Paul : I think you may have hit the nail on the head - although there could be a touch more to the story, if Mama had severe suspicions (possibly based on what the victim had told her of the marital relationship) could that not have triggered repeated dreams on the subject?

25 January 1533 - Henry VIII officially, but still secretly, married an already pregnant Anne Boleyn at York Place (the Palace of Whitehall). The ceremony was conducted "very early before day" and there were only the officiating priest, the two witnesses and one of Anne's ladies in attendance. They had already secretly married in November 1532 at Dover immediately on their return from a 'summit' with Francis I in France, but this earlier wedding was even more illicit and had certainly not been conducted in accordance with royal protocol. Hence the need for the second official marriage. Even so, in January 1533 it was still technically a bigamous union for all Henry's bluster that the Pope had "promised him licence" to marry. Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon still stood and would not be annulled by Archbishop Cranmer until 23 May 1533 when the marriage to Anne could finally be declared "good and valid".

26th January 1885 - Moses assassinated:

Nordmann,


didn't understand "Moses" and Chinese...found it on internet, but still no explanation...
Thanks in advance, Paul.


OOPS Found it:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=32857.0;wap2
But still "Moses"

OOPS found that too. Suddenly a breakthrough by thinking logical...the same way as you do normally...
https://www.google.be/search?q=charlton+heston+moses&biw=1199&bih=731&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=S4vGVLTIH4j1aoGngIgG&sqi=2&ved=0CB4QsAQ

Have to say for an Irishman, you have some English manners...some joke that you have to think some minute about and then start to laugh...A bit as the father of Ur-nugal...but after all I suppose that is an Englishman...

Kind regards, Paul.

No, no, Paul - It's God who is an Englishman, not some Sumerian demigod.

January 27th 1995 - marking the 20th anniversary of ...

And the 70th anniversary of the liberation of this obscenity :-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30996555

28th January 1547, The Tower of London.

Thomas Howard, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk - who had once declared, "When I deserve to be in the Tower, Tottenham will turn French!" - couldn't believe his luck. He had been expecting to die in the grey dawn of this January morning, but his King had beaten him to it.

Henry VIII, clutching the hand of his Archbishop of Canterbury, had expired a few hours earlier (around 2.00am).

Legally, Norfolk's execution could have gone ahead, but the new regime thought it best not to begin the reign of the boy king Edward VI  "in blood".

I know how Norfolk was feeling in that portrait. I hate it also when the broom handle snaps in two. Sweeping out a gaff like Norfolk's while bent completely over is no joke at our age. You can see from his mush that he's not looking forward to it.

Was in something of a rush yesterday, so did not include this for January 29th, 1536:

Catherine of Aragon was laid to rest at Peterborough Abbey. On the same day, Anne Boleyn, in the chilling phrase of historian, J.E. Neale, "miscarried of her saviour".

Fifty years ago today, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was buried. The sight of the crane jibs dipping as the launch Havengore took the coffin down the Thames still lives with me.
(Incidentally, the man in charge of the Royal Navy gun carriage party was our Gunnery - i.e. Parade Training - Officer).

The crane sequence is in the final 10 seconds:




The Daily Mail's view:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2932437/The-dockers-Churchill-war-s-shameful-secret-Second-World-War-strikes-reveal-disgusting-lack-patriotism.html

Though for many in the country this lad's dislodging of the Beatles' "I Feel Fine" from the number one spot the night before as announced on Radio Luxembourg was probably even more significant an event. Times, they were a changin' alright ...

Back in 1649;

Exactly 12 years later;

January 30th 1969 - once upon a rooftop ...

What a fertile day January 30th has been historically ...

1972

nordmann wrote:

What a fertile day January 30th has been historically ...

It certainly is.



1945, the sinking of the cruise liner Wilhelm Gustloff by the Soviet submarine S-13, estimates of the deaht toll range from 5,000 to 9,600, making it the largest single loss of life in maritime history;

Back in 1933, a failed painter gets a new job;

February 6th 1971 - Alan Shepard, the first American in space, sets a new record when he becomes the first earthling to play golf on another celestial body. It was a short round - two shots with two different balls, or "little white pellets" as Shepard called them when he called Hosuton's attention to what he was up to (his plan had been kept secret right up to its execution). And though he reckoned the second shot travelled "for miles and miles" the killjoys back at Houston calculated from the visual evidence that 300 yards might have been a more accurate assessment.

9 February 1945, one of the forgotten areas of WW2, Coastal Command operations against German ships in Norway. On this particular day resulted in aerial battle as Beaufighters and Mustangs attacked destroyer Z33 in Forde Fjord;

http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/1945/Forde.html


Z33 under attack;

10 February 1355,
rioting between students and townsfolk, started by the price and quality of drink, leaves over 90 dead in Oxford.

