she visited art exhibitions within it.

By the 1890s Beatrix and her brother were looking for ways to earn a little money and began to illustrate Christmas cards and cards for other occasions with the subjects still based around their pets, particularly the mice and rabbits. Several of her drawings of Benjamin Bunny were sold to a publisher and later she also sold some frog illustrations which accompanied a popular annual called Changing Pictures. It was during this time that Beatrix began to think about publishing her own illustrated stories.

In 1893, Beatrix Potter was on holiday in Perthshire, Scotland and as she often did, sat down to write a letter to Noel, the eldest son of her last governess, Annie Moore. The problem was that Beatrix couldn’t really think of anything interesting to tell him in the letter, so she decided to write a story for him based around the characters of four little rabbits called Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.

In episode 8 of the seventh season of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the life of mathematics genius, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner - Bertrand Russell.

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“I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong” – Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell Biography

Bertrand Russell was one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. He was born into a life within the British aristocracy on 18 May 1872. His father was John Russell, Viscount Amberley who was a British Politician and eldest son of John Russell who had served two terms as British Prime Minister. His mother was Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley who was prominent in the British suffrage movement, and so it seemed that Bertrand Russell had a lot to live up to. In fact, few men would know a heavier weight to bear from parental influence than Russell whose father expected great things from him; however, even his father could never have imagined the heights and the greatness that Bertrand Russell would achieve in his lifetime across the span of the humanities.

Bertrand Russell’s life was dominated by liberal ideals. Both of his parents were considered extremely forward-thinking – almost to the point of scandal at the time.  Bertrand’s father consented to his wife having an affair; they were also in favour of birth control which was a hugely distasteful position to have in the Victorian era. Bertrand’s father even insisted that his son grow up atheist, which was again a fairly innovative position given the age in which he grew up.

Despite every opportunity at success throughout his childhood and young years, Bertrand Russell was often depressed and thoughts of suicide were his constant companions. His life was a lonely one; not having the same views as many of his peers due to his upbringing cost him no small measure of isolationism from his fellow peers. This, coupled with his gifted mind, set him apart in many respects.

However, even at a young age, his brilliance could not be stifled and it was his enduring love of mathematics that he would later say saved his life. But a keen sense of mathematics was not his only passion as he also was extremely interested in religious subjects as well. Thoroughly investigating and probing Christianity in particular, he ultimately found it to be unbelievable as he came to the personal conclusion that there is no such thing as free will.

It was these early forays into mathematics with one of his all-time favourite writers, the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, as well as his first investigations into religion with Christianity that would be the hallmarks of a brilliant philosophical and mathematical career to come.

Bertrand Russell’s far-flung beliefs would sometimes land him not just in controversy but in trouble with the law itself. During World War I, Russell advocated for a peaceful solution to the war to such a degree that he was fined a hundred pounds. Russell was always a man of deep conviction and principles and refused to pay the fine as he wanted to make his political statement by going to prison. His friends, however, had a different idea in mind and instead they sold his books to raise the money. To ensure the books sold at auction they sold the books to themselves!

Later, when he got some of his books returned, it was his version of the King James Bible that he would hold as a personal treasure due to it being stamped with the words “Confiscated by Cambridge Police”. Here was a union between two of his greatest loves – his early inspiration for philosophical thinking as well a mark of his liberal ideals stamped on the very page of that book.

Bertrand Russell could not keep his mouth shut for long and shortly after his release from prison the first time, he ended up going back again due to giving lectures on why the United States should keep out of World War I. As an influential college professor, his words carried weight and many in the UK government even viewed them as seditious.

Over the course of his lifetime, Bertrand Russell’s views would change.

In episode 7 of the seventh season of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the ultimately tragic life of a true legend of jazz music - Billie Holiday.

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“I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.” – Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday Biography

Billie Holiday was a well-known American jazz singer who was born on 7 April 1915 as Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her prolific singing career spanned almost thirty years and what she lacked in formal music education and range, she made up for with style. She was known for her improvisational skills creating different methods of tempo, vocal delivery and phrasing with jazz instrumentalists heavily inspiring her singing style.

Her parents were unmarried teenagers Sarah Julia Fagan who was known to everyone as Sadie and Clarence Holiday. Her mother Sarah was evicted from her parent’s home in Baltimore, Maryland after she became pregnant with Eleanora at the age of only nineteen.

Sarah moved to Pennsylvania, but Clarence decided to leave his family just after Eleanora was born to become a jazz banjo player. As Sarah’s parents also offered her no support, she sent Eleanora initially to live with her married half-sister in Baltimore.

Billie Holiday continued to have a difficult childhood and was raised by numerous people during the first decade of her life. Her mother worked in transportation jobs, mostly as a server for passenger trains and so Billie did not spend that much time with her. She was often absent from school and ended up in juvenile court in 1925 at the age of nine. After this, she went to a Catholic reform school called House of the Good Shepherd. Nine months later she was reunited with her mother who had opened a restaurant. They worked there together many long hours and by the age of eleven, Billie had completely dropped out of school.

