17th November

Richard Nixon said today in 1973, 'I am not a crook' and that sent me in search of other serial deniers in History, e.g. -

• 'I am not, therefore I am' - Jean Paul Satre
• 'I am not for turning' - Margaret Thatcher
• 'I am not going to invade Poland' - Adolf Hitler (1938)
• 'Oh, yes I am' - Adolf Hitler (1939)
• I am a knot garden' - Capability Brown

In other news ...
The first successful British submarine voyage took place today in 1904 from Southampton to the Isle of Wight. The two principal ferry companies that serve the Island were both interested in acquiring the passenger franchise. But then they couldn't be arsed.

Further to this, Wightlink, or so my old mate M J Trow tells me, have axed umpteen sailings from their schedule, meaning that getting home after even the most modest evening out on the mainland is, for Islanders, darned near impossible. As a ferry is the only option they have, the uptake of theatre tickets and other treats will be markedly reduced in all the towns along the South Coast will see a knock-on effect as they hunker down and watch paint dry at home instead of sallying forth to enjoy a night out. Well done, Wightlink, for trying to return a whole county to the Dark Ages. And come along, ferry entrepreneurs - you must be out there somewhere.

8th August

Richard Nixon resigned today in 1974 over 'errors of judgement' including the Watergate scandal. He remains the only US President in History to have resigned, although an awful lot more of them should have.

In other news ...
Talking of which, Vice President Spiro T Agnew was under investigation the previous year for tax evasion. See? It's everywhere.

24th July

President Richard Nixon said today in 1969 (of the moon landing) 'This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation ... oh, except the week in which Christ was born. And the one that saw the birth of Mohammed and that Buddha guy. Not to mention sliced bread, the wheel and salt and vinegar potato chips.' But we got the general gist.

In other news ...
Pierre de Coubertin, called by some the father of the modern Olympics, said today in 1908, 'The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but boasting to the world that your country can host them and then discovering your security is run by the WI and the St John's Ambulance Brigade.'

Prophetic words.

7th May

'I let down my friends; I let down my country; I let down our system of government; I let down what was left of my hair' - so said 'Tricky Dicky' ex-President Nixon on this day in 1977.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the term Watergate with which Nixon will for ever be associated, has been hijacked by journalists for every scandal, major and minor, ever since. Hence, to name but a few - Cowangate; Ramsgate; Margate and Tailgate.

Enough, already!

In other news ...
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University today in 1991 were given permission to clone the genes of Abraham Lincoln, the American President assassinated in 1865, to decide whether honest Abe had Marfan's syndrome, the symptoms of which are tallness and long arms.

You know that famous photo of Lincoln with General George B Maclennan (he of the saddle) at an army camp somewhere or other about 1862? Well, I'll grant you (ho ho - Civil War joke) Lincoln looks tall, but on that basis McLennan was really short and Mary Todd Lincoln, the President's wife, was a midget.

And nobody's cloning them, I notice!