Horace Walpole

Image: Richmond Upon Thames Local Studies Collections.

Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717-1797), was famous for his letters and a book called "The Castle of Otranto" - you've read it of course!

His father, the politician Sir Robert Walpole, helped to make the House of Commons more important than the House of Lords.

Getting back to the point, what I wanted to say was that Horace Walpole wrote in 1768 that

"The best sun we have is made of Newcastle coal"

I'm from the north of England, but I'm not too sure what he meant. On the other hand the Sun does contain a lot of carbon (more than Newcastle does for sure!) so maybe old Horace wasn't so far wrong! The Sun provides all the energy we need to survive here on Earth. Without the Sun, there would be no coal.

Now if Horace Walpole had said that

"The best beer we have is made in Newcastle"

he'd be talking my language!

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