As live television goes, it was pretty spectacular. On this day in 1980 a terrorist gang was holding hostages in London's Iranian Embassy and started shooting hostages one by one. As we all watched agog, black-clad SAS commandos abseiled in through the upper storey windows with tear-gas and guns and killed four of the rive terrorists, releasing all 19 of the hostages inside.
Fantastic!
In other news ...
Napoleon Bonaparte died today in 1821 on the rocky, volcanic island of St Helena. Rumours that he was bored to death by Hudson Lowe, the island's governor and effectively Bonaparte's gaoler are exaggerated. There was talk of murder by poisoning, especially in 1840 when his body was exhumed and shipped to Paris to its current resting place in Les Invalides. He probably already had stomach cancer or at least serious ulcers by the time of his final defeat at Waterloo, but it may also be that he died from arsenic poisoning as a result of breathing in the pigmentation from his bedroom wallpaper. He had once written to the Prince Regent asking to be allowed to retire to Cheltenham which he'd heard was rather nice. On balance, he was better off on St Helena - if he was bored there, what would he have found to do in Cheltenham?
PS - Napoleon's penis, black and one inch long, was offered for sale in a London auction house recently. There were no takers.
