3rd June

The British navy won a victory today in 1665 over the Dutch fleet. Let's not get too smug however - as well as contending with the plague and the fire of London in an eighteen month period around then, we also sat back and watched the same Dutch sail up the Medway and pinch our flagship! Annus horribilis or what?

In other news ...
You know how it is, chaps; she says 'But we spent last Christmas at your mother's' or 'I did let you go to Twickenham'. Well, Edward VIII (the 53 week king) once said 'Of course, I do have a slight advantage over the rest of you. It helps in a pinch to be able to remind your bride that you gave up a throne for her.' He married Wallis Simpson today in 1937.

11th April

A remarkable character was born today in 1929. He served in the US Navy, smoked a pipe all his life and had a deformed jaw. He only had one friend, who was addicted to beefburgers and his girlfriend left a lot to be desired in the hour glass figure stakes. He was constantly having run-ins with a moron with a beard and huge shoulders and there was a kid who looked just like him and was always crawling off high buildings. Robin Williams played him - not very well, it must be said. His real claim to fame was trying to get children - or indeed any sane adult - to eat spinach.

Thank you, Popeye, for what you've been.

In other news ...

William Anne Mary was crowned today in 1689, the only official hermaphrodite monarch of England (the unofficial ones, if you're wondering are: Richard I, Edward II and [almost] Wallis Simpson).