Curated playlist
Critics of the Catholic Church
- Charles DickensAt twelve, Charles Dickens pasted labels on boot blacking pots in a rat-infested warehouse.
- George OrwellGeorge Orwell was a pen name, chosen from a shortlist in 1932. He was born Eric Arthur Blair in British India.
- Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky stood before a firing squad in 1849, and a letter from the tsar arrived.
- James JoyceJames Joyce's novel Ulysses was banned for obscenity in the UK and US, yet copies were smuggled.
- Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut survived the bombing of Dresden by hiding in an underground meat locker.
- H. G. WellsH. G. Wells described atomic bombs in a 1914 novel. Physicist León Szilárd later said reading it stayed with him.
- Denis DiderotJailed writer Denis Diderot annotated Paradise Lost with a toothpick and ink made from slate and wine.
- Victor HugoVictor Hugo asked for a pauper's funeral and got the largest in French history.
- Martin BormannOn the 16th of August 1999, the ashes of Martin Bormann were scattered over the Baltic Sea. German authorities chose open water partly so that neo-Nazis would have no tomb to turn into a monument. More than half a century after the war,…
- John CalvinJohn Calvin called his own central teaching a decree dreadful indeed. He preached it anyway.
- Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini was named after a Mexican president. His socialist father chose the name to honor Benito Juárez.
- John MiltonJohn Milton sold Paradise Lost for five pounds. The blind poet handed it to a publisher in April 1667.
- Baruch SpinozaBaruch Spinoza was expelled from his Jewish community at twenty-three, and it still refuses him back.
- David HumeDavid Hume said his first book "fell dead-born from the press." He wrote it in France by age twenty-eight.
- Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell scrawled the order to behead King Charles I himself when officers refused.
- Thomas CranmerThomas Cranmer thrust his right hand into the flames first. He said it was punishment for signing his recantations.
- Maximilien RobespierreRobespierre was executed without trial in 1794 by the movement he had helped build.
- Martin LutherMartin Luther married a nun who had been smuggled out of her convent in herring barrels.
- John FoxeJohn Foxe wrote a bestseller in 1563 and stayed as poor as ever. Publishing paid authors no royalties then.
- John WycliffeIn 1428, church officials dug up John Wycliffe's remains and burned them. They threw the ashes into the River Swift.
- Frank ZappaAs a boy, Frank Zappa spread mercury across his bedroom floor with a hammer. His father brought it home from work.
- Edmund SpenserWhen poet Edmund Spenser was buried in 1599, fellow poets threw pens and their own poems into his grave.
- ErasmusErasmus, born to a priest and orphaned by plague, became the most read author of his age.
- Huldrych ZwingliTwo smoked sausages shared in a Zurich printer's workshop in 1522 started the Swiss Reformation.
- Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'Connor once walked into the Grammy Awards with the logo of the hip hop group Public Enemy painted on her shaved head. She was protesting because the first-ever Best Rap Performance award was being handed out off-screen. The…
- Protestant ReformersHuldrych Zwingli and Martin Luther met in 1529 and could not agree on communion. Their split became permanent.
- Hilary MantelHilary Mantel became the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice. Her winners were Wolf Hall and its sequel.
- John KnoxJohn Knox was chained to a French galley bench and vowed he would preach again in St Andrews.
- Lorenzo VallaLorenzo Valla, a priest, proved a famous papal land grant was a fraud. He used grammar and history.
- David StarkeyHistorian David Starkey lost many honors within days in July 2020. A podcast remark on slavery set it off.
- Julian (emperor)Emperor Julian was raised Christian, yet became Rome's last pagan emperor. He was a nephew of Constantine the Great.