Robert Graves' Birthday
Today is the anniversary of the birth of the English poet, fiction, and non-fiction writer Robert Graves, in 1895. Robert Graves is best known today because of the BBC production of his I, Claudius historical fiction series about the bumbling Julio-Claudian emperor whose life was spared because he was seen as too incompetent to be a contender for the throne. In one biography of Robert Graves I read that although he had received a scholarship to Oxford, the thought of doing more Greek and Latin put him off, so he enlisted in the first World War, instead, in a Welsh unit. After finishing his service he did, indeed go to Oxford. I find this a pleasing anecdote. Not everyone wants to work on the hard stuff all the time, although choosing the military hardly seems a reprieve. At any rate, although Robert Graves is referred to as a scholar some people today take issue with the label. Perhaps Robert Graves was simply too versatile and talented. Graves died in Majorca in 1985 on December 7.