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#OTD 9 July – Turbulence and priests

The Archbishop of Canterbury does not always have an easy time of it. Simon Sudbury was beheaded by the peasants during Wat Tyler’s rebellion. William Laud was beheaded by parliament for being too high church. Thomas Becket is history’s most famous victim of the device much loved by rulers, asking of a question in the… Continue reading #OTD 9 July – Turbulence and priests

#OTD 8 July – The flight of the saucer

News is made up of text and context, but memory meshes them up. The text from 8 July 1947 is famous. Something shiny crashed in New Mexico, the Roswell Army Air Force base issued a press release about a recovered “flying disc”, the press release was retracted later the same day, and a conspiracy theory… Continue reading #OTD 8 July – The flight of the saucer

#OTD 7 July – We are come down to bind thee

In the mid 18th century the Whigs needed backers to finance the suppression of the Jacobite uprising. The foremost backer was Sampson Gideon, a Sephardic Jewish banker later called the Rothschild of his day. In the following decade, Gideon and others lobbied Prime Minister Henry Pelham to introduce what became known as the Jew Bill.… Continue reading #OTD 7 July – We are come down to bind thee

# OTD 4 July – The US as a post-colonial colonist?

4 July 1776 is the day that the American colonialists declared their independence from Britain. On 12 June 1898, the Philippines declared its independence from Spain. The declaration did not stop the major powers making the Treaty of Paris in December. The treaty marked the effective end of the Spanish Empire and the controversial beginning… Continue reading # OTD 4 July – The US as a post-colonial colonist?

#OTD 3 July – The long long eve of independence

Today, the eve of July 4, is an inspiration for those into the long slog and provides a little irony along the way. On 3 July 1754, a young lieutenant colonel from Virginia suffered the only surrender of his career at the Battle of Fort Necessity, an early climax of competition between the French, the… Continue reading #OTD 3 July – The long long eve of independence

# OTD 2 July – Independence Day Mark I

The background is well known, with founding father and later US president John Adams writing to his wife Abigail: The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It… Continue reading # OTD 2 July – Independence Day Mark I

# OTD 1 July – The rich maple syrup of constitutional Canada

On 1 July 1867, the UK’s British North America Act came into effect. It is rich fodder for semanticists. The preamble to the Act opens with the words: Whereas the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a… Continue reading # OTD 1 July – The rich maple syrup of constitutional Canada

#OTD 30 June – I’ll be a monkey’s uncle

On 30 June 1860, seven months after the publication of The Origin of the Species, a prominent New York scientist by the name of William Draper delivered a paper before the British Association’s annual meeting in Oxford. The title was “On the Intellectual Development of Europe, considered with reference to the views of Mr. Darwin… Continue reading #OTD 30 June – I’ll be a monkey’s uncle