I'm not sure you could say we are romantics here at the Dictionary but we were taken by the story of Elizabeth Cook, shared by our guest historian, Nicole Cama, on 2SER Breakfast with Tim Higgins this morning. Elizabeth's story is largely unknown, having been eclipsed by the voyages and deeds of her world famous husband whose public persona has been memorialised beyond mention. Cook's history is woven tightly into the story of Sydney and the Australian nation. The Dictionary has two images of stained glass windows featuring Cook by the artist Douglass Baglin - one in the Sydney Town Hall and another at Cranbrook in Bellevue Hill. These windows show us the extent to which Cook's story has been mythologised - stained glass windows being a more familiar domain for saints and deities. Cook died on Valentines Day 1779 - 235 years ago. Elizabeth, at home in England, was reportedly working on a waistcoat for Cook - using material he had gathered from his previous voyage to Tahiti - when she heard this sad news. In her grief she set the work aside and never completed it. Very little is known about Elizabeth. She died at 94, outliving her husband and all of their six children, who themselves died without children. Some of her mementos of Cook are in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales. Any chance to know Cook the private man, and the story of his life with his wife Elizabeth, have been lost down the years. Elizabeth burned all of his letters, which must have been numerous considering how long he was away at sea. They were married for 17 years and she lived another 56 years after his death, wearing black for the rest of her life. Next time you pass by Cook's statue in Hyde Park - which itself has an interesting history - spare a thought for Elizabeth and the constant reminder she must have had of the loss of her husband each year as Valentines Day came around again. --- Join Nicole and Tim again next at 8:20am on 2SER Breakfast for another great Sydney story.