No Rowling entry in New DNB?

[justcarol67]

Since I'm a contributor, I received an e-mail message informing me
that the New Dictionary of National Biography is celebrating its first
anniversary with free online access for three days (down to about one
and a half, now, sorry!). For anyone who doesn't know, the New DNB is
a *huge* project. The book version consists of several hundred
encyclopedia-sized volumes containing biographical articles on
everyone who's ever been important in British history, literature and
culture, from, say, King Canute to J.R.R. Tolkien. I was surprised and
disappointed that the richest woman in England isn't included. Maybe
she's considered a children's author and unimportant? But that can't
be the reason: A[lan] A[lexander] Milne is there, with a sweet photo
of Milne, the real Christopher Robin, and (the actual teddy bear)
Winnie the Pooh.

If anyone wants to check out the entries for their favorite British
authors or historical figures (John of Gaunt for the House of Gaunt
connection, if any?), the URL for the home page is

http://www.oxforddnb.com

You have to register giving your naem and e-mail address (mine didn't
work--the message may have been caught in my spam filter because of
the word "free" in the e-mail. I had to use my Yahoo address, which
worked fine.) If you have a strong or picky spam filter, be sure to
add free-oxforddnb @ oup.com (minus spaces) to your list of approved
senders.

On the off chance that anyone wants to look up my three articles (all
three men were friends of the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe
Shelley), they're Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Thomas Medwin, and Edward
Ellerker Williams. (I can hear everyone who reads this far saying< "Who?")

The free access ends tomorrow (Sunday Sept. 25, probably at midnight
UK time) but you can e-mail links to articles you like to yourself or
friends (links will be good for five days). You can also print or
e-mail the article itself (no photos or other images--text only) while
the free access lasts.

Again, sorry I didn't post sooner, but I couldn't access the site and
thought others might have the same trouble. Still disappointed that
JKR wasn't considered important enough to include. I hope they at
least keep her on the chocolate frog cards. Oops. That's Dumbledore.

Carol

P.S. A year's subscription costs $295 ($142 for contributors; the
entire set costs over $13,000. (Contributors can get it for around
$10,000. I'm sorely tempted. Yeah, right. But if your local or
university library doesn't have it, they should.) C.