ARTICLES
The History of Boxer Dogs Playing Poker
Cassius Marcellus Clay, the wry commercial artist who gave the world dogs playing poker, was born in upstate New York in 1844. He was named after the abolitionist Quaker,Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, one of the most eloquent anti-slavery politicians of the antebellum South, Kentucky Sen.
Cash, as his friends and family would call him, had never received any formal art training. Though, by the time he was 20, he was a draftsman and frequently had his sketches featured in the local newspaper. A short time later, he had one of his drawings published in Harpers Weekly and subsequently came to be the inventor of "comic foregrounds", where tourists place their head through a hole in a painting, appearing to have a comical muscular body for photographs. Coolidge caught the attention of the Brown & Bigelow Company in 1903. The commisioned him to create a series of comical paintings for their advertisin calendars. Dogs being one of his favorite subjects, Coolidge decided to create paintings of Mastiffs, Collies, Boxers, Great Danes, etc. participating in human activities. Dogs would smoke cigars, drink whiskey, and, most famously, sit around the table for a game of five-card draw. To a dog,...Read more
The History of Horse Racing
It is hard to imagine in today's world that one of our favourite sports, horse racing, has been around for thousands of years. It has been noted as being an organised sport as far back as the Greek Olympics in 638 BC.
Horse racing really came into its own when in the 12th century English horses were bred with Arabian horses. This breeding programme produced sturdy horses that had amazing speed. It was around this time that a more modern version of racing began with racecourses opening and rules and standards established.
Newmarket in Britain was the very first venue for horse racing and is now known all over the world. King Charles II arranged horse races in open fields and the winner would be given a prize.
Horse racing changed during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714), the races involved several horses and racing spectators could bet on their favourite horses. It was, at this time, that Queen Anne founded the famous Ascot course and horse racing became a professional sport.
In 1750 the Jockey Club was formed at Newmarket where the "elite" of the horse racing circles met. The club controlled racing and...
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