Monarch of the Glen

Happy birthday Susan Hampshire – 73 today.

A scene showing a love which endures is a rare thing in modern television.

Critical Mass

In A Strange Land, Latitidue 44 and Musty Moments were the blogs I discussed with Jim Mora on Critical Mass yesterday.

In A Strange Land is on my list of top 20ish blogs. Its author is Deborah, a New Zealander living in Adelaide, who writes from a strong feminist, moderate left perspective on politics and life.

Her posts vary from serious and reasoned consideration of issues to reflections on life, family stories, delicious recipes and lately she’s given us a glimpse of her kitchen alterations.

Jim asked me is she was stroppy like Cactus Kate and Roarprawn. I hope none of them is insulted that I said no.

Deborah wrote a post mentioning Critical Mass yesterday. It includes a selection of past posts which new comers to the blog might enjoy.

Latitude 44 is written by Alex who, after five years working for a software company in San Francisco, is taking some time off to explore the Southern Hemisphere. S/he (I thought Alex was a he but when I re-read the posts realised that was an assumption which may not be correct) is living in Omarama which is one of the world’s best gliding bases.

It’s a newish blog – started in February. Posts so far cover his/her plans, journey to New Zealand, first impressions, an insight into gliding and the latest post is on happiness and the corporate you.

Musty Moments is the work of Ross Horsley who describes himself as a timid librarian by day and a frenzied fan of gory slasher movies by night. It’s an online scrapbook of unusual and amusing snippets he unearths while working at a history library. It also features his comic strip experiment, The Wesleys.  He hasn’t updated that for a while but if you go back a couple of pages you’ll find them.

My plan for my spot on Critical Mass is to discuss both the more popular blogs and also some of the less well known ones.

You’re welcome to suggest blogs for consideration.

Jonah Lomu

Happy birthday Jonah Lomu – 35 today.

Anchor Me

Day 12 of Music Month – Anchor Me by the Mutton Birds.

Inspired by Busted Blonde who’s just been mutton birding, but is back now so not involved in the stabbing on Titi Island.

8/10

My knowledge of political trivia is a bit better than it was for history today – 8/10 in the Dominion Post’s political quiz.

Will he really want to be PM?

Britain has a new Prime Minister.

That ought to be something he celebrates but the indecisive election result and the need for support from the Liberal Democrats, with whom the Conservatives have little in common, will put a dampener on celebrations.

Whether David Cameron leads a minority government or a coalition the task he faces is a difficult one.

Some commentators have suggested he’d have been better to stand back and wait. But I’m reminded of a comment Bill English made at a conference, the worst day in government where you can do something is better than the best in opposition where you can do nothing.

5/10

A slight improvement on last week’s score in the NZ History Online quiz – 5/10.

However, all but one answer was a guess and (blush) I got the first leader of the National Party wrong.

May 12 in history

On May 12:

1191  Richard I of England married Berengaria of Navarre who was crowned Queen consort of England the same day.

  

1264 The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, began.

1328 Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, was consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.

1364  Jagiellonian University, was founded in Kraków.

1551  National University of San Marcos, was founded in Lima.

1588 French Wars of Religion: Henry III  fledParis after Henry of Guise enters the city.

1689  King William’s War: William III  joined the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.

1743  Maria Theresa of Austria was crowned King of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

1797  First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquered Venice.

1812 Edward Lear, British author and poet was born (d. 1888).

1820 Florence Nightingale, British nurse was born (d. 1910).

1821  The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occured in Valtetsi.

1828  Dante Gabriel Rossetti, British painter,was born (d. 1882).

1863  American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson‘s XVII Corps (ACW) turned the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton‘s defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.

1864 American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers died in “the Bloody Angle”.

 

1865  American Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.

1870 The Manitoba Act was given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.

 

1873  Oscar II was crowned King of Sweden.

1881  Tunisia became a French protectorate.

1885 North-West Rebellion: the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, ended with a decisive rebel defeat.

1890  The first-ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scored the first century in the competition.

1907 Katharine Hepburn, American actress, was born (d. 2003).

1910 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, British biochemist, Nobel laureate, was born (d. 1994).

 

1924 Tony Hancock, British comedian, was born  (d. 1968).

1926  UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day general strike by ended.

 

1932  Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh was found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs’ home.

 

1937 Susan Hampshire, British actress, was born.

 

1937 – George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon were crowned King and Queen.

 

1941 – Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

 

1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov – in the eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launched a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead.

 

1942 – Holocaust: 1,500 Jews were sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.

1945 Ian McLagan, British keyboardist (Small Faces), was born.

1945  Argentinian labour leader José Peter declared the Federación Obrera de la Industria de la Carne dissolved.

1949 – The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.

 

1949 – The western occupying powers approved the Basic Law for the new German state – the Federal Republic of Germany.

1952 Gaj Singh was crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.

1958 Aformal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement was signed between the United States and Canada.

1962  Douglas MacArthur delivered his famous “Duty, Honor, Country” valedictory speech at the United States Military Academy.

 

1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

1967  Pink Floyd staged the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.

1971 A civic reception for 161 Battery on its return from Vietnam was disrupted by protesters.

1975 Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby union footballer, was born.

1975  Mayagüez incident: the Cambodian navy seized the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.

1978  In Zaïre, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba.

1981  Francis Hughes starved to death in the Maze Prison in a republican campaign for political status to be granted to Provisional IRA prisoners.

1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower edJuan Fernandez Krohn before he  attacked Pope John Paul IIwith a bayonet.

1999 David Steel became the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

2002  Former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.

2003  The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.

2003 – Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.

2006  Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital began in São Paulo, leaving at least 150 dead.

 

2007  Karachi riots , which killed over 50 people in Karachi and above 100 injured, on the arrival of Chief Justice of Pakistan; Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Karachi city.

2008 Wenchuan earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) in Sichuan, China, killed more than 69,000 people.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia