Tuesday, May 31, 2005

The Cornflake 31 May

Today is the day, in 1894, that the humble corn flake was inflicted on an unsuspecting world. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the superintendent of a sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan and a Seventh Day Adventist provided a strict vegetarian regimen for his patients, which also included no alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine. The diet he imposed consisted entirely of bland foods, since he believed in sexual abstinence and believed that spicy or sweet foods would increase passions, while bland foods would have an anti-aphrodisiac property. He published ‘treatments’ for sexual desire in ‘Plain facts for old and young’, 1877. Although this first treatise was not hugely well received, he expanded upon his theories in the ever popular ‘Treatment for Self-Abuse and its Effects, Plain Facts for Old and Young, 1888’. His treatment advocated the circumcision of males (without anaesthetic) and the application of "pure carbolic acid" on the private parts of females. The corn flake began by accident when Dr. Kellogg and his brother, Will Keith Kellogg decided to force stale cooked wheat through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of the dough. To their surprise, what they got instead was flakes, which they toasted and served to their patients. This event occurred on approximately the April 14, 1894 and a patent for the product was registered on May 31 under the name Granose. The flakes of grain, served with milk, were a very popular food among the patients. In 1906, Will Keith Kellogg, decided to market the new food and set up a company, Kellogg’s, to do so. Corn flakes was the first product. Meanwhile, back in the sanatorium, Kellogg recommended corn flakes in combination with his other tried and tested anti-sexual ‘treatments’. Kellogg’s next business winning idea was Rice Krispies in 1929.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Dunkirk 27 May

On 27 May 1940 the evacuation from Dunkirk, which had started the day before, was well underway. Men of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, were stubbornly fighting a rear guard action and holding the village of Le Paradis and the neighbouring hamlets of Le-Cornet Malo and Riez-du-Vinage against overwhelmingly superior forces. Their intention was to try and block the enemy’s advance on Dunkirk. Finally, after delaying the enemy for as long as possible and inflicting heavy casualties, all of their ammunition was used up and they were completely cut off from their Battalion and Brigade HQ. Left with no chance of escape and no choice, 97 officers and men of Second Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment surrendered to No 4 Company of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd SS Totenkopf (Death’s Head) Regiment. They were disarmed, marched into a field, mowed down by machine-guns, finished off by revolver shots and bayonet thrusts and left to rot. By some miracle, two men, Bill O’Callaghan and Bert Pooley, escaped death and hid in a pig-sty that belonged to Madame Duquenne-Creton. Madame Duquenne-Creton, at immense risk to herself, cared for and fed the 2 injured men for 3 days. Unfortunately, Bert, who had been wounded in the leg became increasingly ill and in the end, because his leg wounds were so severe the two men were forced to give themselves up and became prisoners of war. Bert was repatriated in 1943. When he returned home and told his story of the massacre no-one believed him and it was not until 1946 that he was able to return to Le Paradis, prove his story and set the wheels of justice in motion. On 28 Jan 1949, the German officer who ordered the massacre, Fritz Knoechein, who was married with four children, was hung by the neck until dead.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Kaspar Hauser 26 May

On May 26, 1828 a young boy was found wandering the streets of Nürnberg, Germany. He was wearing peasant clothing and could barely talk. He had with him a letter to the captain of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry regiment, asking the captain to either take him or hang him. The shoemaker took the boy to the house of captain Wessenig where he said only, "I want to be a rider like my father." Further demands for information resulted in tears. He was taken to a police station where he wrote a name: Kaspar Hauser. The boy was taken into care and taught to speak and write and it emerged during the ensuing months that he had lived in a dark 2×1×1.5 metre cell with only a straw bed and had been fed on bread and water. The first human being he had seen was a man who had taught him the phrase, "I want to be a rider like my father", and to write Kaspar Hauser. Eventually he was released and the next thing he remembered was walking about in Nuremberg. Unsurprisingly, the boy was the talk of Nurnberg. Some connected him with the family of the Grand Duke of Baden. If this were true, his parents would have been Karl Ludwig Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden and Stephanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Napoleon I of France. The Countess von Hochberg was the alleged culprit for the boy’s captivity. These rumours gained credence when on October 17, 1829, a hooded man tried to kill Hauser with an axe but managed only to wound his forehead. Then on December 14, 1833, a stranger stabbed him fatally in the chest and he died three days later. The final twist to the tale came in 2002, when the Institute for Forensic Medicine af the University of Münster analysed hair and body cells that belonged to Kaspar Hauser. The genetic code was a 95% match to that of Astrid von Medinger, a direct descendant of Stephanie de Beauharnais. Bad Badens in Baden Baden!

