28th December

On this day in 1904 the first weather reports were published in London by wireless telegraphy. This was a great opportunity for the Meteorological Office to get it totally wrong using a different medium.

In other news ...
TW3 (That Was The Week That Was) was closed down today in 1963 because it was an election year (no Big Brother pressure there then). Like its successor, Spitting Image, it caricatured politicians and celebrities and introduced naughty themes on our television sets. we have nothing like this now, except a procession of tawdry, foul-mouthed blokes who are referred to (for only partially obvious reasons) as stand-up comedians.

20th July

Valkyrie failed today. Not the film, which was pretty good. But the original plot to kill Hitler in 1944. A bomb was left in an attache  case in the Fuhrer's headquarters at Rastenburg. It went off and killed several but the heavy oak table in the room saved Hitler's life. True, he was shaken, bloodied and partially deaf, but he did survive for another nine months of unparalleled slaughter as WWII came to an end. What a shame the first attempt, seven tries earlier, hadn't worked.

In other news ...
The Spanish Armada left Corunna today in 1588, delayed by 24 hours because of storms. why, oh why, didn't the Spaniards listen to the weather forecast. And anyway, why were they expecting decent weather in England in July?

On a personal note, most schools break up today for the summer holidays - yes, parents, we do get very long holidays, yes, I know it is a nuisance for you to have to look after your own offspring for six weeks etc, etc, etcetera - and very nice it is too. The weather usually gets worse tomorrow, in readiness for the long holiday and if this happens this year, God help us all.

In an even more personal note, a certain librarian joins the happy ranks of the retired today - good luck, Lee and commiserations to your suddenly library-less school. Schools without libraries - words fail me!