today = new Date() date = today.getDate() month = today.getMonth() // ======================= function getTodaydata() { totDyk = dyk.length dayNum = (Math.floor(today.getTime() / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) % totDyk) if (otd[month][date] != "") { return "" } else if (dyk[dayNum] != "") { return "" //return "" } return } // ======================= memoriam = "" if (date == 26 && month == 4){ memoriam = "

Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death – on her 85th birthday
Gladys Isabel Hanson (née Randell)
1910-1995

" } if (date == 13 && month == 6){ memoriam = "

Today is the anniversary of my father’s death
Reginald Francis Leonard Hanson
1908-1995

" } //========================= var totPic = 16 function choosePic() { if (document.images) { dayNum = (Math.floor(now.getTime() / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) % totPic) + 1 if (date == 5 && month == 5) dayNum = 4 if (date == 13 && month == 10) dayNum = 1 todayPic = "000" + dayNum todayPic = todayPic.substring(todayPic.length-4,todayPic.length) } } //========================= function bonMot() { totMot = mot.length return "

" + mot[Math.floor((Math.random() * totMot)) % totMot] + "

" } mot = new Array ( "Peace & Plenty, the Reward of Temperance.", "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

(First Baron Acton)

", "Even God cannot change the past.

(Agathon)

", "What’s the use of worrying?
It never was worthwhile,
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.

(George Asaf)

", "Journalists say a thing that they know isn’t true, in the hope that if they keep saying it long enough it will be true.

(Enoch Arnold Bennett)

", "The art of Biography,
Is different from Geography.
Geography is about maps,
But Biography is about chaps.

(Edmund Clerihew Bentley)

", "In England there are sixty different religions, and only one sauce.

(Francesco Caraccioli)

", "Life is an incurable disease.

(Abraham Cowley)

", "What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?

(W H Davies)

", "I think, therefore I am.

(Descartes)

", "Time is the great physician.

(Benjamin Disraeli)

", "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

(Thomas Alva Edison)

", "Quod est demonstrandum.

(Euclid)

", "History is bunk.

(Henry Ford)

", //"Justice should not only be done, but manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.

(Lord Hewart)

", "Life is just one damned thing after another.

(Elbert Hubbard)

", "Cheer up, the worst is yet to come.

(Philander Chase Johnson)

", "You ain’t heard nothin’ yet, folks.

(Al Jolson)

", "The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

(Abraham Lincoln)

", "Slow and steady wins the race.

(Robert Lloyd)

", "England expects that every man will do his duty.

(Nelson)

", "The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.

(Edward John Phelps)

", "To err is human, to forgive, divine.

(Alexander Pope)

", "A little learning is a dang’rous thing.

(Alexander Pope)

", "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

(Alexander Pope)

", "The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.

(George Bernard Shaw)

", "It takes two to speak the truth – one to speak, and another to listen.

(Henry David Thoreau)

", "Genealogy: is it a thing of the past?", "Important families are like potatoes. The best parts are underground.

(Francis Bacon)

", "All happy families resemble each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

(Leo Tolstoy)

" ) otd = new Array ( // January [0, "", //"otd style='background:#eff8ad;border-color:#b5bd31;''>Happy New Year", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "On this day in 1880 the first London telephone directory was published – it contained 255 names.", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //30 "" //31 ], // February [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //"otd>

St Valentine’s Day

", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "" //29 ], // March [0, "", //"otd>

St David’s Day", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "On this day in 1876 the first telephone call was made by Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson.", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "‘Beware the Ides of March’", //15 "", //16 "", //"otd>

St Patrick’s Day

", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "On this day in 1840 Regency dandy ‘Beau’ Brummel died penniless in a French poorhouse aged 62 after fleeing from his creditors.", //30 "" //31 ], // April [0, "", //"otd>All Fools’s Day", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "On this day in 1580 an earthquake shook London, killing two people and damaging old St Paul’s.", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "On this day in 1360 the weather was so severe that there were reports of men freezing to death on horseback.", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //"otd>

St George’s Day", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "" //30 ], // May [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //30 "" //31 ], // June [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "On this day in 1932 my parents, Reginald Francis Leonard Hanson and Gladys Isabel Randell, were married. (Pictured above)", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "On this day in 1905 the Automobile Association was set up by motorists angered by police harassment, and to warn drivers of speed traps.", //29 "" //30 ], // July [0, "On this day in 1838, at the Linnean Society in London, Charles Darwin and naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace presented a paper setting out their theory of evolution.", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "On this day in 1867 Alfred Nobel, now famous for his Peace Prize, first demonstrated dynamite in a quarry at Redhill, Surrey.", //14 "Today is St Swithun’s Day. According to folklore, if it rains on this day it will rain for the next 40 days.", //15 "", //16 "On this day in 1917 the Royal Family changed its surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.", //17 "", //18 "On this day in 1799 the Rosetta Stone was discovered in Egypt.", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //30 "" //31 ], // August [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "On this day in 1840 the sending of boys younger than 16 years of age up chimneys as sweeps was made illegal by Act of Parliament.", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //30 "" //31 ], // September [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "On this day in 1620 the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth bound for the New World.", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "" //30 ], // October [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "On this day in 1884 Greenwich was adopted as the universal time meridian of longitude, from which standard times throughout the world are calculated.", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "

England expects that every man will do his duty.

