December 1 – Anniversary of a Diary Entry

Posted on December 1, 2020

Today is, according to Wikipedia, the anniversary of a man named John Evelyn ice skating on a frozen lake in St. James Park, in London, England, in 1662.

This photo of people skating on the lake in St. James
Park was taken about 300 years after Evelyn’s skate.
We don’t have any photos of people skating –
or doing anything! – back then!

Ummm…Wikipedia, why do we care about a man going ice skating?

Well, the apparent claim to fame is that Evelyn’s skating was observed by the King and Queen of England – Charles II and Queen Catherine.

Still not sure why we care, but I gamely clicked the link to see if there was something interesting about this skate. And despite myself, I became interested, because Evelyn is described as a “diarist.”

As in, one who keeps a diary.

Apparently John Evelyn (1620 – 1706) kept a diary from age 20 until his death. He sometimes wrote daily, but at other times did
not. He wrote about art, culture, politics, and important events. Like the execution of Charles 1, Oliver Cromwell’s rise and rule and death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London.

With 60 years worth of diary entries, as you can imagine there are many volumes in Evelyn’s diary!

And the thing is – back in the 1600s, there weren’t regularly published materials like magazines and newspapers. So you can see why Evelyn’s diary and those of other diarists of his time are quite important to historians!!

I am still not a bit sure why Wikipedia has the ice skating outing listed in its December 1 events – I mean, seriously, there are only 49 events listed for this date – in all the thousand or two thousand years of history included in Wikipedia’s roundup! But I am also glad to have been tipped off about the importance (back then) of those who simply keep a diary!