The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Oxford English Dictionary

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The Professor and the Madman Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. 2019. Archived from the original on 31 January 2020 . Retrieved 31 January 2020. French director Luc Besson handed Mel Gibson the project, saying, "It isn't my first language. Maybe you can do something with this". [3] Gibson, who originally intended to direct, hired his Apocalypto co-screenwriter Farhad Safinia to replace him, while he remained in the role of James Murray. Sean Penn entered early talks to join the film as William Chester Minor in August 2016. [4] In August, Natalie Dormer signed on for a role. [5] In September, Ioan Gruffudd joined the cast. [6] Completing the dictionary took far longer than predicted, and so with the film of this story. More than 20 years after buying the rights, Mel Gibson’s film is due for release later this year. See imdb here.

The son of an English missionary family, William Chester Minor, was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). He was a voracious reader who was encouraged to learn as many local languages as possible since his was a traveling missionary family. By age 12 the bright student knew Singhalese, Burmese, some Hindi and Tamil While incarcerated, Minor became an important contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary. He was one of the project's most effective volunteers, reading through his large personal library of antiquarian books and compiling quotations that illustrated how particular words were used. [1]William Chester Minor, a retired U.S. Army surgeon, was committed at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum for killing a man. What grabbed & held my attention at first reading was the way in which The Professor & the Madman then shifts to the circumstances surrounding the incubation & evolution of the OED, before masterfully bringing together James Murray, who is at the helm of the dictionary in its earliest stage and just by absolute chance, Dr. Wm. Minor as a volunteer contributor to the advancement of the OED. It is obvious that the author loves words & finds their origins of great fascination. I read this under its original title. 'The Surgeon of Crowthorne'. It's a memorable book and on my list to re-read. According to Wikipedia, its title was changed to The Professor and the Madman for the US market:

The book tells their separate stories, how Murray rose to the prominence necessary to land this major position, how Minor emerged from a troubled, if well-to-do youth to commit a heinous and addled murder in London, and then to be institutionalized for the rest of his life. The book gives a vivid picture of the times (mid to late 19th century). Winchester has a gift for bringing history to life, and surprising us. Because it was such a huge undertaking, relying on volunteers, it was seen as “a democratic product” - a practice that continues to this day, though perhaps as “crowdsourcing”. This is a gripping story of triumph over multiple adversities, with touches of Victorian gothic: the promised murder and madness, as well as passion for the project, thwarted titillation, and grim self-harm.To illustrate just how powerful those demons were, consider, for a moment—an exceedingly painful moment—that, at one point, in a desperate attempt to reconcile a burgeoning religiosity with past sexual indiscretions and ongoing sex-fueled delusions, Minor, a doctor by trade, used a penknife to CUT OFF HIS OWN PENIS. Now, look—we all have days (those of us with penises (penii?), I mean) where we’re frustrated with the little guy. I, for example, get agitated when I accidentally mix mine up with the garden hose when doing yard work (which happens more frequently than you’d think on account of similarities in length, girth, and greenness). But, still—the idea of it being severed, let alone severing it myself sans anesthesia and using a turn-of-the-century penknife…well, let’s just say that I’d rather read the dictionary. In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.