Monday, May 23, 2005

The Thirty Years War 23 May

May 23 is the anniversary of the start of the Thirty Years War. Largely the province of a few slightly barking buffs, most of us know very little about the Thirty Years War apart from the fact that it was seventy years shorter than the other war (the one with Henry V and Agincourt). However, if you are ever stuck in a lift with a loquacious Bohemian you may find a few basics helpful. The Thirty Years War, to Bohemians is, apparently, like the weather to the British. What will impress your Bohemian fellow traveller the most is to know that it was started by ‘The Defenestration of Prague’. In 1617, Catholic officials stopped construction of some Protestant chapels, violating a recently acquired ‘right of freedom of religious expression’ (as granted in the Majestätsbrief (Letter of Majesty), issued by Emperor Rudolf II in 1609). As a result, at Prague Castle on May 23, 1618, an assembly of angry Protestants tried the officials, Vilem Slavata and Jaroslav Martinic for violating the Majestätsbrief, found them guilty and hurled them and their hapless scribe Fabricius, out of a castle window. They landed unhurt in a pile of manure and stalked off grumpily to start the war which, in Germany alone, resulted in the destruction of 2000 castles, 18000 villages and 1500 towns. At the end of the War the population of Europe was reduced to one tenth of what it was before the War. Defenestration - just say ‘No’. On a lighter note, a Mrs Trellis of North Wales has written to inform me that 23 May is the birthday of Humphrey Lyttelton, well-known British jazz musician. Mrs Trellis goes on to say that Humph is also chairman of the Radio 4 programme ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue’, a programme, she asserts, that is little more than "an enormous fistful of rampant innuendo rammed into every crack".

Friday, May 20, 2005

Battle of Nechtansmere 20 May

Today, May 20 is the day when all Picts gather round on a late spring evening, drink a warming glass of something or other and inflict a tattoo or two to commemorate the famous Battle of Nechtansmere in 685. Pictland, as you will all no doubt recall, comprised all of modern Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde except for Argyll. The Northumbrians had been gradually extending their territory to the north, having captured Edinburgh in 638. King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, casting aside for a moment his brown ale and stotty cake, invaded even more lands held by the Picts in 685 and the Picts, not surprisingly, were distinctly miffed. They met in battle on May 20 near Dunnichen; the Picts, after some preliminary hooting and shouting, pretended to run away and drew the Northumbrians into dank, dark and misty swamp of Nechtansmere. The Pictish King Bridei III, bursting like a thunderbolt from the mist, killed Ecgfrith by shoving a sharpened stick through his head. The victorious Picts destroyed Ecgfrith’s army, stole all his brown ale and stotty cake and enslaved the women. The battle dealt a blow to the Northumbrians from which they never recovered. Although the name Pict or Picti is usually assumed to mean painted or tattooed (as in Latin) it may have a Celtic origin. The Brythonic Celts knew them as ‘Prydyn’ which is, of course, the origin of the word ‘Britain’. Sadly, although the Picts had given the Geordies a sound drubbing, they were not up to the mark when the Vikings came along and utterly defeated them in 839.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Anne Boleyn 19 May

On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke and Queen Consort of England, second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England was beheaded. The reason for this sad separation of head from shoulders has always been the subject of debate but it seems most likely that the king had got cheesed of with Anne’s strong willed ways and blundered into the arms of the doe-eyed and manipulative Jane Seymour, who was a pawn of Anne’s many political enemies. Most importantly, Anne had quarrelled with Thomas Cromwell, the chief minister, which was probably a bit of an error, and he moved swiftly to extract revenge. Cromwell, with the secret support of the king, engineered an elaborate plot to bring the queen to the scaffold along with several of her strategic allies at court. Anne was arrested on May 2, 1536, and taken to the Tower of London. where she apparently went slightly off her chunk. She is rumoured to have written a letter to her husband remonstrating against this "unworthy stain" on her reputation. On the evidence of a false confession, obtained from one of her chums, Marc Smeaton, by torture, Anne was convicted at her trial on May 15 and on May 19, 1536 she was beheaded in the Tower of London. Her head came off with a single stroke of the swordsman’s blade. By some oversight, a coffin hadn’t been ordered for her, so they placed her in an arrow box, and since it was too small, they placed her head under her arm, which is, of course, where all the tales of ghosts with heads under their arms stem from. Henry, clearly distraught, waited 11 whole days and married Jane Seymour on May 30.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Comet Halley 18 May

