31st March

On this day in 1905, Dr Arthur Conan Doyle had to resurrect his brilliant detective hero, Sherlock Holmes. Everybody thought the world's greatest detective had gone over the Reichenbach Falls with Dr Moriarty, arch villain and the 'Napoleon of Crime'. Sadly, no. The good doctor claimed an adoring public demanded Holmes' return, but I think he had a tax bill due.

In other news ...
Richard Chamberlain was born on this day in 1935. I remember watching Dr Kildare as a kid and was fascinated by rhe actor's ability to stop dead in the middle of whatever he was doing. This was a long time before they invented the Freeze-frame technology, so, good on you, Richard. You were ahead of your time.

25th January

Exactly thirty one years ago, the 'Gang of Four' came into being. No, not the Chinese counter-revolutionaries of the same name, but a rather more benign quartet - David Owen, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and Bill Rodgers. They broke away from the Labour Party and formed the Social Democrats, which to those of us with an historical bent sounded like something out of the German Weimar Republic back in the Twenties. They spent most of their time deciding exactly what their party should be called so that today we have that august and impressive body known as the Lib-Dems.
Well done, guys!

In other news ...
Al Capone died today in 1947. As mobsters go he was right up there with Paul Muni, Robert de Niro, Neville Brand, Jimmy Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp. At the height of his power he ran a vast bootlegging empire based in Chicago and is reckoned to have earned $105 million in 1927 alone (more or less my annual teacher's salary). By the time of his death, he had nothing and had done eleven years in prison for tax evasion.
So crime doesn't pay, then. Unless you're a taxman.