Sara Lippincot in her review of the new biography, Newton, by Peter Ackroyd, says
'He ate standing up
he slept in his clothes
and rode in his coach through London
with one arm out the right side,
one out the left.'
And who wouldn't want to sprout wings coaching through London., the Great Plague hovering. turning to the occult he found gravity. And changing clothes when writing the Calculus? Preposterous. He almost burned his house down leaving the alchemical fire burning...
how our eccentricities fan our genius.
1 comment:
Sir Issac's habits now seem to be embedded London traditions:
Today, at least one arm of every London black cab driver protrudes out the window orchestrating the flight paths of London's vehicular and non-vehicled inhabitants.
We have no exact data on sleeping in clothes, although an increasing number of workers from the City of London are now seen showing up for work looking like they have since the credit crisis started.
And eating standing up? Well, at least drinking standing up seems to be permanently embedded in the sunny Friday afternoon pub tradition of London street corners being overpopulated with Londoners and their pint glasses basking in Newton's aura and sunshine.
More practical tips on navigating London's eccentricities can be found at:
http://www.economist.com/cities/citiesmain.cfm?city_id=LDN
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