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/history_heritage/history/9200746.print/

10 February 1906 - HMS Dreadnought was launched at Portsmouth, just four months after construction had started. At the time she was the fastest and most heavily armed warship in the world, rendering all other capital ships obsolete as "pre-dreadnoughts". Ironically she missed the Battle of Jutland which was the only great clash of dreadnought navies, but gained fame for being the only battleship to have ever sunk an enemy submarine by ramming.

11th February 1466 - Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, niece of Richard III, and mother of the future Henry VIII, was born.

11th February 1503 - her thirty seventh birthday - Elizabeth of York died.

She was in the Tower of London - then of course a royal palace - having given birth a few days earlier to a little girl, Katherine, who died. The birth was probably premature: a contemporary chronicler indicates that something was amiss:

"Candlemas Day in the night, the King and Queen being then at the Tower, the Queen travailed of child suddenly and was delivered of a daughter, the which was christened in the parish church of the said Tower and named Katherine. And upon the 11th day of said month being Saturday in the morning, died the most gracious and virtuous princess the Queen, where within the parish church of the foresaid Tower her corpse lay 11 days after."

Henry VII, not known for showing much emotion about anything, was apparently devastated by the loss of his wife.

12 February 1924, first performance of;

Triceratops wrote:

12 February 1924, first performance of;

I think the unsung hero of this piece is Whiteman's "staff arranger" Ferde Grophe. Gershwin had forgotten he had promised Whiteman a piece, and had time only to write a piano score, which Grophe orchestrated so the talismanic glissando clarinet opening is Grophe as much or more than Gershwin.

ps - composers don't often produce the "definitive" interpretation of their own work - this version seems a tad pedestrian to me - or is that just an artifact of time passing?

22nd February, 2011: Christchurch earthquake killed 185 people.  A very good article in the Christchurch Press had stories from quite a number of people, some very seriously injured, others left for the best part of a day in tiny dark spaces.  (Makes me think I should carry a little poison pill round with me.)  It is here.  There is a memorial ceremony today, but quite a lot of the people interviewed here found they cannot attend such things. Some of the people who will be attending from outside NZ are the British High Commissioner Jonathan Sinclair, Ambassador of Japan Nogawa Yasuaki, and Ambassador of the State of Israel Yosef Livne. Twenty-eight of the people killed were Japanese English-language students some of whom had only been there a few days before starting their studies at the main building that collapsed.  (The builders and designers seem to have managed to escape responsibility for this.)

Yep yep yep yep yep yep mom mom mom sha na na na

February 24th 1958 - this doo-wop classic (from which the group Sha Na Na derived their name) reached the top of the US Billboard charts ...

And how about this for Mozart's cover of the Silhouettes' classic! (as imagined by the Hampton String Quartet)

Another take on "Get a Job"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbAoXw_DqvM

Denis Law is 75 today;

25 February 1601, Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex is executed for treason;

Missed this yesterday, first flight of the Supermarine Spitfire.

Not sure if this is the actual first flight, it is the Spitfire prototype K5054;

7th March, 1842: the first judicial execution by a European court took place, when 17-year-old Maori, Maketu Wharetotara (aka Wiremu Kingi Maketu) was hanged.  He had killed his boss, Thomas Bull, the farm owner Elizabeth Roberton, her two children and the granddaughter of a Maori chief.  The chief and his family accepted his death sentence which the European government interpreted as Maori accepting their right to make law; the site below suggests it more to do with Maori utu (avenge, doing like for like). The trial was put off for a day to allow a European to be charged with murder but he was found guilty of manslaughter and not sentenced to death, which was seen by some Maori as hypocritical.  I think our library has a new book about this crime which would be interesting to read.  (Another book to read - do they never stop!)

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the-death-penalty/the-first-execution

8th March,1965: the first American troops landed on Vietnam soil. I was reading an article from the Observor today and it was advising that Vietnam is a different country from then and worth thinking of apart from just as a place of war.  I will have said before that I caused the woman at the Green Howard Museum somewhere (Richmond?) palpitations when I wondered where the bits about Vietnam were, not realising till then that Britain didn't take part in the Vietnam war.  Unlike NZ which did, to much protest (and leaving the soldiers with lasting health effects.  Ill health effects, I mean.) and anger.  But last year several kids from our small school went to Vietnam for their social studies work and enjoyed it a lot.  It has become a popular destination for NZ tourists - is that the case in Britain too?

8th March 1915: Danish women got/achieved the the right to vote.

Born on the 9th March 1890, Vyacheslav Molotov, Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union during WW2.

