blake wrote on Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:15:11 GMT:

??>> Italian food is doubless more interesting than Welsh or
??>> English but I am waiting to celebrate Richard Americk's
??>> Day :-)
??>>
??>> According to Chamber's Dictionary, America is named for
??>> him, not that Vespucci bum!
??>>
??>> James Silverton

bm> <singing> god bless vespucciland!

I can't resist sharing the results of my recent research on
Americk since I wanted to find the dates for his life. I wasn't
totally successful but it might be 1445-1503. Another thing that
turned up is that Americk's major investment in Cabots's voyages
might have been an early example of insider trading in that he
knew what Cabot would find. Apparently, he did a considerable
amount of business in the salted cod brought by Portuguese
fishermen from the Grand Banks and they might have told him
about Newfoundland, which almost certainly they discovered
before Cabot.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not