She was the 19th-century founder of modern nursing, known for her continuous care of wounded soldiers in the Crimean War. In an earlier age of contagion (接触性传染),she was far ahead of her time in realizing that cleanliness, fresh air and open-air exercise helped patients recover from injury and disease.

Now an unpublished letter that Florence Nightingale received as a teenager from her father shows that he was a major inspiration in shaping her approach to a healthy mind and body.

In 1835, William Nightingale wrote to his daughter setting out a routine for keeping fit. "Exercise for 10 minutes every day before breakfast. Before you dress do the exercise of the arms 20 times. In the course of the day, 20 minutes' exercise must be done and if not done well, another 10 minutes should be added ... Some new poetry to be learned and two things prepared for this evening. If any of these things aren't finished, you will work them up the next day."

The letter will feature in a book, Florence Nightingale at Home, to be published in November. The letter is among the unpublished materials on which the book's four authors have drawn and it offers new insights into her pioneering work.

Nightingale had a happy childhood at a time of widespread child labor and high baby death rates when most people lived in small, unclean houses and hospitals were dirty and badly run with many patients having little hope of coming out alive. When Nightingale first became famous, people were amazed at the idea that someone used to living in a country house would give that up in order to nurse the poor. Her own parents were also shocked to learn that she wanted to become a nurse in an age when nurses were thought of as morally wrong.

William Nightingale's 1835 letter was among the unpublished materials unearthed from piles of boxes at Claydon House where Nightingale's sister lived, now a National Trust property.

Riding a bike and often wearing a blue hat, John Butler, an 84-year-old former farmer from Derbyshire, England, has become a spiritual (精神的) guide to a growing number of devoted fans.

Butler, an early advocate of organic farming, is a long-time follower of meditation (冥想). As part of his spiritual journey, he began recording inspiring messages in the hope of sharing the lessons he’d learned with others.

The peaceful tone, calming presence, a voice like a warm glass of milk, in which Butler delivered his plain view of life online, soon struck a chord(引起共鸣) with a rising number of people struggling to free themselves from the day-to-day anxiety caused by COVID-19.

Butler became famous in a 2016 BBC interview. After the interview, he was picked out by members of the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) community as someone worth attention not just for what he said, but for the manner in which he said it. Since then, this senior’s popularity has grown.

Having always considered himself something of a “misfit (格格不入的人)” in society, Butler was much more surprised by his popularity than anyone else. Before his ongoing video project, Butler said he had never heard of YouTube and had little knowledge of the Internet. But Butler feels lucky to be able to provide a good influence for people just doing their best to deal with modern-day life.

“So many people have this problem, and because they naturally seek some sort of balance, they look for rest or peace, don’t they?” Butler told the BBC.

LONDON—As world leaders paid tribute(致敬) to Queen Elizabeth on her death aged 96 on Thursday, ordinary people in Britain and around the globe paid their own respects to a woman who had been the face of her nation for more than 70 years.

On a rainy London night, thousands gathered outside Buckingham. Palace, in central London, some laying flower tributes outside the black iron gates. There were similar scenes outside the queen’s Windsor Castle home. Black taxis lined up outside the palace to pay tribute to the Queen.

Portraits of Elizabeth were posted on billboard screens in central London’s Piccadilly Circus and the city’s Canary Wharf financial district, and also across the Atlantic in New York’s Times Square. Flowers were laid outside the British Consulate General in New York.

In Washington, the US flag was lowered to half staff(半旗) to mark the passing of a queen whose legacy(遗产) US President Joe Biden said “will loom large（赫然出现）in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world”.

Her death was also marked in European cities. In Berlin, flowers and candles were laid outside the British Embassy(大使馆). In Paris, the Eiffel Tower went dark at the exact time of midnight in a tribute to the Queen.

In Brazil, the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro was lit up in the red, blue and white of the United Kingdom’s flag, while Australia announced plans to illuminate the sails of the Sydney Opera House.