Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know Quiz

Answer: Harrow

After beginning his formal education at Aberdeen Grammar School, Lord Byron was sent to Harrow School in 1801. He had the dubious honor of representing Harrow in the cricket team for the first Eton and Harrow Match, which was played in 1805 at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. He went on to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Answer: They challenged him to a duel.

Eventually all the fuss died down, and it became a prestigious battle scar for a critic to be slashed by Byron's acerbic pen.

Answer: The Grand Tour

Due to Napoleon's warring activities in most of Europe, Byron did not take the usual route for his tour, and headed directly for the Mediterranean. He travelled across Spain and on to Albania and then Athens.

Answer: She would appear uninvited and unwelcome at his house, sometimes disguised as a page-boy.

Lady Caroline became emotionally disturbed and began to 'stalk' Byron. On one of her secret visits to his house she scrawled 'Remember Me' on one of the books on his desk. She became so thin in her obsession that Byron remarked that he was 'being haunted by a skeleton'.

It was she who described Byron as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'.

Answer: All of these

Byron was quoted as saying "Even to have such a thing said is utter destruction and ruin to a man, from which he can never recover". As a result, Byron left England in 1816 and, as it happened, was never to return. Once freed of the restraints of polite English society, he could now immerse himself in whatever aberrant behavior he wished.

Answer: Frankenstein

The summer of 1816, one of the wettest and coldest on record, not only proved to be the genesis of Mary Shelley's famous story. In addition, Byron's physician James Polidori, was staying at the villa. From bits and pieces of one of Byron's stories, Dr. Polidori wrote 'The Vampyre', which was became the originator for the Romantic vampire genre. Frankenstein is, of course, the name of the fictitious creator of the monster in Mary Shelley's novel.

The monster himself has no name.

Answer: Armenian

With the assistance of the Mekhitarist Order of Monks in Venice, Byron was able to learn the Armenian language. He became thoroughly immersed in the Armenian culture and history, from which he wrote 'English Grammar and Armenian' in 1817, and also participated in the 'English/Armenian Dictionary', compiled in 1821. Byron's own writings in Armenian were a significant inspiration to future Armenian poetry.

Answer: Joining the movement for Greek independence.

Approached by members of the Greek independence movement, Byron threw his full support behind them in their fight against the Ottoman Empire. He left Genoa in July of 1823, having spent a great deal of his own money to refit the Greek fleet. He arrived at the port of Missolonghi on the Gulf of Patras in western Greece at the end of 1823.

Answer: Byron became ill and eventually died.

Byron initially became ill in February 1824. The standard treatment of the time was to bleed the patient. This remedy did nothing but weaken him still more. It is thought that his doctors carried out some procedure with unsterilized instruments which may have caused sepsis. The unfortunate Lord Byron died on April, 1824 at the age of 36.

Answer: 1969 - Men landed on the Moon

It took 145 years after his death for a lasting offical memorial to be placed in the Abbey. There was considerable lobbying both in England and the US for many years. The "New York Times" wrote, 'People are beginning to ask whether this ignoring of Byron is not a thing of which England should be ashamed ...' It is reported that Robert Ripley of 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' drew a picture of a boatswain's grave with the caption reading "Lord Byron's dog has a magnificant tomb, while Byron himself has none".

Apparently, this this came as such a shock and surprise to the English people, that private funds were raised to pay for a suitable memorial for one of their greatest poets.