Behind west European history is an English-French and a more recent Protestant-Catholic rivalry. Things began in 1066 when William the Bastard sailed from Normandy. On 14 October, he defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold at Hastings. Five hundred and twenty years later on 14 October 1586, Mary Queen of Scots was tried for treason. One of… Continue reading #OTD 14 October – England and France, not a love story
Author: The chronographer
#OTD 2 May – Love and charity
From 1588, the failure of the Spanish armada, to1620, the voyage of The Mayflower, things were done which would underpin Britain’s conflicted self-image as underdog and world leader for centuries. The years represented revolution. The language of Shakespeare is the example for the ages. They also represented consolidation. The King James Bible was built on… Continue reading #OTD 2 May – Love and charity
#OTD 1 May – Woman and War
The English presence in Ireland has pervaded the politics of those countries for 800 years and flowed into others. The Australian conscription referendums of the Great War and the election of JFK are two examples. That said, who knows let alone cares that President Biden has an Irish Catholic pedigree? In any event, 1 May… Continue reading #OTD 1 May – Woman and War
#OTD 3 February – Nations or peoples?
An advantage of seeing history through people is that people have that magic ingredient of inconsistency. On 3 February 1870, the US Constitution’s Fifteenth Amendment was ratified. It provided that the right of citizens to vote could not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account of race, colour or… Continue reading #OTD 3 February – Nations or peoples?
#OTD 2 February – The way we were
On 2 February 1899, the Australian colonial Premiers’ Conference agreed (a) that the nation’s new capital would be in NSW but at least 100 miles from the NSW capital Sydney; and (b) that the nation’s first parliament would meet in the colonial but soon to be state Victorian capital of Melbourne. The nation’s new capital,… Continue reading #OTD 2 February – The way we were
#OTD 1 February – Cause and culpability
On 1 February 1992, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal declared Warren Anderson a fugitive from justice for failing to appear at the hearing of a culpable homicide case. Mr Anderson was chair and CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the Bhopal disaster in 1984 which had killed thousands. In 1982, auditors had… Continue reading #OTD 1 February – Cause and culpability
#OTD 31 January – A changing regime
In 1997, BBC 1 ended a tradition of playing God Save the Queen on close of transmission. In 2016, a pro-Brexit Tory MP sought to have the tradition reinstated. A BBC 2 program responded by closing with the Sex Pistols’ version. On 31 January 2020, the UK’s membership of the EU ended. John Lydon aka… Continue reading #OTD 31 January – A changing regime
#OTD 30 January – The peace of empire
Those who rule like their rule being associated with peace. The propaganda term “pax Romana” was and continues to be used for the time from empire’s beginning, 27 BC, to the death of the stoic Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD. The first known use is that of the other great stoic Seneca about a century… Continue reading #OTD 30 January – The peace of empire
#OTD 29 January – Women & Strangelove
On 29 January 1964, Dr Strangelove hit the cinemas. Kubrick’s works make us think about who we are, although a sizeable school holds that Kubrick’s “we” extended only to men. Strangelove has sexism explicit in the parody. When you call your presidential character “Merkin Muffley”, your chairman of the joint chiefs “Buck Turgidson”, and your… Continue reading #OTD 29 January – Women & Strangelove
#OTD 27 January – A royal flush
On 27 January 1910, Thomas Crapper died. He had run a successful sanitary engineering business and left two enduring myths. The first is that he invented the flushing toilet. He didn’t. Credit usually goes to Sir John Harington, whom Elizabeth I called “my witty godson”. He loved his epigrams, of which the most famous is:… Continue reading #OTD 27 January – A royal flush