Henry VIII April 22

Henry VIII became King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) on 22 April 1509. Henry VIII has become one of the most popular historical kings of the English monarchy. Astonishingly, in these days of political correctness, this is mainly based on the common perception of his larger than life character as an over-eating, womanising bon vivant. Despite this, William Shakespeare’s historical play, ‘Henry VIII: All Is True’ was never popular and, curiously, it was Henry VIII that was playing on June 29, 1613 when the Globe Theatre burnt down. Another bon vivant, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) was born on 22 April 1870. He was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. All jolly interesting, but more interesting still is the little known fact that Lenin’s brain was removed before his body was embalmed in order to discover the precise location of the brain cells that are responsible for genius. The Institute of Brain was created in Moscow for this purpose but, surprisingly, never reached a satisfactory conclusion. Speaking of genius, Earth Day is celebrated in most countries on the vernal equinox (March 20) to mark the precise moment that spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. At this global moment, night and day are equal all over the world, the sun sets at the South Pole and rises at the North Pole and anyone standing on the equator at noon will not cast a shadow. Except in the United States of America who celebrate Earth Day on 22 April – you can do that if you are a super power.