3rd November

Laika became the first dog in space today in 1957. She became the prototype for Pigs In Space if you're a Muppet fan. Come to think of it, she became the prototype for Pigs In Space if you're not a Muppet Fan. The Russians sent her into orbit on board Sputnik 2 and she reached Sirius (the Dog Star, get it?) last month. The Sputnik deniers of course don't believe a word of this.

What can you do with people like that?

In other news ...

Remember when American Presidents had cool names, usually of a classical or Biblical bent? There was Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant. What have we got today? Barack Obama. And tomorrow, if we're very unlucky? Mitten Romney!

27th July

Before I start, let's get one thing absolutely straight. This blog is going to be a completely Olympic free zone. There will be no breast beating when we lose, not hurrahs when we win. I will not be commenting on how totally fabulous the opening ceremony was, how our brave boys and girls are doing in the rifle shooting, volleyball, synchronised swimming or what have you. So - now you know.

Today in 1789, Thomas Jefferson was made head of the new Department of Foreign Affairs of the United States government. This was a big mistake. The guy they should have given the job to was Benjamin Franklin, because he had affairs all over Europe already (ask any paid-up debauchee of the Hell-fire Club).

In other news ...
Congratulations to Gregory LeMond who won the Tour de France today in 1986. As an American, he was the first non-European to win, but check out the name. Obviously the organizers were a little confused!

Changing his name slightly, he has become an expert on Bargain Hunt, one of Detective Inspector Mrs Carpenter-Maxwell's secret guilty pleasures. I'll get it in the neck for letting this one out, but I'm sorry, DI Mrs C-M, the truth sometimes has to be told!

4th July

Yeehah! Of course I had to mention it. The day that all Americans everywhere stop work and have a party. What are they celebrating? The fact that France, Spain and Holland helped them win a war against the British. I make that 4 to 1 so the outcome isn't that terribly surprising, is it? By the by, the 4th has very little actual significance. The Declaration of Independence (lifted almost wholesale from Englishman John Locke) was written on 2 July 1776 and published on 8 July. The 4th was the day that Congress accepted it (and even then with alterations). How is it that such a great nation can get its own Independence Day wrong?

In other news ...
Same news, really. On this day in 1826 two of the blokes who signed the Declaration (see above) dropped dead. One was Thomas Jefferson, the slave owner who nevertheless contended that all men were created equal. And the other was John Adams, father of the much more famous Gomez and Fester.

What are the odds?