Friday, 2 July 2021

20 PEOPLE WHO LEFT THE WORLD ON DECEMBER 26TH

 

  267 Dionysius, bishop of Rome and saint

1476 Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duke of Milan, murdered

1627 Gonzaga, Italian monarch of Mantua and Monferrato

1776 Johann Gottlieb Rall, mercenary Hessian colonel killed in battle

1862 in Mankato Minnesota, 38 Santee Sioux Indians were hanged

1890 Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist aged 86 

1956 Holmes Herbert, actor 74 

1966 Noel Gallon, composer 75

1971 Robert Lowery, actor aged 57 

1972 Harry Truman the 33rd President of the U.S. died in Kansas City aged 88

1973 William Haines, actor 73

1974 Jack Benny, comedian aged 80

1977 Howard Hawks, director, aged 81

1985 Dian Fossey, zoologist specializing in Gorillas, murdered aged 53

1986 Elsa Lanchester, actress 84

1988 John Loder, actor aged 90 

1992 Constance Carpenter, actress, dies of stroke aged 87

1993 Jeff Morrow, actor aged 80

1994 Robert Emhardt, actor, 80

1997 John Whitley, air-Marshal, aged 92

THOMASSING

 

In England on St Thomas day, poor women and children went from door to door "a-Thomassing".

They would beg for the ingredients or “goodenings” for a Christmas feast, such as wheat for frumenty and flour for Yule bread.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS CONNECTION (2017)

 

On her last flight before Christmas, Flight Attendant Sydney (Brooke Burns) is tasked with looking after Leah (Sophie Neudorf) , an eight-year-old unaccompanied minor flying back to Chicago after visiting family and she is charmed by the little girl and makes an instant connection with her.

Once she arrived in Chicago her plan was to take a “Jump seat” on a flight to sunnier climes for the holidays, but Leah’s father, Jonathan (Tom Everett Scott), is late and she stays with Leah until he arrived but she misses her flight in the meantime.

When Sydney reaches her hotel she finds a package belonging to Leah which had found its way into her bag, knowing it was precious to her Sydney delivered the gift back to Leah’s home and gets invited to join in some fun, family Christmas festivities.

Because Sydney has missed her connection, she is stuck in Chicago for a few days and grounded from her jet-setting ways, but then she bumps into Leah and Jonathan again who invite her to spend the holidays with them, and she manages to stay long enough to fall in love.

A GIFT FOR MARIA

 

A young man called Paul

Wanted to buy a present

For his new sweetheart Maria

As a Christmas present

 

As they’d not been dating

For a very long duration

He decided to purchase

After careful consideration

A nice pair of gloves
striking the right note

Not too romantic or personal

So the gloves got his vote

 

Accompanied by Maria’s sister

He went to Harrods and bought

A dainty pair of white gloves

“She will like these” he thought

 

Maria’s sister Susan bought

A pair of panties for herself

But during the wrapping

An error was made on the shelf

 

The assistant mixed up

The gloves and the panties

The sister got the gloves

And Maria got the scanties

 

Without checking Paul sealed

The package along with a note

And sent it to his sweetheart

And this is what he wrote


Dear Maria, I chose these

As I noticed my darling

That you don’t wear any

When we go out in the evening.

 

If not for your sister Susan

I would have got long ones

The type with the buttons,

But Susan wears short ones

That are easier to remove.

They are a delicate shade,

But the shop assistant
where the purchase was made

Showed me the pair she has

That she’d been wearing
and were hardly soiled

After three weeks wearing 

I had her try yours on for me

And she looked really chic

Even though they were

Tight on her a little bit.

 

She told me that her pair

Helps to keep her ring

Clean and shiny, and in fact

And this is interesting

Since she’d begun wearing them.

It hadn’t needed washing

 

I really hope you like them

And wish I were there with you

To put them on you Maria
for the first time I really do

 

As no doubt many other hands

Will have touched them

Before I see you again

Remember when you remove them

To blow into them before

Putting them away and drying 

As they will naturally be

A little damp from wearing

 

Just think how many times

My lips will kiss them
during the coming year.

I hope you will wear them

For me on Friday night
All my love Paul till then

 

P.S. The latest style

Which appears to be growing

Is to wear them folded down

With a little fur showing

SEASONS GREETINGS

 

Tis the festive season

Of goodwill and reason

For the politically correct

The dithering and the direct

For the clubs and the cliques

And tedious control freaks

For the anal retentive's

And their many representatives

For council house yobs

And the inverted snobs

Those with professional jobs

And intellectual snobs

For the easily offended

And the over complicated

For the vile and the venomous

The overt and the anonymous

Snake in the grass vipers

And Back stabbing snipers

To the tarts and the vicars

And those in disposable knickers

For all poetry scrawlers

And the unpleasant name callers

For the narrowly minded

And those with axes grinded

For the loud minority

And the silent majority

For blondes and brunettes

And all lads and laddettes

Those pierced and tattooed

And the prim and the lewd

For the bright and the bland

And the humble and the grand

For those who are pretentious

And the liberal consensus

Every class hew and breed

Every persuasion and creed

Whether ungifted or artistic

And the mentally arthritic

For the first and the last

And sense of humour bypassed

For those with rhyme and reason

So in the spirit of the season

Now the year is nearly done

Merry Christmas everyone

IT HAPPENED ON DECEMBER 6TH

 

  963 Leo VIII elected Pope

1196 Northern Dutch coast flooded in the "Saint-Nicolaas Flood"

1240 The Mongols under Batu Khan occupied and destroy Kiev

1424 Don Alfonso V of Aragon grants Barcelona the right to exclude Jews

1491 King Charles VIII of France marries Anna of Bretagne

1492 the island of Haiti is discovered by Christopher Columbus

1648 Thomas Pride prevents 96 Presbyterians from sitting in the English parliament
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army retreats to Scotland

1756 British troops under Robert Clive occupy Fulta India
1768 1st edition of "Encyclopedia Britannica" is published in Scotland
1820 US president James Monroe re-elected
1833 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin aboard departs Rio de la Plata
1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland
1862 President Lincoln orders the hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians

1865 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery
1873 1st international football game in the USA Yale 2, Eton 1

1876 1st crematorium in the USA begins operation, Washington, Penn
1877 1st sound recording made by Thomas Edison
1877 Washington Post publishes its 1st edition
1907 Coal mine explosions in Monongah, WV, kills 361
1912 China votes for universal human rights

1914 German troops over run Lodz

1917 Finland declares independence from Russia
1917 French munitions ship "Mont Blanc" explodes in Halifax killing 1,700

1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed giving Ireland dominion status and partition creates Northern Ireland

1940 Gestapo arrest German resistance fighter the poster artist Helen Ernst

1941 Dutch and British pilots see Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore

1956 Nelson Mandela and 156 others are arrested for political activities in South Africa
1963 Beatles begin a tradition of releasing a Christmas record for fans
1966 Polio vaccination becomes obligatory in Belgium
1973 Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected VP, succeeding Spiro T Agnew
1989 Worst Canadian mass murder when Marc Lepine kills 14 women at Montreal university
1990 Shoeless Joe Jackson's signature is sold for $23,100

1992 300,000 Hindus attack and destroy the mosque of Babri India, 4 die
1994 Maltese Falcon auctioned for $398,590

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL # 8 ANGELS FROM THE REALMS OF GLORY

 

ANGELS FROM THE REALMS OF GLORY

Words by James Montgomery and Traditional Music

 

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o'er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation's story,
Now proclaim Messiah's birth:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Shepherds, in the fields abiding,
Watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant Light;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great desire of nations,
Ye have seen His natal star;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Saints before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!