18th March

An Austrian army defeated a French Revolutionary one at Neerminden today in 1793. This was the last time Austria won anything, except possibly a Eurovision Song Contest.

In other news ...
The first telephone line was set up between London and Paris today in 1891. The conversation (which was recorded for training purposes) went like this:

• Hello?
• Allo?
• Hello? Can you hear me?
• Allo?
• Can ... you ... hear ... me?
• Allo?
• CAN ... YOU ... HEAR ... ME?

Merde!