In honour of National Doo Dah Day there is no blog for this Sunday.
We have been out to the Christmas shop, Heaven help us, and I have a strange time warp thing going on which is making History hard to fathom. Surely, Christmas 2011 was only last week? I know I keep finding bits of tinsel all over the house every time I move anything. So, either Christmas 2011 was last week or Metternich is moonlighting as one of Santa's elves.
Showing posts with label Count Metternich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Count Metternich. Show all posts
Monday, 19 November 2012
Monday, 8 October 2012
8th October
Count Metternich (no, not the furry version, the real one) was appointed Foreign Minister in Vienna today in 1809. He stayed in office until 1848 as 'the coachman of Europe' directing and manipulating everybody with his craftiness and army of secret police. That's why I gave that cute little bundle of fur the name all those years ago - I can recognize a serial killer when I see one.
In other news ...
Chicago almost burned to the ground today in 1871 when Mrs O'Leary's cow knocked over a lantern in a barn in Dekoven Street. Under interrogation, using the good cow, bad cow (and incidentally giving the name to an otherwise anonymous disease) system we've all seen so many times, the animal confessed to being a serial arsonist, admitting to similar fires in London (1666), Warwick (1694) and London again in 1861.
In other news ...
Chicago almost burned to the ground today in 1871 when Mrs O'Leary's cow knocked over a lantern in a barn in Dekoven Street. Under interrogation, using the good cow, bad cow (and incidentally giving the name to an otherwise anonymous disease) system we've all seen so many times, the animal confessed to being a serial arsonist, admitting to similar fires in London (1666), Warwick (1694) and London again in 1861.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
3rd March
I'm writing this one in a whisper so that I don't upset the cat. You see, on this day in 1848, his namesake, Count Metternich, was overthrown by rebels in Vienna during the Year of Revolutions. All Hell was let loose all over Europe in fact by people demanding the vote, more food, the setting up of republics, more food, the end of aristocracy and the power of the church and more food. Louis Philippe's palace was destroyed the previous month in France. Venice broke away from Austrian control. There were barricades and burnings and running battles in just about every European capital.
Except London. To be fair, we did have a Chartist rally (the Chartists were those lunatics who wanted the vote and five other ludicrous demands) but it was typically British. The petition of 5 million names demanding reform actually contained less than 2 million and they included the Duke of Wellington (who would have put himself through the shredder before allowing any kind of reform) and Victoria Rex (King Victoria). Others were Pug Nose, Big Ears etc. All of which goes to show how seriously we British took our politics. Incidentally, in this rally, there were far more policemen than protesters (David Cameron, are you listening?)
In other news ...
Jean Harlow, the platinum blonde star of the new talkie screen was born today in 1911. Margot Asquith, when addressed by the star as Margotte, replied, 'the "t" is silent, as in Harlot [pronouncing it Harlow, of course].' But as Temperance Brennan of Bones would say, there is no 't' in Harlow, so that is not only illogical but it is non-consequential and ultimately unamusing. Although we at Maxwell Towers have been known to double up over it. It is one up on the 'pee is silent as in the bath' joke - but not by much.
Except London. To be fair, we did have a Chartist rally (the Chartists were those lunatics who wanted the vote and five other ludicrous demands) but it was typically British. The petition of 5 million names demanding reform actually contained less than 2 million and they included the Duke of Wellington (who would have put himself through the shredder before allowing any kind of reform) and Victoria Rex (King Victoria). Others were Pug Nose, Big Ears etc. All of which goes to show how seriously we British took our politics. Incidentally, in this rally, there were far more policemen than protesters (David Cameron, are you listening?)
In other news ...
Jean Harlow, the platinum blonde star of the new talkie screen was born today in 1911. Margot Asquith, when addressed by the star as Margotte, replied, 'the "t" is silent, as in Harlot [pronouncing it Harlow, of course].' But as Temperance Brennan of Bones would say, there is no 't' in Harlow, so that is not only illogical but it is non-consequential and ultimately unamusing. Although we at Maxwell Towers have been known to double up over it. It is one up on the 'pee is silent as in the bath' joke - but not by much.
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