25th May

Oh, for heaven's sake - global warming again? On this day in 1990 (yes, just two years after snow fell in Syria etc etc) Margaret Thatcher was warning of the dreaded phenomenon and pledging that Britain would cut its emission of carbon dioxide by 30%. A UN report immediately responded that the reduction needed to be at least 60% to have any effect. The report warns of a 2 degree rise in temperature in the next 35 years (in other words, chaps, 13 years from now) and 6 degrees by the end of the 21st century. For all of us who have just shivered through the coldest April and May on record, that somehow seems less scary than Mrs T made it sound in 1990.

This day in history has been one of the busy ones so 'in other news' will just list a few of the absolutely stonking stories which began, ended or took place on this day.

• In 1935 Jesse Owens set five new world records and equalled a sixth all in one afternoon, limbering up for seriously p***ing off Hitler at the Berlin Olympics the next year.
• In 1969, Thor Heyerdahl set sail in a reed boat named Ra, hoping to relive the success of his Kon-Tiki expedition. I am assuming all went well, but I'm blowed if I remember what happened. I hate sequels, don't you? 
• In 1925 the Scopes 'Monkey Trial' began in Dayton, Tennessee. Scopes was accused of teaching the theory of evolution, against the state law. A fascinating case, but a much better film, Inherit the Wind starring the wonderful Spencer Tracy and Frederic March. They really do not make them that way any more.
• In 1916, Henry Ford spoke one of the most misquoted lines ever - he actually said 'History is more or less bunk.' Still not acceptable, of course, but better than the usual version of 'History is bunk.' And that, of course, is better than the version I often hear muttered by Nine Eye You.
• And finally, in 1768, Captain Cook set off to explore the Antipodes. And we all know how that turned out!

26th February

Today in 1791 the Bank of England issued the first ever pound note. It was nearly four feet square and didn't fold up very well into anybody's purse or wallet. So, two centuries later, they came up with a £1 coin instead. A number of points to consider here before we put our proposals to the IMF.

• Paper money was so new in the 1790s that use of it led to a run on the banks. Imagine - bankers being beaten up in the streets; oh, the joy of it!
• The 'gold' coin that replaced it was briefly called a Thatcher, because it was 'bold, brassy and thinks it's a sovereign'.
• The £1 coin was too small for anybody to write on it 'I promise to pay the bearer the sum of £1' or to carry the all-important signature of the Governor of the Bank of England.
• The current economic crisis has now been going on for so long that 48% (that's over half) of Eight Zed Pee have never seen a £1 coin, although they tell each other stories when they gather round the family dog for warmth of an evening about that great Eldorado that used to exist down the back of the sofa, long since mined out and used to buy essentials like a warmer dog and stamps to go on the begging letters.

Golden days.

In other news ...

Fats Domino was born today in 1928. What were Mr and Mrs Domino thinking, calling their enormously talented little boy Fats? that would be child abuse today, which is why I find it so odd that people who call their kids Bucket, Playstation and Chunnel get away with it.

11th February

Isn't it funny what a difference four centuries make? Today in 1858 a 14 year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary eighteen times in a grotto at Lourdes in the Pyrenees. The Pope sent emissaries to check her out and even today the place is a holy shrine where believers go to soak up its spirituality.
Back in 1431, when another French teenager, Jeanne d'Arc, claimed to hear voices from God, the Papacy accused her of heresy and the English burned her at the stake.
That's what I like to see; consistency.

In other news ...
An elderly aunt of mine was outraged today back in 1975 when Margaret Thatcher became the leader of the Conservative party. I was, frankly, surprised. Aunt Mathilde (not her real name) had been a suffragette, a flapper and a bra burner in her long and distinguished feminist career and I'd have thought she'd have been delighted to find the crusty old Tories (of all people) electing a woman to the top job. It was several weeks before I discovered why. Aunt Mathilde's eyesight wasn't what it had been and she's misread an editorial in one of the dailies. It said that Margaret Thatcher was a 'woman of strong conviction' but Auntie had read it as 'a woman with a string of convictions.'
Should've gone to Specsavers.