Byron's daughter on BBC Radio 4
 

You might catch me at some point on this programme tomorrow afternoon (BBC Radio 4, Monday 10 August, 4pm) about Byron's daughter Allegra and her sadly short life - unless I've been edited out. Anyway, it's a sad but interesting story. Available for four weeks after broadcast on the website:

Great subject! Although when I saw the title, I hoped it would be about Byron's legitimate daughter, Ada. You could do something about her too!

That woman was a legitimate genius, in the best sense. Her "poetical science" work on the analytical engine was the definition of ground-breaking, and she completed it even though the machine didn't actually exist. Imagine the insight:

"[The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...

Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent."

She saw the future we live.

Best,

Bill

Thanks, Gail and Bill. Ada's story is well worth telling as well, of course. However, it is now fairly well known. The thought behind this programme was of telling the story of Byron's other daughter. Iris Origo wrote a short but bery good book on Allegra back in the 1930s but otherwise she just gets mentions in biographies of Byron. Understandable, given she was only five when she died but it seemed a good idea to present a new focus on her story.

Looking forward to it.