Gordon Bennet and the SS Lysistrata

The son of an impoverished crofter, James Gordon Bennett somewhat famously went on to found the New York Times and is one of Newmill, near Keith's, several claims to fame. It seems Gordon was well schooled in the village and when he landed in Halifax in May 1819 he owed much to the good education including French, Latin and Greek provided by his teachers, Mr Donald Cameron and the Right Reverend John Murdoch.
In those not so far off days, European and world news arrived in New York not by telegraph but via transatlantic shipping so Gordon would send boats out to meet the incoming ships so as to beat his rival newspapers in the race for the latest foreign news.

Perhaps unwisely, with the benefit of hindsight, Gordon named his son Gordon Bennet.
Bennet Juniors often outrageous behaviour led to the coining of the often used phrase "Gordon Bennet!" as an exclamation euphemistic surprise.
Exploits such as drunkenly urinating into his future father in laws roaring log fire at his engagement party and his habit of driving a coach and horses through the New England countryside whilst stark naked did not endear him to local high society.

This is probably not Gordon Bennet Seniors house but it almost certainly dates from the same era. The current owner dates it as 1860 with modernisation having taken place in the early 20th century including the addition of the tin roof and a fireside solid fuel baking oven. As is often the case however, such dwellings are usually built upon older foundations.

Seemingly another of Gordon Bennet Juniors eccentricities was to have a cabin on his private steam yacht the SS Lysistrata devoted to housing a milkmaid and two Alderney cows. It seems he liked fresh milk.
Lysistrata of course is Aristophanes' rather ribald Greek play in which the titular heroine persuades the women of Greece to withhold sex from their husbands, thus forcing them to end the Peloponnesian War.

Somehow, I have to admire the man.