16th August

This was a date (along with 7th December) to live in infamy. Today in 1819 a peaceful, unarmed crowd of weavers and spinners turned up on St Peter's Fields, Manchester, to listen to the demagogue Henry Hunt talk about universal suffrage, a right we now all have and take for granted. The size of the crowd (perhaps 60,000) alarmed the local magistrates who sent in the Yeomanry to arrest Hunt. In the ensuing chaos, the cavalry attacked the crowd, who stampeded in panic and eleven people were killed, with hundreds more seriously injured.

When I visited St Peter's Square, Manchester, some years ago, there wasn't a single plaque or dedication to those victims visible. I believe there is now - and about time. The authorities of the Cottonopolis should be ashamed of themselves.

In other news ...

Elvis Presley died today in 1977. Or did he? I mention this only because he is probably the most frequently sighted corpse in history, so perhaps today in 1977 has no significance whatever. He would be seventy seven now (... is seventy seven ...?) so might not be rocking quite so much as he did. Swivelling a hip when it is not one's own is generally accepted as being pretty tricky.

11th June

On this day back in 1509 the marriage took place of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The poor girl had been kept dangling about, ignored and broke, after her first husband, Henry's big brother Arthur (whose first wife was Guinevere) died. Arthur was only a lad himself at the time and Catherine claimed the marriage was never consummated (which was not what Arthur said, by the way). The whole thing ended in tears, of course, when Henry discovered that his new wife was playing fast and loose with Lancelot du Lac whose illegitimate son Kid Galahad had just been played by Elvis Presley, in the film of the same name.

I hope you're paying attention to all this. I am an historian, you know.

In other news ...
Ben Jonson was born today in 1572. He was a poet and playwright, well known on the London scene for his short temper (he once killed a man in a duel). Shakespeare referred to him as 'Rare Ben Jonson' but actually he was pretty unique and far more interesting than the rather boring little glover from Stratford.