When Billie Holiday was ten years old a neighbour had attempted to rape her, but he was arrested, and she returned to House of the Good Shepherd as a form of protective custody. At twelve years old she worked for a brothel running errands and she also scrubbed floors in the neighbourhood. At this time she also started listening to music and heard the records of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong.

In 1929 she went to live with her mother in Harlem, New York. Their landlady ran a brothel where Billie’s mother worked as a prostitute and it wasn’t long before mother and daughter were working together again with Billie becoming a prostitute herself at the age of only fourteen.

At around the same time, Billie Holiday started singing in nightclubs around Harlem. She took her father’s last name and the first name of Billie Dove, an actress she looked up to, and Billie Holiday was born. In 1932 she was singing at a club where she had replaced singer Monette Moore for the evening. Producer John Hammond had come to hear Moore sing but ended up hearing Holiday instead, a piece of good fortune that led to Billie making her recording debut at the age of eighteen. The song she recorded, ‘Riffin’ the Scotch’, sold an impressive 5,000 copies and Hammond said of Holiday, “Her singing almost changed my music tastes and my musical life because she was the first girl singer I’d come across who actually sang like an improvising jazz genius.” She was compared with the great Louis Armstrong, which was an incredible compliment for her.

Her career transitioned from singles and jazz clubs to mainstream success with Decca Records and Columbia Records and her song with Teddy Wilson, ‘What a Little Moonlight Can Do’, became a jazz standard.

At one point she was in competition with another popular singer at the time, Ella Fitzgerald, but they would later become good friends.

When working for Columbia in the 1930s Billie Holiday sang the song “Strange Fruit” based on a dark poem about lynching. The lyrics include the words, “Southern trees bear strange fruit,

“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson Biography

Jack Roosevelt Robinson, known as Jackie, was born on 31 January 1919 in Cairo, Georgia, USA. He was the last of five children born into a family of sharecroppers which meant they worked the land for a landowner in return for a share of the crops they produced. Jackie’s middle name was given to him in honour of President Theodore Roosevelt who had died only 25 days before he was born.

Before Jackie was one-year-old, his father Jerry left the family and so his mother, Mallie moved along with Jackie and his three brothers Edgar, Frank and Matthew and his sister Willa Mae to a small plot containing two houses at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena, California. The neighbourhood itself was rather affluent compared to what the family had known before but as Mallie only had a few odd jobs with which to pay the bills, they themselves were relatively poor. Due to the lack of things to do for a kid in the neighbourhood, Jackie was tempted to join in the gang culture but was persuaded not to by his friend Carl Anderson.

In 1935 Jackie went to John Muir High School following his graduation from Washington Junior High and was persuaded to pursue his interest in sports by his brothers Matthew and Frank. (It should be noted that Jackie was not the only member of his family to become an accomplished sportsman. His brother Matthew, also known as Mack would become a silver medallist at the 1936 Summer Olympics).

Jackie played a number of sports at school including football, where he played quarterback, basketball, where he played guard, baseball, where he played short-stop and catcher. He also enjoyed track events and was a member of the tennis team. The Pasadena Star News in 1937 reported that Jackie had been the outstanding athlete at Muir for two years running.

After he graduated from Muir, Jackie went to college at Pasadena Junior College where he continued his interest in football, basketball, baseball, and track. In 1938 he was elected to the baseball team for the All-Southland Junior College team and became the region’s most valuable player. During the same year, he was recognised by the college for the commitment and dedication he showed to his work and for the outstanding service he gave to his school.

Also during this time, Jackie was persuaded to attend church regularly by the Rev. Karl Downs who became a confidant for him. He was also starting to have regular run-ins with authority figures including the police, especially when he or his friends became the targets of racially motivated incidents.

Towards the end of his time at Pasadena Junior College, the brother he was closest to, Frank, was killed in a motorcycle accident. This led to Jackie wanting to stay close to Frank’s family and so he decided to pursue his athletic career at UCLA which was nearby.

At UCLA Jackie Robinson once again excelled at his four chosen sports and became part of what was at the time the most integrated college football team in the country, the UCLA Bruins, as he was one of four black players on the team. He won accolades in track and field and also met Rachel Isum, who would become his future wife whilst at UCLA. However, in early 1941, he left college to get a job as assistant athletic director with the National Youth Administration. When the government disbanded the programme, Robinson traveled to Hawaii and played semi-professional football for the Honolulu Bears. He soon returned to California though, but what looked to be a professional football career in the making was stopped dead when in December of 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour.

Jackie Robinson was drafted in 1942 and was assigned to a segregated Army Cavalry unit. As he had the qualifications,

In episode 6 of the 5 Minute Biographies podcast, we take a brief look at the life of the first black baseball player to be called up to the major leagues - Jackie Robinson.

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