The last great Liberal, William Gladstone, died today in 1898. He was the People's William, the Grand Old Man and there was a huge state funeral to mark his passing. It was downhill all the way after the GOM, right down to whatsisface who is currently deputy something or other.
I wonder how many sales of Wedgwood plates they've made with Nick Clegg (that's the blokey - it always comes to me in a minute) on them?
In other news ...
Rather depressingly, T E Lawrence, aka Ross aka Shaw aka Lawrence of Arabia, was killed today in 1935 swerving to avoid two stupid children swerving all over a country lane on their bikes. He was a fascinating, enigmatic man whose full story will probably never be known. He once said to the poet W B Yeats, 'I was an Irish nobody. I did something. It was a failure. And I became an Irish nobody again.'
See what I mean about depressing?
So, to cheer us all up - in yet other news - Dame Nellie Melba, inventor of the peach, or possibly ice cream, cream or raspberry sauce, history is silent as to the exact details, was born today in 1848 in Australia (well, somebody has to be!).
