I'm getting quite used to this blogging lark now and don't have to get up a minute before 3.30 a.m. to get it ready for my reader. Hello, Trevor, by the way - thanks for dropping by. I daresay by the end of the year I will be rolling it out without a second thought. Of course, I would choose this year to begin - there is an extra day to contend with, but I'll try to manage the extra workload - I have been a teacher for ever, so extra workload means nothing to me!
I have to concede that William Pitt (the Younger, that is and no, Seven Aitch Kay, no relation at all to Brad) was a pretty good Prime Minister, but God rot him for doing what he did on this day in 1799. He introduced income tax! To be fair, it was only levied on the rich and was only temporary until Napoleon was defeated, but that's not the point. He put the idea into the minds of government and now they soak everybody with it. Thanks a bunch, Master Billy!
In other news ...
Apparently, Rudolf Bing was born on this day in 1902. He was an Austrian-born conductor and founded the Edinburgh Festival. But I don't really care about that - I just love the name. Put a 'Sir' on the front (which they did) and it sounds even better. When lots of people were trying to get his attention, it must have sounded like a scene from a submarine drama. Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!
