28th October

Sir Richard Doll was born today in 1912. You probably haven't heard of him but he is responsible for the greatest act of victimization of the 21st century. In establishing a link between lung cancer and smoking, he undoubtedly saved millions of lives but he also caused the sad clusters of determined smokers, dying of frostbite and pneumonia outside pubs and nightclubs and for those mysterious, locked cabinets behind counters in supermarkets. You may have wondered why those poor, lost souls are sticking pins into a waz effigy - that is a likeness of Sir Richard, known as a Voodoo Doll.

In other news ...
A Puritan college in Cambridge, Massachusetts got an injection of cash today from John Harvard who died of tuberculosis in 1638. The aim was that Harvard would one rival Oxford or Cambridge.

Perhaps one day ...

2nd March

John Wesley died today in 1791. One of a huge family from Epworth in Lincolnshire (the family home is a museum today) Wesley went to Oxford and joined the Holy Club, a group of practical do-gooders at a time when the Church of England, which he also joined was more concerned with lining its own pockets and only worked one day a week. He brought religion to the people at a time when the dear old C of E had largely abandoned them, preaching in the open air in industrial areas. He was autocratic (his enemies called him Pope John) and his medical remedies could kill you, but if you want a moment of pure peace, visit the Methodist chapel in Bristol where he used to preach. The stable for his horse is just next door and amongst the noise and bustle of a modern city, you are transported back to another time.

Way to go, John.

In other news ...
I'm probably a Philistine, but what is it about ballet? The first one to be staged in England, The Loves of Mars and Venus, was performed at a Drury Lane theatre on this day back in 1717. Take a dramatic event - let's say the slave revolt of the gladiator Spartacus - and let's have a load of blokes with no strides on (that's a direct quote from Paul Hogan, by the way) jumping around to music.
Spartacus must be turning in his grave. And don't get me started on Billy Elliott!