5th October

'Gangin' doon, Geordie, gangin' doon, to the toon where the power lies.'

The unemployed men of the Tyneside shipyards marched to London today in 1936. Jarrow had a 66% unemployment rate and, wearing flat caps and blankets, 200 men set off to a rousing cheer. Everybody en route gave them tea and sandwiches, even the odd pint of beer. The hunger march didn't achieve much but it was a far cry from a similar march in 1817 when the Blanketeers set off from Manchester to protest about poverty. They were met by the army at Stockport and dispersed.

In other news ...
Monty Python's Flying Circus first appeared on the BBC today in 1969.

Why?

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.