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".