9th September

King James IV of Scotland was killed at Flodden today in 1513. The sneaky little non-Sassenach took the opportunity to invade England while Henry VIII was away fighting the Battle of the Spurs in France.

The moral of this story? Don't be a sneaky little non-Sassenach.

In other news ...
Chaim Topol was born today in 1935. I think he's a first rate actor and no doubt a lovely man, but oh dear, Fiddler on the Roof? It's just awful, nearly as bad in the film stakes as Gone With The wind and, the greatest turkey of all, The Sound of Music.

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.