On this day in 1910, the earth passed through the tail of the Comet Halley. Whilst of great interest to astronomers, this event proved worrisome to the timorous who fretted in the press that the comet’s tail was known to contain poisonous cyanogen gas. Happily for the timorous however, the gas caused no ill-effects. The appearance of Comets has often been seen as a prophetic event. Spookily, for example, two of the comet’s visits - 1835 and 1910 - are in the same years as the birth and death of the American novelist Mark Twain, who wrote in 1909, "I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it." On the subject of prophetic stuff, Eilmer of Malmesbury (a famous early aviator, who "had hazarded a deed of remarkable boldness. He had by some means, I scarcely know what, fastened wings to his hands and feet so that, mistaking fable for truth, he might fly like Daedalus, and, collecting the breeze upon the summit of a tower, flew for more than a furlong. But agitated by the violence of the wind and the swirling of air, as well as by the awareness of his rash attempt, he fell, broke both his legs and was lame ever after."), having first seen it as a young boy in 989, declared in 1066: "You’ve come, have you?...You’ve come, you source of tears to many mothers. It is long since I saw you; but as I see you now you are much more terrible, for I see you brandishing the downfall of my country". Later that year, King Harold suffered the unpleasantness of receiving a Norman arrow in his eye at Hastings.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Cunning Plans of a Military Sort 17 May

May 17 is a day for cunning plans of a military sort. In 1899, for example, Colonel Baden-Powell was sent (with no troops or supplies of any sort) to resist the expected Boer invasion of the Natal Colony (now KwaZulu-Natal Province) and draw the Boers away from the coasts so that British troops could be landed. Baden-Powell decided that the best way of tying down Boer troops would be to invite attack by defending something. He chose the town of Mafeking. He recruited local forces of 2000 men in shorts and funny hats, part of which was a cadet corps of boys aged 12 to 15, (the inspiration for the Scouting movement). 8,000 Boer troops attacked Mafeking, but, by means of cunning plans, including fake landmines and searchlights made out of biscuit tins, Baden-Powells’ chaps withstood the siege for 217 days. As a ruse to tie down Boer forces it was a raging success and the siege was lifted on May 17, 1900, when British forces relieved the town after fighting their way in. Leaping from land into air, Operation Chastise was the official name for the attacks on German dams on May 17, 1943 in World War II using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" designed by Barnes Wallis. His cunning plan was for a bomb that could be exploded directly against the dam wall below the surface of the water. The major German dams were protected by heavy torpedo netting to prevent such an attack, and Wallis’s breakthrough was a drum-shaped bomb, spinning rapidly backwards that skipped over all the defences and detonated against the dam. The attack was carried out by the unfeasibly brave boys of Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the Dam Busters. Mines were flooded and houses, factories, roads, railways and bridges destroyed as the flood waters spread for around 50 miles (80 km) from the source. The Nazis were kept busy nailing it all back together for several months. Good show chaps.

Monday, May 16, 2005

Niff Naff & Trivia 16 May

Today is one of those days where history took a day off. Lots of interesting things happened on May 15 and on May 17, but on May 16 we can celebrate only the invention of Root Beer by Charles Elmer Hires, a Philadelphia pharmacist in 1866. Our US cousins are, of course, very familiar with Root beer but it is (thankfully) less common in the UK. Not surprisingly it is made from roots. It seems that just about any old combination of roots will do, with vanilla, cherry tree bark, liquorice root, sarsaparilla root, sassafras root bark, nutmeg and anise forming staples. Other ingredients may include allspice, birch bark, coriander, juniper, ginger, wintergreen, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, spikenard, pipsissewa, guaiacum, spicewood, yellow dock, honey, clover, cinnamon, prickly ash bark, yucca, quillaja, dog grass, coffee, citric acid and molasses. Root beer is made using some arbitrary mixture roots and spices to which is added sugar, water, and yeast. It is allowed to ferment under pressure to retain the carbonation and limit the alcohol produced by the yeast to low levels (normally about 2%). Astonishingly, there are currently 59 commercial varieties of Root beer available in the US (some of which have been described by various luminaries as ‘palatable’!) as well as hundreds, if not thousands of homebrewed concoctions. How it is that thousands haven’t been poisoned remains one of the great, unsolved mysteries of the age. Well Done Charles Elmer Hires.

