“... the last book of Paradise Lost, the Archangel Michael describes how ‘a jangling noise of words unknown’ replaces the ‘native language’ of the denizens of the now fallen world. As Alistair Fowler’s notes in the magnificent – if underhistoricised – Longman edition show, the phrase ‘jangling noise’ is taken from Sylvester’s 1613 translation ...”

“... lapel. Like Ho Chi Minh, he had a ‘dark period’. Between 1941 and 1945 his whereabouts were unknown; finally, some evidence turned up of a clear connection to Moscow. This information is never balanced with facts we learned long before: that Stalin ordered every Korean agent in the Comintern shot in the late 1930s and began his many mass relocations of ...”

“... the manuscript of a novel to three publishers in Paris. An editor at Seuil took a chance on the unknown author and her severe, macabre story of twin boys in a war-ravaged adult world. The Notebook, published in 1986, became a bestseller. In translation it achieved cult status: in Tokyo in the early 1990s, according to one newspaper, young clubbers carried ...”

“... is the origin of relief and disappointment.) Curiosity, a reward for exploring the unknown, evolved in fish in this broad era, as did the ability to recognise patterns – to identify objects from different angles or sound sequences at different pitches or variably lit shapes as the same essential thing.After another 250 million years the first ...”

“... many Chinese apparently ‘lived in a daze’ and ‘discontent ebbed and flowed.’It’s not unknown for foreign correspondents to have a taste for gossip, but Sheridan sustains the pleasure beyond its usefulness. He repeats the speculations of ‘dissident YouTubers’ and diaspora chatter about secret heirs and concealed drinking. He seems to revel in ...”

“... published in Paris in 1985, consists entirely of dialogue spoken by people standing in line for an unknown commodity which will become available in some indefinite future. In the plays and novels of Ludmila Petrushevskaya, one of the best-known (and best) of the ‘new writers’, the characters behave with consistent vileness – especially the men towards ...”

“... fairy only 2–6’. A crowd has gathered outside.) The poem is Hood’s ‘Ode to The Great Unknown’, addressed to Sir Walter Scott. Why, Hood wonders, is Scott never to be seen, though his works are so widely read (‘Parent of many children – child of none!’)? At the end of nine intricately rhymed pages, Hood lightheartedly concludes that there ...”

“... lawyer Pat Finucane in 1989. Responsibility for the killing of Mrs Nelson was claimed by an unknown organisation that called itself the Red Hand Defenders. 3. I bought a new notepad in London and looked at the pages. I always buy a notepad with a degree of breezy hopefulness, flipping through the blank pages and wondering what will become of them. I buy ...”

“... sister of Sir Edward Stafford, who later became English Ambassador in France. Here is a hitherto unknown dimension to Thomas Drury: he is a brother-in-law of that most conspiratorial of ambassadors, whose house in Paris was a conduit of spies, agents and conspirators. He is also a brother-in-law of William Stafford, the protagonist of the Stafford Plot of ...”

“... old order. There have been demonstrations that the Government hasn’t authorised – something unknown under Hafez Assad. More than a hundred Kurds from the illegal Yakiti Party protested last December at the Parliament in Damascus. The police didn’t stop them, although some of the Kurds were detained a few days later. (Damascus fears nothing as much as ...”

“... who attended to the formalities thereafter. The whereabouts of John Tomkins at this point are unknown. He died six years later, at King’s College Hospital, aged 60. The causes of death were paralysis and erysipelas. The latter, popularly called ‘the rose’, is a febrile disease characterised by a vivid red inflammation of the skin. According to the ...”

“... this morning, one of my clerks has asked me to represent a client I know nothing about, on an unknown charge at an unspecified stage in the proceedings. In my chambers this is called a ‘scramble’. Although it may evoke heroic images of young men flying off to do battle with the forces of evil, the reality, as I’m sure it was for Battle of Britain ...”

“... of an age of faith. When we think of young adults in the West, driven by secular demons of unknown provenance to starve and purge themselves, and to pierce and slash their flesh, we wonder uneasily if she is our sister under the skin. Gemma is far less famous than her contemporary Thérèse of Lisieux, whose remains a short while ago went on a ...”

“... or engagements, they would, the opportunity unexpectedly presenting itself, dart away after some unknown man in response to a glance which, as often as not, I had not even spotted. Some of these considerations I dramatised in the screen adaptation of Joe Orton’s biography, Prick Up Your Ears. (Orton sees a youth coming) Orton: Look at the package on ...”

“... A universe in writing was available, but scarcely anyone seemed to suspect the immensity of those unknown lands. The realisation began with his translation of the Avesta, and reached dizzying heights owing to the exploration in Central Asia of the languages that multiplied after Babel. Into our schools … he interjected a vision of innumerable civilisations ...”