In their book, the comedy writers highlight the quirky, sweet and strange about 68 people they call “the justly famous and undeservedly obscure.”
One chapter tells the story of Ada Lovelace, whose father was the poet Lord Byron. The relationship between her father and mother was so bad that she was banned from Byron’s household and her mother refused to let her study any kind of literature. Understandably, she didn’t become a great poet or writer, but she did develop into a mathematical genius.
“She wrote the very first computer program,” Lloyd says, “which is really an extraordinary thing, when you think that this is in the first half of the 19th century. And if you look on Microsoft stickers, on their logo, their hologram, is a little picture of Ada Lovelace.”
You really need to take the time to listen to it all (just under 10 minutes).
How many who listened to this had heard of Jack Parsons? What a story. I had no idea he crossed paths with L. Ron Hubbard.