Taken from Eclectic Gardener @ http://www.teachinggarden.org/
written by Alan R Hickman

I was never a 'fan' of Michael Jackson. I never bought any of his records, I would never have gone to a live performance, and I never watched his recently televised send-off; but, with his untimely passing, even my universe is a little less bright. As a star, Michael was quite brilliant; but his orbit was notably eccentric.

Unlike the British, with their tradition of cherishing eccentrics as national treasure, on this side of the Atlantic, being rather less than certifiable but being definitely a bit of a nutter can result in a pretty debilitating existence.

A generation ago, Howard Hushes was perhaps the most famous of American eccentrics. From a very early age Hughes exhibited traits which augured the life of achievement to come.

At age 11 he built the first radio transmitter in his hometown of Houston, Texas, and a year later, he had constructed a 'motorized bicycle', using bits taken from a steam engine.

Later, as an accomplished aircraft designer and aviator, he held many records including a world cirumnavigation.

Hughes conceived the H1'Hercules' flying boat, which has the distinction of havingthe largest wingspan of any aircraft built to this day; fondly known as the 'Spruce Goose', even though the airframe was mostly made of laminated birch-wood. Hughes was at the controls on the only flight the aircraft ever made - a distance of about one mile, some seventy feet above the water off Long Beach, California.

With the passing of years Hughes' lifestyle became progressively more bizarre.

At one point, he spent more than four months in a darkened screening room watching one movie after another. He became obsessed with germs and his descent into reclusion left many thinking that he was actually dead.

By the time he did die, drug use and malnutrition had reduced his 6foot 4 inch frame to just 90 pounds.

Canada has been a little more kind to its eccentrics. On and off, William Lyon Mackenzie King managed to be prime minister through war and peace for almost 22 years.

He gave the nation unemployment insurance and old age pensions; he also had earnest conversations with his long-dead mother and with equally long-dead prime ministers such as Wilfred Laurier and John A. McDonald.

Glen Gould, as a child, was a gifted pianist. With maturity, he developed a technical prowess which elevated him to world renown as a musician and, especially, as an interpreter of the works of J.S. Bach. But Gould's particular genius came at a price.

For instance, he had a seemingly uncontrollable propensity tosing along as he played - a habit which drove recording engineers to distration.

By the time he died, aged only 50, Gould had accumulated enough quirks to become, by any standard, a fully accredited eccentric.

He reportedly was once arrested, apparently for vagrancy, whilst sitting on a park bench in Florida wearing his usual year round out-door attire of heavy coat, winter hat and mittens.

Happily, it is not a required fate for eccentrics to lead short, tortured lives.
The marriage in 1913 of Vita Sackville-West, daughter of the third Baron Sackville, and Harold Nicolson, son of the 1st Baron Carnock, resulted in two sons and a devoted relationship which lasted until Vita died at the age of 70, almost 50 years later.

In the 1930s, the Nicolsons' purchased the ruinous and uninhabited Sissinghurst Castle where they spent the rest of their lives restoring the buildings and creating what has become the most visited garden in England. Broadly, Harold designed and supervised the structural elements and Vita looked to the planting.

It is due to the Nicolsons' sense of design and balance that we now tend to look at landscaping in terms of a series of 'garden rooms', and the world- famous 'Sissinghurst White Garden' became the exemplar for all the subsequent single-colour or single-theme gardens.

So, what was so eccentric about this respectable upper-class family? Well, there was that much written about romance between Vita and Virginia Wolf, and her lesser known affairs with Violet Trefusis and with Rosemund Grosvenor and with... and ... and and, and and. Not to mention that Harold had his own series of male relationships.

Agreed, open marriages were not and are not, of themselves, particularly unusual; but these were not tawdry, furtive, behind the barn at the fairgrounds, affairs.

Vita's and Harold's liasons, were acknowledged celebrations of sensuality, and their elan and longevity must surely warrant the Nicolsons' inclusion, at least as honorary deities, in the pantheon of eccentrics.

On the wall of their London house, there is a commemorative plaque which reads: "HAROLD NICOLSON 1886-1968 VITA NICOLSON 1886-1962 Writers and Gardeners lived here."

And there you have it: entertainers, billionaires, prime ministers, piano players, writers and gardeners; they're an odd lot.

High Temperature:
Actual: 21°C sun and cloud Wind SSW11km/h P.O.P.50%
Average: 26°C
Record: 36°C in 1975

Low Temperature:
Actual: 8°C mainly clear Wind NW9km/h P.O.P.5%
Average: 14°C
Record: 7°C in 1965