(Horatio Nelson)", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //30 "" //31 ], // November [0, "On this day in 1922 the first radio licences went on sale in Britain at a cost of ten shillings a year.", //1 "", //2 "On this day in 1534 the English parliament accepted the Act of Supremacy, putting King Henry VIII in place of the Pope at the head of the English Church.", //3 "", //4 "On this day in 1605 Guy Fawkes was caught trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament. He was executed for treason.", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "On this day in 1868 an Act of Parliament was passed declaring voting by women illegal. An earlier act allowed all ratepayers to vote without specifying that they must be male.", //9 "", //10 "Most towns and villages have War Memorials, erected by public subscription following the Great War. These record the names of local people who fought and died. See National Inventory of War Memorials", //11 "", //12 "On this day in 1883 my great-grandparents Horatio & Eliza Randell and 12-year-old Horatio Frederick set sail for Queensland aboard the SS Corona. (Pictured above)
Read my great-grandfather’s diary of the voyage.", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "On this day in 1715 the River Thames in London froze over with ice so thick that a Frost Fair was held on it.", //24 "", //25 "On this day in 1703 England experienced the ‘great storm’, in which an estimated 8,000 people died.", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //"otd> St Andrew’s Day" //30 ], // December [0, "", //1 "", //2 "", //3 "", //4 "", //5 "", //6 "", //7 "", //8 "", //9 "On this day in 1907 Rudyard Kipling became the first British winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.", //10 "", //11 "", //12 "", //13 "", //14 "", //15 "On this day in 1653 Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.", //16 "", //17 "", //18 "", //19 "", //20 "", //21 "", //22 "", //23 "", //24 "", //"otd style='background:#ffb573; border-color:red;'>Merry Christmas", //25 "", //26 "", //27 "", //28 "", //29 "", //30 "" //31 ] ); dyk = new Array ( "Thomas John ‘Dr’ Barnado founded his first orphanage for destitute children in the East End of London in 1870. He was known as ‘The Foster-Father of Nobody’s Children’.", "The first Huguenot refugees arrived in England in the mid 1500s. In 1685 there was an influx of at least 40,000 after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. They settled principally in London and the towns of eastern and south-eastern England, notably Canterbury, Maidstone, Norwich, Sandwich, and Southampton. On arrival in England, many Huguenots applied for denization or naturalization.", "Bigamy is the crime of marrying when one is already married. It wasn’t until 1857 that it became possible to obtain a divorce without an Act of Parliament.", "George Fox (1624-1691), the son of a Leicestershire weaver, was founder of the religious Society of Friends. His followers were known contemptuously as Quakers from the trembling and shaking that characterized their behaviour at early meetings.", "Queen Victoria reigned from 20 June 1837 to 22 January 1901 – a total of 63 years and 216 days.", "By the mid-19th century, many urban churchyards were full and unable to accommodate any more burials. In order to deal with the problem municipal authorities, burial boards, and private companies established new cemeteries not linked to the churches. Some nonconformist cemeteries had also been established.", "In 1741 Thomas Coram opened his first Foundling Hospital, in London. Infants were placed in a basket outside the door, which was connected to a bell. No attempt was made to trace the mother.", //"Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833 and in the USA at the end of the Civil War 1863-65.", "Jethro Tull (1674-1741), an English farmer, invented the drill for sowing seed.", "Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) was Britain’s first prime minister.", "John Wesley (1703-1791) the founder of Methodism, travelled many thousands of miles preaching. His last open-air sermon was in Winchelsea, Sussex on 7th October 1790. His brother, Charles (1707-1788) wrote over 6,000 hymns.", "Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) built more than 50 churches in London – including St Paul’s Cathedral.", "William Booth (1829-1912) founded the Christian Mission in 1865. This was later re-named as the Salvation Army.", "Lord Baden-Powell (1857-1941) defended Mafeking in the Boer War. In 1908 he founded the Boy Scout movement.", "London houses did not acquire street numbers until 1763 – 300 years after Paris introduced the idea.", "The Domesday Book was the earliest systematic survey of land ownership in England. It was drawn up by order of William the Conqueror in 1086 to record who owned what before and after the Norman Conquest.", "The word ‘teetotal’ was inadvertantly coined by Dicky Turner (one of the ‘seven men of Preston’) who stuttered when saying that he would be a total abstainer.
His tombstone reads: ‘Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Richard Turner, author of the word Teetotal as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life on the 27th day of October 1846, aged 56 years.’", "The Hundred Years’ War lasted for 116 years! It was a series of battles between Britain and France between 1337 and 1453." );