On this day back in 1681 Charles II lost it completely. He signed a treaty giving a huge chunk of territory (which didn't belong to him anyway) to a Quaker called William Penn. Not only that but the king wrote off Penn's debts of £16,000 (£29 million today) and effectively gave Penn the power of a dictator. So grateful was the Quaker that he refused to take his hat off in the royal presence, gave the territory the self-effacing name of Pennsylvania (that's Penn's Wood in case you were wondering, Nine Eff Are) and went on to make a famous breakfast cereal from the oats he used to feed his horse.
Detective Inspector Carpenter-Maxwell and I are applying to Her Majesty this very day to get her to cover our mortgage and outgoings and give us Ottawa or failing that New South Wales. If William Penn can do it ...
In other news ...
Saladin died in Damascus today in 1193. His real name was Salah-ed-Din and he was either a nationalist hero or an Arab fundamentalist, depending on your point of view. I go with the first version and there are two stories about him which show what a thorough-going 12th century gent he was. When Richard the Lionheart (psychopath, homosexual - but that's another story) lay seriously ill with fever during the Third Crusade, Saladin sent him snow from the mountains to bring his temperature down. On another occasion, Richard proved he'd recovered by smashing an anvil in half with his broadsword (see - I told you he was a psychopath) while Saladin threw a silk handkerchief in the air and caught it on the blade of his scimitar which slit the handkerchief in half. How stylish is that?
Neither of these stories is true, of course, but wouldn't it be nice if they were?
