On 16 April 1947, the financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch said “Let us not be deceived; we are today in the midst of a Cold War. Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: Our unrest is the heart of their success.” The expression “cold war” was… Continue reading #OTD 16 April
Author: The chronographer
#OTD 15 April
Behind the throne there is the power. Behind the inventor Thomas Edison sat the financier JP Morgan. In 1889, Morgan had orchestrated the merger of Edison’s business interests into Edison General Electric Company. At the time, DC man Edison was enmeshed in the costly battle of the currents with AC man George Westinghouse. In 1890,… Continue reading #OTD 15 April
#OTD 14 April
Cecil Chubb was born on 14 April 1876 in a village about four miles from Stonehenge. His father, like his father’s father, was the village saddler and harness maker. Chubb made it Cambridge, took a double first in Science and Law, and made his fortune as a barrister. Meanwhile, the Antrobus family, whose land included… Continue reading #OTD 14 April
#OTD 13 April
On 13 April 1742, Handel’s Messiah had its world premiere in Dublin. Everyone knew something was happening. To accommodate a large audience, gentlemen were asked to remove swords and ladies were asked not to wear hoops in their dresses. The oratorio is performed every year in many places including Royal Albert Hall. In 2010, Royal… Continue reading #OTD 13 April
#OTD 12 April
12 April 1927 was the Shanghai massacre. Or, in Taiwan, the April 12 incident or purge. Or, in China, the April 12 Counter-revolutionary Coup. Each tells a story of the day that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the conservative forces of the KMT violently suppressed Communist groups in Shanghai. The immediate consequences were a greatly diminished… Continue reading #OTD 12 April
#OTD 11 April
11 April 1976 is generally accepted as the day Steve Wozniak built the Apple-I. To the orthodoxy that Wozniak was Apple’s inhouse inventor and Steve Jobs the inhouse marketer, the Apple-I brings two quirks. First, Wozniak and not Jobs set the retail of $666.66 because he liked repeating digits and because it was a one-third… Continue reading #OTD 11 April
#OTD 10 April
For centuries, publishers and printers had the power when it came to books. This locked up ideas and deprived authors of the fruits of their labour. On 10 April 1710, the Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act, came into force. It recognised a 14-year right in an author to copy, that is, to have… Continue reading #OTD 10 April
#OTD 9 April
Whatever else immediacy brings, it brings us closer to a primal state where reaction is necessary and reflection a luxury. On 9 April 2017 Dr David Dao was a passenger on a United flight out of Chicago who is said to have reacted, when asked to deplane an overbooked flight, by saying “I can’t get… Continue reading #OTD 9 April
#OTD 8 April
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but Art is in the eye of administrators. After Waterloo, the Louvre had a problem. It was required to return the Apollo Belvedere to the Vatican and the Venus de’ Medici to Florence. At the same time, Lord Elgin had just sold his marbles to the… Continue reading #OTD 8 April
#OTD 7 April
7 April is the traditional birthday of the internet. On 7 April 1969, RFC 1 was published. The first RFCs, or Requests For Comments, were records of unofficial notes. They are now official records, the internet being as prone to the Janus of transparency and bureaucracy as the rest of us. For teachers who have… Continue reading #OTD 7 April