Jan Vermeer, the Dutch interior designer, was born today in 1632. He spent his entire artistic career painting kitchens, tiles and other rooms. One critic said his work was as 'dull as Dutchwater'. How true.
In other news ...
'Gentlemen,' said the Turkish leader Kemal Attaturk today in 1927, 'it was necessary to abolish the fez, which sat on the heads of our nation as an emblem of ignorance, negligence, fanaticism and hatred of progress ...' Which is pretty true, really. In the great days of the Ottoman Empire (14th-17th century) everybody wore turbans.
Mind you, the fez didn't do Tommy Cooper any harm.
