Famous Gamblers In History

Through the time, tehre was lots of discrimination, including the gender one as well. Read all about how did the women got their casino rights! God of Gamblers is a 1989 Hong Kong action comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Jing featuring an all-star cast led by Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau. Ko Chun (Chow Yun-fat) is a world-famous gambler, so renowned and talented at winning various games of chance that he is referred to as the.

Flipping through history books is a fascinating thing. There are many famous faces, and many iconic figures that helped shape the world as we know it today. But, many of those famous faces were also avidly into gambling and casino games. It is often an overlooked part of history, probably because history wants to paint its most beloved characters in a certain light.

But, dig a little under the surface, and you’ll soon discover that many of history’s biggest names aren’t always what they appear to be on the surface. Take a look at these famous historical figures that also liked to spend a few light nights playing cards, taking chances, and otherwise enjoying themselves in the casinos of the era.

Queen Marie-Antoinette

Alright, if you know anything about history, and the French Revolution, you might have guessed that Marie-Antoinette dabbled in a bit of gambling. Though, it is hardly what is most focused on, as far as her position in French history is concerned. It is more the fact that she said some rather silly things about cake, which ultimately got her head removed in one of the most iconic plot twists in history.

Either way, it was Marie-Antoinette’s reputation for being spend thrifty that was her downfall. That reputation, in part, was fuelled by her alleged gambling streaks in which she lost large sums of money. Perhaps she should have stayed home and spent her time watching the weekend game instead. It may have saved her head.

René Descartes

When you think of the name Descartes, you think of philosophy. What you don’t think of is a man that set out to be a professional gambler. But that happens to be the case, which is something that most are not aware of.

Yes, Descartes, before he turned to philosophy, first had ambitions to make his living being a gambler. After making many attempts at pursuing his career in this manner, the Frenchman eventually decided to go with science and philosophy, but gambling always remained a favourite hobby of his, right up until his dying days.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Sure, Dostoevsky wrote the book titled The Gambler, which might have been a bit of a hint. But the link between the author of Crime and Punishment, and gambling, goes much deeper than many think. A long running rumour is that Dostoevsky actually used writing as a way to fund his gambling habit, and often spent proceeds from his books paying off debts. In fact, one rumour even states that he rushed writing the last bit of Crime and Punishment, since he had a debt collector hounding him to pay up, or pay the consequences.

That story may or may not be true, but if you’ve read The Gambler, it is certainly clear that the man was very familiar with gambling. It is, of course, also rumoured that The Gambler was based on actual events in his life, although this also isn’t known for sure. Either way, there is no denying that Dostoevsky would not be who was without games of chance.

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Famous Gamblers In History Timeline

Plagiarism is bad and the word 'a plagiarist' is almost a curse. We know it from childhood. And yet, few of the great creators in various fields from science to music in their life avoided accusations of plagiarism. Let’s take a look at the different aspects of this phenomenon and consider: is it allowed to borrow someone's ideas?

Is it a stealing or the engine of progress?

The negative meaning of plagiarism is laid down in the word and it can be translated as 'stealing'. It is too bad when a person appropriates somebody’s ideas, discoveries or works and then he or she will get all laurels for it! Though, plagiarism was not always so strongly condemned by contemporaries. Ancient scientists and writers used works of the predecessors with pleasure, they considered that they multiplied and kept knowledge, in such way.

This concept has a quite indistinct framework even today. On the one hand, you take somebody's work and to call it as yours, it is considered like a mere stealing. On the other hand, you process and develop somebody's works and ideas. In many cases, such kind of 'plagiarism' is the engine of progress and will lead to great discoveries and inventions. Was Amerigo Vespucci a plagiarist or a successor of the successful ideas of Columbus? In a fact, in his honour, but not after an uneasy discoverer, two continents were named.

It is quite necessary for science if somebody’s ideas are borrowed and superseded. Scientific discoveries are too long and complex a process to fit it into a single human life. It is necessary to use the works of predecessors for scientific progress and development. But, not all scientists do it properly. Even the great Einstein did not escape accusations of plagiarism.

Among the famous writers, almost everyone was called a plagiarist, at least once. Ideas of the majority of great works were born from earlier books, national legends, newspaper articles and even ordinary jokes. Therefore, it is said that a plot borrowing is not considered like plagiarism, because almost all literary works could be blamed for it. Voltaire, Goethe, Rousseau, Alexandre Dumas, père, Jack London, Herbert Welsh and many others were accused of plagiarism. By the way, the writers often do not object to these charges. 'I take my goodness wherever I can find,' said Moliere, for example. W. Shakespeare was even more categorical in his expressions. 'This is the girl that I found in the mud and brought to crème de la crème,' said he about the whole borrowed scene. So, a partial plagiarism has long been turned into a form of literary art in a real life.

Plagiarism prospers in business too. And it is strangely enough good for consumers. If each invention or newness is realized by only one company which thought it up, we would be caught by a net of monopolies. Manufacturers will not have competitors in their segments, and therefore they will not care about the quality of the goods and they will not try to reduce prices too. If competing companies constantly produce similar products, they will fight each other for the attention and loyalty of the buyer in this situation.

Not all 'idea-generators' are capable to implement them. So, for the future it is very useful if their ideas would be taken by others.

Let’s remember A. Pushkin who suggested to Gogol a plot of his well-known 'The Inspector General'. He even did not spare the given away idea, but he also insisted that Gogol did not stop to work with it. A. Pushkin was not sorry, because he had millions of these ideas! A life is not enough to realize all of them.

Famous plagiarists

We often do not think about how much familiar from childhood discoveries and works have under themselves even partial plagiarism. There are some examples of them.

DNA Model

The article of James Watson and Francis Crick was published in the journal Nature on May 30, 1953, 61 years ago. They proposed a structural model of DNA like the double helix in this article. This discovery made them famous and then they were awarded by the Nobel Prize for it. Almost nobody remembered about the important human in these researches like 'unknown lady of DNA' Rosalind Franklin in that time, in the middle of the last century.

Famous Gamblers In History

Exactly Franklin took X-ray sciagram of DNA fibres, and suggested that it had the shape of a double helix. She wrote several papers on this subject, but no one has been published. Her scientific suggestions had not been taken seriously. The relationship between this woman and her colleagues was not established and it was decided to split the research group. As a result, Watson and Crick had got all success, however they recognized this scientist's contribution to this discovery very reluctantly. Franklin did not live up awarding the Nobel Prize, she died of cancer. And, according to the rules, the prize is not awarded posthumously.

Theory of relativity

The great Einstein did not escape the charges of plagiarism. In a fact, he largely based the General theory of relativity, on the earlier works of Lawrence and Poincare. Einstein did not incidentally mention the last men in his work.

Certainly, it does not belittle the merit of genius of theoretical physics. This example shows that few can boast an absolute innovation in a science only.

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Metallica

Famous Gamblers In History Since

The striking example of shameless plagiarism is a name of the band Metallica. One of the friends of Lars Ulrich, Ron Quintana asked him to help choose a name for the new magazine of the American and British metal bands. There were such variants as: Metallica, Metal Mania and Hesse. Ulrich, looking at his friend with honest eyes, told him that Metallica had been the worst option. And as a result, he took the name for his band.

Read also Top 10 Facts About Plagiarism