If you go to Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight, you'll find a little chapel there, dedicated to the martyrdom of King Charles I. Not many people regard him as a martyr, even though they chopped his head off outside his own palace at Whitehall 363 years ago today (Incidentally, they've changed the calendar since then so this figure may not be totally accurate). Whatever Charles was deemed to have done - ruled without parliament, raised taxes without their consent, married a Catholic wife etc etc) the trial itself was illegal, presided over by a foreign judge. The jury was not made up of Charles's peers (ie his equals - 12 other kings) and the usual rules of evidence were waived. Having supposedly caused the deaths of thousands of his countrymen in the civil war, he was replaced by Oliver Cromwell who proceeded to do exactly the same thing in Scotland and Ireland. Historians, of course, know this already - and can point to almost any regime change where the body count is actually higher afterwards than before. Try it - you'll find it is horribly difficult to find any example which disproves that statement.
In other news ...
Anton Chekov, the Russian playwright was born this day in 1860. His plays include The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard and his grandson, Pavel Chekov, went on to become the little guy with the irritating and unconvincing Russian accent under James T Kirk on the Enterprise.