What surprised me about Molotov was that he lived until 1986, surely the last of the major players of WW2 to pass away. Another couple of years and he would have seen the Soviet Union break up.

10 March 1801, the  first census of Great Britain is held;

Triceratops wrote:

10 March 1801, the  first census of Great Britain is held;

Where on earth was this page enumerated?  I make that a count of 119, with 2 agricultural workers, and 2 in trade! How about 59 females, 3 males, 1 family?????? Sounds like a Norleans sportin' house to me!

It's from Essex, Gil


http://www.1911census.org.uk/1801.htm

Don't tell Priscilla.

Triceratops wrote:

It's from Essex, Gil


http://www.1911census.org.uk/1801.htm

Don't tell Priscilla.

Ah. I lived in Essex for a while. Now it makes sense.

P. found out.  And not bothered. I hail from other counties - all grandparents. However, it was an interesting half hour looking into the census stuff on line. Workhouses and orphanages were listed as households....and large estates with many children in service account for some odd totals. Whether houses of poor repute were listed I know not - were brothels legal? it was not clear who did the counting and recording. Unwise to question in some of the marshland areas I'd have thought until quite recently. I note that some of the villages had a high population then then now. interesting stuff, trike. Thank you. I do so love red herrings that take my interest aay from things I ought to be doing.

Gil, Essex has never made sense to me; other counties, yes, but not Essex.

P - to begin with, there are two Essexes (should that be Esseces?), one is full of displaced, and largely disgruntled, Londoners who can no longer afford to live in London, the other is the primarily rural original Essex, a little like a rather less advanced Norfolk. The two mix about as well as water and electricity.

I meant to post this yesterday and then went forgot all about it; 50 years since the first spacewalk;

March 24th 1944 - the real "great escape" from Stalag Luft III happened. No Americans were involved in the planning or execution of the mass breakout (sorry McQueen, Bronson, Coburn and Garner fans).

I recall the anger of our neighbour when the film came out for pandering to another audience. He had been selected for one of the escapees but came down with flu symptons and not allowed to go - though he later ended up in Colditz withe few who returned, being a known camp malcontent. There are noises about a remake of the story.
Of the other several former PoWs that I have known, their tales are less dramatic. Most complained of boredom - or in one case, pleased at the opportunity to get down to  reading and study. Except  one, a friend, Tony, the CO of a compay 98 men building the infamous railway: 96 of them survived; he maintained that his batman, an incredible resourceful scrounger had made the difference.... and knowing Tony, his own remarkable strengths and determination to tend his men and get them through it was part of that.

I've probably seen it about 50 times and never tired off it.
It may not be great history but it is, IMO, a great film.

nordmann wrote:

March 24th 1944 - the real "great escape" from Stalag Luft III happened. No Americans were involved in the planning or execution of the mass breakout (sorry McQueen, Bronson, Coburn and Garner fans).

Thank you very much for this documentary, Nordmann.

I saw it with great interest.

Kind regards, Paul.

March 27th 1871 - the first ever Rugby Union international in the world was played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, between Scotland and England. Scotland ran out eventual winners of this 20-a-side competition played over two 50 minute halves, scoring two tries and a goal. England managed one try. By definition therefore the Scots won one goal to nil (tries were only counted in the event of a draw).



The victorious Scots in their fetching brown jumpers and cricket-whites leggings. The English wore white shirts with a red rose emblem, still their current garb in such matters.

1 April 1969, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the Royal Air Force;

As if to coincide with my point regarding Hellenic influences in the so-called "Roman World" today, April 6th marks the 1,613th anniversary of the Battle of Pollentia in which a "Roman" army, led by Greek-speaking officers under the command of the Greek-bred Vandal Stilicho defeated the Latin-speaking Visigoth Alaric's "barbarians" in Pollenzo, near Milan. This is the last battle in history whose victors were awarded a triumph in Rome (for saving Western Civilisation from those Latin-speaking "barbarian" guys).

Within a very short time some other important Greek-speakers based in Constantinople, fearful of Stilicho's power, had him outlawed and executed. This proved a mistake as Alaric regrouped and eight years later infamously sacked Rome. There were no Vandals to save them this time. The pope did a deal with the Latin-speakers and the Vandals receded into historical infamy as the bad guys, telephone booth wreckers, graffiti artists etc.

The other Greek-speakers weren't quite finished saving Western civilisation of course, famously under Belisarius a hundred years later, but mostly from then on they were preoccupied with stuff in the Middle East and the Balkans and the Latin-speakers (including a very powerful church) could reinvent their own role in historical affairs relatively unimpeded thereafter.


A Ladybird Book Stilicho receives a big "efharisto poli" from the "Romans" for defeating a Latin-speaker.