Friday, May 13, 2005

Formation of Royal Flying Corps 13 May

Today marks the anniversary of a major milestone in aviation. The Royal Flying Corps was formed by Royal Warrant on May 13, 1912. By the end of that year, it had 12 manned balloons and 36 biplane aircraft (as well as 43 tents and 12 black Labrador dogs). The RFC came into its own at the outbreak of World War I and its first action of the war was a two aircraft reconnaissance on 19 August 1914. Sadly, like so many early aviation exploits, the mission was not a great success and in the poor weather, both of the pilots lost their way. Readers of Biggles stories will know that one of the more unusual missions undertaken by the RFC was the delivery of spies to behind enemy lines. The first such mission took place on the morning of September 13 1915 and was not a success. The plane crashed and both pilot and spy were badly injured and captured. Nevertheless, later missions were more successful and, in addition to delivering spies the RFC became responsible for keeping the spies supplied with the carrier pigeons that were used to send back intelligence reports. One famous homing pigeon, Cher Ami, hatched on 13 May 1916, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for heroic service after delivering 12 important messages. Cher Ami helped save the Lost Battalion of the US 77th Division in the battle of the Argonne, October 1918 and on her last, heroic and fateful mission, she delivered her message despite having been shot through the breast. Cher Ami’s remains are today enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Richard 1 'Lionheart' 12 May

On 12 May 1191, Richard I, King of England, Richard the Lionheart, Coeur de Lion. married Berengaria, first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre at Limassol in Cypruss. This event took place during the Third Crusade and, before marrying Berengaria, Richard invaded, sacked and looted the island, murdering any that stood against him - no doubt some sort of 12th century stag night ritual. Richard, it appears, was a bit prone to this sort of thing. At his coronation, for example, Jewish leaders attended to present gifts for the new king. Richard’s courtiers stripped and flogged them and flung them out of court, where a massacre began. Many Jews were beaten to death, robbed, and burnt alive. At least one was forcibly baptised. Later, when Richard wrote of this incident, he called the massacre a "holocaustum". Returning to the Royal Wedding, the event was attended by his Mum, Eleanor of Aquitaine and his sister Joan, whom Richard had brought from Sicily. Richard, having got the ceremony over with then neglected his wife totally, and had to be commanded by priests to be faithful to her. There were no children from the marriage; indeed early historians, commented on Richard’s apparent disinterest in his wife and his very close friendship with Philip, the King of France. Richard is viewed by history as a hero, although he did little for England, siphoning the kingdom’s resources to support his Crusade. He spent only six months of his ten year reign in England and couldn’t speak English, claiming (in French) it was "cold and always raining." During the period when he was raising funds for his Crusade, Richard declared, "If I could have found a buyer I would have sold London itself." Over the years the figures of Robin Hood and Richard I have become closely linked. However, in the earliest Robin Hood ballads the only king mentioned is "Edward our comely king", presumably Edward I, II, or III. It was not until much later that a connection came to be made between the two men. Richard the Lionheart - not a very nice man.


Incidentally, for those of you interested in salacious gossip of this sort, here is the text of what those early historians said about Richard and Phillip - no doubt just boyish joshing:
Hoveden: Vol II, pp. 63-64
Ricardus dux Aquitaniae, filus regis Angliae, morum fecit cum Philipo rege Franciae, quem ipse in tantum honoravit per longum tempus quod singulis diebus in una mensa ad unum cantinum manducabant, et in noctibus non seperabat eos lectus. Et diliexit eum rex Franciae quasi animam suam; et in tantum se mutuo diligebant, quod propter vehmentem delictionem quae inter illos erat, dominus rex Angliae nimio stupore arreptus admirabatur quid hoc esset.
Which, I think, translates to
Richard, [then] duke of Aquitaine, the son of the king of England, remained with Philip, the King of France, who so honoured him for so long that they ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them. And the king of France loved him as his own soul; and they loved each other so much that the king of England was absolutely astonished at the passionate love between them and marvelled at it.
Note that "lectus" does mean bed, couch and nothing else here, and "deligo" is probably best translated as "love" although it could, I suppose, mean "esteem" - clearly a too weak translation here.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Spencer Percival 11 May

