Friday 13th! This is the day that Ten Bee Eff will kick off big time, the entire school IT system crashes and they're only serving semolina in the Dining Hall.
But in the real world ... Today in 1860, Tom Hamilton galloped into Sacramento, California carrying 49 letters and 3 newspapers. He was riding the last leg of the first 1800 mile delivery service of the Pony Express. Riders carried two extra horses (not literally, of course - that would be just silly) and leapt on and off the saddle with the skill of rodeo stars. The news was spread at twice the speed of the Overland Stage Company. I think our dear old Royal Mail could learn a few things from them.
In other news ...
Today in 1882 the Anti-Semitic League was founded in Prussia. This group went on to believe a forged document called the Protocols of Zion which 'proved' attempts at world domination by the Jews and were no doubt overjoyed when Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. The sons of the League became the Nazis of the Thirties and did their best to wipe out the Jewish people, resulting in the estimated 55 million fatalities of World War Two.
