You know it's the fashion nowadays for some parents to name their kids after the place they were conceived - Brooklyn Beckham, Chelsea United, Washington Irving for example. Well, on this day in 1920, Nancy Astor went one further. This was the day that a woman (other than Victoria) spoke for the first time in the Houses of Parliament. I'm not commemorating the day here, but her husband's name - Waldorf Astor - conceived, no doubt, in the hotel (or salad) of the same name. I can only assume that this is the origin of the name of my bete noire in Year Nine, Premier Travelodge Johnson.
In other news ...
Five hundred and thirty years ago today (give or take eleven days) Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar to replace the Julian one. All very confusing, in which days are lost or gained based on a book (the Old Testament) that makes no chronological sense at all. Logic? 365 days a year ... er ... okay. Christmas? Let's make it 25 December, because that's the Roman Feast of Saturnalia. Easter? The first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox (March 21 or thereabouts). Add in the fact that the full moon doesn't necessarily have to be full and the other fact that Easter eggs are in the shops on Boxing Day and a dog's breakfast is the only possible outcome.
Someone should really have said to His Holiness back in 1582, 'Chill out, you've got a Counter-Reformation to sort out. Prioritize, Greg!'
But at least teachers - always known for some reason in this context as 'bloody teachers' - get a few weeks holiday, so don't let's knock it.
