No Horizon

Composer	- Andy Platt
Lyricist	- Andy Platt
Writer	- Andy Platt
Date of 1st/Full Perf	- 16th July 2006 (Penistone Paramount, UK)

Synopsis / Notes

The forgotten story of an extraordinary man - a gifted blind boy who went on to become cambridge professor.

Born the son of an excise tax collector, Nicholas Saunderson's prospects should have been severely curtailed by the smallpox which took his sight at the age of one.

In the 18th century there was no Braille and blind students had limited prospects for learning, relying entirely on the combination of people willing to read to them from books and their own memories to store that information. Saunderson, from the Pennine village of Thurlstone, near Barnsley, was lucky enough to gain a place at a school in nearby Penistone, where his amazing academic ability shone through and he learned several languages and became a gifted flute player. His father's wide circle of friends were willing to donate the time needed to read to the young Saunderson and at the age of 18 he met mathematician William West, who encouraged his development in that topic.

Eventually he went to live with a friend who was studying at Christ Church, Cambridge, and so impressed the Lucasian Professor William Whiston that he found himself employed as a lecturer, although he had no degree himself.

When Whiston stepped down from that post, Saunderson was his natural successor, but needed a degree to accept the position.

Queen Anne stepped in to remedy that situation by awarding him the degree of Master of Arts in 1711. In 1733 he fell ill and after his recovery was persuaded by friends to write books containing material used in his lectures. He completed those volumes, although they were not published until after his death from scurvy in 1739.