On this day in 1812 The Right Honourable Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was shot through the heart in the Lobby of the House of Commons. He is the only British Prime Minister ever to have been assassinated. Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry about trade restrictions when John Bellingham, who was demanding compensation for his imprisonment in Russia, shot him. The circumstances are peculiar to say the least. In autumn 1803, a Russian ship Soyuz was lost in the White Sea. The owners (the house of R. Van Brienen) attempted to claim on their insurance but an anonymous letter informed Lloyd’s that the ship had been sabotaged. Soloman Van Brienen suspected Bellingham was the author, and accused him of a debt of 4,890 roubles. Bellingham, who had been working in Russia as a merchant was on the verge of leaving for Britain but on November 16 1804, was imprisoned. Eventually he was permitted to leave and arrived back in England in December 1809. Oddly, Bellingham (who’s father had been insane, by the way) decided to petition the United Kingdom Government for compensation for his imprisonment. Despite pleas from friends and family to desist, he persisted and on April 18 1812 he went in person to the offices of the Foreign Office where a civil servant called Hill told him he would not be compensated and that he was ‘at liberty to take whatever measures he thought proper’. What he thought proper was to lurk in the lobby of the House of Commons and on May 11 1812, he drew one of a pair of pistols concealed in specially made pockets in his coat and shot the Prime Minister as he passed through to the chamber. He was taken up, found guilty, sentenced to death, and hanged in public on Monday May 18. In the 1983 general election, his descendant Henry Bellingham was elected to Parliament for North West Norfolk and some years later in 1997 one of his opponents was Roger Percival, a descendant of Spencer Perceval.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

"Wilkes and Liberty!" 10 May

"Wilkes and Liberty!" is not a cry heard on the streets of London, or indeed anywhere else, nowadays but on May 10 1768 when John Wilkes, a radical and journalist, was imprisoned there was rioting in London with people running around shouting "Wilkes and Liberty!" as if their lives depended on it. Wilkes was a supporter of William Pitt the Elder (a Whig). When John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (a Tory) came to power in 1762, Wilkes started a weekly publication, the ‘North Briton’, in which both Bute and the Dowager Princess of Wales (with whom Bute may have been a smidgen over-chummy) were savagely satirised. Bute resigned in 1763 but Wilkes was equally opposed to his successor, George Grenville. Wilkes was later charged with seditious libel over attacks on the King’s speech at the opening of Parliament in issue Number 45 of April 23, 1763 which eventually led to his imprisonment. In addition to being a bit of a scallywag, Wilkes was a noted wit and when Lord Sandwich shouted to him "You Sir, will either die of the pox or the gallows!". Wilkes responded "That would depend on whether I embrace your lordship’s principles or your mistresses." Whilst all that is jolly interesting in itself, the best part of the tale started off as a bit of a side-show. In addition to Wilkes, there were about 40 other ‘North Briton’ supporters and contributors that the Government attempted to suppress. Secretary of State for the Northern Department George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax had his agents, led by Nathan Carrington, break into the home of Wilkes’ supporter John Entick and seize his private papers. Entick took Carrington and his colleagues to court and the trial took place in Westminster Hall presided over by Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. Camden held that Halifax had no right under statute or under precedent to issue such a warrant. The judgement established the limits of executive power in English law that an officer of the state could only act lawfully in a manner prescribed by statute or common law - which is why a Home Secretary will seldom cry "Wilkes and Liberty!".

Monday, May 09, 2005

Colonel Thomas Blood 9 May

Seventeenth Century Royal Scam. On this day in 1671, Colonel Thomas Blood, one of the most audacious rogues in history, attempted to steal the Crown Jewels. Blood, disguised as a parson, had over a number of weeks, befriended the Jewel Keeper, Talbot Edwards and at 7 am on 9 May persuaded him to show the jewels to a group of his parson friends. Edwards, apparently not in the least bit surprised at being confronted by half a dozen drunken Irish parsons at seven in the morning, unlocked the door to the room where they were kept. At this point, Blood hit him on the head with a mallet and knocked him to the floor, where he was bound, gagged and stabbed with a sword. The crown was flattened with the mallet and stuffed into a bag, and the orb stuffed down Blood’s breeches. The sceptre was too long to go into the bag, and wouldn’t fit down his breeches, so Blood’s brother-in-law, Hunt (one of the other ‘parsons’), tried to saw it in half. Astonishingly, Edwards’s son chose that moment to visit his father for the first time in many years and on his approach the gang dropped the loot and fled. Blood, after unsuccessfully trying to shoot one of the guards with a wet pistol was captured. Blood refused to answer questions, saying only "I’ll answer to none but the King himself". Strangely, King Charles II then met with Blood and asked, "What if I should give you your life?" Blood, with a roguish wink, replied, "I would endeavour to deserve it, Sire!" Much to everyone’s amazement the King, instead of having him hung drawn and quartered, pardoned Blood, and gave him an income of five hundred pounds per annum! Of course, whilst one hesitates to question the motives of a Monarch, some commentators, bearing in mind the Royal impecuniousness at the time, have surmised that Blood was acting under orders and that the jewels were destined for sale to refill the royal treasury.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Tony Blair's Birthday 8 May

