6th December

'The Soviet Union has disintegrated,' said Leonid Kravachuk of the Ukraine today in 1991. This was far too late for thousands of innocent people who went to their deaths under Lenin, Trotsky and above all, Stalin in the name of a political system that cannot possibly work in a free society.

In other news ...

The French tennis team won the Davis Cup today in 1991 and their captain, Yannick Noah, spoke for them all when he said, 'Guy was happy, I was happy, the team was happy, the crowd was happy, everybody was happy. There is just one word to describe it all - happiness.'

Had a way with words, didn't he, old Yannick?

2nd August

Today in 1100 William Rufus (the ruddy) was killed while hunting in the New Forest. There is a stone to mark the spot there today and most people who picnic near it have absolutely no idea who he was. He was a thoroughly unpopular, objectionable git who was probably murdered on the orders of his younger brother.
The moral of this story is - if you are thoroughly unpopular and objectionable, don't go hunting with your brother's mates. You have been warned.

In other news ...
Today in 1918, an Allied Force of British, French and American troops landed at Archangel to try to overthrow the Bolshevik government of Lenin, Trotsky and their good ol' boy comrades. The gambit failed but it was fun while it lasted. My favourite adventurer in this was an English eccentric called Locker-Lampson who went around Russia in an open armoured car machine-gunning everything that moved.

Heigh ho for the open road!