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?

23rd October

Today marks the 370th anniversary of the battle Edge Hill in Warwickshire. It was the first battle of the English Civil War (I stress English here to remind our American cousins that we had one over two centuries before they did). The result was; Cavaliers 1, Roundheads 0. Did the Roundheads give up, realizing they were totally outclassed? No, they got God on their side and as for as the Cavaliers it was all Down Hill after that.

In other news ...
Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party today in 1926. He'd only heard about the bash on Facebook and turned up uninvited, insisting everybody needed the bottle of vodka he'd brought, not to mention the ice and the pick to go with it.

Uncle Joe Stalin didn't like Leon's status and is officially No Longer His Friend. So there!

16th September

Alexander Korda was born today in 1893. Though Hungarian, he emigrated to Britain and made a host of rattling good yarns films like The Drum and The Four Feathers extolling the virtues of the British Empire and the Raj. Winston Churchill got him a k; they don't make directors like that any more. My good lady, the DI, tells of many a Sunday afternoon when she was a child when she and her mother were taken hostage by her father to watch The Four Feathers just one more time. When stressed, she still can lapse unconsciously into a rendition of several minutes of the dialogue, absolutely word perfect, even after all this time.

In other news ...
Tomas de Torquemada died on this day in 1498. Posterity has been pretty kind to this man, whose name is largely unknown today. He was the architect of the Holy Inquisition which saw the torture and execution of thousands of innocent people all over Europe. He deserves to be up there with Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot etc. Spread the word. He wasn't Mr Nice Guy.