Today is the Prime Ministers birthday. The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is the first Labour Prime Minister to have lead his party to three general elections in a row, and the first to lead Labour into a third term. Mr Blair, during his period of office has done much to extend and modernise the welfare state, develop the economy and extend the ‘special relationship’ with the United States. Happy Birthday Mr Blair. Speaking of visionary leaders and the United States, today in 1877, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrendered to United States troops in Nebraska. This sad event came less than one year after the Battle of the Greasy Grass/Little Bighorn on June 26, 1876, in which Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull and led his band in the counterattack that destroyed Custer’s 7th Cavalry. Whilst in custody, a United States soldier assassinated Crazy Horse (with a bayonet) on September 5, 1877. Three years later, after the ‘Battle’ of Wounded Knee the so-called Indian Wars were over. Lyman Frank Baum, later famous as the author of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ and the ever-popular ‘The Book of the Hamburgs: A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs’, wrote: "..our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilisation, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.." There were 20,000 Lakota (Oglala Sioux) in the mid-18th century. There are now about 70,000, 20,480 of whom still speak their ancestral language.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Dissolution of Parliament 5 May

On this day in 1640 King Charles I (obviously with an eye to future topicality as much as out of habit) dissolved parliament. This particular parliament was known as the Short Parliament because it lasted only three weeks. King Charles was forced to call the Short Parliament to raise money to fight the Bishops’ Wars, but parliament was more interested in arguing about grievances with the King and didn’t deliver. How different from the parliaments of today! In France, of course, things were, at that time, less revolutionary and it wasn’t until 5 May 1789 that the first meeting of the French Estates-General took place to resolve one or two tax issues. This meeting was a general assembly consisting of representatives from all but the poorest segment of the French citizenry and was the embryo of future French government. It had long been the practise that France raised the bulk of its taxes from the ‘Third Estate’ - the commoners - and this, astonishingly, was seen as a bit unfair (by the commoners, that is). Successive attempts at reforming the system had proven fruitless in the face of opposition from the First (the clergy) and Second (the nobility) Estates who were hardly taxed at all - no doubt the commoners predilection for eating cake had something to do with this. The assembly, predictably, ended in a shambles. Of course, one way of avoiding all this election fever altogether would be to have instead a coup d’état. We all complain about the politicians we have to choose from and a coup d’état removes all that uncertainty. The coup d’état on 5 May 1954 that carried General Alfredo Stroessner to power in Paraguay is a prime example. Although known, for several positive economic policies, including the building of the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world, Alfredo also granted asylum to numerous Ex-Nazis in Paraguay, including the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. ‘Good old Alfredo’ was apparently so benevolent a ruler that he only killed 3000 of his own people during the 35 years before he was ousted in a coup. What a nice man - on the whole, I would prefer to vote.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Battle of Tewkesbury 4 May

The Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, which took place on May 4, 1471, ended one phase of the interminable Wars of the Roses. The mentally unstable Lancastrian King, Henry VI of England, nicknamed "Mad Henry" was deposed for a second time by his rival, the Yorkist Edward IV of England. The battle put a temporary end to Lancastrian hopes of regaining the throne of England and proceeded fourteen years of peace until Henry Tudor finally settled the argument at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Another famous nickname, Al ‘Scarface’ Capone was sent to Atlanta prison on May 4 1932 for tax evasion. Alphonse Gabriel Capone, famous American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s was, according to his business card, a used furniture dealer, although he may have been fibbing. Sometime in the mid-1930s, whilst at Alcatraz, Capone began showing signs of dementia. ‘Crazy Al’, as he became known by the braver inmates, died on January 24, 1947. Finally on the subject of nicknames, (and somewhat topically) Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 4 May 1979. She acquired more nicknames than any other British leader - "The Great She-Elephant", "Attila the Hen", and "The Grocer’s Daughter" to name but a few. "The Iron Lady" retired from Parliament at the 1992 election.