7th November

Benito Mussolini became leader of the National Fascist Party in Italy today in 1921. You've got to hand it to dictators - they have a great line in titles. Mussolini became Il Duce; Hitler was Der Fuhrer, Franco was El Caudillo. Even our own home grown Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector. And what have we got now? Minister for Sport, for the Environment and Without Portfolio.

In other news ...
Helen Suzman, the anti-apartheid campaigner was born today in 1917. I just loved her in Nicholas and Alexandra.

For anyone fortunate enough to live in the Isle of Wight, pop your wellies on tonight and get on down to the Riverside Centre in Newport, where my old mate M J Trow is giving a talk on crime. It is somewhat of a sideline of his - the plan is he gives the talks and then his accomplice, Joe 'the Horse' Bomparini nips round everyone's houses and cleans out their jewellery. Well, it beats working for a living.

6th November

I always felt a bit sorry for the Hawker Hurricane. It flew for the first time today in 1935, had 4 machine guns in each wing and a top speed of 325 mph at 20,000 feet. It was eclipsed by the Spitfire almost entirely because of the name. A Hurricane is a natural disaster; spitting fire is all about being unpleasant and deadly all in one.

In other news ...
Adolphe Sax was born today in 1814 in Belgium (oh, what a shame!) and of course invented the Saxophone. It was not until the birth of John Philip Sousa, exactly forty years later, that anybody wrote music which involved the playing of one.

5th November

All right, of course I'm bound to mention it. Today in 1605, the Gunpowder Plot was rumbled. Actually it had been rumbled weeks before because the government, in the person of Robert Cecil, knew every move the plotters made. Just for the record, the original figure on the bonfire was not Guy Fawkes, but King James I. So if you're out cadging money from old ladies, you'll impress them more if you grab them by the lapels and snarl in their faces 'Penny for the James! Penny for the James!'

In other news ...
My dear old uncle Robert, the Press Baron, mysteriously vanished today in 1991. He fell (or was he pushed?) off his yacht off the Canary Islands. We miss him deeply, of course, but it's not many Heads of Sixth Form at Comprehensive Schools who own a luxury yacht worth several million, so every cloud ...

Sadly, today finds me back at the chalk face after a nice half term break. With the nights dark and the mornings gloomy, I am just waiting now until the shortest day, when things begin to look up again. Chez Maxwell, Dec 21 is one of our favourite days, when the world starts spinning back towards spring. My mother in law, not a lady with a very merry disposition, prefers the longest day as everything from there is down hill to darkness and gloom. She doesn't even have a glass, never mind how full it might be.

4th November

Native Americans were kicking ass today in 1791. Little Turtle, chief of the Miami tribe, beat the Americans under General Arthur St Clair. He'd already beaten General Harmer on the Wabash. Where was this guy in the 1890s?

In other news ...
Anthony Eden said today in 1956, 'We are not at war with Egypt. We are in an armed conflict.' So that, children, is why a) we loused up the Suez crisis and b) why nobody remembers who Anthony Eden was.

Just a note to Ten Bee Aitch - the above will not be accepted as reasons in your GCSE mocks coming up shortly. You have been warned.

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!

2nd November

Officially, the day of the dead in Catholic Mediterranean tradition - hmmm.
Happy.

In other news ...
Today in 1903, the Daily Mirror was launched, specifically as a newspaper for women. great, I hear my good lady wife say, especially as that was the year the Women's Suffrage Union was set up. But wait, say I. The Daily Mirror's readership had a reading age of 8, so there appears to be a teensy bit of condescension somewhere.
Or is it just me?

1st November

L S Lowry was born today in 1887. He was one of those artists - Picasso, Klee, Mondrian, Klimt, Pollock and many, many more - who could draw and paint perfectly well, but just couldn't be arsed.

In other news ...
'A lie,' said Jim Callaghan, Britain's Prime Minister today in 1976, 'can be half way round the world before the truth has got its boots on.' That was 1976. Thanks to technology, Facebook, Twitter and Buboe, the speed of lying is much faster today.