Friday 2 July 2021

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!

Thursday 1 July 2021

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS AROUND THE CORNER (2018)

 

Claire (Alexandra Breckenridge), is a savvy venture capitalist from New York City, who decides to escape to the quaint town of Glastenbury, Vermont for the holidays, following an uncharacteristically bad company floatation.

She chose Glastenbury for her getaway because of its reputation as a great Christmas Town with many traditional activities and a famous festival.

And as she is not the kind of person to do nothing she books in as a guest of the Fortenbury Bookstore, which entitles her to run the Store for the duration of her stay.

However upon her arrival, Claire finds Christmas celebrations have been cancelled by the town after a devastating autumn flood and the bookstore in a dire state of disrepair.

Unshaken she immediately takes on the challenge to revitalize the store, but clashes with the owner, Andrew (Jamie Spilchuk), who initially rejects all her proposed improvements, though she finds an ally in his Aunt, Mrs. Tumulty (Jane Alexander).

Gradually Claire wears him down with her infectious optimism and revives his yuletide spirit and inevitably romance blossoms, until Claire discovers that Andrew is planning to sell the bookstore in the New Year.

Which begs the question “Will the spirit of Christmas be enough to change Andrew's mind and encourage him to follow his heart?”

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

Now once more

The year has turned

The advent candle

Long since burned

Hearts darken

As we count the cost

And the season’s spirit

Is all now lost

But it need not

All be dark and gloom

Light can again

Illuminate the room

So here is a philosophy

For all of us

God is for life

Not just for Christmas

ST NICHOLAS ISLAND DEVON

 

Drake's Island lies in Plymouth Sound, just south of Millbay Docks, there was once a chapel on the Island that was originally dedicated to Saint Michael and the island was originally named as St Michael’s Island and that is how it first appears in the records when, it was transferred from the Valletort family to the Priory at Plympton in 1135.

The chapel was re-dedicated, to Saint Nicholas, who is the patron saint of sailors at a date unknown.

In 1549 the chapel was demolished in order to build Hoe fort the Island.

Then in 1583 Sir Francis Drake was made Governor of the Island at a time when ownership of the Island passed from Plymouth to the state.

After this the island ceased to be St Nicholas Island and has ever since been known as Drakes Island.

20 PEOPLE WHO ARRIVED IN THE WORLD ON DECEMBER 6TH

 

1285 Ferdinand V, king of Castile and Leon

1421 Henry VI, king of England (1422-61, 1470-71)

1550 Orazio Tiberio Vecchi, composer

1608 George Monck, English general governor of Scotland

1768 Johann Baptist Henneberg, composer

1775 Nicolas Isouard, composer

1792 Willem II Frederik GL, King of Netherlands (1840-49)
1896 Ira Gershwin, lyricist
1906 actress Agnes Moorehead born Clinton Massachusetts

1920 Dave Brubeck, Concord California, jazz pianist and composer
1939 Tomas Svoboda, Paris, France, Czech composer (Etude)
1941 mass murderer Richard Speck, (killed 8 student nurses in 1966)
1943 Mike Smith, London England, pianist with the Dave Clark 5

1948 Jonathan King, London, singer songwriter and producer

1948 actress JoBeth Williams, Houston Texas
1949 cricketer Peter Willey, England batsman

1953 Gina Hecht, Houston Texas, actress

1955 Steven Wright, dry comedian

1962 Janine Turner, Lincoln Nebraska, actress

1965 actress Teri Hatcher, Sunnyvale California