Herman Goering (fat bloke, liked flashy uniforms, friend of Hitler's) said some pretty stupid things in his time but top of the list must be his comment on this day in 1935. Setting up the brand new Luftwaffe (which, by the way, broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles - again!) he said 'The Americans cannot build aeroplanes. They are very good at refrigerators and razor blades.'
I wonder if he remembered those words when American Flying Fortresses were passing over Berlin and flattening the buildings of Goering's Third Reich. By the time the war was actually over and Germans were avidly buying American fridges and razor blades, Herman the German was dead.
In other news ...
On this day in 1702, England's first daily newspaper, confined to London, appeared. It was called the Daily Courant and had photos pf Queen Anne going walkabout among her subjects. A dream cottage was on offer (subject to terms and conditions) and the editorial carried a bold article on how many illegal Walloons had snuck past emigration authorities. In sporting news there was a blank page because nobody had invented Rugby yet, football was a game played by oafs (no change there, then) and cricketers used a curved bat so that didn't count.
The girl on Page 3 wore more clothes than the average bag lady, which brings is neatly back to Queen Anne.
The editor - of course - was Master Rupert Murdoch.