Today is International Rhine Crossing day and several thousand will be doing it, the Germans going one way and everybody Else the other. The first crossing took place on this day in 1936 when Nazi troops moved into the Demilitarized Zone that had been set up by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told Herr Hitler not to do it again but the Fuhrer couldn't speak English, so it was rather a waste of time.
Exactly nine months later, American troops crossed the river at Remagen with the express intention of shouting a bit louder at the Fuhrer, this time in German so he could understand it.
In other news ...
Today was the day when the enlightened Swiss, originators of yodelling, cheese and national heroes who are whizzo shots with a crossbow gave women the vote. The day was 7 March but what was the year, I hear you cry. 1748? 1812? No, it was 1971, making Swiss men about as enlightened and democratic as Attila the Hun.
