Category: History

Better than Bradders?

Statistics don’t lie, do they? The higher the batting average the better the player. Top of the list of Test cricket’s batting averages is  Andy Ganteaume. The Trinidadian played one test for the West Indies v England in 1948 and scored 112. The politics at the time prevented him playing any more tests so his average remains the best.

Andy joked he was a “one cap wonder” and kept his feelings to himself until 59 years later he complained bitterly about “the establishment” in his autobiography, My Story, The Other Side of the Coin. He died on February 17, 2016 aged 95.

Not better than Bradman, of course, but it’s better to be a one cap wonder or a one hit wonder or a one day wonder than being no wonder at all. Well played, Andy.

Wanted: a new sugar daddy

If the UK votes for Brexit, the SNP will try to defect again. And I can see why! The UK is tired of filling their begging bowl and the defectors need to look for another source of bail-outs. The EU of course is the prime candidate, with a long history of supporting lost causes with other people’s cash.

The fact is: good riddance to bad SNP rubbish! If only the silent Scottish majority would get vocal NOW, rather than when push comes to shove.

Whatever happened to……

Hollywood? As usual I avoided watching the luvvies’ love-in known as the Academy Awards but couldn’t quite miss the agonised reports by the meeja experts.

This year the LA glitterati seemed to be determined to dress badly, speak badly and in most ways to ape their political contemporaries. No glamour, less charisma and even less talent.

Is this all the result of home screens taking over from cinemas? Do the best actors/actresses make tv series now? Is Hollywood as we know it a fading memory?

Greatest Year

In the author’s opinion 1953 was the greatest year in human history. The list below gives an indication of some of thee historic events in that calendar year. There wasn’t enough room to mention more though I dare say the lot of you well remember this was the year of Myxomatosis in the UK. Tic-tac-toe, it was not.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Crick and Watson discover DNA

Two other blokes discover REM sleep.

Hillary reaches the top.

Piltdown Man is rock bottom.

Magnificent England beat Australia to reclaim the Ashes which the Aussies had held since 1934.

Hungary thrash the Horrible English 6-3 at Wembley.

Gordon Richards wins the Derby at long last.

First issue of Playboy.

Two thirds of Rush are born.

Most importantly, the famous Glasgow Rangers win the Scottish Football Championship on goal average.

Nicola’s no to nukes

They’re ‘immoral’ – so she’ll bag Trident, with moral support from Jeremy. So what in my day was known as a deterrent will be left to the eight (known) ‘players’: USA, Russia, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and N Korea.

Should we draw in our horns then? Accept our role as a has-been bystander in world affairs? Rely on our friends (!) to deter the rest?

Answers please to Janus’s Bunker, somewhere too close to the Baltic Sea.

Supernatural argument?

Pope: If you build walls, you’re not a Christian. It’s not in the Gospel.

Trump: If ISIS attacks the Vatican, he’ll wish I were President. How dare he say I’m not a Christian?

New Swiss Guards attend their swearing-in ceremony in Paul VI hall at the Vatican May 6. New recruits are sworn in during a colorful ceremony at the Vatican every May 6 to commemorate the day 150 Swiss Guards died saving Pope Clement VII’s life during the sack of Rome on that date in 1527. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (May 7, 2012) See GUARDS-FACEBOOK May 7, 2012.

But building a better wall around the Vatican, manned by Trump’s Troops, would prove Trump’s Christianity. Would it, Pope mate? Naeh, that’s different. Blessed are the peace-makers – especially meek ones, allegedly.

Basic instincts

We are all dissatisfied with our political leaders. No change there then – ’twas ever thus according to even the reliable sources.

So what can be done about it? Support radical groups, rabble-rousers and Trump?

Trouble is – gee whiz- we’ll end up with national policies based on our least human/humane feelings about our needs and ambitions. Greed, envy, hatred, hypocrisy, self-obsession and suspicion of everyone else.

So help me out here, please.

Nova Scotia

Columbus always gets the credit/blame for finding the Americas, even though another sailor gave them his name. And it’s strange that clear evidence of Viking habitation of the continent is largely ignored. Even stranger that reports of the recent discovery of Roman artefacts in the same region also ignore the subsequent Viking activity – as if nothing else happened until 1492!

We all deplore attempts to re-write history, but the persistent failure to recognise key events is even worse.

No doubt learned colleagues can offer an explanation…..